Abstract

Automated fiber placement (AFP) is an advanced manufacturing technology used to manufacture light weight composite structures by depositing the fiber layers using robotic manipulators and is notably applied to aerospace components manufacturing. However, the commercially available AFP machines are designed to manufacturing simple structures like shallow shells or tubes and they are large and bulky therefore they are incapable of handling some applications with more complex shapes and in small workspaces.

A small-size AFP head is proposed to manufacture complex composite components and fulfill other objectives of the project such as having the ability of depositing layer on the flat surface. The AFP head is attached as a tool to the end effector of a FANUC M-20iA 6 degree-of-freedom (DOF) serial robot. It utilizes a thermoset tow of ¼ inch width, and is designed to be small size and optimum as possible to ensure optimal maneuverability in order to place the Fiber on the inner surface of V-shaped structures. This system consists of the aforementioned robot, the AFP head, the controller of the Robot arm Fanuc system R30i-B and a computer which the operator could use for generating the path using the proposed algorithm. The solutions required mechanical system design and implementation, electrical circuit design and implementation, and path planning programming. Two offline programming path planning algorithms using RoboDK post processor are developed for depositing the layers on the flat surface and on the inner surface of V-shaped structures. A software package has been developed to generate the full code and send it to the controller of the robot. Hence the operator is able to run the code directly with the Teach pendant (TP) of the robot.

The simulation has been conducted in the RoboDK software package based on the determined minimal angle and the limitations which have been calculated by deriving the mathematical model from the geometry of the AFP and the test parts. Experimental results also demonstrate the successful path planning and fiber placement machining procedure.