Crystran are one of the world’s leading manufacturers of optical components. The company specialises in creating components from infrared and ultraviolet materials - predominantly crystals. From their factory on the south coast, they serve customers in a broad range of industries from research establishments to space agencies.
In 2016 Crystran took the decision to bolster their surface quality inspection capability - a crucial aspect to improve the manufacturing process and increase profitability. In particular, they were dissatisfied with the traditional approach to scratch-dig optical surface inspection that they were utilising. They had realised it was too subjective, and was negating the effort they’d put into meeting more exacting tolerances through improved production processes.
To achieve this goal, they turned to RedLux for help, tasking us with integrating an OptiLux SD into their inspection operation. Read on to learn how our solution helped Crystran boost their throughput and make significant cost savings.
In optical manufacturing, it’s still common for the quality of surfaces to be assessed against the established industry standards (such as MIL-PRF-13830B) purely by eye. This method, by its very nature, is prone to subjectivity and frequently results in wasted time and resources, unnecessary onward processing and disagreements with customers. What was needed was a solution that provided objective measurement of quality.
RedLux’s answer to this problem harnesses the power of machine vision technology to apply greater scientific accuracy to assessing optical components. Our team of metrology engineers worked tirelessly to develop the OptiLux SD - a fully automated, highly repeatable system for the inspection of flat optical surfaces.
Combining a high-resolution sensor head with a precision X-Y motion system, the OptiLux SD delivers a non-disputable scratch dig quality assurance. It also reduces the amount of optical component handling required - something which can lead to accidental damage of optical surfaces.
After the OptiLux SD solution was deployed at Crystran’s Poole factory - and RedLux had assisted with staff training - the benefits were immediately clear as it was put to work assessing Crystran’s planar optics. As the system is designed to measure all surface imperfections against both MIL and ISO standards, Crystran were able to objectively determine whether every component had passed or failed, as well as generate accurate surface-feature maps.
The company’s Managing Director, Mark Middleton, explains: