Intsoft Tech’s client, a CPU heat sink manufacturer purchased our machine vision system last year to measure flatness and screen heat sinks with flatness that exceeds the tolerance range for secondary processing to prevent these unqualified products from flowing out. These heat sinks that exceed the flatness tolerance requirements will have larger gaps when they are attached to the CPU, resulting in insufficient heat dissipation capacity and CPU burnout.
In the past, they have used Coordinate Measuring Machine and manual feeler gauge measurement to screen for products that exceed tolerance, but these two methods are very inefficient. The measurement accuracy of the coordinate measuring machine is sufficient, but the cost is very high and the efficiency is low. With the current volume of heat sink production, at least 20 Coordinate Measuring Machines are required to work simultaneously to maintain product inspection requirements, which will cost at least $1 million. However, manual inspection is inefficient and inaccurate. These tolerances of about 0.1mm require people to observe very attentively, and long-term work will consume a lot of energy, resulting in missed inspections and errors.
The use of machine vision systems greatly reduces costs, is highly efficient, and the detection accuracy can be set according to requirements. The detection speed of 0.5 piece per second is also more than ten times that of the Coordinate Measuring Machine. Intsoft Tech’s flatness detection system has completely replaced the customer company’s previous detection method.
This time, Intsoft Tech’s engineers came to the customer’s factory because they changed to another product measurement. The shape and measurement requirements are completely different from the previous ones, and we need to debug on site. Although we can operate remotely, they have many employees who need to learn how to operate this machine. They decided to invite Intsoft Tech’s technicians to conduct system training to ensure that employees can operate the machine vision system independently.
Currently, they are going to measure a special aluminum heat sink. There are 35 30mm high bosses on the measured surface, which is different from the previous detection surface, which is completely flat. The heat sink can only be judged as qualified if these 35 bosses are in the same plane and the flatness tolerance is within the range of 0.1mm. The basic principle of Intsoft Tech’s flatness measurement system is as follows: Press the start button, and the robot arm will drive the industrial camera to scan the heat sink placed in the measurement area from left to right, obtain the flatness value of each boss, and then compare it with the reference surface to see if there is a boss that is 0.1mm or more below or above the reference surface. If so, a red NG signal will be fed back, and the boss that exceeds the tolerance will be highlighted on the screen. The inspector will mark the heat sink according to the highlight signal and make notes for rework.
Intsoft Tech technicians demonstrated the entire operation process step by step, from equipment start-up to image acquisition, and then to setting measurement parameters. Under the guidance of the technicians, the participants personally operated to ensure that each employee could master each step.
In this process, the technicians emphasized the adjustment of the light source and camera position to ensure the best measurement image; the setting of the reference surface, the reference surface can be set by the product to be measured in the future, and the after-sales personnel do not need to go to the site, as long as these parameters are reset according to the actual situation. The technicians introduced the troubleshooting methods of common faults and the daily maintenance skills of the equipment. Employees learned how to identify possible problems with the system, such as blurred images and inaccurate measurements, and learned about appropriate solutions. Employees observed and actively participated, and the training atmosphere was lively.
Customer management expressed satisfaction with the training results and looked forward to further improving product quality control capabilities through employee learning and practice. They said they will continue to maintain close contact with Intsoft Tech Company and seek more technical support and training opportunities.
