Method and apparatus for container leakage testing

Patent · Mon Oct 18 04:00:00 EDT 1993

OSTI ID:207643

Kronberg, J W

This invention is an apparatus for use in 100% leak testing of food containers used in conjunction with a tracer gas. It includes a shell with entrance and exit air locks to create a controlled atmosphere through which a series of containers is conveyed by a conveyor belt. Pressure in the shell is kept lower than that in the containers and the atmosphere is made to flow with the containers so that a tracer gas placed in the packages before sealing them will leak more readily, but the leaked tracer gas will remain associated with the leaking package as it moves through the shell. The leaks are detected with a sniffer probe in fluid communication with a gas chromatograph (GC). The GC issues a signal when it detects a leak to an ejector that eject the leaking container from the conveyor. The system is timed so that the series of containers can move continuously into and out of the shell, past the probe and the ejector, without stopping, yet each package is tested for leaks and removed if leaking.

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Aiken, SC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-89SR18035
• Assignee: Dept. of Energy
• Patent Number(s): PATENTS-US--A8136830
• Application Number: ON: DE96005174; PAN: 8-136,830
• OSTI ID: 207643
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

44 INSTRUMENTATION
INCLUDING NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE DETECTORS
55 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
BASIC STUDIES
CONTAINERS
DESIGN
FOOD
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
INVENTIONS
LEAK DETECTORS
LEAK TESTING
PACKAGING
PRESSURE GRADIENTS
PROBES