The rapid development of science and technology has made machine vision systems increasingly widely used in many industries.

As key components, industrial cameras and lenses have a great impact on the characteristics and performance of the entire system. Therefore, they have become the focus of the industry and a popular direction for technology research and development.

Industrial cameras are significantly different from civilian cameras.

In terms of chip types, they are mainly divided into two types: CCD and CMOS.

Among many production lines, industrial cameras using CMOS chips have outstanding performance. They have high integration, low energy consumption, fast transmission and wide dynamic range. As a result, these cameras demonstrate exceptional performance in high-resolution and high-speed applications.

According to the structural characteristics of the sensor, cameras can be divided into two categories: one is a linear array camera that can continuously record images, and the other is a matrix camera that can acquire an entire plane image at once.

Line scan cameras can play an excellent role in print inspection production lines that require extremely high image details.

In addition, according to the frequency range they respond to, industrial cameras can be divided into different categories such as visible light, infrared, and ultraviolet. Each type of camera serves a specific purpose and is used to meet various inspection and analysis needs.

The principles of industrial cameras are significantly different from ordinary cameras.

Image sensors like industrial cameras are progressive scan, while ordinary cameras are interlaced.

Although the process of progressive scanning technology is complex, the yield rate is low, and the output is limited. Only a few companies such as Dalsa and Sony can produce such products, and the cost is high, but in the field of image processing, it has significant advantages over interlaced scanning technology. Advantages.

Industrial cameras output naked data, and their spectral ranges tend to be much wider.

This feature makes it perform well when processing high-quality images, especially suitable for many fields such as machine vision.

In the field of industrial inspection, careful analysis of the collected data can help more sensitively identify minor defects on the surface of the product.

Photos taken by ordinary cameras are different from this. These photos are compressed in the mjpeg format, and the color distribution is consistent with human visual perception. However, the image quality is poor, which is not conducive to in-depth analysis and processing.

When it comes to factors affecting the resolution of industrial camera output, the situation is more complicated.

High resolution has significant advantages when it comes to postural observation or analysis and recognition by machine software.

If it is just for VGA or USB output and observed on a monitor, then the results are not only affected by the resolution of the industrial camera, but the resolution of the monitor also plays a crucial role.

The resolution of industrial cameras is quite high, but the resolution of the monitor is not ideal, so the camera cannot achieve the desired results.

In the visual automatic inspection industry and related industries, CCD industrial cameras are often more popular.

This camera type provides stable image acquisition in many vision inspection projects.

In order to ensure the stability of the system, we usually do not evaluate the accuracy of the measurement based on just one pixel. Normally, we will choose a ratio of at least 4 times for accuracy matching.

On the auto parts assembly line, when accurately inspecting electronic components and small parts, it is particularly critical to correctly select a CCD industrial camera and reasonably set the accuracy multiple.

It is necessary to consider the different needs for industrial cameras in different application scenarios.

For complex tasks that require precise proofreading or identification, a high-resolution camera is most appropriate.

If it is only for preliminary viewing of the surveillance screen, excessive resolution will increase the cost, and in the long run, it may also reduce the cost-effectiveness of the system.

Lenses are crucial in machine vision systems, and their main function is to transform and adjust light beams. In this way, it is guaranteed that the imaging target is accurately mapped to the photosensitive part of the image sensor.

The quality of the lens is directly related to the overall performance of the machine vision system.

In many manufacturing workshops, taking the surface scratch detection of electronic product parts as an example, if the quality of the lens is not high, the image is easily blurred or deformed, which in turn affects the accuracy of the detection results.

Reasonable selection and installation of lenses is also a very important step in machine vision system design.

In order to meet various imaging needs, adapt to different environmental conditions and sensor combinations, we have to carefully select the appropriate lens.

When inspection work is performed in a limited space, customized mini lenses are often required to ensure that imaging needs are met.

The matching of lens and CCD is very important.

If a small-sized CCD is used as the lens, there may be areas around the screen that cannot be imaged, and this area will appear black.

In the production line of small electronic product assembly, if the size of the lens and CCD do not match, the image is likely to be missing, which will reduce the accuracy of detection and lead to an increase in the number of defective products.

In actual production scenarios, supporting equipment must be continuously tested and adjusted.

When deploying a new machine vision system or upgrading equipment, key components such as lenses and CCDs need to be debugged multiple times to ensure that they match perfectly. This ensures the clarity and accuracy of the image and avoids any loss of information.

The light emitted by the ring light source is illuminated at various angles and color combinations, which can better show the three-dimensional structure of the object.

In the high-end handicraft identification production line, ring light sources play a key role. It helps identify three-dimensional details such as the texture and shape of artwork.

The backlight is used to emit bright light through the high-density LED array surface, which can clearly present the edges of objects. This method is particularly suitable for use with telecentric lenses. It is often used in scenes that require extremely high accuracy, such as chip detection, mark point positioning, and calibration of wafers and liquid crystal glass substrates.

Darkfield technology uses scattered light to see objects, while using white direct light helps discern subtle differences between objects. By using different light illumination methods, the accuracy of detection can be further improved.

In production practice, the selection of light sources often relies on the rich experience accumulated from a large number of experiments.

In the early stages of the experiment, engineers frequently tested different light sources in an effort to discover which light source could most clearly display defects on the surface of plastic products.

As machine vision technology continues to develop, what are your thoughts on the development trends of industrial cameras and lenses?