BLOG
In our post on the Advantages of Chip-on-Board Technology vs. Surface Mount technology, we defined Chip-on-Board LED technology and illustrated through an example the increased LED chip packing density achievable with Chip-on-Board technology. In this post, we explain the specific advantages of choosing Chip-on-Board LED technology for Machine Vision Lighting applications.
Form Factor
Illumination is critical to the performance of machine vision systems, but all too often it is considered very late in the design process. This leads to issues with space constraints and in many cases the geometry of the lighting setup means that there is very little space for the illuminator. Chip-on-Board LED technology is the ideal solution in this situation, as the machine vision lighting product design essentially starts with the most compact array of LEDs. This allows illumination to be optimized for your application within tight space constraints.
Wavelength Optimization
Wavelength selection is critical in machine vision applications, as the optimum wavelength increases image contrast and improves the overall performance of the system. Chip-on-Board LED technology allows machine vision lighting designers to work with any available wavelength, with the added advantage of allowing multiple wavelengths to be packed closely together for optimum blending of the light in multispectral applications.
Power
In machine vision systems, the intensity of your light can affect the accuracy and throughput of your vision system. Due to the higher packing density achieved with Chip-on-Board LED Technology, higher intensities can be reached while utilizing the same amount of space. ProPhotonix has developed machine vision lighting products utilizing thousands of LEDs, with input power up to 1kW.
Uniformity
Uniform light is extremely important in machine vision systems. If the light is not uniform, it is more difficult for the system to identify defects in the target material, as the non-uniform light will result in reduced contrast. Higher packing density of the LED chips results in more uniform light with a reduced requirement for diffusers, which have the disadvantage of reducing intensity.
Chip-on-Board LED technology offers many advantages in machine vision lighting applications. ProPhotonix has over 20 years’ experience developing Chip-on-Board LED solutions for machine vision lighting. For more information or to speak to an applications engineer, contact us.
