Pace Automation, of Worcestershire, UK, is building its Pace Vision System (PVS), an intelligent high-speed vision system for inspection of standard and special purpose fasteners, including screws and rivets at up to 1,200 parts per minute. The PVS will be used primarily in the automotive and aerospace industries.
Stemmer Imaging, formerly Firstsight Vision, is supplying all the key vision components for the system, including Guppy F-033B cameras from AVT, high luminosity back lighting LEDs from CCS, lighting controllers from Gardasoft, Stemmer Imaging industrial PCs and all the necessary lenses, cables and interface cards needed to complete the vision system. Proprietary inspection and measurement software has been developed by Pace Automation.
The PVS captures images of the fasteners and performs various user-configurable measurements on them. Parts with measurements outside the chosen tolerances are automatically rejected. The PVS is a modular system, capable of accommodating up to four cameras. Up to two cameras may be used for inspection of fastener heads and up to three cameras may be configured for shank inspection.
A comprehensive range of measurements is offered by the PVS. Area measurements are available for both fastener shanks and heads. Other head measurements include: head shape, average head diameter, maximum head diameter across corners and minimum head diameter across flats. Head recess shape and diameter measurements can also be made.
Instead of using generic parameters, the shank options can be set for different thread types to give the most accurate measurements possible for each type. The thread type can be set for fine, coarser or custom threads.
