System and method for monitoring liquid adhesive flow
AssigneeNordson Corporation
InventorsWesley C. Fort, Ronald Ramspeck, Enes Ramosevac
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hot melt adhesive system includes an adhesive supply for receiving solid or semi-solid hot melt adhesive, and a heater associated with the adhesive supply for melting the solid or semi-solid hot melt adhesive into liquid hot melt adhesive. An adhesive tracking system monitors an output of the liquid hot melt adhesive, and includes a flow meter having a flow inlet and a flow outlet. The flow meter measures an amount of the adhesive flowing out of the flow outlet. A product detector may be used to sense a presence of a product to which the adhesive is applied. A controller then determines the total amount of the liquid adhesive dispensed and the average amount of liquid adhesive dispensed per product.
Claims20
A method for monitoring hot melt adhesive flow, comprising:
- detecting by using at least one product detector, a presence of a product to which the hot melt adhesive flow is applied, a leading edge and an ending edge of the product, and determining a product count by using at least one product detector;
- determining a start time and an end time for applying the hot melt adhesive flow to the product, the start time and the end time being dependent on the leading edge and the ending edge of the product determined by the product detector;
- flowing the hot melt adhesive from a flow path of a manifold into a flow inlet of a flow meter, through the flow meter, and out of a flow outlet of the flow meter into the flow path of the manifold;
- determining an amount of the hot melt adhesive flow applied to the product from the start time to the end time by measuring an amount of the hot melt adhesive flow dispensed from the manifold using the flow meter in fluid communication with the manifold;
- and
- the flow meter comprising:
- a flow outlet passage configured to receive hot melt adhesive from the manifold, a pair of rotatable gears, and at least one sensor configured to measure an amount of hot melt adhesive flowing through the flow meter;
- using data that includes the sensed leading edge and ending edge of the product, the start and the end times, and the product count, to associate the measured amount of the hot melt adhesive flowing out of the flow outlet passage with the detected product;
- and
- comparing the determined amount of the hot melt adhesive with a predetermined range to determine if the determined amount of the hot melt adhesive is outside the predetermined range.
A method for monitoring liquid hot melt adhesive flow, comprising:
- applying the liquid hot melt adhesive to a product;
- detecting, with at least one product detector, a presence of the product to which the liquid hot melt adhesive is applied;
- determining an amount of the liquid hot melt adhesive applied to the product by measuring an amount of the liquid hot melt adhesive dispensed from a manifold using a single flow meter in fluid communication with the manifold;
- and
- associating the amount of the liquid hot melt adhesive with the product.
A method for monitoring hot melt adhesive flow, comprising:
- sensing, by using at least one product detector, a presence of a product to which the hot melt adhesive flow is applied, a leading edge and an ending edge of the product, and a product count;
- obtaining a start time and an end time for applying the hot melt adhesive flow to the product, the start time and the end time being dependent on the leading edge and the ending edge of the product sensed by the product detector;
- determining an amount of the hot melt adhesive flow applied to the product from the start time to the end time by measuring an amount of the hot melt adhesive flow dispensed from a manifold using a flow meter in fluid communication with the manifold from the start time to the end time, the flow meter comprising:
- a housing body having a hollow central recess and having a flow inlet passage configured to receive hot melt adhesive from the manifold, a pair of rotatable gears provided in the hollow central recess, and at least one sensor configured to measure an amount of hot melt adhesive flowing through the flow meter, the pair of rotatable gears being rotatably secured between a housing cover removably attached to the housing body and the housing body;
- and
- using data that includes the sensed leading edge and ending edge of the product, the start and end times of application of the adhesive to the product, and the product count, associating the determined amount of the hot melt adhesive flowing out of a flow outlet passage with the detected product and comparing the determined amount of the hot melt adhesive with a range to determine if the determined amount of the hot melt adhesive is outside the range.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.