Let there be light

Machine vision cameras can be found in an increasing number of manufacturing systems – controlling processes, sorting products or performing quality inspection. Easily overlooked, however, is the important role played by lighting in helping these cameras achieve precise, repeatable results.

"Lighting is a key element of any machine vision system," clarifies B&R's machine vision expert, Andreas Waldl. It's the lighting that determines if and how the camera sees the targeted object. In addition to the intensity, angle and wavelength of the beam, two factors that make all the difference are precise timing and intelligent control.

In the real world, however, the potential for synchronization is severely limited. "The vision sensors, lighting, strobe controller and machine controller each come from a different supplier," explains Waldl. Without a common communication protocol, all the data exchanged between these devices has to pass through digital inputs and outputs.

"The extremely short strobe pulse allows us to operate the LEDs at up to 300% of their rated current," notes Waldl. B&R is able to achieve a level of intensity that would be impossible with conventional continuous lighting. The enables very short exposure times and reduces noise while at the same time making the solution virtually immune to the effects of extraneous light.

"Machines stand in production halls, where the lighting conditions are difficult and change over the course of the day," says Waldl, "so extraneous light is a notorious source of problems." Eliminating that factor can substantially improve the quality of measurement and inspection results. The machine builder can achieve that either by encasing the machine in a bulky, costly housing – or by using high-intensity strobe lighting.

For a machine vision application to produce consistent results, objects must be illuminated as uniformly as possible. This can be achieved through intelligently designed lights. Each LED in the B&R solution has a special lens to ensure that the light is radiated evenly. The lights are factory calibrated by B&R, so there's no need to perform manual calibration in the field or during series production. Temperature fluctuations and the passage of time affect the intensity of light generated by an LED – but B&R's intelligent lights compensate for these effects automatically.

"A machine vision solution that can do one specific thing really well is simply not enough," emphasizes Waldl. In the age of Industry 4.0 and the Industrial IoT, on-the-fly product changeovers are becoming an everyday occurrence – and a vision solution must be able to accommodate that. B&R's fully integrated solution adapts with ease: all the parameters can be stored in recipes and recalled as needed.

At any time, the user can adjust the color of the lights, the duration or focal length of the strobe pulses, the exposure time of the camera or the angle of the light bars – simply by changing a few software settings. With the same lighting components, they can implement both bright-field and dark-field illumination simply by using different parameters.