Centerless grinding machine control system

Claim 1

In a centerless grinding machine for grinding an object at the nip between a grinding wheel and a regulating wheel, wherein one of the wheels is moveable for being adjustably positioned with respect to the other wheel to vary the amount of grinding to which the object is subjected, a control system for providing output control signals for use in adjusting the position of the moveable wheel, comprising: sensor means for sensing, throughout a grinding process, the longitudinal position of an elongated object that is being fed into the grinding machine, and for producing signals indicating the position of said object; calculating means coupled to said sensor means for receiving said signals and for calculating a feed rate signal indicating the feed rate of said object throughout the grinding process; processing means coupled to said calculating means for receiving and storing data which defines the desired shape of the object as it is to appear after grinding has been completed and for calculating the desired position and rate of movement that the moveable wheel should assume throughout the grinding process to produce an object in accordance with said stored data, wherein said processing means continuously recalculates said desired regulating wheel position and rate of movement based on updated feed rate signals from said calculating means and generates control signals to control the position of said moveable wheel.