FLEXIBLE TAPE APPLICATOR AND METHOD OF OPERATION

摘要

An applicator for applying a flexible tape to a planar sheet having a base, a table, a cradle and an applicator head. The cradle and the applicator head are carried by a carriage with the cradle and applicator hea d being rigidly attached to one another such that they move together. A number of motors are provider to move the carriage and interconnected applicator he ad through the Cartesian coordinate system relative to the table, and a fourth motor rotates the applicator head relative to the carriage. Another motor feeds flexible tape out from a spool, over a dancer arm and into the applicator head where a sixth motor drives the flexible tape adjacent the application zone. A sensor associated with the dancer arm measures the pressure or deflection in a cylinder connected to the dancer arm and forwards an analog signal to the fifth motor to increase the speed of the fifth motor if the dancer arm pressure is high, an d decrease the speed of the fifth motor if dancer arm pressure is low. In a second embodiment, a new planar sheet may be fed onto the table while an existing planar sheet is acted upon by the applicator head.