Towards 100% in-situ 2D/3D quality inspection of metallic micro components using plenoptic cameras

Quality inspection is a standard process step in manufacturing processes and a lot of in situ measurement technology is available. Nevertheless, downscaling the dimension of the produced components to the micro domain requires new quality inspection and measurement technologies to acquire and analyze 2D texture and 3D shape information. In typical micro (bulk) production scenarios quality inspection is realized via microscopic imaging in an offline procedure where an expert analyzes a few samples of the produced micro components. This process is time consuming and 100% quality inspection is not feasible. We present an automated demonstration platform to handle, sort and inspect metallic micro components. Bulk handling of micro components is realized by a robotic system in combination with a vibration helical conveyor. For quality inspection of micro components plenoptic cameras are used which are able to acquire 2D and 3D information in a single measurement step. Due to the compact design of plenoptic cameras an easy integration in the manufacturing process and an in situ measurement is possible. Based on fast image acquisition and image processing 100% quality inspection of metallic micro components is possible which will also concern the complete process of quality control. A case study in a micro cold forming scenario will demonstrate the fundamental suitability of the proposed technique. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V.