TSP Iasc 19274
TSP Iasc 19274
TSP Iasc 19274
DOI:10.32604/iasc.2021.019274
Article
1
College of Engineering & Technology, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China
2
Engineering Research Center of Flax processing technology Ministry of Education, P.R.C, Qiqihar University, Qiqihar,
Heilongjiang, 161006, China
3
Kennedy College of Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, 01852, USA
Corresponding Author: Xigui Wang. Email: wxg1972@nefu.edu.cn
Received: 08 April 2021; Accepted: 12 May 2021
1 Introduction
Composite materials are increasingly used for aircraft construction in the aviation industry due to their
high performance-to-weight ratios, low thermal conductivity, good corrosion resistance, good chemical/
physical stability, vibration reduction and anti-magnetic characteristics, as well many other excellent
properties [1–2]. The fabrication of composite materials often involves various molding technologies
including autoclave molding, filament winding, fiber placement, resin transfer molding (RTM), and
pultrusion and hand lay-up processes [3]. Filament winding is a low-cost, high efficiency technology that
has been successfully used to produce pressure vessels, pipes, shafts and other axisymmetric bodies [4].
However, many challenges still exist in filament winding of asymmetric components such as composite
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original
work is properly cited.
652 IASC, 2021, vol.30, no.2
tees and elbows. Due to the complex geometric topology of asymmetric parts, the design of the winding path
is difficult. As a minimum, a 4-axis computer-controlled winding machine is required to produce asymmetric
components. In most cases, to reduce production costs, manual winding and hand lay-up processes are used
to produce asymmetric components. However, the production efficiency is low and product quality is not
consistent.
Several companies offer commercial filament winding computer-aided design (CAD) software including
FiberGrafiX™ (ENTEC Composite Machines, USA), CADFIL™ (Crescent Consultants, UK),
CADWIND™ (MATERIAL SA, Belgium), and ComposicaD™. According to ENTEC, its FiberGrafiX™
software is used in more filament winding machines around the world than any other similar application.
Fiber paths can be created in the software and used to wind parts for machines with two to six axes of
motion. Crescent Consultants offers CADFIL as both a standard or customized software package for use
with any numerically controlled winding machine. CADFIL-Lite has many of the same features as the
more powerful CADFIL-Axsym package but with quick and simple parametric programming for
common filament winding geometries. The CADWIND software from MATERIAL SA can calculate
winding patterns for any mandrel geometry and automatically generate a program to produce the part on
any winding machine [5–6]. The ComposicaD software can generate winding patterns for any filament
winding machine including pipes and tubes, tanks and vessels, any figure of revolution, pipe tees and
elbows, spars and other geometric shapes [7].
Although the four commercial software mentioned above can be used to design and produce asymmetric
winding components such as elbows and tees, a computer numerical control (CNC) winding machine with a
minimum of four axesis required for combined-elbow winding and the software is expensive. Han et al. [8–9]
proposed differential geometry surface theory to obtain the geodesic and non-geometric expressions for
designing the fiber path and machine path for elbows. The elbow mandrel rotates around its chord,
therefore, the mandrel servo motor must work hard during the winding process. The high torque demands
high geometric accuracy of elbow mandrel and if a computer-controlled winding machine with fewer
than 4 axes is used to complete the winding process, linear distortion and interference may occur. Xu [10]
investigated the geodesic winding trajectory for a six-degrees-of-freedom industrial robot with a
composite elbow. Parameter variation caused by the enveloping form, length of the hanging filament, and
geodesic winding was considered.
The commercial software and investigations mentioned above are suitable for winding of elbows when
the length L1 of cylindrical part AB is equal to the length L2 of cylindrical part CD, as shown in Fig. 1. The
length should be short, and the winding process must be completed with no less than a 4-axis CNC winding
machine. Through partial application of non-geodesics for the cylindrical sections of the elbow, this last
requirement can be met. This paper aims to investigate the winding trajectory of the composite elbow and
presents a structure model of the composite elbow winding machine suitable for industrial production that
ensures a precise winding pattern with no bridging or slippage. The winding method requires only a
3-axis CNC winding machine and has low precision requirements for the composite elbow mandrel. The
proposed method is low cost with high production efficiency and is suitable for mass industrial production.
2.2 Schematic Diagram and Working Principle of Composite Elbow Winding Machine
A schematic diagram of the composite elbow winding machine is presented in Fig. 2. The machine
consists of an elbow mandrel bracket (1), elbow mandrel (2), carriage assembly (3), servo motor for
swinging the carriage (4), servo motor for generating vertical movement of the elbow mandrel (5),
counterweight to the elbow mandrel (6), servo motor for rotating the elbow mandrel (7), and machine
bed (8). The winding process of the composite elbow can be described as follows. When the cylindrical
sections AB and CD are wound, the elbow mandrel is driven by the servo motor (5) to produce
vertical linear movement along the machine bed (8), and the carriage assembly (3) is driven by the servo
motor (4) and rotates around the elbow mandrel to complete the helical winding process of the cylindrical
section. For winding the torus section BC, the composite elbow mandrel (2) is driven by the servo
motor (7) and swings around center O while the carriage assembly (3), driven by the servo motor (4),
rotates around the elbow mandrel (2) to complete the winding process of the torus section.
Traditional composite elbow winding mandrels usually have cylindrical sections (AB and CD) of equal
length on both ends. The length of the cylindrical sections should not be too long, so that the elbow mandrel
can rotate about its centerline at both ends, controlled by either a 4-or 5-axis computer-controlled winding
machine. However, the 3-axis composite elbow winding machine does not have any cylindrical length
requirements on either end of the elbow mandrel and the winding process can be completed by a 3-axis
CNC winding machine, which reduces the cost and is more efficient. In this kind of winding machine,
when swing radius R of the torus changes, the distance between the carriage assembly and the bed can be
adjusted by the screw adjustment mechanism to ensure the geometric center O’ of the composite elbow
coincides with the rotation center of the carriage assembly. The elbow mandrel is arranged vertically to
ensure the carriage assembly rotates on the horizontal plane. This makes it easy to place the winding fiber
tows and deal with problems in the winding process, however, it is also easy to collect excess resin
during the winding process. Therefore, a counterweight weight must be added to counteract the weight of
the elbow mandrel, which presents a disadvantage.
Considering a microelement on the torus of the elbow section, as shown in Fig. 3, we obtain.
d’ sin a
¼ (2)
ds r
IASC, 2021, vol.30, no.2 655
dh cos a
¼ (3)
ds R þ rcos’
where α is the winding angle.
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
r
a0 arctan (10)
Rr
80
n = 4,5,...
70
n=3
α(°) 60
n=2
50
According to Eq. (9), the geometric parameter n of the composite elbow and the initial winding angle α0
can be obtained as
ðn 1Þcos a0
cos a ¼ (12)
n þ cos ’
In the composite elbow winding machine shown in Fig. 2, when the torus section is wound, the elbow
mandrel swings around its center of curvature O and the winding eye continuously rotates on the winding
plane of the carriage assembly. Since the swing trajectory of the elbow mandrel around the center of
curvature O is exactly same for the torus forming process, a circle can be obtained by truncating the torus
through the winding plane of the center of curvature O and its center O’ coincides with the center of the
circle formed by the rotation of the winding eye. The combination of the swinging elbow mandrel and
rotating winding eye can be used to complete the filament winding process of the torus section. In the
winding process, letting(n − 1)cos α0 = a (a constant) and substituting this into Eq. (7), the fiber
trajectory motion equation of the torus section can be obtained as
IASC, 2021, vol.30, no.2 657
dh a
f ð’Þ ¼ ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi (13)
d’
ðn þ cos ’Þ ðn þ cos ’Þ2 a2
In the winding process of the torus section, the geometric relationship between the rotation angle φ of the
winding eye corresponding to different n values and swing angle θ is shown in Fig. 5.
120
n=2
100
80
θ (°)
60
n=3
40
n=4
20
n=5
n=6
Z 2p
a
hcircle ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi d’ (16)
0 ðn þ cos ’Þ ðn þ cos ’Þ2 a2
For the elbow shown in Fig. 2, swing angle θ of the elbow mandrel is 90 degree. When the elbow
mandrel swings 90 degree, the total rotation angle φBC of the elbow mandrel can be given by
p=2
’BC ¼ 360 (17)
hcircle
From the differential terms d’=ds in Eqs. (2) and (12), the total fiber trajectory length Scircle in one circle
of rotation angle φ of the winding eye can be expressed as
Z 2p
rðn þ cos ’Þ
Scircle ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi d’ (18)
0 ðn þ cos ’Þ2 a2
The total rotation angle ’eye of the winding eye as the elbow mandrel swings back and forth is
’eye ¼ 2’1T þ 2’1H þ 2’BC þ 2’2H þ 2’2T (26)
For asymmetric complex parts such as composite elbows, use of the multiple tangent point method for
filament winding will lead to fiber bridging on both dome ends. Therefore, the single tangent winding method
is usually adopted. If the initial winding angle α0 is given in a winding loop, the sum of the winding eye
rotation angle in the torus section and the cylindrical sections are decided. As long as the dwell angle θS
in the cylindrical sections is appropriately adjusted on both ends, the total rotation angle of the winding
eye in a loop will be an integer multiple of 360° to obtain the single-tangent point winding process. The
solution of fs is
nh ’eye i o
’s ¼ intð o Þ þ 1 360o ’eye 2 (27)
360
The composite elbow is an asymmetric component and the winding angle is a function of the rotation
angle of the winding eye. Among the latitude lines corresponding to the surface of the torus, ’ = 0 is the
longest latitude line, called the outer arc. During the winding process, if the fiber bands evenly cover the
outer arc surface, they must also cover the entire torus surface. Assuming the swing angle increment of
the elbow mandrel after one rotation circle of the winding eye is hcircle . From Eq. (12), winding angle αm
corresponding to φ = 0° is
ðn 1Þcos a0
am ¼ arcos (28)
nþ1
The projection of a fiber band of width w onto the outer arc is w∕sinαm. The number of fiber bands Np
required to cover the outer arc is
ðR þ rÞhcircle sin am
Np ¼ int þ1 (29)
w
To obtain a fiber band offset, the rotation angle increment ’w of the winding eye is
360o w
’w ¼ (30)
2prcos a0
the machinein space, a PMAC-PC104 motion control card (fifth-generation, Delta Tau, USA) was selected.
The motion control card uses advanced digital signal processing (DSP) technology, including Motorola 56K
series, which is the most powerful motion controller in the world and an outstanding representation of current
open CNC system controllers. The fast and accurate calculation ability is transformed into high-precision and
fast motion trajectory calculation and control, which can be transformed into precise multi-axis motion
trajectories via simple motion programs. The high performance, flexibility, ease of use, and low cost of
the controller provide a complete technical solution for realizing the winding patterns of elbows. Once
the 3-axis coordinate information is defined, the absolute coordinate mode or relative coordinate mode
can be selected. In this study, the relative coordinate mode was used. To cover the surface of the
composite elbow, Np loops were required. The relationship between the motion of the elbow mandrel and
the winding eye for the three motion axes of the PMAC-PC104 motion control card in each loopare
shown in Tab. 2.
Table 2: Motion relationship between the elbow mandrel and the winding eye
No. Elbow mandrel Winding eye
(increment) (increment)
1 0 ð’s þ ’w Þ=2
2 L2T ’2T
3 L2H ’2H
4 p=2 ’BC
5 L1H ’1H
6 L1T ’1T
7 0 ð’s þ ’w Þ=2
8 L1T ’1T
9 L1H ’1H
10 −p=2 ’BC
11 L2H ’2H
12 L2T ’2T
Based on the previous winding motion trajectory analysis, Advantech’s industrial control computer,
PMAC motion control card and VC++ language were used to design a CAM system for composite elbow
filament winding. The control system only requires knowing the length of cylindrical sections AB and
CD, ratio n of bending radius R and radius r of the torus, initial winding angle α0, fiber band width w, as
inputs to wind the composite elbow.
file to the programmable multi-axis controller (PMAC) board program storage area; (4) Start the winding
process of the composite elbow. The composite elbow filament winding pattern is shown in Fig. 6.
Figure 6: Composite elbow winding pattern used in 3-axis winding machine experiment
5 Conclusion
1. Fiber winding trajectory equations for the cylindrical sections and torus section of the elbow based on
non-geodesic and geodesic winding, respectively, were introduced. In addition, boundary conditions
of the initial winding angle without bridging or slippage were proposed.
2. The optimal winding angle α’ can be obtained using the fiber winding trajectory equation of the torus
section of the elbow. The motion correspondence relationship in the helical and transition sections of
cylindrical sections AB and CD and in the torus section of the elbow were obtained.
3. The motion program was written onto a PMAC-PC104 motion control card and tested on a 3-axis
computer-controlled filament winding machine. The results show that the winding pattern is
uniform and the motion control process is stable. This not only verifies the correctness of the
theory presented in this paper but also shows that the 3-axis computer controlled winding
machine can be used for winding of composite elbows. Moreover, the method can be used for
winding composite elbows with cylindrical ends of unequal lengths and provides a low-cost
approach to composite elbow winding.
Acknowledgement: The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Basic Scientific
Research Project (2572020DF01) of Northeast Forestry University and the Fundamental Research Funds
for Higher Education Institutions of Heilongjiang Province (grant numbers 135309513 and 135309109).
Funding Statement: This work was supported by a Basic Scientific Research Project (2572020DF01) of
Northeast Forestry University and the Fundamental Research Funds for Higher Education Institutions of
Heilongjiang Province (grant numbers 135309513 and 135309109).
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to report regarding the
present study.
662 IASC, 2021, vol.30, no.2
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