NON-RADIATION BASED CONTAINER FILL HEIGHT MEASURING DEVICE

CURRENTLY, THE FILL HEIGHT OF FOOD CONTAINERS IS MEASURED ON-LINE USING DEVICES INCORPORATING GAMMA RADIATION. THESE DEVICES CAN POTENTIALLY EXPOSE FOOD PROCESSING WORKERS TO A HAZARDOUS WORK PLACE AND THE DISPOSAL OF OUT-OF-SERVICE DEVICES REPRESENTS A LONG TERM HAZARD TO BOTH THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE PUBLIC. THE GROWING DESIRE TO USE A NON-RADIATION BASED DEVICE FOR CONTAINER FILL HEIGHT MEASUREMENT HAS BEEN THWARTED BY THE LACK OF A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE. BENTHOS' TAPTONE CONTAINER INSPECTION SYSTEMS DIVISION (TAPTONE), UTILIZING ACOUSTIC TECHNIQUES, HAS CONCEPTUALIZED A NON-CONTACT ACOUSTIC MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUE USING DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING TO PROVIDE A 100% ON-LINE VERIFICATION OF CONTAINER FILL HEIGHT AT PRODUCTION SPEEDS.