IDS cameras ensure quality of vaccine containers

IDS Imaging Development Systems’ cameras are helping in the battle against Covid-19 by capturing high-resolution images of glass surfaces during lateral rotation of vials.

With just under eight billion vaccines required to inoculate the global population, the demands on vaccine manufacturers are enormous to produce large quantities without compromising safety standards.

The production of vaccine bottles is subject to strict quality requirements. However, medical-grade vaccine vials are not standard glass tubes. Whether rolled-rim bottles, threaded bottles or ampoules, they are all made of the special glass borosilicate and require customised production lines.

The glass must be resistant to a wide range of chemicals and temperature changes and must not contaminate medicines, for example. Any interaction between the container and the liquid inside must be prevented, as any chemical interference could affect the vaccine. Even the smallest scratch, crack or fissure can render an entire batch unusable, contaminate the line during the filling process or even lead to a machine standstill.

Thanks to a cost-effective, quickly integrated, extremely reliable solution for inspecting vaccine vials, IDS industrial cameras from the uEye CP camera family are now being used with conjunction with Istronic’s automatic tubular glass inspection system, “VialChecker”, to inspect the quality control of vaccine bottles.

The multi-camera system "VialChecker" enables high-speed processing in the quality control of vaccine bottles. It can capture at least 20 images per rotation, enabling up to 120 vials to be inspected per minute.

Accuracy is up to 0.01 millimetres for dimensional testing. Defects such as cracks, scratches, chips, inclusions or stains, on the other hand, are detected with an accuracy of 0.1 square millimetres thanks to the powerful cameras. Intelligent software enables accurate fault description analysis and classification.

Experts estimate that global demand for vaccine vials will further increase by one to two billion over the next two years. To ensure that this valuable liquid is protected accordingly, automatic, high-performance testing systems are more in demand than ever to guarantee the immense demand for quality.

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