SBIR Phase II: Development of a Probe for Inspection of Transmission Valve Ports

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to commercialize technology for the inspection of cylinders with reflective surface finishes such as those found in the valve ports of valve bodies and pump covers of automatic transmissions. In order to achieve automated inspection stations with multiple probes in real time, on a production line, and in a factory environment many factors must be addressed such as: protecting the optical, electronic, mechanical and computing system of the probe from the factory environment, ensuring operability and maintainability of the probes on a high speed production line, and integration of the probe software into the computer system of a factory inspection station. Procedures to maximize useful information output must be developed that are easy for plant employees to use and understand. End user requirements for introducing new equipment into a production environment must be met including comparing the results of probe measurements with those of existing inspection techniques. The anticipated result will be a prototype valve port inspection system that can be used in a transmission manufacturing plant. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be to inspect transmission valve ports for surface defects before the components containing them are assembled into valve bodies and pump covers. At the present time no automated inspection of this kind is being carried out. Valve bodies and pump covers are considered to contain defects only if they fail a leak test after they are assembled. This results in a range of variability in the quality of these components and in the performance and service life of the transmissions containing them. Reducing the variability and improving the quality of automatic transmissions could lead to more efficient vehicles with longer periods between transmission repairs and better fuel economy. It could also lead to a better scientific understanding of the effect of these defects on transmission performance and improvements in the manufacturing process.