The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 05, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 02, 1998
Apostolos Pavlos Karafillis, Niskayuna, NY (US);
Michael Charles Ostrowski, Glenville, NY (US);
William Thomas Carter, Jr., Galway, NY (US);
Michael Evans Graham, Slingerlands, NY (US);
General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US);
Abstract
An exemplary method of designing a manufacturing process comprises the steps of representing a workpiece as a plurality of triangular finite elements, representing the forming tools with mathematical equations which typically include cubic polynomials, simulating a deformation of the workpiece by the forming tools with a finite element model, wherein the finite element model is integrated with explicit integration. The method may be carried out with an apparatus which includes a memory device which stores a program including computer readable instructions, and a processor which executes the instructions. After the deformation of the workpiece has been simulated by the finite element model, the characteristics of the workpiece and forming tools can be modified to improve the final shape of the workpiece. After the finite element simulation produces an acceptable final workpiece shape, an actual workpiece can be formed with actual tools based on the simulation.