Conceptual Studies of a Flexible Fiber Composite Manufacturing Cell for Maritime Engineering

Fiber reinforced polymer composites offer a range of advantages as a material for manufacturing in the maritime industry, ranging from weight savings to accurate design due to the anisotropic nature of the material. These advantages are outweight in practical terms by significant waste of the raw materials and their labor-intensive work and handling. This report presents the development of a flexible manufacturing system which is designed to the level of a flexible manufacturing cell. The purpose of this report is the design of an implement-able flexible fiber composite manufacturing system, considering the dynamics and limiters to flexibility. This system is to minimize production time and costs of composite parts while considering start-up costs, running costs and part production time. Goal posts were defined for competitiveness of the system with conventional metal systems and a reduction of labor requirements and waste material. The designed system is reported on and results are presented.