Testing polystyrene medical tubes using automatic layout - by passing them through suitable e.g. illuminating field so that inhomogeneities affect detectors and trigger e.g. ejector

摘要

Small reagent tubes of polystyrene are tested for faults after their production by placing them vertically or horizontally on a conveyor and moving this at a set speed into an optically irradiating system on a head fitted with one or more detectors, illuminating them, detecting any faults by a conventional process with transmitted or scattered light, dark ground or optical inhomogeneities, and rejecting in the event of a threshold level on individual photodetectors. ADVANTAGE - The procedure is a fully automatic quality control. It is suitable for use with diagnostics in medical laboratories (e.g. testing reactions with blood serum). In an example, the transparent polystyrene tubes (100) are passed through a field where a low light transmission is detected normally but e.g. scratches or cracks, etc. scatter light. Each tube (100) is passed by the head (10) and a light source (14) with lens (17) and (e.g.) filter (19) plus aperture (15). One or more detectors (11,12) are arranged on one side; only light scattered by a fault (101) reaches one or more detectors (12). This triggers off a suitable ejector device. Suitable sensor arrays can also be used alternatively.