Creating a Vision System for Quality Control

Creating a Quality Control Vision System

In a recent collaboration, we developed a completely new quality control system designed to verify the distance between a bearing hot-inserted into a plastic material and its surface, relative to a metal element. The solution involved integrating a Keyence IV4 industrial camera, communication with a Siemens S7-1517 PLC via PROFINET, and developing an intuitive HMI interface tailored for production operators.

Project Objective
Automate and standardize the verification of the correct bearing position after the insertion process, ensuring consistent quality of the final product.

1. Camera Installation and Physical Integration into the Line
Positioning the Keyence IV4 camera optimally relative to the part, ensuring mechanical stability, correct capture angles, and proper lighting.

2. Camera Implementation in the Existing TIA Portal Project
Adding the camera to the existing TIA Portal architecture without affecting the initial functionalities.
Configuring TCP/IP communication and implementing blocks to manage measurement results.

3. Creating a Customized HMI Interface in WinCC
Developing an efficient HMI interface that includes real-time display, indication of compliant/non-compliant parts, and parameter editing directly from the interface.

4. Establishing Communication Between Equipment
Defining communication channels between the camera, PLC, and HMI via TCP/IP and PROFINET for seamless integration.

5. Creating the Operator Workflow for Usage and Analysis
Logical workflow for operators, with instant display of results, optional data storage, and historical data analysis.

Conclusion
We developed a completely new quality control system that combines the precision of machine vision with the flexibility of TIA Portal and a user-friendly HMI interface. The solution is scalable and adaptable for other industrial applications.