Laser Scanning Techniques for Defect Recognition on Cutting Tools

Low-power laser scanning techniques provide a powerful tool for a diverse range of automatic inspection tasks. They are more suitable for high component feed rates, less sensitive to changes in ambient lighting and their output requires less processing power than CCD vision systems. In earlier papers [1,2], the authors have described typical automotive-related areas of application for laser scanning. The current paper describes recent work concerned with data capture and signal processing techniques necessary for fully automatic inspection systems with particular reference metal cutting machine tools.