Lometec GmbH is an accredited metrology lab that provides a fully air-conditioned 220 sqm measurement room with optical and tactile measuring machines (Figure 1). Lometec’s customers are mainly from the automotive and aerospace industry, medical technology and mechanical engineering.
Measuring of the CNC Manufactured Rings of a Turbine Blade Testing Device
All tactile measurement systems at Lometec are coordinate measuring machines from the metrology manufacturer Wenzel from Wiesthal. "The Wenzel CMMs offer a holistic concept of high-quality engineering, intelligent software and accessory options," says Jörg Werkmeister who saw it as a feasible decision to upgrade from Metrosoft CM to Metrosoft Quartis.
In late autumn 2014, Lometec was faced with a very sophisticated measurement task. A CNC manufactured inner and outer rings of a turbine blade testing device (Figure 2) needed to be checked for dimensional accuracy for a customer. It was a very time-critical measurement task and the metrologists from Lometec used two LH 108 Wenzel coordinate measuring machines (CMM) in parallel.
Efficiency In Daily Use
Technical Director Marc Lange explains: "Due to the clearly designed workspace Metrosoft Quartis works more effectively than was possible with Metrosoft CM." In the user interface, the traditional menus and toolbars have been replaced by the Ribbon – a device that presents commands organised into a set of tabs (Figure 3).
According to Marc, the company found that the focus is now on the workspace that can be customised according to the user. All essential elements, 3D graphics, data management, the monitoring program and also statistics and the measurement report are visible. In addition, the second monitor allows a better overview. In the past there was a need for long searches for the required commands but new systems such as these eliminate the problem. In this case, the program accelerates the personal workflow and ensures greater efficiency in daily use.
Live Preview, CAD Functionality And Collision Avoidance
The results of a working step can be previewed when the user moves the cursor over the appropriate result within the gallery. This dynamic function speeds up workflow because the result is shown instantly in the workspace. This is done so that the user always has full control over the programmed measuring procedure and is able to implement adjustments or changes quickly when necessary. A look at the status window is enough for the metrologist to see all important parameters and the current state of the CMM.
The Quartis program’s CAD functionality is achieved by a CAD kernel from ACIS (3D ACIS Modeller). All popular CAD formats are supported and can be imported and exported.In addition, collisions between the machines or between the probe and base plate of the same machine are avoided. This collision avoidance is based on moving safety zones that are automatically calculated around the probe configuration and machine components. If two system components approach each other and exceed the defined safety distance, the machines are stopped. The activation/deactivation of this function can be recorded into a program.
Faster Working And Improved Quality Of Documentation
When measuring the inner and outer rings of the turbine blade testing device, it turned out that not all features could be detected. For two dimensions the tactile accessibility with the probe was not possible in spite of the use of a servo positioning head system. Here, the measuring software scored with the possibility of a user-defined input feature so that the predefined chronology could be kept in the test report.
"An important task of a measurement engineer is it to present the measurement data in clear and unambiguous reports," said Jörg Werkmeister. "By switching to Metrosoft Quartis we have become not only faster, but also reporting has improved revolutionarily. Thus, we significantly increased the quality of the documentation. We are able to make further statements and evaluations at any time without having to measure anew. Our customers obtain reproducible data for possible correction of components and production parameters."
