2023-10-19 06:30:51
Cetim has just acquired a robotic cell capable of manufacturing thermoplastic parts using the process of winding impregnated strips (tapes). Its objective: to optimize this machine to design hydrogen tanks with this composite while respecting the cost constraints of the industry.
Hydrogen appears to be one of the future energy vectors for tomorrow’s clean mobility. The use of this gas in vehicles requires the manufacture of specific tanks to store it. For the moment, they are mainly made of thermosetting composites, but many research projects are underway to design them in thermoplastic. This material indeed has better recyclability, as well as a higher potential for optimizing tanks and could also make it possible to increase their mechanical resistance. Cetim has just acquired a new robotic cell designed by the company AFPT and wishes to optimize it to design thermoplastic hydrogen tanks, with costs that are compatible with the industry.
The robotic cell acquired by Cetim and manufactured for the German company AFPT. Credit: Cetim
“We had already tested a previous model developed by this German company and we had demonstrated the industrial interest of the thermoplastic winding process for producing hydrogen tanks and its technical feasibility, particularly in terms of mechanical resistance,” explains Clément Callens, head of the Polymers and Composites Engineering division at Cetim. Now, we must achieve the economic requirements of the industry by being able to increase manufacturing rates. To achieve this, everything depends on how to use the machine and design the tank according to the process used. Our work will therefore consist of optimizing this triptych: material, design and manufacturing process. »
The machine in question, called HySPIDE TP, works using tape winding technology (impregnated strips), with the particularity that the consolidation of the composite occurs in situ. For this, it is equipped with a laser which heats the strip impregnated with thermoplastic when it is wound on the liner, that is to say on the internal part of the tank. This heating, with the plating on the liner at the same time, makes it possible to consolidate the whole in real time and avoids any additional operation, unlike thermosets which require an additional polymerization step to harden the material.
Greater width of the tapes to increase the surfaces deposited
The main advantage of this new equipment lies in the time savings obtained. The tape removal head should make it possible to multiply the speed of tank manufacturing by 10, compared to the old generation of machines already tested by Cetim. These speeds should reach 100 meters of tape per minute on the body of the tank and 15 meters on the domes, that is to say where the connectors are placed and where the structure proves more complex to design. To increase production rates, a second avenue of work is being explored by increasing the width of the tapes, which can go from 10 to 40 millimeters. Certainly, this increase in size will have the effect of slowing down the manufacturing speed a little, but the surfaces deposited will ultimately be increased.
Another important element: the robotic cell is equipped with a remote magazine, located outside, which allows the machine to be supplied with reels with a length of 8 km, which corresponds to the largest reels currently produced on the walk. The fact that this magazine is placed outside also makes it possible to avoid stopping the machine when reloading it, and therefore to increase production rates. The first results of this research work are expected in about a year. “We will carry out digital simulations on both the product and the manufacturing process and go as far as the prototyping phase,” adds Clément Callens. At the same time, we will carry out tests on concrete cases in order to guarantee that this tape winding strategy can withstand the pressure and all the constraints to which the tanks are subjected. »
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