APPARATUS FOR MAKING THREADED JOINTS INCORPORATING A MAKE-UP SPEED CONTROLLER AND APPARATUS FOR COUNTING TURNS WHEN MAKING THREADED JOINTS INCLUDING AN INCREASED RESOLUTION TURNS COUNTER

摘要

TITLE: APPARATUS FOR COUNTING TURNS WHEN MAKING THREADEDJOINTS INCLUDING AN INCREASED RESOLUTION TURNS COUNTERABSTRACT OF THE INVENTIONAn apparatus for controlling the number of turns made andthe torque applied during the operation of making a threadedjoint includes a high resolution turns counter. The turnscounter senses the rotation of a member of the joint and gen-erates a pulsed signal, each pulse representing a predeterminedincrement of rotation. The turns counter includes an idler wheeldriven by one member of the joint and in turn driving an encoderwhich generates a relatively large number of pulses per revolu-tion of the idler wheel. A presettable divide-by-N circuit isutilized to divide the encoder pulses to generate a pulse trainto a monitoring and control apparatus for indicating whether agood or a bad joint has been made. The divide-by-N counter canbe preset to generate a predetermined number of pulses per revolu-tion of the joint member or pulses representing a predeterminedpercentage of a total number of turns to be made. Also disclosedis an apparatus as provided for controlling the-speed of rota-tion of a joint member during the operation of making a threadedjoint. At lower speeds of rotation, a counter means receivesclock pulses generated at a predetermined frequency and countsdown from a stored value representing the elapsed time for amaximum rate at which turn signal pulses generated during prede-termined increments of rotation of the joint member should begenerated. If the elapsed time between the turn signal pulses isless than or equal to the stored time, a signal is generated toslow down the joint making operation. At higher speeds of rota-tion, a counter means receives the turn signal pulses and countsdown from a stored value representing the maximum number of turnsignal pulses which should be generated in a predetermined timeinterval. If the turn signal pulse total exceeds the maximumnumber during the predetermined time interval, the slow downsignal is generated.