Surface inspection on bodies in white in automotive industry

An optimum of preparation of the body in white is indispensable for the manufacturing of a customer relevant quality of painted surfaces. For the reduction of the refinishing operations during and after the painting processes, and to guarantee a constant quality level, it is necessary to detect and eliminate surface defects already in the body works finish. Within the project "Automatic Body Inspection System" (ABIS), a system is developed, which automatically detects, classifies and marks invisible surface defects on bodies in white, so that a propagation of these defects into the painting process can be prevented. For this reason, an optical measuring system for the visualisation of sheet metal defects, a sophisticated software package for the recognition of surface defects, and the system technology required for the automation of all functionalities (like measurement, identification, classification and marking) is developed. The system is trainable, hence collects the knowledge of experienced quality testers and translates it into objective judgement criteria to allow for a constant quality level.