Tapered structure construction
Feeding stock used to form a tapered structure into a curving device such that each point on the stock undergoes rotational motion about a peak location of the tapered structure; and the stock meets a predecessor portion of stock along one or more adjacent edges.
1. A method for forming a frusto-conical structure from planar metallic stock, the frusto-conical structure having a virtual peak located at a point where the taper of the frusto-conical structure would decrease to zero if the structure were not truncated, the method comprising:
feeding the stock used to form the frusto-conical structure into a curving device such that:
a portion of the stock that has not yet been deformed by the curving device undergoes a substantially rotational motion in the plane of the portion of the stock about the peak of the frusto-conical structure such that each point on the portion of the stock that has not yet been deformed maintains a constant distance throughout feeding from the peak; and
the stock meets a predecessor portion of the stock along one or more adjacent edges; and
translating the portion of the stock in a direction different from a feed direction of the stock and adjusting an in-feed angle of the portion of stock according to the substantially rotational motion.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the peak moves along a fixed axis.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stock is trapezoidal.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the curving device includes a triple roll.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein feeding the stock into the curving device does not impart in-plane deformation to the stock.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising joining the stock to the predecessor portion along the one or more adjacent edges.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein joining the stock includes completing a technique selected from the group consisting of: welding, applying an adhesive, and applying a mechanical fastener.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein feeding the stock into the curving device includes varying an in-feed angle of the stock with respect to the feed direction such that each point on the stock translates tangentially to a corresponding imaginary circle of constant radius centered at the peak location.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein varying the in-feed angle includes imparting at least one of a rotational motion and a translational motion to the stock relative to the feed direction.
10. A method comprising:
feeding stock used to form a frusto-conical structure into a curving device such that:
a peak of the frusto-conical structure translates with respect to the ground at a direction and speed;
a portion of the stock that has not yet been deformed by the curving device rotates in a substantially rotational motion about a center of rotation, wherein the center of rotation translates with respect to the ground in the same direction and with the same speed as a location of the peak;
an in-feed angle of the portion of stock varies at the curving device according to the substantially rotational motion, and
the stock meets a predecessor portion of stock along one or more adjacent edges,
wherein the peak is a virtual peak, and wherein the location of the peak is a point at which a taper of the frusto-conical structure would eventually decrease to zero if the structure were not truncated.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the peak location translates along a fixed axis.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the stock is trapezoidal.
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the curving device includes a triple roll.
14. The method of claim 10 , wherein feeding the stock into the curving device does not impart in-plane deformation to the stock.
15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising joining the stock to the predecessor portion along the one or more adjacent edges.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein joining the stock includes completing a technique selected from the group consisting of: welding, applying an adhesive, and applying a mechanical fastener.