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interpack 2011: Inspection in Perfection

HEUFT will be revealing an innovation at the interpack 2011 exhibition which revolutionises inspection technology for the production of pharmaceutical products:  the HEUFT spotter PH removes ampoules and vials which are damaged or contaminated with foreign matter from circulation.  The straight-through system without change parts finally makes high throughput rates and the fastest brand changeovers reality in this sector too.  Innovative inspection systems will also be on show again for food and drink producers to see from 12 to 18 May on Stand C38 in Hall 11 at the Duesseldorf Exhibition Centre.

The number one as regards the inspection of products and packaging during the production of food and drink has also made its technological lead available to the healthcare sector.  The best example:  the HEUFT spotter PH which HEUFT SYSTEMTECHNIK GMBH is exhibiting for the first time at interpack 2011.  It tracks down the smallest foreign particle and contamination such as dust, foil remnants or glass splinters inside pharmaceutical packaging filled with transparent liquids.  Deviations in shape and chips, scratches or cracks on the container itself are also reliably detected.  The device identifies so-called "black spots", among other things, during the ampoule head inspection.  These are burn marks which can occur during the closing process.  Missing, damaged or non-brand vial crimp caps cannot escape the newly developed end of line system either.

For this a belt drive guides the previously separated pharmaceutical containers straight past a total of nine optical detection modules and aligns each of them in the course of this so that the bases, sidewalls, neck and head areas can be completely examined.  The maximum possible detection reliability is achieved due to an interaction of LED illumination, specially arranged mirrors, CCD cameras and the HEUFT reflexx high-performance image processing system.  The HEUFT spotter PH removes faulty ampoules and small injection bottles from the production flow by means of an in-house developed rejection system.  Container tracking through the complete device and a reject verification ensure that each package is really inspected and each contaminated or damaged package is removed from circulation.  Furthermore the network-compatible system validates its own detection performance at regular, freely configurable intervals using special test container programs.

A straight-through system without change parts

In contrast to conventional pharmaceutical inspectors the HEUFT development team has implemented the device not as a rotary but as a straight-through system.  The result:  particularly high throughput rates of up to 1,200 small pharmaceutical bottles per minute.  The height and passage width of the servo-controlled conveyor belt can be adjusted automatically in the same way as the positions of the individual detection modules and therefore the HEUFT spotter PH does not need any change parts at all - another unique feature of the new development.  Thus brand and product changes are carried out at the push of a button and dealt with within a very short time.  Maintenance and storage requirements and the costs involved are thus reduced to a minimum.

The HEUFT range on stand C38 in Hall 11 is far from exhausted with this innovative full container inspection for the healthcare sector.

Other interpack highlights

In addition the following HEUFT systems will be celebrating their interpack premiere according to the motto "Inspection in Perfection".

  • the HEUFT eXaminer XB top-down X-ray strobe for checking the integrity of unpackaged and packaged food
  • the HEUFT eXaminer XT pipeline inspector for detecting foreign objects in a liquid or paste-like product mass even before packaging
  • the HEUFT moCheck inspection system for identifying product residue and defects in empty moulds used for the production of confectionery
  • the HEUFT squeezer QS leakage check for detecting leaks and fill level deviations in plastic containers filled with drinks or dairy products
  • the HEUFT VX OCR optical character recognition system for verifying the presence and correctness of the contents of coding on packaging

As usual these new and further developments will be shown in action at the packaging exhibition.  See their outstanding performance for yourself.

Post exhibition workshops in the new HEUFT customer centre

We will be holding three in-house, industry-specific workshops straight after the exhibition in the new HEUFT customer centre in Burgbrohl-Weiler for all those who cannot make it to the interpack exhibition or who wish to become even better acquainted with our inline systems:

  • 24 May 2011 at 10.00:  inline inspection during the production of food
  • 25 May 2011 at 10.00:  inline inspection during the production of healthcare products
  • 26 May 2011 at 10.00:  inline inspection during the production of drinks

Best of all, why not register today:  welcome@heuft.com / +49 2636 / 56-0.