{"id":43789,"date":"2021-04-12T09:00:39","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T07:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/?p=43789"},"modified":"2021-04-09T13:37:21","modified_gmt":"2021-04-09T11:37:21","slug":"vacuum-technology-inline-quality-assurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/vakuumtechnologie-inline-qualitaetssicherung\/","title":{"rendered":"Inline quality assurance with innovative vacuum technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leak testing is indispensable in the production process of airtight packaged pharmaceuticals and foodstuffs. Microscopically small leaks must be detected, the product and packaging must not be damaged and, of course, it should be carried out very quickly and efficiently. An inspection system based on an alternative vacuum technology was developed for this task in collaboration with several partners.<\/p>\n

So-called Microleaks<\/strong> are so small that they are not noticeable during a manual inspection, but are large enough to accelerate the spoilage of a product. This creates health risks for the consumer and unnecessary costs for the manufacturer. This is why companies in the food and pharmaceutical industries attach great importance to packaging. Leaking packaging must ejected from the production process as early as possible<\/strong> be checked. To be able to recognise whether air bubbles are escaping, packaging is randomly submerged under water. However, these manual checks are not nearly reliable and precise enough to detect microscopically small holes.<\/p>\n

Speed is also required with vacuum technology<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Dutch company Oxipack Leak Detection<\/a> has developed an alternative method for leak testing that is based on innovative vacuum technology<\/strong> based. \u201eThe principle is simple,\u201c explains Pim Jobse<\/strong>, technical director of the Houten-based company. \u201eYou place the product between two rubber membranes, seal everything and create a vacuum. If the packaging is tight, nothing happens. But if there is a small hole in the packaging, the pressure in the vacuum chamber rises.\u201c With this method using vacuum technology, it is possible to detect leaks as small as ten micrometres.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n
\"Leak
The chamber is closed and the air inside is released. If the pressure in the chamber then rises, this indicates a leak in the packaging. (Image: Oxipack)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the vacuum method also takes time. Too much time. \u201eThe whole process takes about half a minute,\u201c says Jobse. The Time factor<\/strong> presented Oxipack with a particular challenge: in order to meet the requirements of the market in the area of inline leak testing, a system had to be able to test 120 units per minute. The company was therefore looking for a machine manufacturer that could develop a solution with the necessary efficiency.<\/p>\n

Cooperation at eye level<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For Oxipack, the Machinefabriek Geurtsen<\/a> as the ideal mechanical engineering partner. For the control technology, the company relied on B&R<\/a>. \u201eThis is mainly due to their development environment Automation Studio<\/strong>\u201c, explains Wardo Dietrich<\/strong>, the chief designer at Geurtsen. \u201eWhatever I connect to my system, the communication works perfectly. As a programmer, I can do all my work in a familiar environment.\u201c<\/p>\n

In addition to the ease with which all his questions were answered, Jobse was particularly impressed by the user-friendly diagnostic functions of the control unit<\/strong> impressed. \u201eWithout having to do anything, the status of the control unit is displayed immediately. Everything is pre-programmed. With other manufacturers, for example, I am told that there is a driver error. But I have to find out how to solve the problem myself. With the System Diagnostics Manager, B&R provides a tool that not only displays detailed information, but also a solution.\u201c<\/p>\n

Leak test on the Ferris wheel: once round and round<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Oxipack had clear expectations of Geurtsen's developers. \u201eBased on previous negative experiences, I wasn't actually supposed to develop a machine carousel,\u201c says Dietrich. In the end, however, almost all ideas proved to be too cost-intensive, and only one serious option remained: the Carousel variant<\/strong>. In contrast to the horizontal carousel that Oxipack had previously used, Dietrich set up his carousel like a Ferris wheel<\/strong> on. This has significantly reduced the space required.<\/p>\n

The inspection system with the name The Rotary<\/strong> is equipped with up to twelve measuring chambers. When a product is conveyed into a chamber, it closes. The air is then released and the reaction checked. Once the packaging has reached the starting point, it is determined whether it is sealed or needs to be ejected. The product then slides onto the appropriate conveyor belt.<\/p>\n

\"Wico
Wico Reineman from B&R (l.), Pim Jobse from Oxipack (centre) and Wardo Dietrich (r.) from Machinefabriek Geurtsen present the new inspection system The Rotary. (Image: Oxipack)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the infeed, Geurtsen opted for a shuttle conveyor that reverses at the last moment while the conveyor belt continues to run. \u201eThis positions the product accordingly,\u201c says Dietrich. \u201eWe often use this method. In this case, however, the timing was very tight because the feed belt merges into a rotating wheel.\u201c Geurtsen and B&R worked together to find an optimal solution through numerous tests.<\/p>\n

Integrated drive system<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The feed belt and wheel were optimally synchronised with the help of a fully integrated drive system from B&R. This includes servo drives, inverters and safety technology. The system is controlled via a Panel PC 2100 from the company. It combines visualisation and a powerful PC-based controller in a single device. \u201eWith the help of B&R's mapp software components, the shuttle conveyor can be synchronised without complicated calculations. Adapt to different packaging<\/strong>. Only a few parameters need to be set,\u201c Jobse emphasises.<\/p>\n

\"Thanks
Thanks to a fully integrated drive system, all movements are synchronised. (Image: Oxipack)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the mapp component for recipe management, machine operators can quickly switch between products of different sizes and weights. By using sensors to automatically determine the product parameters, it is even possible to test product combinations simultaneously.<\/p>\n

Space-saving and flexible<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The first new inspection system with vacuum technology from Oxipack and Geurtsen was delivered to an Italian customer for testing purposes. \u201eThe system can inspect 20 products per minute,\u201c says Jobse. However, a speed of around 120 products per minute is required for a practical inline leak test during operation. \u201eThat's where the Modular structure<\/strong> paid off,\u201c says Jobse. \u201eFive more wheels can easily be added without significantly expanding the footprint of the packaging line.\u201c<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leak testing is essential in the production process of airtight packaged medicines and foodstuffs. Oxipack has now developed an alternative method based on vacuum technology.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","rank_math_description":"Das niederl\u00e4ndische Unternehmen Oxipack Leak Detection hat eine alternative Methode zur Dichtheitspr\u00fcfung entwickelt, die auf Vakuumtechnologie basiert.","rank_math_focus_keyword":"Vakuumtechnologie","rank_math_title":"Inline-Qualit\u00e4tssicherung mit Vakuumtechnologie","csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[28,21],"tags":[55,58779,59073,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-43789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-aus-dem-magazin","8":"category-verpackungstechnik","9":"tag-automatisieren-und-robotik","10":"tag-br","11":"tag-oxipack","12":"tag-qualitaetssicherung","13":"cs-entry","14":"cs-video-wrap"},"acf":[],"vimeo_video":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}