Industrial Automation

Industrial Automation

STABLE DETECTION OF
COLOR MARKS ON COLORFUL PACKAGING

Packaging is vital for sales and product protection for all process industries. With designs becoming more colorful, it presents a major challenge for packaging machine manufacturers to accurately detect minor color differences between the color marks and background design elements on workpieces. This results in higher operational and maintenance cost.
Example of colorful packaging with little color difference between the colour mark and background design elements

Color mark detected on colorful packaging, whereby
color mark and background design elements are closely similar
(different shades of green as illustrated above)

Challenges Faced During
Color Mark Detection

1

Figure 1 illustrates a common scenario whereby there is little color difference between the color mark and design elements on a colorful packaging, therefore the color mark is not detected.

2

Figure 2 illustrates the ratio of incident levels of a workpiece detected and not being detected. For example, if detecting a workpiece is 1,000 and not detecting it is 100, the S/N ratio is 10:1. The higher the S/N ratio is, the more stable the detection is.

Introducing OMRON’s
New Color Mark Sensors

A High S/N Ratio To Detect Minor Color Differences

OMRON’s Color Mark Photoelectric Sensor (E3S-DC) and Color Fiber Amplifier Unit (E3NX-CA) promise a high S/N ratio, ensuring stable color mark detection on colorful packaging, even with minor color differences.

Color Mark
Photoelectric Sensor
(E3S-DC)

Detects The Slightest Color Difference With High S/N Ratio System Design

1

Improved S/N Ratio and Accuracy of Color Mark Detection By 9 Times
The high luminance RGB three-color LEDs of the Photoelectric Sensor increases the S&N ratio 9 times, event if color differences are minor. This help to deliver high detection accuracy in colors with subtle differences.

2

Stable Detection Of Color Combinations With RGB Three-Color LED
The wavelengths of red, green and blue are narrow. Hence color combinations cannot be detected with RGB single-color light source sensors. In the new Color Mark Sensors, the Photoelectric Sensor uses RGB three-color LEDs as its light source, creating a broader wavelength that makes stable detection of color combinations possible.

Color Fiber
Amplifier Unit
(E3NX-CA)

Detects The Slightest Color Difference With High S/N Ratio System Design

1

Improved S/N Ratio and Accuracy of Color Mark Detection By 4 Times
The high luminance white LED of the Fiber Amplifier unit helps deliver high detection accuracy for even the slightess difference in colors. This is due to an increased in S&N ratio by 4 times.

2

A Broader Wavelength Range For Stable Detection With White LED
The wavelengths of red, green and blue are narrow. Hence color combinations cannot be detected with RGB single-color light source sensors. For the new Color Fiber Amplifier Unit, a white LED is used as the light source, creating a broader wavelength that makes stable detection of color combinations possible.

Achieve stable detection for your packaging line today!