Fiber Patch Placement Technology

Flexible lay-up technology for complex high-performance composites enabling a fully automated, quality-controlled 3D lay-up.

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How it works

Fiber Patch Placement

Fiber Patch Placement is the additive manufacturing technology for the automated production of geometrically complex ﬁber composites. It enables a new degree of freedom in automated ﬁber placement and is compatible with many materials such as different carbon fiber prepreg systems, glass fiber prepregs, adhesive prepregs, and also dry fibers. Deﬁned patches are automatically cut from a tape and precisely placed by two robots and a ﬂexible patch gripper. The size is adjusted to the size and complexity of your component. Because the process is implemented as a series of individually controlled patch placements, FPP technology enables a superior level of process control for the entire laminate lay-up cycle.

Advantages

Your benefits with FPP

Digitized Process chain

20% – 60% Cost & time savings

100% In-process raw material control

Multi-material Lay-up capability

The general FPP process

5 easy steps to a complex 3D composite part

Design the laminate: The process starts with designing the desired laminate in ARTIST STUDIO based on your standard CAD file.
Create production data: The production data for the robots is also generated in ARTIST STUDIO. The offline programming ensures precise and safely execution of the lay-up process.
Configure SAMBA system: Afterwards, the robot data program is loaded onto the SAMBA system, which is a pivotal step in setting the production parameters. These parameters determine the specific requirements for your lay-up.
Prepare robot and materials: Before initiating the lay-up process, the necessary tool has to be attached to the robot. Additionally, the desired fiber material that will be used for the component has to be loaded.
Initiate fully automated lay-up: The final step is to press the “Start” button on the SAMBA system. The fully automated lay-up of your component is performed, ensuring precision and efficiency in the production process.

FPP process overview at the example of SAMBA Pro

SAMBA process real fiber patch placement

Efficient & fast processes

Effective lay-up rates result from process parameters and can be customized to applications. The productivity of all SAMBA machines follows the same simple math for throughput calculation:

Automation platform for digital manufacturing

Fiber laminates are digitally developed in ARTIST STUDIO software. This includes the offline programming of the production system. Patch laminates can also be imported into FEM software for structural analysis.

“Fiber Patch Placement technology enables the manufacturing automation for complex laminate architectures which was not possible before with any other technology. Although the patch based approach breaks with the composite design paradigm of using only continuous fiber reinforcements, the material equivalence of FPP laminates has been shown in the context of aerospace design allowables. In my view, this opens up the application scope for aerospace structural components.”

Dr. Shunichi Bando

President & CEO of B.I.TEC, Co. Ltd, Japan

How to get started with Fiber Patch Placement?

You got questions?

Contact us to explore the benefits of Fiber Patch Placement for your specific component and production process. We offer a cost-free evaluation and economic analysis for your application with FPP. Looking forward to hearing from you!