Skinning of ceramic honeycomb bodies

A honeycomb body skinning system comprising:

• an applicator that applies ceramic cement to a honeycomb body along an axial length of the honeycomb body to form a skin thereon as the honeycomb body is moved axially past the applicator in an axial skinning direction corresponding to a longitudinal axis of the honeycomb body;
• a manifold that delivers the ceramic cement to the applicator;
• a part conveying unit that moves the honeycomb body in the axial skinning direction;
• an inspection unit axially inline with the applicator, comprising:
• a line illuminator that generates a circumferential line illumination on the outer skin surface perpendicular to the axial direction and successively scans the outer skin surface with the circumferential line illumination along the axial length of the honeycomb body as the honeycomb is moved axially from the applicator past the line illuminator, and
• a detector that detects the circumferential line illumination scattered from the skin at each successive scan and generates a signal based on the detected line illumination;
• and
• a controller that controls application of the ceramic cement by controlling at least one process parameter of the honeycomb skinning system based on a comparison of a received signal from the detector and a previously stored detector signal.