Machine Vision
More than cameras
Sensors and industrial cameras have opened up new vistas in production line automation. Blumenbecker's machine vision systems are used for applications such as:
- measurement (measuring/testing a product's specific dimensions), product checks (checking the correct position of all parts of an assembly)
- product identification (barcode and 2D code reading, identifying a product type based on shape, size and other characteristics),
- product sorting (for example, sorting packaged chocolates by colour etc.) and
- robot navigation (determining the product's position on a conveyor belt and using its coordinates for palletizing, depalletizing and other activities).
Sensors and industrial cameras are often used for quality control. They assure high product quality, strengthen customers' confidence in the products, and reduce the number of complaints.
Important parameters of industrial cameras
Most of today's produced cameras are equipped with an own processor and DO signals. So in case of not complicated applications, there is no need to use PC. This type of camera is also called a "smart camera". There is a big variability in using an advisible type of camera and its output power and the way of connectivity depend on concrete reqiurements of application. For very demanding applications, a connection of a camera and PC is necessary.
One of the main parameters, that directly influence mainly an accuracy of meassuring is a camera resolution. The standard resolution used is 1024x768 which is a cost-effective compromise between price and output power.
For special applications, where it's hard to differentiate individual product parts by contract or colour, or when it's necessary to know the stereometric dimensions (e.g. for a volume meassuring) the usage of 3D-cameras is typical.
Our partners
Manufacturer-independent solution from Blumenbecker for greater reliability and speed
The quality and resolution of the sensors and industrial cameras doesn't matter if the software cannot process the incoming data in real time.
Blumenbecker has developed proprietary software for its machine vision systems that maximizes sensor and camera performance.
The software supports the identification of:
- Geometric features (e.g. correct length of a bar)
- Colour features (e.g. correct paper hue)
- Position data (e.g. correct location of a part)
- Temperatures (e.g. during glass production)
Even when using high-resolution industrial cameras, our software is able to further increase the quality of image processing and thus work faster and more reliably.
