SBIR-STTR Award

Particulate contaminants enter many products intended for human consumption through the manufacturing process. Visual inspection with the naked eye for an indication of the presence of particulates has been the mainstay procedure of the pharmaceutical and other packaging industries. In all cases where visible light is used to irradiate the container and its contents, the container must necessarily be mostly transparent to the light and the contents must also exhibit a high degree of transparency. Another method of inspecting the contents o package goo s is sought t at is non-destructive and independent of the optical characteristics of both package and contents. This proposal addresses the use of ultra-sound as an alternative to visible light to detect . particulates in packaged goods that are considered potentially harmful to humans if ingested or injected.The potential commercial application as described by the awardee: The research will result in the development of on-line inspection for particulates in pharmaceutical and wet chemical production. This product will replace the current human inspection methods with a highly reliable inspection device.