Advice on capturing fault on camera

ward · Nov 29, 2007

I would like to find a way to set up a camera to monitor a palletizer and automatically record the events leading to a shutdown. There is rarely anyone in the area when cases jam; I would like to find a way to set up a PVR or something to store the last (x) minutes before the jam to help determine what happened. There is a Versa View in the area running RSView32. Has anyone tackled a project like this before? I'm mainly concerned with some advice on how to use the fault signal from the palletizer PLC to trigger the PVR. Is there a vendor specializing in this type of thing? I need to do some preliminary investigation on what's available before management will commit to it and what I've found so far on the net doesn't look applicable. Thx.

SNK · Nov 29, 2007

Program a COGNEX camera with Ethernet.
They work great. Just change the lense to the view that you require...

ward · Nov 29, 2007

Do the Cognex cameras store the data on board (so to speak) or through ethernet to the hard drive?

SNK · Nov 29, 2007

They can store an image, depends on the size.
They usually port it off to a smtp mailbox or something though.
They are easy to program, I am not a salesguy.

You can contact one of the sales rep in your area and they can step you through an app though....

RussB · Nov 29, 2007

I have not used it and it is a competing product to what I support but for the good of the forum.
Proface makes an HMI that does just what you are asking. It calims to be able to take in up to 4 video cameras and based on a trigger log the 2 minutes before and after this trigger.
I find it good to keep up with my competitors product, when possible.

ward · Nov 29, 2007

Thanks for the advice, I'll follow up on both of those. We also have an Ethernet camera currently in use on another application which I might be able to use.

surferb · Nov 29, 2007

Do you happen to know what protocol it runs? Is it a basic webcam or a really expensive device?

ward said:
Thanks for the advice, I'll follow up on both of those. We also have an Ethernet camera currently in use on another application which I might be able to use.

SNK · Nov 29, 2007

Cognex uses Ethernet I/P

rsdoran · Nov 29, 2007

I am really curious

How do you get a camera to record before a fault occurs?

To show I am not trying to be facetious, does the camera record all the time and overwrite over a period of time then when a "trigger" occurs it will "retain" a period of time before and after?

Bruce99 · Nov 29, 2007

We used a DVR with a large hard drive. It records continuously for 24 hrs. You set the image quallity and network address. The higher the quallity the less time for recording. You can access it via the network and see the views in internet explorer. It has caught many problems here. There are multiple inputs on many of these recorders. We use quad view splitters to two inputs to get 6 different views. There is also a start record input for security systems. The detail depends on camera quallity.

Ken Roach · Nov 29, 2007

Mr. Goldberg, call your office

I would go after this with a low-cost approach.

Windows XP comes with "Movie Maker", and nearly every cheap webcam comes with video capture software.

I've used the Windows accessibility utility SerialKeys to allow a controller to send ASCII strings to control a Windows application, usually when I'm doing serial or Ethernet sniffing.
You could probably do the same if the video capture software had a circular or memory-limited buffer; you would just have to set it up to record, then use SerialKeys to send the keystroke to stop the capture.

rodneyhammer · Nov 29, 2007

The cognex camera comes with a nice software package and an actual base I/O unit that you can connect to your PLC. The camera looks for user defined flaws on a piece or area such as a crack or split in drive chain links while running. The cameras speed is pretty extreme so you wont have to worry about that, but the camera only detects the flaw after it happens so anything that led up to the flaw is still questionable unless an actual out of place work piece is the cause so you may still may have to directly save hours and hours of video or digital pics on another device such as a web cam. Good Luck. try www.cognex.com and check em out.

elevmike · Nov 29, 2007

rsdoran said:
How do you get a camera to record before a fault occurs?

To show I am not trying to be facetious, does the camera record all the time and overwrite over a period of time then when a "trigger" occurs it will "retain" a period of time before and after?

That's the way I understand it.

elevmike · Nov 29, 2007

For a one time diagnostic issue, I'd go for cheap and setup a standard video camera with an endless security type tape. Presumably when the unit faults, there will be some type of an alarm to call for human intervention. The responding operator can then turn off the camera. With a 2 hour tape it should'nt take long to fast forward/reverse through it to find the crash scene.

Advice on capturing fault on camera

ward

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SNK

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ward

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SNK

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RussB

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ward

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rodneyhammer

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elevmike

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