David G Tashjian, 71Bluffton, SC

4998005, Mar 5, 1991

May 15, 1989

7/290476

Rajendra P. Rathi - West Chester OH
David G. Tashjian - Wilmington NC
Richard H. Burkel - Maineville OH
Randall C. Gantner - Dayton OH
John J. Bottoms - Arkansas City KS
Steven M. Wolff - Sprongboro OH

General Electric Company - Cincinnati OH

B23K 2600

21912183

A vision system for automating a machine process. The system includes a conventional CCD camera and a vision processor which automatically determines process parameters from a workpiece surface by generating an image of the workpiece surface, transducing the workpiece image into electrical signals, and electronically determining the process parameters from the electrical signals. Applied to a laser welding process, the vision system locates workpiece edges, determines part centerline and thickness, and calculates process parameters such as weld location, the rate of delivery of weld powder, laser intensity, and the speed at which the weld is applied.

4995087, Feb 19, 1991

Aug 11, 1989

7/392517

Rajendra P. Rathi - West Chester OH
David G. Tashjian - Wilmington NC
Richard H. Burkel - Maineville OH
Randall C. Gantner - Dayton OH
John J. Bottoms - Arkansas City KS
Steven M. Wolff - Sprongboro OH

General Electric Company - Cincinnati OH

G06K 900

382 8

A vision system for automating a machine process. The system includes a conventional CCD camera and a vision processor which automatically determines process parameters from a workpiece surface by generating an image of the workpiece surface, transducing the workpiece image into electrical signals, and electronically determining the process parameters from the electrical signals. Applied to a laser welding process, the vision system locates workpiece edges, determines part centerline and thickness, and calculates process parameters such as weld location, the rate of delivery of weld powder, laser intensity, and the speed at which the weld is applied.

5168141, Dec 1, 1992

Jun 14, 1991

7/715201

David G. Tashjian - Wilmington NC
Shawn K. Murphy - Wilmington NC

General Electric Company - San Jose CA

B23K 2600

21912163

To produce precision laser weld joints at weld sites on a workpiece, a TV camera views each weld site through the laser beam optics, and the video output is stored as pixel data in a frame grabber memory. A computer processes the pixel data in accordance with an algorithm to locate the position of the optimum weld point for the imaged weld site relative to the laser beam centerline in the camera field of view and then indexes a X-Y positioning table to fine position the workpiece with the located optimum weld point precisely aligned with the laser beam centerline.

4980119, Dec 25, 1990

Apr 3, 1990

7/503079

Frederick C. Schoenig - Wilmington NC
David G. Tashjian - Wilmington NC
Archie C. Lamb - Wilmington NC
Barry S. Guilliams - Wilmington NC
George W. Tunnell - Foster City CA
Edward W. Meeka - Pleasanton CA

General Electric Company - San Jose CA

G21C 2100

376261

Pellet trays bearing rows of fuel pellets of known enrichment concentrations are retrieved from selected storage elevators and successively conveyed to a zone makeup machine. Parallel rows of pellets are raked from each tray and advanced over a longitudinally elongated, grooved loading surface into abutment with a selectively longitudinally positioned stop. A zone makeup carriage makes up the pellet rows to a prescribed, common zone length, which are then weighted and advanced in parallel by a vibratory loader into a plurality of cladding tubes arranged in parallel loading positions by tube handling apparatus. Overall operation is coordinated by a system controller to concurrently load the cladding tubes with multiple pellet zones of varying enrichments and lengths in automated fashion.