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Automotive industry

A multi-camera system for the vision inspection for an automotive components

 Control takes place at two stations. The first station checks the compliance of components such as: brackets, nuts, bolts, feet, rivets, as well as hole locations and dimensions. Based on the compliance of the components, the system checks whether the guides belong to the reference produced. At the second station, the system checks the dimensions and correct tightening of the zipper on the male guide. The system is based on Cognex CAM-CIC cameras equipped with a GigE Vision interface. The cameras are connected to a computer equipped with FrameGrabber. An application created in the Cognex Designer environment with the use of VisionPro vision libraries is running on the computer. 3 monochrome 1600x1200pix cameras and one 2000x2000pix color camera were used to control the components. A 1600x1200pix monochrome camera was used to control the lock. The created operator application has an extensive interface. The most important requirement for the application was the ability to perform Poka-Yoke validation at the beginning of the production of a given format. Before the production is started, the pieces are put on the line marked with special markers and having specific defects.

System administrators introduce what defects the system should detect on the test pieces. They do this by reading photos of defective pieces from the disk to the program and saving the processing result in a special database. When the system takes a photo of the art, Poka-Yoke recognizes the marker and a special part of the program is launched, which checks whether all defects have been detected on the art and whether the reference has been correctly changed. The Poka-Yoke inspection result is automatically deleted when the reference is changed and after modifying the inspection parameters. Thanks to this, the user can be sure that the system is 100% operational after each change on the production line. 

System description

The system also allows you to:

  • adding new formats,
  • presentation of the results of the last inspection,
  • editing tool parameters,
  • adding new tools to the system and removing tools,
  • change of acquisition parameters,
  • camera replacement,
  • changing the calibration of cameras,
  • viewing alarms.

In addition, it is possible to automatically perform an inspection based on Poka-Yoke photos saved on the disk. As a result, operators do not have to remember to put on control pieces and their destruction is limited.

All changes to the system parameters are saved in the database. User data, change execution time, reference number, camera name and the name of the edited tool are saved.

The data in the audit database is kept on disk by the system for one year. This makes it possible to trace all changes to the system. The system also saves photos of rejected items on the hard drive along with a description of the defect. The photos are kept for a week and then the system automatically deletes them. The system visualizes the results of all inspections on an ongoing basis, giving operators information about the process.

Summary

The use of a modern vision control system allowed to increase the reliability of inspection, shorten the time of adding new formats and improve the Poka-Yoke control and tracking changes in system parameters.

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