Method and apparatus for manufacturing panel products including a printed surface
AssigneeOwens Corning Fiberglas Technology, Inc.
InventorClarke Berdan, II
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Provided are a method and apparatus for fabricating a panel product including a board, panel or substrate having at least one surface on which a decorative image and alignment marks corresponding to an image data file are applied. The alignment marks and the image data file are then used to align an intermediate product with one or more cutting devices. Once aligned, the original image data file or a transformed version of the image data file is used to control cutters or other tools for removing waste portions of the panel product. The panel product may then be subjected to additional processing, particularly with regard to edge treatments, to obtain a final panel product.
Claims16
A method for forming decorative panel products comprising:
- preparing a substrate from a material selected from the group of glass fibers, mineral fibers, polymeric fibers, polymeric foams and mixtures thereof;
- applying a decorative image and alignment marks corresponding to an image data file to a surface of the substrate to form a printed substrate;
- detecting the alignment marks;
- aligning the printed substrate with a cutting device using the detected alignment marks;
- and
- driving the cutting device using the image data file to cut the printed substrate and produce a panel preform.
A method for forming decorative panel products comprising:
- preparing a substrate;
- applying a decorative image and alignment marks corresponding to an image data file to a surface of the substrate to form a printed substrate;
- detecting the alignment marks;
- aligning the printed substrate with a cutting device using the detected alignment marks;
- and
- driving the cutting device using the image data file to cut the printed substrate and produce a panel preform
- wherein aligning the printed substrate with a cutting device using the detected alignment marks includes
- comparing an observed positioning of the detected alignment marks with an expected positioning of the detected alignment marks corresponding to the image data file;
- adjusting the position of the printed substrate relative to the cutting device;
- and
- repeating the comparing and adjusting steps until the observed positioning of the detected alignment marks is in sufficient correspondence with the expected positioning of the detected alignment marks.
A method for forming decorative panel products comprising:
- preparing a substrate from a material selected from the group of glass fibers, mineral fibers, polymeric fibers, polymeric foams and mixtures thereof;
- printing a decorative image and alignment marks corresponding to an image data file on a surface of the substrate to form a printed substrate;
- detecting the alignment marks;
- generating a transformed image data file using the detected alignment marks;
- and
- driving the cutting device using the transformed image data file to cut the printed substrate and produce a panel preform.
A method for forming decorative panel products comprising:
- preparing a substrate;
- printing a decorative image and alignment marks corresponding to an image data file on a surface of the substrate to form a printed substrate;
- detecting the alignment marks;
- generating a transformed image data file using the detected alignment marks;
- and
- driving the cutting device using the transformed image data file to cut the printed substrate and produce a panel preform
- wherein aligning the printed substrate with a cutting device using the detected alignment marks includes
- comparing an observed positioning of the detected alignment marks with an expected positioning of the detected alignment marks corresponding to the image data file;
- preparing the transformed image data file by adjusting the expected positioning of the detected alignment marks relative to the printed substrate;
- comparing the observed positioning of the detected alignment marks with an updated expected positioning of the detected alignment marks corresponding to the transformed image data file;
- repeating the preparing and comparing steps until the observed positioning of the detected alignment marks is in sufficient correspondence with the expected positioning of the detected alignment marks.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.