Opto-electronic inspection quality assurance system for fluid dispensing valves

An optoelectronic inspection system for determining acceptability of a valve structure, comprising:

• an inspection station adapted to position the valve structure for optoelectronic imaging;
• a light source arranged to impinge light on the valve structure;
• a camera and lens imaging assembly arranged to receive light resulting from interaction of the valve structure and light impinged on the valve structure from the light source, and to responsively generate an optoelectronic imaging output;
• a central processing unit arranged to receive the optoelectronic imaging output from the imaging assembly and to responsively generate an inspection output indicative of whether the valve structure satisfies predetermined acceptability criteria,
• wherein the central processing unit receiving the optoelectronic imaging output from the imaging assembly constitutes image data of said optoelectronic imaging output as an autocorrelation function that then is Fourier transformed to yield an illumination power spectrum for digital comparison to baseline spectra for acceptable valve structure, and wherein the inspection output comprises a quality assurance determination as a visual output to a display screen.