Rhopoint TAMS
Rhopoint TAMS™:
Revolutionary Technology to measure Surface Quality
Konica Minolta Sensing – known for excellent technical performance of their high quality close-tolerance optical instruments.
Rhopoint Instruments – leaders in manufacturing instruments for appearance and surface testing
Volkswagen AG – Once again, another leader in its industry which is manufacturing automotive that are of a high standard, most notably Porsche
AUDI AG – A pioneer in the automotive industry, manufacturing top of the range cars
These 4 major global companies partnered up together trying to find the solution to the same question, “Can we quantify quality, based on human perception?”
Collectively they might have found the answer which is called Rhopoint TAMS™ (Total Appearance Measuring System).
ABOUT
With endless questions asked and managed answer many other questions as what the customer sees as quality, what the customer looks at which could be the look and colour of the car etc. After many years of development, this new instrument was designed. A four-year partnership between these 4 global companies have created a new instrument called TAMS which is a new discovered way of quantifying appearance quality. The uniqueness of this technology provides new parameters to transform the understanding and communication of visual appearance information and the instrument provides opportunities to improve surface finish and this also plays a big role in the human perception of surface appearance quality.
Rhopoint TAMS™ measures 4 properties of a surface and uses these surface measurements to describe 2 important characteristics of a surface.
Measures 4 Main Properties
- CONTRAST – Connected to the colour of the surface. Light and dark surfaces have a low and high contrast reading respectively. Contrast is important in quantifying the impact of haze and Orange Peel. (C=100%)
- SHARPNESS – Can be used to vary differences to reflect details, haze and quality. Its connected to what is perceived, and the accuracy of images reflected. (S=100%)
- WAVINESS – Waviness plays a big part in determining appearance quality, connected to surface waves at 1.5m that have a visible impact.
- DIMENSION – The visible harmony and perception between two panels/parts can be determined by the dominant structure of a surface.
2 Important Characteristics of a Surface
- QUALITY – A value that shows the TAQ (Total Appearance Quality) of a surface (Q=100%)
- HARMONY – A value that shows the acceptability of two adjoining car panels/parts.
Instrument Specifications
- Measurement time – 4 second image capture and 4 second processing
- Colour screen – Full colour IPS screen
- Operation – Up to 5 hours/Charge (Removable batteries & lithium polymer batteries)
- Data transfer – USB, SD Card, Ethernet
- Menu Interface – 5 capacitive sense buttons
Application options are varied as the Rhopoint TAMS™ is capable of possibly measuring all surfaces throughout the automotive manufacturing process (steel and aluminum, base coat and top coat) as it is able to capture surface data for high gloss and mid gloss surfaces. Also made to measure all types of coatings, TAMS which is a conventional instrument and has no limits to measuring all types of surfaces either, including curved surfaces and smaller areas.
Contact us if you see this instrument as a possible benefit to your business or if you would like to find out more about the product. Click the button below and get in touch today.
