US 12,459,216 B2
Roller unit for feeding tapes, fiber placement apparatus and method of molding composite material
Daichi Terayama, Tokyo (JP); Tomoyoshi Kuniya, Tokyo (JP); and Daisuke Hirabayashi, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to SUBARU CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
Filed by SUBARU CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Sep. 1, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/459,578.
Claims priority of application No. 2022-153128 (JP), filed on Sep. 26, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2024/0100785 A1, Mar. 28, 2024
Int. Cl. B29C 70/38 (2006.01); B29K 105/08 (2006.01)
CPC B29C 70/388 (2013.01) [B29K 2105/08 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A roller unit for aligning tapes in a width direction and feeding the aligned tapes, the tapes being made of fibers which have not been impregnated with resin or have been impregnated with the resin,
the roller unit comprising:
rollers rotating by friction force between the tapes and the rollers when the rollers contact with the tapes, the rollers being aligned so that rotation axes of the rollers lie on a same straight line, diameters of the rollers being same as each other; and
a support shaft forming a single straight bar and supporting the rollers, through roller bearings provided on the support shaft, rotatably at rotational speeds independent from each other,
wherein inner surfaces of the rollers are supported by the roller bearings and support shaft as to preclude radial displacement of the inner surfaces of the rollers while the rollers rotate relative to the support shaft under a state of radial compression;
wherein each of the rollers, from an outer surface radially inward to the inner surface, represents a rigid body such that the outer surface of each roller avoids becoming deformed upon being placed in the state of radial compression and such that each of the rollers are precluded from radial displacement relative to the support shaft and to each other under the state of radial compression against an uneven underlying contact surface, and
wherein the rotation axis of each roller is coaligned with a central axis of the support shaft and wherein the rotation axis of each roller is configured to remain fixed in that position despite the rollers being placed in the state of radial compression on the uneven underlying contact surface.