How Are Industrial Lenses Specifically Used in Quality Inspection?

As a core component of machine vision systems, industrial lenses are widely used in industrial production, particularly in product quality inspection. By combining with high-resolution cameras, advanced lighting systems, and sophisticated image processing software, they enable precise inspection of various industrial products in terms of appearance, dimensions, and defects.

In product quality inspection, industrial lenses have the following common application scenarios:

1.Visual defect detection

Using low-distortion, high-resolution industrial lenses, it is possible to capture subtle defects on product surfaces, such as dirt, cracks, scratches, rust, and printing defects. This inspection method is widely used in fields such as electronic component inspection, metal surface inspection, automotive parts inspection, and plastic parts inspection, ensuring that product quality meets standards.

For example, in electronic component inspection, industrial lenses combined with high-resolution cameras can detect minute defects on PCB boards, such as short circuits, open circuits, and poor solder joints.

2.Product dimensional accuracy measurement

Industrial lenses, combined with image processing software, can perform non-contact dimensional measurement, calculate dimensional deviations, and ensure the dimensional accuracy of products.

This inspection method is widely used in the dimensional measurement of mechanical parts (gear tooth pitch, bearing inner diameter), 3C products (PCB board hole diameter), injection molded parts (bottle cap thread accuracy), semiconductors, and other products. It can accurately measure geometric parameters such as length, width, height, diameter, angle, roundness, flatness, hole spacing, and positional accuracy of parts.

Industrial lenses are commonly used for measuring the dimensional accuracy of products

3.Automated assembly process inspection

Industrial lenses also play a crucial role in automated product assembly processes, enabling real-time monitoring and intelligent control. They can automatically inspect products during assembly to detect missing, incorrectly installed, reversed, or improperly positioned components (such as screws, springs, washers, O-rings, chips, capacitors, resistors, bottle caps, labels, and instruction manuals).

For example, they can automatically detect poor soldering of IC pins in electronic components, missing pins in wire harness connectors, and the tightness of bottle caps in pharmaceutical packaging.

4.Character recognition and barcode reading

Industrial lenses can also recognize characters such as production dates, batch numbers, serial numbers, model numbers, and logos on products, as well as read one-dimensional barcodes and two-dimensional barcodes (DPM codes) for traceability and anti-counterfeiting purposes.

Using high-resolution and low-distortion industrial lenses ensures that characters and barcodes are clearly presented without distortion, improving recognition and reading rates. This application covers almost all manufacturing industries (for product traceability), logistics sorting, pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, and other fields.

5.Color recognition and sorting

Industrial lenses offer excellent optical performance, producing sharp images with good contrast and accurate color reproduction. They can also be used to classify, sort, or inspect products based on their color characteristics, and are commonly used in industries such as agriculture, food processing, printing, and cosmetics. For example, they are used for color sorting and classification of tablets, fruits, and ceramic tiles.

Industrial lenses have excellent color reproduction capabilities

6.Applications of various types of industrial lenses

(1)Line scan lenses: Line scan industrial lenses are suitable for high-speed, high-precision continuous inspection, such as the inspection of printed materials and textiles. For example, in the appearance inspection of lithium batteries, line scan lenses can be used to detect defects such as swelling, bubbles, and cracks on the surface of the lithium battery, ensuring the integrity of the battery's appearance.

(2)Telecentric lenses: Telecentric industrial lenses offer advantages such as high image quality, low distortion, and large depth of field in AOI (Automatic Optical Inspection), providing stable measurement results. For example, in semiconductor inspection, telecentric lenses can be used to inspect the appearance quality and circuit connections of chips, as well as for defect detection and repair.

(3)Macro industrial lenses: Macro industrial lenses magnify object details, making them clearly visible, and are widely used in fields such as mechanical inspection, electronics manufacturing, character recognition, and visual positioning. For example, in plastic parts inspection, using an industrial macro lens to capture images of plastic parts and magnifying them multiple times allows for clearer and faster inspection of defects, enabling the removal of substandard products and ensuring product quality.

In summary, the application of industrial lenses in quality inspection covers various aspects, from visual defect detection to automated assembly.  Their use not only improves the accuracy and speed of industrial quality inspection but also significantly enhances production efficiency and product quality, bringing substantial economic benefits to businesses.