Vision Sensors Detect Defects and prevent the Rejection of Good Parts
I often talk about how vision sensors are world-class at detecting defective parts reliably on the fastest production lines. Equally important is the vision sensor’s ability to stop the rejection of good parts. That’s exactly what vision sensors do for Maclean Vehicle Systems, a Cognex customer that produces automotive fastener products.
On the Maclean Vehicle Systems production line, vision sensors determine part placement of a nut using an edge finder tool to locate the edge of the part and a brightness tool to look for the light reflecting off the threads. The vision sensors' ability to evaluate the brightness of the entire opening of the nut as opposed to just an individual point has eliminated incorrect pass/fail decisions. The cost savings from not having to sort out incorrectly rejected nuts quickly paid for the vision sensor.
Cognex vision sensors have no difficulty performing these inspections on a line requiring small feature inspection at a speed of 1,600 parts per minute. And the folks at Maclean Vehicle Systems have commented that Cognex vision sensors are very easy to program and operate. They simply put the vision sensors in place, train them on the part to be inspected, and pick tools off a menu that inspect the critical features of the part.
Now what could be simpler than that?