Patent ID: 9696233
Date: 2017-07-04
CPC Classifications: G01M

Claim:
1. A method comprising: providing a thin-walled tube; forming first and second sets of balancing holes radially through the thin-walled tube, wherein the balancing holes of the first set of balancing holes are spaced circumferentially apart from one another in a first predetermined manner and wherein the balancing holes of the second set of balancing hole are spaced circumferentially apart from one another in a second predetermined manner; forming a rotationally imbalanced shaft assembly by coupling universal joints to opposite ends of the thin-walled tube after the first and second sets of balancing holes have been formed radially through the thin-walled tube; associating a rotational imbalance of the rotationally imbalanced shaft assembly with at least two specific ones of the balancing holes; determining an imbalance correction to correct for the rotational imbalance in the rotationally imbalanced shaft assembly, the imbalance correction comprising a set of correction weights having different weight values and a mapping of the correction weights to the specific ones of the balancing holes, the mapping of the correction weights matching specific ones of the correction weights to the specific ones of the balance holes, wherein each specific one of the correction weights has a mass that is tailored to the specific one of the balance holes it is mapped to; and installing the specific ones of the correction weights to the rotationally imbalanced shaft assembly according to the mapping to form a balanced shaft assembly.