Messier-Bugatti Inc.

Thierry Marjollet

Robert Jean

Renaud Duval

In a circular needling machine for needling an annular preform and comprising both a vertically movable needling table serving as a horizontal support for said annular preform, and a needling head having a determined number of barbed needles disposed over the needling table in a needling zone and driven with vertical reciprocating motion, provision is made for the annular preform to be placed directly on the needling table and for it to be driven in rotation on the needling table by drive means while the needling table remains rotationally stationary during said rotation. The drive means comprise a set of conical friction rollers kept continuously in contact with the annular preform.

Smooth-table circular needling machine

A machine for needling a textile structure built up from a wound strip of material to be needled that is delivered by strip supply means comprising a storage drum containing said wound strip of textile material, an unwinding assembly for continuously extracting said strip from said storage drum, and a helical chute or &ldquo;twist&rdquo; for taking up said extracted strip unwound from said drum and for bringing it up to a needling table where there are friction drive means. The storage drum and the helical chute have the same axis C as the needling table.

Feeding a needling machine with a continuous spiral strip

A needled fiber structure is made by stacking fiber plies on a platen, by needling the plies as the stack of plies is built up by means of needles driven with reciprocating motion in a direction that extends transversely relative to the plies, and by varying the distance between the platen and an end-of-stroke position of the needles while building up the stack so as to obtain a desired distribution of needling characteristics through the thickness of the fiber structure. The instantaneous force exerted during needle penetration is measured (sensors) and a magnitude representative of needling force or penetration energy is evaluated on the basis of the instantaneous force, and the evaluated magnitude is verified for compliance with at least one predetermined condition to monitor proper operation of the process or to act on the way the distance between the platen and the end-of-stroke position of the needles is varied.

Method of monitoring the needling of fiber structures in real time, and needling apparatus for implementing the method

A machine for needling a textile structure built up from a helical strip delivered by strip supply means, said machine comprising a needling table, a needling head, cutting means for cutting the helical strip, and conical roller drive means for rotating said strip on the needling table, at least a fraction of said conical roller drive means being retractable so as to release an empty space on said needling table enabling ejector means to remove the textile structure from the needling table.

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Besancon, France

Thierry Marjollet