Systems and methods for compensating for spring back of structures formed through incremental sheet forming
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorAndrew Jon Eugene Stephan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An incremental sheet forming system and method are configured to form a structure through an incremental sheet forming process. The incremental sheet forming system and method include a forming control unit that compensates for spring back of a structure to be formed through the incremental sheet forming process.
Claims29
An incremental sheet forming system that is configured to form a structure through an incremental sheet forming process, the incremental sheet forming system comprising:
- a forming control unit including one or more processors, wherein the forming control unit compensates for spring back of a structure to be formed through the incremental sheet forming process by modifying at least a portion of a toolpath of a forming tool that is used to form the structure based on the spring back, wherein the forming control unit determines and generates a tool-offset surface that is separate, distinct, and spaced apart from a sheet offset surface that is separate, distinct, and spaced apart from a target surface and the tool-offset surface, and wherein the tool-offset surface includes the toolpath.
An incremental sheet forming method that is configured to form a structure through an incremental sheet forming process, the incremental sheet forming method comprising:
- compensating, by a forming control unit including one or more processors, for spring back of a structure to be formed through the incremental sheet forming process, wherein said compensating comprises modifying at least a portion of a toolpath of a forming tool that is used to form the structure based on the spring back, wherein said modifying comprises determining and generating a tool-offset surface that is separate, distinct, and spaced apart from a sheet offset surface that is separate, distinct, and spaced apart from a target surface and the tool-offset surface, and wherein the tool-offset surface includes the toolpath.
An incremental sheet forming system that is configured to form a structure through an incremental sheet forming process, the incremental sheet forming system comprising:
- a forming tool;
- and
- a forming control unit including one or more processors, wherein the forming control unit compensates for spring back of a structure to be formed through the incremental sheet forming process by modifying at least a portion of a toolpath of the forming tool that is used to form the structure based on the spring back, wherein the forming control unit determines and generates a tool-offset surface that is separate, distinct, and spaced apart from a sheet offset surface that is separate, distinct, and spaced apart from a target surface and the tool-offset surface, and wherein the tool-offset surface includes the toolpath, wherein the forming control unit determines a target shape for the structure to be formed, and simulates an incremental sheet forming operation in relation to the target shape, wherein the forming control unit compares differences between the target shape and a resulting structure from the incremental sheet forming operation to determine one or more offsets that compensate for the spring back, wherein the one or more offsets relate to force vectors that oppose the spring back, wherein the forming control unit maps contours with at least one surface of the structure, and
- wherein the forming tool is configured to follow the toolpath, as modified, to form the structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.