Design of a new feed-deposition head for robotized filament winding

This work deals with the design of a new feed and deposition head for a robotized cell able to manufacture complex shape parts in composite material by means of the filament winding technology. The adopted criteria aim to increase both the filament winding efficiency and the composite part quality by designing a system able to control the process parameters, such as the roving tension, the winding speed and the winding trajectory through a very compact and flexible frame, that presents in a single solution the pinboard, the roving tensioner, the roving-guide system and the deposition head. Moreover, the same frame is able to satisfy manufacturing and assembling requirements. Finally, the new proposed system has been designed in such a way as to be easily adaptable to every robot or machine used to wind, since it has a flange that may be easily connected with the robot end-effector by warranting a high precision and a high repeatability of the roving locating during the winding process. The new head working and its interaction with the most critical process parameters have been evaluated through experimental tests. This work belongs to a research project aiming to develop an integrated environment for winding complex shape parts through a robotized cell.