MechChem Africa March-April 2022

⎪ Automation, process control, instrumentation and CAE ⎪

with themanufacturer, HERMA, tofind a suit - able inspection system. The focus herewas on high reliability and pricing.” The company’s aim was to develop a labelling machine that, on one handmet the high requirements of the GMP area, but on the other hand, ranwithout interruption during regular operation. Oneof thecentral criteriawas that thenew inspection system should work particularly precisely – bad labels with errors such as an incorrect or illegible barcode, or a batch or expiry date error should be detected reliably. Steierl-Pharma wanted a high level of specificity – the system should only detect actual bad units and then eject them from the process. In addition, with an output of around 60 labels per minute, the inspection system has a timewindow in the rangeofmilliseconds for the complex inspection tasks. The OMRON FHV7 smart camera The central component here is the inspec- tion system. Wegner explains: “We decided on the OMRON FHV7 smart camera after an onsite test on our label material, which was supported by an OMRON application engineer. We were supported by OMRON throughout the entire development process, all theway up to commissioning and qualifica - tion of the machine.” With the help of the FHV7, the HERMA labelling machine at Steierl-Pharma checks the identity of the label generated from the pharmaceutical code and verifies the batch numbers and expiration dates via OCV (Optical Character Validation) for compliance with the specifications. The FHV7 series smart camera provides illumination and image processing functional- ity for enhanced visual inspections. Due to its world-first multi-colour light and a powerful Valve manufacturer GEMÜ is expanding its product range for automation compo- nents in the processing industry. The new electrical position indicators GEMÜ 1240, 1241 and 1242 and the combi switchboxes GEMÜ4240, 4241and4242ensure reliable recording of valve-endpositions to formthe basis for successful process automation – even in potentially explosive areas. An integrated sensor on the new range of GEMÜ electrical position indicators and combi switchboxes records the endposition of process valves and transmits it to the plant control systemvia a signal.With combi switchboxes, the process valve can also be actuated with the integrated pilot valve. The process valve and automation components are optimally adapted to each other. The entire system is preset

high-resolution 12-megapixel camera, only a single FHV7 camera is needed to perform high-precision visual inspections of the pro- duction line. During the performance qualification the project managers involved were surprised by the extremely high specificity of the FHV7. “We could not believe howextremely reliable the OMRON FHV7 inspection system could be. As part of challenge testing, we deliber- ately introduced mislabels, all of which were reliably detected – and with a throughput of several 10 000-label batches, not a single good label was incorrectly read as a bad label,” reports Wegner. Even single faulty product label can cause a lot of trouble in the GMP environment. By using the new camera such situations do not occur, and machine outages caused by the incorrect reading of an accurately labelled bottle are prevented. Another advantageof theOMRONcamera is the software, which is intuitive anddoes not require lengthy training. “I really like the op- tionof a customisableuser interface, andsodo the users. There is only one window in which, for example, the target code, batch designa- tion and expiration date can be entered. Code verification and OCV can also be performed. It’s all very clear and simple,” explainsWegner. ThesoftwarerunsonanycurrentWindows system and communicates directly with the FHV7 via the local network. Wegner also praises the high inspection speed of the OMRON system, “The complex individual inspectionof a label takes just 80milliseconds, that’s impressively fast.” Inspection system and support “Weareverysatisfiedwith thenewlabeller and especially OMRON’s inspection technol- and tested, saving users’ time and effort for logistics, installation and documenta- tion. The new electrical position indicators and combi switchboxes can be combined with single-acting or double-acting linear actuators or quarter turn actuators and are therefore suitable for diaphragm, globe and diaphragm globe valves as well as for ball valves and butterfly valves. Users can benefit from designs with simple proxim - ity switches or microswitches, but GEMÜ also offers programmable solutions with 24 V, AS-Interface, DeviceNet and IO-Link interfaces for modern process automation. Designs with ATEX, IECex or NEC ap- provals are available for potentially explo- sive areas. As a result, users can achieve reliable monitoring of the installed valves, especially for plants with strict safety or

ogy. In a highly regulated environment such as the pharmaceutical industry, manufacturers must be able to rely fully on the technology that is used, while also being able to success- fully complete the qualification. This is the case with us; the cooperation with the sales and application team was and remains excel- lent,” MD SteffenWegner sums up. Since the company has had such a good experience with OMRON, it is planning to convert another existing packaging machine to OMRON inspection technology in the near future. www. industr ial .omron.co.za The OMRON FHV7 smart camera can reliably perform the complex individual inspection of each label in just 80 milliseconds.

New GEMÜ position indicators and combi switchboxes

quality requirements. GEMÜ also supports customers during the automation of their plants in external process environments. www.gemu-group.com

The new range of GEMÜ electrical position indicators and combi switchboxes record end positions of process valves and transmit them to plant control systems.

March-April 2022 • MechChem Africa ¦ 35