Defocused UV lights/lasers?

I'm wondering if a product exists out there that is basically like a wide divergence or narrow throw flashlight. The wavelength would need to be in the longwave UV range (315nm-405nm) and have considerable power and throw. 350nm wavelength would be ideal because I know it will work... I have a handheld 350nm inslection wand but it is too dim and diffuse to inspect something large areas at longer distances.

The application is for inspection of large areas for flourescent materials and a collimated laser dot would simply be too small to use... it would take forever to inspect any large area with a small dot. At the same time, the surface I will be looking at is ~50-100 feet away so the throw must not be too wide. Maybe 3-5 degrees of divergence (about 40-80mrad) would be OK.

I'm thinking the more power the better (the inspection room won't have to be too dark to inspect) but I also don't want to get cancer or anything. :can:

Do they make longwave (~350nm) flashlights, spotlights, torches, or laser emitters that have a long throw? Can one be easily made?

DealExtreme: $15.23 UltraFire WF-501B 3W UV 395~400nm LED Flashlight with Clip (1*18650/2*CR123A)

I have this 3W UV flashlight from Deal Extreme and it works pretty well. It'll charge GITD materials, and fluoresce objects visibly indoors, even during full daylight etc. The wavelength is about 395-400nm so it's pretty close to "regular violet" so it may not work well on certain things like currency strips or credit card anti-counterfeit stamps.

Although it works fine on U.S. currency and my Visa/Mastercard and any "day glo" items.

I'd suggest a defocused 12x build.

-Trevor

There was a group buy going for some Nichia 1W 355nm LEDs, but I have no idea what happened, I think it just kinda died.

anything <350nm can supposedly ionize. I would stick with the 370-400nm range to be safe, plus it will work just fine for your application.

Lazy Beam;

I have built a couple of lights that might interest you.

One is a triple PHR with reflectors:
triple-phr-light

The second is a Hi-power UV LED light with reflector:



The second light has the longest throw.

LarryDFW

AJ_Dual said:

DealExtreme: $15.23 UltraFire WF-501B 3W UV 395~400nm LED Flashlight with Clip (1*18650/2*CR123A)

I have this 3W UV flashlight from Deal Extreme and it works pretty well. It'll charge GITD materials, and fluoresce objects visibly indoors, even during full daylight etc. The wavelength is about 395-400nm so it's pretty close to "regular violet" so it may not work well on certain things like currency strips or credit card anti-counterfeit stamps.

Although it works fine on U.S. currency and my Visa/Mastercard and any "day glo" items.

Click to expand...

This application is for industrial use (at my work)... not personal use. Purchased on govn't or research funds for actual inspection of flight hardware. It's not sonething that I can go to my boss and propose a $10 chinese gadget. I wish I could give a little more direction on what we are doing but there's only so much you type about projects on public internet...

This is certainly the right track. I might need a little bigger though.
I'm trying to flouresce material that may be up to 50-100 feet away.

Duty cycle would may be as high as hours.

twhite828 said:

I'd suggest a defocused 12x build.

-Trevor

Click to expand...

This is a little more inline with what I originally imagined. I would have to verify that 405nm DOES actually work for inspection. We know ~350nm works but I'm unsure if 405nm works. We know 250nm does not flouresce for our inspection. A 12X @ 400mw with ~3deg divergence has very high irradiance compared to most commercial grade UVA spotlights... plus the beam would be ~ 6ft @ 100ft.

This is something that we might buy... http://www.labino.com/pdf/Compact UV.pdf
But even a 400mW diode has 2X the power of this.

Meatball said:

anything <350nm can supposedly ionize. I would stick with the 370-400nm range to be safe, plus it will work just fine for your application.

Click to expand...

Ionizing does not concern us. Operators would wear safety glasses and PPE and 350nm will not hurt our material we are inspecting.

LarryDFW said:

Lazy Beam;

I have built a couple of lights that might interest you.

One is a triple PHR with reflectors:
triple-phr-light

The second is a Hi-power UV LED light with reflector:

http://www.cobbcarpet.com/uv8s1.jpg[/

The second light has the longest throw.

LarryDFW[/QUOTE]

While both of these interest me, I'm not sure we'd be able to buy from indivuals. Certain purchasing proceedures and guidelines need followed and engineers do not do any acutal "purchasing" or "procurment". I maybe... might... perhaps... be able to construct my own because it would be paid for by labor charging at that point.

Click to expand...

LazyBeam;

Did you ever get one built ?

I have compared the two lights mentioned above,
along with a 12X BR diode on the same fluorescent targets.

LarryDFW

Take a look at the fan cooled 405nm in my signature.
It is at least one way to get a large 405nm circle at 100' with a good duty cycle.

over on cpf, you will find some ncsu033a powered flashlights.

Most of the ones on dealextreme or KD are 400nm (read cheap)

Since it's the government's money, spend the extra bit up front and go with a 365nm Nichia UV LED-powered light.

Larry, what LED does your LED light use?

BShanahan14rulz;

I am using two different LEDs and a laser diode.

One LED is a 6W 365nm,

and the other LED is a 6W 395nm.

Lithium cells, of course.



LarryDFW