Patent ID: 6249123
Filing Date: 2001-06-19
Classification: F02P,G01B

Abstract:
An assembly line testing apparatus for determining whether a size of a gap, within at least one component of an article of manufacture, is within an acceptable range, during assembly of said article of manufacture, the assembly line testing apparatus comprising:a probe forming a part of said assembly line testing apparatus and coupling a high voltage pulse circuit also forming a part of said assembly line testing apparatus to a first node of said gap, said high voltage pulse circuit generating an increasing high voltage to be applied in series with said gap, said gap electrically bridging when said increasing high voltage reaches a firing voltage that depends on said size of said gap;a step down transformer having a primary winding that is coupled in series with said gap and having a secondary winding with a generated voltage thereon when said gap electrically bridges, said generated voltage depending on said size of said gap;a microcontroller, operatively coupled to said secondary winding of said step down transformer, for inputting a measured signal corresponding to said generated voltage on said secondary winding of said step down transformer, said microcontroller determining whether said size of said gap is within said acceptable range from said measured signal;and wherein said acceptable range is programmable within said microcontroller;and wherein said microcontroller controls said high voltage pulse circuit to repeat a plurality of times a cycle of applying said increasing high voltage in series with said gap and of determining whether said size of said gap is within said acceptable range from a respective measured signal generated for each of said cycle; anda display coupled to be controlled by said microcontroller to indicate that said size of said gap is within said acceptable range if said gap is determined to be within said acceptable range at least a predetermined number of times from a maximum number of times of repeating said cycle;and wherein said predetermined number and said maximum number are programmable within said microcontroller.