Automated Composite Fabric Layup for Wind Turbine Blades

Zhu, Siqi; Magnussen, Corey John; Judd, Emily; Frank, Matthew C.; Peters, F. E.

doi:10.1115/1.4035004

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Understanding of the draping mechanics of NCFs has led to industrial developments: a draping unit, for balancing fabric tension and consolidating continuously across the layup width, accounting for shearing of the previously laid fabric [108], automated draping methods for layup of NCFs for wind turbine blades [109], flexible clamping methods [110], design of the stitching based on the draping requirements [111], identification of the forming limits for NCFs [112].…”

Section: Specific Deformability Of Stitched Ncfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in composite forming through 25 years of ESAFORM

et al. 2022

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The increase in the number of structural applications of composite materials, especially in the aerospace and automotive industries, has led to a demand for robust models to simulate composite forming processes. The mechanical behaviour of composite materials during forming is relatively complex due to their fibre-matrix composition. Many research studies have been conducted in the past 25-plus years into experimental methods for the characterization of the mechanical behaviours that are exhibited by textile-reinforced composite material systems during forming and into the development of material models to be used in computer codes for forming simulations. These studies have been presented and discussed in the ESA-FORM conferences since 1997 and especially in the 'Composite Forming Processes' mini-symposium launched in 2001. This article presents a survey of the research carried out in this context. Mechanical characterization tests specific to composite forming are presented as well as recent analysis techniques such as digital image correlation and X-ray tomography. Threedimensional mechanical behaviour laws, in particular hypo-and hyperelastic, have been developed and extended to second gradient models. Specific shell approaches have been presented and their application to wrinkling analysis. Resin flow and permeability analysis is another area of research in composite forming processes which are discussed in this article. Research on certain processes is also presented, in particular thermoforming of thermoplastic composites, wet compression moulding, pultrusion, automated fibre placement and three-dimensional printing. This comprehensive review of the works of multiple research groups is a recognition of the breadth and depth of efforts that have been invested into the understanding of the manufacturability of textile-reinforced composite materials.

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Section: Specific Deformability Of Stitched Ncfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in composite forming through 25 years of ESAFORM

et al. 2022

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“…[51,[80][81][82][83][84][85][86]) and with an extra trailing edge (e.g. [52,53,[87][88][89][90]) and tip (e.g. [55,[91][92][93]).…”

Section: Rotor Bladementioning

confidence: 99%

Towards automation of wind energy rotor blade production: a review of challenges and application examples

Ohlendorf

Richrath

Franke

et al. 2020

Advanced Manufacturing: Polymer & Composites Science

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Current wind turbine rotor blades have a significant impact on the cost of the turbine, which is mainly a consequence of the manual process steps involved in blade production. The manual, labour-intensive production process leads to high tolerances and requires high safety and reliability factors. Especially in the case of offshore turbines with current and upcoming blade dimensions, automation will make the blades cost effective, quicker to produce and guarantees a higher quality. Here, we analyse the current blade structure and production processes and present a technical review of the existing automation approaches for the textile build-up process in industry and academia. Thereby we classify these approaches according to the different techniques based on the rotor blade structure parts.

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“…Richrath et al are using [6] seven pre-tensioned CFRP spring elements to drape pre-assembled textile cuttings to wind turbine blade molds. Zhu et al [7] equipped their laying technology with an active shearing module, but without a draping element. Applus Laboratories [8,9] has developed a continuous forming technology with three robots for the production of complex stringers from prepreg laminate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While there is a range of technologies for laying up dry or pre-impregnated fabrics onto double-curved surfaces, it appears textile behavior during draping is mostly neglected in the process design. The efforts to compensate wrinkle formation [2,5,7] from shearing inside the textile are insufficient for continuous draping of structures with the intended geometrical complexity. The presented approaches enable linear shearing across textile width only [5,7] or do not support a continuous material feed [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The efforts to compensate wrinkle formation [2,5,7] from shearing inside the textile are insufficient for continuous draping of structures with the intended geometrical complexity. The presented approaches enable linear shearing across textile width only [5,7] or do not support a continuous material feed [2]. By using draping simulations in the process design, more textile-friendly fabric layup can be accomplished.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of a Shape Replicating Draping Unit for Continuous Layup of Unidirectional Non-Crimp Fabrics on Complex Surface Geometries

et al. 2021

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The manufacturing of large-scale structural components is still dominated by manual labor in many sectors of the modern composite industry. Efforts are being made to establish an automated layup technology for complex structural elements. Processing dry non-crimp fiber fabrics (NCF) offers great cost opportunities and high deposition rates, compared to prepreg-based technologies like automated fiber placement (AFP). Here, the fabric architecture is considered during the draping of the plane textile on curved surfaces. In this paper, the development of a draping unit for balancing fabric tension and consolidating continuously across the layup width is presented. We introduce a geometrical process model to achieve a fabric-friendly draping of the used unidirectional NCF. The shape of the resulting draping front depends on the surface geometry, the shearing of the previously laid-up textile, and the positioning of the material feed. To consolidate the fabric at the altering draping front in an automated layup process, the shape of the continuous consolidation element can be controlled by the elongation of serial soft actuators, manipulated by parallel robot kinematics. The shape replication ability of the draping unit is promising for the implementation of a continuous, fabric-friendly draping process for complex surface geometries.

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Automated Composite Fabric Layup for Wind Turbine Blades

Cited by 6 publications

References 16 publications

Advances in composite forming through 25 years of ESAFORM

Advances in composite forming through 25 years of ESAFORM

Towards automation of wind energy rotor blade production: a review of challenges and application examples

Development of a Shape Replicating Draping Unit for Continuous Layup of Unidirectional Non-Crimp Fabrics on Complex Surface Geometries

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