QFP srl main target is bringing new technologies in the metrology application field. QFP goal is to supply, to his customers, advanced technological solutions able to respond to their problems and able to guarantee them high performances level for the competition in the global market.

QFP is the Italian distributor of AICON Gmbh products, and proposes the TubeInspect systems family as the very innovative and efficient instrument in the process control of the bent tubes either for small or big dimensions.

Following the main advantages:
- Incredible time reduction till 3 seconds/part
- Completely elimination of the measuring equipments (i.e. inspection fixtures) and the expensive design of them. Instead to have many fixtures to be putted under control, there will be only one instrument to maintain certified and controlled.
- Objective control of the parts due to the results coming from an optical measuring task and not from the operator manual activities.
- The system can be completely automated for the 100% production control, either for automotive or aerospace industries requirements.
- Thanks to the possible direct connection with the CNC machines, the system can control, at the same time, many machines. This allow to supply to each machine the correct parameters based on the real time feed-back obtained by the TubeInspect control.

In industrial series production of tubes, 100% inspection gains high As the requirements related to tube quality constantly rise, and as tube geometries become more and more complex due to the small installation space available, sample tests are not sufficient any more. Additionally, automated assembling processes demand for a higher accuracy of fit because deviations cannot be centered easily when mounting the parts. The high quality and cost pressure requires frequent corrections when tolerances get smaller in order to avoid defective parts. Consequently, the 100% inspection of bent tubes including the automatic feedback of correction parameters to the bending machine is necessary today both from the technical as well as the economic point of view.

For the 100% inspection of different tubes from several bending units, AICON's TubeInspect is the only available solution which is both suited for manual placement and integration into a robot cell. However, the tube measuring system offers further advantages: When applying a robot for placing the tube to be measured into the measuring cell, TubeInspect allows for a fully automatic test procedure that decreases production costs significantly. Furthermore, the system determines the correction data for the bending programs and thus makes the system unique in its functionality. The time needed by TubeInsepct to measure a tube is minimal: For short fuel pipes, the measuring results are available after 3 seconds; the inspection of a complex brake line with more than 40 bending points can be conducted in less than 60 seconds. Generally said, the necessary measuring time is always below the speed and rate of production. At the same time, the measuring results are completely user-independent.
When establishing 100% inspection, TubeInspect seamlessly integrates in the production environment. Both the connection to the present handling system for automatic placement and to the applied bending machines can easily be set up with the help of the provided open interfaces. The setup can either be implemented independently by our customer or by AICON.

With respect to the remote control of the system, AICON offers various possibilities: It can be carried out with the help of a trigger signal. Alternatively, a complete remote control is possible including robot selection, further processing of the acquired data,analysis and SPC
process control.
First presentation of the measuring system TubeInspect HD at the EMO trade show in Hannover Braunschweig/Germany, 17th September 2007 – Tubes and wires shorter than 500mm are hidden in nearly all common objects. Consequently, the quality control of these parts concerns almost all industrial sectors including the automotive, electronic, household appliance, construction, and furniture industry as well as medical engineering. For example, precise dental drills are made from bent wires. Equally, this concerns fuel injector rails in automotive engineering.

However, so far, it has hardly been possible to inspect the geometries of these very small, thin tubes and wires. The typically applied metrology is not able to acquire the elements of each individual small part, and even a common gauge check often proves to be unfeasible. The solution is AICON’s TubeInspect HD. It is available with immediate effect. TubeInspect HD is based on the successful TubeInspect technology which has been integrated into AICON’s well-established optical 3D tube measuring systems TubeInspect and TubeInspect S for several years by now. While these systems are designed to measure tubes of any length, the new TubeInspect HD three-dimensionally inspects short, thin tubes and wires with diameters of 1mm up to 10mm. It checks various geometric features such as bends, length of the part, and end-to-end distance. The measuring field comprises a volume of 450mm x 400mm x 200mm. TubeInspect HD is able to measure the geometries with a unique accuracy due to several decisive factors: It disposes of eight digital cameras positioned close to the work piece, each having a resolution of 2 megapixels. Moreover, it uses a glass reference that is stable both with respect to shape and temperature. For the determination of the sheath tolerance, the measuring accuracy accounts for +0.025mm. The measuring results are available within seconds and are displayed on the provided notebook computer. They are presented in a color-coded way following a gauge check. Thus the operator can quickly make a decision about the quality of the parts.
Also with respect to the required space, the system scores: The volume of TubeInspect HD is only 700mm x 700mm x 900mm. i.e. it may easily be placed on a table. Therefore,the integration of the system into an existing production environment may be realized with minimal effort.

Dr. Werner Bösemann, president of AICON, summarizes: ”HD stands for ’High Definition’ – and this is exactly what distinguishes our TubeInspect HD. Thanks to the compact construction of the measuring cell, the applied cameras, the glass reference and the mature TubeInspect measuring software, we are able to achieve the required very high measuring resolution. With our unique measuring concept, we set new standards for the quality assurance of short, bent tube and wire parts.“ About AICON: AICON 3D Systems is one of the world leading providers of optical camerabased 3D measurement systems. AICON develops and distributes systems for the business areas of inspection and testing as well as car safety and tube inspection. With AICON’s latest products for automated test and process control, the company enters new worldwide market fields. The majority of AICON’s clients operate in the automotive and aerospace market. Further information about AICON is provided online: www.aicon3d.com