England-based Cygnet Texkimp has developed a fully-automated fiber packaging system that was designed to protect delicate and valuable fibers such as carbon fibers as they are wrapped, packed and palletized to ensure the integrity and quality of such fibers.
According to the company, the production-scale system was built to IP6x standards, and already has been commissioned in a new carbon fiber processing plant. The system will be used to process 1,500 6-kilogram bobbins every six hours.
“Oils and acids on our skin can impair the quality of sensitive and valuable fibers like carbon fiber, so our objective was to build a system that would process bobbins of fiber efficiently without the need to touch them,” said Lee Simcock, product director for handling and automation, Cygnet Texkimp.
“Dropped or bumped bobbins can easily be damaged, crushing the fibers, so it was crucial for us to incorporate technologies that would handle these bobbins with ultimate care. This also helps to eliminate issues when the fiber is fed from the bobbin onto a creel for the next stage of processing, which might be weaving or pre-preg production.”
July/August 2016
