'Machine Vision Inspection - Pouch Seal Areas'.

A preventative element within the process of Horizontal Form-Fill-Seal HFFS MRE pouch production is needed to avoid defects due to seal area contamination. In the proposed concept, a machine vision camera is positioned above the formed pouch after the filling operation and just prior to placement of the upper lidstocksealing station. A seal would be acceptable if there were no product or other contaminant found on any of the four seal areas and the seal process seal time, temperature, and pressure was under control. Controlled lab experiments were conducted on MRE pouches produced on the HFFS which showed that common contaminants are detected with sensitivities of 95-100 and without false positives.specificity of 100. The worst system performance was found for water sensitivity 93, specificity 100. Based on the laboratory results, a single camera, single pouch, prototype machine vision inspection system was specified, designed, constructed and installed on the CRAMTD HFFS line. The plant-floor system is an enclosed unit constructed by Precision Automation, Cherry Hill, NJ and incorporating an Allen-Bradley Color CVIM module.