For our customer EcoMark GmbH in Neuwied, Germany, we developed the operating and control software for the machines Natural Branding and Easy Branding.
In addition to 3D measurement of incoming workpieces (e.g. fruit, vegetables, tools), our software also handles process control, laser marking and inspection for quality assurance.
How it works
The workpiece(s) are placed on the conveyor belt of the EcoMark Natural/Easy Branding.
In the first station, the respective workpiece is measured three-dimensionally by our software using cameras and lasers from the company AT - Automation Technology and the position and orientation of the marking is calculated and transferred to the engraving laser.
The marking takes place fully automatically.
Depending on the system version a corresponding quality control (e.g. verification of the applied QR code) takes place after marking.
The count of the several workpieces on the conveyor belt is automatically detected by the software and taken into account in the process.
Unique selling point thanks to high-performance hardware and software.
A special feature of this solution is that the workpieces do not have to be positioned in a precisely predefined way on the incoming conveyor belt. The can be fed simply and quickly in a chaotic manner.
The software determines the position and orientation of the workpieces within a few milliseconds after the 3D measurement and automatically and dynamically determines the best position for laser marking.
Time-consuming and complicated individual alignment and feeding of the individual workpieces can therefore be eliminated.
In addition, the marking can be aligned to prominent points or to workpiece edges. The measured and calculated data can additionally be transmitted to downstream handling systems (e.g. robot units, sorting machines, packaging machines).
Highlights
- Software for configuration, measurement, control and visualization of the marking process
- 3D measurement of the workpieces - online, during feeding by conveyor belt
- Dynamic recognition of the position, orientation, edges and dimensions of the workpieces by means of complex image evaluation
- Determination of the best position for marking
- Control of laser marking
- Quality control after the marking process
- Transfer of position data to downstream handling systems (e.g. robot units)
- Lasering up to 50,000 parts per hour