The first of the Jenton's ‘new generation’ Autotester seal integrity testers for thermoformed pack matrices has been delivered to Multi Marques (part of Canada Bread) in Quebec, Canada.
The six pack test heads on the machine simultaneously pressurise and leak test gas flushed thermoformed packs and either accept thm or reject on grounds of ‘overgas’, ‘undergas’ or ‘leak’, using very sensitive transducers. Reject patterns are stored and can be reported as part of SPC systems and to highlight thermoformed seal issues.
Good packs are converged on the integral converger and fed singly, with controlled pack gaps, to downstream single-lane equipment such as a checkweigher or metal detector. Rejected packs are fed into a locked bin.
Because all packs are tested simultaneously, the test time can be maximised within the cycle time, so smaller leaks can be detected. Additionally, as packs are rejected immediately after packing, the contents of leaking packs can be repacked easily, helping minimise food waste and reducing the financial cost of leakers to suppliers and retailers.
The Autotester seal testers operate with gas flushed thermoformed packs where there is sufficient gas fill and pack headspace for a pressure test to be effective. Most current installations are in bread and fresh meat lines. Two trial units are available for evaluation on potential customers’ packs.
