Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Electrical device making
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-07
2001-07-10
Young, Lee (Department: 3729)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Electrical device making
C029S606000, C029S609000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06256865
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to electrical transformers, and more specifically, relates to a process and apparatus for continuous winding of a magnetic core strip in and around bobbins of pre-wound coils.
As is known, in the electronic industry, electrical transformers, e.g., current transformers, are often used in wide array of applications, including the use of electrical transformers with printed circuit boards and with circuit interruption devices. The electrical transformers are capable of providing power to the circuit board as well as sensing current in the primary circuit of the circuit board. In order for the electrical transformer to provide adequate power to the circuit board, the transformer has a high magnetic permeability core and the coil of the transformer has a high number of wire turns to provide the required voltage. One of the more common prior art transformers is a toroidally wound transformer. An associated disadvantage of the toroidally wound transformer is that the process of manufacturing and winding is very time consuming and also costly.
In the recent years, the related electronic industry has begun to wind coils about continuous lamination cores or closed magnetic cores of smaller transformers. Currently, most electrical transformer manufacturing processes require the utilization of laminated magnetic materials to produce a core arrangement required for the application. The laminated core process has become an industry standard for electrical transformers used in circuit interruption devices, e.g., breakers, relays, etc; however, this process is intrinsically complicated, labor intensive, and prone to failures.
Accordingly, all of the above-mentioned transformer winding processes are labor intensive processes and costly. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a less labor-intensive generally automated process of producing electrical transformers.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a continuous core winding process and winding apparatus used to produce electrical transformers. In its assembled state, the preferred electrical transformer comprises a double coil transformer having a first and a second bobbin. The electrical transformer may also be in the form a single coil transformer having a first bobbin. Each of the first and second bobbins has a wire turn disposed around a respective bobbin. An electrical connection is made between the wire turns to electrically connect one another. Each of the bobbins includes a central opening in which a magnetic material strip is continuously wound around to form a wound transformer core.
In an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus includes a first station, a second station, and a third station. At the first station, raw magnetic material strip is de-reeled from a stock reel and a predetermined amount of the raw magnetic material strip is fed and measured as the magnetic material strip is transported to a winding mechanism. In the winding mechanism, the magnetic material strip is continuously wound in and through the openings of each bobbin to form the wound transformer core. After winding the predetermined amount of magnetic material strip through the bobbins, the magnetic material strip is cut at a predetermined measured location to produce a trailing edge of material. At the second station, the trailing edge is secured to the underlying coils by a suitable process, e.g., plasma welding the trailing edge to the underlying coils. At the third station, the wound core of magnetic material is coined into a desired shape, such as a generally rectangular shape.
The apparatus of the present invention is preferably controlled by a microprocessor so that all mechanical and electrical components of the apparatus are preferably integrated to achieve the optimum quality product and achieve the optimum manufacturing cycle. The present process of winding magnetic material strip around the bobbins using the apparatus of the present invention provides a less-time consuming process as compared to the prior art.
The above-discussed and other features and advantages of the present invention will be appreciated and understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and drawings.
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Attarian Farshid
Campbell Tom
Criniti Joe
Larranaga Javier
Cantor & Colburn LLP
General Electric Company
Horton Carl B.
Trinh Minh
Young Lee
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