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. 01, 2015
Filed:
Jun. 29, 2012
Xin YE, Antioch, TN (US);
Matthew Weis, Murfreesboro, TN (US);
Rhonda White, Smyrna, TN (US);
Other;
Abstract
A wheel servicing machine such as a wheel balancer includes an acoustic transducer configured to measure energy of one or more reflected acoustic waves after the waves have bounced off a material boundary surface such as a wheel assembly. In some embodiments, a return energy index signal representative of the measured energy is generated by a transducer and is further processed by a processor to control operations of the machine. The acoustic transducer also measures distance between the transducer and the wheel assembly surface in some embodiments. One or more values in a sample queue of acquired distance data may be flagged, or indexed, based on variation in the magnitude of the return energy signal. Methods of measuring wheel width using sonar measurement of both distance and reflected energy are also provided.