Getting the most from your Machine Vision lighting
Lighting control is essential for the most effective results within machine vision systems, it delivers the following fundamental benefits:
- Stability, repeatability, accuracy
- Synchronising, pulsing, overdriving
- Integration with cameras and image processing software
LEDs are semiconductor devices whose light output is a direct result of the current through the device, not the voltage.
Typically, LED datasheets will indicate that very small changes in LED voltage results in large changes in the LED current.
Gardasoft LED controllers for example, therefore regulate the current, not the voltage, so that light output is stable, tightly controlled and highly repeatable.
Continuous mode
Continuous output is where the lighting is on all the time. This is the easiest mode to use as the intensity of the lighting is the only parameter that needs to be set. No overdriving is permitted.
Pulsed (or Strobe) mode
In pulsed mode the lighting is switched on only when required. The controller receives a trigger signal when a pulse is required.
At their specified current rating, LEDs and LED Lights output 100% brightness. However, it is possible to obtain more than 100% brightness by driving with more current rating for short pulses. This Overdriving, in conjunction with Gardasoft SafePower™ and SafeSense™ technology, enables users to do this with ease and complete confidence.
Overdriving is used with pulse lighting and it brings benefit to most Vision applications. The exceptions are applications where the camera is exposed for a high percentage of the time, for example Line Scan applications.
