QuellTech laser metrology in practice
Formation of burrs in the course of sheet cutting and punching operation cannot be prevented. These burrs must be removed, in order to set up a subsequent coating process (electroplating, powder coating or paint application), and also not to give rise to injuries. Deburring is accompanied by formation of a radius at the edge. This radius has to be inspected and measured continuously in the course of the production sequence.
A measurement routine by means of QuellTech laser scanners, is also possible inline. QuellTech software allows flexible parametrization of sheet thickness and radius tolerances. For further information concerning radius measurement after deburring at QFin company.
Continuous casting plants usually produce endless material in the form of billets consisting of rectangular metal full-material, pre-formed on rolls to a particular size, meanwhile running on roller conveyors. Simultaneous manual measurement of height and width of these elements by means of calipers is difficult and dangerous.
By means of QuellTech laser scanners, dimensional measurement can be carried out continuously and in an accurate manner, in a non-contact configuration. The complementary wave length of QuellTech laser scanners enables the glowing surface to be captured comprehensively. Several point clouds are recorded at the same time and compared to specified tolerance fields set up in the software.
Thanks to this thoroughly adapted method, dimensional deviations can be discovered completely and instantaneously and signaled to the plant control. These correction data are used to adapt the feed motion of the machine, thus avoiding production of larger quantities of scrap.
High-quality sheets made of stainless steel, aluminum or tinplate are nowadays expected to be free of surface defects at the end of production. These irregularities, also called cavities, affect the strength of the items and are undesirable also due to aesthetic reasons. Visual inspection over a longer period is very tiring and usually does not deliver homogeneous results.
QuellTech laser scanners are able to discover even finest irregularities (30-100 µ) comprehensively in a non-contact procedure, whether on small or on large sheets, up to a width of 4 m, in a continuous run.
For many applications in mechanical engineering, precise flatness of metal surfaces is imperative. For that purpose, in the case of axle guides for instance, usually measurements take place in laboratories by means of coordinate measuring machines. This procedure however takes quite a lot of time and is able to assess only a lower quantity of points on the surface.
QuellTech laser scanners on the other hand are able to perform 100% quality control in only a few seconds within the production process. In contrast to coordinate measuring machines, this system enables some millions of measuring points precisely to be evaluated, thus allowing 100% inspection of all workpieces. Thanks to the large number of measuring points, flatness of the whole surface can be ensured and documented.
When milling off slab surfaces, the quantity of produced scrap is often unnecessarily high, as the machine does not know beforehand the material height to be removed in order to achieve a flat surface. This fact may result also in an excessive number of milling cycles, giving rise to waste of production time. The quantity of material removed may also be too large, as the lowest point of the raw surface is unknown.
Supported by QuellTech laser scanners however, the complete slab surface can be measured before the milling procedure is launched. On the basis of the measuring results, upper and lower point of the slab surface are calculated, so the appropriate number of milling cycles becomes obvious. This procedure shortens the whole production process and prevents waste of material.
Castings and forgings mostly represent intermediate products, to be subjected to further processing steps. For parts presenting dimensional deviations and surface defects however, further treatment does not make any commercial sense, therefore they have to be sorted out. In order to determine these items, castings and forgings are examined by a QuellTech measuring system with respect to correct size and absence of surface defects. The point cloud delivered by the laser scanner is compared to specified tolerance fields set up in the software; then the plant is switched to NIO or NO. Thanks to this procedure, rejects can be identified already at an early stage, thus improving quality control.
Improve quality assurance in the metals industry with an inline turnkey solution from QuellTech, such as surface defect detection as a turnkey solution.
We would be happy to carry out a first test measurement for you with your laser scanner applications, give you an assessment of the feasibility and provide you with technical and sales support in the further procedure.
