Endoscopes are the ideal tool for
inspection and maintenance. Endoscopes offer new perspectives of
the insides of machines. Thanks to its flexible fibre optic cables
and its light weight enclosure, these extraordinaries endoscopes can
locate problems and conflicts very easily and quickly, allowing
for preventative measures to be taken without the need to
dismantle the machinery first. Endoscopes
are used mainly by electricians, security personnel, specialists
in the professional sector, and mechanics of all types.
Endoscopes are exceptional tools in places such as schools or
universities, especially in practical applications. Don't
hesitate to call us if you wish to enquire about our endoscopes.
If you don't find the endoscopes you are looking for, please
contact us and we will help you find the best solution to suit your
needs by calling our offices on:
+44 ( 0 ) 191 377
3398
and our technical staff will advise you
regarding our measuring instruments.
Technical
specifications for our Endoscopes can be found at the following
links:
Endoscopes are very easy to use and
can be handled by technicians with limited experience.
1
ring for focal adjustment
2 Light switch (press it to illuminate the visual
area)
3 Handle (enclosure)
Endoscopes function without the
possibility of saving images. Of course, we offer an
adaptor which will allow you to connect the endoscope to a
digital camera, permitting you to capture images, digitize them
and document them in a PC. The adaptor has a
diameter of 37mm. It is a standard adaptor for most types of
digital cameras, although some models will require another
adaptor to accomodate from 52mm or 48mm to 37mm.
Unfortunately we only have the 37mm adaptor available from our
store, the other adaptors can be found at shops specializing in
photography and its components, for example,Hama.
We sell adaptors for all types of endoscopes that we have
available
If you follow the following image
links you can see a larger
image of all the adaptors shown. You can also see a short video
that shows endoscopes being used on an American racing car:
video.
Click
here if you wish to see images
of a endoscope in use.
Take into account that the adaptors
are only suited to the standard lens size previously mentioned,
and it isn't possible to put in it's place just any type of
digital camera. As such, you will have the capacity to document
the areas inspected by the endoscope. The digital camera is not
included with the endoscope when you order. Consult use about
any doubts you may have regarding the adaptors for endoscopes or
regarding the apparatus itself.
Almost all of the endoscopes come with a 45° mirror attachment to increase the field of vision.
You can also order a magnet attachment to locate magnetic objects, such as
a screw, and extract them.
General
information
about endoscopes: Endoscopes have a cylindrical form that contains a
light and a lens that magnifies the image from the optic fibres to allow
a visualization of the area being analysed to determine the fault.
Endoscopes are traditionally used for diagnostics in the sector of
medicine. Today, they are used in the industrial sector, for
cavities with limited accessibility (injection moulds, machinery, motors,
casting, etc..). Our endoscopes are are flexible and return to their
original form after they are extracted. For documentation we offer these
endoscopes with camera and video adaptors. The two images above show two
examples of the endoscope at work. To the right you can see that an
automobile's
exhaust pipe is being inspected for oxidation, obstructions and
fractures. To the left it is being used to inspect the plumbing of a
sink for obstructions.
Attention: Our endoscopes are not to be used in the field of medicine.
They can only be used in the industrial sector, DIY, product development
along with personal use such as for hobbies.
What is optical fibre?
Optical fibre is a flexible optically transparent fibre, usually made of
glass or plastic, through which light can be transmitted by successive
internal reflections. Beams of light go through optical fibre from one
end to the other (including curves and corners) without any
interruption.
Optical fibres
can now be used as conventional copper wires, both in small autonomous
environments (such as data processing systems of planes), as large
geographic networks (such as long lines of urban systems maintained by
telephone companies).
With the development of extremely low-loss optical fibres during the
1970s, optical fibre communication became a very important form of
telecommunication almost instantaneously. For fibres to become useful as
light waveguides (or light guides) for communications applications,
transparency and control of signal
distortion
had to be improved dramatically and a method had to be found to connect
separate lengths of fibre together. Reducing distortion over long
distances required modification of the method of guidance employed in
early fibres. These early fibres (called step-index fibres) consisted of
two
coaxial cylinders
(called core and
cladding)
which were made of two slightly different glasses so that the core glass
had a slightly higher
index of
refraction than the cladding glass. By reducing the core size
and the index difference in a step-index fibre, it is possible to reach
a point at which only axial propagation is possible. In this condition,
only one mode of propagation exists. The fibres used in long-distance
telecommunications applications are always glass, because of the lower
optical attenuation. Today the fibre optic is used for fast
communication purpose in world so therefore nowadays number of
multinational companies have changed their communication infrastructure
to fibre optics. Lasers generate “coherent “intense Light while diodes
emit “incoherent” light which is not as concentrated as laser light is.
Most optical
fibres are made of sand or silica, abundant raw material compared to
copper. With a few kilos of glass approximately 43 kilometres of
optical fibre can be produced.
The two essential parts of optical fibres are the core and coating. Core
is the inner part of the optical fibre and it is used to guide Light. It
consists of one or more class or plastic thin strands with a diameter
from 50 to 125 microns. The coating is the part that surrounds and
protects the core. Both the core and the coating are surrounding by a
plastic or other materials cover to protect them against moisture,
crushing, rodents, and other environmental hazards.
There are three main alignment types: road, rail lines or high voltage
lines.
Main advantages of the optical fibre:
• It has a wide bandwidth (up to 1THz). This is possible thanks
wavelength division multiplexing (WDM/DWDM). This technique allows for
sending up to 100 light beams (with different wavelengths) at a speed of
10Gb/s.
• Totally immune to electromagnetic interferences.
• Smaller size than previous media.
• Abundant raw material.
Main disadvantages of the optical fibre:
• High fibre fragility.
• More expensive transmitters and receivers.
• Difficult joining fibres. It is more difficult to make simple repairs
in case of cable breakage.
• Electricity cannot be transmitted to power intermediate repeaters.
• In many cases it is necessary to perform electric-optical processes.
Influence of moisture content on the optical fibre cables.
Moisture is one of the most important enemies of the optical fibre.
The optical fibre consists essentially of crystal quartz (silicon
dioxide, SiO2). Its chemical reaction in presence of H + OH radicals
(SiO2 + OH = SiO3 H) results, in combination with Na or Ca present in
water to sodium or calcium silicates, which are soluble.
A fibre corrosion process begins. This can become in cracks and in the
attenuation increasing and even in the total breakdown of communications
or in the fibre breakage.
This video
shows the use of the endoscopes for maintenance works.
These extraordinary endoscopes can
locate problems and conflicts very easily and quickly, allowing for
preventative measures to be taken without the need to dismantle the
machinery first saving time and money. They are used for visual
inspections of a particular point in equipments and industrial
machinery. You can see that in some ports the embedded switch does not
operate properly due to the fact that technicians did not connect the
cables to power the device or they are cut. These endoscopes with
display are suitable to perform easily and with quality remote visual
inspections to take any preventive measurement without dismantling the
machinery.Most of
the endoscopes can be used together with many accessories to make visual
inspections easier by using cameras, lights, application and focusing
lens, etc.
In
this picture we can see the switch we has inspected in the video with
the endoscope.
Thanks to
the
PCE-VE 320 endoscope it has been possible to take these photographs.
These endoscopes allow to record both fixed images and videos about the
inspection processes to be used for further analysis. The recording
process is easily performed owing to video endoscopes have a large
display to view the inspection in real time during this process.
The
PCE-VE 320 endoscope showing the inspection of the switch on the
display.
If you wish to view or print a selection of endoscopes from our
catalogue, click the PDF symbol.