The challenge
The precision part consists of a fitment - a ring-shaped plastic part - that must be mounted flat, straight, and correctly positioned on the housing.
Various types of errors caused disruptions on the assembly line at the end customer, including a skewed placement of the fitment on the housing. A deviation of less than 1 mm was already sufficient to cause problems.
The solution
Following a feasibility study in the Vision Lab in Drunen—with both good and rejected samples of both product variants—Vision Partners developed a turn-key machine vision inspection system, fully integrated into the assembly machine.
Meeting principle
Eight industrial cameras are placed around the two carrier positions: cameras 1 through 4 inspect the left product, and cameras 5 through 8 inspect the right product. Through the distribution across multiple angles, the system achieves a complete 360° measurement of the fitment edge—without any blind spots.
Image processing is carried out with MVTec HALCON, the leading machine vision software for industrial quality inspection. Vision Partners is an MVTec Certified Integrator. Based on the measurement result, the system generates a GO/NO-GO signal per product, which is sent to the PLC via TCP/Profinet.
System components
The inspection system consists of:
- 8 Hikrobot industrial cameras with corresponding lenses
- 8 TPL-Vision LED lighting units
- Eigen timing & triggering module which controls all cameras and lights synchronously.
- Industrial Windows machine vision processor using MVTec HALCON and a custom-developed C# inspection algorithm.
- TCP/Profinet communication to the PLC
- Touchscreen interface for operation, live image display with measurement lines, and adjustment of inspection settings.
- Automatic logging to retrieve images and measured values from a database by time period.
- Remote access for remote management and maintenance.
Vision Partners is the official distributor of Hikrobot and TPL Vision, the manufacturers of the industrial cameras and LED lighting units respectively, used in this project.
The result
Every precision component is automatically inspected using 100%. The rejection threshold is determined based on data from both accepted and rejected products, and can be continuously refined using the system’s adjustable parameters. As a result, the manufacturer supplies only high-quality parts to the end customer—and the assembly line runs without unnecessary disruptions.
Vision Partners managed the entire process turn-key: from feasibility study and hardware specification, via a Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) in Drunen, to integration and commissioning at the producer's location—in close collaboration with the machine builder.
Want to learn more about fitment inspection or integrated machine vision systems? Contact us via www.visionpartners.nl/contact.
