TECH FOCUS: ILLUMINATION


Spotlight on: Illumination


A round-up of some of the latest lighting and illumination solutions for imaging and machine vision


L


ighting and illumination play a crucial role in imaging and machine


vision applications. It is essential to ensure proper


visibility of the objects being imaged. By providing adequate illumination, it can enhance the contrast, sharpness, and clarity of the captured images. Well-designed lighting set-ups


minimise shadows, reduce glare, and reveal important details of the objects. Lighting techniques, such as


backlights, dark field illumination and spotlights, are employed to enhance the contrast between the object and its background. Tis contrast improvement enables better differentiation of features, detection of defects,


Chromasens: Featured product


and identification of important characteristics. Illumination is crucial


Complex inspection tasks with different types of defects often also require different lighting concepts. In most cases, these are realised with several inspection stations. This leads to high costs for separate camera systems and required handling stations. With line scan cameras, such inspection tasks can be realised by flashing different illuminations. However, due to the size of the individual types of illumination, collisions often occur in the installation space. The new innovative combined illumination from


Chromasens Corona II series solves this problem elegantly in one compact module: tube light, bright field and dark field illumination can be combined within one housing. The performance of the individual components remains correspondingly high: for the tube light, up to 1.2 MLux is possible with white LEDs, and the dark field still achieves 800 kLux despite the compact design. Different cooling options are available.


Further information: www.chromasens.de/en/techfocus


22 IMAGING AND MACHINE VISION EUROPE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2023


for surface inspection tasks. Employing specific lighting angles, polarised lights or diffuse illumination can highlight surface irregularities, texture, and defects. Tis allows for accurate inspection of surfaces, such as detecting scratches, dents, or other imperfections. Techniques such as coaxial lighting or multiple light sources can effectively manage and control shadows in machine vision applications. In applications where colour


accuracy is important, lighting plays a critical role. Consistent and controlled lighting conditions ensure that the colours of objects are accurately represented in the captured images. Tis is important for tasks such as colour matching, product inspection, and quality control. Lighting techniques such as spotlights or specific lighting angles can also be employed to highlight specific features of interest within an object. Tis is particularly useful when performing measurements, identifying key components, or detecting fine details. Tere are also applications that


require specialised illumination, such as UV for fluorescence- based analysis or infrared (IR) illumination for night vision or heat detection. Tese specialised lighting techniques can enable the capture of unique information or the detection of specific characteristics that may not be visible under normal lighting conditions. Proper selection and


optimisation of lighting set-ups are crucial to achieving reliable and high-quality imaging results in machine vision applications.


Commercial products Among the vendors offering illumination products and solutions, Advanced Illumination’s product line-up includes ring lights, spotlights, backlights, darkfield illuminators, coaxial lights, and structured lights. Te company provides solutions for various applications, including inspection, measurement, and vision-guided robotics. Basler’s lights include


integrated lighting controls, which can save materials to make the solution more cost- effective. Tey are also designed


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