Record tests and replay
The new Video Capture and Synchronisation System from Stable Micro Systems enables companies to record tests and replay them frame by frame simultaneously with their corresponding force-distance-time graphs. Even the quickest tests can be viewed and analysed in minute detail. The system will be particularly valuable in the bakery, snack and confectionery sectors.
The new system includes a moveable video camera, a transparent test platform, which permits recordings from underneath the sample, and an optional light attachment. To conduct a test, the camera is positioned in the most appropriate location for testing. As the TA.XTplus texture analyser begins collecting data, a signal is relayed to the Video Capture Interface, which initiates recording at up to 50 frames per second. Data is collected and analysed by Stable Micro Systems’ proprietary software, Exponent. When replayed afterwards, each video frame is automatically synchronised with the data points on the force-time graph, allowing graph events to be related simply to visual events on the product.
Jo Smewing, applications manager at Stable Micro Systems, said: “This new system represents a huge leap forward in texture analysis for the food industry. Decisive visual aspects of a test can be easily missed by the human eye, but are critical to understanding a product’s textural and sensory appeal. A biscuit, for example, can snap or crumble very quickly, making it impossible for human observers to note the exact point at which it broke. Similarly, it’s difficult to watch with the naked eye the fracture of a potato crisp.
“Automatically correlating the peaks and troughs of a force-distance-time graph with frame by frame video recordings means the exact behaviour of a sample can be recorded, interpreted simply and re-examined as often as required. It also enables users to identify anomalies in a test without the need for re-testing at a later date, and to undertake far more detailed comparative analyses.”
