PETpla.net Insider 08 / 2017

INSPECTION PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 08/17 www.petpla.net 44 Bad Dürrheimer relies on empties inspections by BBull Every correct bottle represents cash in the bank Not too long ago, the Bad Dürrheimer mineral spring received an innovation prize for its 1l glass bottle “Légère” with an extra-wide opening. The Black Forest spring bottles the majority of its water and sweet beverages in glass bottles. In terms of PET, it uses dispos- able bottles, which are sealed with film into multipacks, as well as three different PETCycle bottles, which are sold in cases. For these PETCycle containers, the spring has an agree- ment with the licence issuer in Bad Neuenahr, where the deposit is offset as part of the deal. However, Bad Dürrheimer is a “net declarer”, which means that all missing or incor- rect bottles that return with the cases are reported to the main office and must therefore be deducted very precisely. Only the “correct” bottles with the distinctive eight or ten-sided neck ring can be offset; all others must be sorted separately. To do this, the spring relies on the tried and tested universal empties management system Compact LG 500 from special- ists BBull Technology in Königsbach-Stein. Water from the high plateau Each year, over 120 million bot- tles are filled by the mineral spring business from seven mineral water and healing water springs, all situated within a short distance of the German health resort of Bad Dürrheim. 60 per cent is processed by the 150 employ- ees in seven different glass bottles, 40 per cent in three different PETCy- cle bottles (0.5l, 1.0l and 1.5l), and there is also the 0.75l disposable PET bottle. Precise empties recognition without x-ray radiation The PETCycle bottles are blown by the spring itself and then filled at a rate of 22,000bph. The system runs over two shifts in winter and three shifts in summer so all machines on the line must be extremely reliable. “We looked for a system that accu- rately recognises the empties: cases with bottles missing, or that include glass bottles or other PET bottles. For accounting reasons, we must be quite sure to recognise the precise number of bottles with the eight or ten-sided neck ring. Furthermore, we do not want to have an x-ray source anywhere in the factory, so this recog- nition system has to function with- out radioactive x-ray radiation. And this could only be offered by BBull.” reports E-workshop Manager, Markus Link. Empties management Selected was the universal emp- ties management system BBull 500 “Compact LG”. It features a compact, space-saving construction. In a stain- less steel housing, there is a measur- ing bridge, which contains a universal ultrasound line with up to 16 individual sensors. The basic image processing module consists of a colour camera and a telecentric lens; its good resolu- tion prevents any falsification of the objects, so any errors or deviations are recognised accurately. The Bad Dürrheim operation also uses an upper expansion level, into which two cameras and two different lighting techniques are built. Special lighting and lens for bottle type recognition The use of the universal ultra- sound line removes the need to adjust sensors to different case for- mats and bottle positions. The activa- Up to ten large sacks of hundreds of incorrect bottles are removed during each shift. The sacks are then checked again precisely in a sorting centre to find dispos- able or reusable bottles. (Photos: Broesele)