Peco Controls unveils x-ray inspection system

APRIL 17--Peco Controls (Fremont and Modesto, CA; www.pecocontrols.com) recently unveiled its new x-ray inspection system at Interphex by conducting on-line package inspections for pharmaceutical and consumer products packagers attending the show. Attendees specified the package they wanted to inspect and then viewed "live" on-line inspections taking place at the company's technology-development center in Fremont, CA.

"Peco's Scantrac successfully found glass fragments in glass vials, foil sachets contaminated with air, metal fragments in metal containers, plastic shards in powders and liquids, and missing and broken caplets, while at the same time verifying component presence, including package inserts and multiple ingredients, at line speeds specified by the packager requesting the demonstration," said F. Allan Anderson, Peco president.

The Scantrac is currently manufactured in five configurations that have been developed for specific packaging applications, including single-tablet inspection in excess of 100,000 tablets an hour. The compact biopharmaceutical package-inspection system takes up only about 36 in. in linear displacement and can be mounted over an existing conveyor. Defective packages are rejected downstream with reject images stored for review and analysis.