Adaptive Wire Guide Element for Reduced Stress Winding
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wire guide elements cause excessive stress on wires at the outlet, leading to insulation damage and low fill factors in winding processes, particularly in small slots, due to complex and prone-to-failure mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A wire guide element with a variable outer body shape, adjusted using electric voltage, electric current, or magnetic fields, featuring multiple control elements such as piezoelectric or shape memory materials, which change shape to reduce stress on the wire and allow for tighter winding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a rigid wire guide element is used with complex moving mechanisms to reduce wire stress, then wire outlet stress can be reduced, but the device complexity increases and space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The wire guide element incorporates adjustable control elements that can dynamically change the passage shape to match the wire's bending requirements at different positions, transforming a static rigid structure into a dynamic adaptive one that reduces wire stress without complex mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The control elements (piezoelectric, magnetic, or shape memory materials) change physical parameters such as position or shape in response to electrical or magnetic signals, allowing the passage geometry to be adjusted to reduce wire stress at the outlet without mechanical complexity
2Object-affected harmful factors
If thick insulation is provided to prevent wire damage from bending stress, then wire protection is improved, but the fill factor decreases
Solution Approach 1:
By making the passage shape adjustable, the system can optimize the bending radius and stress distribution dynamically, protecting the wire insulation without requiring excessive insulation thickness, thus maintaining higher fill factors
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces mechanical protection methods (thick insulation) with a controlled field-based system (electrical or magnetic fields acting on shape memory materials) that actively manages wire stress, allowing thinner insulation while maintaining protection
3Manufacturing precision
If complex mechanisms are used to guide wire through small slots, then winding precision can be improved, but reliability decreases due to failure-prone mechanics
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces complex mechanical guidance mechanisms with field-based control (electrical or magnetic fields) acting on shape memory materials, eliminating mechanical wear and failure points while maintaining precise wire guidance through small slots
Solution Approach 2:
The passage geometry is adjusted by changing physical parameters (shape, position) of control elements in response to field signals, providing reliable and repeatable positioning without mechanical linkages that could fail
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution reduces wire stress, enables higher fill factors, and allows for thinner insulation, improving winding efficiency and reducing the risk of mechanical failure.
Implementation Method 1
control elements such as piezoelectric elements or dielectric actuators can be controlled precisely in order to set a defined change in the shape of the outer body
Implementation Method 2
control elements such as piezoelectric elements or dielectric actuators can be controlled precisely in order to set a defined change in the shape of the outer body
Implementation Method 3
The wire guide element has an outer body with a large number of adjusting elements which change their shape, in particular their volume, under the action of an electric voltage, electric current or magnetic field
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~8
AI summary
A wire guide element (100a, 100b, 100b', 100c, 100d, 100e, 100f), which serves in particular to guide a wire (400) to be wound in a wire winding machine (200, 300) or to feed a solder wire in a soldering device or a welding filler in the form of a wire in a welding machine, has an outer body (10a, 10b, 10b', 10c, 10d, 10e, 10f) in which a passage (12) for the wire is formed. By changing the shape of at least sections of the outer body (10a, 10b, 10b', 10c, 10d, 10e, 10f), in which the shape of the passage (12) also changes, the wire tensile force that acts on the wire guide element and also loads the wire during winding or feeding of the wire can be reduced, e.g. within the framework of a control system.The wire guide element is designed to have an outer body with a multitude of actuating elements which change their shape, in particular their volume, under the influence of an electrical voltage, an electric current, or a magnetic field as the physical control variable. The body has means for selectively applying the physical control variable of electrical voltage, electric current, or magnetic field to the individual actuating elements. Such actuating elements, such as piezoelectric elements or dielectric actuators, can be precisely controlled to define and adjust the shape change of the outer body.