Fiber-optic fringe projection with crosstalk reduction by adaptive pattern masking

To enable in-process inspection of industrial manufacturing processes, measuring devices need to fulfill time and space constraints, while also being robust to environmental conditions, such as high temperatures and electromagnetic fields. A new fringe projection profilometry system is being developed, which is capable of performing the inspection of filigree tool geometries, e.g. gearing elements with tip radii of 0.2 mm, inside forming machines of the sheet-bulk metal forming process. Compact gradient-index rod lenses with a diameter of 2 mm allow for a compact design of the sensor head, which is connected to a base unit via flexible high-resolution image fibers with a diameter of 1.7 mm. The base unit houses a flexible DMD based LED projector optimized for fiber coupling and a CMOS camera sensor. The system is capable of capturing up to 150 gray-scale patterns per second as well as high dynamic range images from multiple exposures. Owing to fiber crosstalk and light leakage in the image fiber, signal quality suffers especially when capturing 3-D data of technical surfaces with highly varying reflectance or surface angles. An algorithm is presented, which adaptively masks parts of the pattern to reduce these effects via multiple exposures. The masks for valid surface areas are automatically defined according to different parameters from an initial capture, such as intensity and surface gradient. In a second step, the masks are re-projected to projector coordinates using the mathematical model of the system. This approach is capable of reducing both inter-pixel crosstalk and inter-object reflections on concave objects while maintaining measurement durations of less than 5 s.DFG/CRC/TR 7

Comparison of LASER and LED illumination for fiber optic fringe projection

The inspection of functional elements is a crucial part of modern production cycles. However, with higher integration of production machinery and products, the accessibility for measurement systems is more and more limited. A solution for this problem can be found in endoscopy techniques, which are able to transport the image information for optical measurement methods. In this paper, an optical inspection system based on the fringe projection proifllometry technique is presented. The iflber-optic fringe projection system uses two high-resolution image iflbers to connect a compact sensor head to the pattern generation and camera unit. In order to keep inspection times low, the system is developed with particular focus on fast projection times. This can be achieved by using a digital micro-mirror device, which is capable of projecting grey-scale patterns at a rate of more than 10 images per second. However, due to the low numerical aperture of the optical iflbers, a limiting factor for the pattern rate is the illumination path of the pattern generator. Two different designs of the illumination path are presented, which are based on a LASER light source as well as a LED light source. Due to low beam divergence and high intensities LASERs are well suited for iflber coupling. Unfortunately, the coherent property of the light has negative effects in certain measurement applications, as interference patterns, the so called speckle, appear on rough surfaces. Although speckle reducing methods are employed in the LASER beam path, the emergence of interference cannot be prevented completely. As an alternative, an illumination path based on a LED light source is demonstrated. To compare the effects of the speckle, based on measurements on a planar calibration standard both designs are compared in terms of phase noise, which is directly related to the noise in the reconstructed 3-D point data. Additionally, optical power measurements of both methods are compared to give an estimation of coupling eiflciency. Finally, the capabilities of the system are shown based on measurements of a micro-contour standard. © 2016 SPIE.DFG/CRC/TR 7

Endoscopic fringe projection for in-situ inspection of a sheet-bulk metal forming process

Sheet-bulk metal forming is a new production process capable of performing deep-drawing and massive forming steps in a single operation. However, due to the high forming forces of the forming process, continuous process control is required in order to detect wear on the forming tool before production quality is impacted. To be able to measure the geometry of the forming tool in the limited space of forming presses, a new inspection system is being developed within the SFB/TR 73 collaborative research center. In addition to the limited space, the process restricts the amount of time available for inspection. Existing areal optical measurement systems suffer from shadowing when measuring the tool's inner elements, as they cannot be placed in the limited space next to the tool, while tactile measurement systems cannot meet the time restrictions for measuring the areal geometries. The new inspection system uses the fringe projection optical measurement principle to capture areal geometry data from relevant parts of the forming tool in short time. Highresolution image fibers are used to connect the system's compact sensor head to a base unit containing both camera and projector of the fringe projection system, which can be positioned outside of the moving parts of the press. To enable short measurement times, a high intensity laser source is used in the projector in combination with a digital micro-mirror device. Gradient index lenses are featured in the sensor head to allow for a very compact design that can be used in the narrow space above the forming tool inside the press. The sensor head is attached to an extended arm, which also guides the image fibers to the base unit. A rotation stage offers the possibility to capture measurements of different functional elements on the circular forming tool by changing the orientation of the sensor head next to the forming tool. During operation of the press, the arm can be travelled out of the moving parts of the forming press. To further reduce the measurement times of the fringe projection system, the inverse fringe projection principle has been adapted to the system to detect geometry deviations in a single camera image. Challenges arise from vibrations of both the forming machine and the positioning stages, which are transferred via the extended arm to the sensor head. Vibrations interfere with the analysis algorithms of both encoded and inverse fringe projection and thus impair measurement accuracy. To evaluate the impact of vibrations on the endoscopic system, results of measurements of simple geometries under the influence of vibrations are discussed. The effect of vibrations is imitated by displacing the measurement specimen during the measurement with a linear positioning stage. The concept of the new inspection system is presented within the scope of the TR 73 demonstrational sheet-bulk metal forming process. Finally, the capabilities of the endoscopic fringe projection system are shown by measurements of gearing structures on a forming tool compared to a CAD-reference. © 2015 SPIE.DFG/CRC/TR 7

Fast in-situ tool inspection based on inverse fringe projection and compact sensor heads

Inspection of machine elements is an important task in production processes in order to ensure the quality of produced parts and to gather feedback for the continuous improvement process. A new measuring system is presented, which is capable of performing the inspection of critical tool geometries, such as gearing elements, inside the forming machine. To meet the constraints on sensor head size and inspection time imposed by the limited space inside the machine and the cycle time of the process, the measuring device employs a combination of endoscopy techniques with the fringe projection principle. Compact gradient index lenses enable a compact design of the sensor head, which is connected to a CMOS camera and a flexible micro-mirror based projector via flexible fiber bundles. Using common fringe projection patterns, the system achieves measuring times of less than five seconds. To further reduce the time required for inspection, the generation of inverse fringe projection patterns has been implemented for the system. Inverse fringe projection speeds up the inspection process by employing object-adapted patterns, which enable the detection of geometry deviations in a single image. Two different approaches to generate object adapted patterns are presented. The first approach uses a reference measurement of a manufactured tool master to generate the inverse pattern. The second approach is based on a virtual master geometry in the form of a CAD file and a ray-tracing model of the measuring system. Virtual modeling of the measuring device and inspection setup allows for geometric tolerancing for free-form surfaces by the tool designer in the CAD-file. A new approach is presented, which uses virtual tolerance specifications and additional simulation steps to enable fast checking of metric tolerances. Following the description of the pattern generation process, the image processing steps required for inspection are demonstrated on captures of gearing geometries. © 2016 SPIE.DFG/CRC/TR 7

Statistical analysis of pulsed laser beam welding repair strategies of nickel-base superalloys

Pulse shaping is a suitable option to adapt energy input and temperature gradients in the base material during filler wire assisted laser beam welding, although the influence on the temperature-depended microstructure and γ’-precipitation strengthening of Nickel-base superalloys as well as the process windows are not sufficiently understood so far. Therefore, the influence of pulse parameters, preheating temperature, hot-wire heating power and wire feeding rate on the deposition process and the resulting macro- and microstructure of similar Nickel-base superalloy joints of Inconel 738 low carbon (IN 738 LC) with Haynes (HS 282) filler are investigated. The statistical analysis of the multidimensional parameter space with respect to the geometric properties of the weld seams (dilution, aspect ratio and wetting angle) and hot-crack formation revealed high reliability and predictability concerning individual choice of suitable parameters in field repair application

Single image geometry inspection using inverse endoscopic fringe projection

Fringe projection is an important technology for the measurement of free form elements in several application fields. It can be applied to measure geometry elements smaller than one millimeter. In combination with deviation analysis algorithms, errors in fabrication lines can be found promptly to minimize rejections. However, some fields cannot be covered by the classical fringe projection approach. Due to shadowing, filigree form elements on narrow or internal carrier geometries cannot be captured. To overcome this limitation, a fiberscopic micro fringe projection sensor was developed [1]. The new device is capable of resolutions of less than 15 m with uncertainties of about 35 m in a workspace of 3x3x3 mm. Using standard phase measurement techniques, such as Gray-code and cos-patterns, measurement times of over a second are too long for in-situ operation. The following work will introduce an approach of applying a new single image measuring method to the fiberscopic system, based on inverse fringe projection [2]. The fiberscopic fringe projection system employs a laser light source in combination with a digital micro-mirror device (DMD) to generate fringe patterns. Fiber optical image bundles (FOIB) are used as well as gradient-index lenses to project these patterns on the specimen. This advanced optical system creates high demands on the pattern generation algorithms to generate exact inverse patterns for arbitrary CAD-modelled geometries. Approaches of optical simulations of the complex beam path and the drawbacks of the limited resolutions of the FOIBs are discussed. Early results of inverse pattern simulations using a ray tracing approach of a pinhole system model are presented.DFG/CRC/TR 7