en.Wedoany.com Reported - ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions has released the latest update of Virtual Clamping, integrated into the ZEISS INSPECT 3D software platform. This professional metrology application works in conjunction with the newly designed Guided Holding Kit to provide flexible fixturing solutions for components such as injection-molded parts, die-cast parts, and sheet metal parts.
The integration of this hardware and software subsystem eliminates the need for specific physical fixturing tools for each component in industrial inspection. By replacing traditional dedicated tooling with a universal positioning framework, this technology reduces tooling capital costs, shortens measurement setup time, and lowers indirect labor costs.
The underlying process is based on supporting the component in a stress-free state while establishing a repeatable positioning standard for subsequent optical scanning. Its mechanical foundation leverages the existing infrastructure of the Universal Pneumatic Device (UPD). By implementing the new Guided Holding Kit, manufacturers can expand the hardware options of the UPD to support automated metrology cycles within the ZEISS ScanBox optical 3D measuring machine, ensuring repeatable part mounting in robot-controlled inspection cells.
The Guided Holding Kit uses up to four different physical contact points to secure the workpiece, with the system managing a semi-automated workflow through a core software layer. The process begins with virtual environment mapping: the software automatically calculates and introduces measuring plate extensions and collision protection bodies based on the component's physical dimensions and spatial orientation, loading them directly into the virtual environment of the measurement chamber. This is followed by sequence generation: the system automatically configures a dedicated measurement sequence, enabling operators to repeatedly position parts in less than 10 minutes. Finally, robot-controlled alignment is performed: the operator installs the universal holder on the main rotary table according to the software-generated assembly drawing, executes the generated alignment measurement sequence via local robot control, and achieves stress-free inspection.
The updated software suite integrates advanced algorithms capable of evaluating weight-force-compensated meshes, virtually clamping components in simulated vehicle installation scenarios. The core of these structural calculations is based on a fully parameterized deformation model, which references empirical data from optical measurements, thereby enabling the detection of deflection in critical sheet metal components of vehicle bodies.
Compared to traditional metrology inspection modules that require manual numerical adjustments or standalone computer-aided design deformation modules, this updated approach combines hardware positioning with automatic collision generation in virtual space. While conventional metrology simulation modules require point-by-point manual definition of support pins, the introduction of automatic plate extension planning reduces physical tool setup time to less than 10 minutes. Standard metrology add-ons for finite element analysis process unconstrained mesh scans externally, requiring operators to export polygon datasets to third-party structural analysis software; in contrast, the native integration of a fully parameterized deformation model within the metrology software enables direct actual-versus-nominal comparison of sheet metal parts, allowing calculation of gravity compensation and virtual constraint states without leaving the inspection main interface, eliminating data conversion errors and preserving a complete parametric revision history for complex automotive sheet metal parts.
