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* Air-actuated gate stops bottles from entering an inactive sealing area where the machine is in stop mode, or power is turned off, eliminating the risk of unsealed product getting through the production line
* Pneumatic mechanism actuates a 5" stroke cylinder that blocks the passage of bottles under the sealing head
* Bottle stop may be incorporated into a line along with other risk-control components such as a missing foil detector, stalled bottle detector, and loose or crooked cap monitor
Consumer product packaging managers frequently complain that their sealing process on induction seals in caps is not consistent. That can lead to waste or unhappy customers. Here are some simple steps that may resolve your problems:
1. Air gap: Make sure the air gap, the space between the top of the cap and the bottom of the sealing head, is set as required.
2. Torque: Torque all caps to the required level. Too much torque can be as troublesome as too little torque.
3. Sealing head alignment to conveyor: The sealing head must be parallel to the conveyor. The distance from the top of the conveyor belt to the bottom of the sealing head must be the same from one end to the other. So unless your conveyor is level, don’t assume that the sealing head is level.
4. Bottle travel alignment to sealing head: Ensure that the path the containers travel is along the centerline of the sealing head. Only when the containers are guided along the centerline of the conveyor should the centerline of the sealing head run exactly above the centerline of the conveyor.
5. Line speed: Ensure that line speed is set at the required level and does not deviate significantly during a production run.
6. Power level: Set the sealing unit’s power at the required level.
An induction-sealing head helps eliminate interference between an induction sealer and RFID antenna-readers that track pill bottles on a packaging line at Prescription Solutions.
Packager: Prescription Solutions is the Costa Mesa, CA, pharmacy division of Pacific Care, Cypress, CA. Prescription Solutions serves “insurance companies and employer groups who want to provide prescription coverage to their employees as part of their healthcare package,” explains Dave Booher, pharmacy manager. “We are primarily involved in filling prescription orders.” About 80% of the prescriptions are shipped via U.S. mail.
Problem: As a point of differentiation in the mail-order pharmacy business, Prescription Solutions induction seals bottles for tamper evidence. But the sealing energy emitted during induction sealing interfered with the radio-frequency identification (RFID) antennas used to track bottles along a packaging line at the company’s Carlsbad, CA, facility. The antennas read RFID tags on pucks. Each puck contains one tag that corresponds to the prescription in the pill bottle contained by that puck. The antenna reads a number from the passive tag and downloads it to a computer. In turn, the computer triggers pneumatic devices on the conveyor that move the puck downstream on the line. The interference between the similar frequencies interrupted those communications and slowed down the line.
