Full-automatic quality detection and sorting device for automobile cavity parts
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202522321775.5
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Utility models(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-10-31
- Publication Date
- 2026-10-23
- Estimated Expiration
- 2035-10-31
AI Technical Summary
该现有技术，功能单一，无法满足对中腔部件进行全方位、流水线式自动化检测的需求
[0024]本实用新型的有益效果为：通过一台六轴机器人与中央控制系统，将上下料、密封性检测、双面视觉检测、自动分拣等多个离散工序无缝集成到一个紧凑的单元内。相比传统多机作业模式，减少设备占地面积，大幅度提升生产效率，真正实现了“检测岛”式的智能化生产。通过镜面反射原理，巧妙地利用第二工业相机组拍摄工件反面的镜中影像，解决了中腔部件内部视野受限、难以直接拍照检测的问题。
Smart Images
Figure CN224878674U_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This utility model relates to the field of automotive parts production and testing technology, and in particular to a fully automatic quality inspection and sorting device for automotive cavity components. Background Technology
[0002] The central structural components of an automobile body (such as doors, longitudinal beams, A / B / C pillars, and crossbeams) are key parts that constitute the vehicle's frame and affect overall vehicle safety, durability, NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness), and sealing performance. After stamping and welding, these components must undergo 100% inspection for their geometric dimensions, surface defects (such as dents, scratches, weld spatter, and corrosion), and cavity sealing. Currently, the industry mostly uses manual or semi-automatic equipment for inspection, which has the following drawbacks:
[0003] Low level of automation and integration: processes such as loading and unloading, airtightness detection, visual inspection, and sorting are separated, requiring multiple manual interventions and clamping, resulting in low production efficiency and a large floor space required for the production line.
[0004] There are blind spots in visual inspection of internal cavities: for closed or semi-closed internal cavity components, defects on their inner walls and back sides are difficult to be directly captured by traditional top-down cameras, resulting in a high rate of missed detection.
[0005] Poor consistency in testing: Manual testing is easily affected by subjective emotions, visual fatigue and other factors, making it difficult to unify testing standards and resulting in large fluctuations in product quality.
[0006] The process is prone to secondary damage: manual handling, inaccurate positioning, or unreasonable tooling and fixture design can easily cause scratches and bumps on the finished surface of the workpiece.
[0007] Quality data traceability is difficult: test results rely on paper records or scattered spreadsheets, making it difficult to achieve quality data binding, statistical analysis, and process backtracking throughout the product lifecycle.
[0008] Existing technology, Chinese Patent Publication No. CN216815365U, published on June 24, 2022, discloses an intelligent testing platform for permanent magnet motor rotors. The platform includes a worktable with a moving mechanism on its top. Placement blocks are fixedly connected to both the top of the worktable and the bottom of the moving mechanism. A rotor is movably fitted inside each placement block. Fixed columns and isolation plates are fixedly installed on the left side of the top of the worktable, distributed front and rear. This invention projects laser points onto a light-retaining plate using a laser lamp and records the initial scale. A reset plate maintains the overall deformation reset function of the contact plates. If the rotor is not polished evenly, it will cause the contact plates to shift. As the laser point projected by the laser lamp shifts to the left side of the light-retaining plate, this shift is significantly amplified, allowing for easy comparison to determine if the rotor is properly polished, thus enhancing the rotor testing effect. However, this existing technology is functionally limited and cannot meet the needs of comprehensive, automated, assembly-line testing of cavity components. Therefore, an integrated and automated testing solution is urgently needed. Utility Model Content
[0009] Based on this, the purpose of this utility model is to provide an integrated and automated fully automatic quality inspection and sorting device for automotive cavity components, aiming to achieve an efficient and high-precision inspection process and realize automatic management of product quality data.
[0010] This utility model provides a fully automatic quality inspection and sorting device for automotive cavity components, including a feeding area, a first inspection area, a second inspection area, a sorting area, a qualified product cleaning area, and a defective product recycling area arranged in sequence; the first inspection area is provided with a sealing inspection station, and the second inspection area is provided with a visual inspection station;
[0011] The feeding area is located on one side of the sorting area along the X-axis, and the qualified product cleaning area and the defective product recycling area are arranged side by side on the opposite side of the feeding area; the first detection area and the second detection area are respectively located on opposite sides of the sorting area along the X-axis.
[0012] The sorting area is equipped with a six-axis robot. The end effector of the six-axis robot is a flexible pneumatic gripper for gripping workpieces and transferring them between workstations.
[0013] The visual inspection station includes an inspection darkroom. The top of the inspection darkroom is equipped with a first industrial camera group and a first light source for inspecting the front of the workpiece. The bottom of the inspection darkroom is equipped with a mirror reflection platform. Above the mirror reflection platform are a second industrial camera group and a second light source for capturing images of the back of the workpiece in the mirror.
[0014] The sealing test station includes a liftable sealing plug mechanism for forming a sealed connection with the test hole of the central cavity component;
[0015] The qualified product cleaning area includes a first discharge conveyor belt and a spray cleaning device located in the middle of the first discharge conveyor belt;
[0016] The defective product recycling area includes a second discharge conveyor belt, a four-axis robot installed at the end of the second discharge conveyor belt, and a receiving platform installed on one side of the four-axis robot;
[0017] The device also includes a central control system for controlling the entire testing process and recording testing data. The central control system is electrically connected to the six-axis robot, the first industrial camera group, the second industrial camera group, the sealing test station, the first discharge conveyor belt, the spray cleaning equipment, the second discharge conveyor belt, and the four-axis robot.
[0018] Preferably, the order of the visual inspection station and the sealing inspection station can be interchanged.
[0019] Preferably, the mirror reflection platform is inclined at an angle of 30°-60° to the horizontal plane.
[0020] Preferably, the mirror reflection platform is inclined at a 45° angle to the horizontal plane, and the lens axis of the second industrial camera group is perpendicular to the horizontal plane.
[0021] Preferably, the first light source is a strip diffused light source, and the second light source is a low-angle ring light source.
[0022] Preferably, the flexible pneumatic gripper integrates a visual positioning sensor to assist the robot in accurately positioning the workpiece.
[0023] Preferably, the central control system is a programmable logic controller or an industrial computer.
[0024] The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows: By using a six-axis robot and a central control system, multiple discrete processes such as loading and unloading, sealing inspection, double-sided visual inspection, and automatic sorting are seamlessly integrated into a compact unit. Compared with the traditional multi-machine operation mode, this reduces the equipment footprint, significantly improves production efficiency, and truly realizes intelligent production in the form of an "inspection island." Through the principle of mirror reflection, a second industrial camera group cleverly uses mirror images of the reverse side of the workpiece to solve the problem of limited field of view and difficulty in direct photographing and inspection of the internal cavity components. Attached Figure Description
[0025] Figure 1 This is a top view of the overall structural layout of this utility model.
[0026] Figure 2 This is a side view of the internal structure of the visual inspection station.
[0027] Figure 3 This is a side view of the internal structure of the sealing test station.
[0028] The attached diagram is labeled as follows: 10. Feeding area; 11. First inspection area; 13. Second inspection area; 12. Sorting area; 14. First discharge conveyor belt; 15. Spray cleaning equipment; 16. Second discharge conveyor belt; 17. Four-axis robot; 18. Receiving platform; 19. Qualified product cleaning area; 20. Defective product recycling area; 22. Inspection darkroom; 21. Six-axis robot; 23. Second light source; 24. Mirror reflection platform; 25. First industrial camera group; 27. Second industrial camera group; 26. First light source; 28. Sealing plug mechanism. Detailed Implementation
[0029] To further understand the features, technical means, and specific objectives and functions achieved by this utility model, the following detailed description of this utility model is provided in conjunction with specific embodiments and accompanying drawings.
[0030] In this utility model, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "installation," "connection," "linking," and "fixing," etc., should be interpreted broadly. For example, they can refer to a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; they can refer to a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; they can refer to a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; and they can refer to the internal connection of two components. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this utility model according to the specific circumstances.
[0031] Please refer to Figure 1-3 As shown, a fully automatic quality inspection and sorting device for automotive cavity components includes a feeding area 10, a first inspection area 11, a second inspection area 13, a sorting area 12, a qualified product cleaning area 19, and a defective product recycling area 20 arranged in sequence; the first inspection area 11 is provided with a sealing inspection station, and the second inspection area 13 is provided with a vision inspection station;
[0032] The loading area 10 is located on one side of the sorting area 12 along the X-axis, and the qualified product cleaning area 19 and the defective product recycling area 20 are arranged side by side on the opposite side of the loading area 10; the first inspection area 11 and the second inspection area 13 are respectively located on opposite sides of the sorting area 12 along the X-axis; the loading area 10 is composed of a double-speed chain conveyor line (optional model: SMS-BSL-600).
[0033] Sorting area 12 is equipped with a six-axis robot 21. The end effector of the six-axis robot 21 is a flexible pneumatic gripper for gripping workpieces; the flexible pneumatic gripper integrates a vision positioning sensor. The six-axis robot 21 (optional brand: FANUC, optional model: M-20iD / 25) has a working radius covering all workstations. The robot base is fixed to the ground with anchor bolts. Its end flange is equipped with a set of flexible pneumatic grippers (optional: contour vacuum suction cup assembly, brand: SMC, model: MHY2 series, or adaptive flexible fingers, brand: SOFT ROBOTICS). This gripper also integrates a 2D vision positioning sensor (optional brand: KEYENCE, model: IV series) for precise positioning of the workpiece on the pallet before gripping, compensating for placement deviations.
[0034] The visual inspection station includes a darkroom 22. A first industrial camera group 25 and a first light source 26 for inspecting the front of a workpiece are installed at the top of the darkroom 22. A mirror reflection platform 24 is installed at the bottom of the darkroom 22. Above the mirror reflection platform 24, a second industrial camera group 27 and a second light source 23 are installed for capturing images of the reverse side of the workpiece in the mirror. The mirror reflection platform 24 is tilted at an angle of 30°-60° to the horizontal plane. Alternatively, the mirror reflection platform 24 may be tilted at an angle of 45° to the horizontal plane. The lens axis of the second industrial camera group 27 is perpendicular to the horizontal plane.
[0035] The working principle of the visual inspection station is as follows:
[0036] The workpiece is placed by a six-axis robot 21 onto a mirror reflection platform 24 inside the darkroom 22. The mirror reflection platform 24 uses an aluminum-coated mirror with an optical flatness of λ / 4. The platform is installed at a 45° angle to the horizontal plane.
[0037] For inspection of the upper surface (front) of the workpiece: The first industrial camera group 302 located at the top of the darkroom (optional brand: DAHENG, model: MER-500-10UM, equipped with a C-mount telecentric lens) directly captures high-definition images of the upper surface of the workpiece under the illumination of the first light source 26 (optional: strip LED diffused light source, brand: CCS, model: LDR2-100SW).
[0038] For inspection of the lower surface (reverse / inner cavity surface) of a workpiece: The field of view of the second industrial camera group 27 (same model as the first camera group), located above the mirror, faces the mirror. The second light source 23 (optional: low-angle ring LED light source, brand: CCS, model: LDR2-50RWI) illuminates the lower surface of the workpiece at a low angle, and the surface features (such as scratches, pits) will form a clear contrast of light and shadow. This light is reflected onto the 45° mirror surface and then vertically reflected into the lens of the second industrial camera group 27. In this way, the camera captures a high-definition image of the lower surface of the workpiece in the mirror.
[0039] The central control system performs real-time analysis on the images acquired by the two sets of cameras and identifies various types of surface defects through a deep learning defect detection algorithm.
[0040] The sealing inspection station includes a liftable sealing plug mechanism 28 for forming a sealed connection with the inspection hole of the central cavity component; the order of the visual inspection station and the sealing inspection station is interchangeable. The first light source 26 is a strip diffuse light source, and the second light source 23 is a low-angle ring light source.
[0041] In this embodiment, the core of the sealing performance testing station is a servo-driven electric cylinder-operated sealing plug mechanism (optional brand: TIANHUI, optional model: TH80-SMF). This mechanism can precisely raise and lower according to instructions from the central control system. The plug uses a polyurethane or silicone sealing ring, the shape of which matches the process hole of the workpiece to be tested, and after lowering, it is pressed against it to form a sealed cavity. The station integrates a high-precision differential pressure leak detector (optional brand: COSMO, optional model: VM-300) for inflation, pressure holding, and testing, and uploads the leakage rate data. The visual inspection station is a closed sheet metal protective darkroom, with a matte black interior to avoid glare interference.
[0042] The qualified product cleaning area 19 includes a first discharge conveyor belt 14 and a spray cleaning device 15 located in the middle of the first discharge conveyor belt 14;
[0043] The defective product recycling area 20 includes a second discharge conveyor belt 16, a four-axis robot 17 installed at the end of the second discharge conveyor belt 16, and a receiving platform 18 installed on one side of the four-axis robot 17.
[0044] The device also includes a central control system, which is electrically connected to the six-axis robot 21, the first industrial camera group 25, the second industrial camera group 27, the sealing inspection station, the first discharge conveyor belt 14, the spray cleaning equipment 15, the second discharge conveyor belt 16, and the four-axis robot 17. The central control system is a programmable logic controller (PLC) or an industrial computer. The central control system uses an industrial computer (IPC) (optional brand: ADVANTECH, model: ARK-3500) as the main controller, paired with a PLC (optional brand: SIEMENS, model: S7-1200) to handle the underlying I / O logic. Machine vision processing software (such as Halcon or a self-developed algorithm) and an MES data management module run on the IPC, responsible for coordinating all equipment actions, processing image and sensor data, making sorting decisions, and storing all data in an SQL database. In this embodiment, the spray cleaning equipment 15 can be a general-purpose spray cleaning machine system or a JTM-5000PFH high-pressure model; if space constraints are considered, a stepper-type model can be considered for high flexibility.
[0045] The workflow of this utility model is as follows:
[0046] 1. Feeding: The workpiece flows into the sorting area 12 at the sensor position along the double-speed chain conveyor.
[0047] 2. Robot gripping: The vision sensor at the end of the six-axis robot 21 accurately positions the workpiece, and then the flexible gripper grips the workpiece.
[0048] 3. Sealing Inspection: The six-axis robot 21 transfers the workpiece to the sealing inspection station, the plug descends to seal and is inspected. The inspection result (OK / NG) is uploaded to the central control system.
[0049] 4. Visual Inspection: The robot transfers the workpiece to the mirror platform of the visual inspection station. The cameras on both sides are triggered synchronously or sequentially to acquire images of the front and back sides and perform algorithm analysis. The results (OK / NG) are uploaded.
[0050] 5. Decision-making and sorting: The central control system integrates the sealing and visual inspection results: if both are OK, the six-axis robot 21 is controlled to place the workpiece into the qualified product cleaning area 19.
[0051] 6. If any result is NG, control the six-axis robot 21 to place the workpiece into the defective product recycling area 20.
[0052] 7. Data Recording: Throughout the process, all inspection data, images, time, and other information of the workpiece are recorded and bound to its identity ID (such as RFID or QR code), and stored in the database.
[0053] 8. Flow: Qualified products flow into the spray cleaning equipment 15 for cleaning and then continue to enter the packaging area along the first discharge conveyor belt 14; unqualified products are taken away by the four-axis robot 17 and placed on the receiving table 18.
[0054] The above-described embodiments are merely one implementation of this utility model, and while the descriptions are specific and detailed, they should not be construed as limiting the scope of this utility model patent. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make various modifications and improvements without departing from the concept of this utility model, and these all fall within the protection scope of this utility model. Therefore, the protection scope of this utility model patent should be determined by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A fully automated quality inspection and sorting device for automotive cavity components, characterized in that: It includes a feeding area (10), a first inspection area (11), a second inspection area (13), a sorting area (12), a qualified product cleaning area (19), and a defective product recycling area (20) arranged in sequence; the first inspection area (11) is equipped with a sealing inspection station, and the second inspection area (13) is equipped with a visual inspection station; The feeding area (10) is located on one side of the sorting area (12) along the X-axis, and the qualified product cleaning area (19) and the defective product recycling area (20) are arranged side by side on the other side opposite to the feeding area (10); the first detection area (11) and the second detection area (13) are respectively located on opposite sides of the sorting area (12) along the X-axis; The sorting area (12) is equipped with a six-axis robot (21), and the end effector of the six-axis robot (21) is a flexible pneumatic gripper for gripping workpieces; The visual inspection station includes an inspection darkroom (22). The top of the inspection darkroom (22) is equipped with a first industrial camera group (25) and a first light source (26) for inspecting the front of the workpiece. The bottom of the inspection darkroom (22) is equipped with a mirror reflection platform (24). Above the mirror reflection platform (24) are a second industrial camera group (27) and a second light source (23) for capturing images of the back of the workpiece in the mirror. The sealing test station includes a liftable sealing plug mechanism (28) for forming a sealed connection with the test hole of the cavity component; The qualified product cleaning area (19) includes a first discharge conveyor belt (14) and a spray cleaning device (15) located in the middle of the first discharge conveyor belt (14); The defective product recycling area (20) includes a second discharge conveyor belt (16), a four-axis robot (17) installed at the end of the second discharge conveyor belt (16), and a receiving platform (18) installed on one side of the four-axis robot (17); The device also includes a central control system, which is electrically connected to the six-axis robot (21), the first industrial camera group (25), the second industrial camera group (27), the sealing detection station, the first discharge conveyor belt (14), the spray cleaning equipment (15), the second discharge conveyor belt (16), and the four-axis robot (17).
2. The fully automated quality inspection and sorting device for automotive cavity components according to claim 1, characterized in that: The order of the visual inspection station and the sealing inspection station can be interchanged.
3. The fully automated quality inspection and sorting device for automotive cavity components according to claim 1, characterized in that: The mirror reflection platform (24) is inclined at an angle of 30°-60° to the horizontal plane.
4. The fully automated quality inspection and sorting device for automotive cavity components according to claim 1, characterized in that: The mirror reflection platform (24) is inclined at a 45° angle to the horizontal plane, and the lens axis of the second industrial camera group (27) is perpendicular to the horizontal plane.
5. The fully automated quality inspection and sorting device for automotive cavity components according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first light source (26) is a strip diffuse light source, and the second light source (23) is a low-angle ring light source.
6. The fully automated quality inspection and sorting device for automotive cavity components according to claim 1, characterized in that: The flexible pneumatic clamp is equipped with a visual positioning sensor.
7. The fully automated quality inspection and sorting device for automotive cavity components according to claim 1, characterized in that: The central control system is a programmable logic controller or an industrial computer.