US 11,911,815 B2
Robotic surface inspection adjacent or in a coil around a mandrel
Roberto Armbrust de Freitas Quintal, Woodstock, GA (US); Luiz Alberto Murad Veiga, São Paulo (BR); Paul Blain Harlan, Dallas, GA (US); Felipe Mappa Franca Rocha, Acworth, GA (US); Young Taeg Park, YeongJu (KR); Rajbir Bal, Atlanta, GA (US); Renato Rufino Xavier, Kennesaw, GA (US); and Stephan Haertel, Stassfurt (DE)
Assigned to NOVELIS, INC., Atlanta, GA (US)
Filed by Novelis Inc., Atlanta, GA (US)
Filed on Mar. 8, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/653,934.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/200,466, filed on Mar. 9, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0288662 A1, Sep. 15, 2022
Int. Cl. B21C 51/00 (2006.01); B21C 47/06 (2006.01)
CPC B21C 51/00 (2013.01) [B21C 47/06 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system comprising:
a roller about which a strip of metal is redirected so as to define an angled segment of the strip of metal, the angled segment extending away from the roller and arranged at an angle relative to the roller;
a mandrel about which a coil is formed, the mandrel rotatable to change a size of the coil by at least one of winding or unwinding, the coil connected with the angled segment of the strip of metal such that a magnitude of the angle of the angled segment changes as the coil is enlarged or reduced by rotation of the mandrel;
a surface inspection system comprising at least one sensor operable to detect a characteristic of a surface of the strip of metal, the surface defined in the angled segment or in the coil; and
a robotic assembly movable to modify an orientation of the at least one sensor of the surface inspection system relative to the surface;
wherein the strip of metal comprises a top face facing upward and a bottom face facing downward,
wherein the robotic assembly facilitates detection by the at least one sensor of the top face and the bottom face,
wherein the at least one sensor comprises multiple sensors,
wherein the robotic assembly facilitates simultaneous detection of the top face and the bottom face by the multiple sensors,
wherein the multiple sensors comprise a first sensor for detecting the angled segment and a second sensor for detecting the coil, and
wherein the robotic assembly comprises a robotic manipulator supporting the first sensor and the second sensor.