Seal of Approval: Comprehensive Induction Seal Inspection

Ever-increasing production speeds, combined with the need to detect seals underneath an already-applied cap, means induction seal-related issues are likelier to snowball than subside. Image courtesy of Yoran Imaging

Technology Catches Up to a Longstanding Challenge

By Eran Sinbar, Co-founder and  CEO of Yoran Imaging

Induction sealed packaging is widely used throughout the pharmaceutical, food & beverage and cosmetics/beauty sectors to safeguard product integrity, extend shelf life and offer consumers visual anti-tampering evidence. There is good reason for its proliferation: induction sealing has proven among the most efficient, reliable means of securing a variety of products in their bottles, jars, vials or other containers.

However, induction seal scenarios frequently involve a less-than-reassuring final step: in many settings, seal integrity is verified via manual product sampling, often resulting in oversights, inefficiencies and slowdowns. This shortcoming revolves around one stubborn, overarching constant: caps – or rather, the inability to see through those caps to verify that induction seals pass muster. For too long, the issue has been a simple matter of not being able to fully inspect what you can’t fully see.

What’s more, induction sealing and its numerous subset issues – anything from overheated and underheated foil and damaged lips to crooked or improperly torqued caps – run an elevated failure risk compared with many other packaging processes

Thermal imaging-based inspection can reveal a broad range of common, mission-critical induction sealing imperfections while seeing everything and touching nothing. Image courtesy of Yoran Imaging

A Longstanding Challenge

This elevated failure risk is due not only to the intricacies of induction sealing itself, but also supply chain globalization and diversification – that is, an economy where containers and sealing materials are typically purchased in bulk from external suppliers. The combination creates a quality control conundrum that can leave questions about the genesis of any adverse issue frustratingly unanswered.

And unfortunately, the ever-increasing line speeds of modern production lines means induction seal-related issues have the potential to snowball rather than subside. With many lines well into the hundreds of products per minute range, traditional high-speed cameras are having difficulty keeping up with adequate topical inspection, never mind scenarios where visual checks are obstructed by other packaging components.

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Technology’s steady advance has yielded quality control solutions capable of keeping pace with evolving and ever-expanding production requirements. These sophisticated solutions help brand owners employing induction sealing in various industries optimize their production processes and safeguard reputations. One such revelation, thermal imaging-based inspection, shows particular promise.

Seeing It Through (the Cap)

By applying established thermal imaging technology, it is now both possible and practicable to conduct comprehensive automatic inspection and process analysis for induction sealed containers, including bottles, jars and vials. Such systems automatically read and analyze the inherent heat signature of a cap’s liner, providing valuable quality control data to the operator. The streamlined approach reliably reveals a broad range of common induction seal issues, including under- and overheating, damaged lips, and bent, misaligned or missing foil.

And best of all, thermal imaging inspection achieves all this while seeing everything and touching nothing.

Sophisticated thermal imaging-based modules, such as Yoran Imaging’s i-PAM Induction Seal unit, can provide 100%, non-intrusive through-the-cap inspection of all induction seals, as well as process insights for line optimization. Image courtesy of Yoran Imaging

Crucial to today’s high-volume manufacturing needs, thermal imaging inspection’s “hands off” approach allows operation at full production speeds. The result is 100%, non-intrusive through-the-cap thermal imaging inspection of all induction seals, supported by thorough process insights that reveal the root causes of current or foreseeable adverse sealing issues.

The benefits are clear: such systems eliminate the pitfalls of outdated manual sampling methods through high-speed, thermal imaging-powered inspection combined with real-time, digestible data informing immediate process adjustments. To expedite return on infrastructure investments, such solutions grow more helpful over time by revealing and translating key performance indicators and production metrics; as the system continues inspecting each product, it also recognizes developing trends, indicating the need for interventional measures that prevent small issues from becoming larger, line-stopping ones.

Next Generation Solutions

Helpfully, in addition to seamless induction seal integrity inspection, next-generation solutions also provide seal-adjacent quality control. For example, such modules can detect improperly or incompletely closed caps, an aspect especially valuable for products requiring child resistance elements. Paired with intuitive human machine interfaces (HMIs), these systems bring the potential to reduce consumer complaints and substantially decrease the likelihood of recalls, as well as reduce waste, materials usage and labor needs. And since the process is not only fully inspected but fully monitored, companies performing induction sealing operations have recorded verification that containers in their purview are safety sealed, all but eliminating any liabilities issues should an adverse event occur downstream.

It’s a big deal – but, luckily, not a big system. A nod to the floor space maximization and flexibility elements favored in modern manufacturing facilities, thermal imaging inspection units are typically both compact and compatible with most bottle and cap sizes and types, and can be seamlessly integrated into nearly any packaging line.

And perhaps best of all: thermal imaging is not only a sustainable solution but a scalable one. As production line speeds continue to creep ever upwards, thermal imaging cameras can perform 100% inspection and line monitoring even at speeds of 400 per minute.

As production speeds get faster, automation technology must and can keep pace without adversely affecting quality. Thermal imaging inspection exemplifies this, not only handling elevated speeds but also informing and optimizing the overall process through data capture and metrics reporting.

About the Author

Eran Sinbar is co-founder & CEO of Yoran Imaging, which utilizes cutting-edge thermal imaging technology to revolutionize the filling and  heat-sealing process on packaging lines. Drawing upon more than two decades of thermal imaging inspection experience, the company’s solutions provide non-invasive, 100% in-line inspection combined with production-optimizing data collection and analysis.  Visit: https://yoran-imaging.com.