In the present work, the concept of composite impeller through automatic filament winding manufacturing approach was realized. The advantage of using filament winding method to manufacture high performance and light-weight composite impellers is that the production can be rapid, inexpensive and utilize commercially available winding machines. This work focuses both on how to achieve the automation of the production process, as well as evaluate the composite impeller’s mechanical properties. For the automatic production process, a new filament winding facility for manufacturing fiber-reinforced composite impellers was developed. A kevlar/epoxy matrix was selected to manufacture the high strength-to-weight ratio composite material. In order to maintain the epoxy’s freshness, a two component syringe dispensing device was designed to control the dispensation of resin. The composite material’s properties were measured in order to ensure the impeller was able to withstand the large stresses incurred during the high speed rotation required to achieve large volume flows and a high compression ratio. With these properties, a 3D structural analysis using ANSYS was performed, which resulted in a maximum tip speed of 830m/s before the composite impeller’s failure. In terms of momentum change, this is a high tip speed needed to compress water vapor.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
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