Methods and systems for real-time, in-process measurement of coatings on metal substrates of appliances
AssigneeSensory Analytics, LLC
InventorsVivek C. Komaragiri, Greg Frisby
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Abstract
A method for measuring a thickness of a coating includes illuminating a substrate of an appliance with light waves of varying wavelengths from a light source. The method further includes receiving the light waves reflected by a top surface and a bottom surface of the coating at a light collector. The method may further include diffracting the light waves into a plurality of component wavelengths with a grating, and detecting light intensities of the plurality of component wavelengths at a detector array. The method may further include calculating a thickness of the coating from the detected light intensities.
Claims20
A method for measuring a thickness of a coating comprising:
- illuminating a substrate and at least one coating with light waves of varying wavelengths from a light source;
- receiving the light waves reflected by a top surface of the coating on the substrate at a light collector;
- receiving the light waves reflected by a bottom surface of the coating on the substrate at the light collector;
- diffracting the light waves into a plurality of component wavelengths with a grating;
- detecting light intensities of the plurality of component wavelengths at a detector array;
- curing the at least one coating;
- calculating a thickness of the at least one coating from the detected light intensities.
A system for measuring a thickness of a coating, the system comprising:
- a processor;
- a light source in communication with the processor, the light source configured to illuminate a substrate and a coating with light waves of varying wavelengths;
- a detection module in communication with the processor comprising:
- a light collector configured to receive light waves reflected by the substrate;
- a grating configured to diffract the light waves into a plurality of component wavelengths;
- a detector array configured to detect light intensities of each of the plurality of component wavelengths;
- a memory in communication with the processor, wherein the memory comprises computer program code executable by the processor configured to:
- direct curing of a coating applied on a substrate;
- calculate a thickness of the coating from the detected light intensities;
- display the calculated thickness of the coating in real-time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.