In this era of Industry 4.0, manufacturing companies strive for an intelligent, connected manufacturing vision based on data. This makes data accuracy, data acquisition speed, and data effectiveness all critical.
This is especially true in metrology-based inspection and quality control as high-speed automated data gathering and processing can improve product development, production throughput, and quality-control performance.
By eliminating unnecessary processes that slow production down, automated 3D inspection systems provide a hands-off approach to quickly collecting high-quality data to support downstream applications. “With this technology, people receive the data necessary to make sound decisions quickly, which is why around 60 percent of our customer projects include automation,” said Joshua Old, engineering manager, CAPTURE 3D, a ZEISS Company, Santa Ana, Calif.
In addition, automated solutions increase throughput because they pass information through scripting to MES platforms. Some solutions, such as the ATOS ScanBox BPS (batch processing system), function with little operator involvement. For example, an eight- or 12-hour shift can be run overnight, and in the morning, digital twins and inspection reports have already been generated by the automatic part loading solution. With this hands-off approach to quality, data is passed back quickly, and lights-out manufacturing becomes a reality.
It pays to pay attention to newly announced metrology equipment, accessories, and software. New features address many challenges, such as quickly improving throughput, reducing the number of iterations, creating a transparent communication environment, and overall reducing costs for sustainable growth. ATOS metrology-grade structured blue light 3D scanners are used throughout the manufacturing process from prototyping, production, quality control, and even for digital assets for IoT ecosystems, according to Old. “When selecting the optimal metrology setup, the best advice is to consider your specific application requirements.”
Prototyping involves a wide variety of part shapes and sizes during any given day. As long as you can capture a part’s surface to produce high-resolution data, there’s no limit to the size of the part you can digitize. Choose a 3D scanner with the versatility to capture something as detailed as the grooves in a fingerprint to something as large as a full-size C130 airplane. 3D scanners with interchangeable measuring volumes enable one to quickly change the lenses, offering a significant advantage depending on part size and the smallest feature requiring inspection.
There are benefits to using a metrology-grade 3D scanner and 3D metrology software for 3D printing applications. For example, warpage is a common problem in 3D printing. Warpage can be caused by the materials used, the process, the part geometry, the user, or other factors. It’s not easy to modify CAD by changing the opposite direction to the warpage (also known as Kentucky windage). GOM Software, available through CAPTURE 3D, offers a solution to this issue with a tool that compensates for warpage by adjusting the CAD based on the first printed part.
“Other ways our technology helps to 3D print a better final part is by allowing for more process control with more access to insightful data at any stage of your process, comprehensive shape and dimensional inspection to detect material thickness, sink marks, geometric offset, and residual stress,” Old added. “Data from ATOS 3D measurement technology also helps you define rework options and optimize analysis.”
Data density in prototyping is another key attribute for downstream data processing because the more a part’s features are defined in the scan data, the less manual time is required to create a solid model. That’s part of what makes blue light 3D scanners a popular choice for prototyping applications—they process 3D data with higher point density where critical features exist, including holes, edges, and radii to help ensure critical geometries are measured. This speeds up the time so people can 3D print and manufacture faster. Using a 3D scanner with lower resolution collects low-quality data that will be difficult to understand and not clean enough to use in downstream processes. “Parts with tighter tolerances require scanners with higher resolution so that the scan data reflect the smallest details necessary for measurement, inspection, and more. If you need to understand what level of data quality you need to achieve for your specific application, request a demonstration of several different 3D scanners,” Old suggested. “More than likely, you will be able to observe the difference in data quality with your own eyes.”
Speed and ease of use are predominant requirements in production. How fast can digital twin data be collected? Are there automated configurations for increasing throughput and repeatability? GOM Software offers an add-on module called VMR (Virtual Measuring Room), which uses algorithms to quickly determine the optimal measurement paths for a robot to guide the sensor safely with easy offline and online programming. Manufacturers can save these measurement paths for future inspections to increase process repeatability.
In addition to speed, accuracy, repeatability, and versatility, ease of use also plays a starring role. In production, time is critical to prevent bottlenecks. It’s important to have technology that has an easy barrier to entry and a quick on-ramp.
“In addition to reducing the amount of time you need to spend programming your metrology equipment, selecting a technology with a proven track record and a commercial off-the-shelf solution for rapid deployment is important,” Old noted. “For example, the ATOS ScanBox contains an accurate ATOS blue light 3D scanner, a Fanuc robot, GOM Software with the VMR module, safety, and all of the necessities. It is the central control for the real environment of the inspection cell.” Measurement planning takes place within this functional virtual space, including robot and sensor programming, robot path kinematics, and determining optimal measurement paths and automatic measuring procedures needed to scan the part efficiently. The user doesn’t need any previous experience programming robots, nor do they need any special robotic expertise. This user-friendly approach makes robotics more accessible for companies previously concerned with the ramp-up and training typically associated with integrating automation.
The accuracy of data collected is one of the most important factors to consider when choosing a 3D scanner for the quality control process. This is epecially true when working with applications with tight tolerance requirements. Accurate data means successful decisions.
Selecting a 3D scanner with intelligent software that integrates with sensors, high-quality cameras, and lens optics helps ensure an efficient measurement session that results in clean, high-quality data. Old offered as an example the GOM Software that operates the ATOS blue light 3D scanners, which has automated exposure-setting functionality and an automatic intelligent STL processing algorithm based on the acquired part geometry to provide a high-fidelity STL that can be exported into other various file times.
“This high-resolution STL data can then be imported into CAD software like Geomagic, and because of the high-resolution data, the downstream processing time is significantly reduced,” Old added. GOM Software comes with specific features for inspection, such as GD&T, trend analysis, surface defect mapping, and CAD color map comparisons.
“For Industry 4.0 initiatives, our customers often choose our ATOS structured blue light 3D scanners because it digitizes an entire process from the tooling to the parts produced, creating a digital asset,” Old said. The resulting data provides insight into the entire product lifecycle from design to development to production for a modernized lean manufacturing strategy that unlocks even more Industry 4.0 capabilities.
A digital twin comprised of accurate 3D scan data enables digital assembly analysis, allowing it to be used with digitized components to virtually build an assembly regardless of the physical location for form, fit, and function analysis. This simulation reduces costs and accelerates launch time. Many of our customers also connect their 3D metrology solutions to manufacturing platforms to create an ecosystem for true IIoT initiatives.
Old’s customers frequently choose from the ATOS 5 blue light 3D scanner collection, he said, because of their powerful digitalization ability, high-resolution measurement cameras and speckle-free bright blue light source that collects up to 12-million accurate X-Y-Z points per scan in as fast as 0.2 seconds.
“In the short-term future, we will see further advancements with this technology implementing more AI, ML, and VR/AR for the next step into the manufacturing digital evolution,” Old said.