Importance

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Abstract

A wide-angle illuminator for machine vision applications comprises a fiber optic bundle having a tail end defining a long narrow illumination line adjacent the workpiece and a head end defining a rectangular inlet adjacent the light source. The light source comprises a lamp located within a concave, elliptical cross-section reflector that is elongated in one direction. The elliptical cross-section is the same across the entire direction of elongation, thus defining a partial elliptical cylinder, which is preferably capped by flat, reflective surfaces at each end. The lamp, particularly the filament of the lamp, is aligned with one focus of the ellipse. The head inlet of the fiber optic bundle is aligned with the second focus of the ellipse so that the light emitted from the lamp is reflected to the second focus for transmission through the fiber optic bundle. The resultant light pattern projecting at the tail exhibits an angular light distribution that is weighted toward light that projects at an angle to the optical plane of the tail-end fibers. Light projecting directly perpendicular to the optical plane of each fiber is, likewise, minimized. The resulting distribution increases light at the edges of the field of view, improving camera response across the entire field.

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First Claim