For decades ICS Inex Inspection Systems has provided high-speed container inspection and flow-control systems used by glass manufacturers such as Owens-Illinois and Rexam and by packagers such as Coke and Pepsi. The ICS Inex systems rely on a proper read by proximity sensors. These devices play a crucial role in machine performance by letting a complex inspection or flow-control system know that a container is in place—or isn’t. Such sensors also indicate if a container has fallen, providing notification of a possible jam. The sensor’s ability to avoid false positives is also important. After all, what manufacturer wants a machine to stop when it doesn’t have to?
There are few tests as challenging for a sensor as detecting the presence of clear glass bottles. Typical sensors can be confused by “burn through’’—lensing of the light through the bottle, which can cause a sensor to see a single bottle as more than one.
“Until recently, there have not been many attempts to address clear-container sensing,” says ICS Inex director of engineering Mike Lawn. “This has always been a problem for glass manufacturers and for packagers. Every sensor works pretty well except when it comes to these challenging optical issues, especially clear bottles. If you find a sensor that can do that, then it can handle just about anything.”
Lawn says his company has found such a sensor: The RetroSmart™ retro-reflective proximity sensor, optimized for clear-object detection, introduced by Tri-Tronics in Spring 2005. “It’s a solution to a problem,” says Lawn.
