INSPECTION OF FLEXIBLE OBJECTSThermamax goes for AICON's DPAThe company Thermamax Regardless of its construction, when an engine or a turbine develops its full capacity, it will always have the same consequence: heat is generated. However, high temperatures have to be curbed according to specific requirements using diverse materials and devices. This is the business area of the German company Thermamax. As early as 1923, the craftsmen of the original mother of the present company Thermamax Hochtemperaturdämmungen GmbH, began to devise the first high-temperature insulations. Their first big customer was the company "Benz Stationärer Motorenbau". Today the name Thermamax stands for combined insulation systems that not only control temperature, but also provide acoustic insulation.
Measurements with articulated arm - not satisfactory in the long term Until now, both for the inspection of incoming components and of in-house manufactured parts, Thermamax has applied an articulated arm. However, the measuring results generated with the arm have not turned out satisfactory in the long term. Daniel Langenbacher, responsible for quality management at Thermamax, explicates why: “The insulations that have to be examined are partly made of flexible material. That is why they can easily be deformed during contact. Consequently, from our point of view, the reliability and reproducibility of these measuring results aren’t given.” Therefore the company has started looking for a non-contact measurement system, and has finally come across AICON 3D Systems that is specialized in manufacturing optical 3D measurement systems. AICON has advised Thermamax to use the optical coordinate measurement machine DPA for this measuring problem.  Optical coordinate measuring machine DPA The solution: AICON's optical coordinate measuring machine DPA This measurement system does not work with the help of a probe, but with a hand-held digital camera. That means that the 3D measurement data can just be collected by photographing. In that way the part is touched at no time during the measurement. The measured data are automatically transferred to a computer via W-LAN, and can then be compared with CAD in evaluation software. Furthermore, there has been another positive side effect for Thermamax: AICON’s DPA system has a direct plug-in to the evaluation software PolyWorks – and exactly this software already has been used by Thermamax for a long time for evaluating measurement data, i.e. for the comparison between measured and CAD data. Thus the company will be able to revert to its approved evaluation software also in the future – despite the new measurement technology. Stefan Franger, proxy holder at Thermamax, opines: “Here we don’t only save money, because we do not have to acquire new software. Of no lower importance is the fact that our employees don’t have to learn new evaluation software. They will immediately know how to analyze the measurement data – an enormous plus from our point of view!”  The analysis of the measuring results is done in the software PolyWorks. Thermamax will receive the new DPA measurement system in a few weeks. We are glad that we could win Thermamax as our customer. Further information |
