Steel bearing was once one of the most crucial components in machines used in industries. But gone are those days, now instead of steel bearing we use ceramic ball lenses. Surprising isn’t it? There are multiple factors making ceramic ball lenses more reliable than steel bearings. Ceramic balls are just one among the category of different types of ball lenses. The other two, which are glass ball lenses and hemispherical lenses, find applications in fiber optic industry. High precision and accuracy are their main features. There are different types of glass ball lenses:
Glass ball:
These are spherical shaped with a diameter ranging from 0.25mm to 8mm. These are generally made out of Schott glass material. Glass ball lenses will always be highly polished and cleaned (100th grade cleaning). The primary use of glass balls is to provide high accuracy and precision in both industries and fiber optics. They are used in areas such as endoscopy, scanning and sensor applications. They help in focusing the light from an object to particular target points with great precision.
Half ball or hemispherical ball:
These are hemispherical in shape with a diameter varying between 1mm and 10mm. They also will be highly polished on their hemispherical surface. Material used here is generally optical glass of Ohara or Schott. Since half ball lenses have multiple applications in both industrial areas and fiber optic technologies, they are not produced by any means of standard dimension. They are made according to the needs of the customer. Mostly these are used in cases where the geometry of the machine is compact and cannot accommodate spherical balls.
Ceramic ball:
These are spherical in shape, but it’s made out of ceramic. They are designed and made for high temperature applications. It has a poly structure with alumina or zirconium composition. It can withstand high temperatures ranging from 1000 degree Celsius to 1500 degree Celsius. Another peculiarity of ceramic ball is that its resistant chemical reaction
There are many small scale, medium scale and large scale industries that manufacture ball lens. Small scale industries restrict themselves to the production of ceramic types alone. Whereas the large-scale ones hold up ball lens as a subsidiary element, and therefore the quality may defer. So it’s always better to rely on medium scale industries because they are dedicated manufactures of this product, and hence we can expect better quality in the making.
There are many medium scale ball lens manufacturers in the world. But if you are looking for cheap yet high quality products, then it’s better to buy them from industries located in emerging economies like India, China, Brazil, etc. For example, industrial technologies, is an Indian company dedicated to manufacturing of ball lenses that are of very high quality and also cheaper than its competitors around the globe.
So let it be your company’s new collimator apparatus or a new fiber optic technology testing system, always depend on the best quality ball lenses. In fiber optic transmission it’s an absolute necessity to have a highly precise form of transmission between end points. This quality is provided by the ball lenses. So any compromise on ball lenses would lead to worse quality transmission.
Glass ball lenses will always be highly polished and cleaned (100th grade cleaning). The primary use of glass balls is to provide high accuracy and precision in both industries and fiber optics.