The Basque Country, Spain is to become a meeting point for the international scientific-technological metrology elite thanks to the 3DMC Conference. Co-hosted by IDEKO and TEKNIKER technology centres, the event will be held at the Tekniker facilities in Eibar on Wednesday September 27 and at IDEKO in Elgoibar on Thursday September 28 2023.
Presentations will be given at both centres to describe the main technological advances reported in the area of measuring science related to projects of a disruptive nature that can not only be found abroad but also in the local Basque industrial fabric.
Although many leading technological actors will be in attendance, special mention must be made of the presence of experts from multinational corporations such as AIRBUS, European research centres such as the German National Institute of Metrology (PTB) and the UK National Physical Laboratory (NPL), and renown universities such as the University College London (UCL) who will describe innovative solutions based on 3D technologies currently used to measure production processes.
At the 3DMC conference there will also be a hybrid format combining technical presentations and an exhibition area with some of the world’s leading 3D metrology suppliers including API, Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, Sariki, Insphere and Renishaw.
In addition, demonstrators equipped with some of the metrology solutions that are currently under development for robotic cells or machines in different R&D projects will be presented at TEKNIKER and IDEKO.
Technical presentations
One of the most attractive features of the 3DMC conference is that technical papers will be given by several major scientific-technological actors to address the issue of precision engineering and 3D metrology.
On day one (Wednesday 27), special mention must be made of José Antonio Yagüe, a researcher and professor at the University of Zaragoza who will deliver a keynote speech presenting practical examples of 3D measuring applications that operate at different scales to obtain, after performing a heuristic analysis, a methodological approach to produce guidelines enabling precision engineers to design systems systematically.
Presentations will also be given by the IDEKO researcher Pablo Puerto, and London-based UCL researchers Ben Sargeant and Charles Richards who will explain the advantages of using a low-cost photogrammetric solution to monitor high-speed components like cutting heads.
The German PTB researcher Daniel Heißelmann will compare the different strategies deployed to determine geometric errors made by large coordinate measuring machines (CMM) currently in operation at PTB’s Wind Energy Competence Centre. He will also explain how the end results have been transferred to digital twins.
On day two of the 3DMC conference (Thursday 28) to be held at IDEKO’s facilities, there will be several technical lectures followed by a highly attractive intervention from the aeronautical firm AIRBUS.
Two experts, Paul Richardson and Carlos Flores Hernandez will address the subject of an automated and flexible robotised solution that has been used to assemble fuselage substructures. Thanks to this system that was equipped with advanced 3D part viewing technology, it is now possible to identify specific references within subassemblies such as holes, scratches and edges for which it is no longer necessary to use specific optical instruments to enable accurate measurements.
The French researcher David Martin, from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) Laboratorio Europeo de Radiación Sincrotrón (ESRF), will present the results obtained by the Extremely Brilliant Source (EBS) project and explain how the conclusions of this initiative have helped to enhance the brightness of the ESRF X ray source by replacing the existing machine with a new unit featuring a much more compact network.
Finally, Fernando Comín Gonzalo, an expert from Metromecanica SL, will describe several metrology operations related to 3D positioning and how large parts were inspected during the execution of the ITER project, the unique experimental nuclear fusion reactor located in France.
Presentations will also be available in the form of posters at both technology centres to be submitted by national institutions from United Kingdom, Germany and Finland (NPL, PTB and VTT, respectively) and by EHU/UPV, Spirit Aerosystems and Wooptix.
On-Site Demonstrations
The 3DMC conference programme will also offer attendees the possibility of touring the facilities of both Basque technology centres to discover more about the progress these organisations have made in the field of metrology.
More specifically, and as regards Tekniker, the visit will focus on the metrology and robotics laboratories, the so-called ‘white room’ research space and the ultraprecision and assembly workshops where machines and large pieces of scientific equipment that require special conditions are installed, validated and tested.
It is at these facilities where the technology centre will showcase the results of some of the most successful R&D projects it is currently involved in such as, for instance, a measurement procedure that uses traceable coordinates that will run on a ZAYER machine tool. This development will also give visibility to the research carried out at the centre with regard to, among other things, the use of state-of-the-art laser tracker technologies, the automation of these measurements, multi-lateration systems incorporated to machine tools and the training required to allocate measurement uncertainty to each geometry.
One of the oral presentations to be given by the TEKNIKER researcher Brahim Ahmed Check will also be physically represented on a digital twin designed for robotic equipment and fitted with embedded measurement systems.
On day two (at IDEKO’s facilities), it will be possible to visit the spaces and the resources used in the organisation’s area of specialisation focused on precision engineering and 3D measuring systems based on artificial vision.
The centre will showcase some of its most outstanding in-progress projects in different stages of maturity: from technological demonstrators in the precision laboratory, with details on the most relevant R&D results obtained to date, to outstanding examples of AI and advanced image processing and industrial workshop prototypes associated with several successful industrial case studies.
There will be a special focus on technological innovations related to high-precision 6DoF (6 Degree of Freedom) vision guiding in applications connected to collaborative and industrial robotics, portable photogrammetry for large volume metrology and 3D digitisation solutions.
During the seminar, it will also be possible to visit the facilities of Danobat, a leading European manufacturer of grinding machines, high-precision lathes, and precision machining lines in Europe, where some outstanding examples of collaborative actions carried out with IDEKO in the area of precision engineering and metrology integrated in state-of-the-art machine tools will be explained.