General Electric Company

Michael H McLaughlin

Carl M Penney

Robert W Fisk

Homer H Glascock, Ii

John D Harnden, Jr

Harold F Webster

Douglas E Houston

Robert E Sundell

Armand P Ferro

Fred W Staub

Gerhard Frind

The wetting angle of a bead, such as a welding bead, is detected and controlled by a feedback operation. In particular, one or more optical profiler heads are used to detect the wetting angle along the edge of a bead. If the wetting angles differ from a preferred value, a feedback control system adjusts one or more weld parameters in order to bring the wetting angles to a desired value. If the wetting angle obtains a value which makes the weld joint completely unacceptable, an alarm condition may be activated. The detection of the bead wetting angles may be provided by two optical profiler heads, each head tracking a corresponding one of the edges or sides of the bead so as to provide information from which a corresponding wetting angle may be obtained.

Weld bead wetting angle detection and control

Automated grinding is performed using a tracking means having a sufficient field of view to locate edges to be processed and using a high resolution profiler in order to provide grinding information for calculation of the amount of material which should be removed from the workpiece. Those sections of the workpiece not requiring additional grinding may be traversed at a high speed in order to improve productivity. A process control computer receives grinding information from the tracking means and high resolution profiler and uses it to control a manipulator to adjust the travel speed of the grinder, force with which a grinder is applied, position of the grinder, and/or speed of rotation of the grinder in order to remove the correct amount of material from a workpiece. The technique is especially advantageous in removing excess material, burrs, nicks, chips and other minor irregularities in workpieces. A second profiler may be used to check that the grinder has properly ground portions of the workpiece. The tracking means and the profilers are flying spot laser profilers. The technique can accommodate either force-control or position-control grinding.

Method of automated grinding

System and method of automated grinding

Feed process control is accomplished using an optical profiler to determine the height, width, and cross sectional area of a bead produced by a bead producing tool. Feedback control of the height, width, and/or area is obtained by modifying various parameters of the bead producing tool. If the bead producing tool is a welding torch, the parameters may include the weld torch voltage, weld torch current, wire feed rate, and the speed of travel of the torch across the workpiece or workpieces. If the bead producing tool is a sealant or glue gun, the parameters may include the pressure of the sealant or the glue supplied to the sealant or the glue gun, the size of an adjustable nozzle orifice of the sealant or the glue gun, and the speed of travel of the sealant or the glue gun along the surface of the workpiece.

Bead process control with profiler

Structured boiling surfaces for increasing the critical heat flux of immersed surfaces are disclosed. The structures comprise holes or cavities in the boiling surface which constrain vapor jets to be less than the natural spacing thereof, which satisfy the vapor-liquid flooding criteria and which supply added surface area. A configuration having an arcuate surface in order to facilitate vapor removal therefrom when operated in a downwardly facing direction is disclosed.

Means for increasing the critical heat flux of an immersed surface

A semiconductor electronic device operates at high power levels using structured copper to reduce generation of stress between the elements of the device during thermal cycling in the course of normal operation. Structured copper strain buffers are used to attach each side of a silicon wafer to fluid cooled heat sinks to provide efficient removal of heat generated by the device and good electrical connection to the silicon wafer.

Cooled semiconductor power module including structured strain buffers

The evaporating area of a heat pipe or thermosiphon evaporator is used as the thermal sink for one face of an electrically isolated substrate upon the opposite face of which are mounted and interconnected one or more power semiconductors and other components requiring cooling. Both sides of semiconductor devices mounted on the isolating substrate may be cooled while allowing each of a plurality of different combinations of electrical devices and/or interconnections to be achieved.

Power module with isolated substrates cooled by integral

A current limiting fuse is disclosed wherein at least one fuse element is positioned within and extends from a sealed electrically insulating glass member substantially filled with dielectric liquid. The glass member is positioned within an outer casing having electrical terminals and filled with granular material. The fuse element extends to the electrical terminals. The narrow space filled substantially with dielectric liquid defines the arc constrictor while the outer casing defines the plasma cooler space.

Current limiting fuse

A current limiting fuse is disclosed wherein at least one fuse element is employed and each such fuse element is positioned in a narrow space filled with dielectric fluid adjacent a rigid electrically insulating member with a plurality of rupturable vents and a chamber on the opposite side of the member. The narrow space filled with dielectric fluid defines the arc constrictor while the chamber on the side of the member defines the plasma cooler space.

Growing community of inventors

Scotia, NY, United States of America

Michael H McLaughlin