System and method for processing a workpiece
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsJames Albert DeLand, Darrell Darwin Jones
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for processing a workpiece, including a rotary drive having a path along which a flow of a fluid is established during operation, a sensor in communication with the path, to generate a signal responsive to the flow of the fluid and not to generate the signal responsive to an absence of the flow, and a controller communicatively coupled to the sensor to enable the operation of the rotary drive subsequent to a termination of the signal if a duration interval thereof is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, and to prevent the operation if the duration interval of the signal is less than the predetermined value. The rotary drive may include a drill.
Claims20
A system for processing a workpiece, the system comprising:
- a rotary drive having a path along which a flow of a fluid is associated during operation thereof,
- wherein the rotary drive has a rotational axis;
- a rotary-drive sensor in communication with the path,
- wherein the rotary-drive sensor generates a signal responsive to the flow of the fluid when the rotary drive is in operation and does not generate the signal responsive to an absence of the flow of the fluid when the rotary drive is not in operation, the signal having a duration interval corresponding to an actual operation duration of the rotary drive;
- a controller communicatively coupled to the rotary-drive sensor, wherein:
- the controller is configured to enable the operation of the rotary drive subsequent to a termination of the signal generated by the rotary-drive sensor if the duration interval of the signal is greater than or equal to a predetermined value corresponding to an expected operation duration of the rotary drive;
- and
- the controller is configured to prevent the operation of the rotary drive subsequent to the termination of the signal if the duration interval of the signal is less than the predetermined value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.