User-friendly optical metrology in production engineering

In order to tap the full potential of optical metrology, a comprehensive knowledge of the measuring system properties is of particular importance. The surface characteristics, the sensor's orientation towards the device under test and even the measuring frequency affect the result. Understanding the function of particular components of the device under test must also be seen as a basic prerequisite for the definition of the inspection features which will make up the inspection plan. The problems arising from the complex application of optical metrology, mainly in machine integration and embedment into existing quality management, will be the central theme of two research projects. An emphases of the technical development will be on the integration of optical metrology into machine tools and production-related coordinate measuring machines while ensuring consistency of data and on the conceptual design of software interfaces for user-friendly application of optical metrology. For that purpose, database-supported automatic generation of measurement and digitization procedures from CAD data will be implemented. This work will centre around the definition of variable sensor parameters and the allocation and configuration of these parameters according to the measurement task at hand. The technological basis for these studies are a conoscopic sensor mounted on a coordinate measuring machine and a scanning triangulation sensor integrated into a five axis machine tool.