ZEISS Industrial CTX ray Scanner Achieves Non Destructive Measurement and Inspection Malu Technology

Mondo Technology Updated on 2024-01-29

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Quality assurance for modern headlamps.

ZKW Lighting Systems develops and manufactures innovative, high-quality lighting systems for the automotive industry. However, new materials, complex designs, and tight tolerances make traditional measurements increasingly limited. zeiss metrotomX-ray industrial CT scannersIt opens up completely new possibilities for ZKW. In combination with the CT evaluation software GOM Volume Inspect Pro, non-destructive measurement and inspection can be realized, providing fast and comprehensive results. This saves development time and ensures a stable production process.

A modern headlamp consisting of 300 parts and a variety of lenses.

From light sources to high-definition projectors.

The headlamps and taillights serve two major functions. On the one hand, they are light sources and signal sources for drivers and other road users. On the other hand, they are a decisive part of the visual appearance of the vehicle. As the demand for functionality and aesthetics increases, so does the complexity of components. A headlamp has grown from 100 parts to 300 or more, and lenses have grown from one to multiple lenses for high-precision HD projection of light, which must be precisely positioned.

In addition, new optical materials such as silicon are placing new demands on production and quality assurance, and measurement tolerances are becoming more and more stringent. ZKW's high-definition lenses are accurate to 1/1000th of a millimeter. Bernhard Voglauer, Development Manager Lighting Test System at ZKW, says. "In order to achieve the ideal lighting effect, it is necessary to have the correct distance and optical axis, and to avoid any tilting and rotation. "The complexity of the illumination module and the difficulty of new materials such as silicon to collect data with X-ray industrial CT scanners or optical scanners made it difficult for ZKW to find a new approach to quality assurance.

Some defects can only be acquired after the parts have been assembled.

The ZEISS Metrotom X-ray industrial CT scanner exposes hidden imperfections.

ZKW must inspect the parts after assembly, otherwise it will not even be able to identify some anomalies**. During the validation process, ZKW pays special attention to how the optics are mounted to avoid potential damage in the future. For example, there have been some thermal stresses caused by light-emitting diodes that have caused wear and tear on the lens holder and lens. "If we only inspect individual components in the disassembled state, we will never be able to determine this point," Voglauer emphasizes. But these insights are crucial because they enable ZKW lighting systems to ensure a stable production process and deliver the quality that customers expect.

ZKW has long relied on X-ray technology to inspect and measure assembled modules or complete headlamps, but in the past, it took 3 to 4 weeks to do it by an external testing laboratory, which was not in line with ZKW's efficiency philosophy.

Since the installation of two Zeiss MetroTom X-ray industrial CT scanners, the final results can be obtained faster, which not only saves development time, but also reacts faster, and helps to reduce production costs.

The 500W high-performance tube and the high resolution of the 3K detector of the Zeiss MetroTom X-ray industrial CT scanner ensure fast results and clear image quality. Even when faced with complex designs with different types of materials, such as copper, aluminum, or plastics of different thicknesses and types, computed tomography systems can handle it all. The high performance of the CT system also enables the ZKW illumination system to scan more than 20 workpieces at the same time, in addition to scanning the headlamps as a whole, which is an important advantage.

Powerful combination of hardware and intuitive software.

Superior hardware and software collaboration provides more accurate and intuitive measurement results.

The ZKW illumination system realizes the assembly inspection of parts with the help of visual volume inspection, and the 3D volume and 2D cross-section slices are viewed to show whether the silicon light guide is in the correct position. The measurement of the components, including the verification of geometric tolerances, can also be done entirely in GOM Volume Inspect. Flight through** inside the component** as well as PDF measurement reports can be shared regularly with colleagues in the mold development so that they can work together to determine the required optimization measures. All test results from the measurement laboratory are entered into the ZEISS PIWEB and then integrated into all systems.

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