A CONSORTIUM OF BASQUE COMPANIES COORDINATES THE HAZITEK ‘EPROMAT’ PROJECT WITH THE AIM OF DEVELOPING A NEW MANUFACTURING CELL BASED ON ADVANCED AND INTELLIGENT ORGANIZATIONAL MODELS FOR THE AUTOMATION OF LARGE COMPOSITE MANUFACTURING PROCESSES.
The objective of the project is the development of equipment and processes of high productivity and efficiency for the manufacture of composite parts in sectors such as railway and shipping, but that could be extrapolated to others with similar series typology. Composite materials have great advantages in these sectors.They combine an excellent relationship between density and mechanical properties, can be designed to specifically withstand loads in the main directions and enjoy great durability mainly for their corrosion resistance.
DANOBAT’s role in this project is to demonstrate the possibility of automating the placement of largescale fabrics and various features in cooperation with parts manufacturing partners.For this purpose, DANOBAT has a large prototyping and demonstration cell to show the capacity of its deposition technology. This cell can laminate parts up to 11x5m and larger adapting the layout according to the needs. This parts prototyping cell will be used to carry out the activities of the e-PROMAT project.
ADMP LAMINATION TECHNOLOGY®
Among its offer of manufacturing systems DANOBAT S. Coop has an exclusive lamination technology of reinforcing fabrics such as glass and carbon for the manufacture of composite materials’ parts. Its acronym ADMP refers to the automated lamination of dry material (Automated Dry Material Placement) which is subsequently supplied with the resin through infusion or injection in closed mould.
The main features of the technology are its versatility and high productivity. The heads can work with remarkably diverse materials, with different widths, weights, orientations,typology, although they are especially aimed at the use of multiaxial fabrics of NCF type (Non-Crimp Fabrics) which allow to obtain very high rates of deposition. The shape and size of the plies to be deposited is also variable, and the head is easily adapted to each application. The technology can be used in two different ways, being able to work both with a roll of raw material as provided by the supplier, as well as with preforms cut and rolled on a cutting table,which allows to reduce the waste
of material.
This technology enables remarkably diverse applications and in all of them it manages to reduce manual laminating times while achieving replicability and a process control that is difficult to achieve with manual processes. When manufacturing rates increase, and especially in the case of large parts with a substantial number of fabrics, the advantages of a system like ADMP become more apparent, both with carbon fibre and glass fabrics.
ABOUT DANOBAT S. Coop:
DANOBAT S. Coop is the largest machine tool manufacturer in Spain. Located in Elgoibar, Guipúzcoa, it has been serving production equipment for more than 65 years in sectors such as railway, aeronautics, automotive and others, in the early years with standard machines, subsequently with machines with a high degree of customization and currently with complete turnkey solutions for the manufacture and maintenance of high added value parts and assemblies. These machines and manufacturing lines always have a high degree of automation and can consist exclusively of equipment developed by DANOBAT, but more commonly they also incorporate third-party equipment. Customers are in the countries with the highest industrial production, and currently it exports more than 90%
of its production. The internationalization of its business is also reflected in its supply network and,of course, in the commercial network and in the implementation in key countries, such as Germany,USA, UK or China.
ABOUT THE e-PROMAT PROJECT:
Basque companies lead the development of a 4.0 manufacturing cell of large composite parts. The cell will be based on advanced and intelligent organizational models for the automation of lamination, preforming, handling and liquid moulding processes of optimized materials. The consortium consists of the Basque companies Polikea, Abeki Composites, Danobat, Ekide, Goiti, Inkatec Automation and Robotics, Oliver Design, Sisteplant and Composites Quimiber, as well as the Spanish Railway Association Mafex and the Gaiker and Ideko technology centres, Agents of the Basque Network of Science, Technology and Innovation, and members of the Basque Research & Technology
Alliance (BRTA).