Scrubbing torque monitoring and control system
AssigneeChemcut Corporation
InventorJoseph J. Curcio
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electronic circuit measures the torque of a motor used to drive rotatable brushes, which may be used to clean the surfaces of flat articles, such as printed circuit boards. The circuit measures the torque by determining the average power consumed by the motor. The measured torque provides the operator of the system with an indication as to whether the brushes are spaced for proper impingement upon the article being scrubbed. The invention also comprises a servomechanism which provides for automatic and continuous readjustment of the position of the brushes, relative to the flat articles, in accordance with changing motor load conditions. The invention may be used to regulate the torque of a motor which is used in many other applications.
Claims20
Apparatus for brushing a substantially flat article comprising:
- means for conveying the article along a path,
- rotatable brush means, positioned to brush the article as the article travels along the path,
- alternating current motor means for rotating the brush means,
- electronic sensing means directly responsive to the resistive component of the current through the motor, the sensing means comprising means for monitoring and continuously measuring the torque of the motor, and
- means for moving the brush means towards or away from the article in response to output of the sensing means,
- wherein the sensing means comprises:
- means for sampling the current through, and the voltage across, the motor, the sampling means being electrically connected to the motor,
- means for multiplying the current and voltage measured by the sampling means, the multiplying means being electrically connected to the sampling means,
- means for integrating the output signal of the multiplying means, the integrating means being electrically connected to the multiplying means, and
- means, electrically connected to the integrating means, for indicating the value of the output of the integrating means.
Apparatus for use in a treatment system for the treatment of articles as part of an overall etching or other treatment operation, said apparatus comprising:
- housing for substantially defining a treatment zone for treatment of articles being delivered therethrough,
- inlet opening means for said housing, for receiving articles therethrough,
- outlet opening means for delivering articles therefrom,
- conveying means disposed in the housing for delivering articles along a path from said inlet means to said outlet means,
- rotatable brush means disposed across said path and disposed to brush articles being conveyed along the path,
- alternating current motor means for rotating the brush means,
- electronic sensing means directly responsive substantially only to the resistive component of the current through the motor, the sensing means comprising means for monitoring and continuously measuring the torque of the motor, and
- means for moving the brush means towards or away from the article in response to output of the sensing means,
- wherein the sensing means comprises:
- means for sampling the current through, and the voltage across, the motor, the sampling means being electrically connected to the motor,
- means for multiplying the current and voltage measured by the sampling means, the multiplying means being electrically connected to the sampling means,
- means for integrating the output signal of the multiplying means, the integrating means being electrically connected to the multiplying means, and
- means, electrically connected to the integrating means, for indicating the value of the output of the integrating means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.