Weight material cutting, dispensing and applying systems

Abstract

A feed and cutting unit for selectively cutting and dispensing individual weight material segments from a common strip of backing material is disclosed. The feed and cutting unit comprises a feed assembly, a sensor and a cutter member. The feed assembly includes a drive roller and a follower roller that frictionally engages first and second surfaces of a strip of weight material to selectively move the strip of weight material to a cutter member. The sensor is connected to a controller and measures an amount of segmented weight material on the backing material as the strip of weight material moves past the sensor. The cutter member is actuated to separate weight material segments from the backing material by cutting at least a portion of the backing material in a gap disposed between adjacent segments. Weight apply devices that receive the segments for application to an imbalanced member, are also disclosed.

1 . A feed and cutting unit for selectively cutting and dispensing individual weight material segments from a common strip of weight material, comprising:
 a feed assembly that includes a drive roller operatively connected to a motor and a follower roller that cooperates with the drive roller to frictionally engage first and second surfaces of a strip of weight material to selectively move the strip of weight material to a cutter member;   wherein the strip of weight material comprises individual segments of weight material disposed on a common backing material by adhesive and separated by a gap;   at least one sensor operatively connected to a controller, wherein the at least one sensor measures a predetermined amount of segmented weight material on the strip of weight material as the feed assembly moves the strip of weight material past the sensor; and   wherein the cutter member is operatively connected to the controller, wherein the controller actuates the cutter member to separate the predetermined amount of segmented weight material from the strip of weight material by cutting at least a portion of the backing material in the gap disposed between adjacent segments of weight material during the cutting operation.   
     
     
         2 . The unit of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor includes an optical sensor that measures gaps positioned between the adjacent segments of weight material disposed on the backing material. 
     
     
         3 . The unit of  claim 1 , further wherein the motor is a servo/stepper motor with position feedback, wherein the motor is selectively calibrated with the controller, depending on a selected weight material used with the unit, to calculate a predetermined distance that the strip of weight material travels to the cutter member to cut a predetermined amount of segments of weight material. 
     
     
         4 . The unit of  claim 3 , wherein the calculated predetermined distance that the strip of weight material travels to the cutter member is compared to an amount of segments counted by the sensor to verify the amount of segments of weight material cut by the cutter member. 
     
     
         5 . The unit of  claim 1 , wherein the cutter member is mounted for selective sliding movement along a rail, transverse to an axial pathway of the strip of weight material. 
     
     
         6 . The unit of  claim 5 , further comprising a piston assembly that operates to move cutter member along the rail, and wherein the piston assembly is operatively connected to the controller such that the controller will activate the piston assembly to move the cutter in response to a signal received from the at least one sensor. 
     
     
         7 . The unit of  claim 1 , wherein the cutter member is mounted to a bracket for non-rotational movement during a cutting operation. 
     
     
         8 . The unit of  claim 7 , wherein the cutter member is selectively removable from the bracket and rotatable to expose a different cutting area of the cutter member between cutting operations. 
     
     
         9 . The unit of  claim 1 , further comprising a cutter base unit disposed below the cutter member, wherein the strip of segmented material is received within a portion of the cutter base unit during the cutting operation. 
     
     
         10 . The unit of  claim 9 , further comprising shaft wedge disposed within a cutting channel of the cutter base, wherein the cutting channel is sized to receive the cutting member during a cutting operation and wherein the shaft wedge may be actuated to contact the backing member of the strip of weight material so as to spread adjacent segments of weight material apart to direct the cutting member through the backing material during a cutting operation. 
     
     
         11 . The unit of  claim 1 , wherein the feed assembly further comprises a roller guide into which the drive roller is at least partially disposed, wherein the roller guide includes a feed channel into which the strip of weight material is received, a first open slot formed on a first outer surface of the roller guide through which the follower roller projects into the feed channel and a second open slot opposing the first open slot through which the drive roller projects such that the first and second rollers both contact the strip of weight material through the first and second slots. 
     
     
         12 . The unit of  claim 1 , further comprising a tape removal unit for separating the common backing material from the segments of weight material and exposing adhesive on the segments of the weight material, wherein the tape removal unit that further comprises a lead roller, a directional roller, a tape drive roller, and a tape drive follower roller, wherein the lead roller is disposed adjacent to a roller guide, and the directional roller directs the backing tape away from the cutter member, wherein the tape drive roller is operatively connected to a drive motor and wherein rotation of the drive roller pulls the backing material away from the cutter member, while maintaining tension on the backing material. 
     
     
         13 . The unit of  claim 12 , wherein the tape removal unit further comprises a slip clutch that is operatively connected to the drive roller. 
     
     
         14 . The unit of  claim 12 , further comprising a tension detection sensor to verify tension applied to the backing material in the tape removal unit. 
     
     
         15 . The unit of  claim 1 , further comprising a splice detector configured to identify where backing material from different spools of material have been spliced together. 
     
     
         16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . The unit of  claim 1 , further comprising a marking unit positioned adjacent the cutter member, wherein the marking unit comprises holding bracket for selectively retaining a marking element, and wherein the marking element is operably positioned within the holding bracket to be selectively actuated to non-destructively mark an edge of a segment of weight material. 
     
     
         18 . (canceled) 
     
     
         19 . The unit of  claim 1 , further comprising a weight apply member configured to receive a cut section of the segments of weight material, wherein the weight apply member comprises first and second arc members connected to a center rail, wherein the first arc member has end face disposed in a first plane, and wherein the second arc member has an end face disposed in a second plane that is offset from the first plane. 
     
     
         20 . The unit of  claim 19 , wherein the first and second arc members include electro/magnetic members in end faces of the first and second arc members, and when power is supplied to the electro/magnetic members, the segments of weight material are retained to the weight apply member. 
     
     
         21 . (canceled) 
     
     
         22 . The unit of  claim 19 , wherein the first and second arc members have at least one magnetic element disposed within the first and second end faces. 
     
     
         23 . The unit of  claim 19 , further comprising a force sensor connected to the weight apply member, wherein the force sensor is used to verify that a constant press force is maintained by the weight apply member during a weight apply operation. 
     
     
         24 . The unit of  claim 1 , further comprising a decoiler unit operably connected to the feed assembly, wherein the decoiler unit further comprises a roller assembly for holding a rolled up strip of weight material, and a feed arrangement for directing the strip of material to the feed assembly. 
     
     
         25 . (canceled) 
     
     
         26 . The unit of  claim 24 , further comprising a dampener operatively connected to at least one roller of the roller assembly of the decoiler unit, the dampener assembly selectively operable to prevent decoiling of the rolled up strip of weight material. 
     
     
         27 . The unit of  claim 24 , further comprising a splice bracket that receives a first end portion of one rolled up strip of weight material and a second end portion of another rolled up strip of weight material and retains the first and second end portions during a splicing operation. 
     
     
         28 . The unit of  claim 27 , wherein the splice bracket includes a magnetic element that is operative to retain the weight segments of the first end portion and the weight segments of the second end portion to the splice bracket during a splicing operation.