For a manufacturer of aluminum automotive components, we have developed two machine vision systems for visual inspection of two different castings of automotive turbochargers. The systems are built on the same basis, but are adapted to each casting, according to the desired tolerances of the observed points, which are important for ensuring the conditions for proper operation and service life of the turbocharger.

Image capture and processing

The capture was realized with industrial cameras in the LabView software environment. For the effective operation of the programs for recognizing irregularities in the desired points of an individual casting, it was necessary to ensure appropriate lighting conditions, with custom-made lights. In system 1, we had to eliminate external light influences by completely enclosing the system in a darkroom.

Test results and conclusion

We have sufficiently tested both systems for visual inspection of turbocharger housings in a test environment and developed them to the point that the devices serve to control the quality of casting parts or machining of cast parts.
With the help of the developed devices, we reduced waste and eliminated errors in a timely manner, and eliminated unsuitable castings from assembly lines.