Technology development in the context of the SOFAS project 'Structured colour sensors for a locally resolved colour detection'

摘要

The technology-oriented research project SOFAS (7) has been sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research under its programme Micro Systems Technology 2000+ (with the sponsoring reg. no. 16SV8590) and has been supervised by the VDI/VDE-IT. The project had the objective of applying the latest micro-optical developments- i.e. the latest developments in the design of optical systems and manufacturing techniques enabling the production of large series of dielectric filter layers and polymer micro lenses, combined with new trends in the opto-/mixed-ASIC-design and the hybrid packaging - for the purposes of constructing innovative optical sensor modules.The main target of the interconnected R&D efforts - which were successfully terminated in May 2001 and which involved the Fraunhofer IOF, MPD GmbH and five other SME partners - was the development of prototypes of form and colour sensors to be eventually produced in small production series. The application profile of these sensor modules primarily featured decentralised control functions in continuous manufacturing processes, where observations of colour changes and colour distribution on a limited object surface are relevant and where the use of spectrometers or entire CCD-colour camera systems is not possible for reasons of costs, lack of space or real time requirements. A supplementary optical system adaptable through the use of modules or a cascade arrangement of the sensors can serve to recognise both larger objects (up to an edge length of about 200 mm) and very small colour elements with a size of<100 #mu#m. This enables the recognition and the tracking of the location of coloured edges and also the establishment of the degree to which powdered or creamy raw food materials have been mixed or the detection of alien substances in finished products.