Light Pipe Inspection System

Develop a system to inspect light pipes used in both interior and exterior automotive applications.  They system shall measure the chromaticity and intensity of the light pipe a quality defined location based on product family.  In addition, the system shall be capable of inspecting the full product family. 

There were several challenges with this project that started with developing a repeatable method to hold / position the light pipes to be images with chromaticity meter and cameras.  Due to the flexible nature of the product and bend, forming the parts was required to get the proper orientation for repeatable results.  Since this was the first product of its kind to be tested, G2 Technologies worked with TE Connectivity to develop a robust test with the flexibility to incorporate changes because the initial tests criteria were a best guess at the start of the project.  

G2 Technologies developed the system using National Instruments embedded data acquisition and software technologies to create this industrial imaging solution.  Since flexibility was a major requirement of the system, G2 Technologies incorporated a peg board base plate design to provide positional flexibility for each light pipe.  Since the product family included a variety of light pipe shapes, we also incorporated removable nests to be used in various combinations to support the entire product family.  Chromaticity measurements were taken and quality defined locations at each end of the light pipe based on part number.  Light pipe intensity was measured across the light emitting surface in quality defined sections.  Each section was compared to the quality defined min, max and mean limits.  In addition, the system also created a global intensity min, max and mean which the light pipe must pass as well.   Once all tests were completed the complete data set was written to G2 Technologies dTRAK ™ system and the results were displayed on the screen for the operator.