AUTOMATION

HiNSPECT system (developed in cooperation with Centro Sviluppo Materiali Spa) analyzes wire rod and rolled bar surface during hot rolling process, automatically detecting any surface defects present on tested product. HiNSPECT device is based on High-power LED lighting and High-resolution acquisition system, which make possible to localize and identify surface defects, both delimited and diffuse on bar, as seams and laps, sliver and scabs, cracks (originated in conticaster) and periodic marks (essentially caused by rolling problems). The basic principle of optical 3D defect detection is that surface discontinuities (3 dimensional defects) alter the reflection pattern of light. By illuminating from different directions, the defects can be detected by a camera. To obtain 100% surface coverage, 4 cameras and a ring of solid state light are arranged in a modular way around the product. To reduce maintenance costs, the optical path used by acquisition lenses is kept clean by internal forced air flux by a custom air wiping system, in order to eliminate pollution due to dust and scales. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model was developed for validating the HiNSPECT design prior to actual manufacturing. Moreover, HiNSPECT is designed in three sizes to better fit Customers’ needs.