The purpose of the system is to inspect the surface of the Teflon strip before cutting in order to detect defects in the form of inclusions, holes, cracks and missing PTFE. Detection of the above-mentioned defects results in marking the place of its occurrence with the use of a marking head. The tape marking system consists of two units:

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• Tape inspection unit

• Tape guiding and marking unit

 

A single image to be inspected covers 100 mm of tape. The camera uses signals from a station-mounted encoder to build the image. The images are then analysed using vision algorithms. 

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The detection of a defect on the Teflon surface of the tape triggers marking from the location with the defect over the next 200 mm. The speed of the tape travel for the duration of the marking is reduced. Once the operation is complete, the speed returns to its normal value.

In order to operate the station in a comfortable and intuitive manner, 3 menus have been created on the touch panel: the main menu, the inspection mode menu and the job settings menu.