Alignment system and method for wheel assembly
AssigneeABB Schweiz AG
InventorsHarald J. Staab, Jeremy Newkirk, Gregory F. Rossano
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for aligning a rim of a wheel assembly to a wheel hub. The apparatus can include a wheel handler device that is structured to securely engage the wheel assembly. The apparatus can include one or more light emitting devices that project one or more light spots on the face of the wheel hub. The position of one or more light spots relative to another light spot(s) and/or to a reference feature on the face of the hub can provide an indication of the location, orientation, and/or alignment of at least the rim relative to the wheel hub.
Claims20
An apparatus for aligning a rim of a wheel assembly to a wheel hub, the apparatus comprising:
- a wheel handler device structured to securely engage the wheel assembly;
- a light emitting device oriented to emit one or more beams of light onto a face of the wheel hub while the wheel assembly is securely engaged by the wheel handler device;
- an adjustment device coupled to the light emitting device, the adjustment device structured to adjust an orientation at which the one or more beams of light is/are emitted from the light emitting device;
- and
- a controller adapted to determine from a location of the one or more beams of light on the face of the wheel hub an orientation of the rim relative to the wheel hub, wherein the wheel handler device is operable for adjusting a position of the wheel assembly relative to a position of the wheel hub based on the location of the one or more beams of light.
An apparatus for aligning a rim of a wheel assembly to a wheel hub, the apparatus comprising:
- a wheel handler device structured to securely engage the wheel assembly;
- a first light emitting device structured to project a first beam of light onto a face of the wheel hub as a first light spot;
- and
- a second light emitting device structured to project a second beam of light onto the face of the wheel hub as a second light spot, the first and second light emitting devices further adapted to project the first and second light spots onto a reference location on the face of the wheel hub when a central radial axis of the rim of the wheel assembly that is securely engaged by the wheel handler device is generally aligned with a longitudinal axis of the wheel hub, wherein positions of the first and second light spots on the face of the wheel hub indicate an orientation of the rim relative to the wheel hub;
- and
- an adjustment device coupled to at least the first light emitting device, the adjustment device structured to adjust an orientation at which the first beam of light is projected from the first light emitting device.
An apparatus for aligning a rim of a wheel assembly to a wheel hub, the apparatus comprising:
- a wheel handler device structured to securely engage the wheel assembly;
- a first light emitting device structured to project a first beam of light onto a face of the wheel hub as a first light spot;
- a second light emitting device structured to project a second beam of light onto the face of the wheel hub as a second light spot, the first and second light emitting devices further adapted to project the first and second light spots onto a reference location on the face of the wheel hub when a central radial axis of the rim of the wheel assembly that is securely engaged by the wheel handler device is generally aligned with a longitudinal axis of the wheel hub;
- a first ancillary light emitting device adapted to project a first positional indicator on the face of the wheel hub, the first ancillary light emitting device further adapted to retain a position of the first positional indicator as a row orientation of the rim relative to the wheel hub is adjusted;
- and
- a second ancillary light emitting device adapted to project a second positional indicator on the face of the wheel hub, the second ancillary light emitting device further adapted to adjust a position of the second positional indicator as the row orientation of the rim relative to the wheel hub is adjusted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.