Method and apparatus for electrical discharge machining
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorRudi Oskar Krenz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electrical discharge machining (EDM) apparatus includes a plurality of work stations, where each work station has at least one electrode. The EDM apparatus further includes one or more power supplies and a power transfer switch for alternately supplying power to various sets of the electrodes. The power transfer switch has a first state wherein each power supply is connected to a corresponding first electrode in one of the work stations and a second state wherein each power supply is connected to a corresponding second electrode in another work station.
Claims28
An electrical discharge machining apparatus comprising:
- at least two work stations, each work station having at least one electrode;
- at least one power supply;
- and
- a power transfer switch having a first state wherein said power supply is connected to an electrode in a first one of said work stations and a second state wherein said power supply is connected to an electrode in a second one of said work stations.
An electrical discharge machining apparatus comprising:
- a tank;
- a plurality of work stations disposed in said tank, each work station having at least one electrode;
- a plurality of power supplies;
- and
- a power transfer switch having a first state wherein each one of said power supplies is connected to a corresponding first electrode in one of said work stations and a second state wherein each one of said power supplies is connected to a corresponding second electrode in another one of said work stations.
A method of electrical discharge machining a plurality of workpieces, said method comprising:
- providing at least two electrical discharge machining work stations, each work station having at least one electrode;
- providing at least one power supply;
- providing a power transfer switch having a first state wherein said power supply is connected to an electrode in a first one of said work stations and a second state wherein said power supply is connected to an electrode in a second one of said work stations;
- and
- switching states in said power transfer switch whenever one of said work stations competes its machining operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.