One of the most crucial but sometimes overlooked aspects of a strong machine vision system is the lighting component. Vision systems require cameras and software to analyze images and perform tasks such as inspection, measurement, identification, and verification, in various industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, security, agriculture, etc. However, these systems require proper lighting to ensure accurate and reliable results. Lighting is one of the most critical factors that affect the quality and performance of machine vision systems.
While there are various lighting options to choose from, we work extensively with Advanced Illumination to respond to customer needs. Advanced illumination (Ai) is a trusted lighting source for factory automation professionals by providing advanced machine vision lighting technology. Advanced Illumination was founded in 1993 and was the first lighting company to develop and sell an LED lighting product. Since then, Ai has continued being a global leader in the machine vision industry by offering innovative and customized lighting solutions to its customers.
With the Advanced Illumination product line, you can expect exceptional quality, and wide varied, customized options. Ai uses high-quality LEDs that provide high brightness, high uniformity, long lifespan, and low power consumption. They also have various wavelengths, colors, and intensities to suit different applications.
Additionally, Advanced Illumination allows you to configure your own light according to your specific needs. You can choose from different shapes, sizes, mounting options, cables, connectors, and controllers. You can also request custom modifications or designs if needed. Some of the different configurations include backlights, dome lights, spotlights, line lights, and ring lights, to name a few. Ai also has specialized products such as coaxial lights, polarized lights, strobe lights, and UV lights. Some of their notable models include:
- BL245 Backlight: A large-area backlight that provides uniform illumination behind the object of interest. It is ideal for edge detection part location/orientation or presence/absence, hole detection, and object gauging. It has a size of 24 x 24 inches and a thickness of only 0.5 inches. It has an intensity control knob and an optional diffuser panel.
- DL174 Dome Light: A dome-shaped light that provides diffuse illumination over a large area. It is ideal for eliminating shadows and glare on curved or reflective surfaces. It has a diameter of 17 inches and a height of 4 inches and an intensity control knob, a built-in controller, and an optional polarizing filter.
- SL162 Spot Light: A compact spotlight that provides focused illumination on a small area. It is ideal for enhancing contrast or highlighting features on flat or textured surfaces. With a diameter of 1.6 inches and a length of 2.5 inches, it has an intensity control knob, a built-in controller, and an optional diffuser lens.
Case Study Samples
The motor oil bottle sample (Figs 3A – 3B) was originally illuminated with a white light, effectively imaging the dot-matrix printed lot code on the bottle. Under UV light, we see that another, covert lot or date code is now visible and not otherwise obvious under visible light.
This image on the left below shows a specular reflection from a bottle inspected with typical vision system geometry, comprising a coaxially mounted ring light and camera, oriented perpendicular to the part surface. A polarizer set with one element mounted on the light (polarizer) and the other mounted on the camera lens (analyzer) was applied to block glare, as shown in the image on the right below- 2B.
Diffuse Dome Light and Flat Diffuse Light work equally well for relatively small areas of the PCB as seen below.
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