Adjustment platform: precise positioning and adjustment of electro-optical components

Which images a doctor can use and how precise they are, is decided long before the actual admission in the practice or hospital. COMPAMED-tradefair.com has therefore asked how electro-optical components can be developed and installed in such a way that they deliver perfect images.

Berliner Glas develops and produces optical high-end systems. How does the company ensure high-precision positioning and alignment of electro-optical components?

Joachim Gerike: The comprehensive product portfolio of the Business Unit Medical Applications of Berliner Glas includes multi-chip prism assemblies (RGB and VIS/NIR), autoclavable lenses, and highly complex 3D measurement cameras for digital dental imprints. The production of these types of optical high-end systems requires the precise combination and calibration of optics, mechanics, and electronics. This optimizes imaging properties and reduces imaging errors - even in small, compact systems.

Berliner Glas has created a versatile precision alignment platform for submicron positioning, which is already being implemented in a variety of customer projects. This platform can be used to simultaneously align electro-optical components, such as image sensors, in six degrees of freedom with a precision of up to 200 nm each, and fix them permanently to this accuracy.

What are some typical products that incorporate this new technology?

Gerike: Endoscopes and dental cameras use so-called multi-chip prism assemblies, aiming to split light into its spectral components, record a high-quality image via individual sensors and assemble it electronically. Increasing resolutions from HD to 4k to 8k requires pixel-precise alignment of the sensors in the same degree.

The alignment platform in Berlin facilitates the precise positioning of these and other electro-optical components for various visual processes, including fluorescence imaging techniques. This also applies to the simultaneous alignment of up to four lens systems.

What are the benefits for customers?

Gerike: The platform solution is very flexible and easy to modify: in just a few steps, modules like the positioner, gripper, and measuring equipment can be adapted to meet the customer’s needs.

This makes the system exceptionally well suited for cost-effective and rapid prototyping with serial production precision and ideal for small and medium-scale unit production typical for medical technology, averaging between 100 - 1,000 pieces annually.

Where can you be found at COMPAMED?

Gerike: We look forward to meeting you at our booth in Hall 8a, Booth F35.1. Among other things, we will showcase our multi-chip prism assemblies and answer all your questions about our products and services.