Methods and apparatus for embedding a wire intermittently

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020009801-A1
Application number	US-201916459325-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 1, 2019
Priority date	Jul 3, 2018
Publication date	Jan 9, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

A wire embedding system and methods are presented. A wire is embedded in a substrate at predetermined locations in a series of sequential embedding instances using heat and pressure. The heat and pressure are removed from the wire in between the series of sequential embedding instances.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
embedding a first portion of wire into a substrate at a first location using a wire embedding system comprising a heating element and a wire positioning system; lifting the wire positioning system away from the substrate; moving the wire positioning system in a first direction relative to the substrate; and embedding a second portion of the wire into the substrate at a second location using the wire embedding system.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein lifting wire positioning system away from the substrate comprises lifting a wire guide arm of the wire positioning system away from the substrate, and the method further comprising:
lifting the heating element away from the substrate after lifting the wire guide arm away from the substrate.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein embedding the second portion of the wire into the substrate at the second location comprises:
moving a wire guide arm of the wire positioning system towards the substrate; providing heat to the wire and substrate using the heating element; and applying pressure to the wire at the second location using the wire positioning system.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein providing heat to the wire and substrate using the heating element comprises providing heat using one of ultrasonic heating, joule heating, conduction heating, convention heating, or infrared heating.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein embedding the second portion of the wire into the substrate at the second location further comprises:
moving an edge press bar of the wire embedding system towards the substrate to contact the second portion of the wire after providing heat to the wire and substrate using the heating element.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein lifting the wire positioning system away from the substrate comprises lifting the wire guide arm away from the substrate and lifting the edge press bar away from the substrate, the method further comprising:
lifting the heating element away from the substrate, wherein lifting the edge press bar away from the substrate is performed after lifting the heating element away from the substrate.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein lifting the heating element and the wire positioning system away from substrate is in a second direction, wherein the first direction is perpendicular to the second direction.

8 . A method comprising:
embedding a wire in a substrate at predetermined locations in a series of sequential embedding instances using heat and pressure; and removing the heat and pressure from the wire in between the series of sequential embedding instances.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein embedding the wire in the substrate comprises guiding the wire extending from a wire spool between a heating element and the substrate using a wire guide arm laterally displaced from the heating element, wherein the heating element and the wire guide arm are components of a wire embedding system.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein guiding the wire extending from the wire spool between the heating element and the substrate using the wire guide arm comprises sending the wire through an alignment feature of the wire guide arm.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein embedding the wire in the substrate comprises:
moving the wire guide arm towards the substrate to move the wire closer to the substrate; moving the heating element towards the substrate; providing heat to the wire and substrate using the heating element; and applying pressure to the wire at one of the predetermined locations using a contact surface of the heating element after providing heat to the wire and the substrate.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein removing the heat and pressure from the wire comprises:
lifting the wire guide arm of the wire positioning system away from the substrate; and lifting the heating element away from the substrate after lifting the wire guide arm away from the substrate.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein removing the heat and pressure from the wire further comprises:
lifting an edge press bar of the wire positioning system away from the substrate after lifting the heating element away from the substrate.

14 . A wire embedding system comprising:
a heating element; and a wire positioning system movably connected to the heating element and configured to align a wire beneath a contact surface of the heating element.

15 . The wire embedding system of claim 14 further comprising a rotation mechanism connecting the heating element to the wire positioning system.

16 . The wire embedding system of claim 14 wherein the wire positioning system comprises a wire guide arm configured to guide the wire and provide compression to the wire.

17 . The wire embedding system of claim 16 wherein the wire guide arm comprises an alignment mechanism to guide the wire.

18 . The wire embedding system of claim 16 further comprising an edge press bar configured to apply pressure to the wire.

19 . The wire embedding system of claim 14 wherein the wire positioning system comprises:
a wire spool storing the wire;
a tension control box configured to provide a set amount of tension to the wire;
a wire guide arm configured to guide the wire;
an edge press bar configured to apply pressure to the wire; and
a movement system configured to move the wire guide arm and the edge press bar independently of each other.

20 . The wire embedding system of claim 14 wherein the heating element comprises at least one of ultrasonic heating, joule heating, conduction heating, convention heating, or infrared heating.

Assignees

• Univ Texas

Inventors

• Kim Chi Yen
• Wicker Ryan
• Espalin David
• Sullivan Charlie

Classifications

• B29C66/836

  Moving relative to and tangentially to the parts to be joined, e.g. transversely to the displacement of the parts to be joined, e.g. using a X-Y table (B29C66/65 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B29C66/7392

  characterised by the material of at least one of the parts being a thermoplastic · CPC title

• B29C66/69

  General aspects of joining filaments  (bundling articles  B65B13/00; interconnecting successive lengths of material B65H69/00) · CPC title

• B29C65/10

  using hot gases {(e.g. combustion gases) or flames coming in contact with at least one of the parts to be joined} · CPC title

• B29C66/1122

  Single lap to lap joints, i.e. overlap joints (B29C66/45, B29C66/472, B29C66/52272 take precedence) · CPC title