Methods And Apparatus For Checking Emitter Bonds In An Irrigation Drip Line
AssigneeRain Bird Corporation
InventorsMark Richard Edris, Farshad Motamedi, Berj Zakarian, Mark Murphy Ensworth
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for checking emitter bonds in an irrigation drip line and for manufacturing drip line in a manner that allows the bond between the in-line emitter and surrounding conduit to be checked. In one form, a downstream in-line vacuum tester is provided for monitoring the amount of air escaping from outlet openings in the drip line to detect excessive air associated with poorly bonded emitters.
Claims11
A method for checking the bond between an emitter and a surrounding conduit comprising:
- providing an emitter bond tester having a fluid chamber filled at least partially with fluid, an inlet and an outlet through which an irrigation drip line tubing passes, the tubing having at least one emitter bonded therein with an outlet opening positioned in the tubing proximate an outlet of the emitter, at least a portion of the tubing traveling below a surface of the fluid and the emitter bond tester further including at least one of a display, meter or camera for monitoring air escaping from the outlet opening of the tubing to determine if a problem exists with the bond between the emitter and the tubing;
- and
- passing the drip line through the emitter bond tester to determine if a problem exists with the bond between the emitter and the tubing.
A method of detecting poorly bonded emitters during the manufacture of drip line comprising:
- providing a system for manufacturing drip line having a extruder for extruding drip line tubing, an emitter inserter for inserting emitters into the extruded drip line tubing, a bonding mechanism for bonding the emitter to the extruded drip line tubing, a perforator for forming outlet openings in the drip line tubing proximate an outlet of each emitter and a coiler for coiling the drip line tubing into reels or coils of drip line tubing;
- positioning an emitter bond tester in the system downstream of the perforator;
- and
- via the emitter bond tester, detecting excessive air bubbles escaping from an outlet opening and taking action to prevent a portion of the drip line tubing containing the emitter associated with the excessive air bubbles from shipping.
A method for checking the bond between an emitter and surrounding conduit comprising:
- providing a drip line manufacturing assembly line having an extruder, an emitter bonding mechanism for bonding emitters to conduit extruded by the extruder to form drip line, a first upstream vacuum tank for sizing the drip line, a cooling tank for cooling the drip line, a puncturing mechanism for creating emitter outlet openings in the drip line, and a second downstream vacuum tank for monitoring air bubbles escaping from the outlet openings;
- and
- monitoring air bubbles escaping from the outlet openings via the second downstream vacuum tank to check the bond between the emitter and surrounding conduit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.