Food Packaging

Perfectly packaged and appealingly displayed products are preferably chosen by consumers. Loose labels, damaged packages or misaligned printing are serious quality issues that should be avoided. The ever increasing packaging speed, the large variety of package designs combined with the increasing pressure to reduce package cost demand very flexible machine components in handling but reliable and fast in operation.

Speed & quality

High speed filling, wrapping or bottling of the processed food or liquids reducing the exposure to bacteria and microbes is very important to achieve both a high efficiency of the machines and ensuring the food remains fresh and appealing. Fault free labelling and data storage is key to ensure the forward and backward traceability in quality control.

Filling/ Pouching/ Wrapping ...

The accurate position detection of the package material is key to ensure a smooth filling process at very often high speed. The large number of different package materials, shapes, sizes and machine types result in different requirements for the position detection sensors.

... in PET bottles

The high transparency and multitude of different shapes and surface structures make a stable PET bottle very challenging. Additional electrostatic charging caused by friction between PET bottles can cause dust to cover the lenses making a long term stable detection even more difficult. Learn more about the E3Z-B for standard PET bottle detection

... in glass bottles

The shiny surface, the high transparency of glass bottles and the "lens-effect" of the bottle walls may often cause false or double detections. The E3S-CR62/67‘s co-axial optical system is optimized to reduce these effects to ensure an enhanced detection stability. Learn more about the E3S-CR62/67

... in transparent trays

For the detection of transparent trays the mounting of a reflector can be omitted installing the miniature sized E32-D12F diffuse reflective fiber optics between conveyor segments. The fluororesin coating ensures highest resistance against detergents. Learn more about the detergent resistant fiber heads E32-D12F

... in Pouches/ Wraps

Wrapping or pouching objects using continuous packaging material from a roll requires cutting the material. The trigger to start the cutting process can result from detecting a print mark (evenly sized packages) or measuring the length of unevenly shaped or cut objects (ham, cheese blocks, etc). The length of an unevenly shaped object can be determined using the signal combination of an area sensor (detecting the object) and a rotary encoder (detecting the travelled distance of a conveyor). Print mark sensors are optimized to detect contrast differences (marks) at high speed. Learn more about the mark sensors E3M-V & Learn more about the area sensors E32-ET16WR

Packaging material production

In blow-moulding applications for PET bottle production, fast temperature-drop recovery is very important. The temperature controller CelciuX° is equipped with 2-PID and other proven (easy to use) algorithms to ensure stable temperatures. Learn more about the CelciuX°

Capping/ Closing

The capping of bottles or closing of trays with seperate lids requires precise synchronization of the bottle or tray flow on one side and the cap or lid feeding on the other side. To ensure there is a continuous supply of caps in the feeder the presence of the caps is detected (minimum supply). The focused beam of the E3Z Laser allows the precise detection of the cap even through small slits or holes. A second detection position controls the supply of the caps from a rotating sorter where the caps are filled in. Learn more about the E3Z Laser

To ensure the correct cap orientation two signals need to be combined. One sensor detects the presence of a cap usually from the side and a second sensor detects if the cap is up side down triggering the ejection of the cap. The E3X-MDA double fiber amplifier associates both signals internally using the built-in logic functions evaluating the signals of its two inputs without an additional PLC. Learn more about the E3X-MDA double amplifier

Labelling

Correctly applied labels are key to ensure the acceptance by consumers. With the ZFV Easy Vision sensor the alignment and correct attachment of labels and the presence of date prints can be checked. Learn more about the ZFV Easy Vision sensor

Cartoning/ Case packing

Handling cartons may cause paper dust to cover the lenses of photoelectric sensors. The E3Z preventive maintenance series uses passive (alarm output) or active (test input or power reduction) methods to detect dirty lenses or misaligned sensors. Learn more about the E3Z Preventive Maintenance

For even higher stability during the operation the seperate amplifier E3X-DA-AT-S uses auto-power (APC) and auto-threshhold (ATC) control not only detecting but also compensating dirt or moisture on lenses. Learn more about the E3X-DA-AT-S