Fiber placement system and method with modulated laser scan heating

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10016932-B2
Application number	US-201514711133-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 13, 2015
Priority date	May 13, 2015
Publication date	Jul 10, 2018
Grant date	Jul 10, 2018

Abstract

A fiber placement system including a compaction roller rotatable about an axis of rotation, the compaction roller at least partially defining a compaction nip region, and a laser heating assembly including a laser that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation and a scan head defining a scan field, the scan field being aligned with the compaction nip region, wherein the scan head scans the beam within the scan field.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fiber placement system comprising:
a compaction roller rotatable about an axis of rotation, said compaction roller at least partially defining a compaction nip region; and
a laser heating assembly comprising:
a laser that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation;
a scan head defining a scan field, said scan field being aligned with said compaction nip region, wherein said scan head scans said beam within said scan field to vary a location of said beam in said compaction nip region, and wherein said scan head comprises a galvo assembly comprising at least one galvanometer device, wherein said galvo assembly receives said beam emitted by said laser and varies a location of said beam in said scan head; and
a controller configured to control said galvo assembly to scan said beam while varying at least one of a speed at which said galvo assembly of said scan head scans said beam, an optical power of said beam and a pulse frequency of said beam to obtain a desired heating profile within said compaction nip region.

2. The fiber placement system of claim 1 wherein said galvo assembly comprises an x-axis galvanometer device and a y-axis galvanometer device.

3. The fiber placement system of claim 1 wherein said scan head further comprises an optical element.

4. The fiber placement system of claim 3 wherein said optical element comprises a telecentric lens.

5. The fiber placement system of claim 1 wherein said pulse frequency ranges from about 1 kHz to about 10 kHz.

6. The fiber placement system of claim 1 wherein said pulse frequency ranges from about 3 kHz to about 6 kHz.

7. The fiber placement system of claim 1 wherein said beam has a wavelength ranging from about 0.75 μm to about 1.4 μm.

8. The fiber placement system of claim 1 further comprising:
a substrate, wherein said compaction roller and said substrate define a nip therebetween; and
a composite ply positioned in said nip.

9. The fiber placement system of claim 8 wherein said scan head is spaced about 6 inches to about 12 inches from said nip.

10. The fiber placement system of claim 8 wherein said composite ply comprises a reinforcement material and a thermoplastic polymer.

11. The fiber placement system of claim 1 wherein said scan head scans said beam in a scan row extending across said scan field.

12. The fiber placement system of claim 11 wherein said scan row comprises at least one heat zone and at least one dead zone.

13. The fiber placement system of claim 1 wherein said beam is focused into a spot, and wherein said spot is moved throughout said scan field.

14. The fiber placement system of claim 1 wherein said beam is focused into a spot having a maximum transverse dimension ranging from about 0.001 inch to about 1 inch.

15. The fiber placement system of claim 1 wherein said beam is focused into a spot having a maximum transverse dimension ranging from about 0.01 inch to about 0.1 inch.

16. The fiber placement system of claim 1 wherein said scan field extends in an x-axis direction and a y-axis direction, and wherein said scan head scans said beam within said scan field to vary a location of said beam along an x-axis direction and a y-axis direction in said compaction nip region.

17. The fiber placement system of claim 1 wherein said laser assembly further comprises an optical fiber coupling the laser with said scan head.

18. The fiber placement system of claim 1 wherein said controller is configured to apply greater heating to scan rows closest to the compaction nip region than scan rows further from the compaction nip region.

19. The fiber placement system of claim 1 wherein said compaction roller is at least partially housed with an application head of an automated fiber placement machine.

20. The fiber placement system of claim 19 wherein said application head is moveable by way of a robotic arm.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Moore Stephen G
• Dillon Alexandra K

Classifications

• B29C65/1412 Primary

  Infrared [IR] radiation · CPC title

• B29C70/386 Primary

  Automated tape laying [ATL] · CPC title

• B29K2101/12

  Thermoplastic materials · CPC title

• G02B26/101

  with both horizontal and vertical deflecting means, e.g. raster or XY scanners (colour television using laser beams scanning a display screen H04N9/3129) · CPC title

• B29K2105/0872

  Prepregs · CPC title