Konica Minolta Sensing Americas and B&W Tek, Inc. Announce SpectraRad™ Xpress Miniature Irradiance Meter

RAMSEY, N.J., Jan. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Konica Minolta Sensing Americas, Inc. (KMSA), the worldwide leader in the industrial measurement of color, light and shape, has partnered with B&W Tek, Inc., an advanced instrumentation company producing optical spectroscopy and laser systems to introduce a new, lower cost option for LED characterization.

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Together, they announce the new miniature spectral irradiance meter, the SpectraRad™ Xpress, a new addition to the SpectraRad™ product line.

The SpectraRad™ Xpress is a miniature spectral irradiance meter designed for field, industrial and laboratory light measurement applications with a USB 2.0 interface. A transmissive cosine corrector is coupled to a spectrometer which is irradiance calibrated against a NIST traceable tungsten light source.  BWSpec™ software, included, provides for the characterization and measurement of many lighting devices and systems. The standard software features include time line recording, data smoothing, illuminance (lux), chromaticity, color temperature, externally triggered pulsed light capturing, and other data-handling functions. The SpectraRad™ Xpress is ideal for lamp and LED characterization (requires input optic option), color analysis, photostability testing, photobiology and photochemistry.

"The advantage to users is that the SpectraRad™ Xpress is the lowest cost, high resolution, high sensitivity, CCD array spectral irradiance meter from KMSA," said Randy Klimek, New Product Project Manager for KMSA.  "This solution offers a high dynamic range with superior long term stability. It is ideal for various applications including low light level detection and long-term monitoring applications."

The SpectraRad™ Express offers significant improvements over traditional filter based technology instruments. Filter based instruments have been desired for certain properties (cost, speed and portability) but lack the resolution to accurately describe the spectral characteristics of a light source. Filter based instruments only acquire three data points across the entire spectrum of light to yield colorimetric values. This is accomplished by the use of filters corresponding to the normal human eye response. These filters can only be manufactured to a certain degree of accuracy. Due to these facts, filter based meters are susceptible to errors because of the deviation of the filter response from the ideal human eye response and the lack of resolution needed to accurately describe narrow bandwidth light sources.

The SpectraRad™ Xpress avoids these problems at a comparable cost, higher speed and small footprint because it acquires hundreds of data points across the visible spectrum. The 2048 pixel linear CCD array provides the precision required to accurately measure narrow bandwidth light sources or LEDs. Having multiple sensors also enables the unit to report spectral data and display spectral graphs, making it the ideal instrument for evaluating LEDs, which is today's dominant light source.

The SpectraRad™ Xpress will be sold and distributed by KMSA & B&W Tek, Inc. in North America beginning January 2011.

Further product information can be found at www.konicaminolta.com/sensingusa or www.bwtek.com.

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About B&W Tek, Inc.

B&W Tek, Inc. is an advanced instrumentation company producing optical spectroscopy and laser systems for biomedical, physical, chemical, and research communities.  With a strong vertical integration capability, B&W Tek, Inc. also provides custom product development, design, and manufacturing.  With emphasis on low cost, high performance lasers and spectrometers, we strive for versatility -- innovating solutions.  Our ISO 9001 & ISO 13485 certified facility and patented technologies ensure high quality products, consistently proven and growing every day.  As a result, B&W Tek, Inc. leads worldwide sales of Raman spectrometers.

About Konica Minolta Sensing Americas, Inc

Konica Minolta Sensing Americas, Inc. (KMSA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Konica Minolta Holdings USA, Inc., is recognized as the international leader of industrial color, light and shape measurement. The company is responsible for product lines that continuously revolutionize how visual perception is measured by the world.

An industry pioneer, as well as innovator, Konica Minolta Sensing developed and introduced the first portable color measurement units to the world. Presently, their catalog contains instruments such as portable colorimeters as well as portable and benchtop spectrophotometers for color measurement, spectroradiometers and lux meters for light/display measurement and 3D non-contact scanners for shape measurement.

Thousands of companies across the globe choose to depend on Konica Minolta Sensing equipment when color, light or 3D measurement is vital to the manufacturing process. Konica Minolta Sensing's products can be found in a wide array of industries including food, plastics, paints, coatings, automotive, aerospace and cosmetics. 

Konica Minolta Sensing's Ramsey, New Jersey corporate headquarters is fully equipped with a state of the art service center, 3D scanning laboratory, tech support center, and a focused sales force dedicated to both the North American and South American regions. 

When it comes to color, light and shape measurement -- the world looks to Konica Minolta.

SOURCE Konica Minolta Sensing Americas, Inc.