Hardness Tester Error Recovery via Image Data Association
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional Vickers hardness testers face scanning errors due to irregular surface patterns or multiple textures, requiring significant manual effort for error recovery, including visual identification and re-measurement.
Innovation Solution
A hardness tester with an image capturer, automatic size scanner, and memory controller that captures and stores indentation images, provides identification information, and allows for re-scanning of errors, enabling easy retrieval and correction of scanning errors through image data association and manual size calculation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If automatic scanning is used to measure indentation size, then measurement automation and productivity are improved, but scanning errors occur due to irregular surface patterns or multiple textures
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically detects scanning errors by comparing the scanned indentation size against expected values or by analyzing image characteristics. When an error is detected, the system provides feedback to the operator and automatically initiates a re-measurement process, creating a closed-loop system that maintains measurement precision while preserving automation benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual visual inspection and measurement with an automated image processing system. The automatic size scanner uses optical image analysis algorithms to measure indentation dimensions, substituting the mechanical/manual measurement process with an automated optical-mechanical system that can consistently process irregular surfaces.
2Measurement precision
If manual recovery operation is performed to correct scanning errors, then measurement precision is improved, but operation time and labor effort increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically detecting and flagging potential scanning errors during the initial measurement process. Image data and indentation information are pre-processed and stored, so when an error is detected, the operator can immediately access the relevant data without needing to search through previous measurements or re-start the entire measurement sequence.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a digital copy of the indentation image and measurement data in the memory. When a scanning error occurs, instead of requiring the operator to physically re-measure or search for the original data, the system provides a digital copy that can be instantly accessed and re-measured, significantly reducing recovery time while maintaining measurement precision.
3Measurement precision
If operator visually identifies and re-measures error data, then scanning errors are corrected, but device complexity and operational complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-service by automatically detecting scanning errors, identifying the affected measurements, and presenting the relevant image data and measurement information to the operator in an organized manner. This eliminates the need for the operator to manually search through data, visually identify errors, and reconstruct the measurement process, thereby simplifying the recovery operation while maintaining accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary layer between the automated scanning process and the operator. This intermediary component (error detection and data management system) processes the raw image data and measurement results, identifying errors and presenting them in a user-friendly format. This intermediary significantly reduces the operational complexity for the operator while ensuring accurate error correction.
Data Source
AI summary
A hardness tester having an image capturer capturing an indentation image, a data memory, an automatic size-scanning program scanning an indentation size, and a hardness calculation program includes: an identification information providing program providing image data with test specimen identification information and indentation identification information; a memory control program having the image data associated with the identification information stored; a specifying program specifying, when a scanning error occurs, identification information of image data in which the scanning error has occurred; an obtaining program obtaining the image data from the data memory based on the specified identification information; and a re-scanner (a display, an operator, and a manual size-calculation program) re-scanning an indentation size from the obtained image data.