Methods of in-line extrudate inspection and feedback control for honeycomb body manufacture
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsJoseph Henry Citriniti, Conor James Walsh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In-line inspection and control system to in-situ monitor an extrudate during extrusion. A light beam illuminates a line on the outside circumference of the extrudate skin recording the curvature. A master profile of the illuminated defect-free skin is recorded and compared to successive monitoring of the illuminated skin. Differences from the comparison indicate skin and/or shape defects. A real-time feedback to automatically adjust process control hardware reduces or eliminates the skin and shape defects based on the monitoring and comparison.
Claims19
An in situ inspection and extrusion system to monitor a honeycomb extrudate during extrusion for at least one defect, the system comprising:
- an extruder comprising a front end from which the honeycomb extrudate is extruded;
- an inspection unit positioned proximate to the front end of the extruder, comprising:
- a line illuminator configured to generate a line illumination on an outer peripheral surface of the honeycomb extrudate perpendicular to the honeycomb extrudate axial direction as the honeycomb extrudate is being extruded from an extruder of the extrusion system, and
- a detector configured to detect the line illumination scattered from the outer peripheral surface of the extrudate and generate a signal based on the detected line illumination;
- and
- a controller configured to receive the signal generated by the detector, compare the received signal to a previously stored defect free signal in real-time, and control at least one extrusion process parameter based on the comparison,
- wherein the system is configured to begin inspection by the inspection unit on at least a portion of the honeycomb extrudate extending from the front end of the extruder while the honeycomb extrudate is in the process of being extruded.
A method of manufacturing an extruded honeycomb body, comprising:
- extruding honeycomb extrudate in an axial direction from an extruder;
- inspecting in situ the honeycomb extrudate, comprising:
- illuminating a line of the honeycomb extrudate outer peripheral surface perpendicular to the axial direction of a portion of the honeycomb extrudate extending from a front end of the extruder as the honeycomb extrudate is in the process of being extruded from the extruder,
- detecting the illuminated line scattered from the honeycomb extrudate outer peripheral surface, and
- generating a signal based on the detecting;
- comparing in real-time the signal with a previously stored signal of a defect free honeycomb extrudate inspection;
- and
- controlling at least one extruding process parameter based on the comparing.
A method of manufacturing an extruded honeycomb body, comprising:
- extruding honeycomb extrudate in an axial direction from an extruder;
- inspecting in situ the honeycomb extrudate, comprising:
- illuminating a line of the honeycomb extrudate outer peripheral surface perpendicular to the axial direction as the honeycomb extrudate is being extruded from the extruder,
- detecting the illuminated line scattered from the honeycomb extrudate outer peripheral surface, and
- generating a signal based on the detecting;
- comparing in real-time the signal with a previously stored signal of a defect free honeycomb extrudate inspection;
- and
- controlling at least one extruding process parameter based on the comparing,
- wherein the line illuminator is configured to scan the illuminated line and transmit the signal to the controller at greater than or equal to a frequency for a determined axial extrusion speed of the extrudate being extruded from the extruder such that successive scans and transmissions are spaced apart by no more than 1 mm in the axial direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.