TPT July 2017

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T E CHNOLOG Y
JULY 2017 33
Advanced inspection and sor ting from Sikora
WITH the presentation of the Purity
Scanner for inspection and sorting of
plastic material at the K 2013 show, the
attention of the Sikora research and
development department was directed
to application areas that had not been
a focus during the initial development of
the system in 2011.
Originally aimed at requirements of
the cable industry – especially for the
manufacturing of high-voltage cables,
where cross-linkable PE is mostly
used – it became clear at K 2013 that
requirements regarding purity also exist
in other industries.
The company subsequently held
numerous discussions with plastic
manufacturers, compounders and
consumers from different industrial
branches, and several tons of plastics
were tested in Sikora’s own clean room
laboratories under near-production
conditions.
Materials including PE, PA and XLPE,
among others, have been tested with the
optical and X-ray camera system of the
Purity Scanner. Customers from more
than 50 countries visited the Sikora
headquarters in Bremen, Germany, to
accompany these tests as well as to
support the set-up of the catalogues of
requirements.
Next to the detectability and sorting
of contamination, the documentation of
results as images or statistical data was
equally important. Discussions with an
experienced and demanding customer
base led to the idea of the Purity
Scanner Advanced.
The concept of the Purity Scanner,
with its optical and X-ray pellet
inspection as well as automatic sorting,
opened new possibilities and is now
operating successfully worldwide. The
Purity Scanner Advanced, with a flexible
camera system that is concentrated
on special applications, was initially
presented at K 2016. The Purity Scanner
Advanced is optionally equipped with
high-speed optical cameras as well as
X-ray, colour and infrared cameras.
For the detection of contamination
inside the pellets, the X-ray camera as
standard reliably detects, for example,
metallic contamination from 50µm,
while the optical cameras detect
discolourations, scorches and other
contamination on the pellet surface.
By using a colour camera in the Purity
Scanner Advanced, the device is able to
sort out unfamiliar pellets of a different
colour, as well as colour deviations.
In plants where different materials
with similar external characteristics
are processed, the use of an infrared
camera is useful. The hyperspectral
camera irradiates the pellet flow with a
broadband light to subsequently analyse
the results of certain frequencies and
detect cross-contamination.
Sikora AG – Germany
Fax:+49 421 48900 90
Email:
Website:
Visualisation, on the Ecocontrol 6000, of detected colour deviations; contamination inside
transparent pellets; and contamination inside the pellets and on their surface
The flexible camera concept of the Purity Scanner Advanced