Cleanroom-Specific Safety Camera Module

OMRON Electronic Components Europe has released the HVC-P2 B5T-007003 safety-camera module, engineered to detect factory operators wearing cleanroom personal protective equipment (PPE). The pluggable module is designed for integration into semiconductor, pharmaceutical and food-processing automation systems where conventional human-detection technologies can be unreliable.

Overcoming Detection Challenges in Cleanroom Environments
Operators in cleanroom facilities wear full-body suits that alter body contours and obscure thermal signatures. Standard pose-estimation models and sensing technologies such as thermal or ultrasonic detection may struggle to identify human presence under these conditions.

The B5T-007003 integrates OMRON’s compact camera and processing hardware with firmware containing algorithms trained specifically to recognise human body characteristics when covered by cleanroom garments. The training dataset includes various postures—standing, sitting, crouching and crawling—enabling detection during equipment setup, loading, servicing and maintenance tasks.

When human presence is detected, the module generates a signal for the central machine controller. This allows the control system to activate or prioritise safe operating modes when operators are in close proximity to moving machinery.

Hardware Integration and Optical Options
The module offers two lens options to adapt to installation requirements: a 50° long-distance lens and a 90° wide-angle lens. These alternatives enable designers to optimise field of view and camera placement depending on machine geometry.

Recommended installation configurations include vertical downward or upward orientations, or multiple cameras mounted at oblique angles to maximise coverage. The camera is connected to the processing board via a flexible printed circuit (FPC), simplifying installation within confined spaces or custom enclosures.

Configuration and Development Support
A USB interface allows system builders to configure detection modes and trigger thresholds via a PC using the supplied graphical user interface (GUI). The development kit includes USB drivers, command specifications, evaluation software and sample code to support integration into machine control architectures.

In addition to the binary detection output, the raw camera image can optionally be accessed for supervisory monitoring and verification.

By combining cleanroom-trained vision algorithms with compact hardware and flexible integration options, the HVC-P2 B5T-007003 module provides a machine-level human-detection solution tailored to high-hygiene manufacturing environments.