The MoveInspect portable measuring system.
Measuring finished components is a daily routine for machine shops and other manufacturers. However, especially in production, the conditions are less than ideal for conducting measurements: Machines and handling equipment cause vibrations, and the area designated for measurement usually is not protected from the production setting. Under these circumstances there is no assurance that the object to be measured is standing motionless while data acquisition is running.
Yet, “motionless-ness” is exactly what laser trackers and measuring arms, and similar measuring systems require for generating high-precision measurement results. Even minimal movements of the workpiece or the measuring device would lead to inaccurate results. If the object or the measuring system changes position during data collection, the whole measuring process has to be restarted.
The MoveInspect system introduced recently by AICON 3D Systems is a portable measuring system that works with high-resolution digital cameras and a hand-held probe. Thanks to its “dynamic referencing” function, MoveInspect is able to compensate movements.
This means that movements of the object or the measuring device during the measurement do not affect the results. The user receives reliable data in any circumstance. Because the system uses optical reference points, all measurements are automatically transformed into the object-coordinate system. Therefore, MoveInspect “knows” all the time where the object and the cameras are located in space.
“Dynamic Referencing” offers an additional advantage: The user can benefit from the functionality by relocating the cameras during the measuring process and then simply continuing the measurement. Thus the operator can cover a large measuring range with little equipment. This is particularly useful for large measuring objects and allows a comfortable and fast measuring procedure.
