Application Note: Vision Software Inspects Hygiene Products, Sorts Candy by Color

EyeVision image-processing software from EVT EyeVision Technology GmbH has been used to inspect hygiene products during the packaging process, and to count and sort candy by color.

EyeVision technology identified ten blue candy drops using a blob counting function. Courtesy of EVT EyeVision Technology.

A customer uses EyeVision, along with a high-frame-rate Gigabit Ethernet camera in packaging machines for sanitary napkins, panty liners and incontinence products. The napkins, which are ejected from the production machine, are inspected with an inline quality check for the correct alignment, as well as geometric contour and thickness. The software focuses on the angle of the product, and the position and distance between products.

The products were partly contained in individual packaging made from plastic or cellulose; the color of individual wrappings can range from transparent to black.

The EyeVision system replaced the customer's existing inspection system, which had reached its limit with regard to speed. EVT's imaging-processing system enabled inspection of three sanitary napkins per minute with a distance between the napkins amounting to 30 percent of the length of the product.

EyeVision’s color command functionality also has been demonstrated in the sorting of chocolate drops.

In this application, an image of the product is either captured or uploaded from a file. Next a color filter command is used to define target color, hue and saturation. In one example, EVT set the software to identify the color blue with a saturation value up to 175 and hue up to 240.

The software then detected only blue chocolate drops meeting the set characteristics. Integrated in a sorting machine, the software can tell the machine, for example, to reject the blue items.