Camera system gives continuous product monitoring

Application of termination materials to the base element of a capacitor, and other electronic components, are monitored for defects using a camera system linked to a local PC

Early detection of defects created by machine drift and material viscosity changes, can improve quality, and significantly reduce costs.

During the manufacturing process, parts are randomly spread across a plate containing several thousand components which then travel on a moving belt through drying and firing ovens.

With the camera appropriately mounted above the belt, and within the field of view of the camera, BANDVIS will continuously measure and identify defects in individual components, differentiating between side and face view and overlapping components.

The information gathered is sent either to a locally dedicated PC, central server or database capturing lot data for future analysis.

The system is designed to provide real time data, enabling the elimination of manual in-line QA inspection.

It allows those responsible to take immediate corrective action when non-conforming parts are detected.

This information can be provided in a number of ways.

For example "On screen" adjacent to the individual process or at a central location on screen or to a printer at a Supervisors/Engineers desk.

Through an audible alarm or screen colour change.

The major benefits of the system are that it: Presents non conforming results for immediate corrective action; Enables defect levels and costs to be reduced; Presents continuous statistical analysis of the output quality; Measures parts on a sample basis as they pass under the camera; Retains images of the last 20 non-conforming parts for subsequent analysis; Allows bar code input for individual batch analysis; Allows customer defined quality levels and analysis intervals to be inputted; Enables sample rates to be set, dependent on belt speed, part size and loading density; Samples at a rate of between 15000-20000 parts/hr in the case of 0805 size capacitors.

The systems software is built to run on the Windows 2000 platform and the processing power is currently based on 2 or 3 Pentium 1V 2.4 computers.

The cameras and frame stores provide truly asynchronous image capture at belt speeds of between 80 and 100 mm per second (depending on the size of the component).

It has an easy to use Graphical User Interface (GUI) that allows easy set-up and operation.

Operator input is provided via a mouse and the system keyboard.

The screen features a real time display mode, which shows the devices as they are being inspected as well as system status information.

The system can also be readily adapted to measure and inspect any components which are continuously moving on a belt or conveyor.

In addition, once one system is installed, further cameras can be connected to the same host, significantly reducing the cost of multiple inspection stations.

significantly reducing the cost of multiple inspection stations.

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