Patent Application
20120164315
The present application claims priority from Japanese patent application serial no. 2011-270308 filed on Dec. 9, 2011, which further claims priority from Japanese patent application serial no. 2010-286975 filed on Dec. 24, 2010, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dies for applying insulation enamel coatings to wires (hereinafter referred to as “coating dies”), and particularly to a die for coating wires for use in electrical equipment such as motors and transformers. Furthermore, the invention relates to methods for manufacturing enameled wires using the invented dies.
2. Description of Related Art
Enameled wires (enamel covered insulated wires) are widely used for coil wires in electrical equipment such as motors and transformers. Such enameled wires are formed by covering an insulation coating around a metal conductor having a desired cross section (e.g., circular and rectangular) depending on the application and shape of the coil. With the current trend toward small and high power vehicle motors (e.g., motors for electrical equipment and alternators), there is a requirement to reduce the thickness of insulation enamel coatings for wires so that such wires can be wound into coils at a higher filling factor. Also, there is another requirement for insulation coatings having a uniform thickness because an uneven thickness of insulation coatings can induce insulation breakdown due to concentration of electric fields.
In order to form a thin and uniform insulation coating on a wire, it is extremely important to position (center) the wire to be coated properly with respect to a coating die. Generally, in order to obtain an enameled wire having a coating of a predetermined thickness, an insulation varnish application and baking process is often repeated several times. As a result, an accurate centering procedure also needs to be repeated for a plurality of coating dies, which requires much labor. Meanwhile, whether the centering procedure is accurate or not is typically judged by observing a cross section of the resulting enameled wire after the varnish application and baking process.
One technique to center a wire to be coated with respect to a coating die is to utilize a pressure difference caused by the insulation varnish flow around the wire in the coating die (self-centering force). Since this self-centering force depends largely on various parameters (e.g., a wire feed rate, an insulation varnish viscosity, a gap between the coating die and the wire, a length and an angle of approach portion of the coating die, etc.), coating dies need to be optimally designed for different specifications of enameled wires. Therefore, with this technique, it is difficult to accommodate sudden changes in the specifications of enameled wires.
Meanwhile, JP-U Hei 7 (1995)-1539 A (Japanese Utility Model Application Publication) discloses a die for applying varnish to a core wire, including: a die body; and a die hole formed through the die body, the core wire to be passed through the die hole, in which the die hole has a core wire entry hole portion and successively a varnish restriction hole portion. The die further comprises a guide which aligns the core wire on the center axis of the varnish restriction hole portion. The guide is composed of three or more guide wires, or three or more protrusions provided at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction on the inner surfaces of the core wire entry hole portion and the varnish restriction hole portion. According to JP-U Hei 7 (1995)-1539 A, since the guide composed of the guide wires or protrusions restricts the core wire passing position in the varnish restriction hole portion so that the core wire always passes along the center axis of the varnish restriction hole portion, the die for applying varnish is capable of applying a uniform varnish coating to the core wire even if the viscosity of the varnish to be applied is low.
However, even an enameled wire having an insulation coating formed by using such a die for applying varnish as disclosed in JP-U Hei 7 (1995)-1539 A can have regions involving an air bubble (air bubble regions) in the insulation coating. If the regions involving an air bubble (air bubble regions) are locally formed in the insulation coating of an enameled wire, an insulation breakdown is prone to occur. In addition, the air bubble regions adversely affect the electrical and mechanical properties of the enameled wire.
Therefore, it is desired that such air bubble regions do not exist in the insulation coating of an enameled wire. The formation of an air bubble region in an insulation coating is attributable to many factors. In many cases, however, a foreign matter such as a baking dross formed during a baking process or a half-peeled flaw remaining on a surface of the wire conductor can be an origin of the air bubble region in the subsequent varnish application process.
Herein, it is believed that half-peeled flaws originate mainly from streak flaws on a wire rod from which wire conductors are formed. Such streak flaws develop during wire rod manufacturing processes. Therefore, subjecting a wire rod to a peeling process is generally effective in reducing half-peeled flaws. However, in the case where cast defects are present in a wire rod, it is technically difficult to remove all the cast defects only by subjecting the wire rod to a peeling process. Also, cast defects that cannot be removed by a peeling process are prone to become exposed on a surface of a wire conductor as they are elongated during a wire drawing process, or they may exist barely covered by a thin layer of the conductor material. In the latter case, bending by a pulley or sliding with a gasket can cause such defects to appear on the surface and the thin layer covering such defects to curl up and become half-peeled flaws.
In view of the foregoing, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a coating die for forming an insulation enamel coating around a wire conductor such that formation of air bubble regions in the insulation coating is prevented. Furthermore, it is another objective of the invention to provide a method for manufacturing an enameled wire using the invented dies.
(I) According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a coating die for applying an insulation enamel varnish around a wire conductor, comprising a die body and a die hole formed through the die body, the wire conductor to be inserted through the die hole. This die hole includes an entry portion and a coating portion. The entry portion has an opening size monotonically decreasing along a conductor insertion direction, and the coating portion comprises a sub-portion having a constant opening size. On an inner surface of the coating portion are provided at least four protrusions equally spaced in a circumferential direction of the inner surface. These protrusions project toward a center axis of the die hole. Each of the protrusions includes a portion with a height gradually increasing along the conductor insertion direction from a boundary between the entry portion and the coating portion.
In the above aspect (I) of the invention, the following modifications and changes can be made.
(i) Each of the protrusions is formed to have a height gradually decreasing along the conductor insertion direction after reaching peak position thereof.
(ii) Each of the protrusions is formed to have a height being constant after reaching peak position thereof.
(iii) A contour of each of the protrusions is a circular arc, an elongated circular arc, or an elliptical arc in a vertical cross section with respect to the center axis of the die hole.
(iv) A contour of each of the protrusions is a round-cornered quadrilateral in a vertical cross section with respect to the center axis of the die hole.
(v) The maximum height of each of the protrusions is greater than or equal to 0.01 μm and less than or equal to 0.1 μm.
(II) According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a manufacturing method of an enameled wire, comprising steps of: inserting a wire conductor through the die hole of the above-described coating die; applying an insulation varnish around the wire conductor in the die hole; and baking the applied insulation varnish.
In the above aspect (II) of the invention, the following modifications and changes can be made.
(vi) The insulation varnish is applied and baked for a plurality of passes, and the coating die is used for at least a first pass of the plurality of passes.
(vii) The coating die is used such that a distance between a surface of the wire conductor inserted through the die hole and an apex of each of the protrusions is greater than 0 μm and less than or equal to 20 μm.
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a coating die for forming an insulation enamel coating around a wire conductor such that formation of air bubble regions in the insulation coating is prevented. Also, it is possible to provide a method for manufacturing an enameled wire using the invented dies. Therefore, there can be provided an enameled wire having a thin and uniform insulation coating.
a)-6(c) are schematic illustrations showing enlarged longitudinal cross-sectional views of examples of the coating portion of a coating die according to the present invention.
a)-7(b) are schematic illustrations showing enlarged transverse cross-sectional views of examples of a bearing portion (having a constant opening size) of a coating portion of a coating die according to the present invention.
The present inventor has extensively investigated the above-described formation of air bubble regions which occurs in manufacturing an enameled wire using a coating die (during an insulation varnish application and baking process).
First, the formation of air bubble regions in an insulation coating formed by using a conventional coating die will be explained.
During this process, if any foreign matter or half-peeled flaw 8 is present on a surface of the wire conductor 5, the wire conductor 5 becomes off-centered in the coating portion 14 of the coating die 10. This causes partial thickening and thinning of the insulation varnish 6 to occur. At a region thickly coated with the insulation varnish 6, becomes larger the diffusion length for gas molecules produced in a cross-linking reaction of the macromolecular component of the insulation varnish 6 to escape. In addition, the foreign matter or half-peeled flaw 8 induces a heterogeneous nucleation, thus working as an air bubble nucleus. As a result, an air bubble region 9 is prone to be formed in such a region.
Meanwhile, at a region thinly coated with the insulation varnish 6, part of the conductor wire can oxidize and turn blue (what is called “bluing”). Such undesirable discolored spots lead to poor appearance and are prone to cause insulation breakdown.
Based on experiments and examinations on the above-described mechanism of the formation of air bubble regions, the present inventor has found out that even when a foreign matter or half-peeled flaw is present on a surface of a wire conductor, the formation of a local air bubble region in the insulation coating on the wire conductor can be suppressed if off-centering of the wire conductor can be suppressed in the coating portion of a coating die by crushing or flattening the foreign matter or half-peeled flaw. At the same time, the inventor has found out that bluing can also be suppressed. The present invention was made based on these findings.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below. However, the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described below, and various combinations and modifications are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Herein, like reference numerals are used to refer to like items and not again described to avoid repetition.
(Outline Structure of Coating Die)
Next, each part of the invented coating die will be explained in detail.
(Die Hole)
Although, for simplicity of description, the taper angle of the inner surface of the
(Protrusions)
a) to 6(c) are schematic illustrations showing enlarged longitudinal cross-sectional views of examples of the coating portion of a coating die according to the present invention. As shown in
On the other hand, it is preferable that each protrusion 45 does not extend till the end of the bearing portion (the end on the conductor outlet side). In other words, by providing a portion not having protrusions around the end on the conductor outlet side of the bearing portion, can be secured the controllability of a coating thickness of the insulation varnish. There is no particular limitation on a length of each protrusion 45, and this length is set as appropriate depending on the dimensions of the wire conductor and the thickness of the coating to be applied, preferably at 1 to 2 mm, for example.
a) and 7(b) are schematic illustrations showing enlarged transverse cross-sectional views of examples of a bearing portion (having a constant opening size) of a coating portion of a coating die according to the present invention. As shown in
A height of the protrusions is also set as appropriate depending on the dimensions of the wire conductor and the thickness of the coating to be applied, for example, according to the following concept.
H={(D2−D1)/2}−S Eq. (1),
where, as shown in
The space S is preferably greater than 0 μm and less than or equal to 20 μm. “S=0 μm” indicates that the wire conductor and each protrusion is constantly in contact with each other, which can damage the wire conductor and therefore is undesirable. On the other hand, if S is greater than 20 μm, no advantage can be obtained by providing the protrusions.
Also, a distance between the inner surface of the bearing portion and the surface of the wire conductor “(D2−D1)/2” is preferably greater than or equal to 10 μm and less than or equal to 50 μm. Basically, the smaller the distance between the inner surface of the bearing portion and the wire conductor surface is, the less likely an air bubble occurs in the coating. However, if the distance is too small, a coating which can be formed in one varnish application and baking process becomes thin. Therefore, the varnish application and baking process needs to be repeated many times to form an insulation coating having a desired thickness, resulting in an increased manufacturing cost. In other words, suppressing the formation of air bubbles in a coating and controlling the manufacturing cost is in a trade-off relationship. By restricting the value of “(D2−D1)/2” within the above-described range, suppressing the air bubble formation can be balanced against controlling the manufacturing cost.
In view of the above-described “S” and “(D2−D1)/2”, the height H of each protrusion is preferably greater than or equal to 0.01 μm and less than or equal to 0.1 μm, and more preferably greater than or equal to 0.02 μm and less than or equal to 0.05 μm. By restricting the value of H within this range, a foreign matter and/or a half-peeled flaw present on the surface of a wire conductor can be effectively and smoothly crushed or flattened toward the wire conductor side as the wire conductor passes through the die hole (the bearing portion).
In addition, the protrusions 45 physically prevent the wire conductor 5 from becoming significantly off-centered, thus effectively reducing thickness variation of the applied coating (i.e., the resultant insulation coating 7). Furthermore, each protrusion 45 works as a streamlining plate for streamlining (laminarizing) a flow of the insulation varnish 6, thus suppressing nonuniform (turbulent) varnish flow and as a result suppressing misalignment between the insulation varnish 6 and the wire conductor 5.
(Manufacturing Method of Enameled Wires)
As described before, an enameled wire is manufactured using a coating device including a plurality of coating dies in the following steps: inserting a wire conductor through a coating die disposed in a coating device; applying an insulation varnish around the wire conductor; and passing the wire conductor coated with the insulation varnish through a baking furnace to bake it. An enameled wire coated with an insulation coating having a desired thickness can be obtained by subjecting a wire conductor to “a process of applying an insulation varnish” and “a process of baking the applied insulation varnish” for each die disposed in the coating device.
In order to crush or flatten foreign matters and/or half-peeled flaws present on the surface of a wire conductor in a stable manner, a coating die according to the present invention is preferably used as the first pass coating die (the first coating die through which a conductor wire is inserted in a coating device).
Meanwhile, besides the above-described foreign matters and/or half-peeled flaws, there may exist linear flaws, which are dents to a minute depth on the surface of a wire conductor along the longitudinal direction. If any further dented spot (pit) is present on these linear flaws, the air contained in such a pit expands by heat during a baking process and emerges as an air bubble on the surface of the insulation coating. Such an air bubble works similar to a half-peeled flaw in an application and baking process for the second and subsequent passes.
More specifically, when a wire conductor with air bubbles arising from linear flaws in the application and baking process for the first pass is subjected to the application and baking process for the second pass, those air bubbles behave like seeds and are prone to attract further air bubbles, resulting in larger air bubbles. Such air bubbles grow larger and larger as the application and baking process is repeated. In view of this phenomenon, another coating die according to the present invention is used to great advantage for the second pass in addition to the above-described first pass coating die in a coating device to effectively remove (crush) air bubbles arising from linear flaws.
In addition, a foreign matter such as baking dross which may be produced during a baking process can become a seed of air bubbles during the application and baking process for the next pass. However, it is difficult to identify a baking process of somethingth pass in which a foreign matter such as baking dross would be produced. Therefore, it will be effective in removing (crushing) air bubbles arising from foreign matters such as baking dross if all of the plurality of coating dies disposed in a coating device are in accordance with the present invention.
Besides the advantages described before, the following advantages can also be obtained according to the embodiments of the present invention:
(1) Since significant off-centering of a wire conductor is physically suppressed by the at least four protrusions provided at equal intervals on the inner surface of the bearing portion in the circumferential direction, the wire conductor can be more readily centered with respect to the coating die, resulting in a reduced manufacturing cost.
(2) In a conventional technique, in order to center a wire conductor with respect to a coating die by using the self-centering force, the viscosity of an insulation varnish needs to be kept low. By contrast, according to the present invention, thickness variation of the applied coating (i.e., the resultant insulation coating) can be reduced even if an insulation varnish having a higher viscosity than in the conventional technique is used. In other words, can be used an insulation varnish with a smaller amount of a solvent component and a volatile component. This contributes to reductions of a material cost and a green house gas emission.
(3) By using an insulation varnish having a higher viscosity than in the conventional technique, the number of times of the application and baking process to be repeated can also be reduced. This contributes to manufacturing cost reduction and energy conservation.
The present invention will be more specifically described below by way of examples. However, the invention is not limited to the specific examples below.
Three types of enameled wires (Class 1 polyamide-imide copper wires, 1AIW) were manufactured by using a different kind of coating dies. Each enameled wire had an insulation coating of a designed thickness of 0.039 mm formed around a wire conductor with a diameter of 1.0 mm. The wire conductor used was a copper wire with a diameter of 1.0 mm prepared by subjecting a wire rod (tough pitch copper) with a diameter of 8.0 mm to a wire drawing process without subjecting it to a peeling process. In other words, half-peeled flaws were probably present on the surface of the wire conductor. Meanwhile, the insulation varnish used was a polyamide-imide varnish (a product of Hitachi Chemical Co. Ltd., HI-406-30). The varnish application and baking process was repeated eight times, and the nominal diameters of the die holes (bearing portions) of the coating dies used were 1.080 mm, 1.090 mm, 1.100 mm, 1.110 mm, 1.120 mm, 1.130 mm, 1.140 mm, and 1.150 mm.
The enameled wire of Comparative Example 1 was formed by applying the insulation varnish around the wire conductor using a conventional coating die (see
The specimens thus manufactured (Examples 1 and 2 and Comparative Example 1), 10 km long each, were examined visually and by using an outer diameter anomaly detector to see if any air bubble region had been formed on them. If no air bubble region was observed over its entire length of 10 km, the specimen was evaluated as acceptable (Passed); if any air bubble region was observed over its entire length of 10 km, the specimen was evaluated as not acceptable (Failed). The results are shown in Table 1.
As shown in Table 1, no air bubble region formation was observed in the enameled wires of Examples 1 and 2. By contrast, in the enameled wire of Comparative Example 1, 14 air bubble regions were observed. This is attributable to use of the wire conductor on the surface of which half-peeled flaws were probably present.
The results described above demonstrate that by the coating die according to the present invention, an insulation enamel coating can be applied to a wire conductor such that formation of air bubble regions in the insulation coating is prevented. In addition, the manufacturing method of an enameled wire according to the present invention is applicable to both vertical and horizontal coating devices.
Although the invention has been described with respect to the specific embodiments for complete and clear disclosure, the appended claims are not to be thus limited but are to be construed as embodying all modifications and alternative constructions that may occur to one skilled in the art which fairly fall within the basic teaching herein set forth.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-286975 | Dec 2010 | JP | national |
| 2011-270308 | Dec 2011 | JP | national |
