Monitoring system for straw manufacturing apparatus
AssigneeNew WinCup Holdings, Inc.
InventorsPaul Daniel George, Jr., Eli V. Whisnant
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus and methods for manufacturing compostable, biodegradable drink straws from polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) material are disclosed herein. Such apparatus may include a hopper that contains raw PHA material, an extruder that receives the raw PHA material from the hopper and produces extruded PHA material, one or more waters baths that cool the extruded PHA material, a puller that pulls a tubular stream of PHA material through the system, and a cutter that is configured to cut the stream of PHA material into finished straws. A vision system may be provided to monitor a diameter and material thickness of the cooled PHA material. The finished straws may be soil- and marine-biodegradable, as well as home- and industrial-compostable.
Claims7
A vision system for use in manufacturing drink straws from polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) material, the vision system comprising:
- a light projector configured to project light onto a stream of PHA material as the PHA material is being pulled from a water bath, the PHA material having a tubular shape;
- a camera configured to receive light that has passed through or around the PHA material as the PHA material is being pulled from the water bath;
- and
- an analyzer that is electrically coupled to the camera, wherein the analyzer is configured to determine from the received light whether a diameter and material thickness of the PHA material are within acceptable tolerances.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.