Faro introduces two 3D laser scanners

A Faro product story

Edited by the Manufacturingtalk editorial team Apr 1, 2009

Faro, a provider of portable measurement and imaging systems, has launched two models of 3D laser scanners.

The two models, Photon 120 and Photon 20, feature measuring rates of up to 976,000 points per second.

The Photon 120 offers an operating range of 153m, while the Photon 20 has been designed for scanning objects within a range of 20m.

According to the company, the models provide an eightfold increase in speed and double the distance scanning capacity of the previous-generation Faro offerings.

The company has also introduced Faro Scene V4.6: the latest version of its scan processing software, which is claimed to accelerate the registration of scans by 90 per cent compared to manual completion.

Faro will present its laser scanners and its processing software at the Spar 2009 conference in Denver, US, from 29 March to 1 April, as well as at the GEO-9 conference in Coventry on 1-2 April.

Delivery of the Photon 120 and the Photon 20 will begin this summer and an upgrade path from previous-generation Faro laser scanners will be available.

Jay Freeland, Faro's chief executive officer, said: 'Large imaging assignments, such as 3D documentation of shop floors or buildings, require hundreds of scans and a significant investment of time and resources.

'To remain cost effective, such projects must be completed as quickly as possible without sacrificing quality of the output.

'The new Photon laser scanners greatly enhance both the productivity and quality equations for our customers,' he added.

Dr Bernd Becker, director of laser scanner marketing and product management for Faro, said: 'The long range of Photon 120 eliminates the need to reposition the device in most application scenarios.

'The Faro Scene V4.6 software automates registration of the data captured by the scanner, that is, its target recognition, naming and matching.

'Instead of returning to the office to manually register scans and overlay them with colour, users can have these time-consuming tasks performed by Faro Scene V4.6 either on the spot or overnight through batch processing.

'As a result, in an average imaging project involving 300 scans, labour input can be reduced from several days to only a few hours for end control and troubleshooting,' he added.