Pfisterer recognizes quality defects faster and more reliably - and with Harrandt finds even the tiniest defect.

A 360° endoscope camera enables the specialist company for energy transmission to reliably detect the smallest surface defects in high-voltage insulation bodies.

Even the tiniest impurities, inclusions and dirt particles on the surface of high-voltage insulation bodies can lead to serious problems when transmitting energy. The traditional Swabian Company Pfisterer wants to live up to its quality standards as a market leader at all times and is therefore, together with Harrandt, developing an intelligent process to detect the smallest possible defects.

Starting Point and Challenge

In a very complex process, Pfisterer produces special insulation bodies for high-voltage cable fittings. During production, inevitable tiny deposits on the insulation surface as well as paint residue or blistering at the material transitions can occur. Checking the finished insulation body for the defects mentioned has so far been heavily dependent on the employee and their environmental conditions, such as incidence of light and test angle, as well as their experience in troubleshooting.

In order to provide its employees with the best possible support in optimizing quality, Pfisterer commissioned us to develop and implement an intelligent control process that enables fast and reliable error detection independent of the inspector.

Our Solution

After we had analyzed the exact test requirements, the on-site spatial conditions and each individual process step together with the customer, we developed a solution that consists of two components: Firstly, a handling and testing device with which the tester can pick up the approx 1.4 meter long, roughly 30 and 40 kg heavy, and not very dimensionally stable insulation body, and move it without damage. Secondly, a 360° endoscope camera, which examines the test object on the internal insulation surfaces and visualizes the smallest surface defects on a monitor. The prototype of the new test station was used on-site by the customer shortly afterwards.

The Harrandt solution enables faster and significantly more reliable testing of the insulation bodies - and thus guarantees consistently reproducible quality.

The Result

With this solution it was possible to transfer and convert the special skills of an experienced employee into a semi-automatic process and thus detect the smallest surface defects in the insulation bodies many times faster and much more reliably. The long-term goal now is to develop a fully automated test procedure that, with the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning, enables continuous, intelligent data traceability down to each individual insulation body.