Quality assurance of micro gears with optical metrologywbk Institute of Production Science, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Why your next visit to the dentist could be more pleasant than expected

Noise and vibration reduction of dental instruments is one of the joint goals of the wbk Institute of Production Science at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) together with the world-renowned manufacturer of dental products and technology, Dentsply Sirona. In the ProIQ project, approaches for function-oriented quality assurance of micro gears are being investigated by integrating inline measurement technology. The aim is to adaptively control the hobbing process to increase component quality while reducing scrap. In this project, the µCMM optical coordinate measuring machine from Bruker Alicona comes to use.

Vivian Schiller
Research Associate, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

If the workpiece material is optically cooperative and undercuts are not considered reasons for exclusion, Focus-Variation offers non-contact, two-dimensional measurement recordings with high measurement point density.

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Key functions of complex products require high-precision components

The trend towards miniaturization and the increasing use of high-precision components with tolerances of a few µm pose great challenges for manufacturing companies. Vivian Schiller and Daniel Gauder are PhD students at the wbk Institute of Production Science at KIT. For the international dental product manufacturer Dentsply Sirona, they are researching intelligent quality control loops, measurement technology (in-line and in-process), and component pairing strategies for the production of high-precision components. Their clear goal is to create quality control loops in the sense of closed loop manufacturing. Thus, the integration of in-line metrology into production systems improves product quality and increases efficiency in production. 
The BMBF (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) is funding this project as part of its photonics program, which includes testing the suitability of Bruker Alicona's µCMM optical coordinate measuring machine in the aforementioned environment.

 

How KIT succeeds with Bruker Alicona solution

Optical CMM machine

µCMM

Optical CMM machine to measure tight tolerances 

  • The first purely optical CMM machine, is used to measure extremely tight tolerances in high accuracy resolution independent of size, material, geometry, weight and surface finish.
  • Users combine advantages from tactile coordinate measuring technology and optical surface measuring technology and measure the dimension, position, shape and roughness of components with only one sensor.
  • Air-bearing axes with linear drive enable wear-free use and highly accurate, fast measurements.

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