Basic Info.
Function
Heat Pressure Vessel
Storage Medium
Moncombustible/Nontoxic
Pressure Level
Low Pressure (0.1MPa≤p<1.6MPa)
Origin
Changzhou, Jiangsu
Product Description
Customized Composite Autoclave Designed forSports Equipment and Medical Industry
What is Autoclave Technology?
Autoclaves have become indispensable tools/equipment's for processing high quality polymer composite aerospace/aircraft structural components. Today, in the aircraft industry, investments in these equipment's are regarded to be strategically important. Autoclaves are now being used to produce very large aircraft components such as wing and fuselage. They can process a wide variety of materials, including thermoset and thermoplastic based composite aircraft parts with varying contours and complex shapes. Thermosets are widely used, as they are less expensive compared to thermoplastics.
The quality requirements of the present aircraft industry are indeed most stringent. In addition, there is a dire need to improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of aircraft structural systems apart from ensuring reliable and consistent processing methods. In such a scenario, it is imperative that the autoclave designer properly takes into account the various governing criteria involved in processing and developing state-of-the-art autoclave systems that satisfactorily address the diverse and complex requirements stated above. The typical vacuum-bagging scheme adopted in the autoclave molding technique for a composite component along with several consumables processed and a typical cure cycle for a thermoset epoxy resin is shown. In addition to handling a wide variety of consumables, modern autoclaves must incorporate adequate safeties and ensure minimum maintenance costs.
The autoclave operating parameters such as temperature and pressure are based on the resin systems used. Generally, the epoxy resins require temperatures within 200 ºCand pressures of 7 bar(g). The service temperatures of these epoxy resin-based structural components are restricted to about 120 ºC. Extensive literature is available which details the processing of thermo set composites using autoclaves. There is an increasing demand to enhance the service temperatures of polymer composite structural components to about 200 ºC from the present 100 ºCor so. This means higher curing temperature and pressure in the order of 300 to 350 ºCand up to 15 bar(g), respectively. Resin systems such as phenolics, bismaldehydes, and other thermoplastics fall under this category.
Principle of Operation Circulation system:
Forced gas (nitrogen or air) circulation systems are commonly used in autoclaves. The circulation system consists of a centrifugal blower and ducting. The heaters are placed around the impeller. The centrifugal blower takes in gas axially and discharges it radially. The gas that is discharged from the impeller passes over the heating elements. The blower fan is adequately sized to ensure a velocity of 1-2 m/sec on the component at ambient conditions. The gas circulation unit also performs the task of accelerating the cooling process by removing the gas on the outside surface of the cooling tubes at a faster rate. Modern autoclaves have a flange- mounted blower motor, which is encased in a pressure-tight casing and connected to the rear of the autoclave. Thus, the motor rotor, stator, and the mechanical components such as the bearings directly encounter the autoclave pressure. Such blower arrangements are generally water-cooled to ensure that the motor windings and bearings are not subject to higher temperatures. The power rating of the blower motor of a large autoclave can be in the range of 100 to 150 kW.
Heating system
Autoclaves are heated either electrically or by indirect gas firing (circulating externally heated or cooled thermic fluid). Electrical heating that gives precise control of autoclave ambient temperature is cleaner and more amenable to advanced computer controls. Modern autoclaves use SCR drives, which form part of the closed-loop heating-control systems and can provide very fine control of the heaters. The electrical heating capacity is based on the charge and the resin system requirements of the cure cycle. Typically, a 4.5-m diameter × 9-m length autoclave requires an installed heater capacity of about a mega Watt. Normally a number of heater elements (typically of ratings in the range of 5- 10 kW) are grouped in banks and connected in the star or the delta configuration. The heating elements are made of nichrome/kanthal filament, magnesium oxide insulator with an outer sheath of incoloy or steel.
Cooling System:
This system is meant for cooling the autoclave ambient. The processing of composites requires variable cooling rates as demanded by the resin system. In electrically heated autoclaves, the heating rate is controlled by either switching off the heater banks or by varying the heater-input power. The control of cooling system is more involved as there are a number of variables that affect the cooling.
They are temperature difference between the autoclave ambient and cooling medium, rate of flow of cooling medium, heat transfer area, heat transfer coefficient of the cooling coil which is again a function of type of flow, that is, cross flow or parallel flow, conductivity of cooling coil material, and velocity of autoclave medium across the Heat Exchanger (HE). Generally, the cooling rate is controlled by varying the flow of cooling water. In some autoclaves, both air and water are used as a cooling medium. The modern autoclaves control all the three parameters, that is, rate of flow of cooling medium, temperature of cooling medium, and heat transfer area. Though this method is expensive, it is justified in large as well as high-temperature autoclaves where there is a wide range of loads to be cooled. To save the water, a closed-loop cooling system is generally employed. It consists of HE coils inside the autoclave, control valves, draining system, cooling tower, cooling water pumps and water treatment plant, and so forth. In the design of cooling system, the major challenge is to fast and effectively drain the cooling medium from the autoclave HE. Any delay in draining water from the HE not only results in draining away the heat of the autoclave during heating phase but also in formation of steam inside the HE which could damage the HE tube, if the steam pressure exceeds a certain value. Several methods are employed for the automatic draining of the cooling medium. Simple way of draining is to create the least resistant path for the water to flow. That is, provide a sump just below the autoclave heat exchanger and then pump back the water to the cooling water sump. This also reduces water wastage and prevents hot water/steam entering the cooling tower.
Pressurization System:
The system must ensure that the required pressurization rates in the autoclave are met. The average pressurization rate in modern autoclaves is 2bar/min. Nowadays, many autoclaves use nitrogen as the pressurization medium instead of air. This is because the autoclave cure consumables are highly inflammable in the air medium due to the presence of oxygen. There have been several reports of autoclave fire resulting invariably in the loss of the component. Though the nitrogen medium ensures fire-free autoclave cure cycles, care must be taken to avoid danger to personnel (possibility of asphyxiation) in nitrogen environments due to the lower oxygen levels.
The nitrogen gas pressurization system consists of a primary compressor, nitrogen plant, booster compressor, storage tanks, and associated piping circuitry. The primary compressor takes in the air from the atmosphere and pressurizes it to 7 bar(g). The nitrogen plant receives the air at 7bar(g) and by a process known as Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) isolates nitrogen from the atmospheric air. The PSA has emerged as one of the popular methods of producing nitrogen. The nitrogen purity produced by this method is of the order of 99%, which is adequate for curing of aerospace polymeric composites in autoclaves. The nitrogen, thus, isolated is further pressurized using a booster compressor to higher pressures, typically 17- 22 bar. Higher pressure is required to create sufficient pressure differential in order to meet the required pressurization rate. The nitrogen storage tanks are sized in such a way that the free-air delivery (FAD) of these storage tanks is 2.5 times the FAD of the autoclave. Be 3500 cubic meters.
Vacuum System:
An advanced vacuum system is an essential ingredient of modern autoclaves. The system consists of vacuum pumps, vacuum reservoirs, buffer tanks, measurement lines, and suction lines. The measurement, suction and vent lines are part of the closed-loop vacuum control that ensures the required level of vacuum inside the bag and on the component. A good autoclave design must provide for adequate number of vacuum ports. It must also provide for maintaining different levels of vacuum in different bags at the same time. Bag leaks during cure are not uncommon. Therefore, the pumps and the vacuum reservoirs must have adequate buffer capacity. A guideline for the selection of the pump is to have a pump of capacity 7 cubic meter/hr for a bagging area of 1 m2 . Likewise, the conductance of the vacuum lines must be adequate. Typically, a 4.5 m × 9 m.
Electrical System
Electrical systems of large autoclaves have to handle high currents at high voltages. Hence, their safe operation is of paramount importance. They should also be very reliable to ensure proper manufacture of expensive composites amidst failure of one or more subcomponents. To maintain reliability without compromising safety, sufficient redundancy and localized "trip" circuits should be built in the system. Further, the electrical system should provide necessary feedback signals to the control system and respond to various which can occur at any time during the cure without a warning, the semi-auto mode provides a very useful fallback arrangement. In this mode, operator can feed the set points for temperature, pressure, and vacuum directly to the respective controller and initiate the segments of the cure cycle such as heat, pressure, and vacuum cycle.
The control system consists of programmable PID controllers for effecting the closed-loop control of temperature, pressure, and vacuum; Recorders for the display, plot, and storage of all the analog input signals such as part temperature at different locations, pressure, vacuum at different parts, and so forth; PLC for ensuring safety, interlocks, sequential operation, status/alarm display, and so forth. All these components are connected to a pair of serial device servers (for redundancy) and in turn accessed by the computers through Ethernet links.
Main technical data of composite autoclave
MODEL#SN-CGF1540 COMPOSITE AUTOCLAVE-TECHNICAL PARAMETER |
No. | Description | Unit | Specifications and Parameters |
1 | Effective Working Diameter | mm | according to customer |
2 | Effective Working Length | mm | according to customer |
3 | Autoclave Track Distance | mm | 800 |
4 | Track height( from floor to Track plane) | mm | 620 |
5 | Top Height(from the trolley to the top of autoclave) | mm | 1140 |
5 | Design Pressure | Mpa | 1.6 |
6 | Max. Working Pressure | Mpa | 1.5 |
7 | Max. Pressurization Rate (average) | bar/min | 0.6 |
8 | Max. Depressurization Rate (average) | bar/min | 0.6 |
9 | Safety valve exhaust | Mpa | 1.55 |
10 | Design Temperature | ºC | 260 |
11 | Max. Working Temperature | ºC | 250 |
12 | Max. Heating Rate(Air average) | ºC/min | 3 |
13 | Max. Cooling Rate (Air average) | ºC/min | 3 |
14 | Thermal load during test | Kg | 800kgs PCM and 1500kgs steel |
15 | Temperature uniformity at steady state | ºC | ±2 |
16 | External shell temperature at max. temperature | ºC | <60 |
17 | Quick opening Door Mode | ---- | hydraulic |
18 | Working Medium | ---- | Compressed Air |
19 | Heating Mode | ---- | Electric(Convection+Radiation ) |
20 | Heater | ---- | inconel tubular heaters |
21 | Heating Power | KW | 126 |
22 | Quantity of Circulating Fan Motor | Set | 1 |
23 | Power of Circulating Fan Motor | KW | 18.5 |
24 | Thermocouple type | ---- | Type K |
25 | Air Temperature Thermocouples | Piece | 2 |
26 | Part Temperature Thermocouples | Piece | 20 |
27 | Quantity of Pressure Transducer | Piece | 1 |
28 | Vacuum Lines | Piece | 10 |
29 | Quantity of Vacuum Probe | Piece | 11 |
30 | PLC-controlled valves on each vacuum line | --- | Vacuum and Vent |
31 | Min. Vacuum Pressure | Mpa | -0.08 |
33 | Standard Control Mode | --- | PLC+PC |
34 | Control Software | --- | Thermal Processing Control (TPC) |
35 | Insulation Type | --- | Internal |
36 | Insulation Material | --- | Ceramic fiber |
37 | Insulation Thickness | mm | 100 |
38 | Insulation Sheet metal | --- | Stainless Steel |
39 | Working environment temperature | ºC | Min.-20ºC,max +45ºC |
40 | Working environment humidity | --- | <60% |
41 | Power supply | --- | 380VAC, 3P+PE, 50/60Hz |
42 | Weight | Kg | 7980 |
The TPC control system (Thermal process control)
1 Brief introduction of TPC
The autoclaves components and sensors will be monitored and controlled by the TPC control system. TPC is the Windows XP/Win 7 version of OLYMSPAN's computerized control software.
2 Superior Control is Your Key to Performance
Most will agree that in the world of composites manufacturing, the control system is a key component to assuring autoclave performance, usability, and reliability. Even the best autoclave will be crippled by a poor performing control system, especially when processing large volumes of composites. Because of this fact, OLYMSPAN has focused a large portion of our R&D efforts on our control software and the features/capabilities that can improve processing performance, reliability, and lean manufacturing in autoclaves.
3 Sample Screen Images
The following screen images are provided for a typical OLYMSPAN composite autoclave implementation.
Air Storage tank for Nitrogen7. Assistant equipments for autoclave
1.1 Max. working pressure 1.5Mpa
Ø Installation mode: Vertical
Ø Capacity: 12M3
Ø Max pressure: 1.5 Mpa
Ø For the autoclave operating pressure:0.7Mpa
Ø Environment operation temperature: -10ºC - 50ºC
Ø Manufacturing standard: GB150-2011, Chinese Pressure Vessel
1.2 Max. working pressure 3.0 Mpa
Ø Installation mode: Vertical
Ø Capacity: 8M3
Ø Max pressure: 3.0 Mpa
Ø For the autoclave operating pressure: 1.1 Mpa
Ø Environment operation temperature: -10ºC - 50ºC
Ø Manufacturing standard: GB150-2011, Chinese Pressure Vessel
2 System of the water preparation
2.1 Water pump
Ø Capacity: 8t/h
Ø Head: 30M
Ø Power: 3phase, 380V, 1.5 KW
Ø Material: SUS304
2.2 Multi media filter
Ø Capacity: 5t/h
Ø Dimension: Φ1000×1800mm
Ø Material: glass fiber reinforced plastic
Ø Quantity:1pc
Ø Accessory: Pipes and valves
2.3 Activated carbon filter
Ø Capacity: 5t/h
Ø Dimension: Φ1000×1800mm
Ø Material: glass fiber reinforced plastic
Ø Quantity:1pc
Ø Accessory: Pipes and valves
2.4 Softening filter
Ø Capacity: 5t/h
Ø Dimension: Φ1000×1800mm
Ø Material: glass fiber reinforced plastic
Ø Quantity:1pc
Ø Accessory: Pipes and valves
2.5 Sensors, pipes, valves and Instruments
3 Circulating water cooling system
This section includes water pump, cooling tower, water tank, filters, valves and pipes.
Ø Type: Open cycle
Ø Quantity: 1 set
Ø Flow rate of pump: 10t/h
Ø Head of pump: 30m
Ø Flow rate of cooling tower: 15t/h
Ø Water tank volume:5cbm
4 Platform device , Trolley and installation material
4.1 Platform device is used for the loading trolley, it can be moveable.
4.2 Trolley is used for part loading and transport, the Length is 4 m. Material is carbon steel with 10 vacuum connections, 10measuring connections (vacuum), 20 connections for thermocouples
4.3 Valves , pipes ,flange, gasket and all material for installation of autoclave.
Configurations of composite autoclave
Ø PC: Dell
Ø PLC: Siemens
Ø Main electrical component : Schneider
Ø Shell: GB150-2011, OLYMSPAN,CHINA
Ø Heater : Electric heating inconel tubular heaters.
Ø Insulation material: Ceramic fiber
Ø Protect armor: Stainless steel
Ø Heating exchanger:304 stainless-steel, XUELANG, China
Ø SCR: SHIMADEN, China
Ø Electro-pneumatic adjustable ball valve: YAMATAKE, Japan
Ø PID controller : Omron ,Japan
Ø Limited Switch: Omron ,Japan
Ø Special Motor: OLYMSPAN, China
Ø Thermocouple: OMEGA
Ø Pressure transducer: KUNLUN, CHINA
Ø Vacuum pump: RUFUS.
Packing
1. The equipment will be properly packed / wrapped considering long-distance ocean and land transportation and rough handling that may happen in the absence of both parties.
2. Proper protection from moisture, rust, mold, scratches, shaking, etc, will be taken so that the goods may arrive at the installation site in good condition.
3. Shipping marks and warning signed will be clearly painted, and detailed packing list (in
English) will be soundly attached, to the outside of the packing.
Delivery, Installation and Quality Guarantee
1. Delivery
The delivery period is 80 days after receiving down-payment; but does not include shipping time!
2. Installation
2-1 The installation and commissioning takes 1 person x 20 days (max.) under Buyer's assistance. Production training is carried out during the same period.
2-2 The international travelling cost, including round-trip air tickets, insurance, boarding and meals of the Seller's service team should be charged to the buyer.
3. Quality Guarantee
The Seller provides 14 months quality guarantee, during which the Seller is responsible for all equipment failures due to inferior quality, improper design or services.