Together with its customer, BBG, the manufacturer of molds, machinery and plants, has developed, built and now shipped an end-to-end production line for the series production of CFRP window frames for the Airbus A350. The consignee is ACE Advanced Composite Engineering GmbH, located at Immenstaad on Lake Constance, who produce components made of carbon fiber-reinforced plastics for Airbus at their production site at Hagnau/Germany. The first phase of the contract includes two BFT-C mold carrier systems (mounting dimensions of 1,000 mm x 1,000 mm) designed as a press with a clamping force of 100 t, an in-mold turning unit and a demolding unit. The delivery of another four BFT-C systems is scheduled for the near future.

Following 2012, this is already the second major contract from the aerospace industry for production lines to be used in tBBG_BFT-C_10x11_2252-2he series production of fiber-reinforced plastics. Back then, BBG delivered an end-to-end production line for lavatory sheets to a Boeing supplier in the Philippines.

Production line consisting of BFT-C press, in-mold turning unit and demolding unit

An automatic mounting system is first of all used to secure the mold in the in-mold turning unit, which offers a maximum clamping force of two tons. Subsequently, the two parts of the mold are separated by being lifted in a short parallel movement and then swung open 180 degrees. The ergonomic design allows the operator to place the prepared carbon fiber preforms in the mold conveniently.

The in-mold turning unit comes with a fully insulated heat chamber with integrated heating plates so that any molds so equipped can be heated in an energy-efficient fashion. A special trolley is used to introduce the mold including the preforms into the mold carrier BFT-C, where the resin is injected and the component undergoes baking. At the end, the mold is opened in the mold carrier, and the component is handed over to the demolding unit for demolding. This unit, too, can be swung open 180 degrees so that the window frame is easy to remove.