Imaging Condition Setting for Ambient-Light-Resistant Inspection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing imaging systems for visual inspection of products fail to adequately account for ambient light effects, leading to brightness errors and pixel saturation, particularly when designing optimized illumination patterns for defect detection on workpieces with individual variations.
Innovation Solution
An imaging condition setting system that adjusts exposure time and illuminator luminosity to ensure pixel values in specific areas of the image remain within a specific range, using a multichannel illuminator to maximize illumination brightness relative to ambient light, and calibrates exposure time to account for imager characteristics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the luminosity of illumination light is increased to reduce the relative effects of ambient light, then the brightness error between estimated and actual images is reduced, but pixel saturation occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary measurement of the workpiece's reflectance characteristics before actual inspection. By pre-characterizing the workpiece optical properties, the system can calculate optimal illumination patterns that ensure sufficient brightness without causing saturation, eliminating the need to use excessively high illumination luminosity
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts illumination parameters (luminosity, spectral distribution, spatial distribution) based on measured workpiece properties. By changing these parameters adaptively rather than using fixed high luminosity, the system achieves optimal brightness while avoiding pixel saturation
2Measurement precision
If manual optimization of illumination patterns is performed to achieve intended detection performance, then defect detection accuracy is improved, but the time required for system setup increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically characterizes workpiece reflectance properties through preliminary measurements and self-adjusts illumination parameters without requiring manual optimization. The automated algorithm processes measured data and generates optimal illumination patterns independently, eliminating the need for operator intervention and significantly reducing setup time
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical adjustment processes with automated computational algorithms. Instead of physically adjusting illumination components and manually reviewing images, the system uses computational optimization based on measured optical properties to automatically determine optimal illumination patterns
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach effectively reduces the impact of ambient light, improving the accuracy of defect detection by ensuring optimal illumination patterns and minimizing pixel saturation.
Implementation Method 1
an imager 141 that captures an image of a workpiece 4
Implementation Method 2
an illuminator (102) including a light source LS
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5
AI summary
An imaging condition setting system sufficiently reduces the effects of ambient light in designing optimized illumination patterns for imaging an inspection target. The system includes an imager that captures an image of a workpiece being the inspection target, an illuminator including a light source that illuminates the workpiece with light, and an imaging condition setter that sets an imaging condition to capture an image of the workpiece. The imaging condition setter sets, for the image captured with light from the illuminator to the workpiece at a luminosity greater than or equal to a threshold, an exposure time of the imager to cause a value of a pixel in a specific area of the image of the workpiece to be within a specific range.