Laying die, laying device and method for manufacturing a laying die

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016151983-A1
Application number	US-201414786815-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 22, 2014
Priority date	Apr 24, 2013
Publication date	Jun 2, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A laying die, for picking up and laying of substrates, comprising an elastically deformable substrate receiving structure providing an engagement surface for releasable receiving of substrates, an attaching element comprising a gas channel for providing positively or negatively pressurized gas for picking up and blowing off the substrates, and a carrier body made from elastically deformable material and sandwiched between the substrate receiving structure and the attaching element which is arranged to distribute the positively or negatively pressurized gas over the carrier body. The carrier body comprises breakthroughs to transfer the pressurized gas from the attaching element to the substrate receiving structure that comprises an elastically deformable distribution plate to distribute the positively or negatively pressurized gas over the engagement surface. Also, a laying device which changes the position and/or orientation of substrates to predetermined values can comprise the laying die and a method for manufacturing the laying die.

First claim

1 . A laying die for picking up and laying of substrates, the laying die comprising
an elastically deformable substrate receiving structure configured to provide an engagement surface to releasably receive substrates; an attaching element comprising a gas channel configured to provide positively or negatively pressurized gas to pick up and blow off the substrates; a carrier body made from an elastically deformable material, the carrier body being sandwiched between the substrate receiving structure and the attaching element, the attaching element being arranged to distribute the positively or negatively pressurized gas over the carrier body, and the carrier body comprising a plurality of breakthroughs to transfer the positively or negatively pressurized gas from the attaching element to the substrate receiving structure, and the substrate receiving structure comprising an elastically deformable distribution plate to distribute the positively or negatively pressurized gas over the engagement surface of the substrate receiving structure.

2 . The laying die according to claim 1 , wherein the breakthroughs are evenly distributed over a longitudinal extension direction of the carrier body, and are formed as slits extending perpendicular to the longitudinal extension direction of the carrier body.

3 . The laying die according to claim 1 , wherein the breakthroughs are formed as circles arranged in a matrix with more than two rows and two columns.

4 . The laying die according to claim 1 , wherein
wall surfaces of at least one of the breakthroughs and the carrier body surfaces at least partially comprise air-tight seals formed with a glue, or a silicon film glued to or a thermoplastic film melted to at least one of the wall surfaces and the carrier body surfaces.

5 . The laying die according to claim 1 , wherein the distribution plate comprises
an elastically deformable film which comprises evenly distributed holes; and a heating element.

6 . The laying die according to claim 1 , wherein
the distribution plate comprises a sandwich structure of two stacked elastically deformable films with correspondingly arranged holes, and the heating element is arranged in between the two films (40, 41) .

7 . The laying die according to claim 1 , further comprising
a cambering device to actively deform at least one of the carrier body and the substrate receiving structure according to a predetermined deformation after substrates are picked up by the laying die.

8 . The laying die according to claim 7 , wherein the cambering device comprises at least one rope system, the rope system comprising a rope to pull at least one of the carrier body and the substrate receiving structure into the predetermined camber.

9 . The laying die according to claim 8 , wherein the rope is arranged in the breakthroughs of the carrier body, the breakthroughs of the carrier body being adapted to concentrate a negative pressure in the area of lateral edges of the carrier body.

10 . The laying device for picking-up and laying of the substrates according to at least one of predefined positions and orientations, the laying device comprising a laying die according to claim 1 .

11 . The laying device according to claim 10 , comprising
a robot arm configured to at least one of move the laying die in a plurality of spatial directions; rotate the laying die around an axis intersecting an upper surface of the attaching element; and pivot the laying die around an axis parallel to the upper surface of the attaching element.

12 . The laying device according to claim 10 , further comprising
a control device configured to control at least one of movement, rotation and pivoting of the laying die, the control device comprising a storage device configured to store predetermined values of at least one of the position and orientation of the substrates, and an activation device configured to activate at least one of movement, rotation and pivoting of the laying die.

13 . The laying device according to claim 12 , wherein the control device is configured to control the cambering device based on predetermined cambering values stored in the storage device.

14 . A method for manufacturing a laying die, comprising:
providing an elastically deformable substrate receiving structure with an elastically deformable distribution plate; providing a carrier body made from an elastically deformable material; providing an attaching element comprising a gas channel; distributing a plurality of breakthroughs into the carrier body; and sandwiching the carrier body between the substrate receiving structure and the attaching element.

15 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the providing the elastically deformable structure comprises
providing two elastically deformable films; arranging a heating element between the two films to provide a stack; and distributing a plurality of holes into the stack.

16 . The laying die according to claim 2 , wherein
wall surfaces of at least one of the breakthroughs and the carrier body surfaces at least partially comprise air-tight seals formed with a glue, or a silicon film glued to or a thermoplastic film melted to at least one of the wall surfaces and the carrier body surfaces.

17 . The laying die according to claim 3 , wherein
wall surfaces of at least one of the breakthroughs and the carrier body surfaces at least partially comprise air-tight seals formed with a glue, or a silicon film glued to or a thermoplastic film melted to at least one of the wall surfaces and the carrier body surfaces.

18 . The laying die according to claim 2 , wherein the distribution plate comprises
an elastically deformable film which comprises evenly distributed holes; and a heating element.

19 . The laying die according to claim 3 , wherein the distribution plate comprises
an elastically deformable film which comprises evenly distributed holes; and a heating element.

20 . The laying die according to claim 4 , wherein the distribution plate comprises
an elastically deformable film which comprises evenly distributed holes; and a heating element.

Assignees

• Airbus Defence & Space Gmbh

Inventors

• Coquel Maxime
• Akif Öztzan

Classifications

• B29C70/38 Primary

  Automated lay-up, e.g. using robots, laying filaments according to predetermined patterns {(application heads for tyres B29D30/28)} · CPC title

• B29B11/16

  comprising fillers or reinforcement {(non-woven fabrics per se D04H1/00, D04H3/00)} · CPC title

• B29B13/023

  Half-products, e.g. films, plates · CPC title

• B29C31/08

  of preforms {to be moulded, e.g. tablets, fibre reinforced preforms, extruded ribbons, tubes or profiles; Manipulating means specially adapted for feeding preforms, e.g. supports conveyors (B29C31/066, B29C37/001, B29C43/085 take precedence)} · CPC title

• B29C70/388 Primary

  Tape placement heads, e.g. component parts, details or accessories · CPC title