Pipette Tip Packaging With 100% Lateral Defect Inspection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing packaging methods for injection-molded plastic parts, such as pipette tips and medical reaction vessels, fail to allow 100% circumferential inspection for shape and surface defects, leading to sporadic defects that cannot be detected and traced to specific cavities, necessitating entire production recalls.
Innovation Solution
A packaging method that divides injection-molded parts into subgroups for lateral optical inspection using multiple digital cameras, allowing 100% circumferential inspection and subsequent reassembly into cavity-pure subgroups, ensuring defect detection and tracing to specific cavities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If injection-molded plastic parts are packaged in bulk material without cavity assignment, then packaging productivity is improved, but defect traceability and product safety deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging system segments the bulk material into cavity-pure subgroups, where each subgroup contains parts from a specific cavity or group of cavities. This segmentation enables traceability while maintaining efficient packaging processes, as parts are organized into manageable units that can be tracked individually.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediate storage plane as a mediator between the injection molding device and the final packaging. This intermediate storage enables the separation and organization of parts by cavity origin, allowing for traceability without disrupting the continuous packaging flow.
2Measurement precision
If multiple digital cameras are used for lateral inspection, then inspection completeness is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The inspection system is segmented into multiple digital cameras positioned at different locations, each responsible for inspecting specific parts or angles. This segmentation allows comprehensive coverage of all part surfaces while distributing the inspection function across multiple simpler units rather than one complex system.
Solution Approach 2:
Each digital camera in the array serves multiple functions: inspecting different surfaces of the parts, detecting various defect types, and operating independently as a modular unit. This multi-functionality reduces overall system complexity while achieving complete inspection coverage.
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
Ensures 100% lateral inspection for shape and surface defects, enabling cavity-pure packaging and traceability to specific cavities, thereby increasing product safety and preventing sporadic defects in final packages.
Implementation Method 1
A packaging method which is further improved with regard to product safety and with which sporadic defects, in particular shape and/or surface defects, can also be detected
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a packaging method and to an associated packaging device (1) for packaging injection-molded plastic parts (2), which are pipette tips or medical reaction vessels, the injection-molded plastic parts (2) being arranged in cavity-pure subgroups (6) and then subjected to lateral inspection sub-subgroup (10) per sub-subgroup (10).