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www.machineryupdate.co.uk JULY/AUGUST 2018 MACHINERY UPDATE 41
Feature: Name here
Vision is used across a range of industries and technologies to help deliver high quality
measurable cap curve. If a cap is askew
or missing, the whole crate is rejected
and the defective bottle exchanged for
a new one.
With the sensor aligned vertically over
the crate, the distance of the crown cap to
the sensor is measured and evaluated at
defined positions in the image. The sensor
also detects if entire bottles are missing.
Other errors can also be detected, such
as bottles jutting further out of the crate
compared to the others, due, for example,
to broken glass under the bottle.
Beer bottles are also often packed
in cardboard cartons or boxes.
A household name beer brand has
recently installed a turnkey system
using LWIR (thermal) and monochrome
imaging for the inspection of the
integrity of cartons as they emerge from
the cartoning machine. Hot melt glue
is applied to the flaps of the boxes and
these are then folded to stick to the sides
of the box to complete the assembly.
By ensuring that the glue is the right
temperature, and has been applied to
the correct areas in the desired quantity,
the manufacturer can be certain that
the boxes are safe to be moved ready for
subsequent transport.
The LWIR camera provides a focused
readout of the temperature of the glue
and that it is in the right place, by
imaging through the cardboard material
of the box. The monochrome camera
checks that the flaps have been properly
formed and that the box is the correct
shape. In the event of a failure, the line
is automatically stopped and additional
glue can be applied manually.
ALUMINIUM CONTAINERS USED
FOR PET FOOD
Aluminium foil is widely used in
containers for ready meals, takeaways
and premium pet foods. All aluminium
is endlessly recyclable, although
aluminium foil is a different alloy to cans
and is usually recycled separately with
other aluminium scraps to make cast
items such as engine components.
A producer of thin-walled aluminium
containers used for packaging pet
food and other foodstuffs is now using
embedded machine vision solutions to
help control the quality of each container.
Four pet food containers are stamped
out from rolls of high quality aluminium
foil at a rate of 480 containers per minute.
These are then blown out onto a conveyor
and transported to modular built-in
inspection and stacking machines.
Aluminium is relatively expensive, so
the container walls must be as thin as
possible, but reduced material thickness
increases the risk of hole formation
during the forming process.
Every container is inspected using
machine vision and defective ones
removed before they leave the factory.
Machine vision also helps identify any
trends in defect formation. Four parallel
lines are equipped with offset inspection
stations. Each features a camera mounted
below the transport track to inspect the
containers using transmitted light from
customised LED illumination.
High quality images, produced at
a rate of 120 images a minute per track,
are evaluated with the results transferred
to the discharge station for removal of
defective containers and subsequent
stacking of ‘good’ containers.
T 020 8773 8111
W www.ukiva.org