Download MACHINE VISION AND OBJECT SORTING

ABSTRACT
Automation Engineering
D.P. in Automation Engineering
Author
Bikarna Pokharel
Year 2013
Subject of Bachelor’s thesis
Machine Vision And Object Sorting. PLC
Communication with LabVIEW using OPC
ABSTRACT
The main objective of this thesis was to demonstrate a machine vision
(MV) application for the quality control of products in an industry using a
miniature production line station. A project was commissioned by HAMK
University of Applied Sciences, Valkeakoski, and conducted in the automation laboratory for this thesis.
A miniature production line was constructed and automated using STEP 7
software, and Simatic-300 based Programmable Logical Controller (PLC);
both are manufactured by Siemens. The machine vision part of the thesis
was done in NI LabVIEW, a graphical program development environment
from National Instruments (NI). The communication between the PLC and
LabVIEW was carried out using NI OPC (OLE for Process Control), an
add-on for LabVIEW.
Basic theoretical background on machine vision is presented at the beginning of this thesis; this is followed by a description of the vision development module in LabVIEW, and a method to communicate between a PLC
and LabVIEW. At the end, the program developed to demonstrate machine vision is described.
Object sorting using machine vision was accomplished using pattern
matching algorithm of machine vision. A pattern image template was created and stored into the memory of computer. When the object sorting application runs, the camera acquires the image of the object into LabVIEW.
The vision application analyses the image, and sends an electrical signal to
the sorter if the acquired image matches the template image.
The thesis was successfully completed, and most of the objectives as to
the machine vision application demonstration for object sorting were met.
In addition, the communication between the PLC and LabVIEW was enabled using NI OPC.
Keywords
Machine vision, Object sorting, NI vision, NI OPC communication.
Pages
50 p. + appendices 16 p.