33 EVENT REVIEW PETplanet Insider Vol. 25 No. 07+08/24 www.petpla.net Inspection systems for the packaging industry The German inspection system manufacturer Intravis was represented at the NPE with several exhibits at different trade show booths. In addition to its own booth in the South Hall, where the company showcased its Labelwatcher 360° for label quality control, and its Spotwatcher for inline bottle and container inspection, interested trade show visitors were also able to get a glimpse of a Capwatcher Q-Line at Netstal, an IMLwatcher at Milacron, a Premon at Husky and an IMLwatcher Medical at Arburg ‘in action’. The Capwatcher Q-Line worked on Netstal’s world (record) innovation, a CapLine 4500 based on the Elion systems, with 128-cavity mould and a cycle time of 1.9 seconds. The Intravis machine reliably inspected up to 80 caps per second. At Milacron, Intravis’ IMLwatcher was used on a 2-cavity system for the inspection of 5-gallon buckets, integrated into the robotics of Beck Automation. At the Husky booth, the Premon monitored the preform colour, body and sealing surface directly behind an all-new HyPET 400 HPP6e. The application demonstrated a 144-cavity mould at a cycle time of 4.5 seconds and a potential output of over 100,000 preforms/h. The focus of the application, however, laid on the closed loop application for rPET colour. At the Arburg booth, the IMLwatcher Medical was integrated into a robot of Beck Automation and inspected transparent medical tubes. At Intravis’ own trade show booth, we spoke at length with company owner and CEO Dr Gerd Fuhrmann and Janina Orlowski, Head of Product Management & Marketing, about innovations, further developments, and core exhibits. According to the company, the Labelwatcher 360° is characterised above all by its 100% label inspection capability of containers in any rotational position and of any product shape – no matter whether they are round or exceptionally shaped. In addition, the Spotwatcher for inspecting stretch blow-moulded and extrusionmoulded plastic containers made of various plastics and degrees of transparency was exhibited. With its new, modular design, the system promises even more flexibility, and reliably inspects containers for production defects to ensure the correct shape, colour and neck finish. With regard to the software, we were shown a sneak preview of a brand-new intelligent production data analysis and evaluation tool. It gives detailed insights and early warnings of (potential) error sources directly within production processes of plastic packaging, which we will be discussing in detail in the near future. www.intravis.com Intravis’ booth at the NPE The Intravis team All-electric system for high-speed closure production Sumitomo Demag showed its all-electric Pac-E high-speed injection moulding machine with 350 t clamping force and 72-cavity mould from Z-Moulds in a compact design for the first time in North America. It is specifically designed to meet the needs of manufacturers of beverage caps and thin-wall packaging and, according to the company, builds on the success of the El-Exis SP packaging machine. In addition to the version on show, the Pac-E is also available with 420 t, 250 t and 300 t clamping force. In the trade fair demonstration, 2,100 26/22 beverage closures for still water were produced per minute. The HDPE copolymer, DMDC-1210 NT7, came from the material producer Dow. The dehumidification system was supplied by Eisbär, while an IMD Vista camera inspection system was used for the final inspection. A Frigel air cooler was used to cool the machine cell, which fed the machine with cold water. Sumitomo Demag emphasised that the machine would combine development know-how from Germany and Japan. The toggle levers, platens, tie bars and plasticising elements, including the screws and barrels, were developed in Germany, while the electric drives and the newly developed injection unit come from the Group’s Japanese parent company. Compared to other hybrid packaging machines from the manufacturer, the purely electrically driven axes in particular are expected to deliver energy savings of up to 50 per cent. With electricity savings of 30 cents per kilowatt hour, this could save around US$ 71,285 per year compared to a high-speed hybrid packaging machine. Lubrication of the toggle lever would also no longer cause any cleanliness problems, as it is a leak-free and completely closed circuit. Instead, the oil would be extracted, filtered and recycled. This eliminates the need to clean the toggle lever, which also saves oil. With an injection speed of 550mm/s, the series can also score points for thin-wall and lightweight food packaging with IML while using less material. www.sumitomo-shi-demag.eu
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