Patent Application
20080086872
In the example implementation disclosed herein, each of the support structures is fashioned in the form of a table having a flat top and several support legs and may be initially moveable or repositionable, but during use are anchored to the floor in accordance with conventional practice. It can be appreciated from
In the non-limiting example implementation described herein, the stator bar end-arm support structures 14 and 16 each have a pair of bending tool modules 22 mounted on top surface 28 for shaping the opposite ends of stator bar stock 20. Bending/forming tooling modules 22 may include hydraulic, electric or other manual or automated components to provide assistance to an operator/machinist during the forming operation. In addition, a plurality of mid-curvature height-wise bend forming piers or modules 26 are also provided between each bending tool module 22. The top surface 28 of each end-arm support structure is provided with an array of tool location alignment holes which accept mating mounting pins 30 provided on an underside mounting surface of the bend-forming tool modules 22 and mid-curvature tool modules 26. Since end-arm support structures 14 and 16 are mirror images of one another, therefore only one need be described in detail herein (see discussion herein below of
The positioning of appropriate tooling modules on the surfaces of one or more appropriately spaced support structures allows producing curvatures in a length of stator bar stock that result in a desired stator bar form and shape. The placement and selection of the particular bend-forming and mid-curvature forming tooling modules to be mounted on each support table structure and the identification of appropriate tool location holes on the surfaces of the support structures for mounting the tooling modules may be determined by using actual physical dimensional measurements taken of a particular generator stator bar or, as explained herein below, by using conventional computer software for providing relational 3-D virtual modeling of both the desired stator bar and the quick-form tooling system 10, including any tooling support structures (e.g., 14,16) with tooling modules 22 mounted thereon.
Each bend-forming and mid-curvature forming tooling modules (32, 33, 34) includes a contoured curvature-forming stator bar guide portion 35 that is custom designed and manufactured for each particular stator bar forming operation. This custom contoured curvature-forming guide portion of each tooling module is implemented as a removable and replaceable part—with different custom manufactured curvature-forming guides used for tailoring the tooling modules to produce the desired stator bar shape and design. These curvature-forming guide portions 35 of the tooling modules may be made of suitable materials that reduce machining and manufacturing costs.
Each tooling module of the quick-form system is pre-assigned a specific mounting location on an end-arm support structure by relational 3-D modeling software based on data derived from either an existing stator bar design specification/drawing or a software created 3-D model of the desired stator bar. The bend-forming and mid-curvature forming tool modules are each provided with a custom formed stator bar contacting portion or curvature “forming block” portion 35 for guiding and shaping a particular section of the stator bar during the bending process. The stator bar contacting/curvature forming portion 35 of the tooling modules is preferably removable and replaceable and has a custom designed shape specific to each module and its relative position so that when the module is placed at the assigned position on the support table structure surface it will impart the appropriate curvature to a predetermined portion of the stator bar stock during the forming operation. In addition to the bend-forming and mid-curvature height-wise shape forming modules, other types of tooling modules for performing various metal working tasks are also contemplated.
Bend-forming tools 32, 33 and 34 may be any one of a variety of conventional manual and/or hydraulically-assisted metal bending tools fitted with a custom shaped bend-forming-block/bar-guide portion 35 that supports and conforms the stator bar stock 20 to a predetermined shape/curvature during the bending process. The custom shape of the bend-forming-block/bar guiding portion may be produced via conventional numerical controlled machining techniques based on direct measurements of a generator stator bar or, alternatively, based on dimensional data derived via computer modeling of the desired stator bar shape using relational 3-D virtual modeling software.
In the example implementation, end-arm support structure 31 also includes a set of mid-curvature forming blocks 34 for imparting curvature to a portion of stator bar stock 20 at an angle that is height-wise or orthogonally oriented with respect to bends imparted by bend-forming tools 32 and 33. A pre-bend or post bend stator bar clamping mechanism 39 may also be used.
One of ordinary skill in this art will recognize that a conventional commercially available relational 3-D modeling software program may be used (or an appropriate software application may be readily developed based upon well known 3-D modeling techniques) to enable 3-D modeling of a particular desired stator bar in relation to the quick-form tooling system support structures and appropriate modular bend-forming components to develop an appropriate tooling form layout that will impart the appropriate bends/curvatures to a stock stator bar during the forming operation. For example, relational 3-D modeling of the quick-form tooling system support structures and tooling component modules used in conjunction with dimensional data developed via 3-D modeling of a desired stator bar may be used to develop the custom shapes of the bar guide/curvature-forming portions of each tooling module as well as to provide a set-up reference plan that indicates the appropriate type and relative location/placement of each of the tooling modules on the surface of the support structures.
While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
