System for the detection of noxious contaminants in beverage and potable water containers

Abstract

A device for detecting contaminants in returned bottles, particularly in a high-speed bottle line, is disclosed. In the preferred embodiment, a sample chamber is rotated on a carousel unit between top and bottom bulkheads. The surfaces of the bulkheads facing the chamber are flat and substantially parallel, and the chamber has two open ends which face the two bulkheads, respectively. A blast of air is directed into the mouth of the bottle to be sampled, forcing the contents of the bottle through an aperture in the lower bulkhead and into the sample chamber. In the preferred embodiment, the analyzer contains a UV absorption analyzer and a photoionization detector. The carousel unit contains four sample chambers which rotate between a sampling station, the two detectors, and a purge station. The analyzer is controlled by a computer which issues a reject instruction to a bottle reject mechanism if the level of contaminants detected by either detector exceeds a predetermined threshold. In an alternative embodiment, the level of chemically-bound ammonium radicals is detected by analyzing the same sample twice with one or two photoionization detectors. An alkaline substance is added to the sample between the measurements. Since the combination of an alkaline substance and ammonium radicals will free ammonia gas, a substantially higher reading during the second analysis indicates the presence of ammonium radicals.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.