Industries
Antares Vision, a European leader in traceability and production control solutions for the pharmaceutical industry, turned to Eoptis for a customized 3D scanning solution to ensure proper filling of pharmaceutical blister packs during production.
Blister packs are containers for medications, usually made of plastic and/or aluminum, where tablets are inserted and can then be released by users by pressing on the pocket. The client’s request was based on the need to verify that each cavity of the blister pack is correctly filled with one tablet. During production empty blister packs travel along a conveyor belt while tablets drop from above through chutes. Once filled, the packs are sealed with aluminum foil.
Occasionally, the filling process may fail. A tablet can get stuck in its path, which leaves a cavity empty. To prevent this, it is necessary to perform a pre‑sealing inspection to verify that all cavities are properly filled. However, this check cannot be performed using conventional vision systems because blister packs are often white, like many tablets, resulting in low contrast and, conversely, a high risk of error. Furthermore, it is not always easy to determine from an image whether a cavity is filled, as its shape can be confused with that of the tablet. Yet in the pharmaceutical industry, the error rate must be zero, because patient safety and health are at stake.
To check that blister packs are correctly filled, the pharmaceutical industry uses 3D scanning to create a 3D model of the cavity and verify the presence of the tablet. Antares Vision therefore asked Eoptis to install a high‑performance 3D scanning system for the packaging line.
Eoptis had to overcome several challenges. The first was the high speed of the filling process: the conveyor belt operates at high speed, requiring equally rapid inspection. Another crucial aspect was the need to inspect a broad area approximately 30 centimeters wide from a relatively low height dictated by strict space constraints, so that the 3D scanner had to be positioned very close to the inspection area. The client could not find a sufficiently compact 3D scanner on the market capable of covering such a wide area at close range, so they turned to Eoptis.
The tech company has developed a custom-designed, compact 3D laser scanner. It delivers high-precision inspection across a wide area. With the support of Eoptis specialists, the scanner was installed on the client’s machine and validated directly on the production line. All mechanical and optical constraints – with the mechanical ones significantly influencing the optical – were addressed through innovative custom engineering, ensuring the same optical performance as commercially available systems while achieving a minimized vertical footprint.
The Eoptis solution is a platform that has been highly valued by the client, not only because it fully met their need to verify the presence of all tablets within the blister packs, providing accurate and reliable data, but also because the 3D scanner can supply additional data enabling advanced quality checks, such as tablet integrity – ensuring they are intact, with no chipping or breakage. This has led to an increase in productivity and a significant reduction in defects across the board.
To develop the solution, Eoptis applied its unique cross-disciplinary expertise, combining advanced optics with mechanical, software, and electronic engineering.
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