White Paper

What is the Best Diode Size for Your Product?

White Paper

Choosing the right x-ray system for optimal contamination detection

What is the Best Diode Size for Your Product?
What is the Best Diode Size for Your Product?

This White Paper discusses the various diode sizes available in x-ray inspection systems and their suitability for different types of detection challenges. It dispels the myth that regardless of the application, smaller diodes automatically give better sensitivity and offers guidance on how to select the best diode size for optimal inspection.

Diodes used in food and pharmaceutical applications typically range from 0.2mm to 1.6mm. The ideal size depends on the product, the likely contaminants to be encountered and market expectations. Overall sensitivity of contamination detection is determined by spatial resolution, radiographic contrast and product effect. Understanding how different diode sizes affect these factors is essential to choose an x-ray system for optimal performance.

The white paper focuses on the following areas in detail:

  • What makes up an x-ray system?
  • What are diodes?
  • Which factors affect sensitivity of contaminant detection?
  • Which diode is best for you?

A table is included at the end of the white paper which summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of different diode sizes, along with ideal applications.

Download this informative white paper to learn more.

One diode size does not suit all applications and it is important to use the diode that gives the best radiographic contrast and the best spatial resolution.

While experience shows that 0.8mm diodes are the best size for general use; in some circumstances 0.4mm diodes are a clear winner and in others 1.6mm diodes come out on top. For example, smaller 0.4mm diodes can prove beneficial when inspecting smaller, low-density products. In contrast, larger 1.6mm diodes can be used to good effect on thicker, high-density products. Here, the extra signal obtained from dense products by the four times larger surface area (compared to a 0.8mm diode) allows for improved detection of contaminants larger than 1.6mm.

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