Olmec UK has designed a turnkey laser height system for inspecting bearings used in the railway industry. Using an LMI Gocator 3D smart camera, which includes an integrated laser source and optics and provides on-board processing of 3D data; the system measures the height of various bearings used in bogies in the rail industry (i.e., a bogie is a wheeled undercarriage at the end of a rail car). The bearing consists of a number of different components and if any part is missing, the height of the bearing will differ from that which is expected.

The Gocator 2050 sensor is mounted over the existing conveyor on the OE Line and offers a field of view of 158 millimetres (mm) to 365mm and a measurement depth range of 400 mm. Bearings with a height range of 125mm to 285mm are measured to a tolerance of +/-1mm. The system provides a simple recipe selection and sensor management interface based on Olmec’s versatile, modular VP3 touch-screen user interface, complete with multi-layer security so that only authorised personnel can allow adjustment of the sensor or measurement parameters.

The Gocator records profile images and measures the height of the finished product. If the height of the component is not within the expected tolerances, then the conveyor belt is stopped, an audible alarm raised and an alarm displayed on the touch screen. Statistics such as the number of parts processed and pass and fail criteria may be displayed on the touch screen as well as any other dimension/statistical data output from the camera.

An integrated industrial PC is connected to the Gocator for management of the overall system. Error handling and interfacing to the existing process is handled using a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). If an error should occur, the conveyor is halted to ensure no faulty product can pass through for packing. A remote access capability allows Olmec to support the system.