Industrial Applications

Global rights to industrial and manufacturing uses of the AFI 5000P have been transferred to FARO Technologies.
The AFI 5000P plays a critical role in these generic tasks: reverse engineering (e.g. digitization, modeling) analysis (e.g. FEA, CFD) inspection (e.g. QC, GD&T) anomaly detection (e.g. abnormalities in composites that are dimensionally within tolerance) visualization (allows for pleasing human perception of 3D objects) process control (e.g. SPC, QC)

Many of these applications can be better understood by viewing our AFI 5000P application case studies, which describe some actual shape scanning applications from measuring turbine blades to scanning automotive headlights to inspecting aerospace honeycomb.

Since AFI is an important emerging technology, it is also important to consider AFI from a strategic perspective. The AFI 5000P is capable of taking metrology-grade 3D "photographs" almost as easily as you might snap traditional photos (2D) of your friends and family. DPI's 3D photos look like and behave like CAD models.

Think about this for a moment...metrology-grade CAD models of actual objects in seconds. This is the promise of AFI and, as illustrated in the chart below, it represents a "third wave" of technology change in the field of dimensional metrology since the Industrial Revolution. Peter Marks, Managing Director of Design Insight, Santa Cruz, CA, discusses the digital shape scanning revolution in his SME white paper.

As you might imagine, applications for 3D digital shape scanning are becoming ubiquitous. Major industries that are beginning to employ digital shape scanning include:

• aerospace
• animation
• automotive/ground transportation
• consumer products
• dental
• government/defense
• industrial equipment
• marine/offshore
• medical/biomed
• power generation