Method of manufacturing stator coil

1. A method of manufacturing a stator coil in which a plurality of phase windings are wound, comprising:

a shaping step of shaping a plurality of shaped bodies from electric conductor wires;

a combining step of combining said plurality of said shaped bodies to one another to form a combined body; and

a winding step of winding said combined body around a core member to form a wound body;

wherein

said shaped body includes a plurality of straight portions extending in parallel to one another and aligned along a longitudinal direction of said combined body, and a plurality of turn portions each connecting adjacent ones of said straight portions at one end side and the other end side of said straight portions in an alternating manner,

each of said shaped bodies including, in said longitudinal direction of said combined body, a plurality of straight overlap sections formed of said straight portions being overlapped,

said wound body obtained at said winding step includes, in a circumferential direction of said wound body, a plurality of straight laminated sections formed of said plurality of said straight overlap sections laminated in a radial direction, and

in said winding step, by inserting pre-orientation members respectively into consecutive ones of a plurality of clearances formed between said straight overlap sections adjacent to each other of said combined body during sending said combined body into said core member, overlap of said straight portions in said straight overlap section caught between said pre-orientation members is aligned.

2. The method of manufacturing a stator coil according to claim 1 , wherein said winding step is a continuous winding step in which said combined body is continuously sent to said core member, and

in said continuous winding step, said pre-orientation members are caused to enter and exit with respect to said clearances while being moved in synchronization with said combined body.

3. The method of manufacturing a stator coil according to claim 1 , wherein said winding step is a pitch-by-pitch winding step to wind said combined body around said core member while sending said combined body to said core member by interval by interval between said adjacent straight overlap sections, and

in said pitch-by-pitch winding step, there are repeatedly performed a pre-orientation member inserting step to insert said pre-orientation members into said clearances of said combined body at rest, a forward moving step to move forwardly said combined body together with said pre-orientation members by said interval between said adjacent straight overlap sections, a pre-orientation member extracting step to extract said pre-orientation members from said clearances of said combined body, and a backward moving step to move backward said pre-orientation members by said interval between said adjacent straight overlap sections.

4. The method of manufacturing a stator coil according to claim 3 , wherein in said pitch-by-pitch winding step,

a position holding member inserting step to insert position holding members into said clearances other than said clearances into which said pre-orientation members are inserted is performed after said forward moving step,

a position holding member extracting step to extract said position holding members from said clearances of said combined body is performed after said pre-orientation member inserting step,

said pre-orientation member extracting step, said backward moving step and said pre-orientation member inserting step are performed in a state that said position holding members are inserted into said clearances, and

said forward moving step is performed in a state that said position holding members have been extracted from said clearances.