These techniques are useful in a wide range of applications such as quality control on a production line, process optimization and reverse engineering.

Most of the measurement techniques we use are suitable even for applications in rough industrial environments.

Project examples:

• System for measuring shape and dimension of the cross-section of hot steel blocks in a rolling mill. The system is used after the first milling steps to minimize the extra material needed to be cut off the blocks later in the process. The system is based on laser plane triangulation with two lasers. The blocks are measured with accuracy better than 1 mm over a measurement area of 800 x 300 mm, at temperatures up to 1250 °C. The system was developed for Fundia Profiler in Mo i Rana in cooperation with SAAS Prosess AS
• System for controlling shape tolerances for extruded aluminium profiles for Hydro Aluminium. The system can be configured to measure size, shape, angles and other geometrical measures. The system is based on the vision software Scorpion from Tordivel and laser plane triangulation.

The systems we develop are based on accurate video cameras, laser plane triangulation and other methods from photogrammetry. The basic principle is that knowledge of the internal and external parameters of the camera and light source makes it is possible to reconstruct the spatial coordinates of the imaged object. When a laser plane is projected onto an object and observed from a different angle, it will appear as a stripe pattern that follows the shape of the object. The co-ordinates of the stripe can thus be used to compute the 3D surface geometry of the object. While the basic idea is simple, achieving high accuracy requires attention to detail and robustness.

For further information please contact Helene Schulerud.