JPH0413240B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a device for installing and inspecting a cap on a plastic tube.

[Conventional technology]

Recently, many tubes used as containers for toothpaste, medicines, etc. are made of plastic. Such a tube is completed by forming a main body by molding a plastic laminate film into a cylindrical shape, attaching a shoulder portion to one end of the main body, and attaching a cap to the shoulder portion.

When manufacturing such tubes, their handling is relatively cumbersome. In other words, the tube body, which is made of film formed into a cylindrical shape as described above, is lightweight, easily deformed, and has high elasticity, so when the tube body is transferred, it bounces and the edge of the tube body is exposed to the conveyor, etc. If the tube gets caught in the tube, the front and back of the tube body, on which characters, pictures, etc. are printed, may be reversed. For this reason,
Before each process such as forming the tube body, attaching the shoulder part, and attaching the cap, inspections such as turning the tube body back and forth, deformation, etc. must be performed, and a final completion inspection must also be performed. For this reason, the manufacturing process for such tubes inevitably requires a large number of inspection processes.

Traditionally, when manufacturing such tubes,
A device that performs each process of forming the tube body, attaching the shoulder part, and attaching the cap;
The test was carried out in a separate device from the inspection device, and the tubes were sequentially transported between these devices. For this reason, there was a problem in that the floor space required for installing these manufacturing devices became large. In addition, since the above-mentioned cap installation process is the final process, it is necessary to perform inspection before and after it, and since the tube is transported between many devices during this final process,
New defects such as deformation of the tube body may occur, increasing the incidence of defective products and reducing manufacturing efficiency.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and it incorporates and integrates an inspection mechanism into a cap mounting device to reduce the floor space required for installing the device.
Additionally, by performing multiple inspections within one device, the number of times tubes are transferred between devices is reduced, preventing the occurrence of new defects, improving manufacturing efficiency, and improving product quality. This is what we aim to do.

[Means for solving problems and their effects]

The present invention provides a front-rear inspection mechanism at a station in front of a cap mounting station, and uses this front-rear inspection mechanism to inspect the front-rear reversal of the tube.
In addition, a completion inspection mechanism is installed at the station after the cap installation station, and the front and rear ends of the tube are inspected to detect defects such as poor cap installation and deformation of the tube body. Then, the defective products are taken out, and defective products are separately discharged by a defective product discharge mechanism. Therefore, cap mounting and inspection can be performed within one device, reducing the floor space required for installing the device,
In addition, inspection is performed while the tube is attached to one device, and good products and defective products are automatically separated. Therefore, since these tubes are not transferred between multiple devices, new defects are not generated, and manufacturing efficiency and quality are improved.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 in the figure is the base of this device. and,
A rotary table 2 is attached to this base 1. This rotary table 2 is configured to rotate intermittently within a vertical plane. A plurality of mandrels 3 are protruded in the radial direction from the outer peripheral surface of the rotary table 2, and each set of two mandrels 3 has a total of 8 mandrels.
There are 16 groups in total. The rotary table 2 is configured to rotate intermittently by 45 degrees and stop at every eight stations. A loading mechanism 4 is provided at the first station. At this first station,
The mandrel 3 is horizontal. This loading mechanism 4
In this case, two tubes 20 without caps 23 are supplied from the tube holder 10, and these tubes 20 are moved horizontally by the loading mechanism 4, and are attached and held on a set of two mandrels 3. Ru.

Further, a second station after the rotary table 2 has been rotated by 45 degrees is provided with a front-rear inspection mechanism 5, which will be described later, to check whether the tube 20 is reversed front-rear or not.

Furthermore, a cap mounting mechanism 6 is provided at the next third station. The caps 23 are stored in the hopper 11, and these caps are transferred to the parts feeder 12, aligned by the parts feeder 12, and supplied to the cap mounting mechanism 6 described above. This cap mounting mechanism 6 chucks these caps 23, places them on the nozzle portion 22 of the tube 20, rotates the caps 23, and screws them onto the nozzle portion 22. Note that at this third station, the mandrel 3 is vertical.

Further, the fourth station is equipped with a completion inspection mechanism 7, which will be described later, and inspects the front and rear ends of the tube to which the cap is attached, and checks the attachment condition of the cap, deformation of the tube, etc. be inspected.

Furthermore, a good product removal mechanism 8 is provided at the next fifth station. This non-defective product extraction mechanism 8 horizontally moves only non-defective tubes that have passed the above inspection and extracts them from the mandrel 3.
This is sent to the next packaging process, etc. In addition,
At this fifth station, the mandrel 3 is horizontal.

Further, a defective product discharge mechanism 9 is provided at the next sixth station. This defective product discharge mechanism 9 extracts tubes of defective products that have failed the inspection from the mandrel 3 and sends them via a chute 13 to a defective product collection box (not shown).

Further, this device is provided with a control section 15, which is configured to control the operation of the entire device. Further, 14 is an operation panel.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, the above-mentioned front and rear inspection mechanism 5
Explain. In addition, in the second station where this front-back inspection mechanism 5 is provided, the mandrel 3
are inclined at 45°, but in FIG. 2 these mandrels 3 are shown in a vertical position for ease of understanding. This front and back inspection device 5 is provided with a pair of optical detectors 25. These optical detectors 25 each face the rear end of the tube 20 mounted on the mandrel 3, and are configured to irradiate the rear end with light and detect the reflected light. . These optics 25 are connected to the detection circuit by fiber optic cables 26. Further, in this station, the mandrel 3 is rotated by a rotational drive mechanism (not shown), and the tube 20 is also rotated together with the mandrel 3. Tube 2 above
A matching mark 21 is printed on the rear end of the tube 20, and when the tube 20 rotates and the matching mark 21 faces the optical detector 24, the intensity of the reflected light changes. This front-rear inspection mechanism determines whether or not the shoulder portion is attached to the front and rear of the main body of the tube, depending on whether or not the matching mark 21 is detected, and the result is transmitted to the control unit. Send to 15th.

Further, the completion inspection mechanism 7 is constructed as shown in FIG. At the fourth station where this completion inspection inspection mechanism is installed, the mandrel 2 is stopped at an angle of 45 degrees;
Similarly to the figure, the mandrel 3 is drawn vertically in this figure as well. This completion inspection mechanism is equipped with four image sensors 30a and 30b. Two of these image sensors 30a are arranged to face the front ends of the tubes 20 mounted on the two mandrels 3, and are configured to take images of the front ends of the tubes 20. ing. The remaining two units 30b are arranged to face the rear ends of these tubes 20, and are configured to take images of the rear ends of these tubes 20. Further, an illumination mechanism 31 is arranged on the opposite side of the tube 20 from the image sensor. This illumination mechanism 31 has a built-in light source 31 such as a fluorescent lamp, and is configured to irradiate the front end of the tube 20 with parallel light. Therefore, the image sensor 30a is
Illuminated from the opposite side by this lighting mechanism 31,
It is configured to be in a backlit state and to photograph the silhouettes or outlines of the front ends of these tubes 20.

In this completion inspection mechanism, the tube 20 rotates together with the mandrel 3, and the above image sensor 3
0a photographs the silhouettes of the front ends of these tubes 20, and the image sensor 30b photographs the rear ends of these tubes 20 and the matching marks 21 printed on the rear ends. Signals from these image sensors are then sent to a detection circuit, where these signals are analyzed and various tests are performed. First, it is checked from the image of the front end of the tube 20 whether the cap 23 is attached or not. Also, the distance from the top of the cap 23 to the rear edge of the tube 29 is calculated to check whether the cap 23 is completely screwed on. Further, from the image of the rear end of the tube 20, it is inspected whether the rear end of the tube has any deformation such as crushing. Furthermore, if the cap 23 is equipped with a lid that can be opened and closed, and the front of the lid needs to correspond to the front of the main body of the tube, an image of the front end of the tube 20 may be used. From this, calculate the rotational position of the tube corresponding to the front of this cap 23, and also calculate the position of the matching mark 21 at the rear end of this tube, and from these positional relationships, it is determined that the front of this cap 23 is in front of the tube body. It is checked whether the positional relationship is correct. In addition to this, it is also inspected to see if any unusual conditions are detected in the images of the front and rear ends of these tubes. These test results are then sent to the control section 15 described above.

The above-mentioned control section controls the operation of the above-mentioned good product take-out mechanism 8 based on the signals from the above-mentioned front and rear inspection mechanism 5 and completion inspection mechanism 7, takes out only good product tubes that have passed these inspections, and stores them in good product storage. Send it into a container or send it to the next packaging process, etc. Further, the remaining defective tubes of the mandrel 3 are taken out by a defective product discharging mechanism in the next sixth station and sent to a defective product collection box or the like via a chute 13 or the like.

In the above embodiment, cap mounting and multiple inspections can be performed simultaneously with one device, and the floor space required for installing the manufacturing device is reduced compared to the conventional method. Furthermore, there is no need to transport tubes between multiple devices for inspection, etc., and no new defects occur, improving manufacturing efficiency and product quality.

Further, in the above embodiment, eight sets of mandrels 3 are provided to protrude in the radial direction from the turntable 2 that rotates in a vertical plane, and the loading mechanisms 4 are respectively attached to the first and fifth stations where these mandrels 3 are horizontal. Since the cap mounting mechanism 6 is disposed at the third station where the mandrel 3 faces vertically upward, the tube 20 can be loaded and unloaded by horizontally moving it, making it relatively easy to handle. The troublesome loading and unloading of these tubes is ensured, and since the cap is attached to the upwardly facing tube from above, this attachment operation is ensured, and the structure of these mechanisms is also simplified. In addition, since the front-rear inspection mechanism 5 and the completion inspection mechanism 7 are arranged at the second and fourth stations where the mandrel 3 faces diagonally upward, the tube does not shift during these inspections, improving inspection accuracy.

In addition, in this embodiment, the completion inspection mechanism 7 is configured to irradiate light from the opposite direction to the image sensor and photograph the silhouette of the front end of the tube. The image of the front end of the shaped tube becomes simple, making it easy to analyze this image, reducing the number of incorrect inspections, and improving the accuracy of inspection.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, the structure of the turntable and mandrel,
The arrangement etc. are not necessarily limited to the above.
Also, the mandrels do not have to be in pairs,
They may be placed one by one.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention allows cap mounting and multiple inspections to be performed simultaneously with one device, which saves floor space required for installing manufacturing equipment, and also saves tube space when performing these inspections. Since there is no need to transfer the product between multiple devices, new defects will not occur, and the effects of this are significant, such as improving manufacturing efficiency and product quality.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figures show one embodiment of the present invention, with Fig. 1 being a front view of the entire device, Fig. 2 being a perspective view showing the main parts of the front and back inspection mechanism, and Fig. 3 being a perspective view showing the main parts of the completion inspection mechanism. It is. 2... Turntable, 3... Mandrel, 4... Loading mechanism,
5... Front and rear inspection mechanism, 6... Cap attachment mechanism, 7...
Completion inspection mechanism, 8... Good product removal mechanism, 9... Defective product discharge mechanism, 20... Tube, 23... Cap, 2
5... Optical detector, 30a, 30b... Image sensor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotary table that is driven to rotate intermittently and stops at each of a plurality of work stations, and a tube that is attached to the rotary table and has a shoulder section attached to one end of the cylindrical tube body. a mandrel that can be held and rotated freely; a loading mechanism that is provided at a first station and that loads the tube onto the mandrel;
The alignment mark printed on the rear end of the tube body of the tube provided at the next second station is optically detected, and depending on the presence or absence of this alignment mark, the front and back of the tube body is reversed. a front-rear inspection mechanism for detecting whether or not the cap is attached, a cap attachment mechanism for attaching the cap to the shoulder portion of the tube provided at the next third station, and a front end of the rotating tube provided at the next fourth station. The completion inspection mechanism is equipped with an image sensor that optically detects the upper end and the rear end of the tube, and detects the installation state of the cap and the deformation of the tube body. A tube cap mounting and inspection device comprising: a mechanism for taking out non-defective tubes from a mandrel; and a defective discharge mechanism provided at a next sixth station and discharging defective tubes.