Objective  To design and fabricate Servo-driven Inline Orienter Prototype that would orient the Valve Cup of the Swiffer® Furniture Spray Can.

Problem  The Orientation of the Dip Tube in the Swiffer® Can is unpredictable.  Consumer of the product does not know which way to hold the Can and spray once the Valve Cup is crimped and position of the Spray Actuator is locked on the Swiffer® Can  Consumer of the product is not able to dispense complete contents of the Swiffer® Can.

Problem  Large number of complaints from the consumers of Swiffer ® Can about not being able to use the complete contents of the Can.  P&G produces 42,120,000 Swiffer® Cans each year and each Swiffer® Can is overfilled by 5gm liquid product to compensate for the unused product.

Problem  P&G the manufacturer of Swiffer® provided registration marks on the Can and the Valve Cup.  The position of the Dip Tube would be known after orienting the Valve Cup Registration Mark to the Can Registration Mark. Can Registration Mark Valve Cup Registration Mark

Inline Orienter Machine  Orients the Valve Cup of the Swiffer® Can which in-turn orients the Dip Tube.  Comprise of 10 servo motors that would correct orientation of 10 Swiffer® Cans simultaneously.

Inline Orienter Machine  A Servomotor driven Timing-Screw that holds the Swiffer® Cans and bring them under Servomotor Correction Stations.  COGNEX 5100 Vision Inspection System to calculate the orientation angle for each Swiffer® Can passing under.  Orientation Pass/Fail Vision Inspection System which inspects the accuracy of the Inline Orienter Machine and activate the Reject System to take the Swiffer® Can out.

After Orientation  Once registration marks are aligned to each other, the Valve Cup will go through the Crimper.  Crimper Machine crimps the Valve Cup.  Once Crimped the Spray Actuator would be placed on each Can relative to the Can Registration Mark. FillerOrienterCrimper

Research Components Objective: To find out an efficient, accurate and fast method of orienting Dip Tube of the Swiffer® Can This included research two separate methods of correcting Dip Tube Orientation. Research included designing prototypes and testing their functionality

Research Components Prototype- I Using Color Sensors to find the registration marks Servomotor to correct the Dip Tube Orientation Prototype- II Using COGNEX 5100 Series Camera to find the registration marks Servomotor to correct the Dip Tube Orientation

Prototype-I Design Concept Color sensors mounted on Shaft of a Servomotor. Use Color Sensors to find the position of registration marks on the Swiffer® Can and Valve Cup. Once Position is captured calculate orientation move

Prototype-I Sequence Test Run Sequence Test run simulates the sequence of events for the Inline Orienter. This test run was done without placing the Swiffer® Can, so an orientation angle of 45° was written to the Servo Motion Controller.

Prototype-I Results Prototype-I was tested with sample Swiffer® Cans and the results suggested the position of the registration marks was not accurately detected by the color sensors. Actual Approximate Angle between M1 and M2 Angle Reported using OMRON Color Sensor % Accuracy 270º (Degrees)200º (Degrees)74% 90º (Degrees)50º (Degrees)55%

Inline Orienter Prototype-II Inline Orienter Prototype implements the functional concept of the Inline Orienter Machine.

Inline Orienter Prototype-II  Uses combination of Servomotors, Vision Inspection System, Programmable Logic Controllers and Pneumatic Grippers to correct the orientation of the Valve Cup. ServomotorMicrologix PLC Pneumatic Gripper COGNEX 5100 Vision Inspection System

How it Works?  COGNEX 5100 Vision Inspection System inspects the Swiffer® Can and calculates the angle between registration marks.  This data is being sent to Servo Motion Controller over Ethernet/IP network. Motion Controller calculates the motion trajectory and commands Servo Drives to move servomotors.

How it Works?  Air-activated Up-Down Assembly drops the Servo Correction Stations down.  Pneumatic Grippers Activate and hold the Cans.  Servomotors initiate orientation move to correct the orientation.  Pneumatic Grippers De-activate.  Up-Down Assembly retracts up.

Prototype-II Correcting Orientation

Inline Orienter Prototype-II Results  Prototype-I was tested with sample Swiffer® Cans and the results suggested the method of finding registration marks with Vision Inspection Systems was 100% accurate and orientation of the Swiffer® Cans placed under the pneumatics grippers was corrected. Valve Cup Angle Swiffer Can Angle Orientation Angle Inspection TimeMotor Speed Orientation Result 45º90º-45º100ms900º/secondPASS 19 º-115 º135º110ms900 º/secondPASS 351 º350 º-1 º100ms900 º/secondPASS 35 º50 º-15 º105ms900 º/secondPASS 182 º162 º20 º110ms900 º/secondPASS

Conclusion The method of orienting Swiffer® Cans using Prototype-II is fast and accurate would be used to design the Inline Orienter Machine for P&G. Consumers of the correctly oriented Swiffer® Cans would be able to dispense complete contents of the Can. P&G would save $284,884/ Year by avoiding 5gm overfill of the liquid product in each container produced. Most Importantly it will bring customer satisfaction on the Swiffer® Spray Can products.

Final Design Inline Orienter Machine The Inline Orienter Machine is in its Assembling Stage at Morrison Container Handling Solutions.