Vision sensors get smart

The Inspector PIM60 will support a wide range of high-speed quality inspection, automated picking and assembly applications. SICK expects its comprehensive capability to be of great interest to machine builders and systems integrators, as well as customers in a wide range of industries, including FMCG & packaging, electronic assembly and automotive production.

"With the Inspector PIM60, SICK has narrowed the gap in functionality between a smart camera and a vision sensor, but not the price,” says David Hannaby, SICK (UK) product manager, imaging and measurement. "The existing Inspector tools do a great job for presence/absence or feature inspection. With the PIM60 SICK has added calibrated measurement tools, so we can also support automatic rejection of out of specification components and provide feedback to improve the efficiency of a process.

"The PIM60 vision sensor reflects our customers’ demands for smaller and smarter sensors that can be installed and commissioned quickly with minimum downtime.   Its greatest attraction is its ease of use. With all the processing power it needs and web-server built in, operators do not need special training and can easily ‘teach’ the sensor what to ‘look’ for, then monitor results in real time through a visualised on screen interface that can be customised to each individual application.”

The sensor’s multifunctional toolbox includes a capability to measure diameters, angles and variable distances and to inspect blobs, patterns, edges and pixel counting simultaneously. It can perform up to 64 different inspection tasks through a full range of tools depending on the application and production environment, including for example options for infra-red, ultra-violet and contrast filters.

Launched in the UK at the TOTAL processing and packaging show in June 2013, the Inspector PIM60 clearly has advantages for FMCG and packaging production, for example for verifying ‘right pack, right label’, verifying the presence of a date stamp, checking that a label is correctly positioned, or inspecting the integrity of safety seals in pharmaceutical packaging.

SICK also expects interest from the electronics industry where the PIM60’s new measuring tools can aid calibrated alignment of electronic components to tight tolerances, as well as part inspection and dimension verification. The vision sensor aids pass/fail verification of parts and enables operators to monitor trends against a specification, so that for example, a dimension that is gradually moving out of tolerance can be corrected in good time.

The PIM60 is expected to improve efficiency in many component assembly and automated production environments with its ability to achieve reliable inspection of moving or rotating parts at high speeds, even when the sensor is tilted or using wide angle lenses.

In automotive production, the PIM60 will support belt picking operations with both inspection and dimensioning. The results calibration function also makes it possible to output measured values in millimeters or inches, so that they can be used directly for robot or gripper control.

Another quality application in automotive production, for example is the ability to use ultra-violet tools to inspect for correct application of glue around a windscreen assembly using a luminescent marker in the glue that is invisible to the naked eye.

As easy to set up and configure out-of-the-box as any high performance sensor, the Inspector PIM60 offers broad connectivity enabling simple or complex data to be output over multiple platforms and protocols. The results can be output via Ethernet/IP or TCP/IP.