Combination test system provides first true package profile - company
The US-based company said its MultiCheck 400 not only measures oxygen headspace, leak detection and seal strength, but also one-way degassing valve performance via its new valve test unit (VTU).
“This is the first time users of packages with degassing valves have an accurate and repeatable way to test performance,” said Mocon product manager Anthony Ahmed.
He added that even though millions of the valves were employed every year, until now there had been no way to quantify opening and sealing pressure levels.
The new VTU device was able to measure to tenths of a pound per square inch, which would “dramatically change how performance is measured for these packages”, said Ahmed.
Mocon said the “first-of-its-kind” system was created by combining established technology employed in its Lippke 4500 leak detection and seal strength unit with the Pac Check 302 O2 headspace analyser. The existing systems were ten blended with the brand new VTU device.
“This new combination unit will significantly reduce testing time, while providing the same accurate results,” said Ahmed.
First true profile
The MultiCheck 400’s ability to perform four separate tests will save significant time, labour and samples over systems that require individual tests for oxygen headspace, leakage, seal strength and degassing valve integrity, said the company.
“Instead of destroying four different packages to conduct the same number of tests, a single package cycles through all of the analysis on one unit,” a Mocon spokesman told FoodProductionDaily.com. “First the O2 headspace, followed by the pressure decay leak test, then a seal strength burst test and finally the valve test which tests both the leak and the seal strength of the valve.”
Ahmed added that performing all four tests on the same sample provided the “first true profile” of a single package, as opposed to gaining an overall perspective by evaluating the results from four different samples.
The system has been designed for use with flexible packages that employ degassing valves in applications such as coffee, said the company.
