Glossary · Machine vision
CCD sensor
Also known as: Charge-coupled device, CCD image sensor
German: CCD-Sensor
In imaging, a CCD (charge-coupled device) sensor is an image sensor that converts light into charge in each pixel and shifts the charges across the chip to a small number of output amplifiers for readout. It was long the standard for high-quality industrial cameras.
- Machine vision
In one sentence
A CCD sensor is an image sensor that shifts pixel charges across the chip to shared outputs, once the standard for industrial cameras.
Example
The legacy inspection station still runs a CCD camera; its replacement uses a global-shutter CMOS sensor with similar pixel size.
How it applies
- Engineering: CCD sensors offered low noise and uniform images, but most manufacturers have discontinued them in favor of CMOS sensors, which are faster and use less power.
- Maintenance: Replacing a CCD camera usually means a CMOS successor with different sensitivity, pixel size or noise, so the vision job must be re-tested.
- Documentation: The documentation team should record the sensor type in the vision system documentation and flag discontinued components so that replacement and requalification can be planned.
CCD sensor vs. CMOS sensor
In a CCD sensor, charges are shifted to shared outputs; in a CMOS sensor, each pixel or column has its own amplifier and conversion. Modern CMOS sensors match or exceed CCD image quality in most machine vision applications.