A U T O M O T I V E G L A S S

Wuhan Yaohua Safety

Glass, one of China’s major

auto-glass manufacturers,

continues in its commitment

to become world leader

by using patented optical

quality control system.

The company is now able

to guarantee the stringent

levels regarding optical

requirements and quality

by applying innovative

ISRA VISION inspection

technology. In fact, with the

SCREENSCAN-Faultfinder, the

company has integrated a

system for fully automated

continuous in-line

inspection of its products.

DEFECT-FREE WINDSHIELDS INCREASE SAFETY AND QUALITY PROFILE

SCREENSCAN-Faultfi nder

with Online-Moiré-Technology for reliable and

reproducible gauging with high resolution. The system

as installed on Production Line 1 of Wuhan Yaohua Safety Glass

ISRA VISION:

45Glass-Technology International 1/2014

Safety in road traffic primarily depends on the driver’s clear view.

Windshields of curved glass may generate unde-sirable optical distortion effects resulting in im-paired viewing. For car buyers, however, they are an important aesthetic pro-perty. Automobile manu-facturers therefore impose stringent conditions on their suppliers: windshields have to meet precisely spe-cified optical requirements and be perfect in quality.The Chinese producer Wuhan Yaohua Safety Glass Co., Ltd. guarantees this quality level by applying innovative ISRA VISION inspection technology. With SCREENSCAN -Faultfinder, the company has integrated a system for fully automated continuous in-line inspection of win-dshields into its manufac-turing process. It measures the transmission optics of each glass and evaluates possible optical distortion resulting from the ben-ding process. The integra-ted analysis tools are used to identify typical defect sources, which have ena-bled to achieve perfect deli-very quality and significan-tly increased the efficiency of the Wuhan production facility.With headquarters in the province capital of Wuhan and located in the centre of the Economic and Techno-logical Development Zone, Wuhan Yaohua Safety Glass has been a key pro-

ducer of safety and auto-mobile glass for 20 years. The company is a member of NSG-Pilkington Group and one of the top five producers of automobile glass worldwide. Its list of customers includes reputa-ble manufacturers such as Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, Nissan and Honda.Customer requirements re-garding improved product quality have led Wuhan Yaohua Safety Glass to replace manual final in-spection of its windshields with an automated optical inspection solution. “On the long term, man is not capable of continually de-tecting and evaluating par-ticularly tiny defects on the transparent or coated glass surfaces with reliability. We selected ISRA as our technology partner, since its systems have an excel-lent reputation in the in-dustry,” states Zheng Wen, Technical Director of the Wuhan production facility, as the reason for the global player’s decision.

Patented Online-MOiré-technOlOgy identifies defectsAs a result of the produc-tion process, windshields of laminated glass vary in their optical characte-ristics. In order to verify their marketability, the screens of Wuhan Yaohua’s Production Line 1 pass a final inspection carri-ed out by SCREENSCAN -Faultfinder after two ma-nual inspections.

ISRA VISION: we save an entire process stage, since we always per-formed the manual final in-spection procedure twice.”

detailed defect recOrding reveals saving POtentialsWuhan Yaohua Safety Glass now handles the fi-nal quality inspection of its windshields rapidly and exactly in-line while bene-fiting from increased yield at the same time. The in-tegrated, user-friendly analysis tools record mea-suring results and indicate the processes where defects occur. Based on this infor-mation, which is crucial for quality management, the Chinese producer can op-timize production proces-ses and increase the ove-rall production efficiency. Zheng Wen adds: “Since we have introduced an op-tical inspection system, we have considerably saved re-sources and increased qua-lity. This has also drastic-ally reduced the number of customer complaints.”Efficient quality manage-ment, which only became possible due to detailed evaluation logs, has beco-

The ISRA system operateson a 1.25-metre-wide line which runs at a speed of 12 metres per minute.SCREENSCAN-Faultfin-der inspects the horizon-tal and vertical transmis-sion optics of the screen by using Online-Moiré-Technology developed and patented by ISRA. In this procedure, the system me-asures the aberration of light in the bent glass at a typical inspection angle of 30°. Distorted areas and absorbing defects such as laminated hairs or edge defects are identified 100 per cent and displayed by the software. The sensor technology is not sensitive to dust particles and fin-gerprints.Equipped with up-to-date optical inspection techno-logy, Wuhan Yaohua Safe-ty Glass is capable of trans-lating the optical quality of screens produced into countable figures. “The application of Screenscan-Faultfinder is a relief for us,” says Zheng Wen.“We finally have precise, objective inspection results which are quantifiable and reproducible. In addition,

A U T O M O T I V E G L A S S

46 Glass-Technology International 1/2014

me the fl agship of Wuhan Yaohua Safety Glass and is used by the company for advertising and acquiring new customers from all over the world.

CONCLUSIONSCREENSCAN-Faul t -fi nder has improved the fa-cility’s overall productivity, increased quality and re-duced resource usage. The changeover to fully auto-mated, continuous in-line inspection of windshields has consequently been an essential step for Wuhan Yaohua Safety Glass to-wards strengthening their market position. “We have started a trend for the fu-ture of our facility,” con-cludes Zheng Wen. The investment in the ISRA inspection system has quickly paid off for Wuhan Yaohua Safety Glass.

Albert-Einstein-Allee 36-4045699 HertenGermanyTel: + 49 2366 93 00 0Fax: + 49 2366 93 00 230

E-Mail: info.glass@isravision.comwww.isravision.com

Wuhan Yaohua Safety Glass uses the system for the inspection of windshields; it is generally also compatible for back and side lites. Screenscan-Faultfi nder in the facility in Wuhan, China