Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Patent
1996-07-12
1999-11-02
Simmons, David A.
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
156245, 156350, 343700R, 343912, 343915, B32B 3100
Patent
active
059762870
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to an array of studs used to form reflector antenna panels. Because such studs normally take the form of bolts having threaded shanks, such an array is often referred to as a "bed of bolts" by analogy to the bed of nails known from the sleeping habits of Indian fakirs.
The array of studs is used to form antenna panels and, in particular, those panels which are curved in two dimensions. Essentially the studs or bolts are each set to an individual height which correspond to the desired shape of the panel for the location of the relevant bolt. Then the panel is formed by pressing or otherwise conforming the sheet metal panel to the surface determined by the heads, or tops, of the bolts.
BACKGROUND ART
The prior procedure and apparatus used to create such antenna panels is described in the paper "The Australia Telescope Antennas: Development of High-Accuracy Low-Cost Surface Panels" by B F Parsons and D E Yabsley published in October 1985 in the Proceedings of the IREE of Australia (conference (IREECON 85) pp 716-719). A similar arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,144 issued Mar. 15, 1988 to Kommineni et al. Both these documents disclose arrangements in which the stud height of each stud is adjusted by manually turning the bolt which forms the stud. This manual adjustment is a very time consuming, and therefore and expensive, procedure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is the object of the present invention to provide both a method and apparatus whereby the stud height setting procedure can be, at least to some extent, automated. The purpose in so doing is two-fold, firstly to reduce the time involved in the setting procedure, and secondly to increase the accuracy of the set stud heights by the elimination of human error.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a setting apparatus for setting the upstand distance of studs of an array of studs used to form antenna panels, said array comprising a generally planar bed having a plurality of studs extending substantially normally to the plane of said bed and to opposite sides thereof, said studs being arranged in a plurality of adjacent rows of substantially equal length with a predetermined spacing between each pair of adjacent studs in a row, each of said studs being of adjustable distance relative to one side of said bed, said distance being adjustable by manipulation of a portion of each said stud on the other side of said bed, said setting apparatus comprising two beams each having a length corresponding to the length of said rows, one of said beams being locatable a predetermined distance away from said one side of said bed and aligned with one of said rows, said one beam carrying a plurality of distance transducers facing said studs and arranged at intervals along said one beam corresponding to a first integral multiple of said inter-row adjacent stud spacing and the other of said beams being locatable adjacent to the other side of said bed, aligned with said row, and carrying a plurality of stud upstand adjusting actuators each engageable with said stud portion, said actuators being arranged at intervals along said other beam corresponding to a second integral multiple of said adjacent stud spacing, and feedback means to control the operation of each said actuator in accordance with the output of the corresponding transducer to set said upstand distance of the corresponding stud.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a method of setting the upstand distance of studs of an array of studs used to form antenna panels, said array comprising a generally planar bed having a plurality of studs extending to each side of said bed and arranged in a plurality of adjacent rows of substantially equal length with a predetermined spacing between each pair of adjacent studs, each of said studs being of adjustable distance relative to one side of said bed, said distance being adjustable by manipulation of a portion of each said stud on the other side of said bed, said m
REFERENCES:
patent: 3649122 (1972-03-01), Holtz
patent: 3897294 (1975-07-01), MacTurk
patent: 4021817 (1977-05-01), Shibano et al.
patent: 4496416 (1985-01-01), Machler et al.
patent: 4574457 (1986-03-01), Farnum, III
patent: 4731144 (1988-03-01), Kommineni et al.
patent: 4845510 (1989-07-01), Chang et al.
patent: 5063389 (1991-11-01), Reits
Barker Stephen John
Bird Trevor Stanley
Harrigan, deceased Vincent Miguel
Kesteven Michael John Leighton
Parsons Barry Frederick
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Rivard Paul M.
Simmons David A.
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