Apparatus for inspecting a vehicle brake component and method for performing such inspection

1. An apparatus comprising:

a stand alone automated brake caliper inspecting apparatus for inspecting a brake caliper following the machining and cleaning of the brake caliper to remove machining chips or foreign objects and prior to the mounting the brake caliper on a vehicle in order to detect the presence of a machining chip or foreign object in an annular seal groove provided in a bore of the brake caliper and thereby detect a part defect in the brake caliper, said apparatus including a camera having a lens;

a borescope having a first end and a second end, said first end operatively disposed adjacent said camera and said second end having a mirror disposed therein and adapted to be introduced into the bore of the brake caliper in the area of the seal groove thereof; and

a light source for supplying light to said borescope whereby said mirror is operative to reflect an image of the seal groove in the bore of the brake caliper to be inspected to said camera; and

a preprogrammed electronic controller device which analyzes the image to thereby detect the presence of the machining chip or foreign object in the seal groove of the bore of the brake caliper thereby detecting a part defect in the brake caliper.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said light source is carried by said borescope.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said camera is CCD-based image sensor.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said lens is a fixed focal length lens with a lockable F-stop.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said light source is a LED ring carried by said borescope.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said borescope is formed from a high polished acrylic material.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said mirror is a conical mirror and is formed as part of said borescope.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said borescope is a multi-compound angled borescope.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a stand alone automated brake caliper inspecting apparatus configured for inspecting a brake caliper, following the machining and cleaning of the brake caliper to remove any machining chips or foreign objects and prior to the mounting the brake caliper on a vehicle in order to detect the presence of a machining chip or foreign object in an annular seal groove provided in a bore of the brake caliper and thereby detect a part defect in the brake caliper, the apparatus including a camera having a lens attached thereto;

a borescope having a first end and a second end, said first end operatively disposed adjacent said lens of said camera and said second end having a mirror disposed therein and configured to be introduced into the bore of the brake caliper in the area of the seal groove thereof to thereby detect the presence of a part defect; and

a light source for supplying light to said borescope whereby said mirror is operative to reflect an image of the seal groove in the bore of the brake caliper to be inspected to said camera and thereby detect the presence of the machining chip or foreign object in the seal groove of the bore of the brake caliper thereby detecting a part defect in the brake caliper;

wherein the image captured by the camera is overexposed to enhance the ability of the camera to detect the machining chip or foreign object in the seal groove of the bore of the brake caliper and thereby detect the presence of a part defect in the brake caliper.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said light source is carried by said borescope.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said camera is CCD-based image sensor.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said lens is a fixed focal length lens with a lockable F-stop.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said light source is a LED ring carried by said borescope.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said borescope is formed from a high polished acrylic material.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein said mirror is a conical mirror and is formed as part of said borescope.

16. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said borescope is a multi-compound angled borescope.

17. A method for inspection of a brake caliper, following the machining and cleaning of the brake caliper to remove any machining chips or foreign objects and prior to the mounting the brake caliper on a vehicle in order to detect the presence of a machining chip or foreign object in an annular seal groove provided in a bore of the brake caliper and thereby detect a part defect in the brake caliper, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a brake caliper having a machined area to be inspected;

(b) providing a stand alone automated brake caliper inspecting apparatus including a support fixture, a slide fixture, a preprogrammed electronic controller device, a vacuum fixture and a vision system, the vacuum fixture having at least one vacuum tube and the vision system including a camera having a lens, a borescope having a first end and a second end, the first end operatively disposed adjacent the camera and the second end having a mirror disposed therein, and a light source for supplying light to the borescope whereby the mirror is operative to reflect an image of the annular seal groove provided in the bore of the brake caliper to be inspected to the camera;

(c) securing the brake caliper on the support fixture;

(d) attaching the support fixture on a slide fixture;

(e) prior to performing step (f) operatively disposing the at least one vacuum tube in the bore of the brake caliper and actuating the vacuum fixture so as to vacuum out the bore to remove any machining chips or foreign objects;

(f) introducing a borescope into the bore of the brake caliper;

(g) actuating the light source;

(h) operating the camera to capture the image of the annular seal groove provided in the bore of the brake caliper; and

(i) analyzing the captured image by the preprogrammed electronic controller device to detect by the presence of the chip or foreign object in the seal groove of the bore of the brake caliper and thereby detect the presence of a part defect in the vehicle component.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein in step (f) the image captured by the camera is overexposed.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the image captured by the camera is overexposed to enhance the ability of the camera to detect the machining chip or foreign object in the seal groove of the bore of the brake caliper and thereby detect the presence of a part defect in the brake caliper.

20. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the stand alone automated brake caliper inspecting apparatus further includes a preprogrammed electronic controller device which analyzes the image and assigns a pass or fail code for the brake caliper.