The California-based manufacturer ACPT Inc. worked with the machine supplier to establish an innovative semi-automatic production line equipped with an automatic filament winding machine. #workinprogress #Automation
ACPT’s carbon fiber composite drive shafts are used in a range of industries. Photo source, all images: Roth Composite Machinery
For many years, composite material manufacturer Advanced Composites Products & Technology Inc. (Huntington Beach ACPT, California, USA) has been committed to developing and perfecting the design of its carbon fiber composite drive shaft-carbon fiber composite material or large metal pipe connecting the front and rear parts The drive system under most vehicles. Although initially used in the automotive field, these multifunctional components are also widely used in marine, commercial, wind energy, defense, aerospace and industrial applications. Over the years, ACPT has seen a steady increase in the demand for carbon fiber composite drive shafts. As demand continued to grow, ACPT recognized the need to manufacture a larger number of drive shafts with higher manufacturing efficiencies—hundreds of the same shafts every week—that led to new innovations in automation and, ultimately, the establishment of new facilities.
According to ACPT, the reason for the increased demand for drive shafts is that carbon fiber drive shafts have a unique combination of functions compared to metal drive shafts, such as higher torque capacity, higher RPM capabilities, better reliability, lighter weight, and It tends to decompose into relatively harmless carbon fiber under high impact and reduce noise, vibration and roughness (NVH).
In addition, compared with traditional steel drive shafts, it is reported that carbon fiber drive shafts in cars and trucks can increase the horsepower of the rear wheels of vehicles by more than 5%, mainly due to the lighter rotating mass of composite materials. Compared with steel, the lightweight carbon fiber drive shaft can absorb more impact and have a higher torque capacity, which can transmit more engine power to the wheels without causing the tires to slip or separate from the road.
For many years, ACPT has been producing carbon fiber composite drive shafts through filament winding at its California plant. In order to expand to the required level, it is necessary to increase the scale of facilities, improve production equipment, and simplify process control and quality inspection by shifting responsibilities from human technicians to automated processes as much as possible. In order to achieve these goals, ACPT decided to build a second production facility and equip it with a higher level of automation.
ACPT works with customers in the automotive, defense, marine, and industrial industries to design driveshafts according to their needs.
ACPT established this new production facility in Schofield, Wisconsin, USA to minimize the interruption of drive shaft production during the 1.5-year process of designing, constructing, purchasing, and installing new factories and production equipment, of which 10 months are dedicated to Construction, delivery and installation of automatic filament winding systems.
Each step of the composite drive shaft production process is automatically evaluated: filament winding, resin content and wetting control, oven curing (including time and temperature control), removal of parts from the mandrel, and processing between each step Mandrel process. However, due to budgetary reasons and ACPT’s need for a less permanent, mobile system to allow a limited number of R&D experiments if necessary, it refused to use overhead or floor-standing gantry automation systems as an option.
After negotiating with multiple suppliers, the final solution was a two-part production system: a type 1, two-axis automatic filament reel with multiple winding carts from Roth Composite Machinery (Stephenburg, Germany) Winding system; Moreover, it is not a fixed automated system, but a semi-automatic spindle handling system designed by Globe Machine Manufacturing Co. (Tacoma, Washington, USA).
ACPT stated that one of the main advantages and requirements of the Roth filament winding system is its proven automation capability, which is designed to allow two spindles to produce parts at the same time. This is especially important given that ACPT’s proprietary drive shaft requires multiple material changes. In order to automatically and manually cut, thread and reconnect different fibers each time the material is changed, Roth’s Roving Cut and Attach (RCA) function enables the winding machine to automatically change materials through its multiple manufacturing carts. Roth resin bath and fiber drawing technology can also ensure a precise fiber to resin wetting ratio without oversaturation, allowing the winder to run faster than traditional winders without wasting too much resin. After the winding is completed, the winding machine will automatically disconnect the mandrel and parts from the winding machine.
The winding system itself is automated, but still leaves a large part of the processing and movement of the mandrel between each manufacturing step, which was previously done manually. This includes preparing the bare mandrels and connecting them to the winding machine, moving the mandrel with the wound parts to the oven for curing, moving the mandrel with the cured parts, and removing the parts from the mandrel. As a solution, Globe Machine Manufacturing Co. developed a process involving a series of trolleys designed to accommodate the mandrel located on the trolley. The rotation system in the cart is used to position the mandrel so that it can be moved in and out of the winder and extractor, and continuously rotate while the parts are wetted by the resin and cured in the oven.
These mandrel carts are moved from one station to another, assisted by two sets of ground-mounted conveyor arms — one set on the coiler and the other set in the integrated extraction system — with the mandrel The cart moves in a coordinated way, and takes the rest axis to each process. The custom chuck on the cart automatically clamps and releases the spindle, in coordination with the automatic chuck on the Roth machine.
Roth two-axis precision resin tank assembly. The system is designed for two main shafts of composite materials and transported to a dedicated material winding car.
In addition to this mandrel transfer system, Globe also provides two curing ovens. After curing and mandrel extraction, the parts are transferred to a precise length cutting machine, followed by a numerical control system for processing the tube ends, and then cleaning and application of adhesive using press fittings. Torque testing, quality assurance and product tracking are completed before packaging and shipping for end-use customers.
According to ACPT, an important aspect of the process is its ability to track and record data such as facility temperature, humidity level, fiber tension, fiber speed, and resin temperature for each winding group. This information is stored for product quality inspection systems or production tracking, and allows operators to adjust production conditions when necessary.
The entire process developed by Globe is described as “semi-automated” because a human operator is still required to press a button to initiate the process sequence and manually move the cart in and out of the oven. According to ACPT, Globe envisions a higher degree of automation for the system in the future.
The Roth system includes two spindles and three independent winding cars. Each winding trolley is designed for automatic conveying of different composite materials. The composite material is applied to both spindles at the same time.
After the first year of production at the new plant, ACPT reported that the equipment has successfully demonstrated that it can achieve its production targets while saving labor and materials and providing consistently high-quality products. The company hopes to cooperate with Globe and Roth again in future automation projects.
For more information, please contact ACPT President Ryan Clampitt (rclamptt@acpt.com), Roth Composite Machinery National Sales Manager Joseph Jansen (joej@roth-usa.com) or Advanced Composite Equipment Director Jim Martin at Globe Machine Manufacturing Co. (JimM@globemachine.com).
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Post time: Aug-07-2021