32 n FOOD AND BEVERAGE March 2024 www.drivesncontrols.com Smart 2D sensors are a tasty addition to sandwich line The German machine-builder Weber Food Technology specialises in slicing systems for the food industry. Its latest line produces 70 sandwiches every hour, topped with sausage or cheese. For this application to operate smoothly, precise edge control, margins and positioning data are essential. For example: what is the exact position of the sandwich or filled roll on the belt? How tall is it, and are its edges even? The line incorporates a robot that needs to know height and centres of the rolls (lengthwise and crosswise) and whether they are aligned properly on the belt. In many automated processes, information such as this is needed to ensure that production runs smoothly. Typically, these measurement are performed using optical, inductive or ultrasonic sensors. Cameras are also used sometimes to collect such data. A less well-known alternative is to use 2D profile sensors. Weber is using a single smart sensor of this sort to provide all of the required measurements, and to deliver the calculated coordinates correctly in millimetres. The sensor also determines the lateral position and height of sausage and cheese slices on the belt, allowing a gripper to position them accurately on the bottom half of the sandwich. There are similar sensors on the slicers that cut and portion slices of salami, ham or cheese and prepare them for packaging. The sensors deliver the position data needed to align the slices precisely, ensuring that the finished product is always placed in the same position in the packaging process. Weber chose Baumer’s OXM 2D profiling device which has built-in measurement and evaluation functions. It can perform calculations onboard, including determining coordinates in millimetres. The sensor measures the height of the bread roll and all of its edges to calculate the centre of the roll, thus enabling suction pads to lift the finished product gently without causing any damage. “It’s important for us that we don’t have to spend too much time and effort in integrating sensors,” says Weber’s head of automation, Marco Nichau, “and because the OXM sensor transmits all of the position information directly to the machine controller, we don’t need an additional controller, thus saving space and reducing costs. The sensor is very compact and easy to connect, and we were able to parameterise it via the intuitive Web interface. It is ideal for the sandwich line because its performance is unaffected by variations in surfaces and ambient light.” The 2D profile sensors use a single cable to communicate via IO-Link, Ethernet or other systems. They offer measurement ranges of up to 500mm, a field view of up to 300mm and a precision of up to 5µm. n An automated sandwich production line is using smart 2D profile sensors to determine the precise dimensions of bread rolls and other ingredients passing along the line. The sensors’ onboard processing capabilities can calculate dimensions in millimetres, allowing robot grippers to assemble the sandwiches precisely. Bread rolls pass under a pair of 2D prole scanners which deliver precise position data for aligning slices of cheese and sausage in subsequent operations.
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