Drop roller press and method of making recessed panel doors
AssigneeJELD-WEN, Inc.
InventorsDaniel Maher, Wilson Brown
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The disclosure relates to systems and methods for pressing a door assembly involving a scanning system operable to survey an outer surface of a door skin and identify a location of one or more recessed panel portions on the door skin, and a press operable to selectably actuate a group of actuators based on the identified location of the recessed panel portions, where the actuators drive press members onto the one or more recessed panel portions of the door skin during a pressing operation to facilitate crushing of portions of a core of the door assembly that underlie the recessed panel portion of the door skin.
Claims20
A system for making a door assembly of the kind having an internal frame, a core, and first and second door skins attached to the frame on either side of the core, wherein each of the door skins has a planar portion bordering at least one recessed panel portion, said system comprising:
- a scanning system operable to survey an outer surface of the first door skin and to obtain surface data therefrom identifying a location of the at least one recessed panel portion on the first door skin;
- a controller in communication with the scanning system, the controller receiving the surface data obtained by the scanning system;
- and
- a press in operable communication with the controller, the press including a first set of actuators and a second set of actuators, each actuator in the first and second sets of actuators including a press member coupled thereto, wherein the first set and second set of actuators are operable to drive their corresponding press member toward each other for pressing the door assembly in a pressing operation,
- wherein based on the surface data from the controller indicating a location of the at least one recessed panel portion on the first door skin, the press selectably actuates a first group of actuators from the first set of actuators and a second group of actuators from the second set of actuators during the pressing operation, such that the corresponding press members of the selected first group of actuators directly contacts the at least one recessed panel portion of the first door skin and compresses a portion of the core underlying the at least one recessed panel portion of the first door skin, and the corresponding press members of the selected second group of actuators directly contacts the at least one recessed panel portion of the second door skin and compresses a portion of the core underlying the at least one recessed panel portion of the second door skin, and
- wherein the press members of the first and second sets of actuators are separated by a gap forming a passageway through which the door assembly travels during the pressing operation.
A method for making a door assembly of the kind having an internal frame, a core, and first and second door skins attached to the frame on either side of the core, wherein each of the door skins has a planar portion bordering at least one recessed panel portion, said method comprising:
- surveying, via a scanning system, an outer surface of the first door skin to obtain surface data therefrom;
- identifying, via a controller, a location of the at least one recessed panel portion on the first door skin from the surface data;
- communicating, via the controller, the location of the at least one recessed panel portion on the first door skin to a press, the press including a first set of actuators and a second set of actuators, each actuator in the first and second sets of actuators including a press member coupled thereto, wherein the press members of the first and second sets of actuators are separated by a gap forming a passageway for the door assembly, and wherein the first set and second set of actuators are operable to drive their corresponding press member toward each other for pressing the door assembly in a pressing operation;
- selecting, via the press, a first group of actuators from the first set of actuators and a second group of actuators from the second set of actuators based on the surface data;
- actuating, via the press, the first group of actuators as the door assembly travels through the passageway such that the corresponding press members directly contact the at least one recessed panel portion of the first door skin and compress a portion of the core underlying the at least one recessed panel portion of the first door skin;
- and
- actuating, via the press, the second group of actuators as the door assembly travels through the passageway such that the corresponding press members directly contact the at least one recessed panel portion of the second door skin and compress a portion of the core underlying the at least one recessed panel portion of the second door skin.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.