Labelexpo Europe 2011 review: RFID

A highlight among the RFID technology on display at Labelexpo Europe was Melzer’s new application for monitoring cars from greater distances. James Quirk rounds up some of the technology from the show

Melzer’s SL-600 RFID converting line operates at up to 60,000 products/h, and is designed for industrial production of small RFID labels, such as those required for alcohol brand protection, pharmaceutical fraud protection, vehicle identification and other high quality mass applications. The testing and selection of UHF transponders can be performed reliably in a 6-track stop and go process. 

The company also showed an interesting new application for RFID – the digital scanning of a car’s vignette (required for using the motorway in Switzerland and Austria). To allow scanning from greater distances (eg 10 meters), a UHF label is needed as well as an international vehicle identification number (VIN). Such a VIN is standardized and consists of 17 digits. It is known as FIN in Europe, VIN in America and worldwide as WMI.

The system also allows the identification of vehicles for checking their registration or giving access to parking lots or high security areas.

Melzer, of course, cannot issue a FIN, VIN or WMI, but the company showed at Labelexpo how the serial number of the KSW/NXP transponders, after being converted into smart labels by the SL-600, can be read with the 3M readers of its TAGIDU series and displayed on a monitor.

The material required for this demonstration was sponsored by 3M and Lohmann while KSW sponsored the UHF transponders.

Mühlbauer showed its new TAL 9000, a flexible start-up machine for direct chip attachment which is suitable for small to mid-volume inlay production. This mid web system facilitates throughput of up to 5,500 UPH while achieving assembly yields of = 99.7 percent. The key technologies featured in TAL 9000 have already proven successful in Mühlbauer’s TAL 15000, a machine for high volume inlay production with up to 15,000 UPH.

The company also showed its CL 60000 RFID label and ticket converting machine, which covers a wide range of applications in one modular system. Mühlbauer is also in the process of developing an RFID label and ticket personalization platform. This modular line will feature leading edge chip encoding as well as digital printing capabilities.

bielomatik provided RFID consulting resources for visitors at the show. Highlights included a live demonstration of the smart label laminating and testing machine – Qualifier T-165 – for production of smart labels from low-cost die-cut aluminum antennas, UHF chip modules via the company’s RF-LoopTag, and pre-printed labels.

Consulting resources for the entire process chain through bielomatik partners included RFID application specialists, read/write technologies for RFID, RFID antenna design and simulation, application related RFID performance measurement, and RFID for challenging environments (metals, liquids etc).

Ubique.Tag showed its ranges of RFID antennae and tags. The China-based company owns nearly 150 national RFID patents and provides a one-stop shop for RFID products and services.

This article was published in L&L issue 5, 2011