A vehicle manufacturer was experiencing problems during the assembly process of their closure panels. The major challenge occurred when the inner panel was attached to the outer, using a complex process called hemming. Although there were several variants to the process, the challenge occurred when a small flange on the outer panel was bent 180 degrees around the inner panel. The complex 3D shape of the panel added a further level of difficulty.
The hemming process involved a mixture of science and art. Poorly hemmed panels resulted in obvious vehicle quality shortcomings. Visually, the gaps were asymmetric or tapered. Functionally, wind noise, water leaks and closing effort were concerns. As a result, the closure panel fit is monitored very carefully to improve quality, minimize launch time and reduce inspection time.
Closure panel inspection process:
A part is loaded into a simple, inexpensive holding fixture
A robot scan cycle is initiated
Locating features are scanned along with the periphery of the panel
Point cloud information is compared to its corresponding CAD model and nominal feature information
Measurement results are evaluated to determine part quality
Results are written to a database for further analysis, reporting and archiving
Click here to go to Perceptron's Automated 3D Scanning solution page.
