Smart 3D sensors provide automated measurement and decision-making for in-line quality control applications.
With high-speed inspection, pass/fail decisions are stamped in time and position for every part. This “decision tag” is stored for every part in smart sensor memory and represents an outcome to be communicated at a later time or position to reject or sorting hardware.
The reject or sorting hardware is at a location downstream from the sensor inspection station, requiring delayed communication between the sensor and the downstream hardware. This delayed communication can be a timer or an encoder comparator that ensures the part is synchronized when the part arrives at the reject or sorting gates.
Sorting potatoes by volume requires fast tag and tracking built into Gocator.
Tracking of part decision and part position can be done in an external device, but this involves integration cost for added hardware and/or software. A better solution is to use an all-in-one smart 3D sensor with built-in tag and tracking capability.
Tracking provides the ability to delay the output of a part decision until the part arrives at the reject or sorting station. There can be hundreds of parts between the sensor and the downstream station so a FIFO (first in, first out) memory is required to save decisions and track part positions until parts reach hardware that sorts or rejects the part. The delay can be a specified time or distance of travel. Time delay is used for transfer mechanisms with constant speed, and distance delay is used for encoder equipped transfer mechanisms with variable speed.
