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US 11,207,821 B2Granted
Method of making 3D tube and 3D tube made thereby
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsNicholas Joseph Kray, Wendy Wenling Lin, Arthur William Sibbach, Aaron Todd Sellinger
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Abstract
A method of making a 3D tube and the 3D tube made thereby. The method comprises: inserting a deflated pre-formed bladder into the 3D tube; and inflating the pre-formed bladder to deform the 3D tube and make the 3D tube have a substantially similar shape as that of the pre-formed bladder inflated.
Claims14
A method of reforming a tube, the method comprising:
- inserting a deflated pre-formed bladder into the tube, wherein the tube has an initial tube shape;
- inflating the deflated pre-formed bladder to obtain an inflated pre-formed bladder, the inflated pre-formed bladder deforming the tube to a deformed tube shape that is based on a shape of the inflated pre-formed bladder;
- and
- forming an external feature on the tube using an external tool positioned on an external surface of the tube, wherein forming the external feature on the tube using the external tool positioned on the external surface of the tube corresponds to a concave of the inflated pre-formed bladder.
1 more element
A method of reforming a tube, the method comprising:
- inserting a deflated pre-formed bladder into the tube, wherein the tube has an initial tube shape;
- inflating the deflated pre-formed bladder to obtain an inflated pre-formed bladder and to deform the tube to a deformed tube shape that is based on a shape of the inflated pre-formed bladder;
- and
- heating the tube for reforming the tube to reform the tube to the deformed tube shape, wherein the heating is performed after the inflating.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.