JP4131463B2 - Lighting equipment for container inspection - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an illumination device for inspecting a container such as a glass bottle, and in particular, a translucent container that is a foreign container existing at the bottom of an empty container or a container filled with a liquid, dirt attached to the container bottom, or the like. The present invention relates to a container inspection illumination device for illuminating the bottom of a container when detecting by imaging.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, a translucent container such as a glass bottle is inspected by illuminating the container and taking an image with a CCD camera or the like in order to detect foreign matter existing inside the container or dirt attached to the inside of the container. ing. In a container filled with a liquid, foreign substances often exist at the bottom of the container. As an apparatus for inspecting foreign matter existing at the bottom of a translucent container such as a glass bottle, there is a container foreign matter inspection apparatus. In the container foreign matter inspection apparatus, the container is illuminated from the side of the container, the light transmitted through the bottom of the container is imaged by the CCD camera, and the obtained image is processed by the image processing device to present the foreign matter present at the bottom of the container. Is detected. In this case, when the foreign matter is a light-shielding foreign matter, the foreign matter appears as a dark shadow in the background of a predetermined brightness in the image obtained by the CCD camera, and this dark shadow is reflected by the image processing apparatus. The foreign matter is detected by the discrimination. Further, when the foreign matter is a reflective foreign matter such as a glass piece, the foreign matter is irregularly reflected and brightly shines. Therefore, in the image obtained by the CCD camera, a bright spot (or region) in the background of a predetermined brightness ), And this bright spot (or region) is discriminated by an image processing apparatus to detect foreign matter.
[0003]
In the container foreign matter inspection apparatus described above, inspection is performed while the container is being transported along a predetermined transport path, and the container is normally supported from the side of the transport path of the container that is supported by the star wheel and the lower part of the container. The bottom of the container is photographed by a CCD camera from below the container to inspect for the presence of foreign matter. In this case, in order to allow as much illumination light as possible to enter the container, illumination cannot be installed before and after the container transport path. Therefore, arc-shaped illumination is installed on both sides of the container transport path to It is devised so that illumination also enters the front and rear surfaces in the transport direction.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the method in which the arc-shaped illumination described above is provided on both sides of the container conveyance path and the lower part of the container is illuminated from both sides, illumination light cannot be incident on the container from before and after the container conveyance path. There is a problem that the brightness becomes uneven. That is, when the illumination light is artificially incident on the entire circumference of the container with two arc-shaped illuminations, the container can be illuminated relatively uniformly when the diameter of the container is small. As the diameter increases, it becomes impossible to illuminate uniformly. And when a container becomes larger than a predetermined diameter, there exists a problem that the part which illumination light does not enter finally arises.
[0005]
The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances described above, and can illuminate the container from before and after the conveyance path of the container, light can enter the container from the entire circumference of the container, and the bottom of the container An object of the present invention is to provide a lighting device for inspecting a container that can reliably detect a foreign object, a defect in the bottom of the container, and the like.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a container inspection lighting device according to the present invention includes two star wheels adjacent to each other for moving a plurality of supplied containers supported by a plurality of pockets provided on an outer peripheral portion. An inspection illumination apparatus installed in an inspection apparatus for a container disposed, wherein each mirror of the two star wheels has a mirror having a mirror surface that covers a substantially half circumference of the container to be supported by the pocket. Provided with illumination under the position where the two opposing pockets of the two star wheels are combined, the container is supported by one star wheel, moved and sandwiched between the other star wheels, when sandwiched together with two pockets, through a mirror provided on the two pockets light is combined from the illumination incident from the entire circumference of the container into the container, the lighting multi A plurality of light emitters having light axes whose optical axes are oriented in the vertical direction and light emitters inclined in a predetermined direction from the vertical direction. It is characterized by including a body .
[0007]
According to the present invention, the container supplied to one star wheel is supported and transported by the star wheel, and is sandwiched by the other star wheel during this transport, and the container is sandwiched by the two combined pockets. At this time, the outer periphery of the container is surrounded by two mirror surfaces provided in two combined pockets, light from the illumination is incident on the two mirror surfaces, and the reflected light from the mirror surface is reflected by the body of the container. Uniformly incident on the entire circumference of the part.
According to the present invention, a sufficient amount of light can be ensured by the light emitters arranged in a multiple ring shape, and the amount of light can be secured so as not to cause a detection error of a foreign substance in the container.
According to the present invention, foreign substances such as glass pieces can be illuminated from all directions by directing the axes of many light emitters in a desired direction.
[0008]
According to one aspect of the present invention, the mirror surface of the mirror is substantially semi-conical.
According to the present invention, the light from the illumination is reflected by the substantially semi-conical mirror surface, and this reflected light travels in the horizontal direction or in a direction inclined slightly downward from the horizontal direction to enter the container from the outer periphery of the container. Incident.
[0011]
The container inspection apparatus according to the present invention includes the container inspection illumination device and a CCD camera provided below the illumination in the container inspection illumination device, and includes two pockets of the two star wheels. When the two are combined, the bottom of the container is photographed by the CCD camera.
According to the present invention, the two pockets of the two star wheels are combined and reflected by the mirrors provided in the two pockets combined with the light, and the reflected light is uniformly incident on the entire circumference of the container. When the inside of the container is uniformly illuminated, the bottom of the container can be photographed with a CCD camera. Therefore, it is possible to reliably detect foreign matter existing inside the container.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of an illumination device for inspection of a container according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, a case of a glass bottle will be described as an example of a container.
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an overall configuration of a container foreign matter inspection apparatus provided with a container inspection illumination apparatus. In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which whether or not a reflective foreign matter such as a glass piece exists on the bottom of a glass bottle by a foreign substance inspection device for a container is described. The container foreign matter inspection apparatus includes two star wheels installed adjacent to each other, that is, a first star wheel 1 and a second star wheel 2. A plurality of semicircular pockets 1 a are formed on the outer periphery of the first star wheel 1 to engage the body of the glass bottle 3 and hold the glass bottle 3. A plurality of semicircular pockets 2 a are formed on the outer periphery of the second star wheel 2 to engage with the body of the glass bottle 3 and hold the glass bottle 3. The first star wheel 1 and the second star wheel 2 are rotated synchronously, the first star wheel 1 is rotated in the direction of arrow A, and the second star wheel 2 is rotated in the direction of arrow B.
[0013]
Further, a hook holding belt 4 that engages with the bottle body of the glass bottle 3 is provided, and the bottle holding belt 4 is supported by a plurality of pulleys 5. The glass bottle 3 is sandwiched between the first star wheel 1 and the bottle holding belt 4 and conveyed in the direction of arrow A. The first star wheel 1 and the second star wheel 2 constitute a pair of inspection star wheels, and the pockets 1a and 2a of the first star wheel 1 and the second star wheel 2 are formed on a pitch circle having the same diameter. Has been.
[0014]
2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the pockets 1 a and 2 a of the first star wheel 1 and the second star wheel 2 have a radius slightly larger than the radius of the outer peripheral surface of the glass bowl 3. On the lower surface of the first star wheel 1, a mirror 6 having a semi-circular outer shape having an inner peripheral edge with a radius slightly larger than the radius of the pocket 1a is attached. On the lower surface of the second star wheel 2, a mirror 7 having a semicircular outer shape having an inner peripheral edge with a radius slightly larger than the radius of the pocket 2a is attached. The mirror 6 has a semi-conical mirror surface 6a on the inner peripheral side, and the mirror surface 6a is formed to be inclined by a predetermined angle θ with respect to a horizontal plane. The mirror 7 has a semi-conical mirror surface 7 a on the inner peripheral side, and this mirror surface 7 a is formed to be inclined by a predetermined angle θ with respect to the horizontal plane.
[0015]
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the entire circumference of the body lower part 3 a of the glass bowl 3 is surrounded by mirror surfaces 6 a and 7 a of the mirrors 6 and 7. A ring-shaped illumination 8 is disposed below the mirrors 6 and 7. The light from the ring-shaped illumination 8 is reflected by the mirror surfaces 6a and 7a inclined at a predetermined angle θ and is incident on the lower portion 3a of the body portion 3 of the glass bowl 3. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the angle θ of the mirror surfaces 6a and 7a is set to an angle of 45 ° with respect to the horizontal plane, so that the light from the ring-shaped illumination 8 is reflected by the mirror surfaces 6a and 7a. Thus, the light enters the entire circumference of the lower portion 3a of the body portion 3a of the glass bowl 3 from a substantially horizontal direction.
[0016]
A CCD camera 10 is installed below the ring-shaped illumination 8. The optical axis of the CCD camera 10 coincides with the axis of the glass bottle 3 held by the first star wheel 1 and the second star wheel 2. The CCD camera 10 is connected to an image processing device (not shown).
[0017]
Next, the operation of the container foreign matter inspection apparatus configured as described above will be described.
The glass bottle 3 is supplied to the first star wheel 1 via a conveyor and an infeed screw. The supplied glass bottle 3 is supported and conveyed by the first star wheel 1 and is sandwiched by the second star wheel 2 during the conveyance. The first star wheel 1 and the second star wheel 2 rotate in synchronism, and the glass basket 3 has two star wheels at a position where the pockets 1a and 2a of the first star wheel 1 and the second star wheel 2 are combined. 1 and 2. At this time, the ring illumination 8 enters the semi-conical mirror surfaces 6 a and 7 a of the mirrors 6 and 7, and the reflected light reflected by these mirror surfaces 6 a and 7 a is incident on the body lower part 3 a of the glass bowl 3.
[0018]
When the two pockets 1a and 2a of the star wheels 1 and 2 are combined, the outer periphery of the lower portion 3a of the barrel 3 of the glass bowl 3 is a truncated cone-shaped mirror surface 6a and 7a except for a slight gap g between the mating surfaces. It will be surrounded by. Therefore, the reflected light from the mirror surfaces 6a and 7a is uniformly incident on the entire periphery of the lower part 3a of the body of the glass bottle 3, and as a result, the inside of the glass bowl 3 is illuminated uniformly. At this time, the bottom of the glass bottle 3 is photographed by the CCD camera 10 and the obtained image is processed by the image processing device to determine whether or not a foreign substance such as a glass piece is present inside the bottle bottom. Can do. That is, when a glass piece is present at the bottom of the heel, when the reflected light from the mirror surfaces 6a and 7a is incident on the glass piece, the glass piece is irregularly reflected and shines brightly. It appears as a bright spot (or area) in the background of the brightness, and a glass piece can be detected by discriminating this bright spot (or area) with an image processing apparatus. And the glass bottle 1 after an inspection is further conveyed by the 1st star wheel 1, and is conveyed by the next process by an exit conveyor etc. after that.
[0019]
4 and 5 are diagrams showing examples in which the mirror surfaces 6a and 7a of the mirrors 6 and 7 have different inclination angles. In the example of FIG. 4, the angle θ of the mirror surfaces 6a and 7a is set to 30 degrees. . According to the mirror surfaces 6a and 7a shown in FIG. 4, light incident on the mirror surfaces 6a and 7a from the ring-shaped illumination 8 is reflected by the mirror surfaces 6a and 7a and reflected further downward in the horizontal direction. In the example shown in FIG. 5, mirror surfaces 6a and 7a of mirrors 6 and 7 have lower mirror surfaces 6a1 and 7a1 having an inclination angle of 45 ° with respect to the horizontal plane, and an inclination angle of 30 ° with respect to the horizontal plane. The upper mirror surfaces 6a2 and 7a2 are provided. According to the mirror shown in FIG. 5, the light incident on the mirror surfaces 6a and 7a from the ring-shaped illumination 8 is divided into two types of reflected light: reflected light reflected in the horizontal direction and reflected light inclined downward from the horizontal direction. The light enters the body lower part 3a of the glass bottle 3. As in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, it is possible to make illumination light of various angles incident on the lower part 3 a of the glass bowl 3 by changing the reflection angle of the mirror in various ways.
[0020]
FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of ring-shaped illumination, and FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an optical path in which light from a light-emitting body of ring-shaped illumination is reflected by a mirror and the reflected light enters a glass bottle. . As shown in FIG. 6, the ring-shaped illumination 8 is composed of a ring-shaped illumination in which a large number of light emitters such as LEDs (light emitting diodes) are arranged in a triple concentric manner. That is, the first, second and third light emitter rows are arranged on concentric circles having diameters d1, d2 and d3, respectively. Each of the first light emitters 11a is arranged so that its optical axis x is oriented in the vertical direction, and is set to project light in the vertical direction toward the mirror surfaces 6a and 6b. Each of the second light emitters 11b is arranged such that its optical axis x is inclined radially inward toward the axis of the glass bottle and is inclined clockwise on the circumference of the diameter d2. . Each triplet of light emitters 11c is disposed such that its optical axis x is inclined radially inward toward the axis of the glass bottle and is inclined counterclockwise on the circumference of the diameter d3. .
[0021]
FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing an optical path L of light from the second light emitter 11b. As shown in FIG. 7, the light from the second light emitter 11b is reflected by the mirror surface 6b. Then, the reflected light is incident on the glass bowl 3 in an offset state without facing the axis O of the glass bowl 3.
[0022]
FIG. 8A to FIG. 8C are diagrams showing optical paths in which the light from the light emitters 11a, 11b, and 11c is reflected by the mirror surface and then the reflected light enters the glass bottle.
After the light from the first light emitter 11a is reflected by the mirror surface, the reflected light is incident in the radial direction toward the axis O of the glass bottle as shown in FIG. After the light from the second light emitter 11b is reflected on the mirror surface, the reflected light is offset without facing the axis of the glass bottle 3 as shown in FIG. 8B. Is incident on. After the light from the triplet illuminant 11c is reflected by the mirror surface, the reflected light is offset without facing the axis of the glass bottle 3 as shown in FIG. 8 (c). Is incident on.
[0023]
In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 8A to 8C, a case where a glass piece is detected as a foreign object is shown. The light from the first light emitter 11a is reflected by the mirror surface, and the reflected light enters the glass bowl 3 as shown in FIG. 8 (a). As a result, the side surfaces 15a and 15c of the glass piece 15 shine brightly. . The light from the second light emitter 11b is reflected by the mirror surface, and the reflected light is incident as shown in FIG. 8B. As a result, the side surface 15b of the glass piece 15 shines brightly. The light from the triplet illuminant 11c is reflected by the mirror surface and the reflected light is incident as shown in FIG. 8C. As a result, the side surface 15d of the glass piece 15 shines brightly. In this way, by directing the axes of many light emitters arranged in a triple concentric manner in a desired direction, the glass piece can be illuminated from various directions, and the glass piece can be detected reliably. it can.
[0024]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the container inspection illumination device of the present invention, it is possible to illuminate the container from before and after the container conveyance path, and it is possible to make light enter the container from the entire circumference of the container. . Therefore, the inside of the container can be illuminated uniformly.
Further, according to the container inspection apparatus of the present invention, since the bottom of the container can be photographed by the CCD camera in a state where the inside of the container is uniformly illuminated, it is possible to reliably detect the foreign matter at the bottom of the container.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the overall configuration of a container foreign matter inspection apparatus including a container inspection illumination device according to the present invention.
2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example in which the tilt angle of the mirror surface of the mirror is different in an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example in which the tilt angle of the mirror surface of the mirror in the embodiment of the present invention is different.
FIG. 6 is a plan view of ring-shaped illumination in one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an optical path in which light from a light emitter in a ring illumination according to the present invention is reflected by a mirror and the reflected light enters a glass bottle.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a path through which light from a light emitter in the ring illumination of the present invention is reflected by a mirror surface and the reflected light enters a glass bottle.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 1st star wheel 1a, 2a Pocket 2 2nd star wheel 3 Glass casket 3a Body lower part 4 壜 Holding belt 5 Pulley 6, 7 Mirror 6a, 6a1, 6a2, 7a, 7a1, 7a2 Mirror surface 8 Illumination 10 CCD camera 11 , 11a, 11b, 11c Light emitter 15 Glass pieces 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d Side face d1, d2, d3 of glass piece Diameter g Clearance x Optical axis L of light emitter L Optical path O Center axis of glass rod

Claims (3)

An inspection illumination device installed in an inspection device for a container in which two star wheels are arranged adjacent to each other to support and move a plurality of supplied containers in a plurality of pockets provided on the outer periphery,
In each pocket of the two star wheels, a mirror having a mirror surface is provided so as to cover substantially half the circumference of the container to be supported by the pocket,
Illumination is provided below the position where the two opposing pockets of the two star wheels meet,
When the container is supported by one star wheel and moves and is sandwiched between the other star wheels and is sandwiched between the two pockets combined, the light from the illumination is provided in the two pockets combined. Incident on the entire circumference of the container through the mirror ,
The illumination comprises a ring illumination in which a large number of light emitters are arranged in a multiple ring shape,
The illuminating device for inspecting a container, wherein the plurality of light emitters include a light emitter whose optical axis is oriented in a vertical direction and a light emitter inclined in a predetermined direction from the vertical direction .   2. The illumination device for inspecting a container according to claim 1, wherein the mirror surface of the mirror is substantially in the shape of a truncated cone. A lighting device for inspecting a container according to claim 1 or 2 ,
A CCD camera provided below the illumination in the illumination device for inspection of the container,
A container inspection apparatus for photographing a container bottom by the CCD camera when two pockets of the two star wheels are combined.

Images