Trends and Innovations in the Automotive Industry: In-Line 3D Sensing

Today, thanks to rapidly developing technologies in the automotive industry, 3D scanning solutions have gained great importance. This innovative technology is used in many areas from the production process to the final stage, ensuring that work is carried out faster, more accurately and more efficiently.

It's hard to find production workers these days, and labor costs have skyrocketed. These put pressure on manufacturers to automate complex manual processes.

In the automotive industry, the need for 3D scanning and control solutions is increasing day by day for many different types of processes, including welding, assembly and final control, as well as production processes such as injection, machining and pressing. These requirements increasingly drive the need for solution providers with a proven track record of providing state-of-the-art, high-performance 3D images and reviewing and making decisions reliably and quickly.

While 2D vision systems are more traditional, reliable and easy to use, 3D vision systems offer outstanding and excellent production flexibility and the ability to adapt to different scenarios.

While 2D systems provide X, Y and θ information of any object, 3D systems provide X, Y and Z plane data of the object as well as separate Rx, Ry and Rz rotation data for each axis.

This makes 3D image processing systems an outstanding option over 2D in the context of quality control applications involving dimensioning, volume management, and Z-axis depth.

In this way, the 3D robotic vision sensor allows manufacturers to automate manual sorting processes that were considered impossible to automate.

FROM PHYSICAL TO DIGITAL

So, what is 3D scanning and how is it used in the automotive industry? 3D scanning is a technology used to scan the surface of an object and transfer this data to digital media. In this way, it creates digital models of real-world objects and enables image processing applications on these models.

This enables manufacturers to measure digitally, execute control decisions and achieve high-quality results in the real world, so the production process can move faster and more efficiently.

CHALLENGES IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

Automation poses a number of challenges in terms of quality control in the automotive industry. This requires an advanced 3D machine vision solution to maximize factory processes in terms of efficiency and lower cost.

01 FLEXIBLE AUTOMATION REQUIREMENT

This is the ability of a robot or system to move quickly and easily.

To respond to changes in production, flexible automation must have the ability to feel, think and act and ultimately adapt to the situation.

3D scanning solutions play an important role in the automotive industry to reduce costs, speed up the production process and improve quality. Therefore, automotive companies can gain a competitive advantage by using 3D scanning technologies.

ROBOTIC 3D VGR APPLICATIONS

Integrating robots into a production line forces process control engineers to rethink part flow and learn how robots and 3D systems can work together to achieve more efficient production.

Normally, a robot moves blindly and repeatedly to a known position in the workspace. With intelligent 3D VGR, the robot is guided to perform dynamic movement, resulting in greater value from the robot in a production process.

Source: LMI 3D Technology

The most common 3D VGR application is pick-and-place, where the robot performs the pick-and-place motion.

Source: Omron

Intelligent FHSMD 3D image processing system for Pick and Place

Production Benefits of VGR:

• It makes an unintelligent robot smarter.
• It provides more controlled and precise production.
• High machine efficiency, reliability and flexibility
• Further reduces manual labor/labour costs

02 NEED FOR BETTER QUALITY CONTROL

As in every sector, the target in automotive is to reach 100%.

This means scanning and inspecting each product for each 3D system.

Control is provided not only in the first product control (FAI), but also in every product produced. Data collected during the scan and visual inspection software are used to make OK/NOK decisions.

Source: LMI 3D Technology

Dimensional Controls of Plastic Injection and Press parts with Laser Profile Sensor

Source: LMI 3D Technology

Position and accuracy control of vehicle emblems with 3D Snaphot Sensor

Source: LMI 3D Technology