German company Cevotec has announced that by continuously strengthening and expanding its Fiber Patch Placement technology, it has developed the latest technology that is particularly suitable for the production needs of the aviation industry, namely continuous process monitoring and finite element (FE) simulation technology. .
Cevotec's Samba series fiber placement system is equipped with numerous sensors to monitor the process parameters in real time, thereby achieving continuous quality control and monitoring of the production process.
Cevotec Chief Technology Officer Felix Michl said: "In the aviation manufacturing industry, any mistakes in the production process are unforgivable. Therefore, in order to ensure that the production process and product quality meet the requirements of the specification, and to maximize the safety of flight, Composite parts currently produced using semi-automated technology require individual unit testing. "
Combining with fiber patch placement technology, the production system monitor records a series of important parameters such as cutting from the patch to the pressure control during fiber placement through sensors. It is worth mentioning that the production line is also equipped with special observation equipment to check the quality and dimensional accuracy of each patch before the next process, so as to ensure that the materials used meet 100% of the production specifications. This greatly reduces the amount of work required for final inspection and reduces the rate of product failure.
The detection data will be compared with the early-processed patch data in the database to quickly find data deviations, and then the system can automatically take appropriate corrective measures.
Michl said: "Combined with Machine Learning concept, after processing the data of each patch in the database, the algorithm becomes more and more intelligent."
On the basis of this data, process errors are minimized, thereby ensuring a consistent high paving quality. At the same time, the time and cost required for each detection unit has also been significantly reduced and reduced.
In addition to speeding up production and developing processes, Cevotec has added a plug-in to the well-known finite element analysis software HyperMesh in software development.
Dr. Neven Majic, Executive Vice President of Cevotec, said: "Based on the data related to the shape, position and orientation of the patch defined by PATCH ARTIST, the ARTIST STUDIO plug-in can automatically generate detailed images of the patch in HyperMesh software."
The contours of each patch were used to simulate fiber orientation and areas of overlap. During the analysis, layer-based shell structure models, as well as solid and viscous region models were applied, and the algorithm was finally executed in the inner layer and patch layer of the component.