Bob Hartwig, North American Representative for DIR Technologies, a provider of premium packaging inspection and product authentication solutions for the pharma industry, will deliver an in-depth presentation discussing the company’s groundbreaking package sealing inspection technology on June 12 at Pharmapack NA, which this year will take place at the Jacob K Javits Center in New York City. The new inspection system is the first of its kind to utilise thermal imaging, an infrared science allowing packages to be thoroughly examined without physical contact or visible illumination.
Hartwig will also participate in a panel discussion discussing the latest advances in bottling and blistering technologies, as well as the pros and cons of these packaging methods.
Thermal imaging has the potential to bring a paradigm change to in-line quality control by replacing sporadic, destructive package sampling with continuous, non-invasive process verification. Thermal imaging offers real-time testing of 100 per cent of the products on a line, real-time process monitoring, full records (including photos) for every product, and very high throughput with no production slowdown – all in an entirely non-destructive, non-interfering fashion.
Among DIR Technologies’ first machines employing thermal imaging is the I2VS (Induction Integrity Verification System), which tests in-line the integrity of aluminum foil sealing on induction-sealed bottles. The I2VS is the first system capable of inspecting 100 per cent of bottles undergoing induction sealing, without resulting in production slowdown and providing continuous process verification.
Until very recently, high sensitivity thermal imaging had been mostly used in defense and aerospace application. The emergence of a new generation of lower cost/lower sensitivity uncooled detectors has led to an increased use of thermal imaging for a wide range of applications, such as security; industrial monitoring; fire-fightering, automotive (night driving), commercial aviation, NDT and even sports.
EP News Bureau – Mumbai