reject sytem

My client has bottle filling system. He want to reject the bottle when no crowns and underfill was detected.
My problem is what type/model/brand of sensor to be used to detect when the metal crown is not present and type/model/brand of sensor to detect the level of liquid inside the bottle.

It would be impossible to give you type/model/brand without more info.
Would these sensor signals be going to a plc? Sinking or sourcing?
It seems it would be easy to detect a metal crown present if the path of the bottle's stayed the same. As for liquid level, in the process of filling the bottle, what is used to determine the amount of liquid to be dispensed? You may have the tools already there to solve this part, just write the code accordingly.

If bottles are not opaque, looks like you should try a basic vision machine, meaning only one sensor for both level / crown controls.

It's a standard application, with reliable results even at high production rates. The bottle is enlighted from one side (flat lamp or Led panel), and the camera is fitted on the other side of the neck in a short tunnel.

The CPUs are now very compact stand-alone units, provided with I/Os and various serial ports and PLC protocols. Usually, an external sensor is used for synchronization or start signal, and results given on one or several static outputs.

Many manufacturers such as Cognex, DVT, Omron, Keyence, NAIS Matsus-hita...

As has been said, the metal bottle cap detection should be no problem. See the recent thread on Traffic Lights (!?!) for one approach.

Levels in bottles can get tricky, with curved glass distorting any beams, let alone translucent or opaque materials. I've usually done the "volume" check by checking weights. Try the Hi-Speed Checkweigher by Mettler-Toledo. They interface well with PLCs to give you a weight and/or a Good/NotGood signal.

Since you'll probably be checking for caps at one "station", checking for volume at another, and doing the actual rejecting at a third, consider using an indexing conveyor instead of a continuously driven one. You can then use a Bit Shift register for the status (health) of each bottle, and do the bit shift each time you index. (This also presumes the existance of a filling "station". If you a doing "flying fills", then you'll need to design you system with the proper number of photo-eyes and various speeds of conveyors.

If you were bottling your own beer in BLACK bottles, how would YOU perform the exercise? Think very carefully about what your eyes, hands and brain are doing.

Let's say it's actually you and several like-minded friends. One of your friends doesn't see so well - in fact, he's blind. He only knows that he's supposed to open a valve for so many seconds and then close it. He's filling the bottle. Then your friend passes the bottle to you.

You trust your friend, but you still have to verify. You "look" into the bottle to be sure it is filled. If it is filled, then you pass it on to your next friend to have a cap applied.

If it's not filled, then there are a few ways to handle that...
You could "flag" it as a reject and pass it on to your next friend anyway... (it will be pulled at the reject station)
You could pull it out of the line right then and there...

When you try to develop a process, envision yourself doing the process by hand. Think very carefully of what you would do and what you would need to make it happen properly.

There is allready a system made by fill-tec. The system uses a diffuse phote eye to detect the cap and a through beam radio active isotope for sensing the fill height. This part I'm not too clear about but I'm sure further investigation will help you out.
Another alternative is to try to rig something with a capacitive prox on the side of the bottle to sense the desired fill height but you might find that it will be tough to be extremely accurate. You mighy be able to use a check weigher if your using a plastic bottle but a glass bottle weight might vary too much to be accurate enough. Also some line speeds in the beverage industry may exceed the functionallity of a weight checker, and if I were to outlay the big cash for a check weigher I would prefer a fill-tec as this is a proven product for this application. You should be able to look up fill-tec on the web but my spelling might not be correct. If I remember they are made in California but I forget the company name something like dynovation industries.
Good Luck

Industrial Dynamics, 310-325-5633, manufacturer of Filtec package inspection systems. Also, Taptone package inspection, 800-423-4044 & Heuft, dont have their number handy. All manufacture packaged units to do exactly what your looking for. My personal preference is ID.

Hi guys!!!

Thanks to everyone for providing me those info.

possible?

hey, how about checking the weight of the bottles? there will be a standard weight should all the requirements are fulfilled right?

You could probably use a weigh checker, but in the beverage industry most lines are moving very fast, as fast as 1200 containers per minute. Although most beverage lines go nowhere that fast, they go fast enough for the liquid to slosh around. In my opinion this would wreak havok on a weigh checker. And in general liquids at high speed might pose a problem for a weigh checker. Now solids are another thing. I've seen incredible accuracy from a weight checker with solids on the fly.

Beverage 101

To my knowledge, no one manufactures any high speed weight checker for testing contents for the beverage industry. The 3 mfgs. I posted all have units that utilize gamma radiation which is measured at the receiver. Taptone also has units that "Ping" the container & measure soundwaves to determine fill height & closure application, hence the name Taptone. They all trigger high speed rejectors for container speeds in the 1800 CPM range. Most lines that run faster will split the container flow to reduce line speeds during inspection to reduce the "Slosh" Jerry is referring to & there is also the issue with foaming. I will say that 1200 CPM is slow for a canline, most will run in the 1600 range for soft drinks & the majority of the major brewery's will run as high as 2200. Bottles are a little tougher to handle & run in the 800 BPM range on 20oz. Glass is usually rejected by handling the containers through a starwheel which is fitted with vacuum cups that are turned "On" at the rejection signal & released on a table to control breakage. Cans & plastic are rejected by high speed ram type rejectors. Obviously this poses issues with reliable container inspection & rejection which I believe to be beyond the capabilities of a PLC. Although, we do use PLC's to read many items at the same speeds, just not for something as critical as final inspection before our product reaches the consumer.