A dependable, reliable supplier of high-speed noncontact measurement sensors that could fit into any clean or dirty manufacturing environment -- that's what Tom Moser, president of ForMost Systems, was looking for in early 2002. Moser needed the sensors for several packaged product systems he was developing as part of an expansion of ForMost's product line.

"We narrowed our choice down to LMI Selcom," Moser noted. "Since our selection, they have proven to be extremely service-oriented, very accommodating and have gone out of their way to help us develop our product line. Their sensors exactly fit our profile and needs."

According to Mike Snow of LMI Selcom's Industrial Sensors Division, ForMost is also the type of OEM company LMI Selcom wants to help.

"It's a new business area for LMI Selcom's Industrial Sensors Division that we want to further develop," Snow said.

ForMost Systems' product niche is to provide standard noncontact sensor systems to a wide array of manufacturers with real-time measurement needs in high speed production processes that can't be measured accurately by conventional measurement techniques.

"Our research showed that there are very few systems in the North American market available in a standard systems format," Moser noted. "Most applications have to be custom tailored, which take more time and are more costly to develop."

As a product developer instead of a system integrator, ForMost Systems has developed noncontact measurement systems that are less costly and are available virtually off the shelf.

"We don't custom develop each application like a system integrator but instead provide standard application packages that are very modular so modifications, if necessary, can be done very easily for customers' specific application needs," he noted.

Four Standard Applications Developed

To date, ForMost Systems has developed four standard application packages that include LMI Selcom sensors, a full computer system, data acquisition and control hardware, and a complete software package. All systems are packaged in a high quality industrial enclosure. The application package for thickness measurement, for example, can be configured to measure materials from the micron level to a meter or more.

Basic hardware includes high-speed measurement lasers that can be used on a production line, in a quality assurance environment, or in a laboratory.

Systems developed by ForMost Systems have been tested with a variety of LMI Selcom laser sensors, with standoffs of 0.59 in. (15 mm) and up to 168 in. (2540 mm). Measurement resolutions are as small as 250 nanometers up to 0.001 in. (25 microns), and measurement frequencies as high as 500,000 samples per second.

ForMost 's four standard systems, the GoldLab LaserGage Systems, include:

• LaserGage 100, which uses one laser to profile and sort parts, measure surface smoothness, measure liquid levels, and measure coating thickness.


• LaserGage200, which uses two lasers to measure items back-to-back, such as thickness measurement of sheet goods, flat parts, or extrusions.


• LaserGage 300, which uses a beam sensor laser to measure diameter, edge variance, hole sizes, gaps, and liquid opacity.


• LaserGage 400, which uses one ultra high-resolution laser and an X-Y Table for 3-D profiling, and is designed for quality assurance or laboratory application.

Except for the LaserGage 400, the systems were designed for industrial environments to do real-time measurement of items as they are produced or processes as they operate.

ForMost Systems specified the LMI Selcom SLS5000 series sensors for the LaserGage 100 and 200 Series. Moser noted he selected these because of their compactness, extremely accurate and reliable operation, easy maintenance, and easy integration into numerous on- and off-line applications.

"We found the SLS5000 sensor to be extremely durable, yet also flexible to meet our standard product development package needs," noted Moser. "They also have a totally integrated sensor within the head and a built-in processor for data averaging and filtering,"

For the LaserGage 300, ForMost selected LMI Selcom's Laser Beam Sensor (LBS) and for the LaserGage 400, LaserTwin Sensor (LTS), which is a high-speed, high-resolution sensor.

The LBS, based on the shadow measurement principle, is used to measure diameter/runoff of shafts and edge control of sheet web material. Moser found that it had better linearity, a longer range capability, and more flexibility in the application than some other sensors. The LBS looks at the shadow it creates and does not rely on surface reflectivity for measurement. This makes it ideal for high-speed, non-stationary, hard to measure applications where fast and accurate measurements are required.

In comparison, the LTS laser beam has a very small spot size of 30 microns. The small spot size, combined with two high-resolution position sensitive detectors, increases the total light captured by the imaging optics. This provides excellent contour tracking of changes in the height of the object being measured. These features, combined with a large observation angle as an internal feedback loop, automatically compensate for differences in detected light intensity and allow the LTS sensors to achieve excellent measurement results.

Systems Use Customized Software Packages

All LaserGage systems use custom-written software packages with input from the systems processor and data acquisition hardware. The software, developed in a Testpoint integrated development environment supplemented with Visual Basic, is highly modular and easy to use. Most features of the software have default values that allow users to turn the system on and start running, yet be able to customize the system to their specific needs by simply changing setup parameters. If a user has specific requirements that cannot be met by the standard package, the flexibility of the software allows customization to these specific needs with a minimum of time and effort.

"All of the software was tested in individual modules during development and the complete systems were 'burned in' with over 1000 hours of continuous final testing," Moser added. "We did everything we could to eliminate the possibility of a 'software bug'."

Applications are across the board and vary from measuring surface smoothness to measuring diameters, edge variance, liquid levels, thickness, hole size gaps, opacity, roller gaps, and coating thickness. The systems developed can also sort and profile parts.

"We are initially putting most of our emphasis on these four product lines, " Moser noted. "We plan on developing other systems in the future using the product development concept."

Moser concluded that ForMost System's packaged development versus system integrator approach should save customers anywhere from 20 to 50% in cost to implement a measurement system.