PETpla.net Insider 07+08 / 2020

INSPECTION 20 PETplanet Insider Vol. 21 No. 07+08/20 www.petpla.net Automated pressure testing For many years there has been a requirement for pressure testing on PET containers. The required test procedures are often driven by the brand owners creating consistent standard from customer to customer. Given the obstacles faced in recent months, maintaining high levels of production and quality control with existing manpower is a huge challenge. How can more testing take place as production levels increase, design parameters change, or insufficient manpower levels are present? INSPECTION Torus’ answer is automation. Pro- viding more autonomous production and inclusion of industry 4.0 concepts is a target for most manufacturers, a direct payback on the investment of efficient production equipment is easily justifiable in terms of increased sales, reduced scrap, and/or better efficiency. When it comes to container quality control, there has not been a viable fully automated solution on the market. There are still large variations in container testing methods, ranging from completely manual checks such as hall effect thickness gauging and Vernier callipers, to faster vision sys- tems and advanced sensor technolo- gies which have created that next step in terms of efficient and repeatable processes. Pressure testing in simple terms is carried out by displacing the air inside a container with water, pressurising that water and recording the expan- sion and pressure to yield. Incorrect process control can cause failures in the base of the container creating a package that is more suspectable to failure at low pressures. This testing process is accepted and sufficient to feedback data to production and therefore make process changes where required. Development of new quality con- trol equipment has been a focus for Torus Measurement Systems. Whilst reviewing all aspects of quality in rigid plastic packaging it was evident that having an operator stand and load containers into a burst tester, wait for 60-120 sec. for the test to complete before loading the next container was an efficiency problem for most manufacturers. In addition to this, blow moulding machines are getting faster and cavitation is grow- ing, which is expected to continue as production equipment suppli- ers develop and look for improve- ments. If automation in production is demanded, then quality control should follow suit. Torus have developed their TQ-Lab, which offers automated qual- ity control for dimensions, thickness, internal diameter, top load, volume capacity, weight, to now include automatic burst pressure and volume expansion. This ‘all in one’ total quality machine can handle up to 50 cavi- ties in one batch providing reliable statistics without operator interven- tion. Data handling processes can be streamlined by connecting the machine to the factory network and reporting directly into an ERP or SPC package. The system configuration is modular allowing customers to choose their level of automation. If the requirement is purely to automate the burst test function, then a single module system can be offered. Blanks can be provided for future expansion of the system giving the customer future flexibility to include other impor- tant tests without having to invest again in another full system. www.torus-group.com