Apparatus and method for inspection of surface quality of smooth surfaces
First Claim
1. An apparatus for inspecting the surface quality of objects having smooth surfaces for defects, where the type of surfaces range from highly reflective to lowly reflective, said apparatus comprising a light source and diffusing surface, the light source and diffusing surface being contained in an opaque enclosure, said enclosure having an aperture through which some of the light can escape, the light source and diffusing surface being arranged to produce a gradient of light through the aperture, the diffusing surface being located some distance behind the aperture and the light emitted from the aperture being directed in the form of a beam, with means for supporting a particular object to be inspected at a low angle in said beam so that said object reflects said beam away from said enclosures, while controlling any extraneous light, with means to observe the reflected beam, the gradient in the reflected beam exposing any defects on the surface of said object that are located in said beam of light so that the location of said defects can be noted.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus (2) for inspecting the surface quality of automotive parts (38) having smooth surfaces (44) utilizes a light source (4) and diffusing surface (6) contained in an opaque enclosure (8). The diffusing surface has a convex shape and is arranged relative to the light source to direct a gradient of light through the aperture (10) in the form of a beam. An object to be inspected is placed in the beam at a low angle relative to the inspection apparatus. All extraneous light is controlled and the beam is reflected off the object to an observer. The gradient in the reflective beam exposes any defects on the surface that are located on the beam and the location of the defects is noted. The inspection system and method can be used to inspect objects having surfaces that range from being highly reflective to lowly reflective. The curvature and location of the diffusing surface within the enclousre is adjustable. The size and location of the aperture is also adjustable. The apparatus and method is particularly suited to inspect body parts in the automotive industry. No pretreatment of the parts is required. The system can be used in a production line with the parts mounted on a conveyor system (40). The observer cab be the human eye (48) or a camera (46) or series of cameras. The system is readily adaptable to observation by machine vision.
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Citations
35 Claims
- 1. An apparatus for inspecting the surface quality of objects having smooth surfaces for defects, where the type of surfaces range from highly reflective to lowly reflective, said apparatus comprising a light source and diffusing surface, the light source and diffusing surface being contained in an opaque enclosure, said enclosure having an aperture through which some of the light can escape, the light source and diffusing surface being arranged to produce a gradient of light through the aperture, the diffusing surface being located some distance behind the aperture and the light emitted from the aperture being directed in the form of a beam, with means for supporting a particular object to be inspected at a low angle in said beam so that said object reflects said beam away from said enclosures, while controlling any extraneous light, with means to observe the reflected beam, the gradient in the reflected beam exposing any defects on the surface of said object that are located in said beam of light so that the location of said defects can be noted.
- 28. A method of inspecting the surface quality of objects having smooth surfaces, ranging from highly reflective to lowly reflective, using a light source and a diffusing surface contained in an opaque enclosure, said enclosure having an aperture through which light can escape, the diffusing surface being located some distance behind the aperture and the light emitted from the aperture being directed in the form of a beam, said method comprising arranging the light source and diffusing surface to produce a gradient of light through the aperture, placing an object to be inspected at a low angle in the beam of light emitted from the aperture so that said light is reflected away from said enclosure, controlling any extraneous light, observing said light as it is reflected from the object, noting the location of any defects in the object, moving the object and enclosure relative to one another to inspect other areas of the object if necessary or desired, noting the location of any defects for these other areas and repeating the observation steps as is necessary or desired to ultimately inspect the entire object.
Specification