This technology is designed to perform a color inspection. Normally the cathodes have two distinct "faces", on smooth face and the other rough. Therefore, the inspection must also de different for each face of the cathode. This is a list of the characteristics that are inspected:
Smooth Face 1.- Size and shape 2.- Sulphate spots 3.- Dark spots (oil, "organic", lead, etc.) 4.- Holes
Rough Face 1.- Sulphate spots 2.- Dark spots (oil, "organic", lead, etc.) 3.- Roughness 4.- Nodules
The inspection algorithms are designed to "quantify" the characteristics. For example, in the case of sulphate spots, the total sulphated area is measured. The resulting value is expressed in square millimeters [mm²].
As a result, the criteria used to establish quality can also be expressed as a numerical values in square millimeters [mm²].
The picture on the upper left shows an actual image of a cathode captured by a system implementing CSQA technology [April 2003]. The picture below it shows the result after applying some of the processing algorithms.
All the points highlighted in blue correspond to points identified by the system as "sulphated".
Each point on the image corresponds to a 0.5[mm] by 0.5[mm] area on the cathode. The program counts all of these points, and gives the result expressed as the total measured area with sulphates.
These pictures were taken by a live system installed in a mining company. These images were generated automatically by the system. They are not an artistic representation nor have they been manually colored.
A similar case is shown in the images on the left. The upper image shows a close-up of a portion of the cathode and the lower image the result of the process. The algorithm identifies each nodule, calculating the surface it occupied by approximating a circle to its base. Finally, the algorithm counts the amount of nodules present in each size range.
These measurements can then be represented graphically by a histogram which shows the number of nodules in each range.
These images were taken in the Aplik laboratory, using a higher resolution than is normally used in the CSQA installations. Nevertheless, the yellow circles were drawn automatically by the program after detecting the nodules, they were not drawn manually.
The performance of the CSQA system has been tested and evaluated under complicated conditions in laboratory and "real world" situations. These tests have been used to better understand the problem of metal surface analysis as well to explore and develop novel solutions.
The pictures on the left illustrate a typical "real world" problem. In this particular case, the characteristics that must be quantified are not isolated over the surface of the cathode, but instead are interlaced or overlapping.
In the original image (upper left corner) there are two types of characteristics that need to be measured: sulphation and roughness. The CSQA algorithms are capable of uncoupling the characteristics and quantify the roughness and sulphation independently (upper right corner and below, respectively)