Non-Destructive Evaluation of Food and Beverage (F&B) Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Using Capacitive Proximity Sensor

Abstract

In a high-volume food and beverage production environment, non-destructive and real-time inspection of various stages of food production from raw content processing to product packaging at high speed is a challenge. Specifically, filling and dispensing, packaging, and sealing lines encounter issues such as powder caking, non-homogenous powder composition, misaligned caps, and leaks during package sealing, which are currently addressed using human inspection and/or destructive, expensive and offline screening methodologies. In this work, a non-destructive evaluation platform using a capacitive proximity sensor was proposed and demonstrated to showcase novel applications such as monitoring powder caking, non-invasive powder composition analysis, contactless capping closure integrity testing and non-contact leak detection in sachet seals with high throughput, in-line integration capability and a small system footprint.