NZ622023B2 - Container liquid leak inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

container liquid leak inspection device comprises a conveyance device 1 which conveys a sealed container (A) having flexibility which is filled with a fluid, a pressurizing device (2) which applies pressure to the sealed container (A) from outside the container while it is being conveyed, an image capture device (3) which captures an image of the sealed container (A) together with a background thereof while pressure applied to the container, and determination device (4) which determines whether there is a liquid leak present in the sealed container (A) on the basis of the image information which is acquired with the image capture device (3). The determination device (4) is configured to assess whether image information of a liquid discharge which is discharged into air from the sealed container (A) is included in the background image information, and to carry out a determination that a liquid leak is present in the sealed container (A) if it is assessed that the liquid discharge image information is included in the background image information. If a leak is determined a controller 6 may signal a pusher 5 to remove the leaking container from the main conveyor path 1a, 1c. capture device (3) which captures an image of the sealed container (A) together with a background thereof while pressure applied to the container, and determination device (4) which determines whether there is a liquid leak present in the sealed container (A) on the basis of the image information which is acquired with the image capture device (3). The determination device (4) is configured to assess whether image information of a liquid discharge which is discharged into air from the sealed container (A) is included in the background image information, and to carry out a determination that a liquid leak is present in the sealed container (A) if it is assessed that the liquid discharge image information is included in the background image information. If a leak is determined a controller 6 may signal a pusher 5 to remove the leaking container from the main conveyor path 1a, 1c.

Description

DESCRIPTION Title of the Invention: Container Liquid Leak tion Device Technical Field The present ion relates to a liquid-leak inspection apparatus including a conveyer device for conveying a sealed container filled with liquid and having flexibility, a pressurization device for pressurizing the sealed container from its outside during conveyance thereof by the conveyer device, and a ination device for determining presence/absence of liquid leak from the sealed container.

Background With a sealed container filled with an amount of liquid, if a pinhole (a very small hole) is present in the container, leak of the filled liquid occurs via this pinhole.

The container liquid-leak tion device described above is a device for determining presence/absence of liquid leak, because liquid filled in a sealed container leaks via a e if such pinhole is present in the sealed container.

With a conventional liquid-leak inspection tus for a container, there are provided a pair of electrodes that are t into contact with a sealed container, in order to determine presence/absence of liquid leak which may have occurred due to pressurization of the sealed container. More particularly, when the electrodes are short-circuited via an amount of liquid adhered to the sealed container due to liquid leak, the apparatus determines that liquid leak is present (see Patent Document 1 for e).

Problem to be Solved by Invention With the conventional liquid-leak inspection apparatus for a container, if water or a like gets adhered to a sealed container prior to its pressurization, the apparatus is unable to determine whether this water or a like is due to liquid leak from the sealed ner or not. So, accurate inspection is not possible. 7172537_1 (GHMatters) P96406.NZ For this reason, if there is possibility of water or a like getting adhered to a sealed container prior to its pressurization, there is a need to blow away this adhering water or a like with compressed air, thus inviting trouble in the inspection process.

Further, since the determination of presence/absence of liquid leak is made in association with short-circuit between the electrodes via liquid adhering to the sealed container, the inspection cy is apt to be affected by conductivity of a material forming the container and/or the filled liquid.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described state of the art and is ed to providing a liquid-leak inspection apparatus for a container capable of inspecting presence/absence of liquid leak from a sealed container without being affected by conductivity of a material of the container or of filled liquid even when water or the like gets adhered to the sealed container prior to its pressurization.

Prior Art Document Patent nt Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-9578 Summary of the Invention According to a first aspect of the ion, there is provided liquid-leak inspection tus for determining the presence of a liquid leak in a container, the apparatus comprising: a conveyer device for conveying a sealed container filled with liquid and having flexibility; a pressurization device for rizing the sealed ner from an outside of the container during ance thereof by the conveyer device; an image capture device for capturing an image of the sealed container t a background during pressurization thereof by the pressurization device; and a determination device for ining the presence of a liquid leak from the sealed container, based on image information contained within a background portion of the image acquired by the image capture device, wherein the determination device is configured to check the image information for a discharged , discharged from the sealed container , included in the image information of the background portion of the image and to thereby determine the presence of a liquid leak from the sealed container when it is determined that discharged 7172537_1 (GHMatters) P96406.NZ liquid is included in the image information of the ound portion of the image.

The liquid-leak inspection apparatus for a container arranged as above ses an image capture device for capturing image of the sealed container during pressurization thereof by a pressurization device together with its background and a determination device for determining presence/absence of liquid leak from the sealed container, based on image information acquired by the image capture device, and the determination device is configured to check whether or not image information of discharged liquid discharged from the sealed container into the air is included in image information of the background and to determine presence of liquid leak from the sealed container if it is determined that the image information of discharged liquid is included in the image information of the background.

Namely, when a pinhole is present in the sealed container, the liquid will ooze out of the container during its pressurization onto the outer face thereof or be rged into the air, via the pinhole.

Further, if a weak n having an extremely small thickness is present in the sealed container, when this weak portion is broken as a result of pressurization of the sealed container, the liquid in the sealed container will ooze onto the outer face of the container or be discharged into the air via this broken portion.

Eventually, the liquid oozed onto the container outer face will be discharged as it falls down along the ner outer face via e.g. the bottom of the container into the air.

[0008] The image capture device captures image of the sealed container during pressurization thereof by a pressurization device together with its background. So , when liquid leak occurs, it is possible to acquire image information of the background including image information of discharged liquid discharged into the air or falling down.

The determination device checks, based on the image information ed by the image capture device, whether or not image information of discharged liquid is ed in the image information of the background and determines presence of liquid leak from the sealed ner if it is determined that the image ation of discharged liquid is ed in the image information of the background.

Therefore, the liquid-leak inspection apparatus for a container 7172537_1 (GHMatters) P96406.NZ arranged as above is capable of inspecting ce/absence of liquid leak from a sealed container based on presence/absence of image information of discharged liquid, without being affected by conductivity of a material of the container or of filled liquid even when water or the like gets d to the sealed container prior to its pressurization.

According to r embodiment of the ion, the determination device may be configured to divide the image information of the background n of the image into multiple image information areas adjacent each other and to check whether the image information of the discharged liquid is included in at least two of the le image information areas , and to determine the presence of a liquid leak from the sealed container when it is determined that discharged liquid is included in at least two of the multiple image information areas.

When water or the like ng to a sealed liquid falls down in the form of te droplets, such droplets can easily be misidentified as discharged liquid discharged from the sealed container.

With the above-described arrangement, if liquid falls down in the form of separate droplets, even when image information of such droplets is obtained, this is not determined as image information included in at least two of the multiple image areas information, so that the determination device will not erroneously determine this as presence of liquid leak.

And, it is determined that liquid leak from the sealed container is t when image information of the discharged liquid is included in at least two of the multiple image areas information. Therefore, presence/absence of liquid leak from the sealed container can be inspected with high accuracy.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the liquid-leak inspection apparatus may further comprise a conveyance path of the conveyer device; and a removal device capable of ng the sealed container from the conveyance path, when the determining device determines the presence of a liquid leak from the sealed container.

In a still further embodiment of the invention, the liquid leak inspection apparatus may further comprise a l device for controlling operation of the removal device to remove the sealed container on which the presence of a liquid leak has been determined by the determining ..

With the above-described arrangement, it is possible to remove 7172537_1 (GHMatters) P96406.NZ efficiently a sealed ner on which presence of liquid leak has been determined from from conveyance path.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the pressurization device may comprise a conveyer belt included in the conveyer device, the conveyer belt being capable of ng-conveyance in which the sealed container is gripped for conveyance while being pressurized.

With the above-described ement, it is possible for the conveyer belt to convey a large number of sealed containers with pressurization thereof, without giving any damage thereto and to e images of these sealed containers being pressurized together with the background image thereof.

Therefore, presence/absence of liquid leak from the sealed ners can be inspected in an efficient manner.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0016] [Fig. 1] is a schematic plane view showing a liquid-leak inspection apparatus for a container, [Fig. 2] is a schematic side view showing the liquid-leak inspection apparatus for a container, [Fig. 3] is a schematic front view g the liquid-leak inspection apparatus for a container, [Fig. 4] is a diagram for ning a determination operation, and [Fig. 5] is a diagram for explaining a determination operation according to a second embodiment.

Detailed Description of the Invention Next, embodiments of the present invention will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[First ment] Figs. 1-3 show a liquid-leak inspection apparatus for a container according to the present invention.

The liquid-leak inspection apparatus includes a conveyer device 1 for conveying a certain plurality of sealed containers A each sealed with an amount of liquid charged therein, with mounting the containers A in a row along a conveyance direction, a rization device 2 for pressurizing the sealed container A being conveyed by the conveyer device 1, from the e 7172537_1 (GHMatters) P96406.NZ of the container A, an image capture device 3 constituted of a high-speed camera or the like for capturing image of the sealed container A during rization thereof by the pressurization device 2 together with its background, a determination device 4 for determining presence/absence of liquid leak from the sealed container A, based on image information acquired by the image capture device 3, and a control device 6 for lling an image capture operation of the image capture device 3 and an operation of a removal device 5 which will be described later.

The sealed container A is manufactured by blow-molding of e.g. PET resin for instance and has flexibility of being elastically ed in response to rization thereof from its outside when the container is sealed with an amount of liquid charged therein.

The pressurization device 2 comprises a pair of conveyer belts 7 provided midway of the conveyer device 1, the convey belts 7 being capable of conveying the sealed container A set under an upright posture with gripping the container A and with simultaneous rization thereof. More particularly, to the conveyer belts 7, there is d a predetermined tension so that these belts 7 can grip or sandwich therebetween a constricted portion A1 formed in the body portion, e.g. a vertically intermediate portion, of the sealed container A assuming the upright posture and can convey this container A under a suspended posture while applying the pressurization thereto.

Therefore, the conveyer device 1 includes a pressurization-conveyance portion 1b at which the sealed container A under the upright e is conveyed while being pressurized, and a first mounting-conveyance n 1a and a second mounting-conveyance portion 1c which respectively are provided before and after the pressurization-conveyance n 1b and configured for mounting and conveying the sealed container A under the upright e.

More particularly, a sealed container A mounted and having been ed at the first mounting-conveyance portion 1a is received by the pressurization-conveyance portion 1b with aneous application of pressure thereto. Then, the sealed container A after the pressure application by the pressurization-conveyance n 1b is received and then mounted and conveyed by the second mounting-conveyance portion 1c.

The image capture device 3 captures image of the bottom of the sealed 7172537_1 (GHMatters) P96406.NZ ner A conveyed under the ded posture while being pressurized by the pressurization-conveyance portion 1b.

There is provided the removal device 5 capable of removing from a conveyance path 8 the sealed container A which is being conveyed by the second mounting-conveyance portion 1c, after application of pressure thereto by the pressurization device 2.

The removal device 5 includes a removal bar 5a supported to be pivotable about a vertical axis X, and a driver device 5b for pivotally driving the removal bar 5a between a standby position where the removal bar 5a is set ready laterally of the ance path 8 and a removal position where the removal bar 5a ses the conveyance path 8.

The removal bar 5a, when driven to be pivoted from the standby position toward the removal position, is capable of pushing out the sealed container A during its conveyance at the second mounting-conveyance portion 1c, toward a lateral side of the conveyance path 8, thus causing this container A to be d into a discharge chute 5c.

At the pressurization-conveyance portion 1b, there are disposed an entrance sensor 9a comprised of a photo sensor or the like and ured to detect the sealed container A transferred from the first mounting-conveyance n 1a, at the conveyance starting end and an exit sensor 9b comprised of a photo sensor or the like and configured to detect the sealed container A to be transferred to the second mounting-conveyance n 1c, at the conveyance finishing end.

The control device 6 stores n in advance a period subsequent to detection of the sealed container A at the entrance sensor 9a until its passage in front of the image capture device 3. In operation, in response to input of a detection signal of the sealed container A by the entrance sensor 9a, the control device 6 activates the image capture device 3 at the time of passage of this sealed ner A in front of the image capture device 3 to capture an image of this sealed container A together with its background.

Further, the control device 6 stores also in advance a predetermined detection period from determination of ce/absence of liquid leak from the sealed container A by the determination device 4 until its detection by the exit sensor 9b and a predetermined removal period from detection of the sealed container A by the exit sensor 9b until its e through the removal position provided by the removal bar 5a. 7172537_1 (GHMatters) P96406.NZ Then, in response to input of a determination signal indicative of ce of liquid leak from the determination device 4, the control device 6 recognizes this sealed container A detected by the exit sensor 9b upon lapse of a predetermined detection period subsequently thereto and then activates the removal device 5 so that its l bar 5a is lly driven from the standby position to the removal position in order to remove this recognized sealed container A from the conveyance path 8.

The determination device 4 is constituted of an information processing unit (a computer) storing a determination program therein. In response to each input of image information acquired by the image capture device 3, the determination device 4 executes the determination program based on this inputted image information, thereby to determine presence/absence of liquid leak from the sealed container A.

The determination program is configured to ine whether or not background image information C includes image information of discharged liquid rged substantially linearly along an approximately constant path from the sealed ner A into the air and determines that liquid leak from the sealed container A is present if it is ined that the image information B of such rged liquid is included in the background image information C as shown in the diagram of Fig. 4.

Incidentally, rged liquid discharged substantially linearly from the sealed container A is not limited to discharged liquid discharged continuously (in continuation) along a substantially constant path, but includes discharged liquid comprised of a series of multiple liquid droplets ted from each other and discharged along the substantially constant path.

[Second Embodiment] In the liquid leak tion apparatus for a container according to the present invention, the determination program is configured to divide the background image information C into a plurality of (three in the instant embodiment) image areas information C1-C3 adjacent each other as shown in the diagram of Fig. 5 and checks whether the image information B of discharged liquid is included in each one of the multiple image areas information C1-C3 in substantially uous manner or whether the image information B of discharged liquid is included in at least two of the multiple 7_1 (GHMatters) P96406.NZ image areas ation C1-C3.

Then, if it is determined that the image information B of discharged liquid is included in each one of the multiple image areas information C1-C3 in substantially continuous manner as shown in the diagram of Fig. 5 or that the image information B of discharged liquid is included in at least two of the multiple image areas information C1-C3 though not shown, it is determined that liquid leak is present.

Further, in case discharged liquid discharged approximately continuously from the sealed container A into the air comprises rged liquid comprised of multiple liquid droplets being discharged separately from each other along an approximately constant path, if it is determined that the image information B of this discharged liquid is included in at least two of the multiple image areas information C1-C3, it is determined that liquid leak is present.

The rest of the arrangement is identical to that of the first embodiment.

[Other Embodiments] 1. The -leak inspection apparatus for a container according to the present invention may include a plurality of image capture devices 3 for capturing images of a sealed container A during pressure application thereto by the pressurization device 2 from mutually different angles, and a ination device 4 for determining presence/absence of liquid leak from the sealed container A based on image information acquired by each image capture device 3. 2. The -leak inspection apparatus for a container according to the present invention may include an image capture device 3 configured to capture image of the entirety of a sealed container A conveyed under the upright posture with simultaneous application of pressure thereto at the rization-conveyance portion 1b, together with its background. 3. The -leak tion apparatus for a container according to the t invention may e a monitor or the like for displaying result of determination of presence/absence of liquid leak. 7172537_1 ters) P96406.NZ It is to be understood that, if any prior art publication is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other y.

In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of the ion, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word “comprise” or variations such as ises” or “comprising” is used in an inclusive sense, i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention.

Description of Reference Marks/Numerals 1 conveyance device 2 pressurization device 3 image capture device 4 determination device removal device 6 control device 7 conveyer belt 8 ance path A sealed container B image ation of discharged liquid C image information of background C1-C3 image area information 7172537_1 (GHMatters) P96406.NZ

Claims (6)

Claims

1. A liquid-leak inspection apparatus for determining the ce of a liquid leak in a container, the apparatus comprising: 5 a conveyer device for conveying a sealed container filled with liquid and having flexibility; a rization device for pressurizing the sealed container from an e of the container during conveyance thereof by the conveyer device; an image capture device for capturing an image of the sealed 10 container against a background during pressurization thereof by the pressurization device; and a determination device for determining the presence of a liquid leak from the sealed container, based on image information ned within a background portion of the image acquired by the image capture device, 15 wherein the determination device is configured to check the image information for a discharged liquid, discharged from the sealed container , included in the image information of the background portion of the image and to thereby determine the presence of a liquid leak from the sealed container when it is determined that discharged liquid is ed in the image 20 information of the background n of the image.

2. A -leak inspection apparatus for a container according to claim 1, wherein the determination device is configured to divide the image information of the background portion of the image into multiple image 25 information areas adjacent each other and to check whether the image information of the discharged liquid is included in at least two of the multiple image information areas , and to determine the presence of a liquid leak from the sealed container when it is ined that discharged liquid is included in at least two of the multiple image information areas.

3. A liquid-leak inspection apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: a ance path of the conveyer device; and a removal device capable of removing the sealed container from the 35 conveyance path, when the determining device determines the presence of a liquid leak from the sealed container. 7172537_1 (GHMatters) P96406.NZ

4. A liquid-leak inspection apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a control device for controlling operation of the removal device to remove the sealed ner on which the presence of a liquid leak 5 has been determined by the determining device.

5. A liquid-leak inspection apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the pressurization device comprises a conveyer belt included in the conveyer device, the conveyer belt being capable of 10 gripping-conveyance in which the sealed container is gripped for conveyance while being pressurized.

6. A -leak inspection apparatus for a container substantially as hereinbefore bed with reference to the accompanying 15 gs. 7172537_1 (GHMatters) P96406.NZ pofifion position F 9. 3 1b(2 ) l P”"“A