Automatic Measurement System using a Laser Scan Instrument for Ceramic Bearings

Ceramic bearings are rolling elements used in many mechanical applications (e.g., fans, motors, etc.). For the purpose of mass production and quality control of ceramic bearings, we have developed an automatic measurement system using a laser scan instrument. The system includes a laser scan instrument, a conveyer platform, automatic feeders, and a personal computer. To provide precise measurement, the laser scan instrument LSM6100 was chosen because our ceramic bearings are relatively small in size. In addition, the conveyer platform is a sloped platform that conveys ceramic bearing and the automatic feeders are used to control the flow of each ceramic bearing. The experimental design includes automatic measurement software on the computer that controls all the mechanisms and records all the laser-scan readings (i.e., diameters of ceramic bearings) for data analysis. In this study, our preliminary results demonstrate that our system offers an effective solution for fully automatic and precise measurement of ceramic bearings that could be potentially used in industry