Inspection Equipment
In-Process Titanium Sheet Thickness Measurement
An in-process gauge measures every ground titanium sheet, marks rejects and logs results for aerospace traceability.
CLIENT
INDUSTRY
SOLUTION
DURATION
The Challenge
An aerospace manufacturer grinds titanium flat stock to tight thickness tolerances, passing each sheet back and forth through the grinder. Operators were checking thickness by hand with micrometers, which was slow and left no reliable record, and the project required full product traceability for every sheet. The environment was its own challenge: the spray used to assist grinding is highly corrosive and works its way into mechanical and electrical parts, so the gauge had to survive right next to the grinder.
Key Requirements
- Measure sheet thickness at 12 points after grinding
- Measure sheet length on every pass
- Compare to job thickness and tolerance automatically
- Mark out-of-tolerance sheets
- Record every sheet to its job for traceability
- Survive corrosive grinding spray
The ICR Solution
ICR designed and built a sheet thickness measurement system that sits in line with the grinder. The operator creates a job on the HMI with job number, target thickness and tolerances. As a sheet feeds through, an encoder wheel measures its length, then six Keyence contact sensors, working as three pairs, each sample thickness four times along the sheet: 12 readings in all. Each pair is referenced to a gauge of known thickness and measures as a unit, so the sheet’s position between the sensors does not matter, and sheets well off the reference still read accurately. Rejects can be ink-marked automatically, and every reading is saved to a quality record. Stainless parts, NEMA 4/12 enclosures and IP65 electrical stand up to the corrosive grinding spray.
Equipment & Technology
- 6 Keyence GT2 digital contact sensors in 3 measuring pairs
- Gauge-referenced tandem thickness calculation
- Encoder length measurement with pneumatic drive roller
- Drip-shot ink marker for NG sheets
- Siemens S7-1200 PLC with PROFINET, Pro-face panel PC
- Stainless steel construction, NEMA 4/12 enclosures, IP65 electrical
Scope of Work
- Up-Front Engineering
- Mechanical Design
- Fabrication
- Controls Design
- Panel Build
- PLC & HMI Programming
- Data Logging
- Installation
- Commissioning
Results
Manual micrometer checks are gone. Every ground titanium sheet is checked at 12 points to within thousandths of an inch, accepted or rejected on the spot, and saved to a quality record with job number, sheet number, length, all 12 readings and a time stamp. Rejects are marked before they move on, and the stainless, NEMA 4/12 and IP65 build keeps the gauge running in the corrosive grinding spray.