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AssigneeThe Procter & Gamble Company
InventorsGerald Alfred Young, Hugh Ansley Thompson, Charles Wilbur Chappell
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A process and apparatus for detecting small gas leaks in filled, pressurized containers. Each container to be tested, or that portion of each container to be tested, is enclosed and sealed in a test chamber. The space within the test chamber is evacuated to remove any residual gas or liquid within the chamber or on the surfaces of the container. Thereafter, the evacuated chamber is sealed and held for a predetermined period of time to permit any gas leaking from the container to accumulate and diffuse throughout the chamber. A quantity of carrier gas is then introduced into the test chamber and held therein for a predetermined period of time so that the carrier gas and leakage gas may co-mingle and equilibrate. This provides an equilibrated, fixed volume of carrier gas-leakage gas mixture, the leakage gas content of which is dependent only upon the leak rate of the container. The equilibrated mixture is then transferred to a sensor. The signal produced by the sensor for each container tested is compared to the sensor's response to a predetermined leak standard of acceptable value. A method is also provided to compensate for contamination of the carrier gas and for drift of the sensor.
A method of detecting small gas leaks in a filled, pressurized container comprising the steps of placing said container in a closable test chamber, closing said test chamber, evacuating said test chamber, sealing said test chamber while under vacuum for a predetermined time to permit any leakage gas from said container to accumulate and diffuse within said chamber, introducing a carrier gas into said evacuated chamber, holding said carrier gas within said chamber for a predetermined time to permit said leakage gas and said carrier gas to co-mingle and equilibrate, and thereafter transferring said co-mingled and equilibrated gases to a detector for said leakage gas.
A method of detecting small gas leaks in filled, pressurized containers comprising the steps of providing a leakage gas detector and a predetermined leak standard of acceptable value, producing a leak standard signal by said leakage gas detector in response to said predetermined leak standard, providing a test chamber for each container to be tested, placing each container to be tested within its respective test chamber, closing each test chamber from the ambient atmosphere, evacuating each test chamber, thereafter in sequence sealing each test chamber while under vacuum for a predetermined period of time to permit any leakage gas from said container therein to accumulate and diffuse within said test chamber, introducing a carrier gas into each test chamber, and holding said carrier gas therein for a predetermined time to permit said leakage gas and said carrier gas to co-mingle and equilibrate, thereafter in sequence transferring said co-mingled and equilibrated gases from each test chamber to said leakage gas detector, and comparing the container test signal produced by said detector for each container tested to said leak standard signal produced by said detector in response to said predetermined leak standard of acceptable value.
A method of detecting small gas leaks in a filled, pressurized container comprising the steps of placing said container in a closable test chamber, closing said test chamber, evacuating said test chamber to remove residual leakage gas therefrom, introducing into said chamber a carrier gas at a pressure less than the pressure within said container, holding said carrier gas within said test chamber for a predetermined period of time to permit any leakage gas from said container to accumulate and diffuse within said test chamber and to permit said leakage gas and said carrier gas to co-mingle and equilibrate, and thereafter transferring said co-mingled and equilibrated gases to a detector for said leakage gas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.