Interesting idea! Line lasers are very cheap.
The problem will be duration. I haven't said what speed the object will be traveling at, but suffice to say I think I will only get time to get one scan of the CIS as it passes. (Sorry, should have mentioned that)
I have seen that you can buy...
My only thought was that if the object is closer to the CIS, it's shadow will be narrower. The shadow widens the closer it is to the light source.
The main issue with using that is that the shadow cast by a sphere passing will not be constant. I'd have to be sure to sample a few times as it...
Ha! Yes a CIS is designed specifically for flatbed scanners and scanning things that are flat and close to the scanner bar. (i.e. a document).
I am using one as a DIY experiment mainly because I was able to buy a complete working printer/scanner combo for £1...
I have no idea what the spec of...
I'll have a think on the situation with two sensors at right angles to each other...
I think what I was looking for was some sort of optical device that would create a series of parallel laser beams from one laser source, that doesn't cost a fortune! A line laser certainly doesn't do this...
I am experimenting with a CIS from a document scanner (basically a row of photo sensors).
I want to detect the position of an object as it passes the scanner bar. Initially in one dimension - x along the CIS.
If the object is always a set distance from the light bar, I can provide illumination...