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A reporting system, employing a microprocessor, tracks the operation of an on-vehicle brake lathe and provides records of the resurfacing operations performed by the lathe. Identification of the vehicle and wheel position of a brake disk to be resurfaced are inputted using an operator interface, and

A reporting system, employing a microprocessor, tracks the operation of an on-vehicle brake lathe and provides records of the resurfacing operations performed by the lathe. Identification of the vehicle and wheel position of a brake disk to be resurfaced are inputted using an operator interface, and stored in a temporary memory. When tool bits of the lathe are positioned to set a depth of cut, a thickness monitor indicates the resulting thickness for the brake disk, which is compared to a minimum thickness specification for the inputted vehicle and wheel position to determine whether the disk can be resurfaced to meet the specification. If so, a cutting operation evaluator monitors a continuity checker that is responsive to contact of the tool bits and the disk to determine when the resurfacing operation is complete, at which time the collected data can be reported.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A reporting system for an on-vehicle disk brake lathe which can be affixed with respect to a disk brake to be resurfaced, the on-vehicle disk brake lathe having, a cutting head assembly that supports a pair of tool bits for machining surfaces of the brake disk and which allows an operator to adju

1. A reporting system for an on-vehicle disk brake lathe which can be affixed with respect to a disk brake to be resurfaced, the on-vehicle disk brake lathe having, a cutting head assembly that supports a pair of tool bits for machining surfaces of the brake disk and which allows an operator to adjust the positions of the tool bits relative to the surfaces of the brake disk,a feed mechanism for moving the cutting head assembly so as to cause the tool bits to traverse the surfaces of the brake disk,a thickness monitor responsive to the positions of the tool bits to provide thickness signals which can be correlated to disk thickness after resurfacing,a contact sensor detecting contact between the tool bits and the disk and generating a contact signal responsive to the state of contact; the system comprising: a microprocessor;an operator interface communicating with said microprocessor, said operating interface having, an operator input interface allowing an operator to cause information to be inputted to said microprocessor, including information identifying the vehicle and wheel position for the brake disk being serviced and at least a minimum thickness specification for the brake disk, anda display for presenting selected information generated by the system to the operator;an addressable temporary memory communicating with said microprocessor for storing the vehicle and wheel position identified by the operator and for storing data generated during the machining process;a thickness signal monitor responsive to the thickness signals for providing a disk thickness value for storage in said addressable temporary memory;a thickness comparison routine which sends an “insufficient thickness” flag to said temporary memory when the current thickness value fails to meet the inputted minimum thickness specification and sends a warning notice to said operator interface for presentation to the operator when the “insufficient thickness” flag is set;a signal continuity checker for processing contact signals generated by the contact sensor to provide time-averaged continuity signals;a cutting operation evaluator for analyzing the time-averaged continuity signals from said continuity checker to determine when a completed cutting operation has occurred and supplying a “cut completed” flag to said microprocessor to indicate such; andan archiving routine activated by the operator subject to said microprocessor granting permission after said cutting operation evaluator has set the “cut completed” flag, said archiving routine causing data from said temporary memory to be provided to an addressable report database, said addressable report database storing data including the selected vehicle and wheel position, the thickness value, and an unique cutting operation identifier generated by the archiving routine. 2. The reporting system of claim 1 further comprising; a store wheel data routine that stores the selected wheel information and the thickness value from said temporary memory as a record of a completed cutting operation and prepares said temporary memory to receive new data for a subsequent cutting operation; anda vehicle done routine that reports any collected data in said temporary memory which has not previously been reported for the currently-selected vehicle to said report database and which subsequently clears all information from said temporary memory. 3. The reporting system of claim 2 wherein the on-vehicle lathe attaches to a wheel hub on which the brake disk is mounted, and further wherein the brake lathe has, an alignment adjustment mechanism which adjusts the alignment of a rotation axis of the brake lathe with a rotation axis of the brake disk, the system further comprising: an alignment state monitor for providing an indication as to the state of misalignment of the brake lathe which can be correlated to a value for lateral runout when the alignment adjustment mechanism has completed its alignment, said alignment state monitor providing an indication as to whether the lateral runout value exceeds the selected lateral runout specification. 4. The reporting system of claim 2 wherein the system is provided access to a vehicle specification database, the reporting lathe system further comprising: vehicle/wheel selection routine for searching the vehicle specification database to provide selection options accessible from said operator input interface to assist the operator in uploading the appropriate data for the vehicle being serviced. 5. The reporting system of claim 3 wherein the system is provided access to a vehicle specification database, the reporting lathe system further comprising: vehicle/wheel selection routine for searching the vehicle specification database to provide selection options accessible from said operator input interface to assist the operator in uploading the appropriate data for the vehicle being serviced, wherein the specification data selected from the vehicle specification database includes a maximum lateral runout specification for the selected wheel position, and further wherein said alignment state monitor is a real-time alignment monitor which employs an alignment sensor to provide a representative, real-time lateral runout value in response to motion of the brake lathe as the alignment adjustment mechanism is adjusted and which compares the lateral runout value to the selected lateral runout specification. 6. The reporting system of claim 5 wherein said alignment status monitor is a dynamic monitor employing an accelerometer. 7. The reporting system of claim 5 further comprising: a vehicle identification number (VIN) entering device for presentation of the VIN of the vehicle to said microprocessor, and further wherein said vehicle/wheel selection routine limits the selection options based on the presented VIN. 8. The reporting system of claim 5 further comprising: a vehicle specification database searchable on year, make, and model; anda search query for selection of the data for the vehicle being serviced. 9. The reporting system of claim 5 wherein said addressable temporary memory is partitioned into at least two partitions, one of said at least two partitions being for vehicle-specific information, and another of said at least two partitions is provided for storing all vehicle wheel processing data generated during the current cutting operation. 10. The reporting system of claim 9 further comprising: a cutting operation evaluator by-pass triggered by the “insufficient thickness” flag which allows access to said archiving routine by the operator. 11. The reporting system of claim 10 wherein the lathe has an on-off control for activating and de-activating the feed mechanism, and further wherein said cutting operation evaluator by-pass is triggered subject to the further condition that the on-off control is in the “on” condition. 12. The reporting system of claim 1 wherein the contact sensor is a microphone providing an acoustical signal, and further wherein said signal continuity checker piecewise integrates and averages the acoustical signal to provide the time-averaged continuity signals. 13. The reporting system of claim 12 wherein said signal continuity checker processes the acoustical signal to check for consistency with an average value to reduce the effect of transient noise spikes. 14. The reporting system of claim 13 wherein said signal continuity checker weights the processed acoustical signal and employs an accumulator to provide the time-averaged continuity signals that are presented to said cutting operation evaluator with a cumulative indication of the weighted signals. 15. The reporting system of claim 13 wherein said cutting operation evaluator further comprises: a cut initiation timer that runs while the time-averaged continuity signals provided by said continuity checker indicate that continuous contact is occurring; andan initiation timer check that compares the content of said cut initiation timer to a specified minimum cut time standard and sets a “cutting initiated” flag after such time as the time-averaged continuity signals provided by said continuity checker have indicated contact for at least as long as the specified minimum cut time standard, said cutting operation evaluator setting the “cut completed” flag when the time-averaged continuity signals provided by said continuity checker indicate that continuous contact is not occurring and the “cutting initiated” flag has been set. 16. The reporting system of claim 14 wherein said cutting operation evaluator further comprises: a delay timer that runs when the time-averaged continuity signals from said continuity checker indicate that continuous contact is not occurring and the “cutting initiated” flag has been set, said cutting operation evaluator delaying setting the “cut completed” flag until the delay timer has run for a specified minimum time. 17. The reporting system of claim 14 wherein said cutting operation evaluator further comprises: a proof timer that runs when the time-averaged continuity signals from said continuity checker indicate that continuous contact is occurring after the “cutting initiated” flag has been set; anda proof timer check that compares the content of said proof timer to a specified proof time standard, and sets a “cutting initiated” flag after such time as the time-averaged continuity signals provided by said continuity checker have indicated contact for at least as long as the specified minimum cut time standard, said cutting operation evaluator only setting the “cut completed” flag when the content of said proof timer is at least as large as the specified proof time standard. 18. The reporting system of claim 4 further comprising: a secondary memory for storing all data resulting from the processing of a current vehicle. 19. The reporting system of claim 4 wherein said addressable temporary memory has at least two partitions, said partitions comprising: a current cut partition for storing wheel-specific data generated during the current cutting operation; andat least one partition for storing vehicle-specific data and any data stored to record previous cutting operations performed on the current vehicle. 20. The reporting system of claim 19 wherein said addressable temporary memory has at least five partitions, comprising: a vehicle data partition for storing information inputted to identify the current vehicle being processed; anda wheel-data partition for each of the four wheel positions of the current vehicle for recording the data generated during the cutting operations performed on the current vehicle.