Achieving 100% Quality Control - Part 2.

The Inspection Cycle in Context

A typical inline inspection process includes scanning, measurement, and control—all performed in a highly optimized pipeline of operations to keep up with factory speeds.

Below is a summary of the critical processing steps in an inspection pipeline:

• A trigger causes a profile scan or area scan
• High-density 3D point clouds are generated by combining these profiles
• Measurements are computed using built-in measurement tools
• Measurements are checked against preset tolerances
• Pass/fail decisions are communicated to factory networks and equipment

Inline 3D Inspection Cycle

Real-World Inline Inspection with 3D Smart Sensors

Gocator is designed around a real-time data processing pipeline that includes triggering, 3D point cloud generation, part segmentation, part rotation, part sectioning, measurement, and pass/fail decision outputs.

This pipeline is fully implemented as a built-in capability of the Gocator and is easily set up by a web browser-based user interface offering control over scanning (exposure, resolution, filtering, etc), measurement (anchoring, point and click feature-based tools, scripting) and control output (PLC, robot, Ethernet or direct I/O).

Achieve Even Greater Speed

With Gocator’s PC-based accelerator, GoX, users can achieve even faster data processing speed and further reduce inspection cycle times. GoX effectively redirects Gocator scan data to a PC for backend measurement and decision processing. The inspection pipeline now runs on two components (the sensor and a PC) and solves the case where hundreds of measurements or scans of large objects requires more processing power or memory than a sensor can deliver.

Gocator Accelerator (GoX)

Leverage Sensor Networking

In the “smart” automated factory, a network of Gocator sensors may be required to scan large objects or capture multiple views from the same part. GoX is used to collect data from multiple sensors, stitch and generate a single 3D point cloud and then carry out micron-level measurement. Many such GoX processes may be run on many PCs to manage hundreds of Gocators operating in a factory. This is the power of distributed “smart” processing brought to the factory floor.

Sensor Networking

Conclusion

With the built-in real-time data processing pipeline in the Gocator and the ability to split this pipeline between the sensor and a PC using the Gocator Accelerator, today’s factories have an effective inspection solution to achieve 100% quality control of manufactured parts, assemblies and finished products in an inline process.

The ultimate goal is achievable with smart 3D!


For more on this topic we invite you to download our Inline Metrology white paper. This paper explores the differences between lab-based metrology and industrial inline inspection solutions—and how 3D smart sensors effectively combine these approaches to deliver 100% quality control through inline metrology.