Unpacking Machine
Automatic extraction of thousands of dosimeters
The Customer
Vinçotte Controlatom is the market leader in radiation protection in Belgium. The company processes dosimeters for organisations where employees are exposed to ionising radiation: hospitals, nuclear facilities, industrial applications. Its dosimetry services are FANC-approved and BELAC-accredited.
The Challenge
All dosimeters returned for processing were unpacked manually. A time-consuming, repetitive job. Vinçotte was looking for a way to do this faster and automatically, without errors in the identification of dosimeters.
The machine in action
The solution
SMO developed a fully automated unpacking machine. Dosimeters are fed to a camera via conveyor belts. An ion spray removes static electricity from the packages. The camera recognises the dosimeters and controls a robot that picks them up.
Each meter passes an RFID reader for identification. Dosimeters that are not recognised or should not be processed go to a separate collection bin. The rest are unwrapped, the plastic packaging vacuumed off, and the unwrapped meters disposed of in placed in collection bins.
Technical Specifications
- Type Automated unpacking machine
- Recognition Vision + RFID
- Handling Robot with gripper
- Output Collection bins + waste extraction
- Integration Integration with back-end software
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