Innovative Empty Crate Inspection with AI at Romina Mineralbrunnen
Romina Mineralbrunnen in Reutlingen has been leveraging BBull Technology’s deep learning systems for years to ensure precise empty crate inspection. Using artificial intelligence, the system handles even complex challenges like tethered closures and diverse bottle shapes across glass and PET lines. The result: fewer errors, enhanced efficiency, and nearly flawless recognition. Discover how cutting-edge technology makes a real difference.
Note: The original article is available in German only. It highlights how Romina Mineralbrunnen, a beverage producer near Stuttgart, processes 178 million glass and PET bottles annually using BBull Technology’s AI-driven inspection systems. These systems ensure reliable detection of foreign objects, incorrect bottles, and defects such as damaged closures or tethered caps. By combining high-resolution cameras, advanced lighting, and self-learning algorithms, the technology adapts to new bottle designs and materials with ease. Romina Mineralbrunnen reports significantly reduced crate rejections, enhancing operational efficiency. The article also discusses how BBull’s systems are used for PET recycling by accurately separating non-compliant bottles, ensuring smooth downstream processing.
We are excited to share that a leading beverage filler, offering an extensive range of products, has chosen to rely on our advanced inspection solution.
Following a thorough technical approval process, our state-of-the-art systems have been successfully integrated into the high-speed production line at their Barcelona facility, capable of filling 100,000 cans per hour, since the summer of 2022.
Advanced Inspection Solution for Enhanced Beverage Filling Efficiency
Our state-of-the-art inspection solution, which includes IMAGE 360c, TOP360, vacuum transport, and OCR inspection, works seamlessly together to provide comprehensive inspection of every can, ensuring optimal beverage filling efficiency.
Our advanced system guarantees efficient production by detecting
damaged
contaminated
deformed cans
Furthermore, it excels in
detecting wrong dates
even at high-speed filling rates, ensuring the highest quality product.
Through our innovative IMAGE 360c technology, we are able to
eliminate the risk of wrong cans being filled
via 360 image processing, providing the customer with peace of mind and confidence in their product.
BBULL Technology’s Advanced Systems Ensure High-Quality and Safe Beverage Production
With BBULL Technology’s advanced inspection systems, you can enjoy your favorite refreshing beverage with the assurance that it has been thoroughly inspected and meets the highest standards of quality and safety. We are extremely proud to have delivered the agreed-upon specifications to the complete satisfaction of our customer. This success has paved the way for further projects with this level of functionality already being discussed.
To see an animation of our systems in action, check out our YouTube link.
Inspecting a pool of 15 damaged food cans containing the most commonly damage types, occurring during the filling and seaming process.
The System
The inspection system consist of two inspections units covering the top and the sides of the can.
A control unit with high performance industrial PC and a Deep-Learning software package.
One camera with diffuse light from above. Top-Down Inspection (Image Dom)
Ovality
Damage
Missing pull ring
Four cameras for a 360° view of the sides. Side Inspection (Image 360)
Damage
Dents
Deep-Learning
With deep learning based classification, it is possible to detect errors visible to the human eye without needing to configure complicated inspection tools.
Instead, images of OK and not OK objects are collected and used to train a classifier, which will then be able to safely distinguish OK and not OK objects.
Example
Summary
All damage types could be detected successfully ether via top-down is section, or side inspection.
We therefore have a flexible system for the reliable detection of frequently occurring damage types.
Which can be scaled according to the requirements of the customer.
Deformed cans are detectable without deep-learning, sticking out material on the other hand might need the deep-learning algorithm.
In this case, deep-learning and both inspections systems were needed to detect all occurring defects.
Not long ago, the Bad Dürrheimer Mineralbrunnen received an innovation award for its 1-liter “Légère” glass bottle with an extra-large mouth. The fountain from the Black Forest fills 60 percent of its waters and sweet drinks in glass bottles. In the case of PET, there are disposable bottles that are shrink-wrapped in multipacks and three different PETCycle bottles that are sold in crates. For these PETCycle containers, the fountain has an agreement with the licensor in Bad Neuenahr, where the deposit is charged to retailers. Bad Dürrheimer, however, is a “net reporter,” which means that all missing bottles or incorrect bottles that come back with the crates are themselves reported to the head office and must therefore be accounted for quite accurately. Only the “correct” bottles with the distinctive octagonal or decagonal neck ring can be accounted for, all others have to be sorted out. For this, the fountain relies on the tried-and-tested Compact LG 500 universal empties management system from the specialist BBull Technology in Königsbach-Stein.
Water from plateau
In 1956, the then mayor and spa director Otto Weissenberger found the best mineral water near Bad Dürrheim, today located in the Schwarzwald-Baar district next to the central town of Villingen-Schwenningen. Two years later, Adelbert Vogt and Klaus Dettling from Freiburg founded the mineral water company “Dürrheimer Johannisquelle Vogt KG”. On May 23, 1959, the first bottle rolled off the production line. The slogan at the time was “Vom Quell her gut” (“Good from the source”). Since then, production capacities have been continuously expanded. More than 120 million bottles are filled annually from seven mineral water springs and one medicinal water spring, all located in the close vicinity of the spa town of Bad Dürrheim. The 150 employees process 60 percent into seven different glass bottles, 40 percent into three different PET cycle bottles (0.5l, 1.0l, and 1.5l), plus 0.75l non-refillable PET. “With the two brands Bad Dürrheimer and Wittmansthaler, three different waters, one medicinal water, and 25 different sweet beverages, we are well positioned. Our sales area is the south of Baden-Württemberg, but our products can also be found in the Rhineland, southern Hesse and the Palatinate. Our sales team is on the road in this region. Our own fleet of 15 modern trucks, as well as contract carriers who have been working for us for many years, take care of deliveries to our customers,” reports the head of maintenance, Jürgen Lauble.
Exact empties detection without X-rays
The PETCycle bottles are blown from the well itself and then filled at a rate of 22,000 bph. The line runs in two shifts in winter and three shifts in summer, so all the machines on the line have to be extremely reliable. “We were looking for a system that could reliably detect empties: crates with missing bottles, glass bottles, or other PET bottles. For billing reasons, we have to be quite sure of detecting the exact number of bottles with octagonal or decagonal neck rings. In addition, we don’t want to have an X-ray source in the entire plant, so this detection system also had to be without radioactive X-rays. And no one but BBull could offer us that!” reports Markus Link, head of the electrical workshop.
The choice then very quickly fell on the universal BBULL 500 “Compact LG” empties management system. It is characterized by a very compact, space-saving design. A measuring bridge is located in a stainless steel housing, which contains a universal ultrasonic line with up to 16 individual sensors. The basic image processing module consists of a color camera and a telecentric optics, this prevents a distortion of the objects with an excellent resolution, so any defects or deviations are detected very reliably. In the higher expansion stage, which is also in use in Bad Dürrheim, two cameras and two different lighting technologies are installed.
Special lighting and optics for bottle type detection
The use of the universal ultrasonic line eliminates the need to adapt the sensors to different crate formats and bottle positions. The activation of the respective sensor information is software-controlled without operator intervention. This minimizes setup times and largely prevents errors caused by incorrect operation. The basic system with a camera and telecentric optics generates an image recording of the entire crate width for each row of bottles. The individual images taken are combined by means of software to form an overall image with true-to-detail reproduction. The task at the Bad Dürrheimer Mineralbrunnen required the equipment of an additional optical module. This extension module includes an additional camera and an additional LED UV illumination. Both cameras take one image per row of bottles, the first in the daylight spectrum, the second in the ultraviolet range. The individual images generated in this way are combined after the crate has been passed through and examined by the recognition software for the bottle features that can be detected in each case. Each crate is thus examined in two independent images. The different illumination methods can be used to inspect features such as contours, labels, or especially the carrying rings, which are not visible in the basic configuration or are obscured by other features. The low-wear, high-performance LED lighting modules are deliberately installed above the conveyor level and are therefore protected against soiling and damage, which minimizes maintenance.
Exceptional detection software
Outstanding part of the BBull empties management system is the application of the universal image processing software “BBULL IMAGE”. Every single sensor and camera delivers raw data to this software. The height information of the ultrasonic sensors is converted into gray values so that the image processing software generates a three-dimensional image of the container to be examined. Scalable evaluation algorithms are then used to make an assessment of the contents and the box. Here, links and dependencies of different features are adjustable, so that an extremely high detection reliability is given, even under variable conditions. The software contains an extensive database function, which ensures storage and recognition of a wide variety of box types.
Enormous number of features are detected
Up to 7000 crates per hour can be precisely controlled. They enter the system and are stopped for a short moment. A second conveyor then pulls crate by crate, one at a time and with a small gap, and passes them under the measuring bridge. Powerful LEDs in different colors, a dual lighting module and ultrasonic sensors check the crate for a wide range of criteria as it passes through: Foreign objects, lying, broken or upturned bottles, damage or deformation to the crate, is a bottle missing or are one or more “wrong” bottles (made of glass or without the distinctive octagonal or decagonal neck ring) in the crate. It would also be possible to detect the cap or crate label, as well as the crate format and color, but these criteria do not play a role at the mineral water bottling plant. The entire system is controlled by a central operating and processing unit in a stainless steel housing and a logical 13″ touch-screen user interface.
Errors sorted out and fixed manually
All crates with one or more defects are gently transferred by the pneumatic “sinus sorter” to a parallel conveyor for manual defect removal. Incorrect bottles are removed and collected in large bags, after which the crate is placed back into the production flow. “If we’re running liter bottles and 9-bottle crates, then we’re taking out about two big bags of wrong bottles per shift. But if we fill 0.5 (20-bottle crates) or 1.5-liter (6-bottle crates), then there are eight to ten bags in a shift. Every wrong or missing bottle is cash money for us, because we offset the total bottles against the deposit from PETCycle headquarters. That’s why the PETCycle people also took a close look at the BBull machine and declared it to be very good,” reports the head of business administration, Günter Höfler.
Bad Dürrheimer and PETCycle convinced by BBull system
All sorted bags are examined once again, bottle by bottle, at a special sorting center run by a service provider to determine whether they are disposable or reusable deposit bottles. This is then also charged for. “On average, there are between 5 and 8 percent of incorrect bottles in the returned empties – of course, we want to be sure to identify all of these, because otherwise we’d pay on top! After all, each of our bottles has a deposit value of 25 cents,” says Markus Link. According to him, BBull’s empties management system exactly meets the specifications the fountain had. “The system is very logically designed and easy to operate; during our regular tests with prepared bottles and crates, we see very clearly that all faults are detected and safely rejected. We tested the machine for a few months and have now fully adopted it – it’s the perfect solution for us!”
Milchwerke Berchtesgadener Land Chiemgau eG in Piding fills each of its 16 different fruit yogurt varieties in its own cups and lids. To ensure that there is never a “wrong” filling, cup or tray – to avoid recalls – the company is the first in Germany to use the camera-based control system “BBull Tray Inspection”.
Each fruit yogurt with variety cup and lid
Four types of fruit are filled simultaneously on the filling line, up to 21,000 cups per hour – too much for manual inspection. “It must be ensured that 100 percent of the time the right fruit is sealed in the right cup with the correct sinker. The main issue is the “problem” of allergies, and this applies very specifically to our hazelnut yogurt, which is now being added to the range with variety cups,” explains Florian Lexhaller, the Technical Manager. Martin Hirschhalmer, head of the sour milk production department, adds: “We change over the four varieties five or six times a day. On the one hand, the cup stacks received from the packaging supplier can always contain the wrong cups, and the operating personnel who insert cups and blanks can make a mistake during the daily routine. We now have this inspection machine from BBull so that we can rule this out in the finished yogurts,” says Hirschhalmer.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Two cameras for the buckets, three for the boards
BBull Technology installed two high-performance cameras at the cups, each monitoring four stacks of cups and recognizing the varieties via a special color marking on the cup. If the system notices an incorrect cup in the stack, the machine stops immediately and the error is shown on the color display – even before the wrong cup has been filled. If an error occurs during insertion of the blanks, the operator no longer sees this after insertion because the blanks are stuck upside down in the magazine. To detect the error anyway, before the trays are on their way to palletizing, BBull installed three more high-resolution color cameras. Each tray is captured in razor-sharp detail and each individual yogurt cup is inspected: is there a blank on each cup at all, does each blank match the filled variety 100 percent, and was the blank applied cleanly. “The system also checks the BBD – whether it is present, but also whether it is complete, clearly legible and correct in terms of content,” praises Lexhaller, the technical manager.
Each error is ejected
If the system detects an error, the tray is ejected, the error is shown on the display and the operator can manually exchange the corresponding tray. If five trays in succession show errors, the machine stops automatically, because then either blanks have been inserted incorrectly or the MHD inkjet printer is working incorrectly. “In this way, we detect irregularities very quickly and not many trays later or even on the finished pallet,” says Martin Hirschhalmer.
