Design and development of a non-contact measurement system applied for a conveyor

Abstract

Measurement systems receive a continuous increase in its implementation and research in control systems area. These systems are responsible mostly for the acquisition, supervision and data control, resulting from the automation action in industrial processes. Microcontrolled systems are extremely importance, therefore optimize processes in various industrial areas daily, may have several other applicability due to small size and versatility. This work aims to present the study, design and development of a non-contact measurement system applied to a conveyor, for inspection of workpiece diameter transported continuously, using automated measurement techniques in manufacturing processes. The microcontroller PIC 18F4520 is used to actuate the system developed, responsible for the acquisition, processing, and display the results in the measurement, as well as being responsible for the capture of pulses emitted by encoder, at the time that occurs the interruption of the light beam, that is generated by photoelectric presence sensor, which scanning the workpiece while it is moving at the conveyor. At the end of the inspection operation, the diameter is showed on LCD display, and the information are transmitted to a remote computer, by communication serial standard RS-232, in which both have the purpose of show and store to the operator the measurement result. With the measurement result, the system is able to analyze the collected data and quality control performance of parts produced in cell production, automatically. Tests with the measurement system developed in laboratory were carried out, revealing a repeatability of ± 124 μm to a probability of 99.00% and good reproducibility.