LEDs offer significant advantages for specialty and custom illumination applications. The LEDs are small, bright, long-lived, and multi-colored—and the possible configurations are infinite. Point Source, Inc. offers expertise in the use, arrangement, and optimization of LEDs for specialty illumination. We have provided LED illumination systems for machine vision applications, point-of-sale illumination, room lighting accents (for example lighting around a tavern bar), light therapy systems, illumination for surgical devices, and many others. LEDs are becoming popular as they offer a truly Green solution to lighting needs. The electrical energy used by LEDs can be limited not just by the inherent efficiency of the LED but also by the ability to distribute the LED lighting and control localized areas to match the immediate illumination requirement in each area.

Using spectroscopic data for the optical absorption properties of various materials we have developed a variety of Industrial IR Chemical Sensors. Our popular Near-Infrared (NIR) Moisture Gauge detects the presence and amount of water in glue, coating, film, etc. The water may be present as the base component in glue, gel, paint, latex, etc., or it may be present as a coating on a film, as a component of an assembly, or as a solvent. The same concept of using the optical properties of a material of interest can be used to design and build an industrial application-specific spectrometer to detect the presence of that material and gauge the amount of it.

We worked with Diamond Billiards Products to develop an optical cue ball separator that allows the use of a regulation cue ball on pay-for-play pool tables. Before our work, pay-for-play tables used non-regulation cue balls to allow separation of the cue ball from the play balls. We now supply this product to Diamond, who integrates it into their pay-for-play competition pool tables. Diamond holds the patent for this device. Our solution takes advantage of a seldom-used property of materials—their optical density.

Rilco Technologies is highly involved in people traffic counting for stores, mass transit systems, etc. They have worked with us to develop the next-generation sensor for this application. This is an overhead sensor that produces accurate counts, is easy to install and, by virtue of its overhead location, is low maintenance and unobtrusive. By using pairs of sensors, the direction of movement can also be determined.

As automobiles use more electronics and develop ever-safer cabins, proper assembly of the interior panels (roof and side walls) requires proper placement of the cable assemblies, safety components, and labels before assembly of the panel into the metal cab frame. For this and similar applications, we provide various cost-effective laser pattern projectors that aid assemblers in properly positioning components. A very popular feature is our lockable ball & socket mount that allows easy and accurate positioning of the projected laser pattern onto the work surface.

Since we started business in 1992 we have undertaken several projects that resulted in large (by our measure) photonic instruments. Examples of these include (from top left) the Turbidity Instrument for municipal water plants, the BioLumix instrument for incubating and detecting microorganisms, the mid-IR backlight for product inspection, the automotive weld seam split detector, and the 9-foot-long sensor array for web inspection. These devices are currently in production at Point Source, Inc.

We have developed many small custom photoelectric sensors for various customers that we are currently supplying as an OEM supplier. These sensors were developed to satisfy a technical, mechanical, cost, or other requirement that commercially available devices were not able to satisfy. The in-production unit cost (after development), ranges from less than $5 each to almost $20 each. They have various capabilities including modulation for ambient light rejection, sealed against weather, mechanically designed with snap in mounting for easy installation, low current consumption, high accuracy edge detection and defined sensing range.

Light has been recognized for centuries as beneficial for good health. Heliotherapy is the name given to light therapy. We know that light is necessary for vitamin D production, for setting our circadian rhythm, treating jaundice, and it acts as a general antibiotic. Over the past 30 years, it has been discovered that the red and Near-Infrared part of the light spectrum promotes healing and assists in pain management. Low-Level Light Therapy (LLLT) is a growing science that builds on this discovery and utilizes red and Near-Infrared LEDs in devices that promote the beneficial effects of this part of the light spectrum on the body. Point Source, Inc. has performed research in LLLT and builds custom light therapy devices. We have seen the benefits derived from this therapy and we know how to build effective light-based therapeutic devices.