US 12,442,713 B2
System for in-line inspection of seal integrity
Honglei Li, Huntersville, NC (US); Kalpit Shailesh Mehta, Charlotte, NC (US); Solomon Bekele, Charlotte, NC (US); Dewitt Jones, Greer, SC (US); and Marshall Hewitt, Charlotte, NC (US)
Assigned to Cryovac, LLC, Charlotte, NC (US)
Appl. No. 17/602,080
Filed by Cryovac, LLC, Charlotte, NC (US)
PCT Filed Apr. 10, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/027592
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Oct. 7, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/210574, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 15, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/832,573, filed on Apr. 11, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0214243 A1, Jul. 7, 2022
Int. Cl. G01M 3/38 (2006.01); G01N 21/88 (2006.01); G01N 21/90 (2006.01)
CPC G01M 3/38 (2013.01) [G01N 21/8806 (2013.01); G01N 21/90 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A process for monitoring seal quality of a packaging article, comprising:
A) heat sealing a polymeric film to itself, or another polymeric multilayer film to form a packaging article by forming at least one seal area; the polymeric film having a total free shrink in either of the machine direction or the transverse direction, of at least 10 percent measured at 85° C. and according to ASTM D2732;
B) acquiring a first set of image data of the at least one seal area with a first vision system comprising an image capture device; the first set of image data being acquired in-line with the forming of the packaging article and prior to pack off of the packaging article, the first vision system being a thermography vision system comprising an infrared imaging device capable of capturing a temperature distribution based on the amount of infrared radiation emitted from the seal area, wherein the first set of image data is time-delayed thermography data captured between 2 and 30 seconds after the forming of the at least one seal area;
C) acquiring a second set of image data of the at least one seal area with a second vision system, which is distinct from the first vision system, the second set of image data being acquired in-line with the forming of the packaging article and prior to pack off of the packaging article, the second vision system comprising:
a. a first linear polarizer having a direction of polarization oriented in a first direction;
b. a second linear polarizer have a direction of polarization oriented orthogonal to the first direction;
c. a light source; and
d. an imaging device to capture the second set of image data, the second set of image data being photoelastic image data
D) assessing the first and second image data of the seal area with a vision inspection engine to verify both the continuity and strength of the seal area.