Search

US-12617150-B2 - Apparatus and system for depositing fiber material

US12617150B2US 12617150 B2US12617150 B2US 12617150B2US-12617150-B2

Abstract

An apparatus ( 100 ), assembly and process for depositing fiber material on a surface ( 131 ) is provided herein. The apparatus ( 100 ) comprises an material extruder ( 101 ) having a clutching mechanism configured to engage a fiber material with a extruder motor that is configured to feed said fiber material into a filament guide. The apparatus ( 100 ) further includes a modular layup nozzle ( 109 ) comprising a cold end portion ( 110 ), hot end portion ( 116 ) and output nozzle ( 108 ). The cold end portion ( 110 ) is configured to receive said fiber material and cool down the temperature thereof by using a coolant before said fiber material enters a hot end portion ( 116 ) of the apparatus ( 100 ). The hot end portion ( 116 ) further comprises a heat block ( 118 ) that is configured to convert the fiber material into a molten form and deposit said fiber material into a composite part ( 131 ) through a output nozzle ( 108 ). The fiber material is then cut by a cutting assembly ( 103 ) after a deposit operation is complete.

Inventors

  • Dhinesh KANAGARAJ
  • Akshay BALLAL
  • Srinath RAMESH

Assignees

  • FABHEADS AUTOMATION PRIVATE LIMITED

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20210806

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . An apparatus ( 100 ) for depositing a fiber material onto a surface ( 131 ), the apparatus ( 100 ) comprising: a material extruder ( 101 ) comprising a switchable clutching mechanism, an extruder motor ( 105 ), and a filament guide ( 106 ), wherein the switchable clutching mechanism is configured to (i) engage the fiber material with the extruder motor ( 105 ) during and to initiate a deposit operation of the filament such that the extruder motor ( 105 ) is configured to feed the fiber material into the filament guide ( 106 ), and (ii) disengage the fiber material and the extruder motor ( 105 ) both during and upon completion of the deposit operation; and a modular layup nozzle ( 109 ) comprising: a cold end portion ( 110 ) configured to receive the fiber material from the filament guide ( 106 ) and cool down the temperature of the fiber material by using a coolant; wherein the cold end portion ( 110 ) comprises a helical core ( 112 ) comprising a channel ( 117 ) configured for helical flow of the coolant; and a hot end portion ( 116 ) comprising a heat block ( 118 ) that is configured to convert the fiber material into a molten form and deposit the molten fiber material through an output nozzle ( 108 ) to form a composite part ( 134 ).
  2. 2 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a cutting assembly ( 103 ) configured to cut the fiber material.
  3. 3 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the cutting assembly ( 103 ) comprises a four-bar linkage mechanism having four links, wherein one of the links is driven by a cutter actuator ( 132 ).
  4. 4 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the cutting assembly ( 103 ) comprises a blade or a pair of shear cutters that is activated remotely through a controller.
  5. 5 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a cross section of the filament guide ( 106 ) has a curvilinear geometric shape.
  6. 6 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a cross section of the filament guide ( 106 ) has a polygonal geometric shape.
  7. 7 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a heat source ( 121 ) that is configured to generate heat in the heat block ( 118 ).
  8. 8 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a temperature measuring unit, wherein the temperature measuring unit is a thermocouple, that is configured to measure the temperature in the heat block ( 118 ).
  9. 9 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a connector rod ( 119 ) that connects the hot end portion ( 116 ) to the cold end portion ( 110 ) and is configured to prevent heat transfer from the hot end portion ( 116 ) to the cold end portion ( 110 ).
  10. 10 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the helical core ( 112 ), the connector rod ( 119 ) and the hot end portion ( 116 ) are configured to form the modular layup nozzle ( 109 ).
  11. 11 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the modular layup nozzle ( 109 ) is swappable with a different modular layup nozzle for performing a layup with different widths of fiber materials.
  12. 12 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising an ironing mechanism ( 124 ) comprising a spherical-profiled attachment ( 125 ) disposed at the end of the output nozzle ( 108 ), wherein the spherical-profiled attachment ( 125 ) is configured to press the fiber material during an extrusion process and a dispensing process of the fiber material.
  13. 13 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the spherical-profiled attachment ( 125 ) comprises a set of spherical balls arranged in a radial fashion along the nozzle and are held together in a cage machined into the nozzle.
  14. 14 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a thermal jacket that is configured to cover the heat block ( 118 ).
  15. 15 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a follower roller configured to apply pressure to the deposited fiber material in order to compact the fiber material onto a previously deposited fiber material.
  16. 16 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a leading heat element ( 130 ) mounted on a leading side of a layup direction of the fiber material and configured to soften a fiber material deposited previously on the surface ( 131 ).
  17. 17 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the leading heat element ( 130 ) comprises a hot gas pipe or an infrared heater.
  18. 18 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the clutching mechanism is configured to be remotely operated through a controller.
  19. 19 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the material extruder ( 101 ) further comprises mated extruding pulleys.
  20. 20 . The apparatus ( 100 ) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the material extruder ( 101 ) is configured to operate in at least one of (i) a push mode wherein the fiber material is pushed through the nozzle, and (ii) a pull mode wherein the material extruder ( 101 ) is disengaged from the fiber material.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The embodiments herein generally relate to systems and methods for forming a composite layup by depositing fiber material onto a substrate. The embodiments herein more particularly relate to an apparatus (100) with a material extruder (101) that has multiple modes of operation and a modular layup nozzle (109) that has a versatile configuration capable of accommodating different forms of fiber material. BACKGROUND The market of high strength but low weight materials, collectively known as composite materials, has known a significant growth over the past years, evolving from the development of plastics such as vinyl, polystyrene, phenolic and polyester, to the introduction of fiberglass and thus combination thereof. Composites are produced by combining one material, otherwise known as matrix or binder, with fibers or fragments of a stronger material, typically referred as reinforcement. Manufacturing process depends mainly on the properties (i.e. tensile strength, impact strength, fatigue resistance, etc.) that are desired to be incorporated in the resulting composite material. Conventional manufacturing methods of composite materials generally involve a molding process wherein the reinforcement material is placed in a mold and the matrix, typically in a semi-liquid form, is sprayed or pumped in. Another process involved is curing wherein pressure and heat are applied to the molded matrix with reinforcement in order to force out any bubbles and make the matrix set solid. The manufacturing process is usually done manually making it labor intensive and causes a substantial increase in production lead time. Automated composites manufacturing (ACM) involving sophisticated apparatus (100) may be possible but entails high upfront cost and requires elaborate maintenance. A widely known ACM process is automated fiber placement (AFP) wherein synthetic resin pre-impregnated fibers, also referred as pre-pegs, are applied on complex tooling surfaces to form a bundle of fibers, otherwise called as tows, and are later on compacted and heated to produce two-dimensional (2D) or 3D laminates. However, due to technical limitations such as complexity of parts and sophisticated machineries that are difficult to scale down, AFP is not suitable for manufacture of all types of products. In addition, AFP requires the use of molds, storage of pre-pegs in controlled environment, high-cost resins and significant amount of post processing for products formed, thereby resulting to a combination of high investment costs and low productivity. As a result, manual manufacturing methods are commonly utilized for the production of complex-shaped products in low to medium production volumes. Thus, a cost-friendly process that solves the above-mentioned problems associated with manual and automated composite manufacturing processes is highly desired. It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide an apparatus (100) suitable for use in a cost-efficient process of manufacturing a composite material, including complex-shaped products. SUMMARY The object is achieved by providing an apparatus (100) for depositing fiber material onto a surface (131) comprising: a material extruder (101) comprising a clutching mechanism configured to engage a fiber material with an extruder motor that is configured to feed said fiber material into a filament guide;a modular layup nozzle (109) comprising a cold end portion (110) that is configured to receive said fiber material and cool down the temperature of said fiber material by using a liquid as coolant; a hot end portion (116) comprising a heat block (118) that is configured to convert the fiber material into a molten form and deposit said fiber material into a composite part (134) through an output nozzle (108); anda cutting assembly (103 Configured to cut said fiber material after a deposit operation is completed. The preceding is a simplified summary to provide an understanding of some aspects of embodiments of the present invention. This summary is neither an extensive nor exhaustive overview of the present invention and its various embodiments. The summary presents selected concepts of the embodiments of the present invention in a simplified form as an introduction to the more detailed description presented below. As will be appreciated, other embodiments of the present invention are possible utilizing, alone or in combination, one or more of the features set forth above or described in detail below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and still further features and advantages of embodiments of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of embodiments thereof, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and wherein: FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of an apparatus (100) for depositing fiber material onto a surface (131) of the present invention. FIG. 2A-2B illustrates an emb