29.11.2016 Views

Newsletter | EN | 2016-10

NEWS@IMAGING October 2016 English

NEWS@IMAGING October 2016
English

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

ңң<br />

Case Study<br />

Real time film inspection with<br />

speeds up to 1,200 m/min<br />

Witten-based OCS GmbH is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of productionintegrated<br />

film inspection systems. Up to ten cameras operate side by side in scalable systems<br />

enabling production speeds of up to 1,200 metres per minute. Machine vision components<br />

from STEMMER IMAGING make up the optical solution.<br />

includes up to ten cameras operating side<br />

by side. In practice, most applications use<br />

systems with two cameras for the inspection<br />

of film widths ranging from 1500 mm to 2000<br />

mm.<br />

In addition to the line scan camera’s sensor<br />

size of up to 8192 pixels (8k) the camera<br />

distance defines the attainable resolution.<br />

For example, films for the packaging industry<br />

generally do not require resolutions over 150<br />

μm to 200 μm, which corresponds with the<br />

use of one camera per metre of film width.<br />

Technical films are inspected from double to<br />

triple the resolution and therefore require a<br />

greater number of cameras.<br />

The mere number of pixels is not the<br />

measure of all things. The sensor elements<br />

in 8k cameras are smaller and consequently<br />

less light-sensitive. In the case of less lightpermeable<br />

material you would be more likely<br />

to opt for a 4k camera with a larger sensor<br />

diameter. This simple consideration shows<br />

that plant engineers must bring along a great<br />

deal of experience in order to optimally meet<br />

the technical requirements and minimise the<br />

costs.<br />

OCS inspection system in the Witten-based demo centre.<br />

Plastic films can be found in a wide variety<br />

of different thicknesses and colours –<br />

transparent or opaque, structured or coated<br />

– in almost all industries and areas of life.<br />

Applications range from flat screens, cell<br />

phone displays, pharmaceutical tablet<br />

blisters, food packaging to baby diapers.<br />

Films are produced in huge plants 24/7,<br />

around the globe. Their quality depends on<br />

many parameters. Quality monitoring and<br />

quality assurance during production have<br />

a significant impact on the end product’s<br />

quality. There are a variety of standards: the<br />

specific requirements are agreed individually<br />

between manufacturers and users. Type and<br />

number of permissible errors are reflected in<br />

the production costs and, consequently, in the<br />

prices for the end users.<br />

„In simple terms: nobody likes to spot sealed<br />

insects in packaged cheese; there shouldn’t<br />

be any turbidities on TFT screens, and you<br />

definitely do not want to find any holes in the<br />

insulation of high-voltage cables,” exemplifies<br />

Mendo Gusevski. He is a product manager at<br />

OCS, short form for Optocal Control Systems,<br />

a company which specialises in the optical<br />

quality assurance of polymers and the films<br />

produced from them.<br />

The measurement range of defects in<br />

extruded films mostly depends on their<br />

intended use. For example, packaging film<br />

(PET) requires reliable detection of defect sizes<br />

between 150 μm and 500 μm. In technical film<br />

the defect sizes range from 50 to 200 μm. In<br />

surface protection film they range from 60<br />

μm to 160 μm, and in film with specific optical<br />

characteristics it may be necessary to reliably<br />

detect defects ranging from 25 μm to <strong>10</strong>0 μm.<br />

Defects occur during the extrusion process<br />

due to incorrectly melted material (so-called<br />

specks or burn marks), fisheye, thin places,<br />

holes, streaks, flow lines or simply dirt.<br />

Whether quality monitoring should classify<br />

inhomogeneities as defects depends on<br />

the subsequent use of the film. It would be<br />

impossible to detect all these defects at the<br />

required speed without the use of machine<br />

vision.<br />

Over the years of working together with<br />

STEMMER IMAGING, OCS have developed a<br />

scalable, modular inspection system, which<br />

Each camera with its own frame grabber<br />

In order to manage the amounts of image<br />

data resulting from real time production<br />

speeds of up to 1,200 metres per minute,<br />

each camera is equipped with its own frame<br />

grabber. Camera and frame grabber are both<br />

included in a common housing attached to<br />

the machine. These work stations offer the<br />

necessary modularity and short signalling<br />

pathways between camera and frame<br />

grabber. Integrated cooling fans generate a<br />

slight overpressure to prevent the deposition<br />

of production-related dust on the lens. In<br />

Special Truecolor illumination with controllable<br />

LED elements allows the setting of different<br />

colours and the use of near-infrared light if<br />

required.<br />

06 STEMMER IMAGING NEWSLETTER October <strong>2016</strong>

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!