Apparatus and method for selecting a mechanical seal

• US 7,191,026 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2004
• Issued: 03/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Northeast Equipment Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Northeast Equipment Incorporated
• Inventors: Greenlie, David G., Bjornson, Carl C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bahta; Kidest
• Application Number:
  US11/011,916
• Publication Number:
  US 20050114390A1
• Time in Patent Office: 819 Days
• Field of Search: 700/100, 700/110, 700/97, 700/99, 705/26, 705/27, 705/28, 705/29, 702/3.M, 702/185
• US Class Current: 700/99
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization

Abstract

An automated seal selection, seal design, manufacturing, and post sales system allows a distributor or untrained user to select a replacement seal for a pump. The automated system designs and engineers the seal, whether standard or special, and creates all drawings, documentation, quotations, and other output forms. The automated system initiates selection from inventory or purchasing of materials to be used in the manufacturing operations, creates all manufacturing CNC programs for the components to be manufactured and downloads to CNC from manufacturing equipment. The system allows selection of a seal based upon a seal part number, or selection of a seal based upon the pump into which the seal will be installed and the operating conditions of the pump. The pump may be defined by searching through a database of existing pumps, or may be defined as a new pump if it is not in the pump database. Results of a previous compatibility analysis, perhaps performed by the seal manufacturer, may be accessed for existing pumps, or an on-line compatibility analysis may be performed for new pumps, to determine whether an existing seal fits the pump with no modifications. If no existing seal fits, the system provides two options. In a first option, a special seal is specified which will fit the pump with no modifications to the pump. An integrated design system determines dimensions for the special seal and its various components in real time providing immediate quotations including drawings. With a second option, modifications to the pump are defined so that a standard seal will fit. After a seal is specified, the system recommends materials of construction and allows the customer to select materials and other selectable options. The system then outputs a proposal including drawings with full dimensions, price, modification notes, warnings, a complete bill of materials, an order form, quote form and a dimensions verification form. The system then stores the information in a plant standardization survey for future retrieval. If an order is received, the drawings created using the system may be transferred to a manufacturing center where CNC programs are created in real time enabling immediate manufacturing. All engineering, design, and manufacturing programs may be created without human intervention. The system generated CNC programs may be automatically downloaded to the machine for manufacturing without human intervention.

Claims

1. An apparatus for making accessible a plurality of equipment profiles, the apparatus comprising:

a database of equipment profiles, each of the equipment profiles defining a characteristic of a respective piece of equipment, the characteristic being suitable for determining whether an auxiliary product, which may be a component, is compatible with the respective piece of equipment; and

a processor coupled to the database and arranged to add results of a compatibility analysis to the database of equipment profiles, the results of the compatibility analysis defining an auxiliary product that is compatible with the piece of equipment and that was not previously defined within the database of equipment profiles as compatible with the piece of equipment, so that data defining the piece of equipment and a reference to an auxiliary product that is compatible with the piece of equipment are accessible from the database of equipment profiles.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary product is a seal.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said results of a compatibility analysis include a definition of a modification which, when made to one of the piece of equipment and the auxiliary product, allows the piece of equipment to accommodate the auxiliary product.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, additionally comprising:

a compatibility analyzer coupled to the database of equipment profiles and arranged to provide the results of a compatibility analysis responsive to data indicative of said characteristic of the piece of equipment and to an auxiliary product profile.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, additionally comprising:

a database of profiles of auxiliary products coupled to said compatibility analyzer.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, additionally comprising:

a compatibility analyzer coupled to the database of equipment profiles, arranged to provide the results of a compatibility analysis responsive to data indicative of said characteristic of the piece of equipment and to an auxiliary product profile, and arranged to determine one or more modifications which, when made to at least one of the piece of equipment and the auxiliary product, allows the auxiliary product to be used with the piece of equipment, when the auxiliary product is not compatible for use with the piece of equipment without such modification.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, additionally comprising:

a database of profiles of auxiliary products coupled to said compatibility analyzer.

8. A computer-operated method for maintaining a database of equipment profiles, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an input defining a characteristic of a piece of equipment;

determining that the piece of equipment is not defined within the database of equipment profiles;

adding a profile of the piece of equipment to the database of equipment profiles;

implementing a compatibility analysis, the results of the compatibility analysis defining an auxiliary product, which may be a component, that is compatible with the piece of equipment; and

adding the results of the compatibility analysis to the database of equipment profiles, so that data defining the piece of equipment and a reference to an auxiliary product that is compatible with the piece of equipment are accessible from the database of equipment profiles.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the auxiliary product is a seal.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the results of the compatibility analysis include a definition of a modification which, when made to one of the piece of equipment and the auxiliary product, allows the piece of equipment to accommodate the auxiliary product.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein implementing said compatibility analysis includes determining one or more modifications which, when made to at least one of the piece of equipment and the auxiliary product, allows the auxiliary product to be used with the piece of equipment, when the auxiliary product is not compatible for use with the piece of equipment without such modification.

12. An apparatus for maintaining a database of equipment profiles, the apparatus comprising:

a processor arranged to receive an input defining a characteristic of a piece of equipment, to determine that the piece of equipment is not defined within the database of equipment profiles, and to add a profile of the piece of equipment to the database of equipment profiles;

a compatibility analyzer coupled to the database of equipment profiles and arranged to provide the results of a compatibility analysis defining an auxiliary product, which may be a component, that is compatible with the piece of equipment; and

the apparatus arranged to add the results of the compatibility analysis to the database of equipment profiles, so that data defining the piece of equipment and a reference to an auxiliary product that is compatible with the piece of equipment are accessible from the database of equipment profiles.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the auxiliary product is a seal.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the results of the compatibility analysis include a definition of a modification which, when made to one of a piece of equipment defined within the database of equipment profiles and the auxiliary product allows the piece of equipment to accommodate the auxiliary product defined by the one profile.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, additionally comprising:

a database of profiles of auxiliary products coupled to said compatibility analyzer.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the compatibility analyzer is arranged to determine one or more modifications which, when made to at least one of the piece of equipment and the auxiliary product, allows the auxiliary product to be used with the piece of equipment, when the auxiliary product is not compatible for use with the piece of equipment without such modification.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, additionally comprising:

a database of profiles of auxiliary products coupled to said compatibility analyzer.

18. A computer-implemented method for analyzing compatibility between an auxiliary product and a piece of equipment, comprising:

receiving information defining parameters of the equipment and of the auxiliary product;

comparing parameters of the auxiliary product and of the equipment to determine if there is a match for one or more of said parameters; and

when no match is made for one of said parameters, storing an indication of a difference between that one parameter for the auxiliary product and that one parameter for the equipment.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the auxiliary product is a component of said piece of equipment.

20. The method of claim 18, additionally comprising:

implementing a compatibility analysis, responsive to said indication of a difference, to determine one or more modifications which, when made to at least one of the piece of equipment and the auxiliary product, allows the auxiliary product to be used with the piece of equipment.