A premium German automotive manufacturer asked us to develop an innovative new test bench for roof liners that would facilitate testing a multitude of different equipment options in terms of color, lighting and attachment parts.
Due to the static design of older generation test benches and the required on-site adaptation to specific test specimen, changes to the specimen during a production run often translated into considerable engineering, mechanical and software-related effort. That is why a new flexible scanning process based on the 3D-scan technology was to be used for the new generation, thus reducing the subsequent effort for changes to the specimen largely to software-related input.
Based on the specified requirements and with the experiences gained from various previous projects, engberts developed a customer-optimized solution. The use of new technology was in many respects uncharted territory but its application also raised new questions: When using the 3D-scanner, the attachment parts on the roof liner are scanned for presence and position from the bottom side. However, the support points for the roof liner obstruct the 3D-scanner’s field of view – this results in the risk that the attachment parts are not properly detected. In order to overcome this obstacle, the 3D-scanner is now moved below the roof liner by means of linear drives, thus eliminating that risk completely. We incorporated additional camera sensors for attachment parts located on the visible side of the roof liner, which also enable an accurate detection of colors. The cable harnesses installed in the roof liner itself are still contacted and checked by means of test modules.
Suitable for testing door panels, dashboards, and other components, which have various different attachment parts, e.g. foams, clips, including cable harnesses, that need to be tested.
Faulty and/or wrong components as well as inaccurately positioned or missing components are thus detected at the earliest possible time. Deficient end products/rejects are avoided and the highest quality standards can be met and documented. This type of final inspection allows suppliers to offer and guarantee the one hundred percent fulfillment of requested requirements. In principle and with due regard to problems inherent in systems, the 3D scan technology offers highly flexible test processes, which can largely be configured with the software. Expensive new developments or modifications of existing systems, which require costly hardware, can therefore be significantly reduced.
