Counting Machine Options
HD Count Sensors
Incorporate HD count sensors onto your counter and benefit from super high speed scanning at four times faster than the competition. This allows product as small as 2.5mm to be counted with accuracy.
- 16 Infrared LED’s with 46 individual scan paths that are scanned every millisecond giving 46,000 scans per second.
- Multi LED analysis the system will detect chips and partial tablets with much higher accuracy than standard infrared systems and track identified chips etc into a bottle for rejection.
- “Onboard” microprocessor monitors and trends output power to optimise performance.
- No calibration required.
- Automatic learn process to determine minimum and maximum dark time setup and HD detects.
- Individual LED analysis with histogram records to determine typical beam disrupt
Camera Inspection System
The PPS Camera Inspection System will detect chips, broken tablets, colour variation and wrong shape and sized tablets and capsules and will through integration with counter controls signal when a defect is detected. When defect is detected signal will allow either controlled passage to bottle and bottle rejection or counter pause and individual tablet removal, recheck and automatic restart.
The vision system works in conjunction with the counters PC interface which features high speed quadcore processing with up to six colour GigE cameras with custom lighting designed for tablet inspection. Each camera covers 6 lanes and menu driven setup allows selection of product and recall of pre-saved product parameters and live image display provides production information and last failed image etc. System is integrated with counter software so that where a defective tablet is identified the counter will force the product into a known bottle and reject that bottle on discharge from the counting machine.
Vision inspection now includes an automatic set up process which allows the good product to be placed in “field of view”, be selected and then the machine system will set all parameters automatically including length, width, area, circularity, colour as well as exposure, lighting and all other settings.
Tare/Gross Check Weight Options
Pharma Packaging Systems offer a fully integrated check weighing systems to either gross or Tare/gross weight bottles during the packaging process to add a further layer of quality control.
Gross weigh systems will weigh filled bottles to confirm that the combined weight of the pack and products is within the expected range for the configuration. Where there is a nonconformance the bottle is rejected from the line. The limitations of gross weigh only is that bottle weights will have a standard deviation as will the product so these need to allowed in the target weight range to avoid false rejects.
Tare/Gross systems offer a higher level of control as the system allows weighing of the empty bottle before filling with products and this value is recorded and retained within the system. The bottle is now indexed to the filling position where the tablets are dispensed and on completion of filling the bottles are indexed to another weighing station where the filled weight is captured. The system will now deduct the empty bottle weight from the total weight and so allow the weight of the product only to be compared to and expected target. This method allows higher accuracy as the bottle weight variation (far greater deviation than tablet weight) to be excluded from the calculations.
The method used in both PPS weighing system is considered “static weighing” in that the bottle is not in contact with anything other than the precision load cell when the weight a captured and as such weigh accuracy can be more precise.
Container Handling: Conveyor, Container Gating, Timing Screw & Reject Mechanism
Containers are presented to machines using a variable speed plastic slat conveyor. The machines are fitted with either a ‘Timing Screw Drive’ or a 'Container Gating System' that indexes and presents the containers to the filling positions. After the last container has finished filling, the containers are indexed. The conveyor is fitted with ‘No Bottle’ and ‘Queue Back’ sensors which interface with the control system to allow automatic operation of the machine subject to the level of containers on the conveyor.
Standard container gating systems comprise of pneumatic two position gating systems that allow bottles to be introduced to the filling position and retained in position by the first stainless steel gate. On confirmation that filling is complete the first and second gates will reverse position to allow a filled bottle to be released downstream whist presenting the next empty bottle for filling.
Timing Screw Drive indexing systems allow fast and accurate positioning of bottles under the filling position but has the added advantage of allowing bottles to be positioned with different pitch centres which can be an advantage on multifil counters as it allows all fill positions to have the same filling profile and as such maximise the line speed. PPS use VEE profiles scrolls which allows more than one bottle size to run on the same profile and as such reduces changeparts and respective changeover times too.
Rejects
PPS offers reject systems for all systems that we offer, these allow any affected bottle to be removed automatically from the line to a controlled area to ensure they are not released for consumption. The reject systems have a secondary confirmation system to confirm the bottle rejection and where not confirmed the line will automatically stop and advise the operator via an alarm system.
Reject types available include:
- Fallen / upside down bottle
- Overcount reject
- Bad product rejection via vision system
- No desiccant present
- No cap / no foil in cap / high cap detection