Application Spotlight Medical Device Component Inspection & Error-Proofing

Extruded and molded plastic medical device components, especially those associated with fluids, require meticulous inspection prior to sterilization and packaging in advance of their use on patients. It can be difficult to identify hairline cracks or other anomalies in the molded or extruded components that could potentially create a patient risk or caregiver problem. Pressure testing, leak testing, X-Ray testing and other expensive methods have traditionally been used, but an off-the-shelf and easy-to-use solution has been developed. The Balluff Sharpshooter vision sensor is an economical solution that helps medical device manufacturers expose any defects well in advance of packaging.

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High reliability of crack or anomaly detection Easy setup of a single Sharpshooter vision sensor Cost effective compared to traditional testing methods Up to 20 different jobs can be stored on each vision sensor for testing different components

Sharpshooter configuration software showing a crack was detected by the vision sensor.

Order Code
BVS0005 BVS0006

Part Number
BVS OI-3-003-E BVS OI-3-004-E

Description
PNP, 12 mm lens, 50-1000 mm assured range *NPN, 12 mm lens, 50-1000 mm assured range Infrared backlight

Part number upon request

* Trigger and inputs are PNP based - only outputs are NPN

www.balluff.com/Medical
Balluff, Inc. n 8125 Holton Drive Florence, KY 41042 n 1-800-543-8390 n www.balluff.com

PS_047 Medical Device Component Inspection and Error-Proofing 2010-09

In this application, one segment of an IV administration system is inspected for hairline cracks, although a similar inspection would likely be done with all components of the IV administration system. Ideally the inspection is done just after the component is extruded or molded in order to immediately fix the machine or process that is causing the quality issue. With the proper lighting and simple configuration of the Sharpshooter vision sensor, it is possible to detect tiny hairline cracks in extrusions and injection molded medical device components. There is no need to run expensive air lines, configure complex X-ray devices, or install additional costly test apparatus to complete the test. Because the Sharpshooter can hold up to 20 jobs, the sensor can be easily changed to a new inspection when the extrusion or injection molding machine is modified to run a different component.