US 5,184,217 AGranted

System for automatically inspecting a flat sheet part

OwnerJohn W. Doeringinventor

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Abstract

An inspection system for automatically documenting and verifying the perimeters and hole dimensions of flat sheet metal workpiece. The system includes an inspection table with a transparent surface upon which the workpiece is placed. A servo controlled rack and pinion gear driven carriage which travels along the table on rails in the X direction. The carriage consists of a shelf above the table containing a fluorescent tube lamp for back illuminating the workpiece, and a shelf below the table surface containing an optical/sensor imaging array module which travels on rails cross the width of the carriage in the Y direction servo driven via a ball screw drive. The optical sensor imaging array is responsive to light energy, detecting light-to-dark and dark-to-light transitions as it scans across the workpiece, the scan transition addresses being representative of the location of the edges of the workpiece. The X and Y axis transition data is processed and stored in a microcomputer for subsequent display, plotting and/or print out.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A system for automatically inspecting a workpiece for the perimeter and holes formed therein, said system comprising of:

an inspection table having a transparent scratch resistant glass surface upon which the workpiece is to be laid;
an etched glass calibration scale located at the edge of the glass surface of the table for sensor table calibration;
a carriage mounted on rails on the table which is movable in a first direction;
containing a light source, and an optical sensor module which is movable in a second direction perpendicular to the first;
an imaging sensor with a plurality of photo sensing elements, a lens, two flat mirrors and a curved mirror situated within said optical sensor module;
a video sensor board situated with said optical sensor module;
a computer controlled two axis motion controller for controlling the positioning of the carriage in one direction and the optical sensor module in a second direction perpendicular to the first;
and
a computer workstation interfacing with the motion controller, imaging sensor and video sensor board;
providing the means for carriage motion control, and the processing of edge address data for workpiece perimeter and hole inspection;
wherein the curved mirror is a spherical section curved at a radius which aligns the viewing angle of each photo sensing element of the sensor so that it is perpendicular to and focused at the surface of the transparent table top.

8 more elements

A system for automatically inspecting a workpiece for the perimeter and holes formed therein, said system comprising:

an inspection table having a transparent glass surface upon which the workpiece is to be laid;
an etched glass calibration scale located in the plane of the glass surface of the table for sensor scale calibration;
a carriage mounted on rails on the table which is movable in a first direction;
containing a light source, and an optical sensor module which is movable in a second direction perpendicular to the first;
an imaging sensor with a plurality of photo sensing elements, a lens, and a curved mirror situated within said optical sensor module;
a video sensor board situated with said optical sensor module;
a computer controlled two axis motion controller for controlling the movement of the carriage in one direction and the optical sensor module an a second direction perpendicular to the first;
and
a computer workstation interfacing with the motion controller, imaging sensor and video sensor board;
providing the means for carriage motion control, and the processing of edge address data for workpiece perimeter and hole inspection;
wherein the curved mirror is curved to align the viewing angle of each photo sensing element of the sensor so that it is perpendicular to and focused at the surface of the transparent table top.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.