Edo Corporation, Fiber Science Division

Raja Mohan

A high pressure vessel construction in the form of an elongate tank includes a plurality of layers of resin impregnated graphite fibers and a plurality of layers of a hybrid of resin impregnated glass and polymer fibers, with the glass and polymer fiber layers alternating with the graphite fiber layers. The outermost layers are hoop wound and the innermost layers are helically wound. A layer of elastomer material is joined to the interior surface of the innermost layer of fibers, and a layer of stiff composite material is joined to the interior surface of the elastomer layer.

High pressure vessel construction

A method of manufacture of large high pressure composite bottles. In accordance with the method, polar caps are placed on the ends of a reusable mandrel, which is then coated with an appropriate mold release and then coated or at least covered with a material which will become the internal protective coating for the finished bottle, and then coated with an impervious liner material. Thereafter, a few layers of windings of high strength resin impregnated filament are put on the mandrel and the resin is cured to make the internal protective coating and liner self-supporting. The resulting thin shell is then cut circumferentially near the middle thereof and the two halves are removed from the mandrel, then rebonded together so that the thin shell may act as a self-supporting mandrel over which the structural shell of the bottle is subsequently wound. This allows the original mandrel to be used over and over again as desired. Various details and variations of the method are disclosed.

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Salt Lake City, UT, United States of America

Raja Mohan