Pharmaceutical Solutions

CIVision System Inspects, Writes, Verifies
Embedded Chips in Plastic Bottles

The new CIVision (www.civision.com) RFID inspection/verification system was designed to inspect RFID tags embedded in plastic bottles. The new system was developed through a cooperative effort between bottle blowers and pharmaceutical manufacturers, the primary users of the technology.

The CIVision system begins with a machine vision inspection of each bottle to verify its size and type. An RFID antenna verifies the presence of the chip embedded in the base of the bottle, then writes information to the chip and verifies its capability by reading back the information. Bottles containing no chip or inactive chips are automatically rejected. The system conducts the complete operation at rates of up to 240 bottles per minute.

RFID information enables pharmaceutical companies to instantly authenticate packaging on filling lines to ensure proper labeling, etc. At later stages in the distribution chain, these chips provide the opportunity to continuously monitor the authenticity of the product, to gather information about its travel and to write further information when necessary.

For this capability to be successful, it is essential that the chip itself be verified accurately, which is why CIVision developed the new verification system.

A variation of the system detects and reads RFID chips used in high-speed production lines to signal that a new product or a new package size is entering the inspection area. The CIVision inspection system reads the chip and automatically adjusts itself to the new inspection, moving cameras when necessary and activating appropriate reference software. This greatly increases productivity in lines operating at up to 600 packages per minute by eliminating time-consuming manual changeovers while also ensuring accurate inspections.