LEP Application

Illumination Application of Light Emitting Plasma (LEP) in Color Difference Detection Field

      The emission principle, lighting quality effect, and spectral range of plasma light source (LEP) are similar to sunlight, with a continuous full spectrum. Like natural light, it is very friendly to human eye health.

      The LEP color rendering index is as high as Ra95, making it easier, faster, and more accurate to identify color differences. The LEP light source used for color difference detection generally adopts a color temperature of 5500K or 6000K. The LEP light source is very stable, with a service life of over 50000 hours, and there is no flicker or light decay, with a constant color temperature before and after.

      Take the application case of the color table in a large enterprise in the traditional ceramic industry as an example.Compared with fluorescent tubes of the same power, LEP light sources not only have high brightness but also uniformity (in this application case, the Ra value of one LEP light source is 95, and the luminous flux is...)>13000lm, color temperature 6000K, average illuminance 1702Lx, color tolerance<4) Moreover, it has lower energy consumption and only requires lower current to maintain light emission after full startup.

      The biggest pain point of color difference detection in the ceramic industry:

      1. The lighting of the color table has factors such as low color rendering index, high color temperature, and poor consistency, making it difficult to accurately detect color differences. Strict color difference detection is required and needs to be moved outdoors for further confirmation.

      2. The dynamic changes in color temperature and illumination during outdoor testing are affected or interfered by factors such as weather, climate, and external factors, which cannot ensure the consistency and uniformity of color difference detection results.

      3. It can only work during the day when there is strong sunlight, with short and passive working hours. It requires manpower, material resources, and time to transport, which seriously affects the inspection progress and hinders the fire safety passage at the entrance.

      The application of plasma light source (LEP) has precisely solved this pain point. In addition to the advantages of the light source listed earlier, it also ensures that the color difference detection station is fixed and can work 24 hours a day, without being affected by weather, environment and other operational advantages.

      However, as a color difference detection light source for the human eye, plasma light sources (LEPs) are only the primary application in the field of color difference detection. Because human judgment is greatly influenced by subjective and objective factors, consistency and stability cannot be guaranteed.

      As early as over a decade ago, many people proposed the application of automated color difference detection in the industrial field, giving us a pair of intelligent "eyes" with unified standards. But so far, there is still a technical bottleneck in the automation of color difference detection in the industrial field that is difficult to overcome. The difficulty lies not in high-tech software and hardware such as hyperspectral cameras, industrial cameras, and algorithm software, which account for a large proportion of costs, but in an extremely inconspicuous lighting source: a highly consistent and constant full spectrum standard light source.

      The light source is the starting point for color difference detection, and its stability and consistency determine the accuracy and consistency of the color difference detection results. Throughout the four generations of lighting technologies including incandescent lamps, fluorescent lamps, high-pressure gas discharge lamps, and LED lamps, there are certain technical weaknesses to varying degrees, such as short lifespan, significant light decay, large color temperature changes before and after, and non full spectrum. The new generation plasma light source has the advantages of a service life of up to 50000 hours, almost no light decay, constant color temperature, and continuous full spectrum white light, which is very suitable for the light source needs of automated color difference detection, breaking through the bottleneck of light source technology that color difference detection has been unable to solve for many years.

      Now, the LEP light source of Zhongke Microwave has begun to enter multiple fields such as traditional ceramic industry, automatic color difference detection equipment, medical endoscope equipment, and solar simulation system equipment. Strategic cooperation has been carried out with excellent enterprises to lead the new era of the fifth generation full spectrum lighting technology together.