Opto-mechanic system to verify cigarette filling

Tobacco filling verification is fundamental in cigarette packaging machinery. Many standard sensors are used in the automatic machine sector to verify the technical quality parameters of a product. In this application the solution was not obtained using standard sensors as cigarette filling verification has to be carried-out using three small sensors working in triangulation. A solution was developed mounting opto-mechanic parts on a system that emits three laser lines and receives through three lenses with linear CCDs. The latter receive the projection of the laser line that hits the surface of the tobacco contained in the cigarette and thus identifying the position (filling).