Vision system verifies connector assemblies

Dial-X Automated Equipment (Albion, IN, USA; www.dial-x.com) provides single-source machine-building and integration services for pharmaceutical, food and beverage, automotive, and consumer goods manufacturing applications. To develop a connector assembly verification system based on machine vision, Dial-X assembled and tested all equipment in-house, installing the equipment at the customer's plant and providing product support throughout the machine's lifecycle.

For the connector inspection system, Dial-X used 11 PresencePLUS cameras from Banner Engineering (Minneapolis, MN, USA; www.bannerengineering.com), along with two spotlights, a backlight, and an on-axis light. Each lighting type was selected for the machine depending on the connector part to be inspected. The components were sold to Dial-X by C&E Sales (Dayton, OH, USA; www.cesales.com), a provider of automation solutions. "If we're verifying the connector's shape, we'll use a backlight to create a silhouette of the product," says Ryan Berkes, Dial-X project manager. "For verifying color, we'll use a spotlight to highlight the front part of the connector. The on-axis light is used to mute the color of one of four internal connector parts. This allows us to measure and verify that two parts are assembled correctly."