Machine Vision for Character Reading

Identifying steel in steelworks is vital. Picking the wrong billet, bloom, or slab for the processing leads to waste and can have catastrophic implications if the wrong type of steel reaches the customers.

Even when the mistake is discovered it will mean rescheduling and disturbing the planned operation.

The JLI Character Reader identifies the identification marking on the steel to avoid these faults in production. 

A single or multiple camera system can be trained to read dot or spray marking on steel products. Installed after the marking machine the system is used to verify the marking. At other points in the process, the products will automatically be identified.

The JLI vision systems read the characters and compare each character to a taught pattern. By using advanced pattern-matching algorithms the system will identify the characters and generate a telegram with the numbers and letters.

Furthermore, each character is assessed for readability and a digit from 00 to 99 is sent with the telegram. 00 being unreadable, and 99 a perfect match.

As the orientation of the text is unknown, the image is rotated before running the pattern recognition software.