Method of and apparatus for examining objects in containers in non-destructive manner

• US 5,056,124 A
• Filed: 05/23/1990
• Issued: 10/08/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/1989
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujimori Kogyo Company Limited, Meiji Milk Product Company Limited, Softex Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Fujimori Kogyo Company Limited, Meiji Milk Product Company Limited, Softex Incorporated
• Inventors: Kobayashi, Toshitaka, Imano, Shigeki, Kakimoto, Kenichi, Honma, Hideaki, Nishiyama, Hideki, Nagata, Masanori
• Primary Examiner(s): Westin, Edward P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHU, KIM KWOK
• Application Number:
  US07/527,732
• Time in Patent Office: 503 Days
• Field of Search: 378/51, 378/53, 378/54, 378/57, 378/58, 378/52, 378/62, 378/66
• US Class Current: 378/57
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 5/346 according to radioactive properties material testing G01N23/00; radiation measurement G01T
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 23/083 the radiation being X-rays
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 23/10 the material being confined in a container, e.g. in a luggage X-ray scanners

Abstract

Method and apparatus for enabling fluid material contained in a package to be examined in a non-destructive manner to see whether there is any unacceptable alteration in the material. This examination is accomplished by shaking the package so that the package and its contents vibrate at the natural resonance frequency thereof, exposing the package to an irradiation of ultra-soft X-ray beams while the package is vibrating at the resonant frequency, either immediately after the package contents begin to be agitated by shaking or immediately after the vibration is stopped and it ceases to be agitated, detecting the strength of X-rays transmitted through the package and its contents, coverting the transmitted X-rays to a corresponding analog signal, and determining any alteration by comparing the analog signal against the refernece signal previously obtained in the same manner as described above for a like package with unaltered contents.

Claims

1. A non-destructive testing method for enabling examination of a package constituted by a container and fluid content to be examined to determine whether there has been any unacceptable alteration of the properties of the fluid content, the method comprising the steps of:

shaking the package of the container containing the fluid content in its unaltered state under a predetermined vibrating condition for causing the fluid content and any gaseous substance also contained in said container to mix together;

causing said package to vibrate under said vibrating condition until it vibrates at the natural resonance frequency of the package;

exposing said package including the fluid content therein to an irradiation of ultra-soft X-rays while said package is vibrating at the resonance frequency;

detecting the strength of said ultra-soft X-rays that have been transmitted through said package as a reference value;

repeating the said shaking, vibrating and exposing steps for other packages each having a container containing the same fluid content but the amount of alteration of the properties of which is unknown, and obtaining a specific value of the transmitted X-ray strength for each of said other packages;

comparing each such specific value with said reference value and determining any difference between said each specific value and said reference value; and

determining from said differences whether there is any unacceptable alteration of the properties of the fluid content in each of the said other packages.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 in which said fluid content is liquid or paste, and said gaseous substance is a gaseous substance taken from the group consisting of air and inert gas.

2. A non-destructive testing method for enabling examination of a package constituted by a container and fluid content to be examined to determine whether there has been any unacceptable alteration of the properties of the fluid content, the method comprising the steps of:

shaking the package of the container containing the fluid content in its unaltered state under a predetermined vibrating condition for causing the fluid content and any gaseous substance also contained in said container to mix together;

causing said package to vibrate under said vibrating condition until it vibrates at the natural resonance frequency of the package;

stopping said vibrating and immediately exposing said package including the fluid content therein to an irradiation of ultra-soft X-rays;

detecting the strength of said ultra-soft X-rays that have been transmitted through said package as a reference value;

repeating the said shaking, vibrating, stopping and exposing steps for other packages each having a container containing the same fluid content but the amount of alteration of the properties of which is unknown, and obtaining a specific value of the transmitted X-ray strength for each of said other packages;

comparing each such specific value with said reference value and determining any difference between said each specific value and said reference value; and

determining from said differences whether there is any unacceptable alteration of the properties of the fluid content in each of the said other packages.

4. An apparatus for enabling non-destructive testing of a package constituted by a container and fluid content to be examined to determine whether there has been any unacceptable alteration of the properties of the fluid content, said apparatus comprising:

means for supporting a package constituted by a container and fluid content to be examined so that it can be vibrated;

means for vibrating said supporting means and a package supported thereon at a vibration frequency for vibrating the package at the natural resonant frequency of the package;

means for retaining said package in said supporting means and mounted for vibrating at the frequency of vibration of said supporting means;

means for directing an irradiation of ultra-soft X-rays through said package on said supporting means;

an X-ray strength detecting means on the opposite side of said package from said X-ray irradiation means for detecting the strength of X-rays which pass through said package and for comparing the detected X-ray strength with a reference X-ray strength for a package the properties of the fluid contents of which are unaltered and producing an output signal when a package the fluid contents of which have been unacceptably altered is detected; and

package separator means for receiving packages from said supporting means and connected to said detecting means and operable in response to said output signal for separating packages identified as having fluid contents the properties of which have ben unacceptably altered.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4 in which said detector means includes X-ray beam meter means for sensing the X-rays passed through the package being tested and producing an output, signal processing means for providing a signal representative of the strength of the X-rays passed through a package being tested form the output of said X-ray beam meter, and data logger means connected to said signal processing means for comparing the output of said signal processing means and comparing it with a reference value and determining and recording whether there is a defect in the package being tested.