Inspection of Laser Structured Cams and Conrods

The inspection of laser structured cams and conrods is an essential factor in the manufacturing processes of the automotive industry. Important measures of quality are the surface characteristics of these components, especially the texture. Efficient and accurate measurements of these characteristics become essential in the mass production of automobiles. In this chapter, a fast and fully automatic method is presented. The proposed method takes advantage of the capabilities of focus variation technology to accomplish fast areal measurements and to measure both form and surface texture in one step. The basic focus variation measurement system is enhanced with a unique sample holder for cams and conrods. A special mirror enables the system to measure the inner surface of these components. Automatic form removal and surface texture parameter calculation deliver the means to efficiently report the quality of the manufactured parts. This method reduces the inspection time significantly. Where conventional approaches, such as tactile measurements, can take hours to accomplish one inspection involving manual analysis, the proposed method completes an inspection, including automated analysis, within a few minutes.