Automatic medical pouch peel/tensile testing device

A method for automatically testing medical pouch seal integrity, comprising:

• automatically cutting, by a cutting mechanism, a medical pouch to prepare a test specimen;
• automatically loading, by a loading mechanism, the test specimen into a testing apparatus;
• applying, by a peeling mechanism, a controlled increasing force to separate a seal of the test specimen;
• monitoring, by one or more sensors, force applied during testing of the test specimen;
• storing force measurements from the one or more sensors in a memory;
• and
• controlling, by a controller, operation of the cutting mechanism, loading mechanism, and peeling mechanism.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• controlling a cutting mechanism to automatically cut a medical pouch to prepare a test specimen;
• controlling a loading mechanism to automatically load the test specimen into a testing apparatus;
• controlling a peeling mechanism to apply a controlled increasing force to separate a seal of the test specimen;
• receiving force measurements from one or more sensors monitoring force applied during testing of the test specimen;
• storing the force measurements in a memory;
• generating force versus displacement data based on the force measurements;
• calculating one or more seal integrity metrics based on the force versus displacement data;
• and
• comparing the one or more seal integrity metrics to predetermined standards to assess seal integrity of the medical pouch.