Miscellaneous machines
As an inventor for hire, I have been tasked with building many
fixtures and production machines for many companies. On this page I will describe some of the ones that I have
photos of.
The
project that got me started was the design and
building of a medical scanner. The scanners were called Polyscan, since the
same machine could do Bone Mineral Density scans(image1,
image2, image3), do nuclear medicine images of
the thyroid gland (collage of images), and also do thyroid uptake and nuclear well counting.
The machine rotated so views of the body could
be from many angles. That is me standing with the control
pendant in the photo. After the prototypes were built, I was hired to be the
vice president and technical director of the company, but I left the company
after two years, once I realized that I did not like management, and enjoy
working most when I am designing and building something.
Teflon
is a great material, with chemical compatibility that
covers almost all industrial chemicals. FEP is heat formable, and can be molded,
fused, and processed like many other plastics, with the exception that it is
processed at over 500 degrees. I was tasked with making a teflon
processing machine that would heat, stretch, and weld two strips of
.005" thick FEP film. The weld was inspected on line with crossed polarizing
scope and optical magnifiers to assure dimensional specifications were met. The material needed to be fused in a continuous
length with hermetic welds.
The design and building of that machine thought me
some lessons that I would use many times over for several other Teflon and
plastic fusing systems. Bottom welder, pocket
welder,
Production Thermal sintering machine to sinter/splice the ends of large rolls of PTFE films from .001" to .02" thick. Tightly controlled temperatures up to 900 degrees F,
with uniform pressure of up to 300PSI over a 14" length, with precise timing were the functional design goals. Ease of use, repeatability, cosmetic appearance of the
finished splice, and low maintenance, were the operational goals. All design goals were met or exceeded.
An
assembly fixture for a level sensor performs several functions, the sensor is
clamped, tensioned, and filled with air. A more complex
assembly fixture with multy tool turret and hydraulic punch was built for
the same company
Continuous
resistance tape winding head with servo tension control and on line resistance
measurement and control.
Computer controlled Co-extrusion system that will fuse two laminated films
into a flat tube with two jets
of 500 degree air that is directed between two neoprene rollers. Once the
material is fused, an extruder pumps molten polyprop through a flow
splitter and extruding fixture that covers the exposed laminate
edges with a protective layer of polyprop.The flow splitter/diverter assembly
allows adjustment of the flow onto each side, and a diverter valve allows the flow
to be diverted, so a clean air free flow can be established before the edge
coating is started.
Hastaloy
foil washer, that washes, rinses, and dries the foil. Servo speed and back
tension control assure that the .001" thick material is not damaged during
the process. An air cylinder opens the wash chamber to make loading a simple
task.
Home
Contact me: genesis1@snet.net
The
project that got me started was the design and
building of a medical scanner. The scanners were called Polyscan, since the
same machine could do Bone Mineral Density scans(image1,
image2, image3), do nuclear medicine images of
the thyroid gland (collage of images), and also do thyroid uptake and nuclear well counting.
The machine rotated so views of the body could
be from many angles. That is me standing with the control
pendant in the photo. After the prototypes were built, I was hired to be the
vice president and technical director of the company, but I left the company
after two years, once I realized that I did not like management, and enjoy
working most when I am designing and building something.
