Abstract: The projection of a space curve on the surface of a cylindrical componenet is used as the composite fiber placement path on this component. First, a specific curve is created around the core module, and then it is projected on to specified surfaces in a particular direction and the projections are taken as initial paths. In order to cover the whole surface with path trajectories, an equidistant offset algorithm is proposed to compute subsequent paths. Furthermore, a method is presented to fill the gaps between paths and extend the endpoints of path trajectory to the surface boundary.The algorithms are verified through fiber placement simulation on a fuselage model. In contrast to other algorithms, this method is able to derive explicit formulas to compute paths and generate path trajectories on all offset surfaces for final component forming.

Key words: composites, robotic fiber placement, path planning, projection, multilayers, cylindrical