Method and apparatus for producing rotating electric machine stator

A method of producing a rotating electric machine stator including a stator core having a plurality of teeth that extend in radial directions from an annular yoke and a plurality of slots defined between adjacent ones of the teeth, and a stator coil wound around the teeth, the stator coil comprising a plurality of U-shaped coil wires each having a first leg portion and a second leg portion that are parallel to each other, and a connecting portion that connects the first leg portion and the second leg portion, the method comprising:

• an insertion step of inserting the first leg portion and the second leg portion of each of the coil wires into different ones of the slots, such that a distal end portion of the first leg portion and a distal end portion of the second leg portion protrude from corresponding ones of the slots, in parallel with an axial direction of the stator core, to provide a protruding portion of the first leg portion and a protruding portion of the second leg portion, respectively;
• a non-restrained bending step of bending the protruding portion of the first leg portion in a first circumferential direction of the stator core, at a proximal end portion of the protruding portion as a bending start point, in a non-restrained condition in which a distal end portion of the protruding portion is allowed to free move in the first circumferential direction of the stator core, from a condition where the protruding portion protrudes from a corresponding one of the slots in parallel with the axial direction of the stator core;
• and
• a restrained bending step of bending the protruding portion in the first circumferential direction while moving the distal end portion of the protruding portion to a predetermined position in the axial direction in a condition where the distal end portion is restrained at one side facing in the first circumferential direction, such that the distal end reaches a position that is returned in a second circumferential direction of the stator core from a position that would be reached in a case where the protruding portion bent in the first circumferential direction is assumed to be continuously bent in the first circumferential direction such that the distal end is moved to the predetermined position in the axial direction in the non-restrained condition.