AN APPLICATION OF MACHINE VISION IN THE AUTOMATED INSPECTION OF ENGINEERING SURFACES

Recent work has shown that computer vision has real potential when applied to the automated measurement of engineering component silhouettes, internal contours and profiles. The present study considers the detailed examination of surface textures using the 3D data arrays which are available using this vision system. Progress has been made towards establishing a model of texture based on vision data and it has been shown that a parameter based on both amplitude and space features could provide an additional control for use in on-line automated inspection of manufactured components. Corresponding stylus data has been employed as the basis for comparison in the current evaluation process. In the field of tribology the automated examination of a wear track using computer vision has demonstrated that the approaches can be integrated so as to provide full information about the overall dimensions, area and texture of a wear scar.