HELIOS EC64

The HELIOS EC64 delivers industrial-grade hyperspectral capability while minimizing deployment complexity and infrastructure burden. It is the definitive inline inspection solution for industrial inspection, sorting, monitoring, and automation workflows.

Unlike traditional machine vision systems that only capture surface color, this advanced push-broom sensor provides 640 pixels of spatial resolution to identify materials by their exact chemical fingerprints.

Seamless integration of the HELIOS EC64 with SQALAR software and Headwall’s ALPHA G110 platform—which processes the calibrated spectral datasets from the HELIOS EC64 in real time—delivers a turnkey solution for customers. The HELIOS EC64 enables companies to reduce process variation, perform precise automated sorting, and maximize product yields before defects can spread.

Markets and Applications

Since the HELIOS EC64 scans beyond visual surface colors to read the chemical fingerprints of materials, it is best suited for high-speed, inline industrial processing, sorting, and automated quality control for the following markets and applications:

1. Waste Management and Recycling

• Polymer Classification: Differentiating visually identical complex plastics (e.g., sorting PET, HDPE, PP, and PS) in fast-moving waste streams.
• Contaminant Removal: Detecting and separating black plastics, silicone, or rubber that confuse traditional optical sorters.

2. Food Quality and Safety

• Foreign Body Elimination: Spotting dangerous, non-visible foreign objects like clear glass, plastics, cardboard, or insects embedded in food conveyor lines.
• Chemical Composition Analysis: HSI replaces single-point testing by generating visual heatmaps representing the exact concentration and distribution of primary macronutrients. This enables an accurate measurement of moisture content, fat distribution, sugar levels, and early spoilage signs in meat, grains, or fruit.

3. Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Coatings

• Coating Thickness Verification: Inspecting uniform distribution of clear coats, adhesives, or functional films on substrates in real-time.
• Defect Detection: Spotting areas of delamination, moisture ingress, or sub-surface cracks in composite materials before products leave the line.

4. Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

• Blend Uniformity: Confirming that active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are perfectly distributed throughout powder mixtures.
• Pill & Capsule Inspection: Verifying the chemical integrity, and coating thickness of individual pills at production speeds.
• Package Inspection and Content Verification: Detecting micro-leaks, uneven sealing, or creases that could expose medication to air or moisture and identifying the chemical signature of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) within sealed or opaque packaging to ensure the correct drug and dosage.

Benefits:

Integrating the HELIOS EC64 hyperspectral camera, SQALAR software, and the ALPHA G110 edge computing platform provides a high-speed, all-in-one industrial solution for real-time, in-line chemical imaging and material classification. This combination enables superior precision in classifying materials based on chemical properties, high-speed sorting, and rapid, on-site, in-line analysis.

Key Benefits of the Integrated Solution:

• Real-time Industrial Sorting and Analysis: The system allows for real-time, non-contact detection and sorting of materials based on chemical compositions. The EC64 camera provides high scan rates (> 700 Hz) and high-speed data capture to the computing platform.
• Comprehensive Material Classification: The integration enables identification of up to 100 material grades in a single stream, including individual polymers in complex waste, solid recovered fuels (SRF), and quality checks in the food industry.
• Rapid Development and Deployment (Short Time-to-Market): Combining the hardware (EC64) with the software (SQALAR) and the processing platform (ALPHA G110) from a single source allows for seamless, fast development and deployment of applications, reducing overall engineering time.
• High Sensitivity and Reliability: The HELIOS EC64 camera offers superior signal-to-noise ratios, enhancing sensitivity in lower lighting conditions, and is designed to operate in harsh industrial environments.
• Quantitative Chemical Analysis: SQALAR software allows for the quantitative analysis of chemical compounds, such as measuring the concentration of water, salt, or fat, with high precision, moving laboratory-level analysis directly into the production line. It also tracks the concentration and distribution of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and monitors organic chemical compounds to maintain strict quality and safety controls. Additionally, SQALAR software analyzes the purity of plastic polymers and determines the caloric value of Refuse-Derived Fuels (RDF), enabling plant operators to make immediate material routing decisions that reduce waste, increase recycling yields, and improve overall resource utilization.

This integrated ecosystem provides industrial users in recycling, mining, and food industries with improved process control, optimized resource utilization, and increased profitability.