At the Euroblech trade fair, evopro systems engineering AG is showing its evoTrQ track & trace system for the first time in combination with its new, inhouse-developed evoVIU smart cameras. The new camera technology adds several new functions to evopro’s continuous blank tracking system for press blanking lines.
From now on, functions like inline measurement of blank dimensions, embossed part ID reading and crack detection during deep-drawing are available to the line operator. Several European automotive producers already use the evoTrQ track & trace system for continuous tracking of blanks along all process stages in the press shop.
With “smart coils” becoming increasingly popular, more and more strips come with barcodes printed on their surfaces. Installed at the uncoiler, the new evoVIU cameras read these barcodes as the coils are being fed into a laser blanking line. This makes it possible to assign material data, such a thickness, roughness and tensile strength, with an accuracy of one meter to the entire coil length.
Towards the Smart Coil
In addition to this, the new smart cameras developed by evopro for optical inline control can also be used in downstream production stages for a variety of functions, such as reading embossed part IDs, inspecting the blanks for cracks, checking the blanks’ dimensions and verifying that cut-outs are in the correct position. evoTrQ relates the data captured by an evoVIU camera to the individual blanks, processes the data for visualization and stores them for analysis purposes.
Karl-Heinz Fröhning, Manager Sales at evopro, sees great opportunities to move digitalization in blanking lines forward:
“With our new cameras and the advanced image processing capabilities and sophistication of algorithms they provide, we can unlock additional digitalization potential for the processes in a blanking line. We are able to capture virtually all parameters visible to the cameras in addition to the measured strength and roughness values. Line operators can instantly react in the event that a blank’s dimensions or the positions of cut-outs are not correct, or cracks are detected. Integrating the image data into evoTrQ also makes it possible for them to see at a glance whether other blanks are affected. If necessary, they can remove individual sections or all blanks cut from a coil to prevent them from being further processed. This saves time and money.”
The new camera is designed for wireless integration into higher-level systems via WiFi or 5G. As a battery-powered system, the camera can also be installed in places without a power supply, as, for example, at crossbar feeders.
