Flexible gripping technology for the automated handling of limp technical textiles in composites industry

Reinhart, Gunther; Strasser, Gerhard F.

doi:10.1007/s11740-011-0306-1

Cited by 31 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…In pick-and-place concepts offthe-shelf components and technologies are, to a high degree, used to build systems that usually focus on picking material from some sort of cutting machine and placing it in a mold or on a flat surface. There are several examples of pick-and-place systems for prepreg Ward et al, 2013), but the approach is also very common in handling dry fibers, for instance those to be used in preform manufacturing (Angerer et al, 2010;Brecher et al, 2013;Reinhart & Straßer, 2011). According to Ward et al (2012), several pick-and-place concepts have been attempted but with limited impact, and as a result the commercially-available automation equipment for composite manufacturing is mainly limited to ATL and AFP.…”

Section: Prepreg Layup 322mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Adhesive grippers are not suitable for composite manufacturing because of the risk that the adhesive gripper material will contaminate the composite material (Taylor, 1995). There are adhesive grippers using surfaces with nanostructures, thus eliminating the contamination problem, but these technologies are not ready to be implemented in manufacturing equipment (Reinhart & Straßer, 2011).…”

Section: Pneumaticmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enabling Automation of Composite Manufacturing through the Use of Off-The-Shelf Solutions

Björnsson¹

2014

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Composite materials offer an appealing combination of low weight and high strength that is especially sought after in high-performance applications. The use of composite materials has and is continuing to increase, and the use of the material has been shown to provide substantial weight savings in for example aircraft design. With an increased use of composite materials follows an increased demand for cost-efficient manufacturing methods.Composite products are in many cases manufactured either by manual operations or by the use of complex automated solutions associated with high investment costs. The objective for this research is to explore an approach to develop automated composite manufacturing based on commercially available off-theshelf solutions as an alternative to the existing automated solutions for composite manufacturing.The research, which was carried out in collaboration with industrial partners within the aerospace sector, is based on a demonstrator-centered research approach. Three conceptual demonstrators, focusing on three different manufacturing methods and a number of physical demonstrators, are used to show that off-the-shelf solutions can be used for automated manufacturing of composite products.Two aspects that affect if it is possible to use off-the-shelf solutions for automated composite manufacturing are the rigorous quality standards used by the aerospace industry and the great variety in product properties and material properties that is associated with composite manufacturing.The advantages in using off-the-shelf solutions has shown to be that the solutions generally are associated with low investments and that published information about the solutions, and the solutions themselves, is generally available for evaluation and testing. When working with the demonstrators it has been shown to be useful to break down a manufacturing system into basic tasks and consider off-the-shelf solutions for each particular task. This approach facilitates the search for a suitable off-the-shelf solution to solve a particular task. However, each of the separate tasks can affect other areas of the manufacturing system, and an overall systems perspective is required to find solutions that are compatible with the entire manufacturing system. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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Section: Prepreg Layup 322mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pneumaticmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enabling Automation of Composite Manufacturing through the Use of Off-The-Shelf Solutions

Björnsson¹

2014

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“…The adhesive surface generally degrades and must be continuously replaced, which generates a consumable cost for the gripper, and the adhesiveness is generally not possible to shut off in order to release the lifted material [14]. Reinhart and Straßer [16] suggest that adhesive grippers could be built using nano-structure surfaces, but conclude that the nano-technology is not yet mature enough to utilize in a manufacturing environment [16]. Adhesive grippers based on sticky surfaces imply a risk of transferring decontaminations from the gripper to the material that is manipulated [16,2,14].…”

Section: Gripping Technologies Based On Materials or Surface Attractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automated Removal of Prepreg Backing Paper - A Sticky Problem

Björnsson¹,

Lindbäck²,

Johansen³

2013

SAE Technical Paper Series

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Automated solutions for manufacturing composite products based on prepreg often imply Automatic Fiber Placement or Automatic Tape Laying. These systems are generally associated with huge investments. For certain manufacturing applications it is interesting to investigate alternatives to find simpler and less costly automation. One example of an automated system could be the use of a standard industrial robot to pick single prepreg plies from an automated cutting machine and stack them to form a plane laminate. This paper is based on a case illustrating a product from the aircraft manufacturing industry. The case will demonstrate a pick and place concept on a general level and illustrate challenges that must be solved. The challenge selected to be the main focus for this paper is an automated process for backing paper removal. A literature review of different gripping technologies reveals several interesting technologies, and the most promising are tested for backing paper removal. The tests show that an automated removal process can be designed by using standard vacuum grippers in combination with mechanical clamping grippers. In order to lift the backing paper with a vacuum gripper an initial separation between the backing paper and prepreg is needed. This separation is most easily mechanically induced by bending the material. The proposed solution for automatic backing paper removal can be integrated in a manufacturing cell for manufacturing of the studied product.

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“…There are several examples of both research groups and companies developing solutions for dry fabric handling. Within the research community there are systems that have been developed for only handling two dimensional objects [2] as well as systems for three dimensional handling that also include draping capabilities [3] [4]. As a commercial example Broetje Automation has developed a commercial system that uses vacuum technology for lifting permeable textiles [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-cost Automation for Prepreg Handling - Two Cases from the Aerospace Industry

Björnsson¹,

Lindbäck²,

Eklund³

et al. 2015

SAE Int. J. Mater. Manf.

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With an increased use of composite materials within the aerospace industry follows a need for rational and cost-effective methods for composite manufacturing. Manual operations are still common for low to medium manufacturing volumes and complex products. Manual operations can for example be found in material handling, when picking prepreg plies from a cutter table and stacking them to form a plane laminate in preparation for a subsequent forming operation. Stacking operations of this kind often involves a great number of different ply geometries and removal of backing paper and other protecting materials like plastic. In this paper two different demonstrator cells for automated picking of prepreg plies and stacking of plane laminates are presented. One demonstrator is utilizing a standard industrial robot and an advanced end-effector to handle the ply variants. The other demonstrator is using a dual arm robot which allow for simpler end-effector design. In combination with a previously developed system for automated removal of backing papers both systems have shown to be capable of automatically picking prepreg plies from a plane surface and stack them to generate a flat multistack laminate. The dual arm approach has shown advantageous since it result in simpler end-effector design and a successive lay down sequence that result in good adhesion between the plies in the laminate.

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Flexible gripping technology for the automated handling of limp technical textiles in composites industry

Cited by 31 publications

References 10 publications

Enabling Automation of Composite Manufacturing through the Use of Off-The-Shelf Solutions

Enabling Automation of Composite Manufacturing through the Use of Off-The-Shelf Solutions

Automated Removal of Prepreg Backing Paper - A Sticky Problem

Low-cost Automation for Prepreg Handling - Two Cases from the Aerospace Industry

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