QUALITY CONTROL SYSTEM FOR RUMBLED PRODUCTS

Control system with laser sensors for rumbled blocks and pavers

The concrete blocks and pavers rumbled by the Caleidos drum can be inspected by an accurate and precise quality control carried out by the special system that we have designed.
Indeed the row of tumbled pavers coming from the centrifuge is transferred to the selecting area where in 2 seconds a scanning device, equipped with laser sensors, is able to detect the following information:
- the size of the pavers or of the blocks
- the position of each stone in the line
- possible breakages
- possible broken edges both on the upper and on the lower surface
- the visible face (face mix or textured surfaces)

 
According to the production needs, if we are handling textured concrete pavers, the detecting system can identify if the textured surface is the upper or the lower one. If it is the lower one, then the sorting gripper will put all the stones which need to be turned by 180° on the turning device, so the visible surface is always the upper one on the finish sales pack.
Apart from the analysis of the dimensions, this detecting system is able to carry out a quality control of the blocks. This optional function can be selected by the customers according to the production needs.
Furthermore, it is also possible to specify and set the tolerance limits for considering the acceptability of a broken edge. All the stones that don’t respect the pre-set tolerance are automatically ejected, so the pavers may be considered both second quality and/or broken pieces.
Once the quality control has been carried out, the sorting gripper puts the pavers in the different lanes of the programming bench according to their dimensions and then the stones are picked up by the cubing gripper to build the packs.
 
As this system is also able to recognize and detect products with specials shapes, it is possible to analyse and stack pavers and blocks with different shapes and dimensions.