Unit 11. Inspection Technologies Sections: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Unit Introduction Unit Objectives Contact vs. Non-contact Inspection Techniques Conventional Measuring and Gauging Techniques Co-ordinate Measuring Machines Machine Vision Other Optical Inspection Techniques 8. Non-contact Non-optical Inspection Technologies Unit 11. Inspection Technologies Inspection is the means by which poor quality is detected and good quality is assured in products that are produced in a production process. The major steps in inspection include:  Presentation of the item for inspection  Examination of the item for non-conformance on certain product attributes   Decision-making, based on the results of the examination Action Definition Inspection is the process of presenting, examining, deciding-upon, and acting upon an item to ensure that poor quality is detected in product attributes, and good quality is assured. Manual technos  Various technologies support the inspection procedure, enabled by various sensors, instruments, and gauges  Manually operated devices such as micrometers, callipers, protractors, and go/no-go gauges CMM machines  Various technologies support the inspection procedure, enabled by various sensors, instruments, and gauges  Other techniques are based upon modern technologies such as co-ordinating measuring machines (CMM) and machine vision, which use computer-controlled systems that allow the inspection procedure to be automated Characteristics of measuring instruments 11.3 Contact vs. Non-contact Inspection Techniques 11.3.1 Contact Inspection Techniques  In contact inspection, physical contact is made between the object to be inspected, and the measurement device. Typically contact is achieved using a mechanical probe or other device that touches the item, and allows the inspection procedure to occur Conventional measuring and gauging instruments Co-ordinate measuring machines (CMMs) and related techniques to measure mechanical dimensio