A method for the automated positioning and alignment of fibre-reinforced plastic structures based on machine vision

The application of fibre-reinforced plastics is important in many engineering areas. This work describes a method for the automated positioning and alignment of fibre-reinforced plastic structures for composite materials based on machine vision technology. The developed method applies data fusion from two sensor principles. The first one is an image processing sensor for the robust detection of the local fibre orientation and the second one is a light section sensor for the determination of the contour position of textile preforms. The developed method can measure different quality criteria of preform structures and was evaluated under industrial conditions through a prototype.