Novel Diagnostic Tools for Production of WTPS

In the pursuit of supplying the highest quality 3D woven material, for Woven Thermal Protection Systems (W-TPS), Bally Ribbon Mills (BRM) is proposing a diagnostic tool to measure and monitor the beat-up force for 3D weaving equipment. Current weaving techniques relay on the loom operator to see or hear variations in the weaving process and detect problems early so defective material is kept to a minimum. Many times, even for the most experienced weavers, when variations are identified a defect is already woven into the product. BRM is proposing to modify and beat-up motion on the 24-inch-wide NASA HEEET loom to incorporate load cells between the beam and the lay heads to measure the beat-up force at real time.