Patent ID: 7627163

Claim:
A system for imaging an elongated bar extending and moving along a longitudinal axis in a manufacturing process, said system comprising: 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 line scan cameras, where n is an integer 3 or greater, arranged so that a combined field of view thereof corresponds to said image belt; a light assembly configured to project light onto the surface of said bar such that a light intensity on the bar surface is substantially uniform along said image belt; and a computing unit coupled to said image acquisition assembly configured to receive image data for a plurality of image belts acquired by said image acquisition assembly as said bar moves along said longitudinal axis, said computing unit being further configured to process said image data to detect predetermined surface features of said bar.