The recent rapid rise in 3D scanning technologies has made laser scanners an increasingly essential tool for manufacturing facilities moving towards Industrie 4.0. By adopting 3D scanners for automating quality control, manufacturers can save time, resources, and open space for innovation through continual improvement. 

Quality control with 3D scanning 

3D laser scanning technologies are increasingly used for quality control operations within industrial settings. 3D scanners and software accuracy capture the geometry of small and large objects to construct a 3D digital replication. Manufacturers use 3D point clouds and meshes to speed up their quality control processes, as machines outperform humans when comparing datasets that accurately measure the sizes of castings or for quick quality checks of manufactured end products. As such, 3D scanners make metrology tools obsolete and leave more time for manufacturers to devote to other tasks.

Let’s have a quick look at the two main types of scanners used in industrial settings: handheld and fixed scanners.

Handheld scanners

The term “handheld scanners” is self-explanatory, as the scanners are handheld. Being lightweight and small, handheld scanners offer portability and speed, enabling capturing of objects in 3D through continuous scanning, without the need for a rotating platform to move the scanned object so that it can be captured from all angles: being handheld and with no cables or wires attached to it, the user is free to move the scanner around the object.

With regards to quality control in industrial settings, handheld scanners help ensure that castings meet expected values. For example, a 3D scanner is able to capture a casting digitally and compare it to the original CAD files: precision casting is an advanced process in machinery manufacturing where ferrous and nonferrous metal parts are produced with the aid of 3D laser scanning. The same process can be applied for tooling, where the scanner helps to ensure that the shape of the forms that are used for tooling is still accurate after substantial usage.

Fixed Scanners

Stationary or fixed 3D scanners are mounted to a robotic arm or tripod and therefore offer less flexibility and portability compared to a handheld scanner. For small objects, an optional rotary table facilitates the scanning process so that the scanner can capture a scan until the entire object is scanned at various angles. Scanners require processing software to create 3D representations of the scanned objects. The software processes the data and merges the scans together during the scanning process or after collecting all scans. In that case, individual scans are stitched together at a later moment to a single, digital 3D model.

Manufacturers use automated 3D scanners in either a pre-programmed or without a pre-programmed mode. Scanning with a pre-programmed mode is useful for capturing many similar objects, whereas automated scanning without a pre-programmed mode is to be preferred for objects that differ in size and shape. 

3D Scanning and Industrie 4.O

Why 3D scanning is important for Digital Twinning and Industrie 4.0

This capacity of laser scanners to accurately replicate objects in 3D makes them important for the creation of digital twins. A digital twin combines a real-life object, a digital copy of that object, and a connection between the two so that changes in the real-world object are translated to its digital representation and is always up-to-date. Bringing in Artificial Intelligence, the next step is the creation of a self-managing data capture and maintenance process so that a digital twin is able to manage itself.

As an example of this, laser scanners could play a significant role in the realization of Industrie 4.0, or the fourth industrial revolution, where the manufacturing process is controlled by Artificial Intelligence and machines that are able to make decisions based on continuous data capture by multiple devices that communicate with other. 

Recent advances in sensor technology mean that all aspects of a factory can be under real-time continuous monitoring, generating an enormous amount of data. Advanced analytics provide the potential to convert these large datasets into actionable insights in real-time. Laser scanners could fulfill the need of capturing such data sets, which can be brought into data pipelines and analyzed along with other relevant datasets. 

Challenges and opportunities of 3D scanning in manufacturing

In an ideal world, the availability of relevant data and the systems to analyze would make makes automation of some or all of the production process within a manufacturing facility possible, offering control to operations of all sizes to understand its functions to a granular level without additional management or complex quality control.

However, we’re not there yet. To start off with laser scanning technology, laser scanners still need to be operated by humans in some way. The latest breakthrough in scanning operations is remotely operated scanning, which is a step in the right direction as a scanner can be operated without a human being physically near a scanner, but this is still far removed from laser scanners being self-operating. 

The same goes for processing, visualizing, and interpreting scanning data. Humans need to supervise the data capture, processing, and visualization process before they can take action. A further complication for managing a manufacturing process in real-time is that it takes a considerable amount of time to process data after capture, as scanning datasets are large and therefore take time to process. For data interpretation and decision-making based on data interpretation, human interaction is also still necessary.

3D scanners are already successfully used in many manufacturing processes as they can very accurately duplicate physical objects and simulate how devices have performed over time. This makes laser scanners useful for capturing data that is used for predicting future performance and possible failure. As such, they are great test cases for other industry verticals that want to explore the opportunities of digital twins and prototyping digital twins before building any physical version. 

Conclusion

3D laser scanning technologies are being used more and more for quality control operations within industrial settings. These can be handheld or fixed, desktop scanners that offer various degrees of flexibility. Additionally, because laser scanners can replicate physical objects in high detail, they can be used as data capture devices that fuel AI-based predictions, paving the way for the realization of Industrie 4.0. 

References and further reading

https://www.manufacturing.net/industry40/article/13227099/the-future-of-3d-scanning-and-its-impact-on-industrial-quality-control

https://gomeasure3d.com/blog/stationary-or-handheld-3d-scanner/ 

https://www.networkworld.com/article/3219847/seeing-double-why-iot-digital-twins-will-change-the-face-of-manufacturing.html

https://www.single-pair-ethernet.com/sites/default/files/2021-02/202012spe-wp-usecasesv10en.pdf