Unilux
has put the old and new into a single stroboscopic inspection light with the
introduction of its new LED-Series 2000 family of LED strobes. The new lights
combine the operational and environmental benefits of LED lights with the power
of traditional xenon-based strobes plus a few more operational benefits,
according to Mike Simonis, president, Unilux.
"These
are not your father's strobe lights-- or even your father's LEDs," Simonis
said. "They are five times brighter than our first generation of LED
strobes. This gives them the same lighting performance as our proven
xenon-based lights with only 25% to 35% of the power consumption of our
comparable Lith-O-Light strobes, and that's where the comparisons need to be made.
Our new LED-Series 2000 strobes are also smaller -- about one-third the size of
the traditional equivalent -- and lighter than the xenon lights and have a
greater flash-rate range. All this gives users many, many more options for
mounting lights and adjusting flash rates to maximize inspection capability at
full production speed and reduce the fatigue factor for inspection."
The
new LED-Series 2000 family comes with a new product-naming convention that
corresponds to the coverage area (in millimeters) 50cm (20in.) from the light
to the inspection area. The new LED-Series2000-500, for example, which replaces
the LED 5X2, will emit 2000 lux of illumination on a 500mm width from a
distance of 20 in. This is five times more light than the LED 5X2 produces. In
fact, at a flash duration of 35 microseconds, the LED-Series2000-500 puts out
as much light as the xenon-based LOL IV-20.
"The
LED-Series 2000 family gets its name from the fact that at a distance of 50 cm
the lights will produce a light intensity of 2000 lux," said Matt Runo,
chief engineer, who led the year-long R&D effort to develop the new lights.
"While the amount of light produced is the same as the xenon lights which
have been workhorse products for years, there's a big technical difference. The
lens designs for the new LED-Series 2000 strobes provide a sharper focus than
the xenon lights. This benefits the user by concentrating more light on the
inspection area with less spillage outside the area of interest. Getting the
same output or more as a xenon-based strobe was our key objective because light
output (brightness and coverage area) was a major issue with our first LED
strobes.
"Our
LED-Series 2000 family has raised the bar for stroboscopic inspection lighting
in three critical operating areas," he continued. "First, the
distribution of the LEDs' light across a large rectangular area combined with
focusing provided by the lenses creates an even, consistent lighting pattern
across the target area. Customers will be able to inspect an area comparable to
the xenon-based lights but with an even more uniform illumination. A second
benefit is that an LED's inherent light output is extremely stable and does not
suffer from the arc wander and flash-to-flash variation associated with
xenon-based lights. This benefits the user by reducing fatigue and increasing
inspection effectiveness."
The
third benefit, Runo pointed out, is the flexibility for mounting locations due
to its smaller size and the ability to control the lights output.
"Light
output is controlled by varying both the light intensity and the duration or on
time of the light," he said. "The perceived light intensity seen by
the user is actually a relationship between the intensity of light and the
light duration. A longer pulse rate, say 65 microseconds, gives you more light,
but the sharpness of an image frozen by the action of the strobe degrades with
longer durations. A longer duration can work well for repeat patterns with
larger images. But when you have something small with fine detail, then you
need a shorter duration for improved clarity. With our new LEDs, you can dial
down the light duration to as short as 10 microseconds and mount it close
enough to a steel strip or printing web so that you can see the fine details.
The light duration of the xenon strobes can't be controlled so they don't have
the same flexibility provided by their LED counterparts."
In
field testing at a cigarette tipping paper facility, where applications
included tipping papers with metallic leaf and packaging materials, Simonis
said the reaction came down to one word: "Wow. That was all they said when
they turned on the light."
LED's
can last five to eight years, depending on use, and they lower the cost of
ownership by eliminating the need to change lamps, avoiding unscheduled outages
and lowering power consumption. They do not create ozone during operation, and
they require no special disposal methods when they burn out.
The
LED-Series 2000 family of stroboscopic inspection lights includes 10 models
from the 100 to the 2500 covering 10cm (4") to 2.5 meters (8'). Unilux
products range from handheld, battery-powered units for spot or
narrow-strip/web inspection or maintenance and troubleshooting applications to
fixed-mount units capable of inspecting surfaces up to 36 feet (10.9m) wide.
Unilux solutions enable operators to spot defects at full production speeds and
use their knowledge of products and production systems to determine the
severity of defects and find and eliminate their causes. Unilux lights are
designed to withstand industrial environments, including the heat and humidity
of steel and paper mills.
Headquartered
in Saddle Brook, NJ, Unilux Inc., designs and manufactures industrial surface inspection
lighting systems for the textile, printing/converting, and papermaking
industries. Unilux stroboscopic and pulsed LED inspection lights ranging from
handheld, battery-powered units for spot or narrow-web inspection or
maintenance or troubleshooting applications to fixed-mounted units capable of
inspecting surfaces up to 12m wide either individually or in combination.
Unilux currently has sales representatives in 42 countries in North America,
Latin America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa along with five service
centers worldwide.
