EP-4534747-B1 - NEEDLING SYSTEM FOR MANUFACTURING A TEXTILE PREFORM

Inventors

• CLARKE, GARETH
• BARDY, JULIEN
• LAFFARGUE, FRANCK
• MAISONNAVE, NICOLAS
• BITONNEAU, DAVID
• DUPILLIER, JEAN-MARC

Dates

Publication Date

20260513

Application Date

20230308

Claims (5)

1. The method (400) for determining a program of displacement and orientation of a needling head (530) for making a textile preform (500) by needling a textile strip on a support tooling (505), comprising at least: - determining (410) a set of triplets of coordinates (x, y, z), (x1, y1, z1), (x2, y2, z2), (x3, y3, z3) of the points of passage (520, 521, 522, 523) of the needling head (530) as a function of the positions of the fibers along the Z axis in the textile preform to be made (500), of its local geometry and of a predetermined minimum distance (d min ) to be met between the needling head and the support tooling (505) or the preform making it possible to avoid a collision with the latter, and - determining (420) the angular orientation (α, β, γ) of the needling head for each point of passage as a function of the angular orientation of the textile strip and of the Z fibers in the textile preform to be made, the method further comprising determining a local speed of displacement of the needling head as a function of the content of Z fibers in the associated area of the textile preform to be made and of a rotation of the support tooling.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the support tooling is rotating about an axis of rotation (580) and the method comprises a mathematical projection (421) of the points of passage determined in a reference plane (540, λ) fixed or movable relative to the support tooling and comprising the axis of rotation.
3. The method according to any one of claims 1 or 2, further comprising making (409) a mesh (510) of the geometry of the textile preform to be made, the determination of all the triplets of coordinates (x, y, z) being performed on this mesh.
4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the support tooling has a non-axisymmetric and/or non-through shape.
5. A method for manufacturing (600) a textile preform by needling comprising determining (610) a program of displacement and orientation of a needling head according to any of claims 1 to 4 and manufacturing by needling (620) the textile preform on support tooling, whose shape corresponds to that of the textile preform to be made, using a needling head programmed according to the determined program.

Description

Technical Field The present invention relates to the manufacture of textile preforms by needle punching, and more particularly to a needle punching system for the manufacture of a textile preform. Previous technique Textile preforms form the reinforcement of organic or ceramic matrix composite materials. They form a framework for the material, absorbing most of the mechanical stresses, which is reinforced and protected by the organic or ceramic matrix of the composite material. The production of textile preforms by needle punching involves layering textile plies and joining them together by needle punching. Specifically, needle punching joins the plies by transferring fibers from one plies to another in the Z direction, that is, along the thickness of the preform, thus creating mechanical bonds between the plies in this direction. Current needle punching systems therefore allow the production of axisymmetric preforms or preforms with through-hole geometries. Current needle-punching systems are programmed to follow a specific trajectory to needle the preform according to certain criteria, such as fiber density in the Z-axis. These programs are specific to the machine being used and cannot be used on another. Furthermore, they can follow an axisymmetric profile based on an adaptive mode, which corrects the machine's position according to the excess material encountered during needle-punching. However, some preforms, such as thermal protection preforms for atmospheric reentry, may have a spherical cap shape (non-opening geometry) or a non-axissymmetric geometry, and current needle-pointing methods are not suitable for this type of geometry. The document FR 2 669 941 describes an installation for the production of needle-punched fibrous preforms intended for the manufacture of parts in composite material. The document CN 105 755 680 describes a needle-punching robot for manufacturing a fibrous preform having six degrees of freedom. The documents CN 112 318 499 And CN 110 109 421 describe methods for programming the movement of a needle-punching robot for the manufacture of a fibrous preform. The article " "Robot needle-punching path planning for complex surface preforms" by Chen Xiaoming et al., published in August 2018 in Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing describes a method for programming a needle-punching robot for the manufacture of a fibrous preform. It is therefore desirable to have a new, more versatile needle-punching system that can needle preforms with non-axissymmetric and/or non-through geometry, or with axisymmetric or non-axissymmetric, through or non-through geometry, and capable of needle-punching textile strips with fully parameterizable trajectories, without trajectory limitations. It is also desirable to have a new programming solution for the pointing means that can be used on several pointing machines and adapt to any type of preform geometry, including non-axissymmetric and non-through geometries. Description of the invention The present invention relates to a method for determining a movement and orientation program for a switch head for the purpose of carrying out a Textile preforming by needle punching a textile strip onto a support tool, comprising at least: the determination of a set of coordinate triplets (x, y, z) of the points of passage of the needle-punching head as a function of the positions of the fibers along the Z-axis in the textile preform to be produced, its local geometry and a predetermined minimum distance to be respected between the needle-punching head and the support tooling or the preform to avoid a collision with the latter, and the determination of the angular orientation of the needle-punching head (α, β, γ) for each point of passage as a function of the angular orientation of the textile web and the Z-fibers in the textile preform to be produced, the process further includes determining a local movement speed of the needle-punching head as a function of the fiber content in Z in the associated area of the textile preform to be produced and a rotation of the support tooling. Thanks to the invention's process, the needle-punching head's passage points and orientation are determined before needle-punching begins, taking into account the complexity of the preform's geometry, the fiber density and Z-orientation, while ensuring that the support tooling and preform do not collide with the needle-punching head. This program is therefore not machine-specific and can be adapted to any machine and desired preform shape. It thus enables the versatile production of textile preforms by needle-punching according to specific needs and desired thermostructural properties, such as fiber density and Z-orientation. Furthermore, because the complexity of the preform's geometry is taken into account, the number of iteration points is adjusted to reduce computation time and the program itself. For example, if an area has a small local radius of curvature, the number of