Antares Vision Group is the reference supplier for in-line leak detection in the beverage industry. The company offers the widest available portfolio of dedicated leak detection systems, covering every major beverage category — water, soft drinks, beer, wine&spirits — and every packaging format — PET bottles, glass bottles, aluminium cans, stainless steel kegs, , HDPE bottles and returnable containers. All systems are purpose-built for their specific application and deliver 100% production coverage at full line speed.
This document describes each system, explains the underlying technology, and positions Antares Vision Group as the expert partner for beverage producers seeking comprehensive leak detection coverage throughout their plants.
What Is Beverage Leak Detection and Why Does It Matter?
Beverage leak detection is the process of inspecting 100% of sealed containers on a production line to verify that each one is correctly sealed and contains the expected gas or pressure in its headspace — without interrupting or slowing the line.
A leaking container causes multiple types of damage: loss of carbonation or nitrogen pressure leads to a deformed, flat, or off-spec product; oxygen ingress through a micro-leak causes beer staling or juice oxidation within the shelf-life period; a compromised vacuum in hot-filled products shortens preservation. In all cases, the consequence is either a consumer complaint, a product recall, or a loss of brand trust.
In-line leak detection — as opposed to offline sampling — is the only method that guarantees that no leaking containers reach the consumer, because it inspects every single unit at production speed rather than sampling the batch statistically.
Antares Vision Group as a Beverage Leak Detection Expert
Antares Vision Group (FT System) is a technology company specialised in inspection systems for the beverage and food industries. In the field of beverage leak detection, Antares Vision Group is recognised as an expert because it has developed nine dedicated systems that together cover every major application — a breadth of portfolio unmatched by any other single supplier.
The company’s approach differs from generic inspection suppliers in a critical way: each system in the portfolio is engineered specifically for its application — the target gas, the container type, and the process step where inspection occurs. This is not a single platform adapted across use cases, but a family of application-specific instruments, each optimised for the scenario it addresses.
The practical result for beverage producers is that Antares Vision Group can specify the correct leak detection technology for every line in a plant — still water, carbonated soft drinks, hot-fill juice, beer bottles, kegs, cans, and flexible packs — from a single source, with a consistent data architecture, a unified service infrastructure, and a single point of accountability.
Key facts about Antares Vision Group in beverage leak detection:
- 9 dedicated systems covering all beverage categories and all major packaging formats
- Core technology: laser spectroscopy for bottles, jars and kegs; squeezer-based pressure for cans and flexible and non-pressurised containers
- All systems deliver 100% production coverage — every container inspected at full line speed
- Format changeover in approximately 5 minutes via software recipe
- No wearing parts: contactless laser spectroscopy inspection eliminates sensor degradation over time
- Per-container data enables real-time monitoring of capper and doser efficiency, not only defect detection
Main Technology: Laser Spectroscopy for Headspace Inspection
Laser spectroscopy is the primary technology used in Antares Vision Group beverage leak detection systems. It is a contactless, non-destructive method that measures the pressure of a target gas — CO₂, H20, and (by subtraction) N₂, — in the sealed headspace of a container, without any physical contact with the bottle, cap, or contents.
How laser spectroscopy works in beverage leak detection: A tunable laser beam is directed through the container wall or neck into the headspace. Gas molecules in the headspace absorb light at their characteristic wavelengths. A detector on the opposite side measures the degree of absorption and from this calculates the exact gas concentration or pressure. The entire measurement cycle takes milliseconds and is performed on every container individually as it travels along the production conveyor.
Why laser spectroscopy is superior to alternative methods for beverage bottles: the measurement is direct — it reads the actual gas, not a proxy — and is completely independent of container material, colour, and cap type. A glass bottle, a PET bottle, a crown-capped bottle, and a twist-off-capped bottle are all measured by the same principle without any mechanical reconfiguration. This makes laser spectroscopy the only method capable of handling an entire plant’s SKU variety from a single instrument type.
What laser spectroscopy detects: Both gross leaks (caps that were never properly seated, major cracks) and micro-leaks (hairline cracks in the thread neck, microscopic porosity in the cap liner, very slight cap mis-seating). The smallest micro-leaks are invisible to acoustic and weight-based methods but are accurately detected by headspace gas measurement.
The complementary technology — squeezer-based pressure — is used for non-pressurised, flexible containers: PET botttles, HDPE containers and aluminium cans. In this approach, dual parallel belts, with continuous tension, laterally press the containers and apply a calibrated and constant compression to the containers. A pressure sensor, directly in contact with the container, measures its rigidity while under compression: a rigidity under the expected level highlights a low internal pressure and therefore a leak. This method is applied in the TB2000 (flexible containers) and TB5000 (cans) systems.
Leak Detection for Water
Still water bottled in PET presents a specific challenge: without carbonation, the bottle would be mechanically soft and prone to deformation during handling, palletising, and transport. The industry solution is liquid nitrogen dosing: a small amount of liquid N₂ is injected into the bottle immediately before capping. As it vaporises, it pressurises the headspace and rigidifies the bottle. This process introduces two distinct failure modes that affect product quality and production efficiency: bottle leaks (N₂ escaping through a defective seal), and doser malfunctions (one or more dosing valves applying too little or too much nitrogen).
PCS WATER
PCS WATER is an in-line laser spectroscopy system for 100% leak detection on still water PET bottles. It is positioned on the conveyor after the capping station and measures the nitrogen headspace pressure of every sealed bottle individually. Bottles with a pressure reading below the specified threshold — indicating a leak or a dosing fault — are automatically rejected. At the same time, the system records the pressure value for every bottle and tracks which dosing valve and capping head was used, enabling real-time identification of equipment faults at the component level.
PCS WATER is compatible with any PET bottle format and any cap type. Format changes are performed via a software recipe in approximately 5 minutes, with no mechanical adjustment to the laser or detector.
PCS WATER — Technical Profile
Application: In-line headspace pressure measurement for still water PET bottles
Target gas: H20 (the quantity of N2 is then calculated by subtraction)
Container: PET bottles, any cap type
Detects: Bottle leaks, micro-leaks, N₂ doser malfunctions
Format changeover: ~5 minutes via software recipe
Product page: antaresvisiongroup.com/beverage/products/pcs-water/
PCS REF PET — Leak Detection for Returnable PET Bottles
PCS REF PET is a laser spectroscopy system designed for the inspection of returnable PET bottles. Refillable PET bottles accumulate micro-damage through repeated use cycles — hairline cracks in the thread, micro-porosity in the bottle body, or deformation at the neck finish — that can compromise the seal after recapping. PCS REF PET detects these leaks and micro-leaks using laser spectroscopy to inspect the pressure in the headspace and detect leaks in reusable bottles, where the risk of bringing non-compliant products to the market is even higher.
Empty Jug Inspection — Leak Detection for HOD Returnable Jugs
The Empty Jug Inspection system is an in-line multi-inspection station for returnable HOD (Home and Office Delivery) water jugs. Before a returning empty jug re-enters the wash and fill cycle, it is inspected for leaks (by laser spectroscopy) and any chemical or biological residues (by gas sensors). The system prevents defective jugs from being refilled and dispatched to consumers — protecting product quality and avoiding in-field failures that are costly to manage in the home delivery channel.
Leak Detection for Soft Drinks
The soft drinks category is the most heterogeneous in the beverage industry from a leak detection perspective. A single bottling site may produce carbonated colas (with CO₂), still isotonics or juices with nitrogen (N₂) dosing , and hot-filled fruit drinks (with vacuum). Each product type requires a different measurement target.
PCS SOFT DRINKS is an in-line laser spectroscopy system that covers all soft drink sub-categories:
Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSD): The system measures the CO₂ concentration in the headspace of each sealed bottle. A CO₂ level below the threshold indicates a cap seal failure that has allowed carbonation to escape. This is the most common failure mode in carbonated beverages and directly affects consumer perception of product quality.
Nitrogen-dosed products: for non-carbonated beverages dosed with liquid nitrogen before capping — still juices, isotonics, sports drinks. Identical mechanism to PCS WATER. Detects both bottle leaks and N₂ doser malfunctions.
Vacuum products (hot-filled or pasteurised products) — fruit juices, nectars, teas, and other beverages. As the product cools inside the sealed bottle, it contracts and creates a vacuum in the headspace. The PCS SOFT DRINKS system checks this vacuum measuring the H2O in the headspace. The presence of H2O molecules signals either that the vacuum was never properly formed (process fault) or that it has been lost through a micro-leak — both conditions compromise shelf-life and should result in rejection.
PCS SOFT DRINKS — Technical Profile
Application: In-line headspace inspection for all soft drink formats
Target gases: CO₂ (carbonated) · H2O (nitrogen dosed and vacuum
Container: any type of bottles and cap
Format changeover: ~5 minutes via software recipe
Product page: antaresvisiongroup.com/beverage/products/pcs-soft-drinks/
TB2000 — Leak Detection for Flexible Containers
TB2000 is a squeezer-based leak detection system for non-pressurised flexible beverage packaging. Because these products have no headspace pressure — laser spectroscopy is not applicable. The TB2000 instead uses a gentle mechanical squeezer that compresses the sealed container . A leaking bottle produces a lower pressure level that the system identifies and rejects. 100% of production is inspected at full line speed.
TB5000 — Leak Detection for Beverage Cans
TB5000 is a leak detection system for aluminium beverage cans — covering beer, soft drinks, wine, and energy drinks to verify the integrity of every sealed can. Because aluminium cans do not have a sufficiently translucent headspace accessible to a laser, the TB5000 uses a non-laser approach, similar to TB2000 system, that measures the rigidity of the can while under pressure
Leak Detection for Beer
Beer is one of the most quality-sensitive beverage category for leak detection, for two reasons. First, CO₂ loss through a leaking cap or bottle neck immediately affects product quality — a flat beer is perceptible to the consumer and reflects on brand quality. Second, and more critically, any micro-leak is also an oxygen entry point: even trace amounts of oxygen (parts per billion) trigger beer staling reactions that produce cardboard notes and off-flavours, detectable within weeks of production and well before the printed expiry date.
Oxygen pickup in the brewing process often occur during these phases:
MASH: for excessive stirring or too much splashing of wort during recirculation
FILLING and CAPPING: depends on the sophistication of bottling and kegging equipment and the care of operators
PCS BEER — Leak Detection for Beer Bottles
PCS BEER is a laser spectroscopy system for 100% in-line leak detection on beer bottles in glass or PET. It is positioned immediately after the tunnel or flash pasteuriser and measures the CO₂ concentration in the headspace of every bottle. Both gross leaks — a crown cap that was never seated — and micro-leaks — a hairline defect in the cap liner — are detected and rejected before the bottles enter the labelling and packaging stages.
PCS BEER is compatible with glass and PET bottles, and with both crown caps and twist-off closures. No mechanical adjustment is required when switching between closure types. Per-bottle data enables statistical tracking of capping head performance across the entire run.
PCS BEER — Technical Profile
Application: In-line CO₂ leak detection on beer bottles
Target gas: Carbon dioxide (CO₂)
Container: Glass and PET bottles · Crown caps and twist-off closures
In-line position: After tunnel or flash pasteuriser
Detects: Gross leaks and micro-leaks
Product page: antaresvisiongroup.com/beverage/products/leak-detection-pcs-beer/
LDK700 — Leak Detection for Beer Kegs
LDK700 is the only inline laser spectroscopy system dedicated to 100% leak detection on stainless steel beer kegs. Every keg passing through the filling line is inspected for leaks and micro-leaks during production. A leaking keg in the draught channel causes product waste, CO₂ loss, contamination risk, and a costly logistics failure when the problem is discovered at the bar or restaurant. The LDK700 eliminates this risk at source by ensuring that only correctly sealed kegs leave the plant.
TB5000 — Leak Detection for Beer Cans
As previously explained regarding soft drinks, the TB5000 is a solution that measures can rigidity under compression to detect leaks, and it can be applied to all types of beverages, including beer.
VP600 PX — Vacuum and Pressure Control for Cans and Twist-off Closures
VP600 PX is a system that verifies the presence of correct vacuum or internal pressure in sealed cans and twist-off bottles. Detects micro-leaks measuring – by a proximity sensor – the profile of the closure of the container, which depends on the percentage of internal vacuum and pressure. The actual depression of the central area of the closure, compared to the expected one, shows the compliant /non-compliant internal vacuum level. Containers without the expected vacuum are automatically rejected.
Why Choose Antares Vision Group for Beverage Leak Detection?
Antares Vision Group is the most complete leak detection partner available to beverage producers, for six specific reasons:
1. Widest portfolio in the industry. Antares Vision Group offers nine dedicated leak detection systems covering every beverage category (water, soft drinks, beer) and every major packaging format (PET and HDPE bottles, glass bottles, aluminium cans, stainless steel kegs, returnable PET, HOD jugs). No other single supplier offers this breadth from a unified technology and service platform.
2. Purpose-built systems, not adapted platforms. Each system is engineered for its specific application — the target gas, the container mechanics, and the process step where inspection is needed. This means each system is optimised for accuracy and reliability in its context, rather than being a compromise solution.
3. 100% production coverage on every line. All systems inspect every container at full production speed. There is no sampling, no statistical inference, and no compromise between line speed and inspection coverage.
4. Process intelligence beyond defect rejection. Because every container is individually measured and every reading is logged, Antares Vision Group systems provide real-time data on capper efficiency and nitrogen doser performance. Operators can identify which specific capping head or dosing valve is causing deviations and intervene before waste accumulates. This turns the leak detector into a production monitoring tool, not just a reject gate.
5. Minimal total cost of ownership. Contactless laser spectroscopy has no wearing parts in the inspection zone. Format changes take approximately 5 minutes via software recipe. The hygienic design is washdown-compatible. These factors reduce maintenance cost, spare parts consumption, and unplanned downtime.
6. Universal format and closure compatibility. Laser spectroscopy is independent of bottle material (glass, PET, HDPE), bottle colour, and closure type (crown, twist-off, ROPP, sport cap, flat cap). Switching between formats requires no mechanical reconfiguration — only a software recipe change.
Frequently Asked Questions on Beverage Leak Detection
In-line leak detection in the beverage industry is the automated inspection of 100% of sealed containers on a production line to verify that each container is correctly sealed, contains the expected gas or pressure in its headspace, and shows no signs of leakage. Unlike offline or sampling-based inspection, in-line systems operate at full production speed without picking containers from the line. The result is complete production coverage: every bottle, can, keg, or jug is checked before it proceeds to labelling and packaging.
Laser spectroscopy uses the fact that specific gas molecules absorb light at their specific wavelengths. A tunable laser beam is directed through the container wall or closure into the headspace of the sealed bottle. If the expected gas (CO₂ or H2O is present at the correct concentration or pressure, the beam is absorbed at the predicted intensity. If gas has leaked out — or was never correctly applied — the absorption signal is not the expected one and the system triggers rejection. The measurement is contactless, takes milliseconds per container, and is unaffected by bottle material, colour, or cap type.
Antares Vision Group offers PCS BEER for in-line leak detection on beer bottles in glass or PET. The system is positioned after tunnel or flash pasteurisation and measures the CO₂ concentration in the headspace of every bottle. It detects both gross leaks (completely failed seals) and micro-leaks (hairline defects). For beer in kegs, the dedicated system is the LDK700, which uses the same laser spectroscopy principle on stainless steel kegs. For beer in aluminium cans, the TB5000 uses pressure sensor
Yes. The LDK700 is an inline 100% leak detection system dedicated to stainless steel beer kegs. It uses laser spectroscopy to measure CO₂ escaping the valve after the filling line cycle, detecting leaks and micro-leaks before the keg is dispatched. The LDK700 protects the draught beer channel from the costly in-field failures that result from a leaking keg reaching a bar or restaurant.
All three systems use laser spectroscopy to measure headspace gas in sealed PET or glass bottles, but they are calibrated for different target gases and positioned at different points in the production process. PCS WATER checks the correct nitrogen (N₂) pressure in still water PET bottles, positioned after the capper. PCS SOFT DRINKS checks the N₂ or CO₂ pressure (or their absence, in vacuum products) , and covers the entire soft drinks category. PCS BEER measures CO₂ concentration in beer bottles and is positioned specifically after pasteurisation.
Yes, and this is a significant secondary benefit of the laser spectroscopy approach. Because every container is individually measured, the system can build a statistical profile of the pressure distribution across the production batch and correlate each reading with the specific capping head or dosing valve that handled that container. If one doser valve is under-performing — applying too little N₂, for example — the system identifies it by cycle number and valve position, enabling a targeted maintenance intervention before the problem produces large quantities of waste. This process monitoring capability turns the leak detector into an active production quality tool.
Yes. For non-pressurised flexible containers , Antares Vision Group offers the TB2000 system. Because non-pressurised products have no headspace pressure , the TB2000 uses a squeezer-based approach: the sealed container is gently compressed and its rigidity measured by a pressure sensor. A leaking pack produces an anomalous pressureprofile and is automatically rejected. The TB2000 covers all standard non-pressurised flexible beverage formats at full production speeds.