Patent ID: 7484949

Claim:
An apparatus for manufacturing an elongated composite element having a predetermined final cross section, said composite element containing reinforcement fibers forming a predetermined total fiber cross section smaller than said predetermined final cross section, said fibers being embedded in a matrix based on a composition containing a curable resin, the apparatus comprising: a vacuum chamber; a rigid-walled inlet tubing having an inlet orifice and a downstream orifice opening into the vacuum chamber, the inlet tubing having a minimum cross section greater than the predetermined total fiber cross section, the length of the inlet tubing measured between the inlet orifice and the downstream orifice being substantially larger than said minimum cross section of the inlet tubing; an impregnation chamber; a rigid-walled transfer tubing between the vacuum chamber and the impregnation chamber, the transfer tubing having an inlet orifice communicating with the vacuum chamber and a downstream orifice opening into the impregnation chamber, the transfer tubing having a minimum cross section greater than the total fiber cross section, the length of the transfer tubing measured between its inlet orifice and its downstream orifice being more than 40 times a minimum dimension of said minimum cross section of the transfer tubing; a sizing die for the elongated composite element, and downstream of the sizing die, means for prepolymerizing the resin.