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INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION OF MACHINE VISION

Article in International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology · May 2014

DOI: 10.15623/ijret.2014.0319120

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IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION OF MACHINE VISION

S.Sathiyamoorthy1,
1
Project Scientist IV, NHHID, Anna University, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract
Abstract— Inspection of components using machine vision technologies provides solution for quality and process control. Various
applications of Machine vision technologies are automotive, Pharmaceutical, food and beverage, electronics, packages, process
control and special application. In this paper dimensional measurement, optical character reorganization, process control using
image processing, checking of presence and absence of finished product parts in the production line are discussed. The basic
idea of this paper is to make aware of machine vision technology and to improve the production quality, reduce the scrap product
due to non-conformity by controlling the manufacturing process through machine vision and also to prevent the value addition for
scrap product in the subsequent stage of manufacturing process. various projects discussed in this paper are implemented and
proof of concepts are shown to the manufacturer.

Key Words: Optical gauging/Video measurement, Barcode and Optical character recognition(OCR) reading, process
control, Bottle level inspection and Blister pack inspection..
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1. INTRODUCTION NOT acceptable component will be removed from the

production line using ejection mechanism such as actuator
(MV) is the knowledge and approaches used to provide or blower.
image-based automatic examination for quality control,
process control, and robot guidance. Basically machine 2. OPTICAL GAUGING/VIDEO
vision is used for optical gauging, quality assurance, sorting,
part assembly inspection, presence and absence and MEASUREMENT OF FAN SHAFT
controlling the manufacturing process. In fan shaft there are two important areas are to be measured
Operation of Machine Vision. perfectly, where two bearings are inserted in the shaft. If the
MV system operation starts with acquisition of an fan shaft diameter is more, it is not possible to insert the
image using appropriate cameras, lenses and light depending shaft into the standard sized bearing. So before insertion of
on the application. bearing in shaft diameter it is ensured using machine
vision[6]. In this, the requirement is to detect the bearing
seating diameters located in two places of each shaft with
the below classifications:
i) OK component.
ii) Not OK component – over size.
iii) Not OK component – under size.
Over size components is goes to rework, under size
component components goes as scrap. For a given model,
the operator selects the model from the monitor. The object
is placed on the holder .The operator then presses the leg
pedal which provides a trigger to the light and the camera.
Then the cameras capture the image and transferred to the
PC. The images are processed[2] by the software LabVIEW
and the output is displayed on the monitor.

Algorithm used: Edge Detector. The algorithm was

developed to count the number of pixel along the edge of the
shaft, by just counting the number of pixels which falls into
Fig -1: Machine Vision Concept. the range gives acceptance level of the shaft. Then the pixel
value is also calibrated into real world.
LabVIEW, MV Impact, OpenCV, MATLAB, these Due to back light effect the object silhouette is taken as the
software’s will provide various digital image processing image. In that Sudden changes in the grey scale value forms
technique used for obtaining required information from an the edges by calculating the number of pixels that covers the
acquired image. Based on the extracted image the processor two edges in one axis forms the measurements of the object
will take decision i.e. acceptable or Not acceptable. Thus
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IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

, then the pixels values are calibrated and converted into images the compatibility between images are checked.
real time value. Following image Fig.3. shows the user interface of the
inspection system. In case the codes are similar, the same is
indicated through green label.
In case of dissimilarity, a red label is indicated as
shown in figure 4. Once the red label indication is observed
in the display, simultaneously the interlock system will
disable the air supply of the impact screw gun, thereby
suspending further operation on the unit. Once the
appropriate tappet cover is replaced, then reset button is
pressed to continue the inspection cycle. In addition, there
will be a master stop button to stop the operation in case of
any eventuality or emergency.

Hood containing Camera,

lens, light.

.
Fig -2: Front Panel for fan shaft diameter inspection

3. BARCODE AND OCR READING

3.1 Engine Assembly
Problem Description: There are many types of engine such
as 350cc, 500cc, and Import and export model. By keeping
barcode and model number as a reference operators
assemble the corresponding tappet door which indicates the
model name as Optical Character Reorganization., by
tacking/seeing this tapper door OCR as a reference the
subsequent operators in the next stage will assemble the
parts to that engine. There may be a possibility of keeping
wrong tapper OCR on the engine block, because of different
models operator may be confused, this will lead to wrong
assembling of parts in the subsequent stage.
In order to control this process of engine assembly
MV system is used. MV System capture the image of
barcode and OCR, barcode gives the information about parts
to be assembled and OCR gives information about engine
model number. Then these images are processed and checks
with the corresponding part are assembled or not. If it is OK Fig -3: Machine vision setup for Barcode and OCR
engine will be passed to next station otherwise engine is
Reading.
blocked using locking piston actuator and graphical user
interface show which part have to assemble. GUI gives
The inspection system is integrated with existing frame set
database information of how many Ok and how many NOT
up. Model of the same is shown below as Figure 2.
OK components inspected.
Algorithm Used: Thresholding and Segmentation, Particle
3.2 Description of system operation filtering, morphological techniques, coordinate reference
system, OCR toolbox in LabVIEW.
The Component which is to be inspected is placed on the
inspection table. The presence of component is sensed by
Automation: PLC program for the sequence of automatic
the proximity sensor and it triggers the actuators to lock the
operation. PLC is used to control the pneumatic operation
engine crank case and vertical and horizontal pneumatic
camera and light triggering for capturing the images. Fig -4:
actuators. Once the actuators comes to the retarded position
Front Panel for OCR and Barcode Inspection. If wrong
the cameras are triggered for taking the required images.
component is placed by an operator , a popup will be
After taking the images, the Cameras are sent back to their
appeared in the front Panel showing the picture of
respective home positions by the actuators which are again
controlled by another set of reed sensors. From the observed
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IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

components to be placed, based on this information operator light and takes the images of the top surface of the
remove wrong component and places correct component. die.
c) In case the object is struck on top, the processor
gives signal to camera further camera activates a
pneumatic actuator which will block the pedal
moving downwards[5]. In addition, a red lamp and
an alarm can also be initiated to alert the operator.

Camera, lens, light.

Display

Operator working area

. and Barcode Inspection.
Fig -4: Front Panel for OCR

4. PROCESS CONTROL IN MANUFACTURING Pedal locking

4.1 Mechanical Punch Press piston

Automobile components are manufactured using Fig - 5: Machine Vision Set up for controlling Die damage.
mechanical punch press (flywheel type). The shape of the
auto components is determined by DIE. During the Algorithm Used: Grayscale image to binary image by
punching process sometimes the components may sticks on Thresholding and segmentation , advance morphology,
to the top die. The operator not able to see the top die and particle analysis (area), Particle Filter, masking.
operator places another material and presses the pedal. This
action leads to double punch and damages the dies. If die is
damaged and it is not noticed then the components produced
after die dame will not meets the finished product
requirement such as outer and inner diameter so, the
manufactured components will go as scrap. Replacing the
damaged die with new die is costlier.
To control this process a camera is placed in such a
way to see the upper die. Then the camera is triggered by
placing the limit switch in the pedal for capturing the image.
If the component is attached in the top die
pneumatic actuator is used to lock the pedal. So the operator
is not able to operate the machine for the next time if the
component is attached on the top die. In this way the
manufacturing process is controlled.
The machine vision system will have a camera, a
light and PC. In addition, there will be an actuator to arrest Fig -6: Front Panel for Controlling Die Damage.
the movement of the leg pedal in case of any fault. The
sequence of operation is explained below:
5 PHARMACEUTICAL APPLICATION
a) The operator places the component and presses the
pedal 5.1 Presence and absence of bottle cap and Level
b) When the pedal is pressed down for releasing the inspection
top DIE to be pressed down , at the end of the
stroke, it activates an electrical switch placed in the Level of medicine in vial, glucose bottle, tonic bottle is
bottom of pedal. This triggers the camera and the
ensured by Machine vision system. If the level is not good it
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IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

is removed in the production line itself. Fig -7 demo setup 5.2 Blister pack Inspection
for real time Automatic bottle level, cap presence and
absence inspection. Blister pack inspection for its completeness is very
important. Patient may think tablet is available in the blister
pack in case of any emergency conditions occurs if there is
no tablets in the packed or wrapped blister pack it would
become a big problem at the customer end. It is necessary to
inspect the following components in the blister pack.
a) Missing Tablets.
Camera, Back light Display b) Broken Tablets.
lens c) Half tablets.
d) Color Sequence Verification.
e) Label Reading.
If any of the above parameters is failed, then the pneumatic
blower is used to remove the blister pack in the production
line itself.
Pneumatic MV system containing a Camera, a doom light, pneumatic
ejector ejector and sensor are mounted on the conveyor. As the
blister packs moves over conveyor, sensor senses its
presence, triggers the light and the camera. As the blister is
covered with white top, a special dome light is used to
provide the proper image. Images are taken, processed in a
PC and the output is displayed on the monitor. Image in
fig.9. show the processed output. At the end of inspection,
Fig -7: Machine Vision set up for Automatic bottle level, OK blister packs moves itself onto OK bin at the end of
cap presence and absence inspection. conveyor. In case of NOT OK blister pack, it is pushed into
NOT OK bin by an air blower nozzle.
Bottles to be inspected will be moving in the conveyer, the In addition with that data base also generated which includes
presence of the bottle is sensed by proximity sensor which total components included, number of OK components
will trigger the camera and the image is captured and send it inspected and number of not ok components inspected.
PC via gigabit Ethernet cable where it checks with Based on this corrective action will be done and used for
algorithms created in LabVIEW and takes the decision that stock verification.
the bottles meets the requirement or not if it meets
requirements such as level and presence of cap , then the
bottles gores to OK bin otherwise the pneumatic actuator
will eject NOTOK components to NOT OK bin.

Fig -9: Front panel for Blister pack Inspection-showing OK

pack

Fig -8: Front Panel for Level, cap presence and Absence Algorithm used: Color plane extraction HSL hue,
Inspection. saturation & light Plane, Thresholding (grey to binary), filter
(smoothing-local averaging), and advance morphology,
Algorithm Used: Edge detector[10], the algorithm was Particle analysis and particle filter.
developed to count the number of pixel along the edge of the
bottle, by just counting the number which falls into the Automation: Automation is done using Omron PLC, by
range give acceptance level and cap presence or absence. getting the NOT OK signal from processor pneumatic
blower is activated using PLC.

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IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

Automation science and engineering, 5(2008)1, pp

140-153.
[6] Jian-hai H., Shu-shang Z., Wei S.: Research on sub
pixel detecting on-line system based on machine vision
for inner diameter of bearings. Int. Conf. on Robotics
Half Tablet and Biometics, Sanya, 15-18 December 2007, pp 2049-
2052
[7] Fernandes, A.O.; Moreira, L. F E; Mata, J.M.,
"Machine vision applications and development
aspects," Control and Automation (ICCA), 2011 9th
IEEE International Conference on , vol., no.,
pp.1274,1278, 19-21 Dec. 201
[8] Swapna, P.; Krouglicof, N.; Gosine, R.G., "The
Missing tablet question of accuracy with geometric camera
calibration," Electrical and Computer Engineering,
2009. CCECE '09. Canadian Conference on , vol., no.,
pp.541,546, 3-6 May 2009
[9] Hsu, R.C.; Ping-Wen Kao; Wei-Jie Lai; Cheng-Ting
Fig -10: Front Panel for Blister Pack Inspection-showing Liu, "An initial edge point selection and segmental
Missing and half tablets. contour following for object contour extraction,"
Control Automation Robotics & Vision (ICARCV), 2010

6. CONCLUSIONS
BIOGRAPHIES
The aim this paper is to make aware of machine
vision technology which are applicable to various S.Sathiyamoorthy, currently
industries. to improve the production quality, reduce the
working as a Project Scientist IV,
scrap product due to non-conformity by controlling the
manufacturing process through machine vision and also to National Hub for Healthcare
prevent the value addition for scrap product in the Instrumentation Development,
subsequent stage of manufacturing process Anna University, Chennai.
Completed M.E -Control and
ACKNOWLEDGMENT Instrumentation, B.E- Electronics
and Communication. Research
As I have worked as a Project Engineer, Various projects Areas: Machine Vision-Digital
discussed in this paper are implemented and proof of
concept were demonstrated in various industries. This work Image Processing, Calibration of
was Supported by TIFAC CORE In Machine vision and Instruments , Indigenous
Nanchil Technologies Pvt Ltd. Chennai.. Instrumentation development,
Hybrid Energy, Sensors and
REFERENCES automation .
E-mail: [email protected]
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