Ingenior, a Pretoria-based company that designs and supplies custom built machines, recently used Festo components to design and manufacture a leaflet inserter that uses the roll-up technique.
Ingenior's client, a leading pharmaceutical company, required a leaflet inserter to operate at 90 units per minute for use on medication containers. The unit takes the securitainer from the line, inserts the leaflet and then returns the container to the line.
The Ingenior team, led by directors Andries van Jaarsveld and Theunis Taljaard, faced two main challenges. The first was to find a manner in which to divert the container to and from the line within 300 mm, and the second, to insert the leaflets so that they would expand in the securitainer to allow space for the tablets.
One of the project challenges was the small line distance available for the insertion system
"What makes this system unique," says van Jaarsveld, "is that the inserting machine uses an ingenious roll-up mechanism that first rolls the standard pamphlet into a tube and then shoots it into the container."
The system makes use of its own up- and down-stream line control. This means that the leaflet inserter can control the feed of empty securitainers into the system, as well as the out-feed of filled containers from the system.
Festo supplied pneumatic linear drives, double acting cylinders, rotary actuators, valves, Venturis, vacuum cups, a pressure regulator/water trap, speed controls, fittings and piping for the project. These components control the critical movement and functions of the leaflet inserter.
The main benefits of this new system stem from the innovative roll up mechanism. "The line speed has increased dramatically since previously the leaflets were inserted manually. The system is also capable of doing a 100% quality check, rejecting containers without leaflets or upside down containers," says van Jaarsveld.
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