US 2025/0058367 A1 · FULLY-AUTOMATED GENERATION OF FIXED-ANGLE ADDENDUMS FOR USE WITH SHEET FORMING MANUFACTURING

Abstract

A computer-implemented method of generating an addendum surface for use in forming a sheet metal part by using an Incremental Sheet Forming (ISF) manufacturing process, wherein the method includes: providing a Computer Aided Design (CAD) geometry of the sheet metal part to be formed; and generating an addendum surface that surrounds and extends the CAD geometry; wherein the addendum surface has a constant slope everywhere and has no regions of self-intersection. The addendum surface can be used to manufacture a male and/or a female underform tool for use in the ISF process, such as Two-Point Incremental Forming (TPIF). The addendum surface has a user-specified constant design wall angle, θc, which can be selected to prevent tearing of sheet metal parts during ISF due to excessive thinning at large wall angles (i.e., wall angles greater than 60°).

Claims30

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method of generating an addendum surface for use in forming a sheet metal part by using an Incremental Sheet Forming (ISF) manufacturing process, wherein the method comprises:

providing a Computer Aided Design (CAD) geometry of the sheet metal part to be formed;
and
generating an addendum surface that surrounds and extends the CAD geometry;
wherein the addendum surface has a constant slope everywhere.

1 more element

A computer-implemented method of generating a reference surface for use in a sheet forming manufacturing process, wherein the method comprises:

(a) receiving from a user a geometrical representation of a sheet metal part to be formed, wherein the sheet metal part has a part surface;
(b) receiving a user-specified design wall angle, θc;
(c) extracting one or more part outer edge loops from the part surface;
(d) receiving a user-specified buffer zone width;
(e) constructing one or more buffer zone surfaces by extending the one or more part outer edge loops by a distance equal to the user-specified buffer zone width in a direction that is constrained to lie within a local tangent space of the part surface at all points along the one or more part outer edge loops;
(f) extracting one or more buffer zone outer edge loops from the buffer zone surface;
(g) generating one or more planar loops by projecting the one or more buffer zone outer edge loops onto an XY datum plane;
(h) computing a modified distance field, f;
(i) generating the reference surface comprising a plurality of reference points with x, y and calculated z coordinate values that satisfy a condition that f=0, and
(j) manufacturing the sheet metal part from a sheet blank by using the reference surface with the sheet forming manufacturing process.

7 more elements

A computer-implemented method of manufacturing a sheet metal part by using an Incremental Sheet Forming (ISF) machine, wherein the method comprises:

providing an ISF machine that has a stylus tool;
generating a reference surface of a sheet metal part, that has a part surface, wherein the reference surface includes a plurality of reference points;
smoothing one or more discontinuities in the reference surface;
trimming the reference surface with a trimming plane and removing all portions of the reference surface that lie below a user-specified Z-trimming coordinate value;
generating a stylus Z-level toolpath by using the smoothed and trimmed reference surface;
exporting the stylus Z-level toolpath in a Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) format that is compatible with a controller that controls operation of the ISF machine;
and
forming the sheet metal part from a sheet blank by programming and operating the incremental sheet forming machine to follow the stylus Z-level toolpath;
wherein the reference surface includes a union of the part surface, a contiguous buffer zone surface, and a contiguous addendum surface having a user-specified design wall angle, θc;
and
wherein the plurality of reference points on the contiguous addendum surface include a subset of a level set surface (18) of a modified distance field, f;
wherein f=0.

9 more elements

A non-transitory, computer-readable, digital storage medium comprising computer instructions for executing a computer program that implements a computerized method of generating a reference surface for use in a sheet forming manufacturing process, comprising computer instructions for:

(a) receiving from a user a geometrical representation of a sheet metal part to be formed, wherein the sheet metal part has a part surface;
(b) receiving a user-specified design wall angle, θc;
(c) extracting one or more part outer edge loops from the part surface;
(d) receiving a user-specified buffer zone width;
(e) constructing one or more buffer zone surfaces by extending the one or more part outer edge loops by a distance equal to the user-specified buffer zone width in a direction that is constrained to lie within a local tangent space of the part surface at all points along the part outer edge loop;
(f) extracting one or more buffer zone outer edge loops from the one or more buffer zone surfaces;
(g) generating one or more planar loops by projecting the one or more buffer zone outer edge loops onto an XY datum plane;
(h) computing a modified distance field, f;
(i) generating the reference surface comprising a plurality of reference points with x, y and calculated z coordinate values that satisfy a condition that f=0, and
(j) manufacturing the sheet metal part from a sheet blank by using the reference surface with the sheet forming manufacturing process.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Fully-automated generation of fixed-angle addendums for use with sheet forming manufacturing

Life of this patent

Fully-automated generation of fixed-angle addendums for use with sheet forming manufacturing

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims30