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Laser radar heralds a paradigm shift in automotive metrology

By Bhalchandra Chorghade, Editor, CNCTimes.com

Nikon Metrology, a division of the Japanese multinational Nikon Corporation, has been advocating and implementing automated, absolute measurement on the shop floor for many years. One product that it offers is the Laser Radar. The latest version, APDIS, is a significant step forward in the evolution of the technology and is especially well suited to use in the automotive industry.

The Laser Radar can trace its roots back to the early 1990s. By the early 2000s it was being adopted by aerospace industry OEMs and their supply chains to assist in the manufacture and assembly of airframe structures. It was highly successful due to its automated, non-contact acquisition of traceable, accurate data in absolute coordinates over long ranges and across a wide field of view, without the need for surface preparation.

Due to these attributes, the automotive industry identified opportunities to use Laser Radar as an automated coordinate measuring system. After initial implementation at various car plants, Nikon Metrology began to develop the technology further to make it even more effective for use in the sector based on consultation and feedback from those early adopters and the wider automotive industry.

The result was the launch in late 2020 of APDIS. Its introduction perfectly illustrates the benefits of close collaboration that Nikon Metrology seeks with its customers and partners in the development of metrology solutions. In this case, APDIS improves on the core features which made the Laser Radar a valuable tool in automotive metrology. Faster measurements, easier handling, updated robot mounting and an improved user interface all create a better product for automotive applications whilst maintaining the high accuracy, absolute, non-contact measurement methodology.

Typical automotive manufacturing plant is unlike the clean room environment found in aircraft manufacture, but APDIS is able to cope with a wide range of environmental and shop floor conditions. Furthermore, vehicle manufacture is highly automated, so the metrology system also has to be able to keep pace by providing rapid, automated data acquisition. With the APDIS Laser Radar it is possible to acquire dozens of feature measurements from a single position quickly and efficiently. This benefits robot mounted, fully automated applications by greatly simplifying programming and modifications leading to lean and agile commissioning.

https://metrology.news/laser-radar-heralds-a-paradigm-shift-in-automotive-metrology/

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