TPT July 2017

T E CHNOLOG Y

Advanced inspection and sor ting from Sikora WITH the presentation of the Purity Scanner for inspection and sorting of plastic material at the K 2013 show, the attention of the Sikora research and development department was directed to application areas that had not been a focus during the initial development of the system in 2011. For the detection of contamination inside the pellets, the X-ray camera as standard reliably detects, for example, metallic contamination from 50µm, while the optical cameras detect discolourations, scorches and other contamination on the pellet surface. with similar external characteristics are processed, the use of an infrared camera is useful. The hyperspectral camera irradiates the pellet flow with a broadband light to subsequently analyse the results of certain frequencies and detect cross-contamination.

By using a colour camera in the Purity Scanner Advanced, the device is able to sort out unfamiliar pellets of a different colour, as well as colour deviations. In plants where different materials

Sikora AG – Germany Fax: +49 421 48900 90 Email: sales@sikora.net Website: www.sikora.net

Originally aimed at requirements of the cable industry – especially for the manufacturing of high-voltage cables, where cross-linkable PE is mostly used – it became clear at K 2013 that requirements regarding purity also exist in other industries. The company subsequently held numerous discussions with plastic manufacturers, compounders and consumers from different industrial branches, and several tons of plastics were tested in Sikora’s own clean room laboratories under near-production conditions. Materials including PE, PA and XLPE, among others, have been tested with the optical and X-ray camera system of the Purity Scanner. Customers from more than 50 countries visited the Sikora headquarters in Bremen, Germany, to accompany these tests as well as to support the set-up of the catalogues of requirements. Next to the detectability and sorting of contamination, the documentation of results as images or statistical data was equally important. Discussions with an experienced and demanding customer base led to the idea of the Purity Scanner Advanced. The concept of the Purity Scanner, with its optical and X-ray pellet inspection as well as automatic sorting, opened new possibilities and is now operating successfully worldwide. The Purity Scanner Advanced, with a flexible camera system that is concentrated on special applications, was initially presented at K 2016. The Purity Scanner Advanced is optionally equipped with high-speed optical cameras as well as X-ray, colour and infrared cameras.

Visualisation, on the Ecocontrol 6000, of detected colour deviations; contamination inside transparent pellets; and contamination inside the pellets and on their surface

The flexible camera concept of the Purity Scanner Advanced

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JULY 2017