Monitoring the results

18 June 2013



More than simply being able to identify a range of specified defects in a package or its contents, modern vision systems must increasingly offer a more complete package, as David Longfield reports


Vision technology will always play a pivotal role in controlling the three 'traditional' common problems in the high speed packaging sector - missing lids, caps or open containers, misapplied labels, and incorrect labels (see this issue's Viewpoint, Sick Sensor
Intelligence). Yet ongoing industry trends towards improved sustainability, reduction of process waste, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) mean that manufacturers are upping the ante to develop cameras and sensor systems with multiple capabilities.

Bapco Closures CEO Stephen Dawson says: "The most effective driver of improved quality control within the packaging industry is the development of technology that offers multiple benefits, including but not limited to quality control." This, he says, is because manufacturers will be hesitant to roll out products that improve quality but result in significant extra costs, while consumers "increasingly shun products that offer excellent product protection but are deemed excessively packaged".

Dawson adds: "The reason that closure technology is proving so important when it comes to quality control and detection is that developments in this sector allow manufacturers to guard against tampering and achieve excellent seal integrity, while reducing costs and material usage."

Seeing it through
Ishida Europe
has extended its range of X-ray inspection systems with the launch of the Ishida IX-GE-B3034, said to be capable of detecting both metallic and nonmetallic contaminants within products packed in PET bottles, Tetra packs, carton brick packs and pouches.

"Uniquely, the machine takes product off existing conveyors and returns it after inspection, meaning it can be easily integrated into
current production layouts with minimal disruption," the weighing and packing machinery company says.

A highly sensitive X-ray system offers automatic setup and rapid warm up within 90 seconds for fast and accurate operation, while a "user-friendly" easy-view 15-inch touch screen monitor and Windows XP system ensure "simple intuitive operation". According to Ishida, the IX-GE-B3034 requires no routine calibration and sensitivity levels can be checked without interrupting product inspection.

A choice of reject systems is available and the IX-GE-B3034 can also be specified with fill level and cap detection to avoid under-filled and incorrectly sealed packs.

"With pressure on manufacturers to maximise production throughput, it is even more critical that they have effective measures in place to ensure that product quality is not compromised," says Jim Bedford, Ishida Europe product manager for X-ray systems. "The use of the IX-GE-B3034 demonstrates due diligence to customers, avoids the high cost implications of product recalls, and makes a
vital contribution to protecting the brand reputation of our customers."

In a move that brings together more than 100 years of combined experience in metal detection, checkweighing and x-ray inspection systems, two of the world's leading inspection companies, Loma Systems and Lock Inspection have formed a trading partnership.

"This is truly a merger of visions and a perfect fit for both companies," says James Christmas, marketing manager for bothcompanies. "We are integrating an innovative leader in the food inspection industry [Loma] with a powerhouse [Lock] in the pharmaceutical inspection industry.

"With operations in over 100 countries, the combination will create "significant benefits" for customers and partners of both companies, Christmas adds. "You can expect to see a new, simplified product line-up as the companies continue to integrate and, with our combined experience, even stronger feature-rich inspection systems that will deliver outstanding detection performance and
reliability," he says.

On display at the early June Total exhibition in Birmingham was the new Loma X4 X-ray system. Designed to match any line speed, the Loma X4 automatically detects contaminants including metals (eg, metallised packaging), bone, glass, PVC, stone, rubber and flavour clumps. Offering the "latest advances in X-ray technology", the X4's advanced image processing software automatically calibrates for each product and sets the optimum power levels for quick set-up and changeover without operator aid, ensuring the best performance setting for each product.

Also on display at Total was Lock's PH Pharmaceutical, a new addition to its Insight range of detectors. The PH Pharmaceutical system is said to have the capacity to inspect up to 30,000 tablets/min at "the highest documented levels of sensitivity in the industry".

Range of abilities
Pharmaceutical coding specialist Travtec has introduced the new Lixis PVS vision system to its equipment portfolio. A highend
OCR/OCV imaging system, Lixis PVS offers "reliability, accuracy and speed" for a wide variety of inspection requirements
throughout the packaging process.

While particularly suited to monitoring coding operations to meet the requirements of the forthcoming EC Falsified Medicines
Directive, the Lixis PVS can also carry out a variety of quality checks. Its character recognition software reads both pre-printed and in-line printing, and it automatically detects shift or rotation variations. Colour verification can also be specified.

The Lixis PVS system can be programmed to check the accuracy of logos and artwork, and for the presence and position of labels, caps and other items. An unlimited number of pre-set patterns and character details can be stored in the memory for fast changeovers, and detailed production reports and defective images can be outputted for process analysis.

Travtec Group managing director Harry Thomason says: "Pack and coding accuracy have always been essential for any pharmaceutical packing operation but the new requirements of the FMD will make it all the more important that companies ensure that their equipment continues to operate effectively."

Keep it simple
Setting a "new standard for image inspection and code verification", the FQ2 sensor from automation specialist Omron is said to provide simple operation with advanced functionality, even in challenging applications. The FQ2 combines the camera, lens and lighting in a single compact package, complete with image processing capability, which eliminates the need for a separate controller.

"The compact size and all-in-one design makes the sensor simple to mount and ideal for use in confined spaces," the
Japan-headquartered global company says.

The FQ2 supports all of Omron's inspection algorithms, including shape search, colour inspection, OCR, code reading and verification. Making up to 32 simultaneous measurements and checking more than 5000 pieces/min, FQ2 models are available with resolutions from 360,000 pixels up to 1.3 million pixels.

Users can choose the exact functionality required for an application, based on the required field of view and the installation distance. Sensors with integrated lenses are available for sensing distances up to 1m for object sizes from 7mm to 300mm, while wide angle versions ensure a wide field of view, even when the sensor is mounted close to the work piece.

In January 2013, US-based Microscan launched AutoVision 2.0, its latest generation of machine vision software that combines a simplified user interface with a powerful toolset for inspection, error proofing, and identification applications.

Since its initial introduction in 2011, Microscan says its AutoVision software has been "widely adopted" by manufacturers looking to implement machine vision based systems with "minimal time, effort, and training". AutoVision 2.0 maintains the same "intuitive" interface as the initial AutoVision release, the company says, but provides "additional capabilities". These include Verification and OCV (Optical Character Verification) tools to validate print quality, a logic tool for building pass/fail criteria, and support for automated job changeover.

"The AutoVision suite of products provides an ideal solution for manufacturers who need to read barcodes, but want to add additional inspection capabilities to this process with a single hardware device," Microscan says. Supporting the company's Vision Mini and Vision Hawk smart cameras, AutoVision 2.0 can be upgraded in more complex applications to Microscan's advanced Visionscape platform.

Developed with the aim of simplifying complex implementation and operation processes often associated with advanced vision systems, US-based Keyence has launched the CV-X100 series of controllers - said to be "the first standalone system on the market with auto-tech capabilities".

Automatic teaching, said previously to have been available only on "the highest spec PC-based systems", means that simply by running 30-50 good products on the line, the camera will learn by itself the acceptable manufacturing tolerances, checking for shape, colour and pattern.

"This is done by recognising the similarities between non-defective parts rather than differences in defective parts, which greatly
increases the stability of the inspection," the company says.

All tools are categorised by application, and every screen has an intuitive menu with an on-screen guide, designed to help with setup and enhance the user's understanding of the processes behind the tools. An automatic measurement capability positions and sizes the inspection areas, while optimising settings to pick up on the correct features and create the calculation.

The CV-X100 Series identifies targets using Keyence's new shape detection algorithm ShapeTrax2, which allows for multiple stable inspections to be taken whatever the product position. Other features include digital correction to remove the effects of curved or slanted surfaces due to camera installation or lens distortion, automatic generation of user manuals and interfaces.

Up to the challenge
Working with web handling specialist Universal Converting Equipment, Olmec UK has produced a vision system capable of real-time measurement of laser machined holes in film used in the food packaging industry. Mounted directly onto the web, which runs at 350m/min, the vision system detects perforations of 30-120µm in size, created by laser in the extruded web material.

"The vision system checks that each hole is present and measures it to ensure it meets specification, and must be capable of
working on pre-printed or plain films," Olmec says. The correct triggering of the camera, imaging and illumination is described by Olmec as "extremely challenging", given the size of the holes, the speed of the web and the fluctuations in web speed. Every millisecond, more than 5mm of film passes through the field of view of each camera, sited at four laser positions, so the system must process the data in less than 20ms to keep up with the web manufacturing speed.

"Key to the success of the project was the development of a proprietary algorithm which searches for the hole but disregards
imaging locations with no hole features," Olmec says.

To avoid detecting background noise as a hole feature, the company developed an algorithm to find the holes in noisy images based upon the target hole size entered in to the laser system.

Launched in March, Stemmer Imaging's new CVB Flex Inspect is an inspection tool for flat materials, said to overcome the "traditional limitations" of comparing the sample under test to a 'golden template' of a single known good part. According to the Germany-headquartered vision technology company, CVB Flex Inspect instead uses the latest in machine learning research during training to build a complex appearance model of good examples on-the-fly.

"Many products are simply not manufactured, reproduced or printed with the necessary fidelity to be tested against a golden template of a single known good part for quality assurance purposes," the company says. However, the CVB Flex Inspect appearance model captures the permitted variations in the training set while in Learn mode. Then, when in Verify mode, the new system is able to compare the test images with this flexible internal model of allowable appearances, to give a quality metric and/or difference image.

"This means that the vision developer does not have to spend a long time writing specific inspection code to cope with all the variations that are allowable in a template," Stemmer says. "If it sees something it has not seen before, the CVB Flex Inspect tool will let the operator choose to allow the variation (add it to the model) or reject the part."



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