Gases and engineering company BOC has launched its new MAPAX®LD leak detection technology at AUSPACK 2015, Australia’s largest event dedicated to showcasing the latest food and beverage processing technology and packaging machinery.
MAPAX®LD is an innovative solution for the packaged goods industry that offers high-speed and non-destructive in-line leak detection. According to Jon Hawton, Market Manager, Food & Beverage Bulk Gases, this leak detection technology uses hydrogen as the detection gas and identifies faulty packages which can be removed from the production chain more quickly and easily.
“This globally patented technology uniquely allows 100% of packages to be tested in a non-destructive manner which can prolong shelf-life. This is particularly important in the food industry. Previously production pauses and visual or water testing could only test the integrity of random samples of packages,” said Mr Hawton.
Leakage and failure often occurs when food packages are not fully hermitically sealed, which can be caused by poor sealing or physical damage such as pinholes, or when product gets caught in the seal, leading to loss of shelf life, damaged products or poor appearance and therefore spoilage.
LD is used on modified atmosphere production lines for a wide range of packaged goods. It allows all MAPAX® products to be tested and individual defective items to be removed, which reduces spoilage and minimises the environmental impact, because only the leaking packs need to be destroyed instead of the entire batch.
“If only random checks are applied, this means that when a leak is found, the whole batch produced since the last check either has to be repackaged, disposed of or even recalled. MAPAX® LD can help companies reduce these inefficiencies and keep production costs down,” added Mr Hawton.
BOC said that MAPAX® LD can be seen in action at the AUSPACK exhibition at Stand 548 and is now available for purchase throughout Australia and New Zealand.
BOC is a member of the Linde Group which supplies compressed and bulk gases, chemicals and equipment around the globe. The company develops safe, sustainable and innovative solutions for customers in many specialty sectors, heavy industry and medical environments.
