Innovative blue laser technology for organic materials

Bestech Australia offers laser profile scanners and laser triangulation sensors equipped with a blue laser diode which offer numerous advantages over red-diode lasers. Unlike the red laser, the blue laser does not penetrate the target objects and it projects a sharp line of beam. This measurement technology is ideal for measuring organics, semi-transparent and red-hot glowing objects.

The increasing trend in automation of manufacturing and inspection process has called for the demand for non-contact optical measurement technology. The modern laser sensors offer fast, accurate and reliable measurements of displacement, surface profile and are commonly used in industrial automation for process monitoring and quality control. Depending on the characteristics required by the respective applications, these sensors can be operated with a red or a blue laser.

The blue laser diode generates a blue-violet laser beam with a wavelength of 405 nm. The sharper focus enables a sharper projection of the laser beam and therefore increases accuracy. Patented by Micro-Epsilon, this technology offers decisive advantages compared to red-diode laser sensors. The sensors are equipped with high-performance lenses, intelligent-laser control and innovative evaluation algorithms.

Unlike the conventional red laser, this short-wave, blue-violet laser light hardly penetrates the measurement objects, which offers reliable measurement of organics and semi-transparent objects. The blue laser point or blue laser line is sharply imaged onto the surface and projected onto the sensor element, providing stable and precise measurement results.

The laser profile scanner, scanCONTROL series, equipped with blue laser technology has been previously used for monitoring quality control in chocolate production process. Prior to the invention of this technology, the product quality was manually inspected, resulting in huge loss in time and efficiency. With the fast throughput rate of more than 60 m/min, the laser scanner detects each profile of the finished chocolate bars, transmits this to the software, and the inspection is done based on the pre-defined parameters.

In another application, the scanCONTROL series was also used to inspect the thickness of potato slices during the production process. The optimum thickness is required to maintain consistency and crispiness without under/over-cooking the food. It is important to continuously monitor the thickness during the production process as the thickness can change steadily during the cutting process.

Blue laser technology also has advantages on measuring red-hot glowing objects. The long-wave radiation emitted by red-hot glowing objects interferes the signal received by the receiving elements of laser sensors that operate using red laser light. Blue laser sensors are equipped with optical elements that cannot be influenced by this radiation, which therefore enables stable distance and profile measurements.

Measuring the deformation of brake disks under load while braking is an ideal task for the optoNCDT laser triangulation sensor. Due to the short wavelength of the blue-violet laser employed, the light emitted from the thermocouple does not interfere with the sensor, as the intrinsic long-wavelength incandescent radiation is different than the 405 nm wavelength of the blue-violet laser, and it is effectively blocked by the high-quality interference filters used.