A Simpler Vision

We have two "vision sensors" at our plant. They look at little white clips that are placed on a black fixture. The clips are right angle shaped and have one hole on the RH side and two holes on the LH side. A simple switch could detect the clip, but it would be very difficult to detect which way the part is turned without a vision sensor.

The vision sensor uses blob tools to detect the presence of one or two holes. It is also programmed to be only check for one clip on pallets that only require one and to detect two clips on pallets that require two. The vision sensor has proven to be a very good solution for this scenario.

To date I have only encountered one failure that can easily create a "false failure." Further down the process clips are riveted to another piece of metal. Over time shavings from the rivets build up on the fixture. When enough shavings are present the camera does not sense the hole because of light reflecting off of the gray shavings. Operators were initially confused by this situation, but quickly learned to clean off shavings and try again.

I had designed a pizza crust QC with vision systems that if the pizza crust is mis-shapened, such as folded over, or not to a specified diameter the machine would eject it.

I'm impressed with the quality, sharpness, resolution as well color these vision systems are going as well as the price being very reasonable.

phoenix911