Automatic flake material analysis

Automatic flake material analysis

FLAKE or FAKE? The decisive questions in the processing of flakes: What exactly do they contain? Which substances and which colours in which quantities? In short: Does the milled material contain the goods I expect, or does it just look like it?

It is absolutely necessary to process more recylate. With our automatic, precise analysis of substances and colours you have the latest technology for this essential process at hand. Not only in PET recycling.

The task

Objective and reproducable contamination detection

Closed-loop recycling management, recycling quotas, recyclability. Many words which in the end presuppose one thing: Knowing how pure the plastic regrind you have produced or purchased is.

On the one hand, recyclers can achieve a higher sales price the purer the regrind offered is, the more pure it can be proven to be. Processors on the other hand can only use regrind if it is within certain specifications.

But how can impurities be reliably detected? Impurities, such as PET multilayer, which cannot be identified by eye.

Conventional solution

Manual counting of the contaminations

The BigPacks will not be accepted unless the exact components are specified. Recyclers are left with only manual counting: Small samples are counted by hand to determine all components.

The result of this time-consuming method depends largely on the availability of well-trained and experienced employees.

In many cases, processors choose the supposedly easiest way out of this misery: Either use virgin material straightaway or at least recycle industrial waste. The ever-increasing trend towards more sustainability leads to a major dilemma: How to guarantee quality assurance of regrind on a large scale?

Our Concept

Modular system for the automatic identification of substance and colour

High-resolution, rapid determination of the substances

A high-resolution, fast sensor technology allows us to measure high numbers of flakes in a short time. This is how we can reliably detect all essential plastics and offer a system that can determine much larger samples in a short time than would ever be possible manually.

200 channels for high-precision color measurement

Our solution uses hyperspectral camera technology and 200 colour channels to measure colours with high precision. For example, we can precisely detect the transition from clear to blue flakes.

This makes the system perfect for determining the smallest color differences to a reference, even across multiple locations.

Modular design

The system has a modular design and can be adapted to many tasks. The basic system is designed for the automatic identification and counting of the individual components of a sample of regrind.

 

 

  • 24/7 availability
  • Objective and reproducible analysis of flakes
  • Fully automatic counting of large samples

Compact analysis system for the automated analysing and counting of plastic flakes

Exactly what we need to be able to evaluate more and larger samples. It also enables us to determine substances that we cannot detect manually.

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The correct sample size is essential for the reliable determination of the smallest impurities. As a rule of thumb:
Minimum sample size = 1,000,000 / required ppm value * 3

Example: In order to find components in the 200 ppm range and to be able to make a reliable statement, the minimum sample size is calculated as follows:

1,000,000 / 200 ppm = 5,000
5.000 * 3 = 15.000

The sample must contain at least 15,000 flakes. In PET this is about 400 g of flakes.

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The correct sample size is essential for the reliable determination of the smallest impurities. As a rule of thumb:
Minimum sample size = 1,000,000 / required ppm value * 3

Example: In order to find components in the 200 ppm range and to be able to make a reliable statement, the minimum sample size is calculated as follows:

1,000,000 / 200 ppm = 5,000
5.000 * 3 = 15.000

The sample must contain at least 15,000 flakes. In PET this is about 400 g of flakes.

We have minimally contaminated our samples on purpose. The system has detected all particles. We were positively surprised – a big step forward!

We are independent of manufacturers of sorting systems and use the latest hardware. Our expertise lies in data analysis, the identification of plastics and the courageous conception of new products.

Through object recognition we drastically increase the accuracy of the results. Our software recognizes the individual flakes, thereby eliminating errors, counts the individual flakes and calculates their area. As a result, the number of impurities can be output to the total number of flakes or the area of the impurities to the total area.

 

  •  Manufacturer-independent solution
  • Object detection drastically increases accuracy
  • Confirmed precision

You are eager to put the rule to the test?