360° View Lens Provides All-Round Part Image

Opto Engineering has launched the PCCD2M, a high-resolution 360° view lens optimized for 1-in sensors. The pericentric catadioptric lens is designed to provide an all-round view of small objects without multi-camera systems or part rotation. PCCD2M provides a high-resolution top and lateral view of the inspected object in a single shot for parts of diameter 7–35 mm. The C-Mount PCCD2M is suited to the inline inspection of components such as pharmaceutical containers, plastic caps, preforms, bottlenecks, and threaded objects, including samples with complex geometries. Field of view ranges from 7.5 x 5.0 mm to 25 x 17 mm. Many machine vision applications require a complete view of an object surface since many features to be inspected are located on the object sides rather than on its top. Most cylindrical objects such as bottles and containers of different types, as well as many kinds of mechanical parts require an inspection of the side surfaces to detect scratches and impurities or to read a barcode or, again, to ensure that some writings have been correctly printed. In cases like this, the most common approach is to use more cameras (usually 3 or 4) in order to achieve several side views of the part under inspection in addition to the standard top view. This solution, besides increasing the cost of the system, often leads to system performances limitation, since the electronics or software must manage different images coming from different cameras at the same time. Pericentric lenses offer system integrators what they like most: a single image containing all the object features to be inspected; such image is often software unwrapped in order to obtain a straight view of the object and make image analysis even easier.