Gardasoft has launched the award-winning TR-CL Series of single channel industrial Lens Controllers. Developed in close collaboration with Optotune, these controllers provide very accurate and repeatable control of Optotune EL-10-30 and EL-16-40 focus-tunable lenses. The TR-CL Series is a major step forward in the complete automation of machine vision applications.
Fully GigE Vision compliant, these lens controllers allow focus-tunable lenses to be used as part of the Gardasoft Triniti machine vision platform. In this way, seamless access and control of system cameras, lighting and lenses is possible in a single machine vision environment using conventional image processing software or via a Triniti SDK.
Focus-tunable lenses allow the focus to be adjusted by changing the shape of the fluid-filled lenses electrically without the need for cumbersome and expensive motor control. This enables reliable focus adjustment within milliseconds for machine vision applications requiring imaging of objects with varying height. The TR-CL Series of lens controllers can deliver focus change as fast as 1ms for dynamic lens control in applications including postal inspection, ophthalmology, microscopy and the life sciences.
The lens controller has three modes of operation: single configurable optical power; two optical powers selected by a digital input or optical power set by an analog input. There is a National Instruments LabVIEW utility available for the TR-CL Series in addition to utilities for other leading machine vision imaging software packages such as Cognex VisionPro, Teledyne Dalsa’s Sherlock and Stemmer Imaging’s CVB.
The TR-CL controllers, recipient of a gold award in the 2016 Vision Systems Design Innovators Awards, include constant current lens drive and lens EEPROM data communications. Data can be automatically read from an EEPROM inside the lens to calibrate the controller response. The performance of the controller is therefore automatically tailored to each individual lens. The controller delivers -400mA to +400mA in 0.1mA steps. Full current calibration is provided with lens temperature compensation.
