Midi-Formatique SARL, a limited liability company, was created in 1999
in the "Plein Sud Entreprises" technology center at Rivesaltes, France.
Its field of operation is software programming and training; it is
specialized in image analysis and industrial automation.
Founder and manager is Tilman JOCHEMS, born in 1962 at Lübeck, Germany. He is an engineer with a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Aachen, Germany, and a PhD in Mathematical Morphology from the School of Mines of Paris, France.
Since 2015, our head office is in Saint-Cyprien.
We offer
you a complete service, from the analysis of a problem to its practical
solution.
We carry out ourselves the automation and data processing involved. As far as the mechanical and electrical side is concerned, we collaborate with local companies.
We also maintain and optimize existing installations.
As experts in image analysis, we offer training in mathematical morphology and signal processing.
In this chapter, we present our latest projects. For additional information, please contact us.
The problem: at the end of a filling line, control of the bottles including caps, rings and labels was needed. Our customer's request: 100% defect detection before the automatic packaging.
Our realisation: image acquisition with an Allied Visions GigE camera / image analysis using Qlisp5.0 under Windows 8 / synchronisation of the camera and ejection of bottles with an Arduino Ethernet card.
We realised specific pages in order to configure the algorithm, to display and export statistics of the production and to give a history of the defects.
Controls: position and inclination of caps, position of rings, existence and position of the labels, detection of wrinkles. These results are marked in purple on the right side image.
Performance: 2 products/s
The installation works since may 2015 and replaced an existing vision control. Our client is satisfied, the algorithm works without the operator's intervention with all caps and labels used.
The problem: a complex machine was difficult to drive. A manual adjustment was needed all the time in order to position the product for a consecutive machining.
Our idea: help the driver with a program based on image analysis.
Used equipment: colour camera, GigE Vision, PoE, Allied Vision Technologies / industrial computer, fanless, Panel Pc, Advantech / switch, PoE, Netgear.
Realization: image acquisition via Ethernet, data processing by using a software based on Qlisp 5.0, graphical user interface with touch screen, communication of the results to an OMRON PLC with FINS (factory intelligent network service).
Our client is satisfied: the installation positions the product with an accuracy of 0.1mm and a frequency of 0.5s.
Description:
the bobbins of a machine for textile manufacturing must be braked
individually. The torque has to be modified dynamically according to
the diameter of each bobbin to obtain a constant tension of the threads.
Our idea: measuring the diameters of each bobbin by a process of impulse counting.
Realization: electrical equipment (see the photograph) with an OMRON controller and an industrial computer allowing to control up to 96 brakes (MEROBEL). Inductive sensors transmit the state of each bobbin through an industrial network to the controller. This device calculates the diameters of the bobbins and deduces analogue braking values. The values are transmitted to amplifiers that actuate the brakes. A computer equipped with a touch screen serves as user interface. The computer contains a database that allows processing different products. The individual characteristics of each brake are stored in this database to obtain the exact adjustment of braking.
This installation was realized in collaboration with OCéA, Canohès.
Request: a customer asked us to record measurements on several machines. Our installation should work in a heterogeneous automation environment without modifying the existing installations.
Our proposition: independent modules based on Arduino Ethernet PoE cards (PoE=power over Ethernet). These cards are programmable in C and allow the capture of about ten digital signals (including 2 suitable for quick counting) and six analogue signals. Data transfer and power is provided by simple Ethernet cables which may have a length up to 100m. A central switch and an industrial computer ensure the recording of the data in a database. Our proposed software allows printing of reports or exporting in csv format.
Realization: equipment of several machines with measurement modules, realization of distance sensors based on the Sharp GP2Y, program in C++ for a Panel PC with touch screen and bar-code scanner.
The installation works correctly 24/7 since several months.
Description: several machines had been joined together to form a manufacturing unit. This allowed more efficient production, but made the detection of machine anomalies more difficult.
Realization: a program for keeping track of production. Each arriving and outgoing product is recorded. The graphic interface shows how the installation is working at a given moment. A database stores the results of manufacture. Consulting it allows the maintenance service to check the output of each machine and the percentage of its waste.
Description: a colour camera was installed to enhance the quality of paper production. The operators can now control on a screen the structure of the fast moving paper. An electric motor produced by EMERSON moves the camera into the desired position.
Realization: a software interface (DLL) allowing the positioning of the camera via the Modbus protocol, programming of the motor's controller.
The installation was realized in collaboration with OCéA, Canohès and VISISCAN, Paris.
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Description: We collaborated with the company Gazomatic. Our objective was to produce a gas bottle distribution automat (gas bottles are frequently used in southern Europe for heating/cooking). The heart of this installation is a robot able to seek gas bottles in pallets and to deliver them in a customers lock. |
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| The robot fetches a bottle | Delivery in the lock | Prototype of the robot |
Advantages: purchase by credit card; independence of gasoline stations and supermarkets; 24h/24 availability; customers comfort who can leave their cars directly in front of the automat; and especially: filling of the distribution automat by crane or lifting truck which will reduce the costs of delivery.
Realization: we have realized a functional prototype, the company Midi-Formatique conceived and carried out all the data-processing/automatism part. The power equipment (robot of 3 axes, doors of lock,...) is ordered by the controller CJ1M of OMRON which permanently exchanges its information with an industrial computer (protocol toolbus). The computer presents also the graphical interface, manages the stock (database), informs the deliveryman by email about out-of-stock condition, allows remote maintenance, communicates with the payment unity, prints tickets, ...
Unfortunately, this project was abandoned for personal reasons.
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| Choice of product | Stock control by service | Return of consigns |
We have
developed an image analysis system in order to realize applications in
artificial vision. We also use it for teaching.
The software is based on the Lisp interpreter. We added about a hundred functions that realize image processing. They are exclusively programmed in C (mathematical morphology: Dilations, erosions, filters, segmentation... signal processing: Convolution, Fourier...).
Frame grabbing is possible through standard interfaces (DirectShow or VideoCapture for MS-Windows, V4L for Linux). You can treat binary, gray-level or color images.
Qlisp uses the libraries and the sources of Lisp and TclTk, which are shareware applications. That is why we decided to provide Qlisp for free in its complete version, too. Our business remains the design and the realization of industrial and scientific applications in image analysis.
If you are interested in additional information about Qlisp, see the chapter about image analysis.
Description:
a machine requires the rotation control of hundreds of bobbins.
Realization: the industrial network AS-i of the controller RPX from CROUZET allows easy wiring of inductive sensors, which give information about the rotation of each bobbin. The machine is stopped in the case of tear; the number of the roller concerned is communicated via Modbus to the principal controller of the installation. We carried out the programming of the controller; our customer provided the mechanical and electrical installation.
Our second activity is teaching. This chapter shows, as an example, our course "Image Analysis". Practical work is done with our Qlisp software that we put at your disposal.
Introduction to artificial vision
Contents: cameras (optic, CCD sensor, CCIR standard, digital interfaces), image analysis systems, basic transformations (look-up-table, histogram, equalization by histogram), format of recording, introduction to the software Qlisp (principles, basic functions, programming).
Duration: 4 hours of lectures, 8 hours of practical exercises
Mathematical morphology
Contents: dilation, erosion, Euclidean and geodetic distance, counting, ultimate erosion, opening, closing, filters, algebraic properties of transformations, design of filters, segmentation, queue-based algorithms.
Duration: 8 hours of lectures, 16 hours of practical exercises
Signal processing applied to images
Contents: contour extraction and their description by curvature, convolution of signals, filter construction and interpretation, Fourier transformation and FFT, filtering in the frequency space.
Duration: 8 hours of lectures, 12 hours of practical exercises
If you are interested in training on your premises - in image analysis or in topics such as programming, TCP/IP, graphical interfaces, compilation, signal processing - contact us.
In this chapter we will indicate the tools that we frequently use for our realizations.
We are convinced that the most important part in a project is analysis and specification. In this phase, general and theoretical knowledge of the application and of data processing is required.
As far as the tools are concerned, we remain very open to our customers' wishes.
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Field |
Tools |
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Operating systems |
Windows, Linux |
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Data-processing languages |
C, C++, Lisp, Java, Assembler |
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Controllers |
Omron, Emerson, Beckhoff, Kuka, Crouzet |
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Languages of automation |
Ladder diagram, Grafcet, ... (CEI 61131-3), Basic, Krl |
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Internet |
Html, JavaScript, Php |
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Graphical interfaces |
C++Builder, Tcl/Tk, Api Win32, Owl |
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Databases |
Paradox, dBase, Ldap |
| Network | Tcp/Ip, Sockets, Rpc, Com, Smtp |
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