Product category:
Inspection and testing (non-metrology)
News Release from: AA Robotics | Subject: Robotic inspection at Boehringer Ingelheim
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 11 February 2008
Robotic inspection machines check phial
boxes
Six robotic inspection machines are speeding up pharmaceutical production and improving quality control by ensuring that phial box compartments are empty for re-use.
AA Robotics is helping to speed up production and improve quality control at Boehringer Ingelheim pharmaceutical company by supplying six robotic vision inspection machines to assist in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products The process involves the inspection of compartments in packaging boxes
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 21 Apr 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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The boxes are used to transport vials containing liquid drugs between production and packing.
Once the vials have been removed from the compartments the boxes are returned to the production process for refilling.
Ensuring that the box compartments are empty requires a visual check, now performed by an automated robotic process on each of the six production lines.
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Boxes pass beneath a Cognex Insight camera mounted on the Z-axis of an inverted Denso Scara robot arm.
The robot moves the camera around the compartments of the box, checking that all the vials have been removed.
An inspection cycle takes 20s, which is a significant improvement on the previous system rate.
A major benefit of the inverted SCARA arm is that it is able to operate successfully in the tight confines of the existing production line, said AA Robotics.
* Ethernet links robots and cameras - Ethernet communication operates between the robots and cameras.
Boxes are only released for the following process when they are authorised to do so by the system.
Message protocol ensures that each message to release a box is unique and contains new data.
Every cycle of inspection is self-checked as the Cognex Insight camera records its position at the start and end of the cycle in order to verify that the images seen are correct.
The Denso robot positions each camera within a tolerance of 0.015mm and provides a stable camera platform, which enables discernable vision images of the corners of the boxes to be repeatably produced.
Doing this was not possible with the use of a fixed camera system, said AA Robotics to manufacturingtalk.com.
Only one set of parameters and lights is required to enable the complete inspection process.
When inspections are not taking place the camera is moved out of the area, thereby minimising the danger of disturbing the camera or its associated lighting.
Boehringer Ingelheim said that it had achieved a significant improvement in quality control and production pace as a result of this innovation.
The company added that AA Robotics had been very helpful.
Its engineers had made sure that they analysed the issues and really understood our manufacturing processes before designing the robotic systems.
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