JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #148 - November/December 2022 - 24

MANUFACTURlNG automation
Cygnet Texkimp's solution uses decades of fibre
handling expertise
report, countries are anticipating 4.5 million
hydrogen-powered FCEVs (fuel cell electric
vehicles) by 2030, with 10,500 hydrogen refuelling
stations (HRS) needed to fuel them.
Automation is essential in scaling up manufacturing
capacity to achieve these volumes.
Achieving the right production quantities
is a critical challenge for potential adopters
of composite tanks, particularly in the
automotive market, where manufacturers are
looking for ways to make hydrogen viable for
mainstream light-duty and passenger vehicles.
Automation transforms what can be achieved
here, allowing manufacturers to make more
tanks in a given time by manipulating them
efficiently through and out of the process.
Placing an automated system around the
winder to manage input materials and output
parts means manufacturers can process tanks
more quickly and consistently.
Cygnet Texkimp's system is customised to
the needs of each application. In an example
scenario, an automatic guided vehicle (AGV)mounted
robot lifts and loads bobbins of fibre
on and off a multi-position fibre unwinding
creel. It loads and unloads mandrels in and out
of the filament winder, weighs the tank before
and after loading and transports the tank to a
curing oven, where it loads it into and out of
the curing phase.
Manufacturing considerations
Cygnet Texkimp's solution is designed to manufacture
tanks to store hydrogen under high
pressure (350-700 bar). Current automotive
and aerospace applications commonly require
vessels with a wall thickness of 30 to 40 mm.
Several kilometres of fibre are used to make
each vessel and onboard tanks for commercial
or heavy-duty vehicles can be significantly
larger.
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jec composites magazine / N°
The company offers bespoke robotic filament
winding cells featuring up to nine axes.
Capable of laying down a lot of fibre quickly,
the filament winder is a flexible solution for
tanks, while the multi-axis winder is designed
for piping. The 3D winder can produce more
complex, curved shapes. Each filament winding
technology offers a high level of accuracy
in the placement of fibres around the mandrel,
with more axes delivering greater accuracy.
This means that the minimum amount of
fibre is needed to achieve a desired strength
and performance in the finished tank. As a
result, the weight of the tank is also kept to a
minimum, which gives greater fuel efficiency.
Fibre handling expertise
Like all of its machinery, the company's
automated filament winding system features
specialist web handling technologies designed
to protect the health and integrity of the fibre
from package to process. These include fibre
tensioning and guiding systems, smooth surface
finishes and automated package handling
technologies.
Good fibre handling is essential to achieve
the highest level of quality and consistency
of materials and finished parts. If the manufacturer
misaligns or mishandles the fibre, or
does not use the correct control surfaces to
unwind over, the integrity and performance of
the intermediate material will slowly degrade.
If this happens, more fibre will be required to
achieve the same properties, therefore increasing
weight and CO2
emissions, or worse, risk
degrading the performance of the final part.
Looking after the material makes it possible to
use less of it, and this leads to major benefits,
not least in terms of cost.
Traceability and consistency
The automated filament winding line also offers
detailed traceability and quality assurance
capability for the finished tank via a factory
management and embedded data system that
measures and records data such as input materials,
fibre tension, resin-to-fibre ratio, winding
speed and fibre placement mapping.
By adding a layer of monitoring and recording
capability, the company is giving manufacturers
the tools to gather data to show that every component
has been built to the exact parameters
intended. Not only is this particularly attractive
148 November - December 2022
for manufactures fulfilling stringent safety
requirements, it is also useful at the end of the
tank's life to help the market understand how
materials can be recycled or disposed of safely.
Thermoset and thermoplastic capability
Currently, the technology can be used to
manufacture vessels from thermoset slit tapes,
thermoset towpregs, and dry fibres combined
with a wet-out system. Cygnet Texkimp
launched its thermoplastic UD prepreg or UD
tape processing line in 2019 and is in advanced
stages of adapting the tank winding solution
to incorporate thermoplastic composite towpregs
and slit tapes, which will give advantages
of greater sustainability and enhanced performance.
The technology will be compatible
with thermoplastic tapes.
Sustainability
The company designed its tank manufacturing
line as a fully-integrated solution that can
be customised to fit within a relatively small
manufacturing plant. This will enable manufacturers
to process tanks on or close to the site
where the hydrogen vessels will be used. By
reducing the need to transport empty vessels,
the system further maximises the ecological
benefits of hydrogen energy.
A full-scale, production-ready version of
the automated filament winding solution is
currently housed at the company's Cheshirebased
Innovation Centre, where OEMs can
design and test applications alongside specialist
mechanical and software engineers.
World markets agree that hydrogen has a vital
role to play in achieving emission-free travel.
Making energy transition ambitions a reality,
particularly in the mainstream heavy-duty and
light commercial vehicle market, now relies
on innovative new manufacturing solutions
to upscale production in a way that is reliable,
consistent and cost-effective.
Cygnet Texkimp's solution has been
developed alongside end users in the
automotive, aerospace and maritime sectors
and is available for manufacturers to come
and test for themselves in a secure, dedicated
environment.
More information:
www.cygnet-texkimp.com
http://www.cygnet-texkimp.com
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #148 - November/December 2022

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