Acoustic Test Procedures — A Powerful Method for Quality Assurance and Process Monitoring in Assembly

In many cases, it is necessary to integrate suitable test methods for process monitoring and quality assurance into automatic assembly systems. Noise analysis is a comprehensive approach to the analysis of the various complex interactions between assembly product and assembly process. This test method is based on the noise pattern characterizing technical processes. If errors occur in the assembly process, the noise pattern usually shows characteristic deviations. These can be determined by comparing the measured noise characteristics to stored reference data. By means of noise analysis, even complex processes can be monitored at poorly accessible positions within an assembly system. Apart from that, this method is highly versatile and flexible, as the application examples “Process Monitoring of the Assembly of Clip Elements” and “Assurance of the Assembly Quality of Three-Phase Generators” show.