Proceedings of 2018 ISFA

Automation
2018 International Symposium on Flexible Automation
Kanazawa,Japan,
Kanazawa, Japan,15
15–19
- 19 July,
July, 2018
2018

(ISFA2018-S081)

PATH PLANNING AND POST-PROCESSING ALGORITHM FOR FIBER PLACEMENT

OF THE AIRCRAFT TAIL

Yaoxu Zhao Zhenyu Han Yizhuo Zhang Hongya Fu

Harbin Institute of Harbin Institute of Harbin Institute of Harbin Institute of
Technology Technology Technology Technology
Mailbox 422, 92 West Da- Mailbox 422, 92 West Da- Mailbox 422, 92 West Da- Mailbox 422, 92 West Da-
zhi Street zhi Street zhi Street zhi Street
Harbin, China, 150006 Harbin, China, 150006 Harbin, China, 150006 Harbin, China, 150006
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

ABSTRACT
A novel approach is proposed for the path planning of the INTRODUCTION
aircraft tail in automated fiber placement (AFP), which combines Because of its outstanding advantages such as high specific
the fixed angle path planning algorithm with the isometric offset strength, high specific stiffness and flexible versatility in meeting
algorithm. In this method, the fixed angle path planning design requirements, fiber reinforced composites have found
algorithm is used to generate the tows centerline (i.e. the ever broader application in aerospace and automotive industries.
placement trajectory) and boundary line, and the isometric offset Nowadays the usage of fiber reinforced composites becomes the
algorithm is used for the single tow path. Post-processing is also important symbol of the new generation of aerospace crafts [1].
studied in this paper, including the insertion of auxiliary control The AFP process, developed from the filament winding and the
points, the connection of tows centerlines and the inverse automated tape placement (ATP), is an important additive
kinematics of the AFP machine. Finally, the generated G codes manufacturing process for composites. As shown in Fig. 1, an
are verified on a virtual machine tool in VERICUT. AFP machine performs the compacting, heating, restarting,
cutting and clamping of the tows, furthermore a single or
NOMENCLATURE multiple tow can be selected individually according to the profile
Bb Big end boundary of the mould of the processing region, which produces the complex
Lc Covered length of Bb with full tows components even with a window.
Lt Width of tows band
LBb Perimeter of Bb
ci Starting point of ith tows centerline
pi A point on the tows centerline
rp Projection of the reference direction
r� Iteration direction
ni Normal vector at pi
ti Tangent vector at pi
lm Minimum placement length
la , lb , lc Structural parameters of placement head
Fi Coordinate frame at pi
qD , qA' Quaternions at points D and A'
φ Angle of the contact point and the horizontal plane
��
�� Transform matrix from machine base to tool
�� Figure 1: Schematic of the ATP process.
�� Transform matrix from positioner base to work-
piece Path planning algorithm is one of the key technologies of
ATP, which directly affects the efficiency and the workpiece

96 1 Copyright © 2018 by ISFA

quality, therefore a great quantity of researches have been Lt , the placement angle θ and the surface shape. For the mould
conducted on this issue. For open-contoured mould surface, shown in Fig. 2, Lc =Lt is advisable for 0° placement angle and
Shirinzadeh B. and Cassidy G. [2] offset an original path along Lc =1.889Lt for 45° placement angle. Next the starting points of
the surface to get the next path, aiming to produce a uniform lay- the ith tows boundary lines can be got by offsetting Lc /2 from
up of composite lamina without gap and overlap between the point ci on both sides. Figure 2 shows the starting points of
subsequent tows. Shao Z. X. et al. [3] obtained the fiber tows centerline and boundary line for an AFP machine with
placement paths of the S-shaped inlet with a method based on 1/4"×16 tows.
tows boundary lines (mainly generated with the isometric offset
algorithm) and tow number calculation. Wen L. W. et al. [4] Generation of the tows centerline and boundary line
diverted the original placement paths, satisfying the with the fixed angle path planning algorithm
requirements of structural design, to the adjusted ones which are The tangent line at each point pi on the path, calculated
closer to the geodesic direction to release the strain in prepreg with the fixed angle path planning algorithm, has a constant
tows. Duan Y. G. and Ge Y. M. [5] presented an improved fixed angle θ with the projection rp of the reference direction r on
angle path planning algorithm with the ridge line as the reference
the tangent plane at the point pi . Considering the deviation of
direction and considered the deviation of actual placement angle
caused by offsetting. Using the above-mentioned methods to actual placement angle caused by offsetting and the longer offset
calculate the placement paths of a complex conical shell always distance, the greater deviation, the fixed angle path planning
leaves a triangular area which has to be laid with shorter tows algorithm is used to calculate the tows centerline and boundary
band and this is detrimental to the strength of the workpiece. line to control the deviation in an acceptable range. The specific
The algorithm presented in this paper solves the above steps are as follows (Fig. 3):
problem. The tows centerline is ensured in the middle of the tows Step 1: Obtain the normal vector ni at the point pi on the
boundary lines and the placement paths are evenly distributed on surface Σ and then the projection rp of the reference direction
the mould surface without triangular areas. Moreover, not only r on the tangent plane Σt is
the path planning algorithm is studied, but also the post- � � � � ��
�� � (1)
processing and laying process simulation are investigated, which |� � � � �� |
is helpful to the practical application of the AFP process. where r=�1,0,0�T .
Step 2: Revolve the projection rp around vector ni for
PATH PLANNING ALGORITHM placement angle θ to get the iteration direction r� .
�� � �� ���� � �� � �� ���� (2)
Determining the starting points of tows centerline and Extend the step length l along the direction r� to get the point
boundary line p'i+1 .
Before calculating tows centerline and boundary line, it is ����� � �� � ��� (3)
needed to determine their intersection points with the big end Project p'i+1 on the surface Σ along the inverse direction of ni
boundary Bb . A point c0 is picked arbitrarily on Bb as the
to obtain the next point pi�1 .
starting point of the first tows centerline and then the point ci at
each interval Lc along the closed curve Bb can be taken as the Step 3: A series of points will be calculated in this way and
starting point of the ith tows centerline until the interval between the cycle stops when the small end boundary Bs is reached.
cn‐1 and c0 is shorter than 2Lc , where n=�LBb �Lc � is the total These points are fitted with a spline curve and trimmed by the
number of tows. The Lc is the covered length of Bb when all mould boundary. Then a uniform angle path is finished.
the tows are selected and its value depends on the width of tows

Figure 3: The fixed angle path planning algorithm.

Generation of the single tow path with the isometric

offset algorithm
The single tow path can be obtained directly by offsetting
the corresponding tows centerline along the surface Σ, which is
Figure 2: The starting points of tows centerline and more efficient than the fixed angle path planning algorithm.
boundary line. Single tow paths, trimmed by the closed frame composed of the

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two end boundaries and the two tows boundaries, can be seen in point (Notice that the procedure is different from that of the
Fig. 5. restarting point).

Checking the length of the single tow Starting and ending points
Due to structural limitation of the placement head, the A starting point is the endpoint of the tows centerline, where
distance less than the shortest placement length lm =lb +lc can’t the placement head drops vertically and the heater starts to heat
be laid up, where lb is the distance between the cutters and the up. Correspondingly the ending point is the other endpoint of the
compaction roller and lc is the overlap distance during the tows centerline, where the placement head raises vertically and
restarting process. The trimmed single tow path should be the heating is over. For better quality of the border of processing
extended to lm towards the big end of the mould (Fig. 5), if its region, the starting and ending point should have a certain
length is shorter than lm . distance la away from the border. Figure 4 is a typical 45°
placement layout with 8 tows to illustrate the concrete meaning
ADDING AUXILIARY CONTROL POINTS of each control point.
The AFP process is superior to the ATP process in its
capability of individual cutting and restarting for each tow. It’s Inserting auxiliary control points
not enough to obtain the tows centerline because the information The tows centerline is discretized with a certain step. The
about where to cut and where to restart is indispensable. normal vector ni and the tangent vector ti at each discrete
point pi can be calculated with mathematical methods. Then the
Restarting points vector ni , ti , ni ×ti and the point pi form a frame Fi , which
The restarting point is a point on the tows centerline, where can be presented as a homogenous matrix.
the restarting motor will rotate and send the tow to the initial � �� � �� �� ��
boundary at laying speed when the compaction roller reaches this �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � (4)
0 0 0 1
point. If the motor stops at the moment that the tow reaches the In the same way, the homogenous matrices describing the
initial boundary, the tow will be retracted under the tension auxiliary control points can be calculated. By sorting them from
control. In order to ensure smooth entry of the tow into small to large by the projection on the reference direction r, a
compaction roller, the restarting must continue moving a certain sequence of homogenous matrices that include all the needed
distance lc . Therefore, the restarting process is divided into two information for placement is completed. The paths with the
stages: one is that the tow is send to the compaction roller by auxiliary control points are showed in Fig. 5.
restarting motor alone (distance lb ), and the other is that the tow
is send by restarting motor together with compaction roller
(distance lc ). The starting point of the tow path is projected on
the tows centerline and moves lb along the tows centerline in
the opposite direction to get the restarting point.

Figure 5: Fiber placement paths with auxiliary

control points

Figure 4: Auxiliary control points on a 45° POST-PROCESSING

placement layout.
Path connection
Cutting points The above paths are discontinuous and need to be connected
Similar to the restarting point, the cutting point is a point on to a continuous path. Finishing a strip, the grippers clamp the
the tows centerline, where the cutter will act and cut the tow tows and the cutters cut them. Next the placement head raises to
when the compaction roller reaches this point, and then the a safety height and moves to the above of the starting point of the
compaction roller continues laying up the cut tow to the finish next strip. Then the placement head drops to the mould surface
boundary. The cutting action should also be a certain distance in to lay up the next tows. Therefore, a complete placement cycle
advance and this distance is equal to lb . The ending point of the should include four sections (Fig. 6). The position of placement
tow path moves lb in the opposite direction along the single tow head in AB and CD section can be calculated by Cartesian
path and is projected on the tows centerline to get the cutting coordinate interpolation and the pose is unchanged. The position

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and pose of BC section have been obtained in the discretizing subscript. They are equal and a matrix equation containing 7
process of the tows centerline. The position of DA' section can variables is got. It should be noticed that the angle φ is fixed.
be calculated by cylindrical coordinate interpolation, and the That is the position part p of PBTW �A�· WTT satisfies
corresponding pose can be obtained by spherical linear � � ���t������ � �� � (9)
interpolation between the quaternions describing the poses of D
Thus, A can be solved first, and then the solution of other axes
and A'. Suppose the quaternions corresponding to points D and
can be obtained. At last the solution of each axis is transformed
A' are qD and qA' . The pose qt of interpolation point is into the format of G code and the generated G codes are
����� � ��� ������� implemented in VERICUT as shown in Fig. 8.
�� � � � � ��� (5)
���� ����
where 0≤t≤1 is the proportional coefficient and
� � ��������� � ��� � (6)
is the angle between qD and qA' .

Figure 8: Laying process simulation

CONCLUSIONS
The path planning of the aircraft tail in the AFP process is
Figure 6: Connection between tows centerlines completed with the placement angle 0° and ±45° in a way that
combines the fixed angle path planning algorithm with the
Inverse kinematics of the AFP machine isometric offset algorithm. Considering the structural parameters
The AFP machine in Fig. 7 is a redundant system with 7 of the placement head, the auxiliary control points are calculated.
DOF and two kinematic chains. The angle between the contact The connection of tows centerlines is finished by interpolation
point (of the mould and the compaction roller) and the horizontal algorithm and the interferences are avoided effectively. Finally,
plane is set to a fixed value φ to eliminate the redundancy. The the solution of the redundant AFP machine system is obtained
angle φ should keep the spherical wrist, composed of the C1, B through an additional constraint, and the corresponding G codes
and C2 axes of the machine tool, far away from the singular point are implemented on a virtual machine tool in VERICUT, which
so as to prevent the mechanism exceeding the speed limit. has a desirable performance.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study is financially supported by National Science and
Technology Major Projects of China (2014ZX04001091).
Corresponding author: Hongya Fu, [email protected].

REFERENCESNM
[1] Marsh, G., 2011, “Automating aerospace composites
production with fibre placement,” Reinforced Plastics,
55(3), pp. 32-37.
[2] Shirinzadeh, B., Cassidy, G., 2007, “Trajectory generation
for open-contoured structures in robotic fibre placement,”
Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, 23(4),
pp. 380-394.
[3] Shao, Z. X., Fu, H. Y., 2010, “Path planning and
optimization algorithm for fiber placement of S-shaped
Figure 7: The AFP machine inlet,” Journal of Astronautics, 31(3), pp. 855-861.
Analyzing the motion of the machine tool and positioner, the [4] Wen, L. W., Li, J. P., 2013, “Adjustment algorithm based
following equations can be get. on structural design for automated tape laying and
�
� � � ���� � ��� � ��� �� �� ��� �� ��� (7) automated fiber placement,” Journal of Astronautics,
� � �� � 34(7), pp. 1731-1739.
� � � ��� � �� ��� � �� (8)
[5] Duan, Y. G., Ge, Y. M., 2015, “Trajectory planning of
where T is the matrix which defines the mapping from the frame
fiber placement based on controlled angle and interval,”
referred to the left superscript to the frame referred to the right
Journal of Astronautics, 36(10), pp. 3475-3482.

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