Abstract:
We describe a method of manufacturing a housing for the stator of an axial flux permanent magnet machine, in particular a Yokeless and Segmented Armature motor, the machine having a stator comprising a set of coils wound on respective stator bars and disposed circumferentially at intervals about an axis of the machine, and a rotor bearing a set of permanent magnets and mounted for rotation about said axis, and wherein said rotor and stator are spaced apart along said axis to define a gap therebetween in which magnetic flux in the machine is generally in an axial direction. The method comprises: fabricating a radial wall for said stator housing to be located in said gap between said rotor and said stator by: providing a membrane of fibre-reinforced polymer material; pressing a set of said stator bars into said membrane of fibre-reinforced polymer whilst said polymer is mouldable, wherein said reinforcement inhibits said stator bars from pushing through said membrane; solidifying said polymer to hold said set of stator bars in their respective positions; and manufacturing said housing using said radial wall.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    This invention relates to methods of manufacturing a housing for the stator of an axial flux permanent magnet machine, more particularly to forming a closely-toleranced integrated structure including magnetic elements; to housings manufactured by the methods; and to machines incorporating the housings. 
       BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    In this specification we are concerned with axial flux permanent magnet machines. Broadly speaking these have disc- or ring-shaped rotor and stator structures arranged about an axis. Typically the stator comprises a set of coils each parallel to the axis and the rotor bears a set of permanent magnets and is mounted on a bearing so that it can rotate about the axis driven by fields from the stator coils.  FIG. 1 a    shows the general configuration of an axial flux machine with a pair of rotors R 1 , R 2  to either side of a stator S—although a simple structure could omit one of the rotors. As can be seen there is an air gap G between a rotor and a stator and in an axial flux machine the direction of flux through the air gap is substantially axial. 
         [0003]    There are various configurations of axial flux permanent magnet machine depending upon the arrangement of north and south poles on the rotors.  FIG. 1 b    illustrates the basic configurations of a Torus NS machine, a Torus NN machine (which has a thicker yoke because the NN pole arrangement requires flux to flow through the thickness of the yoke), and a YASA (Yokeless and Segmented Armature) topology. Background prior art relating to YASA motors can be found in our earlier patent published applications, for example WO2010/092402. 
         [0004]    The illustration of the YASA topology shows cross-sections through two coils, the cross-hatched area showing the windings around each coil. As can be appreciated, dispensing with the stator yoke provides a substantial saving in weight and iron losses, but drawbacks of removing the stator yoke are a) loss of the structural strength to the stator (which the iron provided) even though there is potentially increased need for strength because of the YASA topology which, being a compact design, can result in very large stresses and b) loss of a route for heat to escape from stator coils. To address both issues, i.e. the high torque density of the YASA design and generation of significant quantities of heat, a housing for the stator should provide great strength and rigidity to address torque demands and should also define a chamber which can be supplied with coolant for the machine. It can further be appreciated from  FIG. 1 b    that for efficient operation (minimum losses in the high reluctance air gap), the gap between the rotor and stator should be as small as possible. 
         [0005]    The desired features of a housing for the stator assembly of an axial flux permanent magnet machine, especially one having a YASA topology, impose conflicting requirements. Conventional manufacturing techniques are not able to combine the desired features adequately. General background prior art relating to the production of reinforced articles can be found in, for example, EP0 063 403A; US2001/0028128; and US2008/0292858. We have previously described, in WO2012/022974, a clamshell type housing in which shoes of the stator bars on which the stator coils are wound are overmoulded into the radial wall of the housing. However in practice it has proved difficult to form such a structure. There are particular problems in achieving a very small gap between rotor and stator, preferably around 1.5 mm or less. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    Thus the invention provides a method of manufacturing a housing for the stator of an axial flux permanent magnet machine, the machine having a stator comprising a set of coils wound on respective stator bars and disposed circumferentially at intervals about an axis of the machine, and a rotor bearing a set of permanent magnets and mounted for rotation about said axis, and wherein said rotor and stator are spaced apart along said axis to define a gap therebetween in which magnetic flux in the machine is generally in an axial direction, the method comprising: fabricating a radial wall for said stator housing to be located in said gap between said rotor and said stator by: providing a membrane of polymer material; pressing at least ends or shoes of said set of said stator bars into said membrane of polymer whilst said polymer is mouldable, wherein at least a said end or shoe of a said stator bar is formed from a porous magnetic material; solidifying said polymer to hold said ends or shoes of said set of stator bars in their respective positions; and manufacturing said housing using said radial wall; wherein said polymer of said membrane bonds with said porous magnetic material during said pressing to bond said set of stator bars to said polymer 
         [0007]    In some preferred embodiments the stator bars are formed from a soft magnetic composite (SMC) material—that is a powdered magnetic material such as iron bonded with a coating of electrically insulating material such as glass. This gives the SMC a relatively high electrical resistivity in combination with good permeability and magnetic saturation and thus this material may be continuous rather than, say, laminated. A stator bar may be manufactured from SMC in three parts, that is a pole piece with a shoe bonded to either end, as previously described. Optionally, as we have described in an earlier patent publication, WO2010/092403, elongate magnetic particles aligned along the coil axes may be employed. 
         [0008]    Surprisingly, when a heated SMC stator bar is pressed into a polymer a bond is formed which it is believed (without wishing to be bound by theory) is due to diffusion of the polymer into the stator bar and/or diffusion of the organic material in the SMC into the surface of the polymer membrane. 
         [0009]    As previously mentioned, in some preferred embodiments the porous magnetic material comprises soft magnetic composite (SMC). In principle however the same technique may be employed with other magnetic materials from which a stator bar/shoe may be formed, where these materials exhibit some porosity, for example due to lamination. Thus embodiments of the technique also encompass the use of a laminated stator bar/shoe. 
         [0010]    In some embodiments substantially a complete face of the end or shoe of a stator bar bonds with the membrane. In other embodiments the membrane is provided with a set of apertures into which the faces of the ends/shoes of the stator bars fit, flush with the far side of the membrane. Then the stator bars, more particularly the ends/shoes, may be provided with a flange or step around the edge of the exposed face (either continuous or located at intervals around the edge). A surface of this flange or step may then bond with a surface of the membrane. Optionally one or more additional laminations may be overlaid over the end/shoes to retain them in place within the radial wall of the machine. More generally the membrane may be formed from a plurality of lamina, in embodiments fibre-reinforced as described further below. In embodiments the end or shoe of a stator bar is of one piece with the stator bar itself, but potentially the shoe for a stator bar could be bonded to the membrane and then afterwards attached to the core of the stator bar around which the coil is wrapped. 
         [0011]    Preferably the membrane is fibre-reinforced: Broadly speaking, the fibre reinforcement of the polymer enables the stator bars, typically with shoes on their ends, to be pressed into the membrane without pushing through the membrane—the reinforcement inhibits the bars from pushing through the membrane. Thus the membrane of fibre-reinforced polymer can be very thin, for example less than 1 mm or less than 0.5 mm thickness. This allows a very accurate control of the thickness of the membrane between the ends (shoes) of the stator bars and the air gap; this thickness may be in the range 1-500 μm, more preferably 1-300 μm. In embodiments the reinforcing fibre may be a plain weave fibre (the weft goes over one warp and under the next). In embodiments the fibre is calendared (treated with pressure/heat between rollers) as this helps to achieve a uniform, thin, membrane thickness. The fibres may comprise, for example, glass, carbon, basalt, or aramid. 
         [0012]    Thus a related aspect of the invention further provides a method of manufacturing a housing for the stator of an axial flux permanent magnet machine, the machine having a stator comprising a set of coils wound on respective stator bars and disposed circumferentially at intervals about an axis of the machine, and a rotor bearing a set of permanent magnets and mounted for rotation about said axis, and wherein said rotor and stator are spaced apart along said axis to define a gap there between in which magnetic flux in the machine is generally in an axial direction, the method comprising: fabricating a radial wall for said stator housing to be located in said gap between said rotor and said stator by: providing a membrane of fibre-reinforced polymer material; pressing a set of said stator bars into said membrane of fibre-reinforced polymer whilst said polymer is mouldable, wherein said reinforcement inhibits said stator bars from pushing through said membrane; solidifying said polymer to hold said set of stator bars in their respective positions; and manufacturing said housing using said radial wall. 
         [0013]    Although there can be significant advantage in employing a fibre-reinforced membrane this is not essential, and a membrane without fibre-reinforcement may be employed with careful control of the pressing process. 
         [0014]    Optionally embodiments may also include a supplementary film or membrane of resin (polymer) over the fibre-reinforced membrane, and preferably compatible with the membrane polymer. This is useful to provide in-fill between non-coplanar regions of pole shoe and membrane, and to supply resin (polymer) absorbed by pole shoes and flashing during bonding, thus avoiding resin starvation of the fibre-reinforced membrane. Depending on the thickness of the supplementary film or membrane of resin, where present, the pole shoes may be pressed into or through the supplementary film or membrane. 
         [0015]    A stator bar in embodiments comprises a pole piece around which the coil is wound, with a pole shoe at either end to spread the field where it crosses the air gap, the increased area reducing the overall reluctance of the gap. Typically the polymer comprises a thermoplastic resin which is heated to become mouldable by heating the stator bar, more particularly the pole shoes, prior to pressing these into the polymer. Advantageously this may be performed by induction heating or laser heating. Alternatively, however, the polymer may be heated separately (to above its glass transition temperature) or, in principle, the polymer may be made mouldable in some other way, for example using a solvent. 
         [0016]    A bond formed in the manner described above has proven to be exceptionally strong—stronger than the SMC itself—which is a highly desirable characteristic for the stator housing since this helps to provide substantial support to the stator bars in the finished machine: in effect the stator bars and housing form a unitary construction which substantially enhances the overall strength of the machine. Further embodiments of this method of manufacturing facilitate accurate alignment of the stator bars which may be held, for example, in a jig when pressing them into the polymer. (The skilled person will recognise that in this process it is immaterial whether the stator bars are pressed onto the polymer membrane or vice versa—in either case the stator bars may be pressed into the polymer; the skilled person will also appreciate the possibility of pressing stator bars to a fixed depth and so using un-reinforced polymer). 
         [0017]    Fabrication of the radial wall preferably also comprises injection moulding a set of reinforcing features onto the membrane using a thermoplastic polymer bondable when molten with the polymer of the membrane. Preferably the, injection moulded polymer is also fibre-reinforced (with short fibres, for example of order length 1 mm or less, to facilitate flow); these may be of the same materials as previously described. The thermoplastic polymer may be, for example, a high temperature thermoplastic injection moulded resin such as PEEK, PPA or PA66. The machine may operate at an elevated temperature in use, and in some preferred embodiments of the method an in-plane coefficient of thermal expansion (TCE) of the membrane of fibre-reinforced polymer matches a coefficient of thermal expansion of the reinforcing feature (at the same temperature and in the same direction or plane, though this TCE is generally substantially isotropic) to within 8 ppm. The TCE of the membrane preferably also matches the coefficient of thermal expansion of the end (shoe) of a stator bar (in the same direction or plane) to within 5 ppm. This may be achieved by routine experiment, selecting from amongst available polymer materials. In embodiments the polymer of the membrane forming the thin-walled section of the housing may comprise one or more off the following high temperature thermoplastic polymers: PPS (polyphenylene sulfide), PPA (polyphthalamide), PEEK (polyether ether ketone), ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), and PA (polyamide). However the temperature coefficient of expansion is less important than the stiffness, and preferably an in-plane Young&#39;s modulus of the membrane is less than 50 GPa and more preferably less than 20 GPa. 
         [0018]    The reinforcing features may comprise radial and/or annular (circumferential) ribs. In some preferred embodiments the reinforcing features define a set of cavities each sized to fit the shoe at the end of a stator bar. Preferably the membrane of polymer is heated prior to the injection moulding, either prior to insertion or in-situ once inserted in the moulding machine, for improved adhesion between the ribs and membrane. In embodiments the thickness of a rib (above the thin membrane) is 3 mm or greater whilst the membrane thickness, as previously mentioned, is less than 1 mm, preferably less than 0.5 mm. Thus the majority of the narrow rotor-stator gap “G” is “air”. 
         [0019]    Embodiments of the techniques we have described are particularly useful for a yokeless and segmented armature machine, in particular a motor, because they facilitate accurate positioning and support of the stator segments in the absence of a yoke, in particular when the machine is under load. In embodiments the machine may be a motor or generator. Preferably the stator housing comprises a pair of radial walls, one at either end of the stator, linked via a generally cylindrical section. This cylindrical portion may be fabricated from metal, for example aluminium, but in embodiments is preferably injection moulded together with the reinforcing ribs of the radial wall. Thus in embodiments a radial wall and a portion of the length of the cylindrical wall forms a clamshell. Two clamshells mating to provide a closed chamber for the stator within which coolant, for example oil, may be circulated. 
         [0020]    In a related aspect the invention provides a stator assembly for an axial flux permanent magnet machine, the machine having a stator comprising a set of coils wound on respective stator bars and disposed circumferentially at intervals about an axis of the machine, and a rotor bearing a set of permanent magnets and mounted for rotation about said axis, and wherein said rotor and stator are spaced apart along said axis to define a gap therebetween in which magnetic flux in the machine is generally in an axial direction, the stator assembly comprising a stator housing containing said stator, said stator housing having a radial wall comprising a membrane of (preferably fibre-reinforced) polymer to be located in said gap between said rotor and said stator, wherein at least an end or shoe of a said stator bar is preferably formed from soft magnetic composite (SMC), and wherein said polymer of said membrane of (preferably fibre-reinforced) polymer is bonded with said end or shoe to bond said set of stator bars to said membrane. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0021]    These and other aspects of the invention will now be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying figures in which: 
           [0022]      FIGS. 1 a  to 1 c    show, respectively, a general configuration of a two-rotor axial flux machine, example topologies for axial flux permanent magnet machines, and a schematic side view of a yokeless and segmented armature (YASA) machine; 
           [0023]      FIG. 2  shows a perspective view of the YASA machine of  FIG. 1   c;    
           [0024]      FIG. 3  shows a perspective exploded view of a stator and stator housing for a YASA machine according to the prior art; 
           [0025]      FIGS. 4 a  and 4 b    show, respectively, a vertical cross-section view and a view from above of an annular radial wall of a stator housing according to an embodiment of the invention; 
           [0026]      FIG. 5  shows a vertical cross-section through a membrane of fibre-reinforced polymer for use in manufacturing the radial wall of  FIG. 4 ; 
           [0027]      FIGS. 6 a  and 6 b    show, respectively, the radial wall of  FIG. 5  with a stator pole piece attached, and the radial wall of a stator piece with a supplementary resin film aiding gap filling; and 
           [0028]      FIGS. 7 a  to 7 c    show, respectively, first and second example cross-sections through a radial wall employing laminated reinforcing features, and an exploded 3D view of the laminated reinforcing features prior to assembly. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0029]    Referring first to  FIGS. 1 c   ,  2  and  3 , which are taken from our PCT application WO2012/022974,  FIG. 1 c    shows a schematic illustration of a yokeless and segmented armature machine  10 . 
         [0030]    The machine  10  comprises a stator  12  and two rotors  14   a,b . The stator  12  is a collection of separate stator bars  16  spaced circumferentially about a rotation axis  20  of the rotors  14   a,b . Each bar  16  has its own axis which is preferably, but not essentially, disposed parallel to the rotation axis  20 . Each end of each stator bar is provided with a shoe  18   a,b  which serves a physical purpose of confining a coil stack  22 , which stack  22  is preferably of square/rectangular section insulated wire so that a high fill factor can be achieved. The coils  22  are connected to an electrical circuit (not shown) that, in the case of a motor, energizes the coils so that the poles of the resultant magnetic fields generated by the current flowing in the coils is opposite in adjacent stator coils  22 . 
         [0031]    The two rotors  14   a,b  carry permanent magnets  24   a, b  that face one another with the stator coil  22  between (when the stator bars are inclined—not as shown—the magnets are likewise). Two air gaps  26   a, b  are disposed between respective shoe and magnet pairs  18   a / 24   a ,  18   b / 24   b . There are an even number of coils and magnets spaced around the axis of rotation  20  and, preferably, there are a different number of coils and magnets so that the coils do not all come into registration with the corresponding magnet pair at the same time and at the same rotational position of the rotor with respect to the stator. This serves to reduce cogging. 
         [0032]    In a motor the coils  22  are energized so that their polarity alternates serving to cause coils at different times to align with different magnet pairs, resulting in torque being applied between the rotor and the stator. The rotors  14   a,b  are generally connected together (for example by a shaft, not shown) and rotate together about the axis  20  relative to the stator  12 . The magnetic circuit  30  is provided by two adjacent stator bars  16  and two magnet pairs  24   a,b  and a back iron  32   a,b  for each rotor links the flux between the back of each magnet  24   a,b  facing away from the respective coils  22 . The stator coils  16  are enclosed within a housing that extends through the air gap  26   a, b  and which defines a chamber supplied with a cooling medium. 
         [0033]    Turning to  FIG. 3 , a stator  12   a  is shown in which the stator coils are located between plastics material clam shells  42   a, b . These clamshells have external cylindrical walls  44 , internal cylindrical walls  46 , and annular radially disposed walls  48 . In the prior art example of  FIG. 3  the radial walls  48  include internal pockets  50  to receive the shoes  18   a,b  of the stator bars  16  and serve to locate the stator coil assemblies  16 ,  22 ,  18   a,b  when the two clam shell housings  42   a, b  of the stator  12   a  are assembled together. The stator housing  42   a, b  defines spaces  52  internally of the coils  22  and externally at  54  around the outside of the coils  22  and there are spaces  56  between the coils. The spaces  52 , 54 , 56  are interlinked defining a cooling chamber. Although not shown in  FIG. 3 , when assembled, the stator housing  42   a,b  is provided with ports that allow cooling medium such as oil to be pumped into the spaces  52 , 54 , 56  to circulate around the coils and cool them. 
         [0034]    The coil cores may be laminated with the inter-lamination insulation parallel to the desired flux direction. However advantageously the coil cores may also be formed from soft-iron particles coated with electrical insulation and moulded to a desired shape (soft magnetic composites—SMC), being bound together by the insulation matrix. A high-temperature, high-pressure compaction process is used to mould the component into a complex shape, capable of producing three-dimensional magnetic flux patterns with an excellent form factor and enabling a high fill factor winding to be employed, wound straight onto SMC teeth. Conveniently the shoes and stator bar may be formed separately and subsequently assembled; a shoe may have a central region with an axial direction of minimum reluctance and an outer region with a radial direction of minimum reluctance (see WO2012/022974). 
         [0035]    Referring to  FIG. 4 a   , this shows, schematically, a vertical cross-section through the annular, radial wall  100  of an injection moulded stator housing according to an embodiment of the invention. This comprises a thin, reinforced membrane  110  of thermoplastic material onto which has been moulded a set of radial and circumferential reinforcing ribs  120 , leaving cavities  115  therebetween to accept shoes of the pole pieces.  FIG. 4 b    shows the same arrangement from above, showing an axial view of one half of a clamshell-type stator housing  150 , also illustrating the cylindrical walls  152  of the housing. 
         [0036]      FIG. 5  illustrates the membrane of fibre-reinforced thermoplastic starting material in cross-section. This illustrates plain weave reinforcing fibre  160  within the material, impregnated with a thermoplastic resin  170 , and calendared to form a uniform thickness membrane. Preferably resin  170  is an “engineering polymer” which is relatively strong at high temperature, for example PPA or PEEK; the glass fibre reinforcement helps to confer toughness and strength. The membrane may have a thickness of, for example, ˜0.5 mm. 
         [0037]    A process for forming the housing  150 , more particularly radial wall  100 , comprises inserting this into a mould tool and shutting off the tool so as to form radial and circumferential ribs  120 , preferably at least 3 mm thick. These may be formed using a thermoplastic polymer compatible with that of the thin thermoplastic membrane, the ribs being intimately bonded to the membrane during the injection moulding process. 
         [0038]    In embodiments of the method, the stator bars, or at least the shoes at the end(s) of the stator bars, are bonded to the membrane forming the radial wall prior to injection moulding the reinforcing ribs. It is therefore preferable for the mould tool to be arranged so that the membrane is supported horizontally in the machine, as the membrane with the stator bars attached is relatively floppy. The membrane with bonded shoes may conveniently be handled magnetically. 
         [0039]    The skilled person will recognise it is equally possible to bond stator pole piece  180  to membrane  110  after injection moulding ribs  120  onto membrane  110  as it is to bond stator pole piece  180  to membrane  110  and particularly to membrane polymer  170  prior to injection moulding ribs  120 . 
         [0040]      FIG. 6 a    illustrates the radial wall  100  of  FIG. 4  with a stator pole piece  180  bonded into place: the stator pole piece  180  is heated and pressed into the thin membrane  110  but the, for example glass fibre, reinforcement acts as an end stop, preventing the stator pole piece from pushing through the very thin membrane, and maintaining, inter alia, the liquid-proof integrity of the housing for containing coolant oil when in use. Nonetheless, fibre reinforcement is not essential for membrane  110  and, instead, push-through of the stator pole piece  180  may be inhibited by careful control of the pressing of the stator pole piece and/or use of a suitable stop. 
         [0041]    Advantageously it has also been found that the relatively small quantity of thermoplastic polymer  170  in the thin membrane  110  is sufficient to form an exceptionally strong bond to SMC pole pieces. However in a related aspect of this process the bonding tends to remove resin from the membrane leaving the fibres apparent on the opposite surface of the membrane, which may no longer be smooth. This can be addressed by including a thin supplementary membrane between the fibre-reinforced membrane and the shoes of the pole pieces, preferably of the same type of resin as the fibre-reinforced membrane, to act as a supplementary resin supply. This also has the advantage that reduced flatness of the shoe faces and/or fibre-reinforced membrane can be accommodated. 
         [0042]      FIG. 6 b    shows a variant of the structure of  FIG. 6 a    incorporating a supplementary thermoplastic polymer membrane  175  of a compatible resin to resin  170  of membrane  110 . This supplementary membrane  175  may have a thickness of order ˜0.25 mm, and provides space filling for any unevenness of substrates  180  and  110  and flashing  176  when pole piece  180  is heated and pressed into thin membranes  175  and  110 . This flashing helps to augment bonding of the pole shoes and also fills tolerance gaps between ribs  120  and pole shoes  185 . The underlying glass reinforcement still prevents push-through when heating the pole shoes, placing these on the unheated thin membrane, and pressing firmly, and the resulting bond strength is stronger than the SMC itself. 
         [0043]    An example SMC may comprise glass-bonded iron particles, a thin layer (typically &lt;10 μm) of glass bonding and mutually electrically insulating the iron particles, leaving some residual porosity. Suitable materials are available from, for example, Hoganas AB in Sweden under the trade name Somaloy (registered trade mark). To improve the porosity and hence the bond strength the bonding surface is preferably cleaned of residual traces of carbon from the manufacturing process, for example mechanically and/or using an acid etch. 
         [0044]    The resulting structure has a very thin radial wall, as desired, oil integrity, the useful function of holding the pole pieces in their correct relative positions during assembly and, when the structure is fully assembled, provides great strength. As previously described in our WO2012/022974, where a clamshell-type approach is employed the stator bars/pole pieces may be split at some point along their length so that one shoe/stator bar can be attached to each clamshell prior to joining the clamshells and stator bars. Alternatively the stator bars may be assembled onto one clamshell and then the second joined to the first and bonded to the stator bars at the same time, avoiding the need to split the stator bars for a stronger structure. In another, preferred, approach one clamshell has a stator bar and a shoe at one end and the other clamshell has the shoe for the other end of the stator bar (which may be adhesively bonded to the free end of the stator bar on assembly). 
         [0045]    Optionally a reinforcing feature or rib may be fabricated from a plurality of lamina, compressed and heated together to mutually bond. Preferably each lamina is fibre reinforced so that the weave extends through substantially the entire radial wall, that is both through the membrane and its reinforcement. Optionally the direction(s) of weave may differ from one lamina to the next. 
         [0046]      FIG. 7 a    shows a cross-section through a radial wall fabricated in this way, showing the lamina  112 . In  FIG. 7 a    the whole end face of a stator bar, more particularly the show, bonds to the membrane  110 . Alternatively, as shown in  FIG. 7 b   , the end face or shoe of a stator bar may fit into an opening in the membrane. In this case the end face or shoe may be provided with a step as illustrated to facilitate bonding to the underlying membrane. Optionally in either case one or more of the lamina may overlay a step or flange of the shoe as shown.  FIG. 7 c    illustrates the lamina  112  in an exploded 3D view. 
         [0047]    No doubt many other effective alternatives will occur to the skilled person. It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the described embodiments and encompasses modifications apparent to those skilled in the art lying within the spirit and scope of the claims appended hereto.