Apparatus and method for balancing a vehicular driveshaft

Abstract

An apparatus for quickly and efficiently balancing an article includes a pair of supports that are adapted to engage and support the ends of the driveshaft tube and to effect selective rotational and axial movement thereof. A system is provided for generating a representation of the shape of the outer surface of the driveshaft tube, such as by using a laser stripe generator and a digital camera. The laser stripe generator projects a relatively thin line of visible light onto the outer surface of the driveshaft tube. The digital camera receives the relatively thin visible line of light as it is reflected from the outer surface of the driveshaft tube and digitizes the reflected image into electrical signals. The apparatus further includes a system for generating a representation of the wall thickness of the driveshaft tube, such as by using an ultrasonic transducer. The signals from the digital camera and the ultrasonic transducer are fed to an electronic controller, which correlates such signals to generate an electronic three dimensional representation of the physical shape of the driveshaft tube. By summing all of such correlations together for the entire outer surface of the driveshaft tube, an electronic three dimensional representation of the physical shape of the driveshaft tube can be generated. The electronic controller then generates a mass or weight distribution representation of the driveshaft tube which can be analyzed to determine where imbalances are present. Based upon these calculations, the electronic controller can further determine the size and position of the balance weights to be secured to the driveshaft tube to counterbalance these imbalances. Such size and position information can be relayed to an operator in any conventional manner using an output device.