| 摘要 |
<p>An apparatus for bending an elongate member 100, comprises a driver for driving the elongate member linearly through the apparatus along a feed axis and causing the member to rotate about the feed axis 102. One or more reaction rollers centre the member along the feed axis as it is driven through the apparatus. Each roller of pairs of deflection rollers are rotatably mounted on a single rotation axis in an intermediate housing 20. The intermediate housing is rotatably mounted in an outer housing 18 about three mutually orthogonal axes one of which is parallel to the feed axis. The one or more pairs of deflection rollers are configured to receive the elongate member downstream of the one or more reaction rollers. The apparatus is configured to accommodate an induction coil 32 for heating a portion of the elongate member to make it deformable prior to entering the deflection rollers. The deflection rollers can be offset from the feed axis, preferably by movement by a hydraulic mechanism perpendicular to the feed axis, to cause a deflection of the elongate member away from the feed axis. The linear and rotational drives may be linked by closed loop control or a gear mechanism.</p> |
