Patent ID: 11892417
Assignee: COLUMBIA INSURANCE COMPANY
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B  G

Claim 26:
27. A system for automatic inspection of piece parts in a production facility, the system comprising:
a driven production conveyor for serially transporting individual units of the piece parts;
an alignment module comprising two vertically actuatable rods, each having a respective actuator in communication with the processor, disposed adjacent to the production conveyor and mutually orthogonal to the direction of travel of the production conveyor, the rods adapted to be selectively moved upwards to prevent one of the individual units from proceeding along the production conveyor and to be selectively moved downwards to allow the one of the individual units to proceed along the production conveyor;
a movement dampening module for inhibiting movement of the individual units with respect to the production conveyor;
a diversion conveyor proximate and above a portion of the production conveyor;
a first three-dimensional laser scanner system for detecting characteristics of the individual units as each progresses on the production conveyor;
a second three-dimensional laser scanner system for detecting characteristics of the individual units proximate the ends thereof as each progresses on the production conveyor;
a database of standards for each of a plurality of characteristics of the piece parts;
a processor in communication with the first optical system and the database of standards for analyzing the detected characteristics of each of the individual units using the standards for one or more of the plurality of characteristics from the database;
at least one robotic manipulator intermediate the production conveyor and the diversion conveyor for selectively diverting ones of the individual units from the production conveyor onto the diversion conveyor in response to input from the processor having determined that at least one of the standards associated with a respective characteristic has not been met; and
a marking system configured for selectively marking the diverted ones of the individual units using one of plural chalks, each chalk having a unique respective color, the diverted ones of the individual units being marked in response to the processor analyzing the detected characteristics of each of the individual units using the standards for one or more of the plurality of characteristics
wherein the marking system is part of a piece part diverter assembly that further comprises the at least one robotic manipulator.