Methods and apparatus for determining the location of a shaft within a vessel
First Claim
1. An apparatus mountable to a shaft having a paddle or basket disposed within a vessel, the vessel having a central axis and a hemispherical end region, the apparatus adapted for measuring the distance from a distal surface of the paddle or basket to a lowermost point on the inside surface of the hemispherical end region and comprising:
- (a) the housing comprising a rear face, a top face, and a coupling component for coupling the housing to the shaft, the coupling component comprising a longitudinal recess and a clip, wherein the longitudinal recess is defined by a recess wall extending inwardly toward an interior of the housing from the rear face, the longitudinal recess comprises an upper section extending downwardly from the top face, the upper section has a width greater than a width of an adjacent section of the longitudinal recess, and the clip extends outwardly from the recess wall within the upper section and comprises a pair of resilient prongs;
(b) a plunger slidably mounted to the housing, the plunger having an outer section extending outwardly beyond a wall of the housing, means for biasing the plunger outwardly, and an end portion extending transversely from the plunger beneath the housing and substantially centered about a central portion of the housing;
(c) a transducer operatively mounted to the housing and adapted to encode positions of the plunger and to produce an electrical signal proportional to a change in position resulting from displacement of the plunger; and
(d) means for transferring the signal away from the housing.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus and methods for measuring the amount by which the centerline of a shaft disposed in a vessel is offset from the central vertical axis of the vessel, and for measuring the height of such shaft above the inside bottom of the vessel. Apparatus includes a shaft centerline offset measurement device, a shaft height measurement device, and a control/display console. Each measurement device includes a transducer or optical encoder for sensing a displaced position of a biased plunger to which a code strip is mounted. The devices may be combined into a single shaft offset and height measurement device. Improved methods include calculating shaft offset based on a plurality of readings from the transducer, and applying trigonometric relationships. The apparatus and methods are particularly useful in the verification of paddle or basket shafts utilized in dissolution testing stations, so that the dissolution testing protocol complies with government agency guidelines.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. An apparatus mountable to a shaft having a paddle or basket disposed within a vessel, the vessel having a central axis and a hemispherical end region, the apparatus adapted for measuring the distance from a distal surface of the paddle or basket to a lowermost point on the inside surface of the hemispherical end region and comprising:
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(a) the housing comprising a rear face, a top face, and a coupling component for coupling the housing to the shaft, the coupling component comprising a longitudinal recess and a clip, wherein the longitudinal recess is defined by a recess wall extending inwardly toward an interior of the housing from the rear face, the longitudinal recess comprises an upper section extending downwardly from the top face, the upper section has a width greater than a width of an adjacent section of the longitudinal recess, and the clip extends outwardly from the recess wall within the upper section and comprises a pair of resilient prongs;
(b) a plunger slidably mounted to the housing, the plunger having an outer section extending outwardly beyond a wall of the housing, means for biasing the plunger outwardly, and an end portion extending transversely from the plunger beneath the housing and substantially centered about a central portion of the housing;
(c) a transducer operatively mounted to the housing and adapted to encode positions of the plunger and to produce an electrical signal proportional to a change in position resulting from displacement of the plunger; and
(d) means for transferring the signal away from the housing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An apparatus mountable to an elongate member disposed within a vessel and adapted for determining the position of an end of the elongate member in relation to a lowermost point on the inside surface of the vessel, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a housing disposed along a longitudinal axis and comprising a clip device for coupling the housing to the elongate member;
(b) a plunger movably mounted to the housing and linearly displaceable inwardly toward and outwardly from the housing along a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis;
(c) a transducer supported by the housing in operative relation to the plunger and adapted for sensing a displacement of the plunger and for producing an electrical signal indicative of the displacement of the plunger; and
(d) an electrical conduit communicating with the transducer for conducting the signal produced by the transducer. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus mountable to an elongate member disposed within a vessel and adapted for determining the position of an end of the elongate member in relation to a lowermost point on the inside surface of the vessel, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a housing disposed along a longitudinal axis;
(b) a plunger comprising an arm and an end portion, wherein the arm is mounted to the housing and is linearly displaceable inwardly toward and outwardly from the housing along a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis, and the end portion extends transversely from the arm beneath the housing and is generally centered in relation to a central region of the housing;
(c) a transducer supported by the housing in operative relation to the plunger and adapted for sensing a displacement of the plunger and for producing an electrical signal indicative of the displacement of the plunger; and
(d) an electrical conduit communicating with transducer for conducting the signal produced by the transducer. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An apparatus mountable to an elongate member disposed within a vessel and adapted for determining the position of an end of the elongate member in relation to a lowermost point on the inside surface of the vessel, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a housing having a longitudinal axis;
(b) a plunger comprising an arm and an end portion, wherein the arm is mounted to the housing and is linearly displaceable inwardly toward and outwardly from the housing along a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis, and the end portion extends transversely from the arm beneath the housing and is generally centered in relation to a central region of the housing;
(c) a transducer operatively mounted to the housing and adapted to encode positions of the plunger and to produce an electrical signal proportional to a change in position resulting from displacement of the plunger; and
(d) means for transferring the signal away from the housing; and
(e) a device for interpreting the signal, the device disposed remotely in relation to the housing and communicating with the signal transferring means. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification