Inspecting Heart Catheters

Inspecting Heart Catheters

Customer Problem:

A manufacturer of stainless steel coronary catheters needed to reduce the cost of inspection and improve the reliability of the results. The company had been using manual inspection, but had found it to be unreliable. Additionally, as the company looked at expanding from one-shift to two-shift production, the prospect of increased inspection costs loomed. The company had considered laser-based inspection, but tests showed that such systems were unable to handle the low-contrast of the metallic part.

Cognex Solution:
            
A Cognex system has increased the reliability and reduced the cost of the inspection process.  The vision system gauges the diameter of twenty 1.5-mil. welds along the length of the catheter, making sure that they are within spec. It handles the low contrast between the weld and the catheter easily, helping the customer to turn out its goal of 500 good parts each shift.

Related Applications:
            
Cognex has systems installed for other surgical instrument inspection applications including: 

• Inspecting blades for nicks or burrs 
• Guiding robotic packaging of sutures 
• Verifying placement of suture needles within retainers 
• Gauging surgical staples 
• Inspecting fastener cartridges for completeness