Apparatus and method for determining residual seal force of sealed containers
AssigneeGenesis Machinery Products
InventorsThomas A. Stalnaker, Bruce Smith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention is an apparatus and method for testing the residual seal force of the closure of a container, particularly a container for parenteral pharmaceutical products. An automated and instrumented press collects stress and strain data for a closure of a container for parenteral pharmaceutical products. An algorithm is automatically applied to the resulting data set, determining candidate residual seal forces for several data smoothing spans. Confidence levels are determined for each of the candidate residual seal forces. The candidate residual seal force corresponding to the highest confidence level is selected. The process is repeated and the results averaged to determine a final residual seal force.
Claims31
A method for determining the residual seal force of a sealed closure-container assembly comprising the steps of:
- a. Applying a plurality of strains to said sealed closure after sealing, said plurality of strains defining strain data;
- b. measuring a plurality of stresses exerted by said closure in response to each of said plurality of strains, said stresses defining stress data, said strain data and said stress data defining a data set;
- c. applying to said data set an algorithm designed to determine from the pattern of change in the relationships of stress verses strain data, the value which is representative of the stress reaching the residual seal force in the container closure assembly.
An apparatus for determining a residual seal force of a sealed closure-container assembly comprising:
- a. an automated press compressing said sealed closure after sealing;
- b. a programmable logic controller for controlling said press;
- c. a position encoder transmitting a plurality of strain data to said programmable logic controller;
- d. a stress transducer transmitting a plurality of stress data to said programmable logic controller, said strain data and said stress data defining a data set;
- e. applying to said data set an algorithm designed to determine from the pattern of change and the relationships of stress verses strain data, the value which is representative of the stress reaching the residual seal force.
A method for evaluating the residual said force of a closure of a container comprising the steps of:
- a. applying a plurality of strains to said closure, said plurality of strains defining strain and data;
- b. measuring a plurality of stresses exerted by said closure in response to each of said plurality of strains, said stresses defining stress data, said strain data and said stress data defining a data set;
- c. applying an algorithm to said data set, said algorithm defining a residual seal force;
- d. said algorithm utilizing a second derivative analogue minimum of said data set to determine said residual seal force.
An apparatus for evaluating a residual seal force of a closure of a container comprising:
- a. an automated press compressing said closure;
- b. a programmable logic controller controlling said press;
- c. a position encoder transmitting a plurality of strain data to said programmable logic controller;
- d. said programmable logic controller being programmed to apply an algorithm to said data set to determine residual seal force;
- e. said programmable logic controller being programmed to utilize a second derivative analogue minimum of said data set to determine said residual seal force;
- f. said programmable logic controller being programmed to utilize a second derivative analogue minimum of said data set to determine said residual seal force.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.