Vision Partners has partnered with a production line system integrator to provide multiple customer-specific machine vison inspection system capable of measuring thermal seal heat profile. The demand for seal and label inspection is driven by the implementation of packing robots that eliminated human operator inspection.
The package seal inspection checks each sealed package 100% for various aspects of the thermal sealing process:
- Contamination present between the seal edge; such as olives, tomatoes or oil
- No plastic (or partially present) cover sheet
A thermal anomaly is an indication that the seal does not meet the specified integrity requirements.
The Vision Partners solution consists of a high-resolution thermal camera placed just outside the sealing machine.
Thermal image capture is triggered after which the Machine Vision software uses various algorithms to evaluate the thermal image. It then communicates with the emission mechanism so that the appropriate package, - after thermal rejection - is removed.
Thermal seal inspection on the production line
Below is the image the operator sees. The software isolates the seal edge of the 4 Tappas packages and determines if the plastic cover film is correctly placed and sealed. In case of an incorrect seal, the upstream system is warned after which the release can take place.
In addition, a logging feature has been implemented. Inspection results are displayed on a screen and faults are logged for reporting and following up on any customer inquiries.
Thanks to this thermal seal inspection, consistent quality is delivered to the customer. One satisfied customer.
"A party like Vision Partners takes ultimate responsibility: they solve this problem all the way for you."
