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US 7,983,789 B2Granted
Collecting debris from a tool
AssigneeSeagate Technology LLC
InventorsJoseph Charles Lutz, YongLing Yu, VigneswaraRao Subramaniam, HwaLiang Ng, George P. Thomas
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and associated method for collecting debris from a tool, wherein programming instructions are stored in memory and executed by a machine tool controller, and wherein the controller is responsive to an intermittent debris collect signal in altering an operative path of the tool in order to engage the tool with a debris collecting device.
Claims21
An apparatus that processes a workpiece, comprising:
- a surface that is sized to support the workpiece;
- a tool that is configured to impart a predefined process to the workpiece while the workpiece is supported on the surface;
- and
- a controller executing programming instructions stored in memory to move the tool along a predetermined operative tool path to impart the predefined process, wherein the controller is responsive to an intermittent debris collect signal in altering a trajectory of the operative tool path in order to engage the tool with a debris collecting device having a collecting feature that operably collects the debris from the tool.
1 more element
A method comprising:
- executing a first control mode on a tool imparting an operative path associated with operating the tool;
- receiving a debris collect signal;
- and
- executing a second control mode in response to the debris collect signal altering a trajectory of the operative path to engage the tool with a debris collecting device having a collecting feature that collects the debris from the tool.
1 more element
An apparatus that processes a workpiece, comprising:
- a surface that is sized to support the workpiece;
- a tool that is configured to impart a predefined process to the workpiece while the workpiece is supported on the surface;
- a debris monitor that non-manually generates a debris collect signal when a predefined criteria exceeds a threshold;
- and
- a controller executing programming instructions stored in memory to move the tool along a predetermined operative tool path to impart the predefined process, the controller being responsive to the generated debris collect signal in altering a trajectory of the operative tool path in order to engage the tool with a debris collecting device having a collecting feature capable of collecting debris from the tool.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.