FEBRUARY 28, 2008--In its plant in Hildesheim, Germany, the Robert Bosch company produces vehicle components such as starters and electric steering drives. Since January 2008, Bosch has used the AICON 3D Systems (Braunschweig, Germany; www.aicon.de) TubeInspect HD for the inspection of formed copper pins that are part of the starter engines.
At the Hildesheim plant, 8.5 million starter armatures are manufactured per year on seven production lines. A winding with 25 formed copper pins is part of each starter engine. The pins are made from continuous copper wire, cut and molded. Until now, it has not been possible to measure the geometries of these small pins. Even a manual gauge check has not proven useful.
This task is now performed by the AICON optical measuring system TubeInspect HD, specially designed for the measurement of small tubes and wires. The system can measure the pins precisely within 10 s. It is currently being used in all three shifts in serial production for sample checks. The results of the measurement are displayed color-coded so that the worker immediately sees if production is running smoothly. If there is any deviation, the worker can arrange for changes to be made instantly.
Daniel Gremmel, responsible for the production process at Bosch, explains: "We produce about 200 million pins a year. Therefore, we urgently needed an appropriate measuring system. With TubeInspect HD, we are now in the position to identify the slightest deviation of the pins to nominal data and correct it. Thus, we can drastically reduce the number of deficient pins and minimize the distortions in following processes. Additionally, the portable system is used for reverse engineering to measure sample parts. In cooperation with our construction department, we can optimize the production process even more."
