Exhibits such as the 2D vision sensor Inspector83x for inline inspection or the Missing Item Detection Sensor (MIDS) for automated completeness checks offer powerful AI functions that do not require any expert knowledge to set up or use via an intuitive, browser-based user interface. The trade fair presentation will also focus on the topic of machine safety. The new Safe Adaptive Access protective device with dynamic protective field adaptation for infeed and outfeed sections of packaging systems will be on display. The complete solution Incoming Goods Suite for automated goods receiving and the W10 photoelectric proximity switch series, whose strengths include the reliable detection of packaging with different or challenging surface properties such as gloss, color or structures, will also be presented.

The packaging industry is undergoing radical change and requires sensor solutions that are tailored to complex, frequently changing tasks and meet the increasingly demanding standards of quality, safety, brand protection and documentation.

Process and quality control

According to a recent ifo survey, one in three companies already uses artificial intelligence (AI) or is planning to use it. With the Inspector83x 2D vision sensor for inline inspection tasks in high-speed production lines and the MIDS for automatic completeness checks in packaging processes, Sick is presenting two sensor solutions with integrated AI functionality at Fachpack. The company attaches great importance to easy access to AI.

With a resolution of up to five megapixels and integrated lighting, the new Sick Inspector83x is a practical all-in-one product. Thanks to its powerful quad-core CPU and high-speed data transmission via industrial networks, the sensor can carry out inspections directly internally using AI. It achieves significantly higher speeds than its predecessors. With the Inspector83x, machine vision tasks can be solved with unprecedented simplicity and quality. Complex inspections can be carried out with minimal set-up effort. It also supports the evaluation of products with unpredictable features and the verification of complex objects as well as OCR/OCV readout and verification.

The MIDS Missing Item Detection Sensor is able to effectively monitor packaging processes and reliably detect missing objects in secondary or tertiary packaging, pharmaceutical packaging or even reusable containers using 3D sensors, among other things. Sick Nova provides the software basis for the configurable image processing solutions of the Sick Inspector83x. With a special tool for checking completeness, the user can check the contents at specific positions within containers. For the inspection - the software runs entirely in the sensor and can be visualized and configured via a Human Machine Interface (HMI) in a web browser - both height and area data of the individual cells are used. If required, the inspection tool can also be supplemented with additional rule-based or AI-based inspections in order to carry out further quality checks in parallel.

Safety for people and processes

With the Safe Adaptive Access system solution, Sick presents a non-contact protective device for material flow systems. Based on two vertically mounted safety laser scanners, the system monitors infeed and outfeed sections on machines with hazardous movements. The special feature of the solution is the dynamic and automatic adaptation of the protective fields to the height, width and position of the transported objects, for example cartons. The safety function - i.e. the differentiation between people and material - takes place without external signals or sensors. Safe Adaptive Access meets the high safety requirements of Type 4 / SIL3 / pl d.

Detection reliability for critical surfaces

All in one - one for all: with the W10 photoelectric proximity switch, Sick is presenting a sensor at Fachpack that can be used to solve a wide range of detection tasks in packaging technology more universally than ever before. The sensor series comprises just four variants, which differ in their working distances and mounting options. In conjunction with the precise receiver evaluation line, the laser class 1 transmission LED delivers precise detection results with high repeat accuracy - even for objects with different or challenging surface properties such as gloss, color or structures. The application-optimized Speed, Standard or Precision operating modes can be activated just as easily via the touchscreen interface of the IO-Link sensor as foreground or background suppression. The W10 photoelectric proximity switches are available both in a short-range version with operating distances between 25 mm and 400 mm and in a long-range version with operating distances from 25 mm to 700 mm.

The Incoming Goods Suite is a complete solution from Sick for automated goods receiving. Based on a digital platform for collecting, processing and providing package-relevant data, it enables transparent and efficient transfer processes in incoming goods. Even the highest parcel volumes can be safely managed with the Incoming Goods Suite. In order to meet individual requirements for the identification and sorting of shipments in incoming goods, the individually configurable complete solution for automated goods receiving is available in scalable degrees of automation.

Sick at Fachpack 2024: Hall 7A, Stand 645