LED drivers and electronic controllers for vision

Why a dedicated LED light controller

LED brightness depends directly on the current flowing through the diodes. When LEDs are driven from an unregulated supply, brightness drifts with temperature and supply voltage, which undermines the repeatability that inspection algorithms rely on. A constant-current light controller holds the current at a set value, so the luminous output stays stable from image to image and from device to device.

Beyond stability, a light controller adds timing control. In flash or pulse mode the lighting is switched on only for a precise, adjustable interval, synchronised with the camera exposure through trigger inputs and outputs. Because the LEDs are only active briefly, they can be driven well above their continuous rating — an overdrive technique that delivers the high instantaneous intensity needed to freeze fast-moving objects without motion blur. Therefore the controller is not merely a power supply, but the component that turns an LED light into a deterministic, machine-vision-grade illumination source.

The LUCON® controller series

The LUCON® family covers requirements from compact single-light setups to high-power, multi-channel installations. All three series share the same design principles — regulated constant current, web-based configuration, DIN-rail mounting and trigger synchronisation — and differ mainly in channel count, peak current and scalability. The overview below links to the full technical page of each series.

LUCON® 2

LUCON® 2 is a compact controller with current and voltage regulation. Its modular master/slave architecture lets a single master configure up to 16 independent lighting channels, each delivering up to 20 A pulsed, while every module stores its own configuration. It offers both RS232 and Ethernet (UDP) interfaces and mounts on a 35 mm DIN rail. See the LUCON® 2 specifications.

LUCON® 4C-20A-V

LUCON® 4C-20A-V provides four fully independent channels, each configurable in continuous, pulse or switch mode with up to 20 A and 60 V per channel. A cross-connector bus links up to 24 units, scaling the system to as many as 96 lights, with pulse delays of only 3 µs and trigger frequencies up to 50 kHz. See the LUCON® 4C-20A-V specifications.

LUCON® 8C-60A

LUCON® 8C-60A is the high-power member of the range, with eight independent constant-current channels delivering up to 60 A pulsed at 100 mA accuracy. The high peak current enables the very short exposure times required to image ultra-fast objects with pin-sharp clarity, and all eight optically isolated trigger inputs and outputs are freely combinable. See the LUCON® 8C-60A specifications.

How to choose the right controller

Selecting a controller starts with the number of lights and the peak current each one needs. For a small system with one or a few lights, LUCON® 2 offers a cost-effective, modular solution that can grow channel by channel. When several lights must be controlled fully independently, LUCON® 4C-20A-V provides four channels per unit and scales to 96 channels through its cross-connector bus. When the application demands maximum instantaneous power — for example to freeze very fast motion with extremely short exposures — LUCON® 8C-60A delivers up to 60 A per channel across eight channels.

• Number of independent lights and required scalability
• Peak current and voltage per channel
• Required exposure time and whether overdrive is needed
• Trigger synchronisation and isolation requirements
• Available control interface (RS232, Ethernet/UDP)

Integration and configuration

All LUCON® controllers mount on a standard 35 mm DIN rail (EN 50022) and are configured through an integrated web interface: a browser and an Ethernet connection are enough, with no additional software to install. Command-based control is available over Ethernet using the UDP protocol. Trigger inputs and outputs allow each lighting channel to be synchronised with the camera and the rest of the automation, and on the 8C-60A these trigger signals are optically isolated for additional robustness in industrial environments.

Typical applications

LUCON® light controllers are used wherever LED illumination must be precise and reproducible. Typical fields include high-speed inspection on packaging and bottling lines, barcode and code reading, surface and defect inspection, dimensional measurement, component characterisation, robot guidance and pick-and-place. In each case, a stable constant current keeps grey levels consistent, which makes thresholds and measurements repeatable over long production runs.

Where exposure times are very short, overdriving the lighting through a controller such as the LUCON® 8C-60A lets the system freeze fast motion while keeping images bright and sharp. Within a RODER Vision system, these controllers pair naturally with the PHOTOLUX® LED illuminators, so integrators have a single, consistent source for both the lighting and its electronic control.

Downloads

• LUCON 2 datasheet (PDF)
• LUCON 2 user manual (PDF)
• LUCON 4C-20A-V datasheet (PDF)
• LUCON 4C-20A-V user manual (PDF)