System and process for manufacturing laser marked elastomer components
AssigneeWest Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.
InventorsSilji Abraham, David Martin, Jason Krizan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for manufacturing elastomeric components is provided. The system may include a molding station having a mold configured to receive an elastomeric material, form a pad that includes a plurality of untrimmed elastomeric components, and cure the pad. The system may further include an automated marking station comprising a laser and a camera. The automated marking station may be configured to remove the cured pad from the molding station, present the cured pad to the laser to form a mark on each of the untrimmed elastomeric components, and present the cured pad to the camera to capture an image of each mark. A process for manufacturing the elastomeric components is also provided.
Claims12
A system for manufacturing elastomeric components, the system comprising:
- a molding station comprising a mold, the molding station being configured to receive an elastomeric material, to form a pad comprising a plurality of untrimmed elastomeric components, and to cure the pad;
- an inspection station comprising a processor and a camera;
- and
- an automated marking station comprising a laser, the automated marking station being configured to remove the cured pad from the molding station, to present the cured pad to the laser to form a mark on each of the untrimmed elastomeric components, and to present the cured pad to the inspection station to capture an image of each mark with the camera,
- wherein the processor is configured to determine a location of each mark on the elastomeric components, to determine that the location of the mark on one of the elastomeric components is not outside of a target area, and to reject the one of the elastomeric components based on the location of the mark on one of the elastomeric components not being outside of the target area.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.