Thermal Imaging Inspection and Package Seals

David Bursell - Vice President of Business Development, MoviTHERM Advanced Thermography Solutions

Package seal integrity is critical for today's manufacturers. For example, in the food and beverage space, faulty packaging limits the shelf life of a product, increasing waste, especially for perishable items where package leaks accelerate the decomposition process. For the pharma and health industries, package sterility ensures product efficacy and safeguards end users. As part of a quality control program, companies randomly sample packages and conduct leak tests on package seals. A typical test method involves placing the package in a vacuum chamber and submerging it in water. As internal pressure builds in the package, leaks become visibly detectable by escaping air as bubbles. While effective at detecting leaks on a single test sample, this approach is laborious and only addresses some packages produced. Over the past twenty years, infrared (IR) camera technology developments have made IR cameras more rugged, smaller in size, and less expensive. New applications for infrared cameras and non-contact temperature measurement are continually developing as the technology becomes more assessable. Automating infrared inspection for package seal integrity testing is one application that continues gaining traction. Using infrared inspection as part of a quality control program allows for inspecting all package seals in the production line. Companies can ensure package seal integrity, promote product quality, and elevate customer satisfaction by implementing complete package line inspection.

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