Hardness test apparatus and hardness testing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017076436-A1
Application number	US-201615251324-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 30, 2016
Priority date	Sep 10, 2015
Publication date	Mar 16, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A hardness tester includes a memory associating and storing a parts program having defined measurement conditions with respect to a sample, including a test position, and an image file acquired by capturing an image of the shape of the sample; an image acquirer acquiring image data of the sample to be measured; a pattern matcher performing a pattern matching process on the image data of the sample using the image file associated with the parts program; a determiner determining whether an image file exists which has a shape related to the image data of the sample; a retriever retrieving the parts program associated with the image file having a related shape; and a measurer measuring hardness of the sample based on the retrieved parts program.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A hardness tester measuring hardness of a sample by loading a predetermined test force on a surface of the sample with an indenter to form an indentation, and measuring dimensions of the indentation, the hardness tester comprising:
a memory configured to associate and store a parts program having defined measurement conditions with respect to the sample, including a test position, with an image file obtained by capturing, using an image capturer, an image of a shape of the sample, for which the parts program has been created; a camera configured to acquire image data of the sample to be measured; and a processor comprising:
a pattern matcher configured to perform a pattern matching process on the image data of the sample acquired by the camera, the pattern matcher further configured to perform the pattern matching process using the image file associated with the parts program stored in the memory;
a determiner configured to determine, as a result of the pattern matching process of the pattern matcher, whether an image file exists which has a shape related to the image data of the sample acquired by the camera;
a retriever configured to retrieve, in a case where the determiner determines that there is an image file having a related shape, the parts program associated with the image file from the memory; and
a measurer configured to perform hardness testing on the sample to be measured and measures the hardness of the sample, based on the parts program retrieved by the retriever.

2 . The hardness tester according to claim 1 , wherein:
the determiner is further configured to determine whether an image file exists having a shape matching the image data of the sample acquired by the camera, and in a case where the determiner determines that there is an image file having a matching shape, the retriever retrieves the parts program associated with the image file from the memory.

3 . The hardness tester according to claim 2 , wherein, in a case where there is an image file having a similar shape to the image data of the sample acquired by the camera, the determiner determines that an image file exists having a matching shape.

4 . The hardness tester according to claim 1 , wherein, in a case where the determiner determines that there are a plurality of image files having a related shape, the retriever retrieves from the memory a parts program selected by an operator from among the parts programs associated with each of the plurality of image files.

5 . The hardness tester according to claim 1 , wherein:
in a case where there are a plurality of image files having a related shape to the image data of the sample acquired by the camera, the determiner determines whether an image file having related sample data other than shape about the sample exists among the plurality of image files, and in a case where the determiner determines that there is an image file having related sample data other than shape about the sample, the retriever retrieves the parts program associated with the image file from the memory.

6 . A hardness testing method of a hardness tester measuring hardness of a sample by loading a predetermined test force on a surface of the sample with an indenter to form an indentation, then measuring dimensions of the indentation, the hardness testing method comprising:
acquiring image data of the sample to be measured; performing a pattern matching process on the image data of the sample acquired in the image acquisition, the pattern matching performing the pattern matching process using an image file associated with a parts program having measurement conditions including test position defined with respect to the sample; determining, as a result of the pattern matching process performed in the pattern matching, whether an image file exists which has a shape related to the image data of the sample acquired in the image acquisition; retrieving the parts program associated with the image file when the determination determines there is an image file having a related shape; and performing hardness testing on the sample to be measured based on the parts program retrieved in the retrieval, and measuring the hardness of the sample.

Assignees

• Mitutoyo Corp

Inventors

• Sawa Takeshi
• Hanamura Takashi
• Takada Akira
• Maeda Takuho

Classifications

• G06V10/75

  Organisation of the matching processes, e.g. simultaneous or sequential comparisons of image or video features; Coarse-fine approaches, e.g. multi-scale approaches; using context analysis; Selection of dictionaries · CPC title

• G06F18/22

  Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures · CPC title

• G06V10/759

  Region-based matching · CPC title

• G06T2207/30164

  Workpiece; Machine component · CPC title

• G01N2203/0078

  using indentation · CPC title