Your smart cameras are reaching end of life. Your inspection is not.
Opales replaces an obsolete smart camera with a housing of the same dimensions and connectors, linked to a VisiOpal processing unit. The mechanics, optics, wiring and PLC mapping stay in place. The inspection gains the full range of VisiOpal tools.
The problem with smart cameras
A smart camera combines the sensor and the processing in the same housing. When the manufacturer discontinues the product, the whole inspection station becomes irreplaceable: no more spare parts, no new tools, no resolution upgrade.
An ageing installed base
More than 2,000 Cognex cameras installed by Opales, a large share of them In-Sight 5000. The model has not been made for years; every failure becomes a risk of a lasting line stoppage.
Full replacement is expensive
Changing the camera often means changing the mechanics, wiring, vision program, interface and PLC mapping. And stopping the line while everything is redone.
Our answer: separate sensor and processing
A housing the size of the old camera, with no intelligence, and a VisiOpal processing unit next to it. The sensor can be changed in minutes, and the intelligence evolves without touching the line.
The right moments to act
A retrofit should not be improvised after a failure. It is planned as soon as one of these signs appears.
The product is obsolete
End of production, no more support, spare stock exhausted or second-hand prices soaring. Every camera in service is a potential failure with no solution.
The resolution is no longer enough
New, smaller reference, tighter tolerance, finer text or code: the sensor of the time no longer sees enough pixels. The Opales housing takes a modern sensor instead.
A type of tool is missing
Reliable OCR reading, surface defect detection, AI classification, multi-model location: inspections impossible on an old-generation smart camera, available in VisiOpal.
The software or the companion PC is ageing
Programming software that no longer installs on a recent PC, a supervision PC running an unsupported Windows, plant cybersecurity requirements: the processing unit is a maintained PC.
The inspected product changes
New range, new defect to detect, new line speed: rather than reprogramming a doomed camera, migrate to a system that will follow future changes.
The installed base is mixed
Several brands, several generations, several software packages to know. Retrofit standardises: a single programming environment, a single stock of spare parts.
Same dimensions, same connectors, without the intelligence
Example on the In-Sight 5000: the Opales housing reproduces the footprint, mountings, lens mount and connectors of the original camera. Inside, only what needs to be close to the part remains.
Mechanics kept
Same dimensions, same mounting holes, same lens mount: the optics and bracket stay in place, the field of view does not change.
Connectors kept
The M12 power, input/output and Ethernet connectors are reused. The existing cables plug back in as they are.
Modern sensor
A Basler or IDS uEye sensor, chosen to match the original pixel size, or to upgrade resolution, colour or speed.
Only a little electronics
A board handles triggering and outputs and steps the voltage down if needed. No vision processor in the housing: nothing that becomes obsolete.
Processing is done by VisiOpal, in the processing unit
A Windows PC, up to 10 cameras, one or more VisiOpal instances in parallel. The full range of tools: conventional tools, Opales Pattern, codes, colour, OCR and AI, programmed without code.
A retrofitted line, seen by the automation engineer
Example of a line equipped with three In-Sight 5000 cameras. After the retrofit, the PLC sees the same camera: its program and the mapping of its results do not change; only the device description file (GSD) is reloaded.
Emulated communication
The processing unit appears to the PLC as a PROFINET or EtherNet/IP device, thanks to modules developed by Opales. The generated GSD file reproduces the expected address map: the PLC program does not change, and the automation engineer keeps the mapping and blocks.
One PC, several VisiOpal instances
A Windows processing unit handles up to 10 cameras. Each VisiOpal instance takes one or more cameras and talks to its PLC, as the smart camera did, plus the HMI, history and database.
Scalable
Upgrading resolution, switching to colour, adding an AI tool or another camera is done on the processing unit, without touching the mechanics or wiring of the line.
One housing per camera family
The In-Sight 5000 opens the range. The same principle applies to every family in the installed base: a housing with the dimensions and connectors of the replaced model.
| Replaced camera | Opales housing | Sensor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cognex In-Sight 5000 | Same dimensions, M12 power / I/O, M12 Ethernet, C-mount | Basler or IDS uEye, pixel size of your choice | First housing |
| Cognex In-Sight Micro | Compact format, original connectors | Basler or IDS uEye | To follow |
| Cognex In-Sight 1000 | Same dimensions and connectors | Basler or IDS uEye | To follow |
| Cognex In-Sight 7000 gen 1 and gen 2 | Same dimensions and connectors, integrated lighting reused if present | Basler or IDS uEye | To follow |
| Cognex In-Sight 8000 | Compact format, original connectors | Basler or IDS uEye | To follow |
| Siemens Simatic VS, DVT, SensoPart, Keyence… | Housing with the footprint and connectors of each model | Basler or IDS uEye | On request |
Prepare everything in advance, stop the line as little as possible
Because the housing takes the place and field of view of the original camera, the new system is prepared and validated while the old one is still producing.
Survey
Inventory of the cameras, optics, lighting, cables and PLC mapping of each station. Choice of sensor: same pixel size to keep the field of view, or a resolution upgrade.
Images in production
A housing placed instead of a camera, or next to it, captures real images on the running line. The image base is used to write and tune the programs.
Programs at the office
VisiOpal programs, operator interface and PLC communication are written and tested offline on the captured images, with a simulated PLC.
Results before switchover
The new system runs in parallel with the old one: verdicts are compared on the same parts and thresholds adjusted before touching the line.
Short switchover
Cameras exchanged for the housings, GSD loaded into the PLC, start-up. Line downtime is counted in hours, not days.
Support
History, counters and database in VisiOpal. The sensors are off-the-shelf products: spare parts are guaranteed for a long time.
A single environment to learn
All retrofitted cameras, whatever their original brand, are programmed in VisiOpal. One training course, one method, programs reusable from one station to another.
Less line downtime
Programs, interface and communication ready before the intervention, results validated on real images: the stoppage is limited to physically exchanging the cameras.
Same pixel, same field of view
By keeping the pixel size of the original sensor, before and after images are comparable: programs are prepared on production images and results are compared station by station.
Off-the-shelf parts
Basler and IDS sensors, standard industrial PCs, supported Windows: no more dependence on an end-of-life proprietary product.
Retrofitting means keeping the line and moving into a new era
Opales, designer of machine vision systems since 1992, takes care of the survey, the housing, the VisiOpal programs, PLC communication and start-up.
