Delta Machine Vision System Inspects Automotive Production Lines

The automobile industry has long played an important role for society, providing job opportunities and bringing economic growth. With the level of industrial automation increasing, the automobile industry is raising its quality requirements. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and downstream component makers are especially concerned about defect and process inspection in the production process. In the past, car makers used traditional sensors and the eyes of inspectors to spot defects, but this method can no longer meet the needs of modern industry. The Delta Machine Vision System DMV series provides high precision, high adaptation, and convenient inspection equipment that improves yield rate and working efficiency for today's auto industry.

A major listed Chinese car manufacturer has adopted the latest international production line techniques, combining foreign automotive technology with its own R&D technology. Its product lines range from entry-level to luxury cars and its production lines manufacture both automotive components and cars. It can produce 200 thousand cars a year, which makes it the premier private label high-end car manufacturer in China.

Car manufacturers encounter many problems on the production line. Many processes in automotive production require a large number of robot arms. Any deviation in a car's position can easily affect the production process and even cause factory accidents. In the past industrial sensors and inspectors' eyes aligned a car's position. However, industrial sensors can only inspect heights but cannot detect other errors, such as parallel misalignments. Human eyes are also inefficient since the harsh working environment can increase labor costs.

The manufacturer adopted Delta's machine vision system DMV Series to ensure both the correct position of its cars and the safety workers on the production line. Making sure the locating pins on the production line are inserted into a car chassis correctly, the DMV Series highlights and inspects the connecting parts of the locating pins and car chassis. It then calculates the black dots inside the green box on the interface. For example, if the locating pin deviates to the right (see photos below), the distance between car chassis and the camera on the right becomes shorter, which causes the holes for locating pins to exceed the preset location and range on the interface (see photos below). The DMV Series will then sound an alarm. At the same time the camera on the left side will detect the same misalignment and also sound an alarm.

End users can easily manage and solve any problems occurring on the production line via the DMV's precise, high speed, multitasking, intelligent and user-friendly interface. The DMV features a wide range of visual inspection functions including area inspection, edge position, edge width, edge count, edge angle, stain inspection, blob inspection, pattern search, shape matching, OCV, coordinate calculation, angle calculation, trend edge, auto-alignment, coordinate search, and more. The built-in camera flash is triggered at fixed times and operates synchronously with two cameras, which reduces the hardware cost spent on flash controllers and machine vision. The DMV system also supports the most frequently used industrial networks, such as RS232, RS485, industrial Ethernet and IO interfaces. Users can examine data and check results by transmitting data to the controller via an extremely fast and stable system, which is quickly applicable to any industrial automation system.

In addition, the client adopted Delta's human machine interface (HMI) 10-inch DOP-B series. It allows the user to complete settings through touchscreen images or keys on the user-friendly interface and it supports VGA signal display. Clients can manage real-time equipment situations and quickly adjust the system for special requirements.

Misalignment and undetected problems on the client's production line have improved greatly after adopting Delta's DMV Series. It also helps prevent misaligned products from moving to the next workstation. The DMV Series can adapt to more working environments than industrial sensors, and can also identify other special positioning problems by adding inspection tools. The DMV Series has replaced detection by eye, saved labor costs, and greatly enhanced inspection efficiency.

Automobiles are our most common mode of transportation and car manufacturers always strive for higher requirements to protect users' and laborers' safety. The DMV Series can effectively inspect and reduce defective products on the automotive automation production line, decrease worker problems resulting from a harsh working environment, and lower labor costs for enterprises.