Sonar method and apparatus for determining material interfaces in wheel servicing equipment

Number of patents in Portfolio can not be more than 2000

United States of America Patent

PATENT NO 9200976
APP PUB NO 20130025372A1
SERIAL NO

13538487

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Abstract

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A wheel servicing machine such as a wheel balancer includes an acoustic transducer configured to measure energy of one or more reflected acoustic waves after the waves have bounced off a material boundary surface such as a wheel assembly. In some embodiments, a return energy index signal representative of the measured energy is generated by a transducer and is further processed by a processor to control operations of the machine. The acoustic transducer also measures distance between the transducer and the wheel assembly surface in some embodiments. One or more values in a sample queue of acquired distance data may be flagged, or indexed, based on variation in the magnitude of the return energy signal. Methods of measuring wheel width using sonar measurement of both distance and reflected energy are also provided.

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Patent Owner(s)

Patent OwnerAddress
THE COATS COMPANY LLC1601 J P HENNESSY DR PO BOX 3002 LAVERGNE TN 37086

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Inventor(s)

Inventor Name Address # of filed Patents Total Citations
Weis, Matthew Murfreesboro, US 3 40
White, Rhonda Smyrna, US 1 8
Ye, Xin Antioch, US 108 610

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