Maaike Godschalk
Specialist Infrared Temperature
Consistent Adhesive Bead Monitoring on Ribbed Plastic Sheets
Adhesive beads applied to ribbed plastic sheets show inconsistency, causing quality issues in sandwich-style plastic components. Manual infrared checks are too slow and inaccurate for fast-cycle industrial production.
Main advantages
Solution
A fixed infrared camera monitors the adhesive zone immediately after part ejection. Average temperature analysis verifies bead quality and triggers alarms when bead size is insufficient—without any custom programming.
Application Summary
An automation engineering firm required reliable inspection of hot adhesive beads (~340 °F / 170 °C) on plastic sheets (~77 °F / 25 °C). Sheets exit the adhesive station every 3 seconds. Both plastic and adhesive have high emissivity, making them ideal for IR measurement.
Using the Optris PI 640i and PIX Connect, a defined measurement zone (“Adhesive Zone 1”) captures average temperature values. This avoids complex custom programming while providing consistent detection of bead quality.
Testing determined ~190 °F average as the threshold for proper bead size. Lower average temperatures trigger alarms. A thru-beam sensor synchronized with the Industrial Process Interface freezes thermal images 1.5 seconds after ejection for consistent timing.
Technical Setup
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Camera: Optris PI 640i (640×480)
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Software: PIX Connect with Event Grabber
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Interface: Optris Industrial Process Interface (0/4–20 mA & relay outputs)
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Optics: 33° lens at ~6 ft distance (other configurations possible)
Radiometric TIFF archiving supports long-term traceability, especially for aerospace/defense compliance.
Conclusion
A simple, cost-effective infrared monitoring solution provides reliable adhesive bead verification without custom software—leveraging standard Optris tools for repeatable, real-time inline thermal inspection.