Contrinex photoelectric fork and inductive sensors ‘keep the lid on’ and help get a bottle of ketchup to the customer’s table by ensuring that the ketchup is hermetically sealed and that the flip-top cap has been fitted.
Plastic bottles that have been filled with ketchup pass under a Contrinex inductive sensor positioned over the packaging line which confirms the presence of an aluminium-foil seal. Next, the fitment of a plastic flip-top cap is verified by a Contrinex photoelectric fork sensor before the bottle is released for labelling, packaging and despatch to customers.
The fork-sensor is switched between four operating modes according to the production batch, using IO-Link. Being a communication protocol, IO-Link feeds back information from the inductive and fork sensors, such as their preventative maintenance status, to the production line control system.
Read the full article in DPA's July issue