Apparatuses and methods for inspecting a pharmaceutical cylindrical containers are provided. The apparatus includes a support device, a light emitting unit, and a light receiving unit. The support device supports the pharmaceutical cylindrical container and rotates the cylindrical pharmaceutical container around a longitudinal axis. The light emitting unit has a light source that illuminates the pharmaceutical cylindrical container with a detection beam while the support device rotates the pharmaceutical cylindrical container. The light receiving unit has a camera that acquires polarization information of the detection beam.

A method is provided for measuring optical characteristics of a glass sheet as the glass sheet is conveyed in a system for fabricating glass sheets including one or more processing stations and one or more conveyors for conveying the glass sheet during processing. The method comprises providing a background screen including contrasting elements arranged in a pre-defined pattern and a camera for acquiring an image of the background screen; acquiring data associated with a shape of a glass sheet travelling on a conveyor upstream from the background screen; removing the glass sheet from the conveyor; and positioning the glass sheet between the camera and the screen and thereafter acquiring an image of the background screen; re-positioning the glass sheet for continued movement of the glass sheet on the conveyor; and performing one or more processing operations using the acquired image data to analyze the optical characteristics of the glass sheet.

A method is provided for measuring optical characteristics of a glass sheet as the glass sheet is conveyed in a system for fabricating glass sheets including one or more processing stations and one or more conveyors for conveying the glass sheet during processing. The method comprises providing a background screen including contrasting elements arranged in a pre-defined pattern and a camera for acquiring an image of the background screen; acquiring data associated with a shape of a glass sheet travelling on a conveyor upstream from the background screen; removing the glass sheet from the conveyor; and positioning the glass sheet between the camera and the screen and thereafter acquiring an image of the background screen; re-positioning the glass sheet for continued movement of the glass sheet on the conveyor; and performing one or more processing operations using the acquired image data to analyze the optical characteristics of the glass sheet.

An apparatus includes a cassette configured to hold optical fiber comprising one or more optical sensors. The cassette comprises a spool configured to one or more of extract and retract the optical fiber from the cassette. A fiber monitor is coupled to the cassette. The fiber monitor is configured to monitor at least one parameter of the optical fiber as the optical fiber is extracted from the cassette.

An apparatus includes a cassette configured to hold optical fiber comprising one or more optical sensors. The cassette comprises a spool configured to one or more of extract and retract the optical fiber from the cassette. A fiber monitor is coupled to the cassette. The fiber monitor is configured to monitor at least one parameter of the optical fiber as the optical fiber is extracted from the cassette.

A lithium ion-conductive solid electrolyte including a freestanding inorganic vitreous sheet of sulfide-based lithium ion conducting glass is capable of high performance in a lithium metal battery by providing a high degree of lithium ion conductivity while being highly resistant to the initiation and/or propagation of lithium dendrites. Such an electrolyte is also itself manufacturable, and readily adaptable for battery cell and cell component manufacture, in a cost-effective, scalable manner. An automated machine based system, apparatus and methods assessing and inspecting the quality of such vitreous solid electrolyte sheets, electrode sub-assemblies and lithium electrode assemblies can be based on spectrophotometry and can be performed inline with fabricating the sheet or web (e.g., inline with drawing of the vitreous Li ion conducting glass) and/or with the manufacturing of associated electrode sub-assemblies and lithium electrode assemblies and battery cells.

A lithium ion-conductive solid electrolyte including a freestanding inorganic vitreous sheet of sulfide-based lithium ion conducting glass is capable of high performance in a lithium metal battery by providing a high degree of lithium ion conductivity while being highly resistant to the initiation and/or propagation of lithium dendrites. Such an electrolyte is also itself manufacturable, and readily adaptable for battery cell and cell component manufacture, in a cost-effective, scalable manner. An automated machine based system, apparatus and methods assessing and inspecting the quality of such vitreous solid electrolyte sheets, electrode sub-assemblies and lithium electrode assemblies can be based on spectrophotometry and can be performed inline with fabricating the sheet or web (e.g., inline with drawing of the vitreous Li ion conducting glass) and/or with the manufacturing of associated electrode sub-assemblies and lithium electrode assemblies and battery cells.

A film thickness measurement device 1A includes a light emission unit 10 for emitting light onto a measurement object 100, a light detection unit 20A for detecting the wavelength-dependent intensity of reflected light, and a film thickness calculation unit 30A for determining the film thickness of a first film 102 by comparing measured spectral reflectance obtained based on the detection result in the light detection unit 20A with theoretical spectral reflectance that takes into account front surface reflectance, front surface transmissivity, and back surface reflectance. The film thickness calculation unit 30A compares the measured spectral reflectance with a plurality of values of the theoretical spectral reflectance obtained by changing the front surface reflectance value, the front surface transmissivity value, and the back surface reflectance value, and determines the film thickness of the first film 102 based on the theoretical spectral reflectance closest to the measured spectral reflectance.

A system is disclosed including a cylindrical device, having at least one transparent path therethrough, configured to support a thermal dye printer film, the film comprising at least one color panel, a light source configured to illuminate through the cylindrical device at an absorption wavelength of the at least one color panel of the film, and an imaging device configured to capture an image of the film with light emitted at the absorption wavelength of the at least one color panel of the film at a target location on the cylindrical device. Another system and a method are also disclosed.

An optical scanning system, including: a radiating source that outputs a light beam, a first time varying beam reflector that reflects the light beam through a scan lens towards a transparent sample, a second time varying beam reflector that reflects the light beam reflected from the transparent sample, a focusing lens that focuses the light beam reflected from the transparent sample, a blocker, and a detector that is irradiated by the one or more selectable portions of the light beam reflected from the transparent sample that pass the blocker. The blocker can be configured to block one or more portions of the light beam reflected from the transparent sample so that one or more selectable portions of the light beam reflected from the transparent sample can pass the blocker.