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Volume
12, Issue 3, 2003
Experimental
Study to Illustrate Flow Control in Presence of Race Tracking Disturbances in
Resin Transfer MoUlding
Jeffrey M.
Lawrence, Anthony Mahe, Yeshwanth Rao K. Naveen, and Suresh G. Advani
Center for Composite Materials and Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 – U.S.A.
(Received 5/03;
accepted 6/03)
ABSTRACT
To manufacture composite parts
with the Resin Transfer Moulding process, a fluid resin is injected into a
mould containing a fibrous preform. Often, due to variations in the preform
structure, the flow behaviour can be drastically different from what was
anticipated, which may not wet some of the fibrous regions causing dry spots.
A common disturbance is race tracking, where the preform does not fit
precisely along the mould edge. With the help of sensors, one can track the
flow and measure the level of the disturbance in the mould. Decisions can be
made on-line to re-direct the flow to avoid dry spots. A methodology was
developed to measure the level of the race tracking and implement control
actions to compensate for that race tracking disturbance. Fully automated
experiments were run several times. For each experiment, although the level of
race tracking was unknown beforehand, the controller properly compensated for
the race tracking to successfully complete the mould filling.
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