Numerous empy vials lined up in a production machine. The first vial is illuminated by a small glimmer of light.
empowering communication

    Seamless connectivity for optical inspection systems in the pharmaceutical industry

    An Indian technology company - specializing in the design, development and manufacture of tailor-made automation solutions for the pharmaceutical industry - was faced with the challenge of developing a real-time visual inspection system for the quality assurance of pharmaceutical packaging as part of a customer project. This system checks both the correct shape and the integrity of aluminum sealing caps of medical injection vials that contain a rubber membrane for extracting liquid ingredients by syringe.

    The solution consists of a conventional desktop PC with an i7 processor and 32 GB RAM, which is connected to two cameras via LAN cable and classic Ethernet. These provide the images for the visual inspection of the pharmaceutical containers on the conveyor system and inspect the lids for damage or cosmetic deviations such as bends, cracks, stains or wrinkles. The comprehensive image data is then processed using FabImage Studio 5.3 Professional software. The final task was to establish an efficient and reliable real-time data transfer from this Ethernet-based PC system to the Siemens S7 PLC via PROFINET IO so that the PLC could initiate the ejection of faulty injection vials. This presented various challenges.

    Numerous vials with yellow fluid lined up on a conveyor installation. In the top right corner is a PROFINET logo.

    Easy integration with cifX

    In order to close the challenging gap between image data processing and the field level, the communication experts from Hilscher India were finally called in. With the cifX PC cards, which are available in all common form factors, Hilscher offers the ideal portfolio for integrating PC-based devices and systems quickly and easily into automated environments.

    Ultimately, the customer opted for the PCI Express card CIFX 50E-RE, which is based on Hilscher's netX100 SoC and can function as either a master or slave. The multi-protocol capability of the PC card enables industrial communication across all common Real-Time Ethernet (RTE) as well as fieldbus systems. The protocol can be changed by simply reloading the firmware. A particular advantage for the integration of the Hilscher PC card with the FabImage inspection software was that the FabImage Library already contained fully developed functions and APIs for cifX and PROFINET. This reduced the integration effort to a minimum.

     

    A graphical illustration about the networking of optical inspection cameras in a PROFINET network.
    Improved data processing and accuracy during inspection

    A major challenge in processing the IO data, however, was the software-specific restrictions in FabImage for the representation of different data types and sizes. Parameters had to be displayed with specific byte configurations, such as 2 bytes for a 16-bit integer or 4 bytes for float values. This required the definition of different I/O sizes for each inspection parameter, resulting in inconsistencies in real-time data updates and occasionally missing inspection data sets.

    With the integration of the CIFX 50E-RE PC card, the I/O requirements were systematically defined and parameterized, drastically reducing data loss. The card's modular inputs and outputs allowed for a flexible configuration tailored to the application, improving data transfer performance and ensuring accurate inspection results.

     

    Result and future plans

    Thanks to the simple hardware and software integration of the cifX PC card, it took just two months from the start of the project in February 2024 to the introduction of the inspection system into regular operation. With a throughput of 600 injection vials per minute, the system offers users from the pharmaceutical industry enormous potential for increasing the productivity and efficiency of their quality assurance. The solution also impresses with maximum reliability and accuracy, which is particularly important in the pharmaceutical industry - with its strict requirements for product safety and quality.

    Due to the rapid implementation and enormous benefits for the end user, the Indian automation specialist would like to integrate the system into other RTE environments. As a concrete follow-up project, the vision system will be integrated with Beckhoff controllers via EtherCAT. In this case, not only cifX cards but also the netHOST LAN gateway from Hilscher will serve as the communication interface between the PC system and the PLC.

    Advantages of the cifX PC cards for automation companies at a glance:

    Several different PC cards from Hilscher in the top right quarter. Numerous industrial communication protocols on a white shape in the lower half of the picture. On the right side on a white shape are several logos of different device drivers.
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