Grinding machine
AssigneeUnova U.K. Limited
InventorRussell Graham Bent
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A grinding machine, in particular a face grinder for grinding the faces of silicon wafers, has a grinding wheel spindle (20) and a work spindle (22) which are mounted so as to be pivotal about axes (A and B) respectively, each axis being perpendicular to the rotational axis of its respective spindle and being orthogonal to the rotation axis of the other spindle. Three sensors or probes (1 to 3) are provided to measure the position of one spindle relative to the other and to generate signals for controlling servo motors (26, 28) for adjusting the angular orientation of each spindle about its pivotal axis.
Claims17
A grinding machine comprising a workpiece spindle and a grinding wheel spindle, each spindle being rotatable about a respective rotational axis, first mounting means for mounting one of the spindles for pivotal movement about a first axis which is perpendicular to the rotational axis of said one spindle, a first servo motor operable to position said one spindle about the first axis, and including sensors, capable of measuring distance, which are positioned at three discrete points with respect to the spindles, and which enable the position of said one spindle to be accurately determined relative to the other spindle by generating control signals for controlling the first servo motor.
A face grinding machine in which a grinding wheel spindle and a workpiece spindle are carried by respective housings, the workpiece and wheel spindle axes being parallel, and in which probes are mounted for determining the distance between the two housings, each probe having associated therewith a sensor which is positioned at a discrete point with respect to its associated probe for generating a signal indicative of the distance between the two housings at the respective probe, and further comprising a servo motor responsive to signals generated by the sensors for positioning one spindle relative to the other spindle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.