3D shape measurement of automotive glass by using a fringe reflection technique

Abstract

In automotive and glass making industries, there is a need for accurately measuring the 3D shapes of reflective surfaces to speed up and ensure product development and manufacturing quality by using non-contact techniques. This paper describes a technique for the measurement of non-full-field reflective surfaces of automotive glass by using a fringe reflection technique. Physical properties of the measurement surfaces do not allow us to apply optical geometries used in existing techniques for surface measurement based upon direct fringe pattern illumination. However, this property of surface reflectivity can be used to implement similar ideas from existing techniques in a new improved method. In other words, the reflective surface can be used as a mirror to reflect illuminated fringe patterns onto a screen behind. It has been found that in the case of implementing the reflective fringe technique, the phase-shift distribution depends not only on the height of the object but also on the slope at each measurement point. This requires the solving of differential equations to find the surface slope and height distributions in the x and y directions and development of the additional height reconstruction algorithms. The main focus has been made on developing a mathematical model of the optical sub-system and discussing ways for its practical implementation including calibration procedures. A number of implemented image processing algorithms for system calibration and data analysis are discussed and two experimental results are given for automotive glass surfaces with different shapes and defects. The proposed technique showed the ability to provide accurate non-destructive measurement of 3D shapes of the reflective automotive glass surfaces and can be used as a key element for a glass shape quality control system on-line or in a laboratory environment.