Method of making densely-packed electrical conductors
US5575932A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | May 13, 1994 |
| Grant date | Nov 19, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 13, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10T29/49012
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Windings for an electric motor are formed by depositing successive layers of conductive material and etching into the conductive material with a precisely-controlled high-energy beam. A computer stores information on the exact structure of the monolith of windings to be built, in the form of a series of successive planar cross-sections of the monolith. In making the monolith, one deposits a layer of conductive material onto a workpiece, bonds the conductive material to the workpiece, and cuts a pattern into the layer, using a high-energy beam in the presence of an oxidizing atmosphere. The beam causes the formation of electrically-insulating oxides which separate the layer into distinct conductive regions, according to a pattern defined by one of the stored cross-sections. In an alternative, one can also inject additional insulating material into the cuts formed by the beam. The monolith is thus built up, layer by layer, in a series of iterations. No actual wire is ever used, and the result is a monolith having conductors equivalent to windings which occupy a large percentage of the available cross-sectional area.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.