Patent ID: 7018477

Claim:
A system for dispensing viscous fluids in small quantities comprising a reciprocal piston coupled to a variable linear actuator, a programmable controller operatively connected to the actuator, the piston moveable through a dispense stroke, the movement through the dispense stroke in a first direction effective to force a fluid to be dispensed towards a dispense tip, a piston sensor sensing the position of the piston and outputting a signal to the controller reflective of the position of the piston, the controller including a computer for comparing piston position signals to stored information and outputting control signals to the variable actuator in dependent response thereto for controlling movement of the piston, dispense tip for dispensing fluids in dependent response to a dispense stroke of the piston, a scanner positioned to detect fluid deposited on a work piece from the dispense tip, the scanner outputting signals to the controller representative of a condition of the dispensed fluid on the work piece, the controller effective to compare the dispensed fluid condition signals to stored information and to output control signals to the variable actuator in dependent response thereto for modifying a succeeding dispense stroke parameter.