Challenge: perform material and geometrical inspection for a family of toroid-shaped cylindrical technical ceramics products. Measure the lengths 40-300 mm with ±0,05 mm accuracy. Measure inner and outer diameters of toroid 20-22,5 mm with ±0,1 mm accuracy of a toroid on both sides of the cylinder and inspect its surface for the presence radial cracks, scraps and dark inclusions. Cracks can be as small as 0,1 × 1mm². Implement parametrical inspection, for empirical optimization of scraps and inclusions detection. Implement rugged, robust and deterministic industrial solution for deployment to a hostile production factory floor environment. Allow remote control and monitoring of inspection, datalogging (part counting, separation good/bad) for daily work-shifts, integrate machine vision inspection with SIEMENS PLC and OP170. Make inspection time less than 1s. Four differently sized products should be supported, preparation time for change of product type is to be less than 30 minute.
Solution: four cameras are used to perform visual inspection. Two measure the length of a cylinder with use of telecentric optics and two perform measurement and material inspection of toroid on both sides. For reliable and deterministic performance NI CVS is used, integration with Siemens PLC is achieved via built-in 24V DIO. Left and Right pair of cameras can be positioned at arbitrary distance to accommodate various product lengths. With use of calibrator a vision system can be made ready to inspect a different product within minutes. Separate LabView setup program running on PC is used used to carry out inspection setup. All settings are saved under product ID and can be called/loaded/modified/re-saved as necessary. Statistical data is accessed via FTP on built-in CVS FTP server and can be analyzed offline.
Benefits: we were able to replace human error-prone inspection with 100% reliable machine vision examination where inspection rate nearly doubled, saving customer valuable resources.