Embodiments provide a lamination machine and lamination process for laminating a membrane to a three-dimensional (3D) target surface of an article, such as a footwear article, glove, clothing article, backpack, or other article. The lamination machine may include an inflatable former that is permeable to air. The inflatable former may have a shape that generally corresponds to a shape of the target surface. The membrane and target surface may be arranged on the former, with a heat-activated adhesive disposed between the membrane and the target surface. The lamination machine may further include a pump to pump heated compressed air into the former. The heated compressed air may inflate the former to press the membrane against the target surface and to activate the adhesive to bond the membrane to the target surface.

Provided are systems and apparatuses for manufacturing aircraft support structures. An example robotic end effector comprises a rotatable reel with a flat strip of material wound around the reel. The end effector further includes a forming shoe including a forming surface contacting the strip of material. A first end of the forming surface corresponds to a start shape and a second end of the forming surface corresponds to an end shape. As the strip of material passes from the first end of the forming surface to the second end of the forming surface, the strip of material transitions from the first shape to the end shape and is deposited as a formed stringer ply onto an application surface. The forming shoe may further include a vacuum system to suction air through a plurality of ports along the forming surface to urge the strip of material against the forming surface.

A filling method for filling surface imperfections on a surface of a wing comprising a scanning step in which a control unit controls a movement of a scanner past the surface of the wing to scan the surface and transmit the collected data to the control unit, a computation step in which the control unit computes a digitized surface from the data, a determination step in which the control unit determines each surface imperfection by comparing the reference surface and the digitized surface, a generation step in which the control unit generates a digital model of the patch intended to fill the surface imperfection, and a printing step in which the control unit controls the movement of a 3D printer past each surface imperfection and commands the activation of the 3D printer in order to make it print the patch.

A method and an apparatus for coating a solid wood floor and a solid wood floor are provided. The method for coating a solid wood floor includes providing a solid wood floor, where the solid wood floor has two side surfaces defining boundaries of a width dimension of the solid wood floor; and providing a polyethylene protective film, and adhering the polyethylene protective film to at least one of the two side surfaces. Therefore, external moisture can be prevented from entering the solid wood floor so as to avoid deformation of the floor due to moisture; an external dust, water, etc. can be prevented from entering between two adjacent solid wood floors; an overall appearance of the laid solid wood floors will not be affected by the coating; when the laid solid wood floors are subjected to force, no noise will be emitted, thereby improving customer satisfaction.

A flat laminate element made of thermoplastic is hot-formed in a two-stage method. In a first stage, the flat laminate which includes film(s) and/or panels(n) is placed on a flat frame-shaped pallet and is heated to a forming temperature in a heating zone between two flat heat screens in a contactless manner. The edge zone of the hot flat laminate element lies on the pallet such that the laminate piece cannot be clamped in a first laminate direction but rather can be slide on the pallet in this direction. Two non-flat rigid contours which are identical or largely identical act on two opposing parallel laminate edge sections uniaxially and perpendicularly to the laminate plane and only in the first laminate direction, i.e. monodirectionally, and shape the entire heated laminate element into a monodirectionally molded blank.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to envelopes for aerial vehicle. The aerial vehicle may include an envelope including a plurality of gores. The aerial vehicle may also include a seal arranged between a pair of the plurality of gores, the seal including six layers of envelope material heat-sealed together.

The invention relates to a device (1) for machining a workpiece (2) which preferably consist at least in sections of wood, wood material or synthetic material and/or for coating the workpiece (2) with a coating material (4), comprising: a machining device (30, 40) for machining the workpiece (2), and a conveyor (20) for affecting a relative movement between the workpiece (2) and the machining device (30, 40), a controller for controlling the conveyor (20) and the machining device (30, 40), characterized in that the device (1) further has at least one workpiece measuring device (22) which is configured to measure at least one property of the workpiece (2), in particular a property of a surface (2) of the workpiece (2) to be machined or to be coated.

A pipe joint coating for welded ends of pipes forming a pipeline. A last and third layer of a 3LPP coating system covering at least a circumferential weld area of the pipe joint is a heated sheet applied around the pipe with a machine including a mounting frame and a transport carriage rotatably movable on the mounting frame to move circumferentially about the pipe joint, and a roller applying an adjusted pressure to the sheet against the pipe and adapting to eccentricity or ovality of the pipe. The sheet is pressed below the pipe away from its overlapping ends, a first part of the sheet is then applied when the roller is rolled in a first direction, and a second part of the sheet is applied by the roller rolled back in the reverse direction around the pipe. The sheet is dimensioned to obtain an overlapped area between its extremities.

An edge-banding apparatus is provided and configured to apply an edging strip having a heat activated layer to a substrate or work piece. The apparatus uses localised heat generated from a controlled flame from combustible fuel to apply heat to the edging strip to active the heat activated layer.

The apparatus comprises: a. an edging strip feeding device to feed the edging strip along a predetermined path towards the substrate or work piece; b. a source of combustible fuel; c. a fuel delivery device in fluid communication with the source of combustible fuel such that combustible fuel can be delivered to the fuel delivery device; and d. an ignition device configured to ignite the combustible fuel at or near the fuel delivery device such that a controlled flame is generated by the fuel delivery device;

The apparatus further comprises one or more controllers configured to control one or more properties of the controlled flame of combustible fuel such that the heat from the flame activates the heat activated layer of the edging strip such that the edging strip is applied to the substrate or work piece.

A method of applying an edging strip having a heat activated layer to a substrate or work piece is also provided.

According to one aspect of the present invention, an adhesive sheet material application device is disclosed, which includes a roller support bar, a roller support member, a first and second handle, and a roller. According to another aspect of the present invention, an adhesive sheet material application device is disclosed which includes a roller support member, a roller, and a second handle.