The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 25, 1997
Filed:
Mar. 04, 1996
Vahid Kazem-Goudarzi, Sunrise, FL (US);
Alex Marron, Plantation, FL (US);
Sterling T Holmes, Oakland Park, FL (US);
Motorola, Inc., Schaumburg, IL (US);
Abstract
A method of detecting whether a vacuum nozzle on a high speed component placement machine is obstructed. A vacuum nozzle (10) has a hollow tube with a vacuum port (25) and an opening (12) at one end. The hollow tube having a fiber optic wire (20) located within it such that one end of the fiber optic wire is exposed to be illuminated (50) by a remote light source (30). The fiber optic wire transmits light to illuminate the opening from the interior of the vacuum nozzle. The amount of light exiting the illuminated opening is measured (55) by a remotely located light detector (35). A decision (60) is made as to whether the opening is obstructed by comparing the measured illuminated opening to a predetermined standard.