Thermal Imaging System

Identify Direct / Machine Vision Technology have developed a system to solve a long-standing problem at a vinyl flooring manufacturer.

Once finalised and put into action in the factory, the payback for the customer was measured in months rather than years! This meant it was a complete ‘no-brainer’ for them to order a second system for their other production line.

The Product
The vinyl wood-effect floor is a laminate, typically of seven layers. All the layers are laminated under pressure and heat. The continuous ‘web’ of material is cut into ‘slabs’ and later cut into strips to simulate floorboards.

The Problem
The lamination is a continuous process: when each roll runs out, a fresh roll is spliced onto the end by overlapping and taping to create a ‘spliced joint’, creating extra thickness with two problems:

1. a cosmetic defect (a ridge or bump) when the flooring is laid on the ground.

2. it can get stuck between rollers which flatten and anneal the material or, worse still, it can burst the rollers causing expensive downtime and requiring expensive parts which need replacing.

Our system was to detect these joints (defects) in the web and track them to the point they become part of a slab, track the slab and reject the defect. Originally these slabs were removed by an operator, however, human error meant the defect often went unnoticed, causing customer complaints or costly breakdowns. A variety of systems had been trialled, but none proved reliable enough to detect all the defects consistently.