Application Examples: Lens and Endoscope Inspection
AEi developed an automated inspection system for endoscopes and plastic lenses.
Application Requirements:
- Reliable, fast optical analysis, coupled with motion control
- Logging of data
This system is used in applications such as video camera production to ensure that the cameras produce true images without any occlusions. It is also used for inspection of endoscopes at point-of-use by medical professionals. The vision inspection system had to first find the focal length of the lens and then test the integrity of the lens system at this natural focal length using an array of optical analysis algorithms native to the FlexAuto control software.
The inspection system uses FlexAuto to advance the camera through the focal plane of the lens with a precision servo motor while simultaneously acquiring and storing images to memory. A total of 30 images are taken at different focal planes over a travel distance of 30 thousandths of an inch. The software analyzes each image to determine the image in best focus. Five regions of interest are then applied to this image to measure the overall image quality of the lens assembly.