Fast profile measurement of beading and grooves

For measurements on beading (prominences) and grooves (indentations), there is a new system from Micro-Epsilon which operates both in the stationary mode, e.g. as a mounted measuring unit on the conveyor belt, and also in the moving mode (e.g. on robots).
The new profile sensor ScanControl 2810 operates as a laser line scanner, exploiting the triangulation principle for the two-dimensional acquisition of profiles on the most varied object surfaces. In contrast to the familiar point-type laser sensors, a laser line is projected onto the surface of the measurement object. A high quality camera optical system concentrates the diffuse reflected light from this laser line onto a CMOS matrix. The controller computes the profile data from the camera picture and outputs it as x/z coordinates referred to the sensor. In addition, the characteristic values of the beading or groove are computed in the controller and output, such as for example, the height, width and area of the adhesive beading.
During the fitting of adhesive beading to car windscreens, ScanControl is used to detect the beading profile and to therefore find deviations in the fitting of the beading. If the height or width is found to exceed or undercut the respective predetermined tolerance values, the controller outputs control signals.
ScanControl is characterized by some special technical properties. In place of the conventional "rolling shutters" (reading out line by line), the sensor has an innovative CMOS matrix with a flat high speed electronic shutter, which fixes the total profile and reads it out in one operational step. In this way high measurement rates of up to 4 kHz can be achieved. In conjunction with real-time profile evaluation ScanControl counts as one of the fastest profile sensors currently available.
Another special feature is the variable measuring field, through which there is the possibility of reading out only certain sections of the complete measuring field. If an extract is selected, then - depending on the application - either the data processing rate or the pixel resolution in the x or z axis can be further increased. For example, 512 points over a narrow measurement strip (e.g. edge detection) or 1024 points over a wide strip for high speed applications (e.g. inspection of adhesive beading).
The measurement results are output both digitally and analog: height, width and area; x and z values of various prominent points or calculated values; a control signal when limits are exceeded or undercut.
The parameterization software facilitates flexible adjustment to various test criteria and boundary conditions, which are then saved in the measurement system controller. These settings are carried out using an external computer (notebook) and loaded into the controller via the FireWire interface. The intuitively operated parameterizing software also enables the adjustment of further test criteria for new targets.
Apart from adhesive beading, ScanControl is designed for numerous other applications, such as angle measurement, robot guidance, edge/track tracing and the inspection of welding beads.