Method for producing anchor rods from a fiber composite material, and anchor rod

Abstract

A method for producing anchor rods from a fiber composite material includes a solidifying step during which a strand of a curable matrix material with embedded fibers is conveyed to an irradiation device and solidified by an irradiation with light. In a subsequent curing step, the solidified strand is conveyed to an annealing device and is cured by heating to an annealing temperature. A portion of the cured strand forms an anchor rod. The strand is continuously conveyed past or into the irradiation device in a depression of a circulating conveyor belt. The depression of the conveyor belt comprises profiled inner wall regions, via which, during the solidifying step, a surface profiling of the strand conveyed therein is effected. The conveyor belt consists of a light-permeable material, so that multiple illumination devices can illuminate the strand conveyed on the conveyor belt from various directions.

Claims

1. A method for producing anchor rods from a fiber composite material, the method comprising: a solidifying step, in which a strand of a curable matrix material with embedded fibers is conveyed, on a single, endless-circulating UV-light permeable conveyor belt having an uninterrupted depression, to a UV illumination device and solidified by an irradiation with UV light, the depression molding a correspondingly shaped surface profiling on the outer surface of the strand; and a curing step, in which the solidified strand is further conveyed into an annealing device and cured by heating the solidified strand to an annealing temperature, wherein a section of the cured strand forms an anchor rod.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the strand is continuously supplied to the UV illumination device by the conveyor belt.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein in an impregnating step, a bundle of fibers is impregnated with the matrix material and is brought together into the strand, which is subsequently supplied by the conveyor belt to the UV illumination device.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the fibers of the bundle, while spaced apart from one another, are supplied to an immersing container with the matrix material for said impregnating so as to encase the fibers with the matrix material, and the fibers encased with matrix material are brought together into the strand in the immersing container or after departing the immersing container.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor belt is a circulating conveyor belt having the depression as a continuous depression extending in a conveying direction and within which the strand is arranged for said conveying.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the depression of the conveyor belt comprises profiled inner wall regions, which cause, during the solidifying step, the surface profiling of the strand conveyed therein.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the irradiation with UV light during the solidifying step is affected by the UV illumination device provided as multiple UV illumination devices which illuminate the strand conveyed on the conveyor belt from various directions.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein additional matrix material is added to the strand via a dosing device before the solidifying step.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the dosing device introduces the additional matrix material to the strand and depression after the strand is supplied to the depression so as to completely fill up the depression.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein before, during, or after the curing step, the strand is divided into multiple sections which each form an anchor rod.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the UV illumination device is arranged below the conveyor belt and irradiates the strand with UV light through the conveyor belt.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the conveyor belt is integrally formed as a single piece made of UV-light permeable material.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the UV-light permeable material is transparent silicone.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the UV illumination device is provided as multiple UV illumination devices arranged and directed such that they illuminate, from multiple directions transverse to the conveying direction of the conveyor belt in addition to through the conveyor belt, the conveyor belt and strand being conveyed thereby.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the UV illumination device irradiates to solidify the strand both directly from above in addition to laterally through the conveyor belt.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Subsequently, exemplary embodiments of the inventive idea are explained in greater detail, which are exemplarily represented in the illustrations. They show in:

(2) FIG. 1 a schematic representation of the method procedure for the continuous production of anchor rods with a surface profiling out of a fiber composite material.

(3) FIG. 2 a schematic representation of a bundle of fibers, which, in an impregnating step, is impregnated and encased with the matrix material.

(4) FIG. 3 a schematic representation of an endless-circulating conveyor belt, which enables, in a conveying direction, a continuous depression for the receiving of the impregnated bundle of fibers during a solidifying step.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(5) In a production method according to the invention, and schematically represented in FIG. 1, multiple fibers 1 are unwound from a storage drum 2, and are led, via multiple diverting rolls 3, through an immersing container 4, which is filled with an initially still fluid or pasty matrix material 5. The individual fibers 1 are, after the wetting and encasing with the matrix material 5 in the immersing container 4, supplied to a bundling device 6, with the help of which the individual fibers 1 are bundled into a strand 7.

(6) FIG. 2 schematically shows that the individual fibers 1 are first fanned out, and, distanced from their neighboring fibers 1, are respectively supplied to immersing container 4, so that each fiber 1, spaced from the other fibers 1, is submerged and completely surrounded or wetted by the matrix material 5. The individual wetted fibers 1 are bundled with the bundling device 6 to the strand 7, after departing the immersing container 4.

(7) After that, the strand 7 is supplied to an endless-circulating conveyor belt 8. The conveyor belt 8, which is represented enlarged, in section, in FIG. 3, comprises a continuous depression 10 in a conveying direction made clear with an arrow 9. The depression 10 comprises, uninterrupted, a wave-shaped surface profiling 11 of the inner wall regions 12.

(8) After the strand 7 was supplied to the depression 10 in the conveyor belt 8, matrix material 5 is additionally introduced into the depression 10 with a dosing device 13, in order to completely fill up the depression 10, and to promote or to ensure a molding of the surface profiling 11 of the inner wall regions 13 on the therein embedded strand 7.

(9) The strand 7 is supplied to an irradiation device 14 by the conveyor belt 8. Multiple UV illumination devices 15 are arranged in the irradiation device 14. The individual illumination devices 15, deviating from the schematic representation in FIG. 1, are arranged and directed such that they illuminate, from multiple different directions transverse to the conveying direction 9, the conveyor belt 8 and strand 7 received in the depression 10 therein.

(10) The conveyor belt 8 is produced out of a transparent and elastic silicone material. The illumination devices 15 can therefore irradiate, and thereby solidify the strand 7 not only from above, but also laterally through the conveyor belt 8 with UV light. A length of the irradiation device 14, or the arrangement of the individual illumination devices 15, and a transport speed, with which the conveyor belt 8 circulates and conveys the strand 7 through the irradiation device 14, are pre-defined and adapted to one another such that the strand 7 is sufficiently solidified by the illumination in the irradiation device 14, until it leaves the irradiation device 14 again.

(11) After leaving the irradiation device 14, the strand 7 is divided into individual portions via a separating device 16, which respectively form an anchor rod 17. The individual anchor rods 17 are conveyed to an annealing device 18, in which the anchor rods 17 are heated to a predefined annealing temperature and held at this annealing temperature for the duration of the curing process, until the matric material 5 is completely cured or at least cured sufficiently for the intended use as anchor rod 17.

(12) Since the individual anchor rods 17 already have a surface profiling and have been solidified, so that an undesired deformation of the anchor rods 17 in the further handling and in particular during the curing step does not have to be feared, multiple anchor rods 17 can be supplied to the annealing device 18 and be stacked there, for example, in a space-saving manner, or be stored in a revolver magazine, until the curing process is completed. The number of units that can be produced by means of the method according to the invention per hour, for example, is no longer limited by a manual or automated loading of individual molds, or by the retention time in the annealing device 18, which often lasts multiple hours, but is decisively determined by maximum possible transport speed in the strand production and the retention time in the irradiation device 14, which is often only a few minutes.