JPS5940241B2 - Simultaneous inspection device for ampoule and liquid level - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inspection device that is capable of simultaneously inspecting the height of an apple for storing a prescribed amount of an injection solution or the like and the level of its contents.

Conventional technology and its problems When manufacturing apples, inspections are carried out to check whether the liquid inside the apple is filled as specified and whether the height of the sealed apple after being filled with the liquid satisfies the standards. There must be.

This inspection must be performed quickly and accurately in line with Apple's filling and sealing processes, and if this inspection is delayed, no matter how much efficiency we improve in other manufacturing processes, it will be meaningless. Don't do it.

Therefore, increasing the efficiency of inspection is an extremely important element in increasing the efficiency of Apple manufacturing.

Incidentally, in order to increase production efficiency, it is particularly desirable to perform this apple inspection while the apple is still on the conveyance line, and to perform each inspection item as simultaneously as possible.

Purpose of the Invention This invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to inspect whether or not the liquid inside the apple is filled as specified, and to check whether the liquid is filled in the apple. It is possible to simultaneously and quickly test whether the height of sealed apples meets the standard, and the equipment required for this can be significantly simpler than when testing each one individually. Our objective is to provide a simultaneous inspection device for Apple and liquid levels.

Structure and Effects of the Invention In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention scans the light transmittance of each part in the width direction central part of the ampoule on the conveyance line in the height direction of the ampoule and outputs it in time series. light transmittance detection means; level detection means for detecting that each light transmittance output in time series from the light transmittance detection means exceeds a predetermined threshold; , a first time period discriminating means for determining that the current scanning time point within the scanning period corresponds to a second time period corresponding to the ampoule top level; a second time period discriminating means for discriminating whether the scanning period is a predetermined reference point in the scanning period; a first timer that terminates the timekeeping operation in response to detection of a time period exceeding the second time period; a second timer for terminating the timer operation in response to the level detection means detecting that the threshold value has been exceeded; The present invention is characterized in that it is configured to be output as a level and an ampoule height level.

With this configuration, it is possible to simultaneously inspect whether the liquid content of the ampoule is filled as specified and whether the height of the ampoule filled with the liquid content and sealed meets the standard. It can be carried out quickly, and the main parts of the equipment used for this purpose, such as optical scanning devices, are now commonly used for the above two types of inspections, making it much simpler than performing individual inspections. be able to.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a circuit for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. First, an optical scanning device 1, a control signal generating section 2
, a clock signal generator 3, and first and second counters 4, 5, etc.

As an example of the optical scanning device 1 is shown in FIG.
By arranging the light emitting part 1a and the light receiving part 1b to face each other and having one of them perform line scanning, it is possible to detect the distribution state of light transmittance in the linear part sandwiched between them. It is something. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, scanning is performed in the height direction of the ampoule 7 that has been filled and sealed and is being conveyed upright on the conveyance line 6, and the light transmission in the scanning line direction is arranged to detect a rate distribution condition.

The control signal generating unit 2 controls the optical scanning device 1 when the center portion P (widthwise center portion of the ampoule) of the ampoule 7 carried on the conveyance line 6 is located on the scanning line of the optical scanning device 1. A driving signal for operating the optical scanning device 1 is generated, and a synchronizing pulse signal for scanning is generated and sent to the optical scanning device 1.

Here, as means for detecting that the central portion P of the ampoule 7 is located on the scanning line, although not shown, a photoelectric relay or the like provided separately from the optical scanning device 1 is used.

As a result, the optical scanning device 1 operates when the central portion P of the ampoule 7 is located on the scanning line, and repeatedly detects the light transmittance of each portion of the central portion P by scanning in the height direction. It becomes like this.

Note that the scanning direction in this case may be from either the top or the bottom, but in this embodiment, it is assumed that the scanning is performed from the bottom to the top. The control signal generator 2 is further capable of emitting first and second gate signals having respective set phase differences and widths with respect to the synchronizing pulse signal during the scanning period. .

Then, the first gate signal is transmitted to the first two inputs A, which will be described later.
The second gate signal is input to one logic input of the ND gate G1, and the second gate signal is input to one logic input of a second two-input AND gate G2, which will be described later.

A Schmitt circuit 8 is connected to the other logic input of the first and second two-input AND gates Gl and G2, and is configured to generate a logic signal when the detection output of the optical scanning device 1 exceeds a set threshold Th. The Schmitt outputs of each are inputted.

Therefore, when the first gate signal exists and the detection output of the scanning device 1 exceeds the threshold Th, the first gate signal
A logical AND output appears from the input AND gate G1. Further, when there is a second gate signal and the detection output of the scanning device 1 exceeds the threshold Th, the first two-input AND
An AND output appears from gate G2.

Next, the AND output from the first two-input AND gate G1 is applied to the first R-S flip-flop F1, which will be described later, and also to the second two-input AND gate G.
The AND outputs from F2 are respectively input to the reset input R of a second R-S flip-flop F2, which will be described later.

These first and second R-S flip-flops Fl, F2
A set signal generated in synchronization with a synchronizing pulse signal is simultaneously applied to each set input S from the control signal generating section 2.

As a result, the first and second R-S flip-flops Fl
, F2 are set at the start of each scan of the optical scanning device 1. Then, the first two inputs AND
The AND output of gate G1 sets the first R-S flip-flop F1, and also sets the second two-input AND
The AND output of gate G2 sets the second R-S flip-flop F2.

The set output Q of the first R-S flip-flop F1 is
The set output Q of the second R-S flip-flop F2 is input to one logic input of a third 2-input AND gate G3, which will be described later, and to one logic input of a fourth 2-input AND gate G4, which will be described later. has been done.

The third and fourth two-input AND gates G3 and G4 each have a clock pulse generated by the clock signal generator 3 inputted to each other logic input thereof.

As a result, from the AND output of the third 2-input AND gate G3, while the first R-S flip-flop F1 is in the set state, and from the AND output of the fourth 2-input AND gate G4, the While the two R-S flip-flops F2 are in the set state, a clock pulse is generated, respectively.

The tally pulse emitted from the AND output of the third 2-input AND gate G3 is applied to the counting force of the first counter 4, and the tally pulse emitted from the AND output of the fourth 2-input AND gate G4 is applied to the count value of the first counter 4. 2 and 4 respectively. The counts of the first and second counters 4 and 5 are cleared to zero by a set signal issued from the control signal generator 2, respectively.

As a result, the first counter 4 is operated after the set signal is issued until the logical product output is issued from the first two-input AND gate G1, and the second counter 5 is operated after the set signal is issued. to the second two-input AND gate G2
The clock pulses are counted between the clock pulses and the logical AND output. The count contents of the first counter 4 are stored in a storage device 9, and the average value is calculated for each ampoule in an average value calculation/comparison circuit 10, and this average value is stored in a fixed storage device (ROM). 11 is compared with a reference value stored in advance, and the comparison result is output.

Further, the counted contents of the second counter 4 enter the maximum value calculation/comparison circuit 12, where the maximum value is calculated for each ampoule, and this maximum value is compared with a preset reference value. The comparison results are now output.

FIGS. 4A to 4J show an example of the operation of each part of each circuit. First, when the central part P of the ampoule 7 on the conveyance line 6 is located on the scanning line of the optical scanning device 1, the control A synchronizing pulse signal is now emitted from the signal generator 2, and thereby the optical scanning device 1 scans the ampoule 7 from below to above, and detects the light transmittance of the portion along the scanning line.

Figure A shows how the detection output changes, and the output level changes when the scanning point by the optical scanning device 1 reaches the liquid level 7a of the ampoule 7 and when the ampoule 7 is cut. When it reaches the neck 7b to be used and when it reaches the top 7c of the ampoule 7, it exhibits a change that exceeds the threshold Th below.

Figure B shows the pulse output from the Schmidt circuit that is emitted when the detection output exceeds the threshold Th. When it comes, and the top 7c of the ampoule 7
It is emitted when each person arrives.

3C shows a clock pulse generated from the clock signal generator 3, which is input to the other logic input of the third and fourth two-input AND gates G3 and G4.

What is shown in FIG. D is a set signal issued from the control signal generator 2. When this signal is issued, the counts of the first and second counters 4 and 5 are cleared to zero, and
First and second R-S flip-flops Fl and F2 are set to transfer the clock pulses to the first and second counters 4, 4,
5 each count will lead to human power.

E in the same figure shows the first gate signal emitted from the control signal generator 2, and the output of this signal is constant before and after the scanning point passes the content liquid level 7a filled with a specified amount in the ampoule 7. The phase difference and width are set in advance so as to be held for a time T, and when this signal is present and a pulse output is generated from the Schmitt circuit 8, the first two inputs AN
An AND output is issued from D gate G1 to reset the first R-S flip-flop F1.

Also, what is shown in FIG. The phase difference and width are set in advance so that the signal is maintained for a certain period of time T2 before and after passing the top 7c of the ampoule 7, and when this signal is present, a pulse output is generated from the Schmitt circuit 8. , second two-input AN
An AND output is issued from the D gate G2 and the second R-
The S flip-flop F2 is reset. G in the same figure is
At the set output Q of the first R-S flip-flop F1,
While this set output Q is held, the clock pulse is applied to the third two-input AND gate G3 as shown in H in the same figure.
After that, the counting power of the first counter 4 is entered. Figure 1 is
At the set output Q of the second R-S flip-flop F2,
While this set output Q is held, the clock pulse is applied to the fourth two-input AND gate G4, as shown in FIG.
After that, the counting power of the first counter 4 is entered.

In this way, the first counter 4 is controlled until the scanning point of the optical scanning device 1 reaches the liquid level 7a of the ampoule 7, and the second counter 5 is controlled until the scanning point of the optical scanning device 1 reaches the top 7c of the ampoule 7. Count the above-mentioned black tsuta pulses until reaching .

At this time, the count content of the first counter 4 is
The content of the liquid level 7a corresponds to the height of the content liquid level 7a, and the count of the second counter 5 corresponds to the height of the top 7c of the ampoule 7, respectively.

Therefore, depending on the count of the first counter 4, it can be determined whether the liquid content in the ampoule 7 is filled as specified, and the height of the ampoule 7 can be determined according to the count of the second counter 5. It becomes possible to simultaneously know whether or not the values are consistent with each other each time the optical scanning device 1 performs one scan.

The height of the ampoule and the height of the liquid content may be detected by scanning only one ampoule, but in order to do this more reliably, it is possible to detect the height of the ampoule and the liquid level.
As shown in the figure, the central part P of each ampoule 7 is scanned many times over a certain width w, and the detected values obtained at each scanning time, that is, the first and second counters 4 ，
5 may be input into the average value calculation/comparison circuit 10 and the maximum value calculation/comparison circuit 12 as described above.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention,
Figure 2 is a front view showing the arrangement of the optical scanning device;
The figure is a side view showing the scanning range of the optical scanning device, Fig. 4A
-J is a waveform chart showing the operation of each part of the circuit shown in FIG. 1. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Optical scanning device, 2... Control signal generator, 3... Clock generator, 4...
...first counter, 5...second counter,
6... Conveyance line, 7... Ampoule,
7a...Content liquid level, 7b...Neck, 7
c...Top, 8...Schmitt circuit,
G1~G4...AND gate.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A light transmittance detecting means that scans the light transmittance of each part in the width direction central part of the ampoule on the conveyance line in the height direction of the ampoule and outputs it in time series; a level detecting means for detecting that each light transmittance output from the above exceeds a predetermined threshold;
a first time period discriminating means for discriminating that the current scanning time point within the scanning period corresponds to a second time period corresponding to the ampoule top level; band discrimination means; starts a timing operation at a predetermined reference point in the scanning period, and responds when the level detection means detects that a threshold value is exceeded within a period corresponding to the first time period; a first timer that starts the timer at a predetermined reference point in the scanning cycle, and within a period corresponding to the second time period;
a second timer for terminating the timekeeping operation in response to the level detection means detecting that the threshold value has been exceeded; A simultaneous inspection device for ampoule and liquid level, characterized in that it is configured to output as a height level.