CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/632301
FEBRUARY 2016 40 CompositesWorld INSIDE MANUFACTURING 1 Cevotec used North Kiteboarding's digital designs and its in-house software to design patch layouts that would impart asymmetric torsion fex while meeting geometry and process requirements. 3 The armature (black) and the 6-axis robotic arm (white, at right) that supports the articulating tool work together to precisely locate each patch. 4 Patches were placed on three predetermined paths for each board layout, per the digital design software's instructions. 2 The automated FPP line's 4-axis kinematic robot armature began the process of picking up produced patches (see Fig. 2, p. 43) and placing them on the glass fber scrim material used as a base. kiteboarder and the product manager at North Kiteboarding, replies, "Tat is hard to answer." Production-unfriendly design objectives A wakestyle rider who also wants to ride obstacles in a wakeboard park, Hanel notes by way of example, is looking for a very torsion- stif board with a round scoop rocker line — that is, the curvature in the board as seen from the side, or more simply how much like a banana it looks. "Tis rider prefers the board to also be a bit damping and, when used with boots, we need to reinforce the deck massively as there is more pressure on it than when riding with straps," Hanel explains. "On the other hand, a freestyle rider may want a board that is forgiving and goes through chop smoothly, so a less stif board is more comfortable. Tis rider may also want performance in light wind, so that means a fatter scoop rocker line and less weight." In search of ways to build boards that can deliver these and other sometimes difcult-to-reconcile performance characteris- tics, North Kiteboarding recently teamed with Cevotec (Garching, Germany) to test the latter's Fiber Patch Placement (FPP) tech- nology and its potential to fne-tune and improve the performance of a new composite kiteboard design. North Kiteboarding makes two types of boards: wave riding and freestyle. Its work with Cevotec is for a new freestyle design. "Tis board is symmetric but we want an asymmetric torsion fex pattern," says Hanel. "It has footstraps, so we want the heel side of the board to be slightly stifer, but the toe side needs to be fexible." Stifness at the heel makes it easier to go upwind. "When you edge with the board — put pressure on the heel side — you create a power in the board that lets you stay upwind, much like a keel and rudder on a sailboat," Hanel explains. Flexibility at the toe enables the rider to trace a narrower circle when turning. "What you are