Automated Preforming of Braided Hoses Made of Thermoplast-glass Fiber Hybrid Yarns

At present, the shaping and preforming of braided hoses is usually performed manually. To enable a high volume production of lightweight hollow structures, automated preforming technologies are required. This article discusses a new technical approach which allows a fully automated preforming of braided hybrid yarn hoses. Starting with pre-fabricated and rolled up quasi-endless braided hoses, the conceived automation system has to cut several segments from the hose and subsequently pull them above each other to produce a multi-ply preform. For an automated process, a reproducible and damage-free manipulation of the hoses has to be ensured during preforming. Therefore, the process is analyzed and concepts for unrolling and cutting of the endless hoses as well as stacking and fixation of the obtained segments are developed and evaluated experimentally. As a result of the investigation, a fully automated preforming station is built up.