coil - Generate various types of coils, using pipe control points calculated
from coil dimensions.
coil [options ......] [name]
coil creates a pipe shape within coil.g or a user supplied file
that implements a coil according to user provided dimensions. If no dimensions
are supplied, defaults are used.
-d outer_diameter
Sets the outer diameter (millimeters) of the coil.
-w wire_diameter
Specify the diameter (millimeters) of the wire to be
wound into a coil.
-H helix_angle
Specify the helix angle (degrees) of the coil.
-p pitch
Specify the pitch - distance between center of wire at
beginning and end of a single turn in mm. Minimum value is equal to the wire
diameter.
-n number_of_turns
Sets the number of turns desired in the coil. Must be an
integer value greater than zero - fractional turns are not supported.
-s cap_type
Specify the capping style for the start of the coil. The
default is 0, with no special styling. 1 is a squared off cap, 2 is a cap
ground in the plane normal to the vector of the coiling direction (the x-y
plane), and 3 squares off the coil as well as grounding it. Any non-default
cap will result in extra turns being added to the coil above those specified
with -n.
-e cap_type
Specify the capping style for the end of the coil.
Default and options are the same as for the starting cap.
-S
number_of_turns,outer_diameter,wire_diameter,helix_angle,pitch,winding_direction
An advanced option that allows specification of multiple
sections, with settings specified in a comma delimited list as above. All
settings are required for each section - multiple sections are defined in left
to right order with the left-most section being the starting section at the
origin. Capping styles are supported for multiple section coils, but the
presence of one or more sections specified with the -S will cause any
supplied parameters other than capping styles to be ignored. There is very
little sanity checking here - many inputs will result in invalid pipe
primitives and generate only an empty database file.
-l length
Clamp the length of a coil to the specified value. This
option is currently limited - it will work only for uncapped coils and the
helix angle must be zero. To fit length, pitch will be adjusted first. If
pitch adjustments aren't enough, turns will be removed. If both of those
variables can't be adjusted to satisfy the length, wire diameter will be
adjusted.
-L
Instructs the coil tool to create a "left
handed" coil (default is "right handed"). I.e. - from the
starting point of the coil, the coil winding will proceed in the -x direction
for a left handed coil, and in the +x direction for a right handed coil.
The following will create coils exercising the various options.
Example 1. Creating a tight coil with default
dimensions and ground ends
coil -s 3 -e 3
Example 2. Creating a coil with large helix angle
and pitch
coil -H 40 -p 350
Example 3. Creating a multi-section coil with
right handed winding
coil -S 10,1000,50,60,800,1 -S 10,1000,50,0,100,1
Not much error checking yet - need to add.
This software is Copyright (c) 2009-2019 United States Government as represented
by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.
There are many inputs that will be accepted but will attempt to generate invalid
pipes.
Reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to
devs@brlcad.org
Visit the GSP FreeBSD Man Page Interface.