Feature Tracking & Traceability
Reliable inspection of fruit and veg U
sing machine vision to facili- tate inspection tasks for raw fruit and vegetables has often been avoided as only the most advanced cameras could offer technol- ogy capable of identifying raw food products (i.e. size, shape, colour) and are rugged enough to withstand the harsh production environment.
Extensive options Retro-fit solution
Despite the well documented chal- lenges, UK-based Design Synergy were invited to design and install a vision solution to measure and inspect raw food products by a major food retailer. Combining their experi- ence within the automation and elec- tronics industries, the team at Design Synergy succeeded in creating a retro-fit food inspection solution which was rolled-out across several of the customer’s global factories. Working in close partnership with Cognex UK, the solution was devel- oped using a robust and high perfor- mance vision system. Following initial camera trials, IP-rated Cognex In-Sight 5400CS cameras were selected. These are well suited to a factory environment where they can be washed down and subjected to extremes of temperature.
For the retro-fit solution, four cam- eras and electronics were supplied and implemented on each production line to inspect raw vegetables prior to pro- cessing. As the items pass along four parallel conveyors, each camera contin- uously captures the required images and extracts the vital information which is communicated via the local area network thus providing the opera- tor and management with instant analy- sis of the product line.
Automation FEBRUARY 2013
Above: Design Synergy created a retro-fit food
inspection solution which was
rolled-out across several global factories of a major food retailer
Complete inspection system In addition to the retro-fit solution, Design Synergy has developed a com- plete food inspection system, suitable for a wide range of tasks. Originally designed to replace time consuming manual methods, the system offers automated inspection and measure- ment of food products (size, shape, weight and colour); handling of a large range of programmes and therefore changing from one inspection task to another is straightforward; touch screen to allow the operator to select the inspection task and view the live images and results; and network con- nection to allow images and results to be viewed remotely.
The food inspection unit is a manu- ally loaded system where pieces of raw fruit and vegetables are placed, two at a time, on to the conveyor. The cameras inspect each item and compare against pre-set requirements and the results are
The solution offers the scope for a range of enhancements, dependent on a cus- tomer’s individual needs, for example: 1. Higher speed Cognex camera ver- sions are available and would therefore increase the throughput speed, should a line require high speed inspection. 2. There can be any number of cameras in a system as each ‘smart’ camera has its own processor and is independent from its neighbours.
3. Rejects could be dealt with by blow- ing or pushing them from the conveyor. 4. The system can be used on raw and partially processed products. David Payne, MD at Design Synergy, commented, “From the initial concept in 2006, we have created and developed both a retro-fit solution as well as a robust and reliable food inspection system. Both offer an easy to use and flexible solution to inspect any number of products, ensuring all data is captured and available online in a matter of sec- onds. Our clients rely on the systems to overcome the challenges of raw food inspection and to ensure their products are fit for processing.”
Cognex
www.cognex.com T: 01327 856 040
Automated handling and inspection of raw fruit and vegetables has always been a challenge for retailers given the irregularity of the products, possible contamination and difficult working conditions including moisture and high temperatures. However, machine vision systems are now offering a solution, as Cognex explains
immediately shown on the unit’s dis- play screen. The operators are therefore able to monitor each product and, as well as archive results for production, process analysis.
Enter 216
ognex Corporation has announced the availability of a field of view expansion tech- nology for its DataMan 300 series of image-based barcode readers called Xpand. Xpand technology enables retail distrib- ution, parcel and postal applica- tions to be solved using fewer readers, which reduces installa- tion time, set-up duration and overall cost.
Carl Gerst, business unit man-
ager, ID Products, said, “With the addition of Xpand technology, the field of view of a single DataMan
Reading more barcodes with fewer readers C
300 can be increased by more than 50%. This technology signifi- cantly expands the addressable market for the DataMan 300 in logistics by allowing a single unit to see more of the belt. “The pressure for distribution
centres to increase productivity and reduce labour cost has never been greater. The increased read rates that Cognex barcode read- ers deliver means a smaller number of packages need to be handled manually and fewer workers are required for rela- belling or rerouting rejects.”
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