Optical inspection system for the manufacture of banded cigarette paper

Abstract From the Canadian patent

A station optically inspects banded cigarette paper by directing an elongated beam of white light laterally across a web of the cigarette paper. The elongated beam impinges on the surface of the cigarette paper and forms reflections. A plurality of line scan camera (84) containing linear CCD arrays receive the reflections and generate output signals. One or more processing units (72, 76) process the ouput signals to generate data indicative of the spacing between bands, the width of the bands and the contrast of the bands. , These calculations can be periodically transferred to a separate computer workstation over a network. The workstation generates statistical reports on the basis …