Rex,
.001 over is charged to the next inch? Who told you that? Holy crap what are they measuring with industrial calipers?
The high speed conveyor systems I've seen incorporate lasers that measure each piece on a high speed scale and software calculates the best packing arrangements for loading.
I don't believe REX is talking about 0.001" accuracy here, because that will never happen.
I use Scanning Arrays and Lasers all the time, but you have to understand the nature of the beast.
I'll bet that this goes thru multiple 2D scanning arrays and they are tracking the velocity thru. Has to be tied in quite tight, like with processor scan times. Probably could get into a window of a millimeter or so if conditions are right, and the programmer knew what the hell he's doing. Scanning Arrays work the best.
Ahhh, Lasers. Big name dropping word. I have a Laser, so I'm cool, right?
These are retro devices, meaning that you are going to shoot a beam at something and it has to reflect back to the pickup to Triangulate it's distance for accuracy, or you do time of flight. Not nearly as accurate as people are led to believe.
Non-contact measurement still has a ways to go. Some of the recent laser products are pretty cool tho. Not color blind, and don't have to hit the object dead square.
