Graphic supervisory control of an automatic optical inspection for LED properties

This paper focuses on the development and manufacture of an automated optical inspection (AOI) system for light emitting diode (LED) properties, which include the luminance and forward voltage. We use the concept of graphic supervisory control to combine Lab-VIEW software and programmable logic controller (PLC) for the motion control. By connecting the analog input block, PLC would read the forward voltage to judge whether this value is too large or not. In LED optical inspection, LabVIEW software is employed to coordinate charge coupled device (CCD) camera interface in acquiring data and processing image analysis. The LED luminance is inspected according to whether or not it achieves the desired standard pixels of binary morphologic area. In the inspection process, LEDs quickly advance on rail, and a pneumatic cylinder will sort them into different storages by PLC. The system characteristics mainly include automated platform control and imaging inspection. From experiments, the LED inspection speed could achieve 40-45 pieces per minute. For luminance inspection, the rate of accuracy approaches 100% when the inspection in a dark room or the brightness of exterior environments is fixed. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.