Product category:
Vision and Colour Sensors
News Release from: ACI (UK) | Subject: Quadra-Chek digital readout technology
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 10 December 2002
Digital readout technology aids Vision
Engineering
With steadily rising international sales in the early 1990s Vision Engineering needed a digital readout company that could complement its in-house mechanical and optical skills.
With annual global sales of 16 million (pounds sterling) and a current user base of 300,000 plus units, Vision Engineering is without doubt a great British success story Based in Woking, Surrey, this privately owned company specialises in the design and manufacture of optical inspection, manipulation and measurement equipment
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 23 Aug 2000 at 8.00am (UK)
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Since its establishment in 1958, the stereo microscope and magnifier brands such as Alpha, Beta, Lynx and Mantis - as well as the ISIS expanded-pupil eyepiece accessory - have given Vision an unrivalled presence on shopfloors and laboratories the world over.
In addition, a large part of the company's success - especially in international markets - is due to the development of two- and three-axis noncontact measurement systems that couple operator efficiency with accuracy, according to Sales and Marketing Director Mark Curtis.
"Over the past 20 years at least we have carved a niche in the high-resolution measurement and inspection of small, complex metal, plastics and ceramic parts, increasingly those used in medical devices.
And we've done this with user-friendly products that are rugged enough to be used on the shopfloor or close to it".
He continues: "Based on a variety of patented eyepieceless and expanded pupil microscope technologies, our equipment produces high-resolution images of low contrast surfaces (such as machined aluminium).
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These images need to be reliable and stable, and they need to be acquired quickly and consistently".
Both the Kestrel and Hawk equipment ranges typify how Vision has developed its non-contact measurement systems technology into a world beater.
Available in various configurations from two-axis manual systems to fully automated edge detecting three-axis measuring platforms, both ranges are based on the company's Dynascope image projection technology.
This offers users 'exit pupil expansion' and a resultant increase in eye relief and freedom of head and body movement - ideal characteristics of equipment that is being used by, for example, machine operators who are required to inspect what they produce.
With extensive manufacturing facilities in the UK (at Send, Surrey) and in the US, Vision produces all necessary machined components in-house, buying in plastics mouldings and proprietary parts.
Included here are both the glass scale encoders and the QC-200 and QC-5000 digital readout hardware and software technology that is sourced, respectively, from Acu-Rite and its sister company, Metronics with the Quadra-Chek line.
"With steadily rising international sales, in the early 1990s we needed to partner a measurement/digital readout company that could not only supply technology that would complement our in-house mechanical and optical skills but could also provide the appropriate (comprehensive) level of global support to both our technical salesforces and our users", says Mark Curtis.
The resulting partnership sees Vision today incorporating three Acu-Rite/Quadra-Chek products throughout its non-contact portfolio: glass scale encoders - with resolutions upwards from 0.5 micron, to suit the application; the QC-200 microprocessor, with a system resolution of 0.0001mm, and featuring the innovative Measure Magic(r) functionality where users simply probe points and, in conjunction with a footswitch/remote keypad control, the system automatically detects the feature type being measured (this enables operators to measure multiple features without taking their eyes off the part - which speeds throughput, improves accuracy and reduces user fatigue); QC-5000 32bit PC (Microsoft Windows) based geometric software - as well as Measure Magic, features powerful data management tools (ie CAD and SPC export), Datum Magic automated part alignment capability (level, skew and zero) and, using embedded formulae, is capable of producing customised result fields.
QC-5000 is therefore ideal for linking with networks and SPC packages, for instance.
"As well as providing a value-for-money product that is reliable and very user-friendly, the Acu-Rite/Quadra-Chek technology is very robust on the outside but very sophisticated on the inside", continues Curtis.
"In addition, the way in which the Quadra-Chek equipment deals with non-linear error correction is another factor that sets it apart.
By adopting a straightforward approach to using compensation algorithms to factor out inherent inaccuracies in the measuring stage, it is very easy for us to recalibrate the equipment to ISO9000".
However, Curtis stresses that the successful relationship between the companies is underpinned by the quality and breadth of Quadra-Chek's support - wherever it is required in the world.
The level of support provided by Quadra-Chek depends on the application and on user experience, varying from using the QC-200 for straightforward measuring tasks through to the QC-5000 for manual measuring or high-end motorised semi- and fully automatic measuring.
Also, a recent example of how the companies work together concerns the development of Vision's new Hawk, an innovative noncontact system that offers both optical and video edge detection, and is capable of using the functionality of either QC-200 or QC-5000 systems.
Available in a range of options, including two- or three-axis measurement, manual or motorised movement, manual or fully automated video edge detection, Hawk combines the best of previous generation systems with the latest innovations in optical and design technology.
The system offers magnifications from 10 to 400 times on measuring stages from 150 x 150 up to 400 x 300mm.
Measurement data can be calculated using either the QC-200 or QC-5000.
Stressing that the core strength of Vision equipment is its repeatable accuracy on small and complex features and workpieces, Curtis points out that on a pound for pound basis, no other supplier can compete with Vision.
Couple that with an unrivalled engineering-led technical salesforce and over 40 years experience in solving users' measuring problems, it is clear that Vision Engineering is ideally positioned to meet the increasing demand for 100% inspection on the shopfloor at a time when industry is increasingly deskilling the metrology function.
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