Breakthrough series offers measurement accuracy with unrivalled ease of use

Keyence has extended its portfolio of precision measurement technologies with a new, high-accuracy image dimension measurement system.

Providing accuracy to ±0.7μm, the series combines the ease of use associated with the range with the breakthrough precision demanded over an ever more comprehensive range of applications.

As with the company's other systems, the series is easy and rapid to program with intuitive on-screen help always offered, and it can be operated with only one button. Items do not require to be exactly positioned. At the same time, rapid stage movement and a large field of view for a precision measurement system provide optimum speed as fewer images are required compared with alternative systems. The auto-focus function provides accurate focus irrespective of operator experience.

Up to 300 dimensions may be measured at a time, while the series can measure up to 100 individual parts simultaneously. A convenient integral coaxial light provides a wide variety of lighting options to deliver optimised stable edge detection, whatever the item's material being measured. While more typically employed in laboratory environments, the system is adequately robust to withstand the rigours of the shop floor environment with its low-vibration stage.

An integral high-magnification lens with Z-focus positioning provides highly accurate non-contact height and depth measurement for areas as small as 20 x 20μm. Also, plane elements can be produced independently from the stage, and overall part slope, with flatness and interplane angle measurements, is quickly added to programs. Suitable applications are plentiful and range from prototype and first-off part inspection to in-process sample and part inspection; and pre-shipping and incoming goods inspections.

Ailsa Morrison, applications engineer for the Metrology Division at Keyence, explained: "Ever tighter tolerances are a defining characteristic of modern manufacturing, and through the LM Series, Keyence is offering a rapid and reliable means to verify part dimensions to ever greater levels of accuracy. Alongside that, it really is a system that anyone, anywhere, can use – thanks to a range of automated and intuitive functions."