ABB, Helsinki, Finland, has launched a new web imaging system for paper industry web inspection and quality control—the HDI 9 Web Imaging System. Combined with ABB’s High Speed Cameras (HSC) and signal processing technology, the new solution offers a new generation of imaging hardware and software to improve performance, speed to capture, and to provide an unprecedented level of defect detection on the fastest and widest modern paper machines.

 

Accurate web defect detection, imaging, and identification all play crucial roles in automation, quality control, root cause identification, and process improvement. The HDI 9 blends all new hardware and industry-leading software technologies to meets today’s demands for increased efficiency, quality, and runnability, and 100% inspection of end products.

 

The new features of HDI 9 include a new generation of high-speed, low-noise, Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) cameras to deliver up to 80,000 images per second. These cameras yield high resolution images of the web process to capture every passing defect with previously unseen detail.

 

ABB’s new imaging hardware is complemented by new signal processing electronics to process and analyze data in real time to categorize defects of all sizes using vision algorithms. For example, the detection method includes several processing phases where the whole 12-bit dynamic range of sensors are utilized to reveal the smallest and lowest-contrast defects.

 

The HDI 9 system supports a variety of different web imaging geometries and high intensity illumination options using the latest LED technology to bring superior stability and measurement robustness for all applications.