Patent · US Expired

Process and apparatus for testing a multi-trip bottle for contamination utilizing residual liquid in bottle bottom and sprectral measurement

US5699162A · kind A · utility

8Cited by
10References
10Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 7, 1995
Grant dateDec 16, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 7, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01N21/31
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

To test a bottle for contamination, the bottom of the bottle is laterally illuminated with a measuring light beam from a source. This measuring light beam is deflected, as if in a waveguide, in the ring of residual liquids at the bottom of the bottle. Light reemerging from the residual liquid is imaged on a detector by an imaging lens. The detector measures the spectral composition of the deflected light and compares this with theoretical values which should be yielded by the liquid with which the bottle was last filled. If deviations from the theoretical values are excessive, the bottle is rejected. The process described provides a simple way of determining whether a multi-trip bottle has contained an extraneous liquid.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.