Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20080063426A1/en
Timestamp: 2018-05-25 13:21:37
Document Index: 241134283

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 60', '§120', '§365', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'arts 43', 'arts 43']

US20080063426A1 - Apparatus and method for detecting surface defects on a workpiece such as a rolled/drawn metal bar - Google Patents
Apparatus and method for detecting surface defects on a workpiece such as a rolled/drawn metal bar Download PDF
US20080063426A1
US20080063426A1 US11931339 US93133907A US2008063426A1 US 20080063426 A1 US20080063426 A1 US 20080063426A1 US 11931339 US11931339 US 11931339 US 93133907 A US93133907 A US 93133907A US 2008063426 A1 US2008063426 A1 US 2008063426A1
US11931339
US7460703B2 (en )
Tzyy-Shuh Chang
Daniel Gutchess
Hsun-Hau Huang
OG TECHNOLOGIES Inc
G01N2201/0826—Fibre array at source, distributing
This application is a continuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/194,985 filed on Aug. 2, 2005 entitled “AN APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETECTING SURFACE DEFECTS ON A WORKPIECE SUCH AS A ROLLED/DRAWN BAR” (attorney docket no. 63,937-0142), now allowed, which in turn is a continuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/331,050 filed on Dec. 27, 2002 entitled “APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETECTING SURFACE DEFECTS ON A WORKPIECE SUCH AS A ROLLED/DRAWN METAL BAR” (attorney docket no. 63,937-0125), now U.S. Pat. No. 6,950,546, which in turn claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/430,549 filed Dec. 3, 2002 (attorney docket no. 63,937-0124), the disclosures of which are each hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
This application is also a continuation under 35 U.S.C. §120 and §§365(c) of PCT International Application No. PCT/2006/029884 filed Jul. 31, 2006 entitled “AN APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETECTING SURFACE DEFECTS ON A WORKPIECE SUCH AS A ROLLED/DRAWN METAL BAR” (attorney docket no. 63,937-0146), now pending, which in turn claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/194,985 filed on Aug. 2, 2005, the disclosures of which are each incorporated by reference in their entirety.
1. Relate Field
It is known to produce a metal bar by a mechanical process such as rolling or drawing. Such metal bar is different than a metal slab, bloom, or strip (hereafter referenced as Metal Flat) in that the cross section of such a bar has a smaller circumference/cross-section-area ratio such that the bar may rotate/twist about a longitudinal axis while moving forward longitudinally. For example, the bar shapes shown in FIG. 2 have a ratio of circumference to cross-sectional-area that is equal to or smaller than 4.25 when the cross sectional area is unity for the given shape. The shape, when taken in cross section, of such a metal bar may be a round shape (item 102), an oval shape (item 104), or a polygonal shape, as shown as a hexagon (item 106), octagon (item 108) or a square (item 110) in FIG. 2. Furthermore, such a metal bar is substantial in length. The length to circumference ratio is typically over 10 and the length to cross-section critical dimension (such as the diameter of a round bar or the side width a square bar) is over 30. A metal bar of this type is typically referred to as “long products” rather than “flat products” in the related industries. Rolling, drawing, extrusion and the like, as used in this disclosure and hereafter referenced as a Reducing Process, describe the ways for reducing the cross sectional dimensions of the metal workpiece through mechanical contact of the applicable tools, such as rollers and drawing dies, and the workpiece. These Reducing Processes are generally continuous, or substantially continuous, in nature.
First, in the case where inspection occurs while the metal bar products are “hot,” the temperature can be as high as 1,100° C., preventing the use of many inspection technologies. Second, the traveling speed of such a metal bar along its longitudinal axis as described above can be, presently, as fast as 100 m/s, several times faster than the speed of the fastest metal strip and nearly 100 times faster than a metal slab or bloom. Further, speed increases are expected in the near future in the range of 150 m/s to 200 m/s. Conventional inspection approaches simply cannot accommodate such high traveling speeds. Third, a high temperature metal bar such as described above is typically confined in a sectional conduit so that the bar will not cobble. Cobbling is an incident wherein a hot, high speed metal bar runs freely outside the conduit. The space, therefore, for any inspection device is extremely limited. Last, the length of such a metal bar, together with the fact of its longitudinal motion, makes the handling of the bar difficult and costly.
It is also known to employ electromagnetic devices, such as eddy current-based instruments, in the assessment of long products. Eddy-current based sensing systems are used for the detection of surface imperfections in the Reducing Process for in-line inspection. This approach has a high response rate, able to work in a high throughput production line environment (e.g., one kilometer of hot steel bars per minute). However, this approach has several drawbacks. First, it must be very close to the hot surface (typically less than 2.5 mm). Accordingly, it is vibration sensitive and temperature sensitive. Moreover, it is not quantitative in the sense that it is NOT able to describe the nature of the detected defect. Finally, eddy-current approaches are incapable of detecting certain types of defects. As a result, the inspection outcome from eddy current devices is not used by the metal industry for a deterministic judgment on the quality of a specific product. Rather, the output of eddy current-based instruments is only used for qualitative analysis, such as “this batch of steel bars is generally worse than the batch produced last week,” in the Reducing Process for process control purposes, for example, only.
Other inspection technologies used in the art include magnetic penetrant, circumflux, and infrared imaging with induction heating. The use of these technologies, however, is restricted. First, these techniques can only be used on “cold” metal bars. That is, these technologies cannot be used for in-line inspection during or shortly after hot rolling applications. Also, the metal bars must be descaled before inspection. In addition, the use of magnetic penetrant is messy and cumbersome. This process typically relies on human observation with ultra violet illumination, instead of automatic imaging and detection. The circumflux device is an eddy-current based unit, designed with a rotating detection head. Such rotating mechanism limits the application of this device in metal bar inspection with high traveling speeds, typically used at about 3 m/s. Such device is also expensive due to the moving sensing head design. The combination of induction heating and infrared imaging is based on the fact that induction current is only formed on the surface of the metal bar, and the surface defects on the metal bar will result in higher electrical resistance. Therefore, the spots with surface defects will heat up faster than other areas. There are issues associated with this approach in that (a) such faster heat up is a transient effect and thus timing (time to take images) is very critical; and (b) infrared sensors are not available for very high data rates and therefore cannot support metal bars with high traveling speed.
FIG. 13D is a diagrammatic, perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 13B, showing a protective tube.
2. Capable of working for metal bars in-line at a bar temperature up to 1,650° C.;
With continued reference to FIG. 1, a workpiece or object under inspection, such as an elongated metal bar 16 extending along a longitudinal axis, is shown moving along its longitudinal direction 20 at a speed up to 100 m/s or faster while bar 16 is going through a reducing process. The metal bar 16 may be formed from one selected from the group comprising steel, stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, nickel, copper, bronze, or any other metal, and/or their alloys. The bar 16 may be solid or hollow. Typically such metal bar 16 is traveling inside a conduit, as shown in greater detail as conduit 24 in FIG. 5, not shown in FIG. 1. A gap 26, shown in FIG. 5, is defined between two adjacent conduits 24, and is typically very small, for example between about 20 to 50 mm taken in the axial direction for high-speed transit of metal bars 16. It should be understood that metal bar 16 may be at an elevated temperature, for example as hot as 1,100° C. for a hot rolling process. It should also be appreciated that metal bar 16, given its geometry, is prone to twist/rotate about its longitudinal axis uncontrollably in the direction indicated by arrow 21 in FIG. 1 when it travels in direction 20. This possibility for uncontrollable rotation has, among other items, presented problems for conventional imaging systems. As will be described in greater detail below, the present invention overcomes this problem to provide an imaging system that is robust to twisting and/or rotation.
In order to detect surface defects on bar 16, an imaging system in accordance with the present invention must be provided having certain features, as described below. With continued reference to FIG. 1, the imaging system includes an image acquisition assembly that preferably comprises n imaging cameras 12, wherein n is an integer 3 or greater. The parameter n is selected to be three or higher based on an analysis set forth below. Each camera 12 is arranged so as to cover a circumferential span of at least 120° in order to image the entire surface of bar 16. That is, the image acquisition assembly has a composite or combined field of view configured to image the entire circumference of the surface of the bar 16 to define an image belt 18. As further described below, the image acquisition assembly is further configured to produce image data based on the image belt 18. The analysis for the parameter n for the number of cameras will now be set forth.
As shown in FIG. 6, a regular lens 14 associated with camera 12 will have a viewing angle (field of view) formed by the two tangential lines of sight 28 extending from a focal point of lens 14 to the surface of bar 16. This viewing angle, when projected onto a non-flat surface, such as the one shown in FIG. 6, will result in a circumferential coverage 30 that is less than 180° and will be insufficient to cover 360° with only two lens/camera units where the lens are not telecentric.
FIG. 7 shows an arrangement with a telecentric lens 14′. A true telecentric lens, which collects lines of sight that are in parallel, even if used, would not practically provide for a two-lens/camera system because of arc length variation. In particular, the lines of sight 28 are parallel with the addition of telecentric lens 14′ to lens 14. In this case, the circumferential coverage 30 is 360°. Theoretically speaking, the entire surface of round shaped bar 16 can be covered using only two lens/camera units. However, as alluded to above, a problem of non-uniform pixel sizes arises.
S=p/cos(θ) EQN (1)
θ=arcsin(y/r), in which y≦r and r is the radius of the metal bar 16. EQN (2)
From FIG. 8 one can learn that as y→r, θ→90°. As θ→90°, S the arc length 36 will approach infinity based on EQN (1). In reality, S will still be a finite number. However, S will be substantially (several times) larger than p, the pixel size. That is, the image resolution in this area will deteriorate so much that this approach is infeasible. Note that the same arc length analysis can be applied to the bottom half in FIG. 8, in which case y→−r.
With three cameras, θ can be established at 60°. When θ=60°, S the arc length 36 (at the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions in FIG. 8) is only 2 p, an acceptable and controllable deterioration in image resolution. If better image resolution is desired, four cameras or five cameras, or even more may be used (i.e., the parameter n referred to above can be an integer equal to four, five or greater). All the lens 14/camera 12 combinations, as illustrated in FIG. 1, are preferably arranged such that all such lens/camera combinations are positioned along a circular path 22 that is concentric to the circular geometry of the exemplary metal bar 16 such that the working distances, the distance from each lens 14 to the nearest metal surface, are the same or nearly the same for all the lens/camera combinations. Note that the path 22 may stay circular if the metal bar is non-circular, say a hexagon, for the purpose of generally serving the same manufacturing line. One that is skilled in the art can appreciate that the path 22 can, if desired, be made to conform to the actual bar geometry.
In order to accommodate the potentially very high traveling speed of the metal bar 16, high data rate cameras 12 are preferably used. The cameras 12 in the system are thus preferably digital cameras, with digital outputs to computing unit 10. This digital output format is desirable to accommodate the harsh environment for signal fidelity. This digital format image signal may be received by the computing unit 10 through standard communication channels such as IEEE-1394 (also known as FireWire), Camera Link or USB ports, or a special interface known as a frame grabber. Each camera 12 preferably is able to generate at least 10,000,000 (or 10 Mega) pixels per second such that a defect feature that is 0.025 mm×0.5 mm can be identified. It should be appreciated, however, that to detect larger features, a reduced resolution, and hence reduced data rate (in pixels per second) would be required. Line scan cameras are preferred even though progressive (non-interlaced) area scan cameras can be used when the bar 16 is not traveling fast. Line scan cameras have an advantage over area scan cameras in that line scan cameras only require a line of illumination, instead of an area of illumination. This will simplify the illumination complexity caused by the non-flat surface. In the case of using line scans, all the cameras in FIG. 1 will be aligned such that their imaging lines will be forming a circumferential ring, an image belt 18, on bar 16. This alignment is necessary to address the issue of twist and/or rotation (item 21). If this alignment is not held, the twisting or rotating motion can result in incomplete coverage of the bar surface.
“incident angle=reflective angle”EQN (3)
EQN (3) is preferably used in a preferred embodiment to maximize the reflected light that is captured by the plurality of cameras 12. The line lights 6 will each emit the light ray 40, which is boosted by a booster 8 and projected onto the surface of the metal bar 16. The light ray 40 is reflected to the path 42 and received by the lens 14 and eventually by the camera 12. Note that in FIG. 9, the metal bar 16 travels in the direction 20. The projected and reflected light rays 40 and 42 form an angle 44, equally divided by the normal line to the surface of the metal bar 16. This angle 44 must be as small as possible, due to the illumination problem described above that is associated with a non-flat surface, as illustrated in FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, the light line 18′ and the image line 18 will not overlap on a non-flat surface. The ideal case is for the angle 44 in FIG. 9 to be 0°. As this is only possible by using a beam splitter, it is less practical to do so when the system is light starving due to inherent power losses imposed by using a beam splitter for example. The highest efficiency a beam splitter can achieve is 25%, assuming a 0% transmission loss. Therefore, the angle 44 is preferably selected so as to be reasonably small, such as 1° or in its neighborhood. If necessary, a reflective mirror 38 can be used to assist in packing the camera and the light for a small angle 44. This is another reason to use line scan cameras in this application. Line scan cameras only need an image path 42 with a small width, such as from 5 to 30 microns. The angle 44 can be kept very small with this small image path feature.
FIG. 10 shows in greater detail a portion of the lighting setup of FIG. 9. As mentioned above, the angle 44 will not be 0 degrees unless a beam splitter is used. Therefore, each line light 6 must have a substantial width W (item 41 in FIG. 10). One can see that in FIG. 10 the metal bar 16 has a centerline 46. The line 48 indicates the 60° mark on the bar surface, starting from the tangential boundary on the left hand side of the bar, as shown in FIG. 10, and increasing to the right. One camera must be able to image the metal bar 16 for the upper half to this 60° mark line 48. In a three-camera embodiment, the above calculations apply. If more cameras are used, the line 48 may represent 45° for a four-camera system, at 36° for a five-camera system, and so forth. If designed symmetrically, the camera can also image the bottom half of the metal bar 16 for 60°. In order to achieve this coverage, the light line width W must be greater than a threshold based on:
W≧2·r·(1−cos 60°)·sin α EQN (4)
in which r is the bar radius and a is the incident angle (half of the angle 44). The 60° can be replaced by another angle if a different numbers of cameras other than three are used in the inventive imaging system. This notion is further illustrated in FIG. 11, in which the image line 42 is clearly curved differently, yet covered by the light line 40. In other words, the image acquisition assembly (e.g., the plurality of cameras in the preferred embodiment) captures an image belt 18 having a first predetermined width over the entire circumference of the surface of the bar 16. The line light assembly (e.g., the plurality of line light sources in the preferred embodiment) projects a light line belt onto the surface of the bar 16 having a second predetermined width. The line light assembly is disposed and aligned relative to the image acquisition assembly such the image belt falls within the light line belt. Through the foregoing, the problem of non-flat surfaces is overcome.
Additionally, these line lights must be positioned such that the light intensity as reflected from a point on the bar surface to the camera that covers that point is uniform for all the points on the image belt 18 (FIG. 1). A more detailed illustration is shown in FIG. 12. All the illumination must follow the law described in EQN (3). FIG. 12 illustrates this arrangement for one camera. It should be appreciate that such arrangement may be duplicated for other cameras used in the inventive imaging system. Based on EQN (3), the angle formed by the incident light ray 40 and the reflected light ray 42 must be evenly divided by the surface normal 50. As in FIG. 12, an illuminator 52 preferably includes a curved surface. Illuminator 52 is a device whose emitted light rays (perpendicular to this curved surface at the point of emission) will be reflected by the surface of the bar 16 to the imaging sensor in camera 12 and lens 14 based on EQN (3). Note that curve 52 need not be a circular curve. This curve 52 depends on the distance between the curve 52 and the surface of the bar 16 (i.e., target). Curve 52 may not be a smooth curve if the bar is not circular. Even though an illuminator with curve 52 can be made with modem technologies, such illuminator can only be used with bars 16 at the designated diameter. In some applications it is not practical. An alternative is to simulate such illumination effect with an array of light lines 6 and 8, as shown in FIG. 12. Each combination of light line/booster can be made adjustable such that its direction can be re-pointed as shown by item 54 to accommodate targets with different diameters. The light line approach is also beneficial in the case that the bar 16 is not circular.
FIG. 13A is a simplified schematic and block diagram view of another embodiment of a system in accordance with the present invention. This embodiment provides a very easily serviceable cassette containing reflective elements that are packaged in a relatively small space (e.g., 20 to 50 mm) so as to be operable in the small access gap 26 (best shown in FIG. 5) with the workpiece/moving bar 16 being contained and longitudinally moving in direction 20 through conduit 24 or the like. FIG. 13A shows line light assembly 6, optical booster 8, camera 12, lens 14, reflective mirror 38 for the incident/illuminated light ray 40, a second reflective mirror 38′ for the reflected (image) light ray 42 representing the image of the bar surface, and a protection device such as a tube 43 having a first part 43 a and a second part 43 b spaced apart and offset from the first part 43 a along axis “A” to define an access space 43 c. The protection parts 43 a, 43 b are configured to protect the relatively fragile imaging and illumination components from the heat, shock (e.g., contact) and other contamination (e.g., particles) originating from moving bar 16, which may be at an elevated temperature (as described above). Parts 43 a and 43 b may be circumferential. Aperture 43 c may be configured in size and shape to allow entry/exit of illumination light rays 40 and reflected (image) light rays 42. Protection tube 43 may be formed of metal or other durable material suitable for segregating hot steel bar 16 from the rest of the inventive system.
The vacuum source (pump 72) operates through the conduit 66′, vacuum chamber 68, and finally via suction inlet 70 to apply vacuum (and thus substantially evacuate) the space proximate the access space 43 c, including any small, airborne contaminants 62.
FIG. 13E is a diagrammatic, side view of the embodiment of FIG. 13B, with the cassette 152 in the installed position. FIG. 13E shows image directing mirrors 38′ in alignment with lens 14 and camera 12. FIG. 13E also shows the camera viewing gap 43 c defined in between protection tube portions 43 a and 43 b.
FIG. 13E further shows a side view of the cross-sectioned vacuum end effector 64 of FIG. 13D. FIG. 13E shows as a side plan view the interior vacuum chamber 68 and the vacuum suction inlet 70. Inlet 70 faces generally radially inwardly toward, as well as circumscribing the perimeter of the access space 43 c.
Vacuum end effector 64 may be formed using conventional construction techniques and materials (e.g., metal or other durable materials). Vacuum connector 66 and conduit 66′ may also comprise conventional construction techniques and materials known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Additionally, the vacuum pump 72 may also comprise conventional apparatus known to those of ordinary skill in the art. For example, the vacuum pump 72 may be a venturi or electrical type or other type known in the art.
Those skilled in the art shall also appreciate that covering (e.g., inspection of) a portion of the bar surface less than the entire circumference may be useful enough for statistical process control purpose in the reducing process line.
One can also understand that if the metal bars are at an elevated temperature, an optical filter can be used in conjunction with the lens such that only certain wavelengths in the reflected light rays 42 (in FIG. 12) will be used to carry the surface information of the metal bars. Such wavelengths are those not emitted or not dominantly emitted by the metal bars at the said elevated temperature. For metal bars at or colder than 1,650° C., the wavelength 436 nm can be used. In this case, an interference filter at 436 nm will be used with the lens. This wavelength can vary with the temperature. If the temperature decreases, longer wavelength can be used.
In a yet still further embodiment, the computing unit 10 is configured to maintain a running record of the detected defects, including (i) a respective location of each detected defect relative to a “start” position, such as the leading end, on the bar 16 being manufactured through processes that mechanically reduce the cross-sectional area of the metal bars; (ii) a respective notation of the nature of the detected defect, such as the size, shape, contrast; and (iii) optionally, an actual image of the site of and surrounding the detected defect. The record may be useful to the supplier/manufacturer, for example, for determining an up-front discount, and may be provided to the customer (e.g., on a diskette or other electronic means) for use in further processing, for example, what portions of the bar to avoid or do follow-up work on.
an image acquisition assembly having a field of view configured to image a first predetermined width over a circumference of a surface of said bar while said bar is moving to define an image belt and produce image data corresponding thereto, said image acquisition assembly including n digital cameras, where n is an integer 3 or greater, arranged so that a combined field of view thereof corresponds to said image belt, said cameras comprising line scan cameras;
a light line assembly configured to project a light line belt having a second predetermined width onto the surface of said bar, said light line assembly being disposed relative to said image acquisition assembly such that said image belt is within said light line belt, said light line assembly being further configured such that a light intensity is substantially uniform along said image belt;
a protection device comprising a tube having a first part and a second part spaced apart and offset from said first part along said longitudinal axis to define an access space, said tube being disposed intermediate the elongated bar and said image acquisition means and said light line assembly, said access space being configured in size and shape to allow (i) entry of said light line belt and (ii) exit of said image belt;
a contaminant reduction mechanism configured to reduce the presence of contaminants in the space proximate said access space of said protection tube; and
2. The system of claim 1 wherein said contaminants comprise one of mill scale powder and water mist.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein said contaminant reduction mechanism comprises a vacuum end effector having an outer wall defining an interior vacuum chamber, said end effector further including a suction inlet located proximate said access space of said protection device, said vacuum end effector being configured to be connected to a vacuum source.
4. The system of claim 3 wherein said vacuum end effector is a ring shape having a ring axis that is substantially coincident with said longitudinal axis, said suction inlet being configured in size and shape to circumscribe the perimeter of said access space.
5. The system of claim 4 wherein said vacuum end effector is substantially rectangular in radial cross-section, said suction inlet being formed by removal of a radially-inward corner of said vacuum end effector.
6. The system of claim 3 wherein said vacuum end effector comprises a pair of half-ring shape body portions.
7. The system of claim 3 wherein said vacuum end effector comprises a plurality of straight bars.
8. The system of claim 3 wherein said contaminant reduction mechanism further includes a conduit for connecting said source of vacuum to said vacuum end effector, said source of vacuum comprising a vacuum pump.
9. The system of claim 8 wherein said vacuum pump is a venturi type.
US11931339 2002-12-03 2007-10-31 Apparatus and method for detecting surface defects on a workpiece such as a rolled/drawn metal bar Active US7460703B2 (en)
US43054902 true 2002-12-03 2002-12-03
US10331050 US6950546B2 (en) 2002-12-03 2002-12-27 Apparatus and method for detecting surface defects on a workpiece such as a rolled/drawn metal bar
US11194985 US7324681B2 (en) 2002-12-03 2005-08-02 Apparatus and method for detecting surface defects on a workpiece such as a rolled/drawn metal bar
PCT/US2006/029884 WO2007016544A3 (en) 2005-08-02 2006-07-31 An apparatus and method for detecting surface defects on a workpiece such as a rolled/drawn metal bar
US11931339 US7460703B2 (en) 2002-12-03 2007-10-31 Apparatus and method for detecting surface defects on a workpiece such as a rolled/drawn metal bar
US12236886 US7627163B2 (en) 2002-12-03 2008-09-24 Apparatus and method for detecting surface defects on a workpiece such as a rolled/drawn metal bar
US20080063426A1 true true US20080063426A1 (en) 2008-03-13
US7460703B2 US7460703B2 (en) 2008-12-02
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US11931339 Active US7460703B2 (en) 2002-12-03 2007-10-31 Apparatus and method for detecting surface defects on a workpiece such as a rolled/drawn metal bar
US12236886 Active US7627163B2 (en) 2002-12-03 2008-09-24 Apparatus and method for detecting surface defects on a workpiece such as a rolled/drawn metal bar
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