UV Imaging - A Powerful Tool for the Future
See outside the visible spectrum with UV cameras. This innovative technology unlocks a new dimension in machine vision, allowing you to inspect objects from a whole new perspective within the light spectrum.
UV-sensitive sensors utilize ultraviolet light that is invisible to the naked eye to reveal flaws and features that go undetected when using standard cameras. This opens the door for improved quality control and process optimization across various industries.
Whether you're looking to streamline operations, enhance product quality, or embrace a more proactive approach to maintenance. UV cameras offer a powerful tool that will be utilized more and more in the future.
Benefits of UV-sensitive sensors
There are several advantages of utilizing UV cameras in your machine vision system:
• Superior Defect Detection: UV cameras can reveal flaws invisible to traditional methods, leading to stricter quality control.
• Enhanced Material Sorting: Their ability to distinguish materials based on UV properties revolutionizes sorting efficiency.
• Efficient Maintenance: Proactive detection of problems emitting UV radiation allows for preventive maintenance, reducing downtime.
• Fast and Accurate: Advanced UV cameras capture distortion-free images of fast-moving objects on production lines.
• Compact Design: Modern UV cameras offer high pixel counts in a compact size, making them easy to integrate into existing systems.
Revealing Hidden Defects
UV light has a shorter wavelength than visible light, making it more sensitive to surface irregularities. The UV wavelength in light spectrum ranges from 10 to 400 nm, making it shorter than visible light which is in the range of 400–780 nm. Our UV cameras are sensitive in the 200 to 400 nm wavelength, which is the most suitable UV wavelength for industrial inspections.
This for example allows UV cameras to detect tiny scratches and defects that are invisible to the naked eye or standard cameras. This makes them ideal for inspecting objects like semiconductor wafers or metal parts. UV cameras have the capability to detect objects composed of transparent materials such as plastic and PET. Due to the varying absorption rates of UV rays, materials can be sorted based on their unique UV absorption signatures.
Seeing Through Transparent Materials
Inspecting clear coatings used in electronics manufacturing is easier with UV cameras. Where traditional cameras may struggle, UV light interacts differently with coatings and the underlying material. This can create a clear contrast, allowing UV cameras to identify uneven coatings and ensure quality control.
Material Sorting
Sorting transparent materials like plastics and glass efficiently is a challenge for recycling facilities, UV cameras come to the rescue. Different materials absorb or transmit UV light in varying degrees. By leveraging this property, UV cameras can effectively distinguish and separate materials in real-time. Additionally, some UV camera models capture images of fast-moving objects on sorting lines without distortion, thanks to the global shutter technology.
Predictive Maintenance for Power Systems
UV cameras can be a valuable tool for inspecting power systems as part of a comprehensive predictive maintenance strategy. By detecting ultraviolet radiation emitted by some degrading cables, they can help identify potential problems. The high pixel count of some UV camera models allows them to capture clear images even in vast outdoor spaces.
More applications for UV Camera
UV cameras have applications beyond the ones mentioned above. They can potentially be used in:
• Food and Beverage Inspection: Detecting foreign objects like plastic fragments in production lines.
• Pharmaceutical Inspection: Identifying potential tampering with blister packs by looking for variations in materials or markings.
• Security Applications: Detecting forged documents or counterfeit currency that utilize UV-reactive inks.
• Detecting fluorescence: Adding a special tracer to liquids like glue makes them invisible to the naked eye but shows up clearly under our UV cameras. This lets you easily identify the application of glue during fabrication without affecting how the final product looks for your customers.
Get-cameras UV Camera Free SDK
A free SDK is available for UV cameras. With the use of this SDK, you can simply operate the camera, capture images and modify parameters. The SDK contains example programs in the following languages: DotNet, C, C++ and C#, Python and more. This allows for a simple integration into your software. You can download the free SDK on our
download page.
