Digital roll gap verification tool and related calibration stand
AssigneeCleveland-Cliffs Steel Properties Inc.
InventorsZachary Duwayne Emmons, Mark Anthony Harmon, Jeffrey Michael Collins
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A gap verification tool is usable with a leveling unit where the leveling unit includes multiple offset rollers that flatten a material, such as a previously coiled steel sheet, as it passes through the leveling unit. The gap verification tool includes a sensing assembly that has blades that rotate about a pivot point of the tool. An encoder of the tool measures the rotation of the blades and determines a gap between the offset rollers. A calibration stand is also usable with the tool to calibrate the tool. The calibration stand includes offset rollers setup with a known gap.
Claims10
A device for measuring a gap distance between two or more offset rollers of a leveling unit configured to level a sheet of steel or other material, the device comprising:
- (a) a shaft extending between a proximal end and a distal end of the shaft;
- (b) a sensing assembly connected with the shaft, the sensing assembly including a first blade having an arcuate surface matching a shape of one of the rollers such that the first blade is configured to contact the roller along a surface area rather than a tangent line or point, wherein at least a portion of the sensing assembly is rotatable about a pivot point;
- (c) an encoder in communication with the sensing assembly and configured to determine a rotational position of the sensing assembly and correlate the rotational position to the gap distance;
- and
- (d) a display configured to present a select one or more of an amount of rotation of the sensing assembly and the gap distance.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.