Dual Detection of MASTIC Sealant

Abstract

MASTIC sealants are used to bridge two solid surfaces in order to fill the air gaps for the prevention of rust, leak proofing, and for fastening welded joints. In recent trends sealant detection has become one of the major priorities in error prevention and trouble shooting in automation. The color and presence of the applied MASTIC sealant is determined using LASER and vision system. As the difference in the tolerance of the thickness of the sealant layer and the error signal value is very negligible in the above performed method, it leads to improper production and incomplete products. To overcome such complication, the combinational method of high frequency sound signal transmission and reception along with flow sensing of the sealant with the help of a pin wheel mechanic pulse counter is implemented. A dual method is proposed in this project for the determination of Presence and thickness of sealant. The first method is calculating the transit time of the sealant sensing signal from the source to the target sealant. The second method is sensing the flow of the sealant when the pneumatic piston is actuated by which the presence of MASTIC sealant is ascertained. Redundancy is ensured by the implementation of dual detection.