Abstract: Stator designs have wide-mouth slots between adjacent poles. Wire coils with high slot fill conductivity are formed around the poles. In some designs, the wire coils are wave wound around the poles. Thick bar conductors can be used for making the wire coils. The wire coils may be inserted using nozzle dispensers or transferred from a pre-form mandrel. In other designs, the wire coils are pre-formed on transferable pockets that are then mounted on the poles. Optional pole extensions or shoes can be attached to the stator poles after the wire coils are formed around the poles.

Abstract: A winder for winding wire onto coil supports of dynamo-electric cores with translational, rotational, and stratification motions with respect to a central longitudinal axis of the dynamo-electric core is provided. The rotational motion may preferably be provided by the rocking motion of a gear sector. The stratification motion may preferably be provided by the implementation of a spiral groove. The spiral groove preferably shares the same longitudinal axis as the winder. The rotation of the spiral groove preferably creates a relative motion between the groove and the needles, thereby producing the radial stratification motion of the needles. Additionally, the winder includes a motor arrangement which is programmable and controllable. The motor arrangement may also provide a dampening effect to limit unwanted stratification motion.

Abstract: An improved needle solution is provided for winding wire coils onto dynamo-electric machine components such as electric motor stators and armatures. The improved needle solution decreases the opportunity for collision between the needle apparatus and the machine component onto which wire coils are being wound and enables the winding of machine components with small interior hollows that may not allow conventional needle solutions to pass through. The improved needle solution further provides increased accuracy in wire coil stratification by stabilizing the stratification motion of the apparatus using guide structures that engage the needle arm. The needle solution further provides open access to the wire being fed through the apparatus for winding onto the machine component. Multiple needles may be accommodated by the apparatus to simultaneously wind multiple wire coils onto a machine component using the improved needle solution.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for terminating dynamoelectric machine component wire coil leads in situ in automated wire coil winding machines are provided. A shape-forming wire-termination fixture is disposed about the front face of the dynamoelectric machine component. After the wire coils have been wound, a movable wire gripper is used to grasp and manipulate the starting and ending wire leads of the wound coils one at a time. The wire leads are terminated by deforming them around the wire-termination fixture to form freestanding geometrical patterns in them. Machine component-holding pick and place devices may be used to remove components with terminated wire leads from the winding machine for further processing.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for wire winding and fabrication for dynamo-electric machine components such as ferromagnetic armature or stator cores for motors or the like. Wire may be wound onto individual portions of dynamo-electric machine components, which may then be assembled to form complete components. Wire may be wound by steering a rotating flyer or the like in a trajectory that closely follows the surface of the core onto which the wire is being wound. Wire may also be wound by rotating the portions during winding. The same holding members that are used to hold the portions during winding may be used to hold the portions during assembly of the portions into machine components.

Abstract: A resin application station has processing units for heating dynamo-electric machine components. In one or more of the processing units batches of components are placed in fixtures on vertically rotating support plates. The vertically rotating support plates are mounted in cabinets. Heated air is circulated in the cabinets to control the ambient temperature. The components travel through regions of the controlled temperature ambient as the support plates rotate and are heated to process temperatures. Intermittent rotation of a support plate in a unit allows loading and unloading of an individual component from the unit while the support plate is stationary. The support plate rotations in all the units are synchronized to increase the station throughput.

Abstract: Insertion devices may be used to insert portions of pre-wound coils into the slots of dynamoelectric machine components. Some machine components may have poles that have pole tips that extend away from the pole in a peripheral direction. Such pole tips may obstruct access to the slots from the axial region of the bore. The coil insertion devices may have a ram that has a longitudinal axis and may be configured to insert a portion of a stretch of pre-wound coil into a bore of the machine component. The coil insertion devices may have pushing members that move in a direction having a circumferential component with respect to the axis. The pushing members may insert portions of stretches of pre-wound coils into machine component slots that are difficult to access from the axial region of the bore.

Abstract: The present invention concerns improved methods and apparatus for forming undulated wire coils that are placed into the cores of dynamo electric machine components. In particular, the invention concerns improved methods and apparatus for controlling the direction of deposit (along the axis about which the coil is wound) for the turns of a wire coil and for positioning the leads of the coil. This is accomplished by forming a series of wire coils using a programmable apparatus that controls a sequence of directions (along the coil axis) in which the wire turns are deposited, as well as positions of the final leads. The same methods and apparatus may also be used to form continuously wound wire portions.

Abstract: A machine for generating usable energy from a wind source is provided. The machine includes a casing structure that may define an air inlet oriented with respect to a prevailing wind direction and an air outlet. The casing structure may be substantially cylindrical. A rotor having a blade structure is positioned within the casing structure and has a substantially vertical axis of rotation. The casing structure may include two side passages for creating a zone of low pressure downstream of the rotor near the air outlet.

Abstract: A heating oven for use in dynamo-electric machine component manufacture is provided. The oven uses forced air heating to raise the temperature of in-process component subassemblies to suitable process temperatures. The heating oven includes a rotating drum mounted in a cabinet. A number of open-ended tubular cradles are disposed in circular arrays between the drum faces. Batches of component subassemblies may be individually loaded into the cradles for heat treatment. Air flow channels are set up in the oven cabinet to evenly distribute heated air through individual cradles. Heated air after passing over the individual in-process subassemblies, exits the cradles through side slots in the cradle walls into the interior of the drum. The exiting air is reheated and recirculated through the heating oven.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for insulating interior walls of lamination slots of dynamo-electric machine components are provided. The relative speeds and sequence of cutting, forming, and inserting a piece of insulation material into the slot of the lamination core of a dynamo-electric machine component may be determined by a central drive mechanism. The central driving mechanism may have a plurality of cams, rotating with a main shaft, to control the translations of cutting, forming and inserting members.

Abstract: Hollow cylindrical dynamo-electric machine stator cores may be made by superimposing at least two strips of core material to produce a composite strip. One or more of the strips may be run through a pressure roller structure prior to super-positioning of the strips. The composite strip is coiled helically to produce the hollow cylindrical stator core. By pressure rolling at least one strip, the internal diameter of the stator core can be adjusted to reduce irregularities. By superimposing strips prior to coiling, thinner strips can be used without requiring the stator forming machine to operate longer or faster to produce stator cores of a given size. The pressure rolling aspects of the invention are also applicable to coiling apparatus that uses only a single strip. Stator cores may also be made by coaxially assembling and joining two coils with a hollow annular lamination disposed between the two axially spaced coils.

Abstract: A winder for winding wire onto coil supports of dynamo-electric cores with translational, rotational, and stratification motions with respect to a central longitudinal axis of the dynamo-electric core is provided. The rotational motion may preferably be provided by the rocking motion of a gear sector. The stratification motion may preferably be provided by the implementation of a spiral groove. The spiral groove preferably shares the same longitudinal axis as the winder. The rotation of the spiral groove preferably creates a relative motion between the groove and the needles, thereby producing the radial stratification motion of the needles. Additionally, the winder includes a motor arrangement which is programmable and controllable. The motor arrangement may also provide a dampening effect to limit unwanted stratification motion.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for winding wire coils on cores of dynamo-electric machine components such as stators and alternators are provided. The apparatus may be used to wind wire coils on the poles of a stator. The apparatus includes a movable wire dispenser and a set of wire pullers. The wire pullers are used to form a loop in an initial stretch of wire dispensed by the wire-dispenser alongside a stator pole. The loop is first formed adjacent to the pole and then moved above the pole out of the paths of subsequent wire stretches dispensed to form the wire coils. The loop may be pulled taut in either direction upon completion of the winding operation to connect the wire to a terminal.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for replacing an old wire threaded through a flyer winder with a new wire are provided. A first end of the old wire is connected to a first end of the new wire. The wires may be connected by twining, clamping, welding or the like. A second end of the old wire that extends from one of the winder's flyers is then connected to a collection device, and the old wire is collected until the new wire has been threaded through the flyer winder along the same path traveled by the old wire. The collection device may be an armature or similar structure having recesses for collecting the old wire during wire change-over or replacement. Preferably the collection device is configured so that conventional coil lead connection operations may be used to expedite wire change-over or replacement.

Abstract: An armature winder having an adjustable winding arm, includes a wire delivery point with two degrees of freedom—one along the longitudinal axis of the armature winder and one transverse to the longitudinal axis of the armature winder. In one preferred embodiment, the adjustable winding arm pivots around an axis transverse to the longitudinal axis of the winder. This pivoting motion allows adjustment of the wire delivery point along an arcuate path, thereby utilizing each of the degrees of freedom simultaneously.

Abstract: A winder for winding wire onto coil supports of dynamo-electric cores with translational, rotational, and stratification motions with respect to a central longitudinal axis of the dynamo-electric core is provided. The rotational motion may preferably be provided by the rocking motion of a gear sector. The stratification motion may preferably be provided by the implementation of a spiral groove. The spiral groove preferably shares the same longitudinal axis as the winder. The rotation of the spiral groove preferably creates a relative motion between the groove and the needles, thereby producing the radial stratification motion of the needles. Additionally, the winder includes a motor arrangement which is programmable and controllable. The motor arrangement may also provide a dampening effect to limit unwanted stratification motion.

Abstract: The present invention discloses methods and apparatus for winding wire onto the slots on armature lamination stacks. More specifically, the present invention is directed to methods and apparatus for increasing time the winding components are operating on an armature winding system. The invention includes a loading/unloading unit and a holding unit that may be operated independently under most circumstances. The independent operation enables the winders of the present invention to operate at increased duty cycles, thereby increasing throughput. Additionally, the apparatus of the present invention increases the likelihood that armatures remain properly indexed during the loading transfer process to further increase system efficiency.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are presented that improve the efficiency of stator production by connecting stator coil leads to final attachment devices before the coils are inserted into a stator core. After coil insertion, the final attachment devices are merely mounted to the stator receiving the stator core, eliminating most if not all post-coil-insertion lead identification and manipulation processes. The final attachment devices can be terminal receivers that include a plurality of wire sockets for receiving a plurality of coil leads. Coil leads are connected to final attachment devices during the coil winding stage. Such connections add little or no additional time to the winding stage.

Abstract: A workstation is provided for concurrently processing dynamo-electric machine core subassemblies that are at different stages of a dynamo-electric machine core manufacturing process. The workstation is configured to include a sequence of step processing units. Different units receive and process subassemblies that are at different stages of manufacture. A movable transferor substantially simultaneously advances a group of subassemblies forward through the sequence of units. The workstation can be integrated with conventional assembly line transport systems. These transport systems may be used to deliver input subassemblies to the workstation and to carry away output subassemblies. Subassemblies may be loaded into the workstation at the same time as finished subassemblies are unloaded from the workstation.