Product category:
Vision and Colour Sensors
News Release from: Cognex UK | Subject: In-Sight 1000
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 23 June 2004
Vision sensor handles "hot" application
An Italian metalworker has applied a vision system to an online inspection task that was previously too hot to handle.
San Grato is an Italian metalworking company that has developed a unique steel technology for the automobile industry There are two locations in northern Italy that employ more than 1000 people, and production is continual 24 hours-a-day and 365 days per year: this yields more than 7.5 million (or 38kt) of steel parts
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 1 Nov 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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A typical San Grato production line consists of a furnace, a press and a conveyor system that transports moulded pieces to a special cooling system.
Not long ago, numerous parts remained in the conveyor, which provoked repeated reject issues.
Human inspection of the conveyor was impossible due to the high temperatures on the production line that can exceed 800C.
To resolve the problem, TEC a partner system integrator of Cognex, installed an In-Sight 1000 sensor enclosed in a special refrigerated casing.
The system is situated 4.5m above the conveyor and verifies that all moulded pieces have been transported to the cooler.
At the exit of the furnace, the moulded parts are placed into a metal casket (the conveyor), and then transported to be cooled.
To check that no stray objects stay behind after the deposit of the parts, the casket is placed under the In-Sight camera that then detects the absence or presence of an object.
After a delay of a few minutes (which is necessary to adjust to heat that could emanate from pieces remaining in the conveyor) the In-Sight acquires an image.
Due to different grey levels that exist between the casket and the hot pieces the system can detect undesirable parts still remaining.
Despite a particularly severe environment, the In-Sight 1000 functions perfectly and produces no erroneous information.
The production line is therefore capable of operating without interruption, which provides a 100% positive result for this first application at San Grato. Request a free brochure from Cognex UK ...
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