Automated quality monitoring system for Ceramic Tiles

Abstract

Abstract In the trending decade of automation in manufacturing, quality is keenly regarded as a driving force among the industries and consumers. Though sampling techniques were introduced after automation to increase productivity and to support mass production, they fail to match up the quality of 100 percent inspection of the components. From the observation at a ceramic tile manufacturing industry, it was found that among various problems faced, the diagonals of the finished tiles were measured manually using vernier callipers. The paper proposes an automation system using proximity sensors for efficient online measurement of diagonal dimensions of the ceramic tiles by sensing the proximity of the tiles moving on the conveyor system. The microcontroller checks if the diagonals are within the required tolerance limits and displays the lengths of the diagonals and also gives a signal if they are out of limits, leading to rejection of the particular tile. The system improves the speed, along with accuracy of quality monitoring system and reduces the intensive labour work required from the inspectors.