Photon Lines UK

Optical Measurement Systems

CCS-Chromatic Confocal Sensor

  STIL Chromatic Confocal Sensors are increasingly popular for industrial production line applications for a number of displacement, position and thickness measurements.

STIL holds the patent for the Chromatic Confocal technique. This is a non-contact method which provides an extremely small measuring spot, allowing scanning of surfaces to extremely high spatial resolution, and depth measurements with sub-micron accuracy. A wide range of materials can be measured, including high reflectors, dispersive surfaces, even liquids. For transparent samples, both distance and thickness/depth may be logged, and since the return path is collinear with the measuring beam, no shadowing occurs.

There are several different controllers available, including models which use a halogen white light source, LED and external xenon arc lamp for applications demanding higher power illumination. The light is transmitted from the controller via a fibre optic umbilical to a light pen. Light from the surface under test is collected by the same optical pen, and transmitted back to the controller for analysis. These fibre umbilicals are available in three standard lengths, 3, 4 and 10 metres, and there are panel feed-throughs available for measurements in hostile environments, including vacuums. Measurements may be taken at frequencies up to 3000 Hz.

STIL CCS-Chromatic Confocal Sensor Technology has been used very successfully in a wide range of in-line 2-D surface inspection applications, including