Innovation of the month
“Smart Control” from Henkel for bookbinding machines
A modern bookbinding machine can process up to 21,000 books, brochures or catalogs per hour. Up to now, quality control has been essentially a question of taking random samples during the actual binding process. Henkel, the maker of bookbinding adhesives marketed under the Technomelt, Purmelt and Adhesin brands, has now brought its “Smart Control” to the market, a camera monitoring system that can be retrofitted to existing bookbinding machines in addition to being incorporated into new ones. The core of the system is a thermal camera which continuously transmits images of the gluing process to a linked-up computer.
The image of each single copy is then analyzed by the computer to check the quality of the glue layer. If errors are detected, “Smart Control” immediately triggers an alarm, allowing intervention before large numbers of rejects can accumulate. The monitoring system can detect not only errors in the area of the applied glue film, but also gaps in the film caused by partially blocked doctor blades or nozzles, which can have especially serious consequences. “Smart Control” operates just as reliably with PUR adhesives as it does with hotmelts. It also makes no difference whether the spine glue is applied by roller or nozzle.
