
Non-destructive, 100% testing was on display in something called SIT—or Seal Integrity Tester. It’s suitable for a variety of products that are packaged in plastic cups—yogurt or cottage cheese for example—and that have a foil lid applied to the top. Right after the sealing station where foil lidding is applied to filled cup, a sensor head comes down and compresses the lid with a specified spring tension. Then an internal proprietary sensor measures the deflection of the lid compression and an algorithm determines if there is a gross leak, a minor leak, or no leak at all. According to Teledyne TapTone, these sensors, which can be configured two-across or as much as 32-across depending on customer requirements, can keep up with all conventional cup-filling systems available today.