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:
Dec. 14, 2010
Filed:
Feb. 11, 2010
Paul Fleming, Boulder, CO (US);
David Lammlein, Houston, TX (US);
George E. Cook, Brentwood, TN (US);
Don Mitchell Wilkes, Nashville, TN (US);
Alvin M. Strauss, Nashville, TN (US);
David Delapp, Ashland City, TN (US);
Daniel A. Hartman, Santa Fe, NM (US);
Paul Fleming, Boulder, CO (US);
David Lammlein, Houston, TX (US);
George E. Cook, Brentwood, TN (US);
Don Mitchell Wilkes, Nashville, TN (US);
Alvin M. Strauss, Nashville, TN (US);
David Delapp, Ashland City, TN (US);
Daniel A. Hartman, Santa Fe, NM (US);
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN (US);
Abstract
A friction stir system for processing at least a first workpiece includes a spindle actuator coupled to a rotary tool comprising a rotating member for contacting and processing the first workpiece. A detection system is provided for obtaining information related to a lateral alignment of the rotating member. The detection system comprises at least one sensor for measuring a force experienced by the rotary tool or a parameter related to the force experienced by the rotary tool during processing, wherein the sensor provides sensor signals. A signal processing system is coupled to receive and analyze the sensor signals and determine a lateral alignment of the rotating member relative to a selected lateral position, a selected path, or a direction to decrease a lateral distance relative to the selected lateral position or selected path. In one embodiment, the friction stir system can be embodied as a closed loop tracking system, such as a robot-based tracked friction stir welding (FSW) or friction stir processing (FSP) system.