Cutting mechanism
There is disclosed a cutting mechanism for severing elongate fiber reinforcement material in composite material lay-up equipment, the cutting mechanism comprising a cutting element and a counteracting element which cooperate to sever fiber reinforcement material extending through the nip between them, the cutting element being mounted on an elongate arm which is pivotable about a pivot axis A spaced from the nip, to displace the cutting element relatively to the counteracting element to perform a cutting stroke, the mechanism further comprising guide means arranged to guide the fiber reinforcement material through the nip in a feed direction transverse to the pivot axis A, and an actuation device for driving the elongate arm in a cutting stroke, the actuation device acting on the elongate arm at a position away from the cutting element. There is also provided composite material lay-up equipment comprising the cutting mechanism.
1. Composite material lay-up equipment comprising:
a cutting mechanism for severing elongate fibre reinforcement material, the cutting mechanism comprising:
a plurality of elongate arms, each elongate arm being pivotable about a pivot axis to displace a cutting element to perform a cutting stroke;
a plurality of actuation devices, each actuation device configured to drive a respective elongate arm in a respective cutting stroke;
wherein at least some of the actuation devices are arranged in pairs such that the actuation devices of each pair are staggered with respect to each other along a generally longitudinal application direction of the lay-up equipment.
2. Composite material lay-up equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the first actuation device of each pair is provided with an extended arm for coupling to the respective elongate arm.
3. Composite material lay-up equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the first actuation device of each pair is laterally offset from the second actuation device of each pair.
4. Composite material lay-up equipment according to claim 1 , further comprising a support head which carries the cutting mechanism, wherein a first actuation device of each pair is offset with respect to a second actuation device of the pair in a direction towards a proximal end of the support head.
5. Composite material lay-up equipment according to claim 1 , further comprising a support head which carries the cutting mechanism, wherein the actuation devices are mounted to the support head.
6. Composite material lay-up equipment according to claim 1 , wherein there are two rows of actuation devices including a first row longitudinally offset from a second row, and wherein the two rows are laterally offset with respect to one another.
7. Composite material lay-up equipment according to claim 1 , wherein each actuation device is coupled with and acts on the respective elongate arm via a mechanical linkage.
8. Composite material lay-up equipment according to claim 7 , wherein the mechanical linkage includes a bell crank acting between the actuation device and the elongate arm.
9. Composite material lay-up equipment according to claim 1 , wherein each cutting element cooperates with a respective counteracting element to sever fibre reinforcement material extending through a nip between them;
wherein each cutting element is mounted on the respective elongate arm;
wherein the pivot axis of each elongate arm is spaced from the nip of the respective cutting element; and
wherein each actuation device acts on the respective elongate arm at a position away from the cutting element.