A perfectly shaped needle is the prerequisite for a pain-free injection. Syringes used in medical applications must meet the highest quality standards as they are used to administer medicines and vaccines. To ensure this, the numerous measuring tools of the EyeVision image processing software are used. These ensure that all parameters and angles of the needle are correctly maintained. The innovative software thus eliminates health risks due to faulty syringes. In addition to the del, the rest of the syringe can also be checked for quality defects. The possible control parameters are
Needle and plunger inspection
- Needle check: The EyeVision software checks the tip of the syringe to an accuracy of 1/100 mm within 25 ms (needle end check). If a needle does not meet the requirements, it is rejected so that only optimally shaped needles with 100 per cent quality are delivered and used.
- Plunger check: This checks whether the plunger of the syringe is fitted correctly and whether it closes tightly to prevent leaks. An incorrectly fitted plunger could impair the function of the syringe.
Visual inspection for defects
- Surface inspection: The syringe surface is inspected to identify defects such as scratches, bubbles, contamination or material defects.
- Cracks and fractures: By detecting fine cracks or fractures in the glass or plastic, potentially dangerous syringes can be sorted out immediately.
- Particle control: Foreign particles inside the syringe can be detected. This is particularly important to prevent contaminants from entering the body.
Geometric inspection
- Dimensional accuracy: With EyeVision 3D, syringe dimensions (e.g. length, diameter) can be created with millimetre accuracy and checked for compliance with specifications. Small deviations can have a significant impact on the functionality of large production quantities.
- Straightness and symmetry: Deviations in shape, such as bent needles or asymmetrical plungers, can be recognised automatically.
- Filling volume measurement: It is also possible to measure the filling volume of pre-filled syringes to ensure that the correct amount of medication is contained, which requires high-precision measurement of the filling level.
Cap and leak testing
- Cap inspection: Especially with prefilled syringes, it is important that the syringe cap is tight. EyeVision checks whether the cap is properly seated to prevent liquids from leaking.
Label and labelling inspection
- Label recognition: EyeVision recognises whether labels are correctly attached to ensure the legibility of batch numbers, barcodes or expiry dates.
- Text verification: Optical character recognition (OCR) is used to ensure that all relevant information (e.g. drug name, dosage, expiry date) is correctly applied to the syringe.