MNEMONICS is dedicated to working with our clients to develop the highest quality, most affordable vision solution to fit each individual customer application.

Since 1979, MNEMONICS has been developing computer vision application software and turnkey systems to meet the needs of our customers.

Our staff has extensive experience in:
•integrating vision solutions into automated manufacturing
  systems;
•providing complete solutions that satisfy customer requirements;
•selecting reliable, cost-effective hardware to maximize the
  performance of our off-the-shelf products and custom
  installations.

To meet the demands of manufacturing environments, MNEMONICS specializes in providing robust, high-speed solutions that are cost effective and based on off-the-shelf and open architecture equipment. We provide integration services to implement vision systems in automated manufacturing environments for both OEMs and end users.

Custom Application - Glass Bottle Inspection System - Measurement of Bottle Shoulder Circularity. This is a real-time glass bottle inspection application which is integrated into an assembly line. One of the measurements is the circularity of the shoulder of the glass bottle. The center of the best fit circle is also returned as a measurement. All of these measurements are performed to subpixel accuracy, so that the resolution of the imaging system is enhanced by a factor of four. The bottles being measured are on a conveyor line that presents bottles at a rate of over 60 per minute. Multiple measurements per bottle are made including thread diameter, pitch, width, height, shoulder and base measurements, as well as presence/absence.

Custom Application - Glass Bottle Inspection System - Measurement of Bottle Base Curvature. Here, a measurement of the curvature of the base of the bottle is shown. Other information such as cycle time, the rotation angle of the image view, the number rejected and total yield are being recorded. This system is currently being used on-line on numerous glass assembly lines, and has been in service for several years.

Custom Application - Lead Frame Inspection. This is an illustration of a custom application for lead frame inspection where MNEMONICS integrated a custom software development into a lead frame feeder apparatus. The MNEMONICS software controls the material advance mechanism, so that lead frames are properly positioned for a two-camera inspection - a plan view (as shown) and an axial view (not shown). The lead frame is inspected by the front and back half of the lead frame. (In this case there are 10 leads, and five leads are inspected in any particular field of view.) In the view shown (plan view), measurements are made to determine the lead body width, lead body angle, head width, and lead pitch. The various graphic overlays show the various edge detection processes, line fitting, and centroid calculation processes. From these raw image analysis results, derived measurements such as lead pitch and head-to-body offset can be calculated. The axial view (not shown) also measures lead displacement and pin gap opening. The MNEMONICS software also interfaces with the PLC (programmable logic controller) on the lead frame advance mechanism. MNEMONICS also provided all camera and custom illumination design and implementation, designed the camera and illumination fixtures, and provided and integrated the PC, image digitizer, and I/O control hardware. MNEMONICS' ALIGN software was used as a building block for part of the system implementation.

Custom Application - Wire Path Detection System for Microelectronic Circuit Manufacturing. This is an application where MNEMONICS designed a special purpose vision system, the Wire Path Detection System (WPDS), to inspect wires on a hybrid microelectronic circuit. A hybrid circuit may have numerous integrated circuits as part of its functioning, and several hundred wires interconnecting the device. These wires are very small, on the order of 0.001 inches (a human hair is on the order of 0.003 to 0.005 inches in diameter). The system software and hardware are interfaced to a standard, non-destructive automated lead puller. The lead puller is a four-axis (x, y, z, and angle) automation device that positions a small hook (about 0.005 inches in diameter) into the hybrid circuit, and then is required to grasp one of the wires and apply tension to the wire to guarantee the wire has been properly attached. The location of the wires in the hybrid circuit is not know to enough precision for the wire puller to blindly drop the hook into the package, grasp, and pull. MNEMONICS provided the WPDS that consists of vision algorithms, software implementation, interface software, and computer and vision hardware to automatically locate each wire (x, y, and angle) in the hybrid package. After each wire is located (which takes between ½ to 1 second per wire), the WPDS provides the information to the lead puller which positions the micro-hook, rotates the hook correctly, and then pulls each wire (non-destructively). On a hybrid device with several hundred wires, as long as thirty minutes may be needed to pull test the wires. Without MNEMONICS' vision automation as an integral part of the system, the inspection task would have been much more costly and far less effective.