Quality Inspection of Grinding Wheels by 3D Measurement

Initial situation:

The production line of a grinding wheel manufacturer is intended to be equipped with an inline system for quality control, able to perform a 100% inspection. Until now, the products have been assessed merely on a random basis in a manual procedure, by means of equipment featuring tactile sensors.

Of course, this kind of quality monitoring takes quite a lot of time.

Particular Challenge:

For the assessment of rotating parts, numerous parameters have to be taken into consideration: Concentricity, radial run-out and axial run-out (i.e. wobble); furthermore thickness, diameter, planarity and the absence of surface defects had to be examined. It was clear that only a non-contact measurement is able to carry out an accurate inspection without decelerating the production process, as both lateral surfaces of the grinding wheels as well as the outer surface of the circumference are involved.

All these surfaces have to be detected and to be checked for presence of surface defects like incisions. Furthermore, the planarity of the lateral faces has to be verified, in order to avoid wobble.

QuellTech Solution:

The solution developed by QuellTech consists in a configuration of three Q6 Laser Line triangulation scanners.

Each of the lateral surfaces is assigned to its own scanner. In order to enable the thickness precisely to be determined, both laser lines are mutually oriented in opposite direction. The third scanner inspects the outer circumference of the wheel, this way measuring diameter and radial run-out. All of these scanners are subject to encoder signals supplied by the rotary axis and synchronously triggered, so possible defects on the wheel can precisely be localized. The measurement takes place at a resolution of ca. 30 µm, and a cloud comprising several millions of points is obtained.

The QuellTech 3D software solution checks the measuring data with respect to different tolerance ranges and presents the results in a display featuring all parameters required: Concentricity, radial and axial run-out, thickness, surface defects, together with the test result (OK/NOK). The results are sent to the PLC as well, in order to sort out defective items automatically.

Benefits for Client and Testing Personnel:

This technical concept allows to perform an inline inspection of all geometrical parameters to 100%, at a cycle rate of less than 10 sec. The recording background of raw data ensures a traceability of test results data to 100%. Thanks to the implementation of this non-contact measuring method, the quality of the grinding wheels of our client is reliably supervised by an inline control system perfectly adapted to the entire production sequence.

Can we help you with your measurement task?

We would like to help you to evaluate your specific measurement task.
With a free first test measurement of your application, we can give an early assessment of the feasibility. Do not hesitate to contact us for more information or to make an appointment for a consultation. Please talk to us!

Stefan Ringwald
Tel: +49 89 12472375

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