Silgan Vision's (silgancls.com) 51R56 vision inspection system inspects filled bottles for cocked, loose, skewed and missing caps, damaged or missing tamper-evidence bands and low fill levels. The system has been used to inspect beverage, cleaning products and other household products bottles and caps, detects and rejects incorrect, damaged or incompletely-filled containers before they can proceed downstream and potentially enter the marketplace.

Silgan Vision has now modified the 51R56 system’s software to increase its throughout speed from 800 bottles per minute to a maximum of 1,200 bottles per minute. This means that the inspection function will not be a limiting factor to productivity as market demand requires faster filling and capping.

The quality and specifications of other aspects of the system remain the same. The vision unit contains multiple cameras for 360° inspection of passing containers. The vision tunnel is mounted on a stand that enables the unit to be placed easily over an existing conveyor line. The unit can then be raised or lowered automatically as bottles being inspected change in height. The system's HMI is mounted on a separate stand next to the conveyor, and provides a 15-inch touch screen interface.

The 51R56 can inspect cap sizes from 28 mm to 82 mm, and the system includes an auto configuration teach function that is used to add new target configurations to the menu. The vision unit tunnel includes a motorized height adjustment that adjusts the unit as the recipe for a new bottle height is activated. Custom LED lighting within the tunnel provides for clear visual images.

Both the HMI and the vision unit provide watertight washdown protection. Options for the 51R56 include a filler-capper tracking system, a choice of pneumatic or soft touch rejectors, and a UPS and surge protection package.