Has SIKORA made sorting smarter with its Purity Scanner Advanced technology?

During the online quality control of plastic pellets, SIKORA's Purity Scanner Advanced ensures that only pure material enters the further production process. Even the smallest contamination is detected and automatically sorted out.

Due to the modular system design of the Purity Scanner Advanced, different camera types can be used depending on the material being inspected. In addition to optical cameras, which detect black specks and discolorations, an X-ray camera can be installed to detect metallic contamination. Common systems on the market have a maximum of two optical cameras, which are limited due to a relatively low coverage as soon as the contamination are outside the field of view of the installed cameras. Therefore, SIKORA offers the possibility to have a third optical camera installed, if required. This camera setting offers a significantly higher detection rate so that more contamination is detected. This is especially advantageous when the Purity Scanner Advanced is integrated directly into the production line as an inline system and multiple sorting with a typical two-camera system is not possible.

The Purity Scanner Advanced automatically sorts out the detected contamination via a blow-out unit. According to the higher detection rate, more contaminants are detected and sorted out with the three-camera setting. The optimisation of the by-catch thus becomes more important. Therefore, SIKORA developed a ‘hybrid blow-out’ feature with which the customer can define in advance which impurities in the material represent uncritical contaminations and select a smaller blow-out unit for these so that their by-catch is reduced. These include, for example, small, light-coloured black specks that frequently occur in the material. On the other hand, a larger blow-out unit is specified for critical contaminants – for example, metal contaminants that can impair the functionality of the end product. 

Due to the intelligent interaction of the highest possible detection and hybrid blow-out, the Purity Scanner Advanced guarantees safe material of the highest quality. This further optimises production processes and the reduced by-catch contributes to cost-efficient and sustainable production.