The Maxline 2 Thermal Seal Checking System inspects seals and generates control information with no resulting loss in production time or speed, the company claims.
"This system provides a quality control and process validation solution meant to increase inspection speed and coverage while lowering inspection costs and product recall risks,"the Illinois-based company claims.
The Maxline 2 uses infrared thermal imaging technology and an image de-blurring feature, allowing it to inspect heat sealed items, such as packages, moving along a line at a continuous rate of upto 700 per minute. Without the de-blurring feature, the system can perform up to 300 inspections per minute.
The tester provides an inspection tool that specifically monitors thermal seal signatures and generates "pass/fail" results with diagnostic codes.
It inspects for hot and cold seal defects that may result from contaminants in the sealing area or from over or under heated seal bars or heaters. This may lead to seal weakness or failure due tobubbling or roll-off. Heat seals are normally used for plastic packaging used for food products.
It also inspects for seal voids, creases and other defects.
As the sealing errors are detected, the software sends alerts of the type of error that is occurring, and can be programmed to automatically relay control signals to the process systems andequipment.
Built-in networking also allows remote access control to the system and the data it generates.
The set-up of inspection parameters can be designed for a variety of production requirements. The settings can be saved and re-set for different production runs. The system also collects and storesdata about every item inspected, for traceability and reporting purposes.
An infrared sensing camera is included with the package, which is targeted primarily at food, drug and medical equipment manufacturers.