Westinghouse Electric Corporation

James C Griner

Peter W Sites

Bernard A Roche

Creed F Jones, Iii

On-line inspection of opaque, translucent and transparent elastomer sealed flexible and semi-rigid package seals is provided. In the case of highly reflective opaque seals of various elastomers and colors, low incident angle structured side lighting is used to locate and define the seal and highlight defects within the sealed area. For transparent i.e. highly light transmissive seals, not only is the low incident structured side lighting utilized to define the seal area, but back lighting of the package and seal is provided in order to then locate and classify defects within the seal boundaries. Multiple video images of portions of the area containing the seal and portions of the remaining lidstock are generated by CCD type cameras in response to one or more sensors which detect the presence and proper positioning of the package moving along a conveyor for image acquisition. The images generated are fed to one or more image processors which perform a series of stored program operations which determines if the package is accepted, possibly accepted, or rejected based upon the quality of the seal area and the presence of any defects in the seal boundaries.

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Knoxville, TN, United States of America

James C Griner