Tension Control System Design Based On The Heated-Mandrel Winding Process

With the development of the material science and manufacture process, thecomposite is widely applied in variety of fields. The fiber winding moldingprocess is one of the most practical molding methods because it is able toimprove the material performance and reduce the production cost. The windingtension is the key to the molding process since the quality of the molding shelldepends on the winding tension values. Therefore, it is vital important for themolding shell to control the winding tension. However, for different production,the tension design methods are different as well. The shell can be obtained bycombining the appropriate tension values with the reasonable tension controlsystem. So, the designs of the tension system and the tension control system arevery important for the shell quality.The heated-mandrel winding process adopted in this paper is a new type ofmolding process. The winding tension will vary caused by the temperatureinfluence. Therefore, the traditional molding method is no longer suitable for theheated-mandrel winding process. The tension system model is established in thispaper. The relationships of the heating temperature, the cure degree of resin, theelastic modulus of composite and the residual stress existing in the shell arereflected in the model. An example is used to simulate the tension model, and thesimulation results are applied to compare with the experimental data. It is shownthat the model established in this paper is accurate enough. The practicalproduction is completed by applying the tension values obtained from the modelin the tension control system.The tension system based on the heated-mandrel winding process candecrease the residual stress, ensure the winding layers to be dense, reduce theresin lamination and improve the shell quality. The traditional molding process issimplified by the heated-mandrel winding process. Therefore, the research in this paper provides a basic theory to produce the good quality shell and realizes theautomation control.