Application of on-line inspection probe of machining center in free curve inspecting

This paper presents an on-line inspection system which integrates manufacturing together with inspection by equipping the machining center with touchable probe and corresponding inspection macro-programs. By this means, the machining center is provided with 3D measuring function, improved automatism and manufacturing quality. Although the on-line inspection system can implement some basic measuring tasks now, inspecting free curves is one of the significant applications for on-line inspection of machining center. For the inspection of free curves, this paper puts forward a new method that the curve inspecting and the path planning can be controlled with facility by manipulators using the on-line inspection technology for machining center aiming at the requirement of CAD modeling. Cube B-spline curve is adopted for inspecting path planning to acquire geometry information of the free curves. Through the method, a great deal of hits information about the curve is acquired and the manipulator can obtain idea points using few hits. It not only extends the function of the online inspection system for machining center, but also improves the product quality and the design efficiency simultaneously.