Few industrial sectors have such stringent quality requirements as the pharmaceutical industry. To meet these exacting specifications, companies are increasingly utilising intelligent vision systems.
For over 30 years, EISAI Machinery GmbH, located in Cologne, Germany, has been an expert in the field of high speed pharmaceutical product testing. Its latest device, the AIM 596, can inspect delicate glass vials in fractions of a second, thanks to two Cognex In-Sight vision systems.
In the first inspection step, the vision system, In-Sight 5600, determines the cake height of the freeze-dried contents and detects the presence of any foreign objects on their surface. At the same time, it looks for ‘splashings’ or splatters caused by unwanted boiling during the freeze-drying process.
A standard industrial camera then looks for foreign particles on the outside of the cake and cracks, scratches, or air pockets in the glass.
These first two camera systems are attached to a semicircular bracket that moves by an oscillating drive. It is here that the In-Sight 5600 demonstrates one of its key advantages: its robustness. The injection-moulded aluminium and stainless-steel housing make the In-Sight impervious to vibration stresses. With an additional In-Sight 5600, the underside of the glass vials are inspected for cracks and for freeze-dried products, the vision system also checks the vials for unwanted particles.
Only the glass vials with 100 per cent product quality enter the pharmaceutical wholesale chain and are distributed to clinics, pharmacies, and medical practices worldwide.
