Patent ID: 8771450
Filing Date: 2014-07-08
Classification: B29C,B29L,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of forming a composite body using a mould and an automated fiber placement machine comprising a single fiber placement head fed fiber tows from a plurality of different reels, the method comprising: moving the single fiber placement head past the mould; and depositing on the mould a plurality of fiber tows, each fiber tow including multiple fibers, the fiber tows being deposited side by side in a direction perpendicular to the movement of the single fiber placement head and perpendicular to the direction of a normal of a surface of the mould where the fiber tows are deposited, thus forming a single ply with a plurality of fiber tows placed side by side on the mould, wherein the fiber tows in the single ply comprise first and second fiber tows fed from different reels to the single fiber placement head, the fibers in the first fiber tows including different materials than the fibers in the second fiber tows, wherein the composite body is a shell, a half shell, a spar cap or a spar web of a wind turbine blade, and wherein the plurality of fiber tows is deposited simultaneously in an abutting relation to one another by the single fiber placement head such that the different materials of the first fiber tows and the second fiber tows are not combined in abutting relation until the single fiber placement head deposits the fiber tows on the mould.