Cincinnati Milacron Inc.

Milo M Vaniglia

Michael N Grimshaw

A segmented presser member for laying fiber tows and producing composite plastic articles has a plurality of presser element disks. The disks, stacked side-by-side, are independently movable and biased against a work surface such as a mandrel or mold. An elastic band is provided on the rotary outer periphery of each disk. Each band is unconnected to elastic bands on adjacent disks. The disks and their respective bands are radially movable during the laydown and compaction of the fiber tows over the changing contour of the workpiece surface. The elastic band has a low friction face, such as, for example, a (TEFLON) film, for engaging the fiber tows.

Presser member for fiber laying machine

Redirect rollers are fitted with non-rotating upstanding fins to provide enhanced guidance for spaced tows which wrap the rollers.

Tow guide for redirect rollers in a fiber placement machine

A fiber placement head for a fiber placement machine of the type in which a number of individual resin-impregnated fiber tows or 'towpregs' are fed at independent rates from a creel assembly for application as a fiber band onto the surface of a mandrel includes cooling chutes for each fiber tow which reduces their temperature to reduce the tack of the tows. A cut, clamp and restart mechanism is provided wherein the cutting and clamping operations are performed by a unitary knife blade and clamping block, and the restart or rethreading of cut tows is obtained by the engagement of a pinch roller with a continuously rotating rethread shaft which are operative independently of the movement of the fiber placement head relative to the mandrel. The tows are pressed or compacted onto the mandrel by a compaction shoe, and feed and rewind rollers are provided to interpose a protective film between the compaction shoe and fiber band to avoid damage to the tows.

Fiber placement head

A fiber placement machine includes a carriage assembly movable in an X direction along a base support adapted to rest on the floor, a cross slide pivotally mounted on the carriage having a multi-axis manipulator device at one end carrying a fiber placement head and a creel assembly mounted at the other end which supplies a number of individual fiber tows to the fiber placement head. Mechanisms associated with the carriage and cross slide, in addition to the multi-axis manipulator, are effective to move the fiber placement head along a number of axes with respect to the surface of a mandrel such that the individual fiber tows are pressed onto the mandrel by a compaction roller or shoe mounted to the fiber placement head which is maintained substantially perpendicular to the surface of the mandrel.

Fiber placement machine

A base supports a workpiece form-holding means in either a stationary or rotatable manner. A cross-slide and corresponding fiber creel assembly which is affixed to, and depends from, the cross-slide assembly is carried with respect to the workpiece form-holding means by a hanging carriage carried on an overhead support beam. A fiber payout eye is carried on the cross-slide assembly for guiding fiber from the fiber creel assembly to the workpiece form as the carriage and cross-slide are moving.

An improved fiber guidance system for a fiber placement machine where a fiber placement head is moved by a manipulator wrist with respect to a relatively stationary creel assembly, and a plurality of fiber redirect rollers are used, each having a caster-like mounting base, one roller assembly being mounted to the machine member with the creel assembly, and one member being mounted to the fiber placement head, so that a band of fibers is trained around the first and second redirect rollers under tension and the redirect rollers will swivel about their bases in accordance with spatial orientations of the placement head and in accordance with tension of fiber band, thereby maintaining approximately equal tension at the outer fibers at each side of the fiber band.

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Southgate, KY, United States of America

Milo M Vaniglia