Controls controls

In the meantime the principles of good laboratory practice have a legal nature in many countries and among other things serve to guarantee exact inspection results. To sum up they demand that the devices used are regularly checked and that the results are documented. Many of these formally general principles can also be applied to other areas: scales are calibrated and measuring devices regularly checked because the best possible production quality can only be achieved if the measuring instruments are correct.

These tests turn out differently depending on the system to be checked. Test containers can be simply produced for many inspection systems. For example a container without a closure would be sent through the device in the case of a detection which checks the presence of a lid. The device is working if this is rejected. A fill level detection can be checked by preparing a number of test bottles with different fill levels and adding them to production. In this case the rejection process is also a sign that the device is operating correctly. The accuracy of the adjustments can be determined on the basis of the containers rejected from normal production.

Whereas the test containers can be easily prepared by the customer in the above-mentioned cases this is not so simple when checking whether a closure leaks. For this reason the HEUFT company developed two different systems especially for the HEUFT sonic.

The test closure is one alternative. These metal lids can be used on almost every bottle with a crown cork closure and constitute a check which is just as simple as it is cost-saving. They simulate leaking closures with their own design-related frequency. They only have to be placed on a container and added to production. Rejection is an indication of the correct function.

Considerably more complex statements can be made with the HEUFT UTB test bottle. It is made of plastic with a crown cork closure. Using a standard connection the internal pressure can be changed with compressed air making it possible to simulate containers with different amounts of internal pressure. The internal pressure is accurately fixed by means of a built-in manometer. The test bottle is adapted in height and width in accordance with the customer´s specifications so that it can also be added to production.

The test results themselves can be recorded and archived in different ways. The classical method is to make notes on paper and file this. The full container test bottle log available with the HEUFT systems is more reliable and simpler. The data can be connected to a production data acquisition system via a network where it is centrally documented and archived. In this way pieces of paper no longer get lost and a regular checking process is guaranteed.