System for recording the locations of workpiece defects
AssigneeWestern Gear Corporation
InventorsRobert A. Mayer, Michael W. Reith, Jack L. Odell, II
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for determining and recording the position, size, shape and depth of a defect in a billet or similar workpiece. The workpiece is displayed on the screen of a video display device, and the positions of the defects on the screen are recorded responsive to being manually selected by an operator. In embodiments in which the position of a video camera generating the video image varies with respect to the workpiece, sensors are used to determine the positions of the workpiece with respect to the camera. The position indications from the sensors are applied to a processor which correlates these indications with the position of the defect on the screen to determine the position of the defect on the workpiece.
Claims10
A system for providing a record of the location of visually perceptible defects on the surface of a workpiece, comprising:
- a video camera generating an image of said workpiece surface, said camera having a known position with respect to said workpiece;
- video display means receiving the output of said video camera for displaying said image on a video screen;
- marking means for providing an electrical indication of the position of said visually perceptible defects on the screen of said video display means;
- processing means receiving the electrical indications from said marking means to determine and record the position of said defect on the surface of said workpiece by correlating the position of the defect as viewed on said video display means with the position of said video camera with respect to said workpiece;
- actuating means for changing the relative positions of said video camera and said workpiece in at least one dimension substantially parallel to the surface of said workpiece;
- and
- position-sensing means for providing an electrical indication of the position of said workpiece with respect to said video camera in each dimension of workpiece movement, said position indication being applied to said processing means which correlates the relative position between said workpiece and camera with the position of said defect on the screen of said video display means to determine and record the position of said defect on the surface of said workpiece as the relative position between said workpiece and camera changes.
A system for providing a record of the location of visually perceptible defects on the surface of a workpiece, comprising:
- a video camera generating an image of said workpiece surface, said camera having a known position with respect to said workpiece;
- video display means receiving the output of said video camera for displaying said image on a video screen;
- marking means for providing an electrical indication of the position of said visually perceptible defects on the screen of said video display means;
- processing means receiving the electrical indications from said marking means to determine and record the position of said defect on the surface of said workpiece by correlating the position of the defect as viewed on said video display means with the position of said video camers with respect to said workpiece;
- scaling means for varying the size of the workpiece surface displayed by said video camera image;
- and
- sensing means for providing an electrical scaling indication proportional to the size of the workpiece surface covered by said video camera image, said scaling indication being applied to said processing means which scales the electrical indication from said marking means by multiplying the defect position indication from said marking means by a scale factor derived from the electrical scaling indication generated by said sensing means.
A system for providing a record of the location of visually perceptible defects on the surface of an elongated workpiece, comprising:
- a video camera generating an image of said workpiece surface, said camera having a known position with respect to said workpiece;
- video display means receiving the output of said video camera for displaying said image on a video screen;
- marking means for providing an electrical indication of the position of said visually perceptible defects on the screen of said video display means;
- a car supporting said workpiece, said car being positioned on a track aligned with the longitudinal axis of said workpiece;
- car-actuating means for selectively moving said car along said track;
- car position-detecting means for providing an electrical indication of the position of said car;
- camera-actuating means for selectively moving said video camera along an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said workpiece;
- camera position-detecting means for providing an electrical indication of the position of said camera;
- and
- processing means receiving the electrical indications from said marking means, said car position-detecting means and said camera position-detecting means to determine and record the position of said defect on the surface of said workpiece and determine the position of said workpiece with respect to said camera and correlate said position determination with the position of said defect on the screen of said video display to determine the position of said defect on the surface of said workpiece.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.