System and Method for Processing a Workpiece
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsJames Albert DeLand, Darrell Darwin Jones
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for processing a workpiece, including a rotary drive having a path along which a flow of a fluid is established during operation, a sensor in communication with the path, to generate a signal responsive to the flow of the fluid and not to generate the signal responsive to an absence of the flow, and a controller communicatively coupled to the sensor to enable the operation of the rotary drive subsequent to a termination of the signal if a duration interval thereof is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, and to prevent the operation if the duration interval of the signal is less than the predetermined value. The rotary drive may include a drill.
Claims37
A system for processing a workpiece, the system comprising:
- a rotary drive having a path along which a flow of a fluid is associated during operation thereof, wherein the rotary drive has a rotational axis;
- a rotary-drive sensor in communication with the path, wherein the rotary-drive sensor generates a signal responsive to the flow of the fluid and does not generate the signal responsive to an absence of the flow of the fluid, the signal having a duration interval;
- a controller communicatively coupled to the rotary-drive sensor, wherein the controller is configured to enable the operation of the rotary drive subsequent to a termination of the signal if the duration interval of the signal is greater than or equal to a predetermined value;
- and
- the controller being configured to prevent the operation of the rotary drive subsequent to the termination of the signal if the duration interval of the signal is less than the predetermined value.
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A method of processing a workpiece, the method comprising:
- identifying processing locations on the workpiece;
- drilling a first hole at one of the processing locations using a rotary drive;
- sensing a flow of a fluid associated with operating the rotary drive while drilling the first hole;
- generating an operation signal responsive to the flow and not generating the operation signal responsive to an absence of the flow;
- comparing a duration interval of the operation signal to a predetermined temporal value;
- and
- drilling a different hole at a different one of the processing locations if the duration interval of the operation signal is greater than or equal to the predetermined temporal value and not drilling the different hole if the duration interval is less than the predetermined temporal value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.