Non-Contact Length Measurement

Non-contact length measurement: The list shows the applications for non-contact ELOVIS length gauges.

Measure roll length / coil length:
Length measurement on moving webs, tapes, rolls, wraps, bobbins

Cut-to-length control:
Control of cutting, cutting and finishing processes

Calibratable length measurement:
Length measuring machines with “Type Approval”, “Type Examination Certificate”, conformity assessment acc. MID 2014/32 / EU

Portable / mobile length measurement:
Portable length measurement systems for tripod mounting for calibration of system counters

Encoder calibration:
Length measuring systems for calibrating wheel encoders and machine encoders

Length measurement on moving discrete parts:
Non-contact and accurate measuring of piece lengths in high-speed continuous operation

Differential length measurement:
Parallel length measurement at separate measuring positions for process control

Measurement of mark distances:
Length measurement from mark to mark (repeat length measurement)

Measurement of elongation and shrinkage:
Differential length measurement for determining the elongation and shrinkage of materials in the machining process

Control of length-proportional scale imprint:
Print control via the output of length-proportional pulses to a printing / marking unit

Non-contact length measurement: The non-contact ELOVIS length measuring devices are listed here. The advantages resulting from the use of ELOVIS gauges over other gauges are named afterwards.

ELOVIS length measuring instruments, non-contact length measurement:

• Laser Encoder, Laser Doppler Velocimeter, Surface Velocity Measurement System
  µSPEED

• Light Scanner, light curtain, transmitted light measuring grid, optical caliper, automation light grid
  µMETER-SLM

• Vision sensor, camera system, matrix and line scan camera
  µMETER-VIS

Measurement advantages with non-contact ELOVIS measuring instruments over other gauges:

• Wear-free, maintenance-free, permanently calibrated ⇒ no maintenance costs
• Self-monitoring with early warning system ⇒ failure protection
• Suitable at high speeds ⇒ prepared for the future
• Prevention of traces of wear ⇒ no material damaged, no carryover of impurities
• Large measurement distance tolerance range ⇒ Thickness-independent measurement
• Measuring principle eliminates the influence of material variation ⇒ Material-independent measurement
• Longlife laser and LED components ⇒ Long measuring life
• Digital measurement of all lengths ⇒ 100% documentation and traceability of the measurement results
• Traceable, calibratable, conformity assessable ⇒ Legal certainty

Non-contact length measurement: Non-contact ELOVIS measuring devices are used in the following industrial sectors for length measurement.

Production of semi-finished goods:

• Paper and board industry (paper raw material, rolls, sheets, …)
• Printing and packaging industry (rolls, labels, sheets, …)
• Plastic industry (extrusion, profile, hose, pipe, foil, film industry, …)
• Textile industry (technical textiles, fabrics, nonwovens, …)
• Carpet and flooring industry (rolls, tiles, …)
• Metal industry (web, bands, sheets, tubes, profiles, wire, cables, …)
• Cable and wire industry (rolls, spools, cut, strip and terminate, …)

Construction industry:

• Wood industry (veneer, firewood, slabs, …)
• Drywall (boards, slabs, strips, …)
• Insulation industry (webs, rolls, plates, …)

Automotive industry:

• Automotive industry (measurement of driving distance for cars, trucks, rail vehicles, trains, sports vehicles, …)

Touching and tactile length measurement: The typical traditional and mostly surface touching length measuring instruments are listed here. Measurement problems resulting from the use of these measurement devices are also listed in the following.

Length measurement devices, traditional, tactile:

• Contact measuring wheel, impeller, measuring crawler
• Measurement via drive, drive cylinder, measuring roller
• Sample random testing by tape measure

Measurement problems with traditional contact measurement devices:

• Lack of accuracy due to slippage of tactile driven encoders (Wear, contamination, adhesion problems, accelerations, …)
• Lack of measurement accuracy due to surface dependency with tactile measurement systems (Moisture, strength, softness, roughness, elasticity, …)
• Measurement deviations due to thickness dependency of contact measurement systems
• Problems at high temperature with contact driven measurement systems (hot material)
• Too fast material movement (henceforth only random checks feasible)

Consequences of measurement problems:

• High maintenance effort
• Complaints due to length errors
• Delivering add-on lengths to avoid complaints
• Compensation due to lack of transparency and traceability
• Legal uncertainty in regulated markets (European measurement directive, …)

Non-contact length measurement: List of application videos of ELOVIS measuring instruments in industrial use:

Product Tutorial – µSPEED Laser-Encoder Length Measurement and Speed Measurement Systems With this product tutorial, we enable self-testers/users to use µSPEED systems independently, laser safe and with high precision and perfect measurement results.
Calibrated Length Measurement and Material Inspection – µSPEED Calibrated non-contact length measurement from ELOVIS integrated into a combined inspection machine and winding machine for textiles, technical textiles, non-wovens, coated and laminated materials.
Cutting of sound Insulation Material – µSPEED Length measurement prior to winding sales rolls with the portable µSPEED system. ELOVIS parallel measurement demonstrates the optimisation potential of non-contact measurement compared to conventional tactile length measurement.
Length measurement of Black, Highly Reflective Film – µSPEED Non-contact length measurement of black, highly reflective self-adhesive film during longitudinal and cross cutting of large rolls into sales rolls/small rolls to ensure correct roll lengths. The µSPEED system delivers high measurement accuracy despite reflection, waves and creases in the material.
Differencial Measurement in betwen Cylinder & Foil – µSPEED Two µSPEED-SMART systems measure the difference in speed and length between a driven cylinder and a transparent film. The aim is to synchronise the drives and thus prevent scratches in the film.
Length Measurement of transparent Adhesive Foil – µSPEED Comparing the machine counter with contactless length measurement using the µSPEED system enables the machine counter to be calibrated. This type of calibration often reveals length deviations of significantly more than 1.5%. When extrapolated to annual production, this can result in considerable sums.
Measuring a submarine cable during unloading and loading – µSPEED When loading submarine cable-laying vessels, there is no turning back and no chance to measure a second time. µSPEED-PRO systems ensure that submarine cables are cut exactly at the right points and can therefore be laid correctly later on without having to make expensive length additions (€1,000/m).
Non-contact Length Measurement in Cabel Extrusion – µSPEED Non-contact length measurement using ELOVIS µSPEED is permanently accurate, works independently of cable diameter, sheath and material type, and regardless of surface condition.
Length measurement on cables with braided metal sheathing – µSPEED uSPEED systems are also capable of measuring cables with a braided metal sheath safely and accurately in terms of length and speed.
Length Measurement in Sheathing Production- µSPEED 1000 m cable length measured with an accuracy of better than +/- 0.5 m instead of the previous accuracy of + 20 m. The savings of almost 2% result in an ROI (return on investment) of less than 1 month.
Speed Measurement on a casting machine – µSPEED When a rotational moulding machine operates at a constant withdrawal speed, the moulded parts, which are complex and energy-intensive to manufacture, are perfect. µSPEED is used to ensure that the moulding machine operates at a constant speed, thereby avoiding extremely costly rejects.