A novel low-cost contactless capacitive evaluation approach for capping integrity assessment of food and beverage containers

Food and beverage (F&B) industries employ containers to package, store and transport ingredients/products. High-speed capping of containers is prone to defective sealing, which affects containment and subsequently causes leaks during transportation/handling. Currently, capping integrity assessme...

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Main Authors: Hari Krishna Salila Vijayalal Mohan, Choon Hong Toh, Andrew Alexander Malcolm
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-11-01
Series:Sensors and Actuators Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666053922000157
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author Hari Krishna Salila Vijayalal Mohan
Choon Hong Toh
Andrew Alexander Malcolm
author_facet Hari Krishna Salila Vijayalal Mohan
Choon Hong Toh
Andrew Alexander Malcolm
author_sort Hari Krishna Salila Vijayalal Mohan
collection DOAJ
description Food and beverage (F&B) industries employ containers to package, store and transport ingredients/products. High-speed capping of containers is prone to defective sealing, which affects containment and subsequently causes leaks during transportation/handling. Currently, capping integrity assessment is performed either non-destructively inline using expensive equipment for specific container size (<20 L) and optical conditions (e.g. 3D imaging), or offline using low throughput invasive methods (e.g. leak tests). Hence, a low-cost non-destructive approach with high detection throughput for screening capping defects irrespective of container size and optical property is required. Herein, a novel container capping integrity testing strategy using a low-cost electrical approach based on capacitance of co-planar electrodes to assess differentiable capacitances for different capping defects (no cap, loose capping, tilted cap and content leak) is proposed to show the proof-of-concept. The system successfully detects no capping, loose capping, tilted capping and content leak in the capping region with good detection speed (50 ms) and low detection limits for both cap displacement (∼0.15 cm) and leak volume (∼50 µL on capping material and ∼75 µL on capping thread), respectively. Furthermore, the proof-of-concept was translated into a low-cost miniature automated decision-making system prototype to showcase the inline integration capability of the proposed system for screening defective caps.
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spelling doaj.art-3b41a6d468314c5a9984fe656568f02b2022-12-22T04:19:46ZengElsevierSensors and Actuators Reports2666-05392022-11-014100088A novel low-cost contactless capacitive evaluation approach for capping integrity assessment of food and beverage containersHari Krishna Salila Vijayalal Mohan0Choon Hong Toh1Andrew Alexander Malcolm2Corresponding author.; Intelligent Product Verification (IPV), Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 3 Cleantech Loop, CleanTech Two, 637143, SingaporeIntelligent Product Verification (IPV), Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 3 Cleantech Loop, CleanTech Two, 637143, SingaporeIntelligent Product Verification (IPV), Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 3 Cleantech Loop, CleanTech Two, 637143, SingaporeFood and beverage (F&B) industries employ containers to package, store and transport ingredients/products. High-speed capping of containers is prone to defective sealing, which affects containment and subsequently causes leaks during transportation/handling. Currently, capping integrity assessment is performed either non-destructively inline using expensive equipment for specific container size (<20 L) and optical conditions (e.g. 3D imaging), or offline using low throughput invasive methods (e.g. leak tests). Hence, a low-cost non-destructive approach with high detection throughput for screening capping defects irrespective of container size and optical property is required. Herein, a novel container capping integrity testing strategy using a low-cost electrical approach based on capacitance of co-planar electrodes to assess differentiable capacitances for different capping defects (no cap, loose capping, tilted cap and content leak) is proposed to show the proof-of-concept. The system successfully detects no capping, loose capping, tilted capping and content leak in the capping region with good detection speed (50 ms) and low detection limits for both cap displacement (∼0.15 cm) and leak volume (∼50 µL on capping material and ∼75 µL on capping thread), respectively. Furthermore, the proof-of-concept was translated into a low-cost miniature automated decision-making system prototype to showcase the inline integration capability of the proposed system for screening defective caps.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666053922000157SensorContactless sensingCapacitanceCapping integrityFood quality assuranceFMCG
spellingShingle Hari Krishna Salila Vijayalal Mohan
Choon Hong Toh
Andrew Alexander Malcolm
A novel low-cost contactless capacitive evaluation approach for capping integrity assessment of food and beverage containers
Sensors and Actuators Reports
Sensor
Contactless sensing
Capacitance
Capping integrity
Food quality assurance
FMCG
title A novel low-cost contactless capacitive evaluation approach for capping integrity assessment of food and beverage containers
title_full A novel low-cost contactless capacitive evaluation approach for capping integrity assessment of food and beverage containers
title_fullStr A novel low-cost contactless capacitive evaluation approach for capping integrity assessment of food and beverage containers
title_full_unstemmed A novel low-cost contactless capacitive evaluation approach for capping integrity assessment of food and beverage containers
title_short A novel low-cost contactless capacitive evaluation approach for capping integrity assessment of food and beverage containers
title_sort novel low cost contactless capacitive evaluation approach for capping integrity assessment of food and beverage containers
topic Sensor
Contactless sensing
Capacitance
Capping integrity
Food quality assurance
FMCG
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666053922000157
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