Aluminum Company of America

Paul R Adomaitis

John P Fallon

Nicholaas L Brouwer

Stephen V McKaughan

Donald G Jordan

Louis G Willoughby, Jr

Gary F Nevers

Edward W Weed

Joseph W Landry

Steve Montellese

Anthony J Tomasello

Avraham C Goldman

Bernard J Hobi

Abraham Shtrahman

There is disclosed a system for visually measuring the cross-sectional thickness of a light-reflective object, such as a vehicle wheel, said object having a plurality of curved surfaces. The system includes: means for transmitting a line of light onto each curved surface of the object at substantially the same cross-sectional area through the object; means for sensing the lines of light reflected from each curved surface and producing a plurality of signals thereby, said signals representing a linear profile of each curved surface at the same cross-sectional area; and means for comparing the profile signals from each curved surface for calculating a cross-sectional thickness of the object at one or more points along the same cross-sectional area. On a more preferred basis, this system further includes means for supporting the object, and means for rotating the object about at least one axis of support to measure a plurality of cross-sectional thicknesses thereof. Most preferably, the light transmittal means of this system include a plurality of light sources for transmitting collimated laser lines across the object's inner curved surfaces from opposite sides of the object substantially simultaneously. A method for inspecting a vehicle wheel to determine whether it is within dimensional specification is also disclosed. This method employs a system substantially as set forth above.

System and method for contactlessly gauging the thickness of a contoured

Method and apparatus for inspecting the surface of a moving web of homogeneous material for anomalies, the apparatus including a light source for illuminating the web surface and a light sensitive detector for receiving data from the web surface. The data is representative of the light reflected from the surface, as the light is affected by surface anomalies and background information. Computational means are provided for receiving output data from the detector in response to the data the detector receives from the web surface, and for processing the output data in a manner that determines the presence of surface anomalies. The computation means includes a plurality of filters for transforming the surface data in a manner that effects substantial elimination of the background information, and means for establishing threshold levels for background information. In addition, automatic means is provided for modifying the threshold levels in response to changes in the reflectance, frequency, or contrast of background information received by the detector and forwarded to the computation means.

Video web inspection system employing filtering and thresholding to

The invention comprises a system for continuously inspecting the surface of a moving object for defects therein while illuminating the surface of the moving object with both specular and/or diffused light of selected wavelengths, automatically detecting the presence of a defect, and automatically transmitting a visual image of a defect, when detected, to a storage vehicle capable of subsequent permanent display and electronic characterization of the visual image containing the defect.

Video surface inspection system

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Trafford, PA, United States of America

Paul R Adomaitis