Delcam will formally announce an agreement with AICON 3D Systems GmbH, the developer of the MoveInspect HR optical measuring system, at the Control exhibition to be held in Stuttgart from 3rd to 6th May. Under the agreement, AICON will supply Delcam’s PowerINSPECT inspection software with its metrology system. The new combination of hardware and software will be demonstrated at Control by both AICON (stand 5206) and Delcam (stand 3514).
AICON is one of the world’s leading providers of optical camera-based 3D-measurement systems. The company, which was founded in 1990 by Dr.-Ing. Carl-Thomas Schneider and Dr.-Ing. Werner Bösemann, was a spin-off of the Braunschweig Technical University and the VW Group’s R&D unit. Today, it has 60 employees and a customer base that includes renowned automotive manufacturers and suppliers, plus companies from the aerospace, shipbuilding and renewable-energy industries.
MoveInspect HR is a portable coordinate-measurement machine, consisting of high-resolution digital cameras and the hand-operated MI.Probe. Data are collected by sampling defined measuring points with the probe. MoveInspect HR allows for total freedom of movement around the object being measured as the only requirement is a line of sight between the probe and the camera system. As a result, the system can be used for a wide variety of applications, from the geometric inspection of small components to the measurement of wind-turbine rotor blades.
The ability to use PowerINSPECT with MoveInspect HR offers many advantages. Firstly, before starting to collect any data, an inspection plan can be created in the Delcam software that details the measurements to be taken. Once this has been done, even inexperienced users will be guided smoothly through the measurement process.
During data collection, the MI.Probe acts as a central control unit. By pressing different buttons on the probe, the measuring process can be started, measurements taken or deleted, and the completion of the project signalled to the software. Each measurement is displayed by the software immediately, allowing extra measurements to be taken in any areas of concern.
Once the data collection is completed, various analyses can be run in PowerINSPECT to compare the results with part models from all major CAD formats. PowerINSPECT is able to manage alignment and positioning tasks as well. The software creates user-defined test reports, including graphical presentations of the results and highlighted deviations, that are easy to understand by all engineers, not just metrology specialists.
“For our users, it is essential that the analysis of metrology data can be completed quickly and easily. We are certain that our customers will benefit from the new interface to PowerINSPECT,” explained Dr.-Ing. Carl-Thomas Schneider, Managing Director of AICON. “We expect a lot of positive feedback from our customers for PowerINSPECT. In addition, companies that already have PowerINSPECT will be able to use the same inspection software with our measuring system, so minimising training costs and making it easier to compare results from different devices.”
