The increased quality demands on industrial equipment have resulted in more and more production lines of factories being equipped with precise measurement tools. It would provide feedback to help the user monitor and control the line. This could be a part of control techniques which is used in intelligent control systems.
Numbers of methods are available to quantify exterior size of objects: contact and noncontact. Non-contact measurement technologies designed to improve product quality as they avoid possible surface damage that can be caused upon contact. In this paper, we have studied the fabrication technology of a digital optical micrometer as a noncontact and nondestructive technique. In this way, inspection cycle times are faster and the measure value is more accurate for each new part inspected. Furthermore, it allows for the possibility of 100% automated inspection.
Through this experience, using of high power LEDs as a substitute for lasers besides modifying the optical transmitter and receiver units, utilizing of matrix detectors and special signal processing techniques, have improved the features of the optical micrometer. The characteristics of the optical micrometer include ±4μm precision, fast sampling rate, ease of operation, reduced human error and capability to be interfaced with computer systems for data processing in automated systems.