Laser-Marked Vial Calibration Standards for Inspection Consistency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ensuring consistent inspection quality across multiple inspection lines and cameras in vial inspection systems is challenging due to differences in physical location, lighting, and pointing angles, which can lead to varying detection of defects and compromised safety standards.
Innovation Solution
The use of laser-marked calibration standards, including grayscale and region of interest (ROI) calibration standards, to calibrate imaging components across multiple inspection lines, ensuring consistent camera settings and spatial alignment, and accommodating both transmission and reflection modes of inspection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple inspection lines are used to increase production capacity, then productivity increases, but inspection quality consistency deteriorates due to different camera locations, lighting conditions, and pointing angles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by introducing standardized calibration targets with known geometric features and reflectivity properties. These calibration targets provide reference parameters (position, orientation, dimensions, optical properties) that enable each inspection line to adjust its camera settings, lighting conditions, and detection thresholds to match a standard quality level, thereby maintaining inspection consistency across multiple production lines
Solution Approach 2:
The calibration target serves as an intermediary object that mediates between the varying inspection conditions and the quality standard. By placing a known calibration target in each inspection line and using it to determine optimal inspection parameters, the system creates a common reference framework that enables consistent defect detection across all lines despite differences in camera locations and lighting
2Productivity
If multiple inspection lines with different camera settings are used, then productivity increases, but detection accuracy deteriorates due to varying lighting and spatial alignment
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses calibration targets to determine and standardize inspection parameters including camera exposure settings, lighting intensity, region of interest boundaries, and defect size thresholds. By adjusting these parameters based on measurements from the calibration target, each inspection line achieves reliable and consistent defect detection accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The calibration process is performed preliminarily before actual production inspection. The calibration target is inspected first to establish reference parameters for camera settings, lighting conditions, and detection thresholds. This preliminary calibration ensures that subsequent production inspection maintains high reliability without requiring continuous adjustment during manufacturing
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach ensures repeatable and consistent inspection quality by standardizing camera settings and spatial alignment, reducing false positives and negatives, and maintaining quality compliance across all inspection lines and cameras.
Implementation Method 1
The calibration standards comprise a robust marking, indelible to damage over a life cycle of more than about 500 uses. In embodiments, the calibration standards are created by laser marking or etching of a vial with different marks.
Data Source
AI summary
Durable calibration standards are described herein for inspection systems for manufactured vials, such as glass pharmaceutical vials, and methods of using the same. A grayscale calibration standard is provided for calibration of camera settings of imaging components in an inspection system. The grayscale calibration standard comprises a vial having a laser etched gradient image on a portion of the vial. A region of interest (ROI) calibration standard is provided for calibration of spatial difference of imaging components and to align imaging components in an inspection system to capture desired regions of interest. The ROI calibration standard comprises a vial comprising laser etchings on one or more portions of the vial, wherein the laser etchings comprise laser markings formed in a geometric pattern. By providing laser-marked calibration standards, the calibration standards may be used in many different modes of metrology.