Document - Allied Vision Technologies

AVT Best Practice ImageXpert, USA
Drop
by Drop
Inspection
ImageXpert
Since 1989, ImageXpert Inc. of Nashua, NH (USA) has been producing image quality measurement
software and hardware systems for print and part quality assessment. The expertise
of the company includes machine vision, motion control, printing technology, software development,
image quality analysis, imaging science, optics, illumination, systems integration
and applications engineering.
The Challenge: Achieve Perfect Ink Jet Control For High Quality Prints
Thanks to dropping prices as well as the boom in internet and digital photography use, ink-jet printers can now be found next to computers
in almost every household. With just one push of a button, documents and images can be quickly and easily put to paper. As users,
we can easily forget what a major technical achievement lies behind this now everyday printing activity: the controlled and highly precise
spraying of ink onto paper via millions of tiny ink drops that combine to form the print image. Whether with bubble jet or piezoelectric
technology, printer and print head manufacturers face the challenge of perfectly controlling the size, speed and trajectory of the droplets
to produce clean, sharp, photo-quality images.
The Solution: JetXpert With Digital Image Processing
To support companies using print heads from manufacturers such as Dimatix, Xaar, Kyocera, Konica-Minolta, Epson and Ricoh in their
development and quality control, ImageXpert developed a system to precisely analyze a print head’s ink jet with the aid of cameras and
proprietary LED strobing technology and analytical software.
The JetXpert system is available in a one-camera or two-camera configuration using digital cameras
from Allied Vision Technologies. In the one-camera option, the print head is positioned at a 90°
angle to the camera axis in front of the camera so that the jetted droplets pass between the
camera lens and an LED strobe unit. ImageXpert developed a special strobe controller to
synchronize the illumination of the droplets such that the light strobes at a specified time delay
after the firing pulse. The LED is positioned behind the ink
droplet so the image of the droplet is in
silhouette, which allows for analysis of both
transparent and opaque fluids.
The strobe pulsewidth is, at 250 ns,
particularly short. “Once the drops are ejected,
they move at a speed of approximately 10
meters per second“, explains Yair Kipman,
President of ImageXpert. “The very short strobe
width allows us to capture images with minimal
motion blur.”

JetXpert uses single strobe events, one strobe per image
frame, to capture images of individual droplets in flight.
This method of image capture is made possible by the
proprietary high-powered LED, and minimizes blur caused
by droplet aggregation that is common to systems that use
multiple strobes per frame.
Customer Satisfaction:
AVT Guppy Follows AVT Stingray
The camera is a Stingray F-080b model by Allied Vision
Technologies. This monochromatic camera is equipped with
an XGA (0.8 megapixel) image sensor and a high-speed
FireWire IEEE1394b interface. “The Stingray F-080 delivers
30 frames per second,” according to Kipman. “What was
really most valuable for us, however, was the ability to
freely set the shutter speed between 48 µs and 67 s. By
being able to change the shutter speed, we can work with very fast ejection systems such as ink jet technology and much slower dispensing
systems such as those used in the fabrication of bioarrays.”
The camera is equipped with a Moritex telecentric zoom lens, assuring that small variations in the depth of the ink jet in the image does
not lead to a change in scale. The ink jet’s trajectory is measured relative to the angle of the print head, but analysis of the full trajectory
of drops in flight is only possible with images captured with the two-camera version of the system.
“We are extremely satisfied with the performance of the AVT Stingray. This is
why we chose the AVT Guppy for an even more compact version of JetXpert.”
Yair Kipman, President of ImageXpert, Inc.
The overall system footprint is quite small for inclusion in R&D and production environments, but applications exist where an even smaller
configuration is desired. “We are extremely satisfied with the performance of the AVT Stingray cameras”, says Yair Kipman. “This is why we
chose the Guppy, another AVT camera with a very small form factor, to design a more compact version of JetXpert for applications where little
space is available”.
Implementation in Practice: From Printer Manufacturers to Biotechnologies
The camera’s images are transferred to the system computer via the Stingray’s FireWire interface. There, software developed by ImageXpert
analyzes the images to measure important qualities of the droplets such as: drop volume, trajectory, velocity, ligature length, break off
length, etc. The drop volume (in picoliters) is calculated based on the measured drop radius. Velocity is most often calculated from the
distance and time interval between two drops with a known delay time between them. The system measures the ink jet’s trajectory relative
to the print head in either two or three dimensions.
The JetXpert System is already in use by many leading printer and ink manufacturers, and is relevant in markets and research where liquid
material is jetted or dispensed, such as printable electronics, adhesives or biotechnology.
Allied Vision Technologies in the USA
Allied Vision Technologies’ subsidiary Allied Vision Technologies Inc. in Newburyport, MA is in charge of sales and support activities for
AVT cameras in the Americas. Besides AVT Inc.’s own sales team, a network of distributors and resellers offer local service to North American
customers. ImageXpert was supplied and supported by 1stVision Inc.
1stVision
2 Dundee Park
Andover, MA 01810
Tel.: +1-978-4740044
Fax.: +1-978-6237260
Email: info@1stvision.com
Internet: www.1stvision.com
ALLIED VISION TECHNOLOGIES GMBH
Taschenweg 2a | 07646 Stadtroda | Germany
Phone: +49 36428/677-0 | Fax: +49 36428/677-14
ALLIED VISION TECHNOLOGIES INC.
38 Washington Street | Suite 2 | Newburyport, MA 01950 | USA
Phone (toll free North America): 1-877-USA-1394 | Phone: +1-978-225-2030
www.alliedvisiontec.com | info@alliedvisiontec.com