MechChem Africa November-December 2022

⎪ Automation, hydraulics and pneumatic systems ⎪

tor their temperature in real-time. Because conventional temperature sensors for packaging machines were posi tioned away fromthe sealing surfaces due to their heat resistance and other properties, it was not an easy task to accurately measure the temperature on the sealing surfaces. So, Nishide and her team members went back to the drawing board to take a fresh look at temperature sensor materials and structure. They increased sensor heat resistance, and its responsiveness so that the tempera tures of the fast-moving sealing bars could be more rapidly and successfully measured at the sealing surfaces. But accurately measuring temperature was not enough. The controller needed to control the rapidly fluctuating sealing bar temperature to keep it constant. To solve this, the temperature control algorithm was improved by introducing AI technology, making it possible to precisely control tem perature by having parameters automati cally adjusted in response to temperature fluctuations. What resulted was one technology for real-time temperature sensing on fast moving sealing surfaces, and another for automatic parameter adjustments to pre cisely control temperature. Honing these two technologies resulted in an innovative appl ication that reduces temperature variations on the sealing surfaces to one tenth, regardless of the types of packaging materials. OMRON launched AI-embedded tem perature controllers that feature this tech nology, which is now known as the ‘Perfect Sealing Solution’. This was met with great acclaimby customers. “A leading global com pany that had never before used OMRON products decided to use our solution and reported that it was able to reduce tempera

OMRON ‘Perfect Sealing Solution’ combines real-time temperature sensing on fast-moving sealing surfaces, with precise AI-embedded temperature control.

ture fluctuation during the sealing process to 0.7 ºC, when it was previously over 8.0 ºC at its highest,” says Nishide proudly. Such was the response that Perfect Sealing Solution was adopted by more and more customers across the world, who eventually replaced plastic packaging ma terials with eco-friendly ones. The OMRON t e am a s s emb l ed a portable, high-performance demonstra tion packaging machine, one-twentieth the s i ze o f commer c i a l sys t ems , wh i ch members of the Group take to prospec tive customers in Europe, Southeast Asia, the US and elsewhere, to show them how it works and the value it can create. “If all packaging machines using OMRON's Perfect Sealing Solution temperature con trollers switched from conventional plastics to eco-friendly materials, our solution would have contributed to the reduction of approximately one million tons of plastic

waste. In terms of the length of packaging materials, that equated to 8.58 million km,” says Nishide. OMRON is not resting on its laurels and has embarked on a new project. “We are planning to increase the variety of packag ing material forms our temperature con trollers can handle to expand beyond flow wrapping. Also planned is a roll-out of this technology to plastic bottles, stick packages and other packages whose production pro cess differs completely from bag packages. "At a glance, you may think temperature controllers and the marine plastic waste problemhave nothing to do with each other, but many social issues can be addressed by applying advanced control," Nishide says. “We will continue working hard to solve social issues in various industrial fields as we make the most of our technological prowess,” she concludes. www.industrial.omron.co.za

If using conventional packaging machines, eco-friendly materials shrink and the heat causes wrinkling, scorching or melting.

November-December 2022 • MechChem Africa ¦ 29