Profile scanner for 100% inline quality control of chocolate bar production

Food manufacturers focus on achieving production excellence and quality control to ensure 100% customer satisfaction. For chocolate bar manufacturers, it is primarily determined by the shape and dimension of the finished product. Traditionally, these checks are manually conducted by the operator, which is both time-consuming and ineffective.

Sensors technology has tremendously advanced in the last decade and they are integral to support industrial transformation towards achieving full automation. The non-contact optical laser profile scanner is ideal for quality control applications and can be easily integrated with the production and manufacturing environment.

As a leading sensor and instrumentation provider in Oceania, Bestech Australia supplies precision sensor technology from Micro-Epsilon to support the industrial testing requirement in Australia and New Zealand. The scanCONTROL 2960-100 laser profile scanner measures at high speed and can be 100% controlled in the production line.

Benefits of integrating laser profile scanners in production environment

The laser profile scanners operate based on the principle of “Laser Line Triangulation.” The position or profile of the detected object is calculated based on the location where the laser beam falls in the detector.

These profile sensors have a compact design, allowing them to be easily integrated with restricted or hard-to-access space. They also offer highly stable and precise measurement on high-speed applications up to 10kHz due to their dynamic sensor matrix in the sensing elements. The operators can perform the necessary set-up and write customised program through the easy-to-use web interface

The scanner measurements are not affected by the colour or contrast of the chocolate, as the red laser generates stable measurements on almost all surfaces and fast-changing objects. Therefore, users can be confident that the data’s quality is reliable and repeatable.

This sensor can be used to develop an integrated scanning system to allow for 100% inspection of finished products. The profile scanner can be connected to the draw wire encoder to improve accuracy and repeatability. This ensures that the sensor measures at an even distance, regardless of the conveyor’s speed.

Easy integration and installation

These high-speed lasers are attached to the pillars of conveyor belts to enable non-contact profile detection of the finished chocolate bars. The ScanCONTROL software was used to set up the sensor throughput rate to more than 60 m/min. The results are transmitted to the scanCONTROL configuration software to allow automated inspection based on predefined parameters.

The sensor transmits the generated OK or NOK signal to the control system. It allows for automated product inspection which gives the operators time-flexibility to focus on other workloads.

As the inspection process is inline and fully automated, the system can operate with higher reliability and precision. This capability nullifies the chances of human errors and unnecessary interventions. It also ensures 100% checking of product quality as the random sample checks are replaced with a real-time inspection to increase production and achieve better results. It also significantly reduces product wastage as the operators can immediately make necessary adjustments should an error is detected.

The scanCONTROL scanners have a maximum measuring range of 200mm, which would be sufficient for most applications in the food industry. It should be noted that customers may need to use special protective housing for applications in the food and production environment.