Product category:
Control and inspection equipment and services
News Release from: Cognex UK | Subject: Checkpoint 900 machine vision system
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 07 July 2003
Vision system ensures proper bundling of
bottles
As part of a multi-million dollar high speed packaging line a machine vision system is used to check the integrity of bundled bottles to ensure that the correct number of bottles are present.
As part of Merck Manufacturing Division's new multi-million dollar high speed packaging line in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, a Cognex Checkpoint 900 machine vision system is used to check the integrity of bundled bottles to ensure that the correct number of bottles are present and that bottles have been correctly positioned in the bundle The vision system was implemented with the assistance of Caribbean Integration Engineers, a Puerto Rico based systems integrator of automation systems of the pharmaceutical industry
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 28 May 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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"Sometimes during the production process, a bottle will fall over as it is going through the bundler," says Jose Garcia, president of Caribbean.
"This could give the entire bundle an inconsistent shape, which could lead to problems later when fitting the bundles into cartons.
Other times a bottle may just fall off the conveyor during bundling, which could result in a customer receiving an incomplete bundle.
Further reading
Complex vision technology in an affordable unit
Cognex have introduced the In-Sight 2000, an entirely new type of industrial machine vision sensor at a cost usually associated with "smart cameras"
Vision systems retrofitted like CNC
Special purpose machine tools and assembly systems, with Cognex machine vision systems as an integral part, are being supplied to the automotive industry by Douglas Curtis Machine Tools
Vision system dedicated to electronic production
Cognex has introduced Display Inspect - a machine vision software and hardware package for inspecting displays, keypads, and enclosures on LCD and LED display-based products.
In either case, there was a need for machine vision in order to provide 100% inspection." Bottles are stretch wrapped on a Skinetta Model 800 bundler, which pushes the bottles through a strip of polyethylene film.
The machine stretches the film around the bottles and seals the ends of the film.
Correctly formed bundles consist of a total of twelve bottles, positioned in three rows of four.
Bundles then pass through a heat tunnel to ensure maximum tightness, and are then moved down a conveyor in a single row ready to be inspected.
The bundles move into the inspection station where the Checkpoint 900 system is installed.
Checkpoint is a PC-based system which includes a PCI plug-in vision processor card and a library of vision software tools.
A graphical programming environment enabled Caribbean developers to develop the application using Windows-based dialogue boxes and menus.
As a bundle moves into the inspection point, an Allen-Bradley SLC 504 triggers the Checkpoint system camera, mounted approximately 10 inches above the bottles, to camera capture an image of the entire bundle.
The image is then analyzed by the Checkpoint system, which uses object location software tools to first locate the precise positional coordinates of the bundle in the field of view, and edge detection tools to ensure proper bundle shape.
"Achieving the proper lighting for this application was important, as we needed a way to eliminate reflections that were coming off the clear bundle wrapping," explained Jorge Velez, a Caribbean project engineer who worked on the application.
"We chose to use infrared illumination, as it was able to get rid of the reflections and provide the vision system with a clean image." If a bundle passes inspection, it proceeds to the cartoning station.
If it fails, a reject signal is transmitted to the PLC, which triggers a reject arm to push the bundle off the conveyor.
A VGA monitor is mounted near the equipment, which enable operators to monitor inspection activity.
Rockwell Automation's RS-View software is used for the operator interface, which shows live inspection images as well as pass/fail results data.
To get a live image display from the Checkpoint system into RS-View, Checkpoint's Display OCX tool was used which places the vision processor's video output into a single window and communicates this to the RS-View program.
In addition to performing 100% inspection of the bundles with a high degree of reliability, the Checkpoint system can provide valuable process feedback.
For example, if several bundles are rejected in a row, operators can stop the line and investigate any equipment problems that may be causing the failures. Request a free brochure from Cognex UK ...
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