Wide-format surface inspection.

The Chromasens 3DPIXA pro dual 615µm is a stereo line-scan camera engineered to transform the inspection of very large surfaces without sacrificing production-line throughput. Combining a tri-linear CCD RGB sensor with 10 µm × 10 µm active pixels and factory-calibrated stereo lenses, the camera delivers simultaneous high-resolution 2D color images and 3D datasets over a 4400 mm field of view (4.4 meters), achieving broad-area coverage and cost efficiency previously unattainable with traditional solutions.

Wide FOV: Reducing Camera Count, Maximizing ROI.
The 4400 mm single-pass coverage fundamentally changes the economics of wide-format inspection. By eliminating the need for multi-camera arrays or complex stitching algorithms, the 3DPIXA pro dual 615µm reduces hardware costs, calibration overhead, and system complexity. Line-scan architecture scales linearly with width, avoiding the exponential cost curves associated with equivalent-area 2D sensors—a decisive advantage in capital-intensive industries.

Target Applications Across Sectors.
The 3DPIXA pro dual 615µm's specifications directly address inspection challenges in surface defect detection, quality control, dimensional measurement, and process monitoring in industries handling broad, flat, or rolled products:

• Road, railway, or infrastructure inspection — Scanning wide road surfaces, rails, or tunnels for cracks/damage
• Very wide battery electrode foils — In gigafactory-scale production of lithium-ion battery components
• Large metal coils and sheets — Inspecting steel, aluminum, or other metal coils/rolls for surface defects during rolling, slitting, or coating lines
• Broad textiles and non-wovens — Full-width inspection of fabrics, carpets, technical textiles, or non-woven materials
• Paper, pulp, board, and tissue — Monitoring very wide paper webs such as newsprint, and packaging board for tears, spots, or formation issues at high speeds
• Plastic films, foils, and sheets — Detecting contaminants, holes, wrinkles, or thickness variations in wide extruded or cast films

A prime example for the 3DPIXA pro dual 615µm is automated road surface inspection — it can detect potholes, cracks, depth variations, and repair quality by generating precise 3D models alongside 2D color images. Mounted on a vehicle, it scans continuous wide surfaces line-by-line at high speed, reducing the need for manual surveys and enabling faster, more cost-effective maintenance.

The 3DPIXA pro dual operates at 615 µm/pixel optical resolution across approximately 7,154 pixels per line, optimized for detecting features exceeding 1–2 mm with reliable multi-pixel confirmation. This resolution balance enables detection of macro-level defects—tears, scratches, dimensional variances, contamination—while maintaining the sensor speed and data throughput critical to modern production lines. Its CameraLink interface ensures deterministic, low-latency data transfer, keeping pace with web speeds in printing, metal processing, and converting applications at line frequencies of 29.7 kHz with a maximum speed of 18.265 meters per second.

Factory calibration of the dual-lens stereo configuration eliminates field setup complexity, delivering out-of-box accuracy for height mapping, warp detection, and surface profiling alongside traditional intensity-based defect classification. The tri-linear RGB sensor provides true-color differentiation essential for identifying subtle color shifts, print quality issues, or material inconsistencies invisible to monochrome systems.

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Carbon fibre inspection.

The quality of aerospace-grade carbon fibre is still largely assessed manually, a process often rife with human errors. Automated monitoring solutions are necessary to ensure high-quality standards during production continuously.

Building off the success of the AirCarbon II automatic inspection system introduced in 2016, Fraunhofer IGCV, Europe's largest application-oriented research organization, partnered with SGL Carbon GmbH and Chromasens GmbH to develop the next generation AirCarbon III for monitoring carbon fiber production and adjacent processes. The AirCarbon III system relies on the Chromasens allPIXA wave line scan camera and a Chromasens Corona II LED line scan light to achieve seamless and continuous surface monitoring.

AirCarbon III detects protruding filaments, lint, and similar foreign bodies and distinguishes the types of defects in carbon fiber. Combined with data management and a user-centered interface, the AirCarbon III system enables carbon fiber production processes to be continuously and automatically monitored from precursor production through the various intermediate steps to the final sized fiber.

Compared to conventional CCD sensors, the significantly higher resolution of the Chromasens allPIXA wave camera's CMOS color line sensor makes the detection of the protruding filaments, which range from 7-12 µm in diameter, possible. To expand the sensor's measurement width, a novel and patented optical concept was designed and implemented that triples the Chromasens camera's field of view while keeping the data volume the same. The system was designed primarily for large-format line sensors up to 85 mm. However, it is transferable to smaller sensors or area sensors. To integrate the system quickly and easily into the process, it also provides autofocus, which also allows process-related fluctuations in the object plane to be compensated for.

Chromasens allPIXA wave camera

Since deep black materials such as carbon fibers absorb an extremely large amount of light, they are difficult to make visible in image processing. The particularly dark surface of the fibers therefore requires special industrial lighting to ensures that a high-contrast image is generated on the sensor. With the Chromasens Corona II illumination system capable of up to 3,500,000 lux, high-contrast images are provided that enable excellent fiber monitoring. The high resolution of the camera sensor allows defects to be made visible down to almost the filament level (up to 10 µm). In this way, even the smallest anomalies can be detected.

An image processing algorithm developed for fiber production was ported to a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). This is because high-volume image data is captured at up to one gigabyte per second. Thanks to FGPA, data can be processed in real-time. Downstream data processing was implemented in software developed in-house by Fraunhofer IGCV, which reliably handles defect detection. With a machine learning approach and selected training data, the reliable differentiation of the detected defects is successful. Thus, not only defects on the fiber material can be reliably detected, but also a separation according to defect types can be performed automatically. This eliminates the need for manual analysis while increasing the information content.

Fraunhofer equipped its own vision PC for AirCarbon III with all the necessary interfaces for CameraLink cameras, lighting control, Gig1000 Ethernet, and an enclosure to protect against flying fibers. After filtering and preprocessing, the image data is stored in a database on the PC. Data is analyzed using INFIMO (Inline Fiber Monitoring) software, which provides both roving-specific viewing of defects and a deeper understanding of the data.

The partners and scientific participants are already in the final phase of the project. Here, tests are being carried out at the pilot plant of the SGL Carbon, and data is being evaluated. The developed systems are being tested and improved both in the laboratory and in the pilot plant.

@chromasens @FraunhoferIGCV @sglcarbon @OConnellPR #Manufacturing #PAuto