Cevotec Unveils Cutting-Edge Carbon Fiber Tank Tech at CAMX 2021

Automation specialist Cevotec GmbH (Unterhaching, Germany) combines the traditional filament winding process with its automated fiber patch placement (FPP) technology to improve the material efficiency of carbon fiber composite tanks in hydrogen-powered electric vehicles (HEVs) and reduce their weight by 15%, all while achieving equivalent mechanical properties. 

Conceptualizing the Samba PV from this process combination, the automated fiber layup system locally reinforces the dome areas down to the equator region of the pressure vessel via customized carbon fiber patches placed directly on the liner. These reinforcements replace the high-angle helical layers (HAHL) in the filament winding process, but still facilitate a smoother stiffness transition between the cylinder and dome sections for an optimized laminate design.

First, the Samba PV system places the reinforcing fiber patches at the dome area directly on a standard liner. Then the patched liners are transferred over to the filament winding process. Working as an independent process, parallel to the filament winding, translates to a boosted capacity of existing winding stations by up to 20%.

According to Cevotec, the design of the reinforcements as well as the programming of the production robots can also be adjusted to different types of pressure vessels in an integrated digital process with the CAD/CAM software ARTIST STUDIO.