Vision system verifies part orientation before adhesive application

摘要

In automotive manufacturing, replacing welding with adhesives helps engineers design lighter and, in some cases, stronger assemblies. Fenders, side panels, and housings that must be joined to the main body or other parts of the vehicle with adhesives require accurate adhesive application to ensure parts and assemblies function as intended. The adhesive application station at Geely Auto (Hangzhou, China; www.geely.com) is a case in point. Improperly placed or oriented parts loaded into the station may result in waste, premature part failure, or lead to a robotic adhesive applicator colliding with parts on the tray, leading to shutdowns. Loading of parts into the tray is always manual, but previously, parts were checked manually using a gauge, which was time consuming and error prone. It's challenging for a human to detect part placement within 0.5 mm and angles less than 1° and if a manufacturer seeks to report on the position of up to 20 parts in one minute, manual inspection becomes impossible.