The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 28, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 21, 1999
Espoon Paineilma Oy, Espoo, FI;
Abstract
A method for detecting a leak in a resilient, semi-hard and hard package includes a test gas supplied to the package to subject the contents of the package to a first pressure. The package is then maintained for a predetermined time in a chamber having a gas pressure, and the presence of gas is detected in a measuring space in gas flow relationship with the chamber by a detection apparatus. In order for the method to be rapid enough to be suitable for detecting very small holes in packages and for use in production plants without a change in their operating rate, a hydrogen gas having a hydrogen gas concentration from 0.0001-6% by volume is used as the test gas supplied to the package, and the hydrogen gas concentration of the gas within the chamber is maintained below a reference concentration that is lower than the hydrogen gas concentration in the package immediately after the addition of hydrogen gas to the package. If hydrogen gas that has leaked outside the package into the chamber is detected and the package is considered defective, if the detected hydrogen gas content is higher by a predetermined value than the reference concentration after the predetermined time. The method also improves the shelf life of the quality of a product in the form of a foodstuff.