Powered fastener driver

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12479075-B2
Application number	US-202418422485-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 25, 2024
Priority date	Jan 27, 2023
Publication date	Nov 25, 2025
Grant date	Nov 25, 2025

Abstract

A powered fastener driver includes a cylinder containing a pressurized gas, a piston within the cylinder and moveable from a top-dead-center position to a bottom-dead-center position, a driver blade moveably coupled to the piston for driving a fastener into a workpiece, and a lifter mechanism for providing torque to move the driver blade from the bottom-dead-center position toward the top-dead-center position. The powered fastener driver also includes a sensor configured to monitor a current draw of a motor of the lifter mechanism, and a controller is electrically connected to the motor and the sensor. The controller is configured to monitor the current draw of the motor, correlate, using an algorithm stored in the controller, the current draw to a pressure value. The controller is also configured to compare the pressure value to a predetermined pressure range and activate an indicator when the pressure value is outside the predetermined pressure range.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A powered fastener driver comprising:
a housing; a cylinder within the housing, the cylinder containing a pressurized gas; a piston within the cylinder and moveable from a top-dead-center position to a bottom-dead-center position; a driver blade moveably coupled to the piston for driving a fastener into a workpiece; a lifter mechanism for providing torque to move the driver blade from the bottom-dead-center position toward the top-dead-center position, the lifter mechanism including a motor; a sensor configured to monitor a current draw of the motor; and a controller electrically connected to the motor and the sensor, the controller configured to:
monitor the current draw of the motor,
correlate, using an algorithm stored in the controller, the current draw to a pressure value,
compare the pressure value to a predetermined pressure range, and
activate an indicator when the pressure value is outside the predetermined pressure range.

2 . The powered fastener driver of claim 1 , wherein the indicator is activated when the pressure value is greater than the predetermined pressure range.

3 . The powered fastener driver of claim 2 , wherein the predetermined pressure range is between 105 PSI and 115 PSI.

4 . The powered fastener driver of claim 1 , wherein when the controller determines that the current draw of the motor is above a predetermined high current value, the controller determines that the pressure in the cylinder is above the predetermined pressure range.

5 . The powered fastener driver of claim 4 , wherein when the controller determines that the current draw of the motor is below a predetermined low current value, the controller determines that the pressure in the cylinder is below the predetermined pressure range.

6 . The powered fastener driver of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined pressure range is defined by a predetermined low-pressure value and a predetermined high-pressure value.

7 . The powered fastener driver of claim 6 , further comprising a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of the cylinder, and wherein the predetermined low-pressure value is based on the temperature of the cylinder.

8 . A powered fastener driver comprising:
a housing; a cylinder within the housing, the cylinder containing a pressurized gas; a piston within the cylinder and moveable from a top-dead-center position to a bottom-dead-center position; a driver blade moveably coupled to the piston for driving a fastener into a workpiece; a lifter mechanism for providing torque to move the driver blade from the bottom-dead-center position toward the top-dead-center position, the lifter mechanism including a motor; an optical sensor configured to monitor a position of the driver blade; and a controller electrically connected to the motor and the optical sensor, the controller configured to:
monitor the position of the driver blade,
correlate, using an algorithm stored in the controller, the position of the driver blade to an acceleration value of the driver blade,
correlate, using an algorithm stored in the controller, the acceleration value of the driver blade to a pressure value of the cylinder,
compare the pressure value to a predetermined pressure range, and
activate an indicator when the pressure value is outside the predetermined pressure range.

9 . The powered fastener driver of claim 8 , wherein the position of the driver blade is monitored as the driver blade moves from the bottom-dead-center position toward the top-dead-center position.

10 . The powered fastener driver of claim 9 , wherein
the acceleration value of the driver blade is calculated as the driver blade moves from the bottom-dead-center position toward the top-dead-center position, a predetermined acceleration range includes a predetermined low deceleration value and a predetermined high deceleration value, the indicator is activated when an absolute value of the acceleration value is less than the predetermined low deceleration value to indicate a pressure of the cylinder is above a predetermined high pressure value, and the indicator is activated when the absolute value of the acceleration value is greater than the predetermined high deceleration value to indicate the pressure of the cylinder is below a predetermined low pressure value.

11 . The powered fastener driver of claim 10 , further comprising a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of the cylinder, and wherein the predetermined low pressure value is based on the temperature of the cylinder.

12 . The powered fastener driver of claim 8 , wherein the driver blade includes a plurality of lift teeth, and wherein the optical sensor is configured to detect each of the lift teeth as the driver blade moves from the top-dead-center position to the bottom-dead-center position to determine the position of the driver blade.

13 . The powered fastener driver of claim 8 , wherein the predetermined pressure range is between 105 PSI and 115 PSI.

14 . A powered fastener driver comprising:
a housing; a cylinder within the housing, the cylinder containing a pressurized gas; a piston within the cylinder and moveable from a top-dead-center position to a bottom-dead-center position; a driver blade moveably coupled to the piston for driving a fastener into a workpiece; a lifter mechanism for providing torque to move the driver blade from the bottom-dead-center position toward the top-dead-center position, the lifter mechanism including a motor; a current sensor configured to monitor a current draw of the motor; an optical sensor configured to monitor a position of the driver blade; and a controller electrically connected to the motor, the current sensor, and the optical sensor, the controller configured to:
monitor the current draw of the motor using the current sensor and the position of the driver blade using the optical sensor,
correlate, using a first algorithm stored in the controller, the current draw to a first pressure value,
correlate, using a second algorithm stored in the controller, the position of the driver blade to an acceleration value of the driver blade and the acceleration value to a second pressure value of the cylinder,
compare the first pressure value and the second pressure value to a predetermined pressure range, and
activate an indicator when the first pressure value or the second pressure value is outside the predetermined pressure range.

15 . The powered fastener driver of claim 14 , wherein when the controller determines that the current draw of the motor is above a predetermined high current value, the controller determines that the pressure in the cylinder is above the predetermined pressure range.

16 . The powered fastener driver of claim 14 , wherein when the controller determines that the current draw of the motor is below a predetermined low current value, the controller determines that the pressure in the cylinder is below the predetermined pressure range.

17 . The powered fastener driver of claim 14 , wherein
the acceleration value of the driver blade is calculated as the driver blade moves from a bottom-dead-center position toward a top-dead-center position, a predetermined acceleration range includes a predetermined low deceleration value and a predetermined high deceleration value, the indicator is activated when an absolute value of the acceleration value is less than the predetermined low deceleration value to indicate a pressure of the cylinder is above a predetermined high pressure value, and the

Assignees

• Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp

Inventors

• Spayer Ian
• Abbott Jonathan E

Classifications

• B25C1/047

  Mechanical details · CPC title

• B25C1/008 Primary

  Safety devices · CPC title

• G08B21/182

  Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold · CPC title

• B25C1/06 Primary

  operated by electric power · CPC title