Method for electro-hydraulic forming
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsJohn Joseph Francis Bonnen, Sergey Fedorovich Golovashchenko
Life of this patent
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Abstract
One or more electro-hydraulic forming tools are operated by a press and provide formed parts to a trimming operation. A locking mechanism holds the die against the chamber during the electro-hydraulic forming (EHF) discharge. The lock may be a pin or clamp. One method of manufacturing an article includes providing three EHF tools that feed a single trimming press on a line. An alternative embodiment discloses a single EHF tool that supplies parts on a production line to an electro-hydraulic (EH) trimming tool. An electro-hydraulic pulse generator may be used to provide a stored charge to the EHF tool and the EH trimming tool.
Claims7
A method of manufacturing an article with a plurality of electro-hydraulic forming (EHF) tools comprising:
- clamping a blank separately onto each one of a plurality EHF tools in a progressive sequence;
- and
- switching a connection to a single pulse generator;
- discharging each of the plurality of EHF tools to sequentially form a plurality of shaped parts;
- and
- trimming the plurality of shaped parts sequentially in a single, separate trim press.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.