SBIR Phase II: Development of a Probe for Inspection of Transmission Valve Ports

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二期项目旨在将具有反射表面光洁度的气缸检测技术商业化，例如自动变速器阀体和泵盖的阀口。为了在生产线上和工厂环境中真实的实现具有多个探针的自动化检测站，必须解决许多因素，例如：保护探针的光学、电子、机械和计算系统免受工厂环境的影响，确保探针在高速生产线上的可操作性和可维护性，以及将探头软件集成到工厂检查站的计算机系统中。必须制定便于工厂员工使用和理解的程序，以最大限度地提供有用的信息。必须满足最终用户将新设备引入生产环境的要求，包括将探头测量结果与现有检测技术的结果进行比较。预期的结果将是一个原型阀口检测系统，可用于变速器制造厂。本项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是在将包含它们的组件组装到阀体和泵盖中之前检查传输阀端口的表面缺陷。目前没有进行这种自动检查。阀体和泵盖只有在组装后未通过泄漏测试时才被视为存在缺陷。这导致这些部件的质量以及包含它们的变速器的性能和使用寿命存在一系列变化。减少可变性和提高自动变速器的质量可能会导致更高效的车辆，更长的变速器维修周期和更好的燃油经济性。它还可以导致更好地科学地了解这些缺陷对变速器性能的影响和制造过程的改进。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to commercialize technology for the inspection of cylinders with reflective surface finishes such as those found in the valve ports of valve bodies and pump covers of automatic transmissions. In order to achieve automated inspection stations with multiple probes in real time, on a production line, and in a factory environment many factors must be addressed such as: protecting the optical, electronic, mechanical and computing system of the probe from the factory environment, ensuring operability and maintainability of the probes on a high speed production line, and integration of the probe software into the computer system of a factory inspection station. Procedures to maximize useful information output must be developed that are easy for plant employees to use and understand. End user requirements for introducing new equipment into a production environment must be met including comparing the results of probe measurements with those of existing inspection techniques. The anticipated result will be a prototype valve port inspection system that can be used in a transmission manufacturing plant. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be to inspect transmission valve ports for surface defects before the components containing them are assembled into valve bodies and pump covers. At the present time no automated inspection of this kind is being carried out. Valve bodies and pump covers are considered to contain defects only if they fail a leak test after they are assembled. This results in a range of variability in the quality of these components and in the performance and service life of the transmissions containing them. Reducing the variability and improving the quality of automatic transmissions could lead to more efficient vehicles with longer periods between transmission repairs and better fuel economy. It could also lead to a better scientific understanding of the effect of these defects on transmission performance and improvements in the manufacturing process.