Filament winding apparatus, filament winding design method, and manufacturing method of tank

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10994498-B2
Application number	US-201916394714-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 25, 2019
Priority date	May 10, 2018
Publication date	May 4, 2021
Grant date	May 4, 2021

Abstract

A filament winding apparatus includes: N guide members arranged around a liner having an elongate shape such that the N guide members are centered around a center axis of the liner, the center axis extending in a longitudinal direction of the liner, each of the N guide members being configured to supply one bundle of fibers, and N being an integer equal to or larger than two, a drive unit configured to repeat, W times, a winding operation to helically wind N bundles of fibers supplied respectively from the N guide members around the liner at the same winding angle to form a reinforcing layer, the winding operation being an operation in which each of the N guide members travels, in a direction parallel to the center axis of the liner, from and back to a winding start position, and W being an integer equal to or larger than two.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A filament winding apparatus comprising:
N guide members arranged around a liner having an elongate shape such that the N guide members are centered around a center axis of the liner, the center axis extending in a longitudinal direction of the liner, each of the N guide members being configured to supply one bundle of fibers, and N being an integer equal to or larger than two; and
a drive unit configured to repeat, W times, a winding operation to helically wind N bundles of fibers supplied respectively from the N guide members around the liner at the same winding angle to form a reinforcing layer, the winding operation being an operation in which each of the N guide members travels, in a direction parallel to the center axis of the liner, from and back to a winding start position, and W being an integer equal to or larger than two, wherein
W is the number of time of the winding operation at a time when a group of numerical values n and a group of numerical values m calculated by a formula (1) to a formula (3) match each other in no particular order,
n=L{x }, a function L{x } is a function to take out a fractional portion of x,   (1)

x=θgM /(360/ W )  (2)

m =( M− 1)/ N , where  (3)

n is a value indicating a first position of each of the bundles of fibers at a time when the N bundles of fibers are wound around the liner for W times,
m is a value indicating a second position set such that the N bundles of fibers are equally arranged on the liner,
θgM is a relative angle (0°≤θgM<360°) of one of the N guide members around the center axis to an origin (0°) when a position of another of the N guide members is set as the origin (0°), and
M is a number assigned to each of the N guide members, M being an integer equal to or larger than one and equal to or smaller than N.

2. The filament winding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the liner includes: a cylindrical section; and two ends that close both of longitudinal ends of the cylindrical section, and
when a rate of an area of the cylindrical section covered by one of the bundles of fibers with respect to a surface area of the cylindrical section is referred to as a coverage rate of the one bundle of fibers, a sum of the coverage rates of the N bundles of fibers is set within a range that is equal to or larger than 100% and equal to or smaller than 110%.

3. The filament winding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the liner includes: a cylindrical section; and two ends that close both of longitudinal ends of the cylindrical section, and
when a rate of an area of the cylindrical section covered by one of the bundles of fibers with respect to a surface area of the cylindrical section is referred to as a coverage rate of the one bundle of fibers, a sum of the coverage rates of the N bundles of fibers is set within a range that is equal to or larger than 75% and smaller than 100%.

4. The filament winding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
N indicating the number of the guide members is any one of integers equal to or larger than two and equal to or smaller than nine.

5. The filament winding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
N indicating the number of the guide members is any one of integers equal to or larger than two and equal to or smaller than four.

6. The filament winding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the drive unit is configured to cause the N guide members to move in tune of each other.

7. The filament winding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the relative angle θgM of each of the N guide members satisfies 0°≤θgM<180°.

8. A manufacturing method of a tank accommodating a fluid comprising:
preparing a liner having an elongate shape; and
repeating, W times, a winding operation to helically wind N bundles of fibers supplied respectively from N guide members around the liner at the same winding angle to form a reinforcing layer, the N guide members being centered around a center axis of the liner, the center axis extending in a longitudinal direction of the liner, each of the N guide members being configured to supply one bundle of fibers, and N being an integer equal to or larger than two, the winding operation being an operation in which each of the N guide members travels, in a direction parallel to the center axis of the liner, from and back to a winding start position, and W being an integer equal to or larger than two, wherein
W is the number of times that the winding operation is repeated,
W is the number of time of the winding operation at a time when a group of numerical values n and a group of numerical values m calculated by a formula (1) to a formula (3) match each other in no particular order,
n=L{x }, a function L{x } is a function to take out a fractional portion of x,   (1)

x=θgM /(360/ W )  (2)

m =( M− 1)/ N , where  (3)

n is a value indicating a first position of each of the bundles of fibers at a time when the N bundles of fibers are wound around the liner for W times,
m is a value indicating a second position set such that the N bundles of fibers are equally arranged on the liner,
θgM is a relative angle (0°≤θgM<360°) of one of the N guide members around the center axis to an origin (0°) when a position of another of the N guide members is set as the origin (0°), and
M is a number assigned to each of the N guide members, M being an integer equal to or larger than one and equal to or smaller than N.

9. A filament winding design method comprising:
in a case where N bundles of fibers, which are supplied from N guide members are centered around a center axis of a liner having an elongate shape, the center axis extending in a longitudinal direction of the liner, each of the N guide members being configured to supply one bundle of fibers, and N being an integer equal to or larger than two, are helically wound by repeating a winding operation to helically wind N bundles of fibers supplied respectively from the N guide members around the liner at the same winding angle to form a reinforcing layer, the winding operation being an operation in which each of the N guide members travels, in a direction parallel to the center axis of the liner, from and back to a winding start position, and W being an integer equal to or larger than two, setting W such that W is the number of time of winding operation at a time when a group of numerical values n and a group of numerical values m calculated by a formula (1) to a formula (3) match each other in no particular order,
n=L{x }, a function L{x } is a function to take out a fractional portion of x,   (1)

x=θgM /(360/ W )  (2)

m =( M− 1)/ N , where  (3)

n is a value indicating a first position of each of the bundles of fibers at a time when the N bundles of fibers are wound around the liner for W times,
m is a value indicating a second position set such that the N bundles of fibers are equally arranged on the liner,
θgM is a relative angle (0°≤θgM<360°) of one of the N guide members around the center axis to an origin (0°) when a position of another of the N guide members is set as the origin (0°), and
M is a number assigned to each of the N guide members, M being an integer equal to or larger than one and equal to or smaller than N.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kobayashi Tomoyoshi
• Hidaka Yuji

Classifications

• B65H57/14

  Pulleys, rollers, or rotary bars · CPC title

• B29C53/602 Primary

  for tubular articles having closed or nearly closed ends, e.g. vessels, tanks, containers · CPC title

• B29C53/8016

  Storing, feeding or applying winding materials, e.g. reels, thread guides, tensioners · CPC title

• B29L2031/712

  Containers; Packaging elements or accessories, Packages (closures therefor B29L2031/56; ink or toner cartridges B29L2031/7678; squeeze tubes B29L2023/20; suitcases B29L2031/7418) · CPC title

• B29C53/58

  helically · CPC title