Page 18 - Industrial Technology EXTRA - 15th June 2020

FOOD AND BEVERAGE...

Photo sensors control bags of

sweets being fed to robots

During high-speed production of retail bags, a confectionery manufacturer conveys
individual bags of sweets to a pick-and-place packing robot for secondary packaging.

A highly reliable diffuse-mode photoelectric sensor, mounted beside the conveyor,
detects the presence of bags as they approach the packing station and inhibits the
pick-and-place sequence if no bags are queued for the packing robot
n the food-processing industry, consumer secondary-packaging station, a plant-wide control
products generally require secondary system prevents operation of the pick-and-place
packaging – both for consolidation and for robot to prevent mis-filling.
Iprotection, before final dispatch. During Immediately prior to arrival at the secondary-
confectionery production, individual bags of sweets packaging station, custom-formed guide rails align
travel by conveyor from bagging stations to a pick- bags for packing. Space is limited and there is no
and-place packing robot for secondary packaging, easy access to both sides of the conveyor. A highly
before passing on to the labelling and packing area reliable non-contact sensor system was needed to
Ideally, product flow along the conveyor is detect the presence of bags as they approach the
continuous; in practice, interruptions occur from alignment rails; the system must inhibit the pick-
time to time as bagging machines require attention. and-place sequence if no bags are queued for
In the absence of bagged products arriving at the packing.

Customer solution
Diffuse-mode photoelectric sensors from the
Contrinex C23PA family of sensors are ideal for this
application. These highly reliable devices contain
both a transmitter and a receiver and do not require
a separate reflector, instead relying on the reflective
nature of the target. Space constraints are
accommodated without compromise, thanks to a
maximum sensing range of 3 to 1500mm. This is
adjustable via a pre-set potentiometer or via IO-
Link, the standardised point-to-point serial
connection protocol.

June 2020 • INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY EXTRA! • p18