Tubes

Pharmaceutical containers and packaging products are made of drawn-glass. It is common to use base material in the form of tubes, which are later converted into many different products. Next to that, large-size tubes are used in the process-industry. To ensure that only flawless tubes will be used in the next process-steps, inspections are done. VIMEC provides systems for in-line and off-line inspection of such glass tubes. Not only do we inspect the tube-wall, VIMEC also has a solution for inspecting the tube ends.

In-line tube-wall inspection system: Hyperion

The Hyperion inspection system has been designed to inspect tubing products on cosmetic aspects. The configuration-design allows integration on most common production lines. Reliable synchronisation with the line ensures easy handling and automated inspection. Hyperion has a dedicated mechanism to physically direct accepted and rejected tubes to the appropriate destination.

Derived from our Roto-handler, a dedicated handling system is used to pick up, rotate and return the tubes. During the 360° rotation, the quality-inspection is performed using bright field illumination and a customized optical imaging setup.

Off-line tube-wall inspection systems

In-line inspection is not always the best match to your production flow. To anticipate on these circumstances, VIMEC developed an off-line inspection system for inspection of glass tubes. A wide ranges of diameters and lengths can be processed in one setup with smart adjustment features.

Tube end inspection

Glass tubes are used in the process industry to allow operators to see the product flow. For a succesful and leak-proof application of the technical glass tube it is critical that the tube-end is defect-free.

A tube-end inspection system will inspect the whole sealing surface of the tube-end and detect any defects. The core-function is to identify cracks, inclusions or broken tube ends. We learned that other verifications are useful as well and designed the system to be capable of measuring the body diameter, tube height and length. Further properties can be developed on request.

As a member of the Vimec-productfamily, tube-end inspection can be integrated with the Hyperion in-line system. However it can be ordered to operate as a stand-alone, off-line system.

The tube-end inspection unit can optionally be equipped with a transportation conveyor.