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US 4,426,683 AGranted
Pneumatic shock testing machine with digital control
AssigneeAvco Corporation
InventorRobert R. Kissell
Life of this patent
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AssigneeAvco Corporation
InventorRobert R. Kissell
Estimating the term…
A control system for a pneumatically powered shock testing machine is presented which utilizes digital logic and an operator programmed computer. The control system was implemented on a shock machine having a carriage assembly that is lifted by an air piston to a specified height above an anvil plate, then accelerated downward until the carriage impacts a shock generator element resting on the anvil. An optically encoded guide rod is attached to the side of the carriage. As the carriage moves up and down, an optical sensor attached to the machine base monitors motion of the guide rod. The measure of this motion is forwarded to a microcomputer. Secondly, charge air pressure used to provide downward acceleration of the carriage is measured by a transducer and this information is also relayed in digital form to the microcomputer. From these two inputs, the microcomputer generates instructions to sequence solenoid actuated valves which operate the various sections of the charge cylinder assembly. The microcomputer includes a microprocessor, several read only memories, a random access memory and the necessary support logic and interface signal drivers and amplifiers. Its function is to process the data from the optical and pressure sensors and therefrom initiate closed loop control of the shock machine in accordance with instructions programmed in by the operator at a control panel.
Control apparatus for a machine used to generate shock pulses, said machine being powered from a source of pressurized air and including a base and supported thereon a charge cylinder assembly having a pneumatically driven piston rod extending upwardly therefrom through an anvil flange, the uppermost end of said piston rod terminating at an impact plate on which a carriage assembly is mounted, said carriage assembly being useful for attaching test specimens thereto, said machine having control valves in the air supply lines connected to the lift, brake and charge pressure sections of said charge cylinder assembly, there additionally being provisions for inserting shock generator elements between said anvil and said impact plate, said apparatus comprising:
In a shock pulse generating machine of the type wherein a carriage impacts a shock generating element supported on an anvil, apparatus for measuring the instantaneous separation between said carriage and said shock generating element comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.