General Electric Company

Roy T Toutant

David S Perry

Michael A Brennan

Gerald J Lozinski

Mark A Dilk

James E Kreko

Preston K Parker

Richard M Motley

A refrigerator cabinet has a front flange, which as a gasket on its door seal thereagainst when the door is closed, formed by a plurality of longitudinally spaced sets of rollers of a roll forming machine so that the front flange is at a specific angular relation to a top wall of the refrigerator cabinet when the roll formed part is fabricated into a portion of the refrigerator cabinet. The angular relationship of the flange and the top wall of the refrigerator cabinet is determined at a first fabrication station of a roll formed part, which forms a portion of the refrigerator cabinet after fabrication, by two linear variable differential transformers engaging each of the two adjacent surfaces of the roll formed part that will constitute the front flange and the top wall of the refrigerator cabinet and transmitting signals indicating the angle therebetween to a personal computer. If the measured angle does not fall within a predetermined range, a roller of the last set of rollers of the roll forming machine is adjusted through a motor controller while production continues. This adjustment is accomplished by the motor controller sending a signal to an adjustment motor, which turns a screw to vary the position of a roller of the last set of forming rollers of the roll forming machine. The amount of movement of the adjusted roller is measured by an electronic gage with a data system recording the actual amount of adjustment.

Adaptive roll formed system and method

A moving part has material initially applied to it a predetermined distance from its leading edge. Whenever a sensor senses a notch in a flange of the moving part, application of material to the moving part is stopped for a predetermined distance prior to the start of the notch to a predetermined distance beyond the notch. Application of material to the moving part is finally stopped a predetermined distance prior to its trailing edge. Two separate sensors are used to control each of three spray guns for applying the material in the selected areas.

Method and apparatus for applying material to selected areas of a moving

A conveyor system including a first horizontal trackway having a flat movable flexible chain extending between a plurality of work stations with the trackway having at one end thereof a loop section. There are a plurality of pallets movable by frictional engagement with the chain for carrying work pieces along the trackway between the work stations. A second trackway is provided adjacent the first trackway loop section and has a continuous flat flexible chain, the second trackway has an upper level section and a lower level section with the upper level section being in the same horizontal plane as the first trackway. The second trackway has two legs connected by an intermediate section with both legs in pallet transfer communication with the first trackway. The lower level section of the second trackway is spaced below the upper level section and has two legs connected by an intermediate section with each leg of the lower level section being connected to a corresponding leg of the upper level section to form a continuous loop. The second continuous trackway is driven independent of the first trackway and there is a switch for diverting the pallets to either the first trackway loop section or the upper level of the second trackway.

Conveyer system

The method of inspecting and determining the status of a hole in a surface of a part comprising placing a robot at a stationary position, said robot being controlled by a programmable controller and having a movable arm with a fiber optic scanner device capable of sensing a reflective surface. The part to be inspected is placed in a stationary fixture spaced from the robot and the robot arm with the fiber optic scanner device is moved to a point spaced from the part surface. The robot arm with the fiber optic scanner is incrementally moved closer to the part surface until light reflection is detected from the part surface by the fiber optic scanner. A signal is sent to the robot controller upon detecting light reflection from the part surface to stop further incremental movement of the robot arm and fiber optic scanner closer to the part. The robot arm with the fiber optic scanner is then moved in response to a signal from the robot controller parallel to the part surface to a predetermined position representing where the approximate hole location should be and determining by reflective value the presence or absence of the hole and sending a corresponding signal to the robot controller.

Growing community of inventors

Louisville, KY, United States of America

Roy T Toutant