Apparatus and method for detecting leakage from a composition-containing pouch

A converter-integrated machine vision method for detecting leakage from a composition-containing pouch, wherein:

• a) the pouch is located in a cavity of a platen, the platen being disposed in a pouch converting line, the platen comprising a plurality of mold cavities, wherein the plurality of cavities comprises mold cavities in a machine direction and mold cavities in a cross machine direction;
• b) the composition is selected from the group consisting of:
• light duty liquid detergent compositions, heavy duty liquid detergent compositions, granular detergent compositions, hard surface cleaning compositions, detergent gels, bleach and laundry additives, shampoos, body washes and combinations thereof;
• and wherein the composition comprises a photosensitive compound responsive to actinic radiation;
• and
• c) the platen has a plurality of platen edges adjacent to the cavity;
• the method comprising the steps of:
• i. exposing at least one of the plurality of platen edges to an actinic radiation-emitting source;
• ii. obtaining, with an imaging unit, an image of the at least one of the plurality of platen edges exposed to the actinic radiation-emitting source, wherein the imaging unit comprises a line scan camera that is part of a plurality of cameras that are positioned above the platen and span the platen in a cross machine direction;
• iii. detecting, with an imaging processing unit, actinic radiation emission if present on the at least one of the plurality of platen edges;
• and
• iv. sending a fail message to a controller if the actinic radiation emission is detected, wherein when the controller detects actinic radiation emission at at least one platen edge, the controller then directs that the pouch in the cavity adjacent the at least one platen edge be ejected from the converting line.