Lighting is an essential component of any machine vision application. The proper lighting ensures a consistent environment in which machine vision systems can detect or inspect objects, contributing to accuracy, repeatability and quality in production.
Achieving consistent and reliable lighting that’s right for your application is a foundational part of automating tasks with vision systems. Two of the most common types of equipment that help manufacturers achieve this consistency are LED lighting controllers and optical filters. Both technologies address important issues in a vision system’s environment that can impact the consistency of lighting, and thus the quality of production.
The Benefits of LED Lighting Controllers
In a typical manufacturing environment, the power supply to lighting equipment isn’t always constant. These fluctuations can lead to inconsistent lighting of objects for inspection or detection, decreasing the overall accuracy and reliability of machine vision systems. On top of this, most LED lighting systems don’t have any way of connecting to internal systems for analysis – an important quality for competitiveness in today’s connected manufacturing environment.
LED lighting controllers help regulate the power supply to lighting equipment to eliminate light level changes that interfere with machine vision tasks. These same controllers also enable communications via global standards, which allows for greater levels of connectivity and monitoring of light health so that manufacturers can take preventative action when a problem arises.
The Benefits of Machine Vision Filters
Not all manufacturing environments are ideal for machine vision systems. Sometimes objects do not stand out well from their background, while some objects may present strong glare or reflection that makes machine vision tasks difficult or impossible. Machine vision optical filters are an effective way to remove or minimize machine vision obstacles created by the manufacturing environment.
Optical filters can be used to maximize contrast, improve color, enhance subject recognition and control light reflection. In the instance of polarizing filters, for example, light being reflected off an object can be completely removed so there are no obstructions to the machine vision inspection process. Filters can help minimize environmental variables in machine vision applications.
Machine vision lighting equipment is a vital component of any automated vision task and contributes greatly to overall quality in production. By ensuring consistent lighting and by eliminating obstacles to imaging processes, machine vision lighting promotes more accurate, reliable and productive machine vision applications.
To learn more on this topic, register for Phase 1 Technology’s free machine vision seminar on September 25th in the Greater Boston Area. Machine vision lighting best practices will be discussed by experts in the field, and Teledyne Dalsa will have an exclusive unveiling of new 5GBs Genie Nano cameras. Seats are filling up quickly – register for free today!