Use of high-radiant flux, high-resolution DMD light engines in industrial applications

Abstract

The field of application of industrial projectors is growing day by day. New Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) - based applications like 3D printing, 3D scanning, Printed Circuit Board (PCB) board printing and others are getting more and more sophisticated. The technical demands for the projection system are rising as new and more stringent requirements appear. The specification for industrial projection systems differ substantially from the ones of business and home beamers. Beamers are designed to please the human eye. Bright colors and image enhancement are far more important than uniformity of the illumination or image distortion. The human eye, followed by the processing of the brain can live with quite high intensity variations on the screen and image distortion. On the other hand, a projector designed for use in a specialized field has to be tailored regarding its unique requirements in order to make no quality compromises. For instance, when the image is projected onto a light sensitive resin, a good uniformity of the illumination is crucial for good material hardening (curing) results. The demands on the hardware and software are often very challenging. In the following we will review some parameters that have to be considered carefully for the design of industrial projectors in order to get the optimum result without compromises.