Automated rigid-disk finishing system providing in-line process control
AssigneeExclusive Design Company
InventorsFrank D. Ruble, John N. Walsh, Robert A. Smith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides an automated rigid-disk finishing system with "fly-by-wire" control of each of the relevant parameters involved in the texturing process. The system includes an abrasive tape, a means for forcibly pressing the tape against the substrate to cut microscopic grooves into the substrate's surface, and a control means for simultaneously controlling the speed and tension of the tape and for sensing the tension developed in the tape on both sides of the tape/substrate interface. The described system is thus capable of establishing tape speed and tape tension simultaneously, while providing a measure of the actual work being accomplished on the rigid disk surface.
Claims11
In a apparatus for texturing the surface of a rigid-disk substrate using an abrasive tape which is forcibly pressed against said surface by a roller, a method of achieving real-time process control comprising the steps of:
- (a) selecting a tape speed and a tape tension for a processing cycle;
- (b) establishing said tape speed and said tape tension on a first portion of said tape leading into said roller;
- (c) loading said roller to forcibly press said tape against said surface;
- (d) simultaneously maintaining said tape tension on said first portion of said tape.
In a system for texturing the surface of a rotating substrate using an abrasive tape which is pressed against said surface by a roller, a method of controlling the texturing process comprising the steps of:
- (a) programming values for a set of controllable process parameters, said parameters including a tape speed and a tape tension;
- (b) delivering power to a motor coupled to a take-up reel and also to a brake coupled to a supply reel, said supply reel feeding said tape around said roller, and said take-up reel collecting said tape from around said roller during processing, said motor establishing the actual speed and said brake establishing the actual tension of said tape;
- (c) altering said power until said actual speed and actual tension match said programmed tape speed and tape tension;
- (d) loading said roller to forcibly press said tape against said surface;
- (e) maintaining said tape tension and said tape speed on a first portion of said tape between said supply reel and said roller;
- (f) calculating the difference between the tension developed on said first portion of said tape and the tension developed on a second portion of said tape located between said roller and said take-up reel, said difference providing a measure of the work being performed on said surface of said substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.