Apparatus for generating and manipulating a high-pressure fluid jet

US7703363B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Flow International Corporation · US

Inventors

• Michael Knaupp · Eppingen, DE
• Charles D. Burnham · Southbury, US
• Mohamed A. Hashish · Bellevue, US
• Robert J. Mann · Puyallup, US
• Mira Sahney · Boston, US
• C. David Bader · Louisville, US
• Andreas Meyer · Neibsheim, DE
• Sean A. Vaughan · Sumner, US
• Thomas Pesek · Ankeny, US
• Jonathan M. Stewart · Seattle, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 14, 2008
• Grant date: Apr 27, 2010
• Expiry date: Jan 18, 2028

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10T83/8726
• WIPO field: Machine tools
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

An apparatus for generating and manipulating a high-pressure fluid jet includes an assembly coupled to a motion assembly that imparts motion to the assembly along one or more axes. The motion assembly includes two motors coupled together to form a gimbal wrist, each motor having an axis of rotation. The two axes of rotation of the two motors can be perpendicular to each other, but are not necessarily aligned with the manipulator's axes of motion. The high-pressure fluid assembly incorporates a swivel that can rotate about two axes which may be parallel to the two motors' axes of rotation, allowing the high-pressure tubing contained therein to follow the motion imparted by the gimbal wrist of the motion assembly.