Sensors for the finest of color graduations

The new CFS2-M11 and CFS2-M20 circular sensors from Micro-Epsilon recognize the finest of color graduations, even on demanding, shiny metallic and structured surfaces. For stable and precise color recognition, the sensors uniformly illuminate the target in a circular manner, which enables them to recognize the exact shade of color. They are used, among other things, in the paper, textiles, plastics and automotive industries.

In industrial color measurement, recognizing very fine white graduations and color graduations on shiny metallic and structured surfaces is an extremely demanding measurement task. The color impression changes depending on the reflection and the viewing angle, and particularly when the surface is not illuminated evenly. The new CFS2 circular sensors are designed to meet these high requirements that these types of surfaces demand. Homogeneous illumination of the objects to be measured using these circular sensors implies extremely stable measurement results and extremely high color accuracy. The sensors recognize the slightest of color differences, e.g., of colored textiles and on painted, metallic surfaces to an accuracy of ΔE ≤ 0.3. The CFS2-M20 circular sensor can be used for measurement distances of 10 to 100 mm and with measurement spot diameters of 10 to 66 mm. Arranged at an angle of 22°, the sensor illuminates a measuring range with a diameter of 20 mm in a circular fashion. The CFS2-M11 circular sensor uses the same measurement distance but offers a larger illumination angle of 67° which generates a measurement spot with a diameter of 12 to 114 mm diameter.

Quality inspection of paper labels

These innovative sensors are also used in modern packaging systems and labelling systems in order to inspect the color of the label paper. The paper’s color shade provides information about its quality, which may deviate from the standard required due to storage or processing errors during manufacture. Once the exact color shade of the white/yellow index is determined, the paper is assigned to a certain lot number. The color graduation ranges from beige to white in all shades, the surface texture goes from matt to shiny.

Advantages

• Homogeneous illumination of the measurement spot
• Precise color recognition of demanding surfaces
• Distinction between the finest of color shades
• Measuring rates up to 30 kHz
• Modern interfaces
• Favorable price/performance ratio