We have a round tube that we are going to flatten as shown in the image below, with the exception that we need the maintain the circumference of the tube in the flattened area, probably with an elliptical shape. Anyone have any idea how to do this? A model is at the link below.
Thanks!
In addition, I assume that you want to control the perimeter at every cross section along the length of the flatten, including the transition areas (although there will have to be leeway for stretching/thinning of material).
So the question now becomes....how accurate do you want to be?
My advice would be to create a cross section sketch (after the flatten is added) at different areas along the flatten, then use a sensor to measure the perimeter of each cross section.
Then play with the flatten until you get into the range that you want.
If you were to take an actual elbow as shown and add that divot, the perimeter dimension would change from the original circumference dimension because of stretching etc. Why do you need it the same?
..similar to what the others have suggested... make a mid profile ~circum and compression,.. and I just estimated the loft between to get it close..
Thanks all for the advice. I ended up using three profiles for a loft, and all of them had their perimeters controlled by using a path length dimension, and then adjusting the shape to what I needed. I then lofted these profiles to the straights on the end. This was close enough for this. This could come back up again, but then I would need to be more accurate. I would also need to control the radius around the flattened area at the same time as maintaining the cross section perimeter, any idea on how to do that?
I assume you actually mean perimeter distance instead of circumference. In order to do this you'll need to make a cross section sketch and control the perimeter there and probably loft this into the round sections.