Manufacturing of Textile Preforms with an Intelligent Draping and Gripping System

In this paper, a novel pixel-based draping and gripping unit will be presented. To monitor and control the draping during the forming of a stack of semi-finished textiles, the pixels are equipped with integrated sensors. With these sensors, it is possible to adjust the tangential sliding and the normal holding force at each pixel. The sensor principle is based on the electrical conductivity of carbon fibers. Electrodes inside the gripping system allow a conclusion to the gripping force between the gripper and the carbon textile. Therefore, the gripping force can be adjusted to the special boundary conditions during the draping process.