---

Ultrasonic Arrays' DMS-1000 Detects Missing Connecting Rod Bearing Inserts

13 October 1997

Ultrasonic Arrays' DMS-1000 Detects Missing Connecting Rod Bearing Inserts

    WOODINVILLE, Wash., Oct. 13 -- Ultrasonic Arrays, Inc., has
introduced a precise, non-contact, ultrasonic measurement system for use in
detecting missing connecting rod bearing inserts on-line at engine
manufacturing plants.
    The DMS-1000 Connecting Rod Bearing Detection System ensures that engines
with missing inserts will be detected prior to hot test.  When installed at
the torque to turn station, the DMS-1000 inspects for missing inserts with
unprecedented accuracy and reliability by measuring the length of the piston
stroke for each cylinder, comparing it to a standard, and automatically
passing or failing the engine based on stroke measurement.
    The Ultrasonic Arrays' sensors are installed at the existing torque to
turn station.  Only minor station modifications are necessary, since there are
no moving parts.  The only requirement is for the sensors to have a clear line
of sight to the piston faces or connecting rod end caps.
    The DMS-1000 solves one of the largest quality problems in modern
automotive engine plants, that of engines being assembled with the connecting
rod bearings missing.  If the missing bearing remains undetected until hot
test, at the end of the assembly process, it is very expensive to correct.
The engine oil must be drained and the engine completely torn down, repaired,
reassembled, and retested.  If the missing connecting rod bearing gets out of
the plant and installed in a car, premature and catastrophic engine failure
will result.  Ultrasonic Arrays non-contact Connecting Rod Bearing Detection
System will eliminate this problem.
    The DMS-1000 is a completely non-contact system.  Since the sensors are
permanently mounted out of the way of the engine, there is no need for them to
be indexed into position as each engine is presented.  Engineered for
industrial environments, it employs its own external reference to compensate
for environmental changes, and is completely self-calibrating.  Ultrasonic
Arrays' non-contact, ultrasonic measuring systems are unaffected by surface
color, texture, temperature, reflectivity, or lighting, and are significantly
more accurate than contact, optical, or laser systems.
    "This system is providing a reliable means of ensuring that each engine
manufactured in our plant has been inspected," said Mike Bartkowiak, Control
Engineer for General Motors Powertrain in Flint, Michigan.  "Missing inserts
can happen frequently on the assembly line; however, this system inspects for
and eliminates these problems while saving time and money," he added.
    Ultrasonic Arrays manufactures and distributes measurement systems for a
variety of industries and applications and works with systems ingetrators and
end-users to develop systems solutions to measurement problems.

SOURCE  Ultrasonic Arrays Inc.