Automatic casting system: faultless wall panel production
Elematic meets the growing demands for quality and verification in precast production by introducing a new automatic casting system. The Comcaster makes quality control management of wall production easy. It detects possible errors early and thus minimizes excess costs.
“The system scans the casting table by using a 3D machine vision system, making sure all of the details are placed correctly: shuttering, reinforcement, lifting hooks, spots for different electric wall sockets or other inserts,” explains Ismo Kallio, Product Director at Elematic.
Quality for all types of production
The new casting system is best suited to diversified, high capacity wall production with the Elematic Edge Wall production line. Edge Wall consists of a manufacturing execution system, automatic machinery, and a table circulation system. The line is particularly suited to producing sandwich panels, cladding panels, solid panels, and solid slabs.
“Cross-checks and measurements play a major role in diversified, high-capacity production. Many different elements and tables are tested before the casting, which increases the chance of errors. Automatic scanning thus adds value – especially in production units with high turnover or variable worker expertise,” says Jouni Sirkka, Product Development Director at Elematic.
A growing interest
Numerous global machine manufacturers have integrated machine vision into their products. Thanks to the growing interest, technology and applications are developing and becoming more affordable. Machine vision obtains information about the surrounding environment for further analytical processing. It uses image capture and analysis to automate tasks such as inspection, gauging, and counting. Machine vision is used for many purposes: robotic solutions, process data collection, and quality control systems, to mention a few.
Precast production is a very challenging application area for machine vision. Creating the automatic Comcaster demanded deep know-how and intense testing. The development project is still ongoing.
“Various aspects of machine vision are under examination. There are numerous possibilities to utilize the automated scanning system in precast production,” Elematic’s Product Director Kallio says.
