Patent Publication Number: US-2007102837-A1

Title: Tool having desired thermal management properties and a method for producing a tool having desired thermal management properties

Description:
GENERAL BACKGROUND  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention generally relates to a tool having desired thermal management properties and to a method for producing a tool having such desired thermal management properties and more particularly, by way of example and without limitation, to a tool which may be used to selectively create a tangible item in a highly efficient manner and which has desired thermal management properties, and to a method for creating such a tool.  
      2. Background of the Invention  
      A tool is a tangible entity which is used to selectively create a certain item, such as an automotive part or component. Typically, such a tool was created from a block of material by the use of a creation process which required the block of material to be machined and/or manually “worked” in a certain manner over a relatively long period of time. As used throughout this description, the term “tool” is to be construed in the broadest possible manner to refer to any tangible good or item which may be used to selectively produce another tangible item or good.  
      While the foregoing tool creation process did allow such a tool to be created, it was relatively inefficient and costly due to the relatively large amount of time and effort required to produce the tool, and was prone to error due to the number and complexity of the relatively high number of manual operations which are required in the overall tool creation process. Such an error further increases the overall production cost since it typically causes a partially formed tool to be discarded, thereby wasting the time, effort, and material used to create the discarded pre-tool and/or causes components to be manufactured and/or produced having undesirable characteristics (e.g., dimensions or other physical attributes or characteristics).  
      To alleviate some or all of the foregoing drawbacks, a lamination strategy has been employed under which an intangible model of the tool is first formed within a computer and then used to sequentially create physical or tangible sections which are selectively joined in a manner which allows the joined tangible sections to form the desired tool. The sections may be configured in a manner which accounts for the various physical characteristics of previously created sections, in order to allow the overall formed tool to produce items having highly accurate dimensional characteristics and other features. Importantly, such a lamination strategy allows for the production of tools in a very cost effective and efficient manner while allowing for the production of items having very desirable and highly accurate characteristics and features.  
      While the foregoing strategies do allow for a tangible item to be formed in a highly efficient manner, they each require a thermal management strategy. That is, the respectively produced tools normally generate a certain amount of heat during item formation operation and in order to allow the formed items to continually and repeatedly have desired and accurate characteristics and to allow the tools to have a relatively long working life, the produced heat must be readily exported away from the respective creation surfaces or formation portions of the respective tools. The manner in which such exportation occurs is dependent upon the thermal strategy which is employed within these various tools.  
      Current thermal management strategies typically involve the selective transport of water within the produced tool and such water is typically in some sort of thermal contact with the tool production or item formation surface or portion of the tool, thereby receiving the produced heat and allowing for the produced heat to be dissipated from the item creation or formation surface or portion.  
      While water does allow for the desired dissipation of heat from the item creation or formation surface or portion, it does so in a relatively inefficient manner and, especially with respect to laminate type tools, sometimes undesirably leaks or emanates from the tools.  
      There is therefore a need for a tool which may be efficiently produced and which has enhanced thermal management properties which allow the tool to have a relatively long working life and to continually and consistently produce tangible items having desired characteristics and features. There is also a need for a new and improved method to efficiently create a tool having enhanced thermal management properties. The present invention addresses these needs in a new and novel manner and may be used to produce substantially any desired tangible item or good (including but not limited to tools) having substantially any sort of desired thermal management properties (e.g., cooling or heating).  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      It is a first non-limiting object of the present invention to provide an item, such as a tool, which overcomes some or all of the previously delineated disadvantages of prior tools.  
      It is a second non-limiting object of the present invention to provide an item, such as a tool, which overcomes some or all of the previously delineated disadvantages of prior tools and which, by way of example and without limitation, includes enhanced thermal management characteristics.  
      It is a third non-limiting object of the present invention to provide a method for creating an item, such as a tool, which allows for the production of an item having enhanced thermal management features and characteristics.  
      According to a first non-limiting aspect of the present invention, an item is provided and includes at least one void which is substantially filled with a thermal management material and further includes a surface which is created from a second material which is dissimilar to the thermal management material.  
      According to a second non-limiting aspect of the present invention, a tool is provided and includes a body including a forming surface, wherein the forming surface is created from a first material and wherein the body is formed from the selective joinder of a first and a second sectional member and wherein the body includes at least one void which is substantially filled with a thermal management material; and a tube which traverses the body and which is at least partially bonded to the thermal management material residing within the body.  
      According to a third non-limiting aspect of the present invention, a method for making an item is provided and includes the steps of forming a pre-item having at least one void; and placing a thermal management material within the void, thereby forming the item.  
      These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention, including the subjoined claims, and by reference to the following drawings.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective and phantom view of a tool which is made in accordance with the teachings of the preferred, although non-limiting embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a perspective and phantom view of a tool which is made in accordance with the teachings of a first alternate and non-limiting embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  is a perspective and phantom view of a tool which is -made in accordance with the teachings of a second alternate and non-limiting embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 4  is a partial side sectional view of a pre-tool being subjected to a first non-limiting tool creation methodology of the present invention.  
       FIG. 5  is a partial side sectional view of a pre-tool being subjected to a second non-limiting tool creation methodology of the present invention.  
       FIG. 6  is a partial side sectional view of a tool which is made in accordance with the teachings of a second alternate and non-limiting embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 7  is a flow chart which comprises the tool formation methodology of the preferred embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 8  is a partial top assembled view of a pair of adjacent sectional members used to create a laminated tool having an internal passageway or void according to the teachings of the preferred embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION  
      Referring now to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a tool  10 . which is made in accordance with the teachings of the preferred, although non-limiting, embodiment of the invention.  
      Particularly, the tool  10  is formed from a first material  12  which may in a non-limiting manner comprise stainless steel, some other type of commercially available steel, or some composite material. Substantially any desired material may be used to form the tool  10 . The tool  10  includes a tangible item formation surface  14  which may have substantially any desired geometric or spatial configuration which is required to selectively create or form a desired tangible item.  
      The tool  10  includes at least one (and in this non-limiting example which is shown in  FIG. 1 ) has three internal voids or passageways  18 ,  20 ,  22 . Particularly, the voids or passageways  18 ,  20  are communicatively coupled to the tangible item formation surface  14  and are further communicatively coupled, in the most preferred embodiment of the invention, to the void  22  which extends substantially along the entire width  28  of the tool  10 .  
      In the most preferred embodiment of the invention, each of the voids or passageways  18 ,  20 ,  22  are substantially filled with copper material  30  or some other material which is adapted to efficiently transfer heat. In this manner, the heat which is generated at the tangible item formation surface  14  is communicated to the material  30  residing within the void  22  by the use of the material  30  which respectively resides within the voids  18 ,  20 , thereby allowing the tool  10  to have a relatively long working life and allowing the tool  10  to produce tangible items having a respective desired dimensional accuracy and overall desired characteristics and features. In another non-limiting embodiment of the invention, the material  30  which is resident within the void  22  is coupled to a water reservoir or another type of heat sink  23  (remote from the tool  10 ), thereby allowing the heat which is communicated to the material  30  which is resident within the void  22  to be communicated outside of or remote from the tool  10 . It should be appreciated that a number of such material filled voids, such as voids  18 ,  20 ,  22  may be used within the tool  10  and that these voids cooperatively communicate heat from the tangible item formation surface  14  and in some although not all embodiments, such heat is communicated to some sort of external heat sink  23 . It should further be appreciated, that the tool  10  may utilize “plugs” or voids which are isolated (not communicatively coupled to another void or plug) but which may be communicatively coupled to the tangible item formation surface  14 . These isolated voids receive the heat from the surface  14  and absorb such heat, thereby allowing the tool  10  to have the foregoing desirable features.  
      Referring now to  FIG. 2 , there is shown a tool  50  which is made in accordance with yet another non-limiting embodiment of the invention. Particularly, the tool  50  is formed from a first material  52  which may comprise stainless steel or another commercially available material and includes a tangible item formation surface  54 . In this non-limiting embodiment, the tool  50  includes a pair of voids  60 ,  62  which are communicatively coupled to the tangible item formation surface  54 . Each of the voids  60 ,  62  are substantially filled with copper material  65  or some other heat transfer material. The tool  50  includes a tube  70  which is operatively disposed along substantially the entire width  72  of the tool  50  and may operatively contain water or some other heat transfer material  73 . The tube  70  is communicatively and, in one non-limiting embodiment, physically coupled to the material  65  and the tube  70  may be fixedly attached within the tool  50  by the use of welded connections  80 ,  82  and may be communicatively coupled to a heat sink (e.g., a body of water), such as the heat sink  23 , which is remote from and external to the tool  50 . It should be appreciated that the heat which is generated from the tangible item formation surface  54  is communicated to the contained material  73  by the material  65  and transported away from the surface  54 , thereby allowing the tool  50  to have a relatively long working life and to allow the formed tool  50  to consistently produce components or tangible items which have a consistently high degree of spatial accuracy and having overall desirable characteristics.  
      Referring now to  FIG. 3 , there is shown a tool  100  which is made in accordance with the teachings of yet another non-limiting embodiment of the invention.  
      Particularly, the tool  100  is formed from a first material  102  which may comprise stainless steel or some other commercially available material and the tool  100  includes a tangible item formation surface  104  and a void  106  which is communicatively coupled to the surface  104  and which includes copper material  108  or some other material which efficiently transfers heat. The tool  100  further includes a tube  110  which may be substantially filled with water or some other material  113  and which is communicatively coupled to the material  108  and which may also be coupled to a heat sink (e.g., a water reservoir), such as heat sink  23 , which is remote from the tool  100 . The tube  110  traverses through the width  111  of the tool  100 . In this non-limiting embodiment of the invention, the tube  110  may be fixedly coupled to and within the tool  100  by material  108 . Thus, it should be appreciated that the heat which is generated from the tangible item formation surface  104  is communicated to the material  113  and transported from the surface  104 . Alternatively the need for tube  110  may be obviated by the use of conformal cooling passages as set forth in the U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/440,454 (filed on May 16, 2003) and 10/308,602 (filed on Dec. 2, 2002) which are each fully and completely incorporated herein by reference, and such passages may have any desired shape or geometric orientation. The foregoing pending applications are owned by the assignee of these applicants.  
      In each of the foregoing embodiments, it should be appreciated that the tubes, such as tubes  22 ,  70 ,  110  may be substantially any size and geometric configuration and that :each of the tools  10 ,  50 ,  100  may respectively include several such tubes  22 ,  70 ,  110 . In one non-limiting embodiment of the invention, the tubes, such as tubes  22 ,  70 ,  110  do not respectively traverse the tool  10 ,  50 ,  100  that they are respectively and operatively disposed within. In yet another non-limiting embodiment of the invention, a passageway may even be formed (e.g. drilled) through the material  30  which resides within the void  22 .  
      It should further be appreciated that the tools  10 ,  50 ,  100  may be formed by substantially any sort of tool formation process (including a lamination process) and that the foregoing use of the material filled voids may eliminate the need for water cooling and substantially eliminates the potential or likelihood of water leakage and enhances thermal management since copper has a much greater conductivity than water and, as perhaps is more fully shown below, the copper filled or heat sink type voids, such as voids  18 ,  20 , may be formed in substantially any desired location within the tools  10 ,  50 ,  100 . By way of example and without limitation, the tool  10  may be formed by the selective creation and joining of sectional members, such as sectional members  101 ,  103  and the other tools  50 ,  100  may each further include respective sectional members. A review of one potential tool formation methodology will now ensure to allow one to more fully understand the overall tool formation process according to the teachings of the various inventions.  
      Referring now to  FIG. 4 , there is shown a pre-tool  140  being subjected to a certain process in order to produce one or more of the tools  10 ,  50 ,  100  which have been disclosed above. First, it should be appreciated that the pre-tool  140  may comprise a laminated pre-tool such as that which is referred to as tool  10  within U.S. Pat. No. 6,587,742 (hereinafter referred to as “The Patent”) which his fully and completely incorporated herein by reference and which is owned by the Assignee of these present Applicants. The term “pre-tool” as used in this description refers to a tool (such as a laminated tool) which has voids which do not presently contain copper or some other desired thermal management material.  
      Particularly, a void or passageway may easily be formed within a laminated pre-tool by having adjacent sectional members, such as sectional members  101 ,  103  have respectively and selectively aligned and registered indented portions  105 ,  107 , which are perhaps best shown in  FIG. 8 . These aligned indented portions therefore cooperatively form an internal void or passageway, such as internal void or passageway  18 ,  20 . Such a procedure may be used to form vertical type passageways such as passageways  18 ,  20 . Other passages may also be formed, such as passageway  22 , by the procedures set forth in the applications and the Patent which have been incorporated by reference.  
      Generally, the pre-tool  140  is placed within some sort of structure or an “open box”  142  and cooper or some other conductive material  144 , such as copper, is placed in physical and/or communicative contact with the formed pre-tool  140 . The pre-tool  140  and the material  144  are heated and the material  144  is made to flow within the various voids which are initially formed within the pre-tool  140 , thereby substantially filling these formed voids,. such as voids  18 ,  20 . After such voids are filled, the pre-tool  140  is allowed to cool and then is removed from the structure or box  142 . Excess material  144  is removed from the top surface  149  of the pre-tool  140 , thereby forming a tool, such as tool  10 . The term “top surface” means, in this context, the surface which is in initial physical contact with the material  144  or which does not contact the box or container  142  and includes the surface upon which a tangible item is formed (e.g., the tangible item formation surface, such as surface  14 ).  
      To alleviate the need to “machine” or remove the excess material  144  from the top surface of the pre-tool  140 , an alternative process or methodology may be utilized, as shown best in  FIG. 5 . Particularly, in this non-limiting embodiment, a void containing pre-tool  180  is placed within a container or “open box”  182  and the top surface  183  of the pre-tool  180  is made to contact some loose filler material  185  (e.g., casting sand or some other castable ceramic material having a melting point which is higher than that of copper or higher than that of the material used to fill the various tool voids) which is housed within the bottom surface  187  of the structure  182 . The material  144  is placed upon the bottom surface  190  of the pre-tool  180  (e.g., surface  190  is opposite to top surface  183 ) and the apparatus is heated, effective to allow the material  144  to flow within the contained voids residing within the pre-tool  180 , such as voids  18 ,  20 . Advantageously, after the void filled pre-tool  180  is cooled, it may be removed from the container  182  and easily taken away from the filler material  185  without the need to clean the filler material from the top surface  183  For example, the melted copper substantially surrounds the pre-tool and enters the various voids through the gaps and passageways of the pre-tool. The pre-tool is then cooled and the previously infiltrated material is cooled, thereby fixedly residing within the pre-tool.  
      As shown best in  FIG. 6 , a tool  200  may even be formed having a void, such as void  202 , having a plurality of materials, such as copper  206  and some sort of structurally strong material or some other material having desired properties, such as material  204 .  
      To more fully understand the tool creation methodology of the preferred embodiment of the invention, reference is now made to flowchart or methodology  300  which is shown in  FIG. 7 .  
      Particularly, the methodology  300  begins with an initial step  302  in which it is determined to build a tool, such as tool  10 ,  50 ,  100 . The step  302  is followed by step  304  in which a pre-tool is built (a tangible creation/formation apparatus having unfilled voids or internal passageways). Non-limiting examples of built pre-tools include pre-tool  140 .  
      Step  304  is followed by step  306  in which a filing material, such as copper, is placed in some sort of spatial relationship to the built pre-tool. Step  306  follows step  304  in which the filing material, such as copper material  30 , is placed in a spatial relationship with the built pre-tool. Step  308  follows step  306  and, in this step  308 , the filling material is caused to infiltrate the internal voids or passageways, such as by the use of heat. Step  310  follows step  308  and, in this step  310 , it is determined whether drilling is required to be performed through a previously filled passageway or void. If no drilling is required, step  310  is followed by step  312  in which the tool is declared to have been completed. If drilling is required, step  310  is followed by step  314  in which the drilling is accomplished and then step  314  is followed by step  312 .  
      It should be understood that the passageways and voids may be placed anywhere within the formed tool and that the foregoing strategy may be used to produce any desired tangible item having desired thermal management properties, including but not limited to tools. Further, the selectively infiltrated copper or other material reduces the need for the sectional members, in a laminated tooling strategy, to be accurate with respect to their intangible model counterparts (e.g., the infiltrated material “fills in gaps” between adjacent sectional members), thereby reducing the need for the feedback operation described within The Patent, thereby simplifying the overall lamination process. Relatively large tools may thereby be built in a cost effective manner.  
      It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact construction or methodology which has been delineated above, but that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the inventions as are perhaps more fully delineated in the following claims. It should be appreciated that the tools  10 ,  50  and  100  may be made by any process and that any tangible item (not limited to tools) may have such a material infusion methodology applied to them to provide the foregoing thermal management benefits.