For a can to fizz properly when opened, the filling quantity and filling pressure must be exactly right. To check this, AT - Automation Technology, together with EVT Eye Vision Technology, has developed an application for an international bottling machine company that inspects and evaluates beverage containers using a 3D scan - at a rate of 40 cans per second or 3.5 million cans per day. This is the cadence of one of these filling machines alone, which is used in the USA by a globally renowned beverage manufacturer.

The application, which was specially developed for the beverage industry, has been running for eight years. In summer 2021, the customer ordered 3D sensors in the three-digit range to equip several hundred more filling machines with them. The application for can pressure monitoring is based on inspection software that can easily work with the 3D sensors from AT. This means that the application can be easily implemented in any new filling machine according to the plug & play principle.

3D scan for filling inspection

For this application, AT recommended the use of C5-2040CS-23-100 compact 3D sensors, which offer a resolution of 2,048 points per profile and a speed of 25,000 profiles per second. Thanks to a field of view of 100 mm, the sensors can react flexibly to the position of the can on the conveyor belt. The 3D sensors are equipped with standard interfaces such as GigE Vision, GenICam and GenICam 3D.

Error-free can check

The decisive factor for the development of the can pressure monitoring system in 2013 was poor quality management. The beverage manufacturer was repeatedly faced with the problem of short downtimes during the filling process due to faulty curvatures on the can surface, for example. In order to finally eliminate these downtimes, optimize the inspection process and significantly increase can production, the beverage manufacturer hoped to achieve profitable success by developing an application for inspecting can pressure.

The author: Nina Claaßen works as Head of Marketing at AT - Automation Technology in Bad Oldesloe

© AT

The challenge: the cans were to be checked for printing directly on the conveyor belt using 3D scanning, at maximum speed. Thanks to the application, no more than one can per day has to be rejected in normal operation due to a faulty surface finish. The conveyor belt was fitted with a tracker for the print inspection, which in turn is connected to the 3D camera. If this transmits a 3D point cloud that deviates from the standard, the can disappears from the conveyor belt within milliseconds using compressed air.