Carbon Fiber Winding Machine

• Friction Drive 

The friction between the active roller (friction roller) and the package surface drives the mandrel to rotate, while the yarn guide reciprocates at a set frequency. This makes it suitable for high-speed winding (linear speed ≥ 1000 m/min) of large tows (such as 48K and 64K).

• Center Drive

The mandrel is driven by an independent motor, and the yarn guide's reciprocating motion is controlled by a cam or servo system. This achieves high winding accuracy (inter-layer misalignment ≤ 0.1mm) and is suitable for small tows (such as 1K and 3K) and high-precision packages. 

• Planetary Winding

The mandrel rotates while performing a planetary motion along a fixed track, which, in conjunction with the yarn guide's oscillation, creates a compact, overlap-free package structure. This is suitable for high-density winding of high-modulus carbon fibers.

Application Scenarios

• Aerospace: High-modulus carbon fiber is formed into high-density packages using planetary winders for use in aircraft structural components.

• Sporting Goods: Large-tow carbon fiber is wound using friction-driven winders for use in lightweight products such as golf clubs and bicycle frames.

• New Energy: Highly conductive carbon fiber packages produced by winders can be used as electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries or plates for hydrogen fuel cells.

A winder primarily collects carbon fiber tows based on mechanical transmission and tension control. After exiting the drying oven or other upstream equipment, the carbon fiber tow enters a guide device. This guide device, via a series of high-precision godet rollers, accurately guides the tow to the winding mechanism. The winding mechanism is typically driven by a motor, whose speed can be adjusted according to production process requirements to ensure the tow is wound onto the winding drum at the appropriate linear speed. The tension control system plays a key role in the winding process. A tension sensor monitors the tow tension in real time and provides feedback to the control system. If tension fluctuates, the control system automatically adjusts the motor speed or adjusts the parameters of tension adjustment devices (such as the tension lever and magnetic powder brake) to ensure the tow remains within the set tension range. This prevents problems such as loose tow, overlap, or breakage caused by uneven tension.

(I) Guiding System: Precisely Guiding the Fiber Tow

The guiding system is a crucial component of the rewinder, ensuring that the carbon fiber tow enters the winding mechanism accurately and along the predetermined path. This system primarily consists of multiple godet rollers, typically made of high-hardness, low-friction ceramic or chrome-plated metal to minimize wear on the tow during guidance. The arrangement and angle of the godet rollers are carefully designed to guide the tow according to the layout of the carbon fiber production line and the tow's trajectory. For example, in some large rewinders, the guiding system incorporates multiple adjustable guide rails. These angles can be adjusted electrically or manually to accommodate the tow's guidance requirements for different specifications and production processes, ensuring accurate and stable positioning of the tow upon entry into the winding mechanism, avoiding deviation or jitter.

(II) Winding Mechanism: Collecting the Tow

The winding mechanism is the core component of the rewinder for tow collection, and its performance directly determines the efficiency and quality of the rewind. The winding mechanism generally consists of a main shaft, a winding drum clamp, and a drive motor. The main shaft is constructed of high-strength alloy steel, offering excellent rigidity and rotational precision, ensuring stable operation of the winding drum even during high-speed rotation. The ingeniously designed winding drum clamp allows for quick and secure clamping of the winding drum, while also simplifying drum replacement. The drive motor is typically a high-performance servo motor, characterized by fast response and precise speed control. Controlled by the servo motor, the winding mechanism can wind carbon fiber tows of varying linear densities and winding requirements. During the winding process, the winding speed is automatically adjusted based on the number of winding layers and diameter of the tow, ensuring tight and uniform winding of the tow on the winding drum and preventing loose or collapsed edges.

(III) Tension Adjustment System: Stable Tow Tension

The tension adjustment system is key to ensuring consistent quality of carbon fiber tow during the winding process. Because the tension of carbon fiber tow during the winding process is affected by various factors, such as fluctuations in the tow output speed, changes in the winding diameter, and mechanical vibration of the equipment, a reliable tension regulation system is required to maintain stable tension. A common tension regulation system primarily consists of a tension sensor, a tension regulation device, and a control system. The tension sensor, often a high-precision strain gauge or piezoelectric sensor, accurately detects the tow tension in real time and converts the tension signal into an electrical signal, which is transmitted to the control system. The control system compares and analyzes the preset tension value with the actual tension value fed back by the sensor. If a discrepancy occurs, the control system immediately issues a command to adjust the operating state of the tension regulation device (such as the magnetic powder brake and tension rocker) to alter the resistance or traction applied to the tow, thereby regulating the tow tension. For example, when the tow tension is too high, the control system reduces the magnetic powder brake's excitation current, lowering its braking torque and reducing the tow tension. Conversely, when the tow tension is too low, the control system increases the magnetic powder brake's excitation current, increasing the braking torque and raising the tow tension. Through this closed-loop control method, the tension adjustment system can stably control the tow tension within an extremely small error range, ensuring the quality stability of the carbon fiber tow during the winding process.

(I) Challenges of High-Speed, High-Precision Winding: Improving Production Efficiency and Quality

With the rapid development of the carbon fiber industry, the requirements for winding speed and precision in winding machines are becoming increasingly stringent. During high-speed winding, the tow is prone to problems such as jitter, deviation, and even breakage, seriously impacting production efficiency and product quality. To address this challenge, higher-precision bearings and transmission components are employed in the mechanical design to reduce mechanical vibration and backlash during operation. For example, high-precision ball screws and linear guides are used to ensure the motion accuracy of the guide system and winding mechanism. Furthermore, motion control algorithms and sensor technology are introduced in the control system. By employing an adaptive control algorithm, the control system automatically adjusts the motor speed and tension adjustment parameters based on the real-time state of the tow during winding to meet the requirements of high-speed winding. Furthermore, high-precision position and speed sensors monitor the motion of the winding mechanism in real time and control the motor operation to ensure stable winding at high speeds, thereby improving winding accuracy and production efficiency.

(II) The Challenge of Adaptability to Multi-Specification Tows: Meeting Diverse Production Demands

Carbon fiber products have a wide range of applications, and different scenarios require varying specifications for carbon fiber tows. Winding machines must possess excellent adaptability to multi-specification tows, enabling rapid and accurate switching of winder process parameters for different tow specifications to meet diverse production needs. To address this challenge, the winder control system is designed with intelligent parameter management capabilities. Operators simply input the desired tow specifications (such as linear density, tow width, and winding length) into the control system. The control system automatically calculates and adjusts the operating parameters of the guide system, winding mechanism, and tension adjustment system based on a pre-set process model, enabling rapid adaptation to different tow specifications. Furthermore, the modular design concept employed in the equipment structure allows for easy replacement or adjustment of key components (such as godet rollers and winding drum clamps) to accommodate the physical properties of different tow specifications, further enhancing the winder's adaptability to multi-specification tows.

(3) Equipment Stability and Reliability: Ensuring Production Continuity

In the carbon fiber production process, the winder, as the end-of-line equipment, has a stability and reliability that is directly related to the continuity of the entire production process. A winder failure not only interrupts production but can also waste carbon fiber tow produced in previous steps, increasing production costs. To ensure equipment stability and reliability, high-quality materials and components are selected during the manufacturing process, and processing precision and assembly quality are strictly controlled. Key components (such as motors, bearings, and sensors) undergo rigorous quality inspection and screening to ensure their performance meets design requirements. Routine equipment maintenance and upkeep are strengthened, with a comprehensive maintenance plan established, requiring regular inspection, cleaning, lubrication, and calibration. Furthermore, fault diagnosis and early warning functions are implemented in the control system. By monitoring equipment operating parameters and status in real time, potential faults can be detected promptly and early warning signals issued to alert operators to perform maintenance and address them, effectively reducing equipment failure rates and ensuring production continuity.