Case Studies

Diesel Engine

Diesel Engine Inspection

Posted in Automotive, Manufacturing Automation and Intelligence

Summary

DMC developed a system that visually inspects engines on an assembly line and determines whether the correct parts are present. The line uses Flexible Assembly and inspects thousands of engine configurations. DMC also specified the inspection system’s mounting hardware and performed all software integration.

Engine Report

Engine Report

Mounted Camera

Mounted Camera

Solution

The system uses three DVT Smart Image sensors that plug into the pre-existing factory Ethernet network. The system is controlled by a custom Visual Basic program running on a nearby PC. From the plant information system, this program receives information about what parts should be present on each engine. The software also uses this information to customize the camera exposure time and gain based upon the each engine’s color. The program automatically generates reports for each engine, describing which parts are present and which are not. This report is printed to a different printer depending on which part of the line the engine is headed to next. Both a standard and a detailed engine report can be generated. The PC creates an additional report that provides historical data for a group of engines inspected.

Customer Benefits

  • Vision system ensures that incorrect assemblies can be identified before they leave the plant
  • The system allows remote diagnostics to be performed with program images and files sent over the internet
  • The reporting system provides automatic report generation and routes reports to multiple destinations, accompanying the engines which they describe

Technologies

  • Three DVT Series 600 Model 630 Smart Image sensors running Framework®
  • DVT sampled image display Active X® control
  • Microsoft Visual Basic® for interface/database storage
  • Pre-existing ethernet network used for all communication