Challenge: Pollution during production of PET bottles
Burn marks and other contaminations can occur during the production process of PET bottles. These flaws, such as black dots, dents or scratches, affect the quality and appearance of the final product. Effective quality control is therefore essential to ensure that only flawless bottles leave the production line.
Vision Partners' vision inspection system uses advanced algorithms to detect and eliminate these anomalies. Once a fault is detected, a PLC automatically activates an ejector to remove the defective bottle.
How does the vision inspection system work?
1. Detection and image capture
A sensor sensitive to transparent plastic determines the exact trigger point for image capture. This sensor is positioned parallel to the industrial camera and detects the front of each PET bottle. This ensures accurate inspection.
2. Inspection with smart camera
The system uses an industrial smart camera with built-in vision algorithms. Specific inspection parameters can be created for each bottle type, allowing operators to easily switch between settings.
3. Analysis and error classification
The inspection classification is divided into:
- Black faults: Typically caused by burning, such as black dots.
- Non-black faults: Includes dents, scratches and light burn-in without black residue.
The reject margins (such as size and number of errors) can be easily set so that only bottles that meet the quality standard pass.
Main advantages of the system
- High speed: Inspects up to 3,000 bottles per hour.
- Flexible settings: Operators can easily adjust parameters for different bottle types.
- Full control: reject margins are fully adjustable by the quality manager.
- Minimal waste: Defective bottles are automatically disposed of.
Technical specifications
Hardware
- Industrial smart camera: For advanced detection.
- White backlight LED illumination: Optimizes visibility of contaminants.
- Rittal control cabinet: Includes industrial PC, power supply and connections.
- HMI touchscreen monitor: For operation and real-time display.
- Trigger sensor: For accurate detection of PET bottles.
- PLC: For controlling the emitter with adjustable time delay and FIFO buffer.
Software
- Detection algorithms: Identify burn marks, black dots and non-black faults.
- Ejector control: Configurable pulse duration and timing via the PLC.
- Real-time inspection results: Are clearly displayed on the monitor.
- Remote access: Optional via TeamViewer for remote support.
