100% Optical Inspection of Safety-Critical Parts

Plogsties GmbH, employs stamping, cold forging machining and fabrication to produce parts and components for automotive airbag and seatbelt systems—products that are subject to strict quality requirements. The German manufacturer attains zero-defect production of millions of parts/yr. through 100% inspection, including the support of state-of-the-art vision systems from Kistler Instrument Corp. It now employs 23 Kistler optical-inspection systems to achieve 100% quality assurance.

“We inspect and sort around 420 million parts each year to ensure that they meet the quality requirements,” explains Andrea Leicht, Plogsties managing director. “Zero-defect is absolutely critical to guarantee maximum customer satisfaction. Kistler is our valuable partner in this respect.” 

For example, an automotive seatbelt can be a lifesaver during an accident as long as the rivet in the seatbelt buckle provides enough grip. This mass-produced safety-relevant component is connected to the seat by a steel cable and triggers the safety mechanism in a fraction of a second after an abrupt stop or impact. This is one part of many at Plogsties that undergo inspection via Kistler systems.

At Plogsties, the KVC 821 vision system and other modular standalone test cells ensure seamless quality. The KVC 821, according to Kistler officials, can capture entire lateral surfaces of test parts in high resolution, thanks to a new multi-capture device, which features eight mirrors arranged in a circle. And, a rotating glass plate stages parts for inspection, meaning that parts no longer have to be mechanically rotated, they explain, and defects such as scratches or dents can be detected precisely in a single pass. This way, the camera station enables cycle times of as many as 400 parts/min. The KiVision image processing software uses AI-supported algorithms to detect previously unknown anomalies.

Alternatively, the vision systems can be integrated directly into production lines if required. Integrated KiVision image-processing software, employing artificial-intelligence-supported powered algorithms to detect previously unknown anomalies, checks safety-critical parts such as the seatbelt buckle for possible defects and monitors their dimensional stability, contours and surface quality.

KiVision software forms the heart of the vision systems and enables simple setup of the optical quality inspection. It also offers a range of tools and macros, and ensures accuracy in the microsize range thanks to powerful sub-pixel algorithms. Connection to manufacturing execution systems and the company’s network, as well as use at PC workstations, are possible. The vision systems also can be adapted to different inspection tasks on the hardware side, for example with a rotating glass plate, robot handling or individual feeding and sorting.

See also: Kistler Instrument Corp.

Technologies: Quality Control

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