Inspect-360° MP

Optical measurement technology is capable of inspecting the dimensional accuracy and any surface defects of components with great reliability and precision. Today, automated optical inspection (AOI) is therefore state of the art in quality control of components. However, manual visual inspections and tactile gauging checks are still often the best methods available today for inspecting the quality of mass-produced parts. The reason for this is that AOI requires specific positioning and orientation of the component. The handling of bulk goods, however, is demanding and therefore disproportionately expensive. In order to meet the high quality requirements, it is not uncommon for specialized sorting service providers to carry out a downstream 100% quality control.

Free fall: 100-percent component inspection with no need for handling

The optical inspection system Inspect 360° MP analyzes the geometry and surface condition of components in free fall without the need for specific handling and, for the first time, enables optical inspection of mass-produced parts at reasonable costs.

In this sorting facility, the parts to be inspected are transported individually into a hollow sphere via a conveyor belt at one-second intervals. As they fall freely through the sphere, they are simultaneously recorded from all directions by 27 cameras. The system thus inspects the component from numerous perspectives to identify all potential defect locations. The 27 cameras are evenly distributed over the surface of the hollow sphere and directed at the center of the sphere. Regardless of the position and orientation of the component in free fall, each section is thus recorded at least once.

Independent of material and type

Inspect-360° MP is suitable as an alternative to visual inspection for components ranging in size from cubes to fists. Different component types can be inspected with a single system – from cast, milled or forged parts to injection molded and formed parts and composite parts. Dimensional and textural defects as small as 100 µm are identified on objects with a diameter of 100 mm. The inspection is performed inline during the production cycle, allowing direct intervention or feedback into the process

Inspection of surface cleanliness and coatings

For the inspection of surface cleanliness and coatings, Inspect 360° can be combined with the free fall inspection system F-360° from Fraunhofer IPM. The imaging inspection system uses fluorescence measurement for spatially resolved detection of impurities and measures the thickness of coatings. By combining the two systems, the components are inspected in a single measurement run.