Flexibly expandable and modular image processing system

Industry: Quality controls in automotive production | Customer: Quality Automation GmbH

Quality Automation GmbH has been active in the fields of production and manufacturing automation since it was founded in 2000 and ensures production efficiency and safety under the highest quality standards worldwide. Companies from the medical, consumer and automotive sectors are among the customers of Quality Automation GmbH.

Situation

Suppliers, especially in large industries such as the automotive sector, are expected to provide documented, one hundred percent quality, all too often in conjunction with high price pressure. In most cases, this can only be achieved through the use of automation technology in conjunction with industrial image processing.

Challenge

A customer of Quality Automation, who manufactures different vehicle types in its plant, was looking for a system that would check various criteria in car production on a type-specific basis. Previously, the criteria were checked by the operating personnel on the line and there were differences in the evaluation depending on the shift. Even at the end of a shift, it was difficult for the operators to maintain the level. In order to reduce the workload for the operators when checking the criteria, the automated system must first read a barcode to determine the vehicle type. It should then carry out the type-specific presence checks, measurements and pattern recognition. The following questions should be answered: Are all screws and seals present? Are the cables fitted with the correct color? Are the plug connections connected correctly? What is the position of a particular flange relative to the rest of the vehicle? What is the alignment of individual mounted components? Is the correct component fitted? All diverse requirements and questions that require increased individualization.

Solution

With two image processing systems, the customer has achieved a consistently high level of quality assurance. The data collected by the image processing systems and the defect images are stored in a master system. This ensures complete documentation of the checked criteria and defects can still be analyzed long after the vehicle has left the line. Thanks to the scalability of the image processing system, the customer can also extend quality assurance to other areas at a later date. The expansion is not limited to the number of industrial cameras used. The Balluff industrial camera modular system enables Quality Automation to offer up to 80,000 different industrial camera combinations thanks to the large number of different sensors, filters, lens holders, interfaces, housing types and protection classes. This means that the right industrial camera is available for every possible application.

Benefits

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Products

For its modular image processing systems, Quality Automation relies on the Gigabit Ethernet series BVS CA-GX0 - Industrial PoE, which is ideally equipped for use in harsh environments with screwable, industrial-grade connections and has the required smart features with FPGA and image memory.