Coaxial illumination
Coaxial illumination. When front light hits the object surface perpendicular to the object plane, we speak of coaxial illumination. Coaxial illumination can additionally be collimated, i.e. rays are parallel to the optical axis (within a certain degree).
To obtain this illumination set up, coaxial boxes are available for use in combination with any type of lens (either fixed focal, macro or telecentric) or telecentric lenses with built-in coaxial illumination can be used (such as Opto Engineering® TCCX series). The difference lies in the degree of collimation which results in the amount of contrast that is possible to achieve searching for defects on highly reflective surfaces. See Fig. 21 and 22.
