Verifying Assembly of Test Kits
Cognex Corporation

Verifying Assembly of Test Kits

Customer Problem:

A manufacturer of home cholesterol test kits was searching for a way to perform a complex, 3D inspection of tight-tolerance part position, fast enough to keep up with line speeds. Having zero positioning defects is particularly important because positioning problems lead to incorrect test results, which is a serious liability concern. When the kit is used, a drop of blood reacts with chemicals on a reagent pad, causing material to flow up a capillary that runs underneath a readout overlay. Exact pad placement is critical because misplacement by even a few mils causes a wrong readout.

Cognex Solution:

A Cognex Checkpoint 800 keeps pace with line speeds by examining six kits at a time using six  different cameras. For each kit, the vision system first locates the kit and then measures the position of reagent pads in a well. Using projected lines of laser light and triangulation techniques, the vision system determines 3D position to high accuracy.

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A Cognex system integrator made the most challenging aspects of this project invisible to the customer. The integrator provided not only the laser lighting and optics, but also the interface to a PLC for rejecting bad parts and to a spreadsheet program for collecting SPC data. In addition to inspection routines, the integrator implemented calibration procedures and a simple operator interface. Despite the application's complexity, they designed and installed the system in just six weeks.