R&D and Design Projects

Automatic Counting and Sorting of Steel Bars with Different Diameters Using Image Processing Technology

Round steel bars are among the most widely produced and consumed steel products. In recent years, it has become increasingly common to sell bars of different diameters based on quantity. Therefore, it is essential to count products accurately and group them into the required quantities before packaging in rolling mills.

Manual counting methods, carried out by workers, slow down production lines, reduce efficiency, and increase labor costs. Moreover, errors during manual counting are inevitable.

At Proton Automation, through the KOSGEB R&D, Product Development, and Innovation Support Program, we developed the Automatic Counting and Sorting of Steel Bars with Different Diameters Using Image Processing Technology project to eliminate errors caused by manual counting.

Key Features of the System:

1. Tests have shown that the system achieves 99.9% accuracy in counting bars of different diameters.
2. It can count all bar diameters between 8 mm and 32 mm.
3. Chain conveyors operate smoothly at speeds up to 600 mm/s; the system guarantees accurate counting and sorting at this rate. Industrial-grade devices and fiber-optic camera communication ensure stable performance without interference.
4. With the REDES method, bars are aligned on the conveyor for accurate counting and sorting.
5. The MULSER method minimizes errors caused during the separation process.
6. As a non-contact measurement system, it offers low maintenance costs.
7. The interface software includes a counter that allows operators to monitor the number of counted bars in real time.
8. The system stores and displays photos of the last 5 packaging operations.
9. At the end of each sorting process, the operator interface shows the package number and packaging date (minute, hour, day, month, year). All data are also stored in the database of the industrial computer.

Thanks to this system, steel bar production gains both speed and accuracy, while human errors and costs are minimized.