JPH10249930A - Apparatus and method for detecting heating state of blank for molding container - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect a heating state of a blank for molding a container with high accuracy. SOLUTION: An infrared camera 4 photographs a preform 100 heated by hater elements 3a to 3f. An image processor divides image information of the preform 100 connected to the camera 4 at each heater element, binarizes it to partition it into two pixel groups, and detects the heating state of the preform 100 based on the pixel group information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for detecting a heated state of a container forming material suitable for use in detecting the heated state of a container forming material, for example, before forming a molded container.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, plastic materials are classified into thermoplastic resins and thermosetting resins due to a large difference in change in state with respect to heat. Among these, thermoplastic resins have good moldability and mass production. Due to its advantages, such as being possible, it is used in many industrial fields.

[0003] A molding container such as a PET bottle is formed by using a molding material made of the thermoplastic resin in, for example, a manufacturing field of a molding container.

Usually, such a molding container is formed by extruding a tube-shaped preform (material for molding a container) by heating and melting a plastic material by an extruder, and then guiding the preform into a mold. It is manufactured by blowing compressed air into the interior. At this time, in order to improve the quality reliability of the molding container, it is necessary to uniformly heat the preform before being guided into the mold, and therefore, it is necessary to detect the heating state of this preform using a heating state detection device. Is performed.

Conventionally, in this kind of apparatus for detecting the heating state of a material for forming a container, the heating temperature of the preform is measured by an infrared radiation thermometer, and the heating state of the preform is detected based on this temperature information. .

[0006]

However, in the conventional apparatus for detecting the heating state of a material for molding a container, the heating state of the preform is detected by a single infrared radiation thermometer. Temperature information of the preform cannot be obtained, and the detection of the heating state of the preform with high accuracy cannot be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and by performing a skillful image processing on image information of a container molding material obtained by photographing with an infrared camera, a container is detected when a heating state is detected. An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a method for detecting a heating state of a container molding material, which can obtain temperature information of the entire molding material and can thereby perform highly accurate heating state detection.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for detecting a heated state of a material for forming a container, comprising: an infrared camera for photographing the material for forming a container heated by a heater; And an image processing device connected to the infrared camera for performing image processing on photographing information of the container molding material to detect a heated state of the container molding material.

More specifically, the image processing is divided into two pixel groups by performing a binarization process, and the image processing is performed based on the pixel group information. Alternatively, as described in claim 3, the image processing is performed by performing gray processing and comparing with gray scale.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for detecting a heated state of a container forming material according to the first, second or third aspect.
The heater is composed of a plurality of heater elements, and the image processing apparatus divides the photographing information for each part corresponding to the plurality of heater elements and performs image processing.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for detecting a heated state of a container molding material, comprising: photographing a pre-heated container molding material with an infrared camera; This is a method of detecting the heating state of the container forming material based on the pixel group information after the pixel group is divided.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the method for detecting a heated state of a container molding material according to the fifth aspect, the binarization process is performed by dividing photographing information of the container molding material into a plurality of pieces of image information. There is.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the method for detecting a heated state of a container molding material according to the fifth or sixth aspect, the density difference of the heated portion in the container molding material is grayed out when the pixel grouping is performed. There is a method to obtain by processing.

The invention according to claim 8 is a method for detecting the heating state of a container molding material according to claim 5, 6, or 7.
The heating state of the container forming material is detected by measuring the area of one of the two pixel groups and comparing the measured value with a specified value.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the method for detecting a heated state of a container molding material according to any one of the fifth to eighth aspects, the container molding material is a preform. Similarly, the invention according to claim 10 uses the container forming material as a cup forming sheet, and the invention according to claim 11 uses the container forming material as a film pouch.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described.
This will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an apparatus for detecting a heated state of a container forming material according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an apparatus for detecting a heated state of a container forming material according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view. In FIG. 1, the apparatus for detecting a heating state of a container molding material denoted by reference numeral 1 includes a turntable 2, a heater 3, an infrared camera 4, and an image processing device 5.

The rotary table 2 is a disk-shaped table having a rotary shaft 2a at the center thereof.
It is configured to be able to rotate at a predetermined rotational speed in the direction indicated by. A transport path 6 for transporting a preform 100 as a container forming material is formed on the periphery of the turntable 2.

In the transport path 6, a number of rotary receiving tables 7 are arranged in parallel at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction. Each rotary pedestal 7 is a disk-shaped pedestal having a rotation axis (not shown) at the center thereof and on which the preform 100 can be placed. It is configured to be able to rotate at a predetermined rotational speed in the direction indicated by. As a result, the preform 100
Revolves around while rotating on the top.

The heater 3 is composed of two heaters arranged in parallel along the direction of rotation of the rotary table 2 and an infrared camera 4.
And is connected to an image processing device 5 (controller) via a heater output controller 8 for heating. Each of these heaters 3, 3 has six heater elements 3a to 3f whose heating positions with respect to the preform 100 are different from each other. The infrared camera 4 photographs the preform 100 on the rotary receiver 7 from the side at the photographing position.

The image processing device 5 has infrared thermal image processing means 9 and video image processing means 10. The infrared thermal image processing means 9 includes a thermal image capture control unit 11, a video monitor 12, and a keyboard 13, and the infrared camera 4
It is connected to the. The thermal image capture control unit 11 outputs a drive signal for driving an electronic shutter (not shown), and sets a shutter time or the like to control photographing.

The video monitor 12 performs gray processing on the thermal image of the preform 100 photographed by the infrared camera 4 to display the preform 100 as a video image in black and white (gray) shades according to the temperature. The temperature range determined on this video image is displayed in black and white (gray) shades, for example, on a temperature scale (gray scale) divided into 16 levels. Keyboard 1
3 sets / changes a specified value which is a reference for comparison with a measured value when the heating state of the preform 100 is detected.

On the other hand, the video image processing means 10 has a video image capture control section 14, an image memory 15, a video image processing section 16 and a controller 17, and is connected to the infrared thermal image processing means 9. The video image capture control unit 14 controls the drive of the thermal image capture control unit 11, the image memory 15 digitizes and stores the captured image,
The video image processing unit 16 performs processing such as binarization of image data. The controller 17 performs a series of processes in accordance with the processing data from the video image processing unit 16 and a preset processing procedure, and detects a heating state of the preform 100.

Next, a method for detecting the heating state of the container molding material according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for detecting a heating state of a container forming material according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[Heating of Container Forming Material (Step S
1)] Heating of the preform 100 as a container forming material is performed by the heater 3. That is, when the preform 100 is conveyed to the heater heating position along the rotation direction of the turntable 2 while rotating on the rotary receiving table 7, the preform 100 is heated by the heater elements 3a to 3f at this heater heating position.

[Capture of Thermal Image (Step S2)] Capture of the thermal image is performed by outputting a shutter instruction signal to the video image capture controller 14 by the controller 17. As a result, the video image capturing control section 14 outputs a shutter signal to the thermal image capturing control section 11. When the thermal image capture control unit 11 that has received the shutter signal outputs a camera control signal to the infrared camera 4, the infrared camera 4 captures an image of the preform 100 on the rotary receiver 7.

[Capture of Video Image (Step S
3)] The video image is captured by outputting a video signal from the thermal image capture control unit 11 to the image memory 15 and the video image processing unit 16. At this time, the video image capturing control unit 14 outputs an image capturing signal to the image memory 15 and the video image processing unit 16 and stores the video signal in the image memory 15 as video image information at a predetermined timing. indicate.

[Binarization Processing (Step S4)] The video image information is divided into six (the same number as the number of heater elements) video image information corresponding to the heating position of the preform 100 by the heater elements 3a to 3f. Then, each video image information is converted into a digital value of 256 gradations, for example, 256 digital values in the X direction and the Y direction, respectively.
The image data is stored in the image memory 15 in a divided state (256 × 256 pixels with an address name). When the value at this gradation is larger than the specified value, the image becomes bright (white), and when the value is low, the image becomes dark (black). In the case of this detection method, each video image information is scanned, and a binarization process is performed by calculating a density difference.

[Detection of Heating State of Container Forming Material (Step S5)] Detection of the heating state of the preform 100 is performed by using two pixel groups of light and dark (black and white) in each video image information obtained by performing the binarization processing. For example, the measurement is performed by measuring the area of a bright (white) pixel group and comparing the measured value with a preset specified value.

That is, the preform 1 by the heater 3
When the heating temperature of 00 is high, the “white” pixel area increases, and when the heating temperature is low, the “white” pixel area decreases. For this reason, the range of the “white” pixel area in the case where the heating temperature of the preform 100 is allowable is set in advance as a specified value, and if the measured value of the “white” pixel area is included in the allowable range, the preform The heating state of 100 is determined to be “good”. On the other hand, if the measured value of the “white” pixel area is out of the allowable range,
The heating state of the preform 100 is determined to be “defective”.
This determination is made for each piece of video image information divided according to the heating position of the preform 100 by the heater elements 3a to 3f.

The heating state of the preform 100 is also detected by comparing the video image of the preform 100 on the video monitor 12 with the temperature scale. That is, this is performed by comparing the degree of black and white (gray) shades of the preform 100 with the degree of black and white (gray) shades on the temperature scale (gray scale).

[Heating the next container molding material (step S
6)] In step S5, when the heating state of the preform 100 is determined to be “good” for each piece of video image information, a change instruction signal is not output to the heater output controller for heating (not shown). That is, the heater elements 3a to 3f
, The next preform 100 in the transport path 6 is heated without changing the current heating temperature.

[Adjustment of Heating Temperature of Heater (Step S)
7)] If it is determined in step S5 that the heating state of the preform 100 is "defective" with respect to a single piece of video image information, an instruction is given to change the current heating temperature of this video image information by the heater elements 3a to 3f. A signal is output from the controller 17 to the heater output controller 8 for heating.

In this case, if the measured value of the “white” pixel area is larger than the upper limit of the allowable range, the heater elements 3 a to 3
It is determined that the current heating temperature by f (for example, the heater element 3a) is high, and an instruction signal to lower the heating temperature by the heater element 3a is output to the heater output controller 8 for heating. If the measured value of the “white” pixel area is smaller than the lower limit of the allowable range, it is determined that the current heating temperature by the heater elements 3a to 3f (for example, the heater element 3b) is low, and the heating temperature by the heater element 3b is increased. An instruction signal is output to the heater output controller 8 for heating.

The heating temperature of each of the heater elements 3a to 3f can be adjusted by visually recognizing a video image on the video monitor 12 and outputting an instruction signal to the heater output controller 8 for heating.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an apparatus for detecting a heated state of a container forming material according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, the same members as those in FIG. I do. In the figure, the apparatus for detecting the heating state of the container molding material indicated by reference numeral 21 is a conveyor 2.
2, a heater 23, an infrared camera 4, and an image processing device 5.

The conveyor 22 comprises a conveyor for conveying a cup forming sheet 200 as a container forming material, and is configured to be able to move at a predetermined conveying speed in a direction indicated by an arrow S.

The heaters 23 are mutually connected to the conveyor 22.
And two upper and lower heaters facing each other, and are disposed upstream of a shooting position of the infrared camera 4. These heaters 23 are arranged vertically and horizontally in the same plane, and the cup forming sheet 200 on the conveyor 22 is arranged.
Has a total of 12 heater elements 23A to 23L in which the respective heating positions are different from each other.

In the heating state detecting method according to the present embodiment, the heating of the container molding material is performed by the heater element 23A.
To 23L, that the infrared camera 4 shoots the material for forming the container from above when capturing a thermal image, and that the heater heating temperature is adjusted for the heater elements 23A to 23L. Although different from the form, video image capture and 2
Since a series of processes such as the value conversion process is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an apparatus for detecting a heated state of a material for container molding according to a third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 5, the same members as those in FIGS. Description is omitted. Note that the heating state detection device in this embodiment is used as a welding quality determination device, and the heating state detection method is used as a welding quality determination method. In the figure, the apparatus 31 for detecting the heated state of the material for container molding (welding quality determination apparatus) indicated by the reference numeral 31 includes a conveyor 22, a heater 32, an infrared camera 4, and an image processing apparatus 5.

The heater 32 is composed of a pair of heaters 33 and 34, each of which is arranged in parallel in the direction of conveying the conveyor, and is arranged upstream of the position where the infrared camera 4 shoots.
Of these heaters 33 and 34, the upstream heater 33 is
Each of the upper and lower heaters is opposed to each other via a conveyor 22, and is configured to be movable in an arrow t direction perpendicular to both the conveyor width direction and the conveyor conveyance direction.

Since the heaters 33 are substantially the same, only one of them will be described. The upper heater 33 extends in the conveyor transport direction and is arranged in parallel at a predetermined interval in the conveyor width direction. It has three heater elements 33A, 33B, 33C. Among these heater elements 33A to 33C, the width dimension of the central heater element 33B is set to be larger than the width dimension of the heater elements 33A and 33C at both ends.

This is because the film pouches 300 placed on the conveyor 22 before heat sealing have the same shape in the width direction of the conveyor after the heat sealing.
This is because it is necessary to heat seal the central sealing portion of the film pouch 300 before the dividing over a region wider in the width direction of the conveyor than the sealing portions at both ends. As a result, the first heat seal portion 300A of the film pouch 300 is moved to the three first heater heating positions a,
Heated at b and c.

On the other hand, the downstream heater 34 is composed of two upper and lower heaters extending in the width direction of the conveyor and facing each other via the conveyor 22, between the infrared camera 4 and the heating position of the heater 33. It is arranged in. Each of these heaters 34 has a single heater element 34A. As a result, the second heat-sealed portion 3 of the film pouch 300 on the conveyor 22 before the division is performed.
00B is heated at the single second heater heating position d.

Next, a method for detecting the heated state of the material for container molding (method for judging the quality of welding) in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. Note that, in the same drawing, [Capture of Thermal Image (Step S2)] and [Capture of Video Image (Step S2)] in the present embodiment (third embodiment).
3)] is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

[Heating of Container Forming Material (Step S
1)] The heating of the film pouch 300 as the container forming material before the division is performed by the heaters 33 and 34. That is, first, when the film pouch 300 is transported along the transport direction of the conveyor 22 to the first heater heating positions a to c, these first heater heating positions a, b,
At c, the first heat seal portion 300A is heated by the heater elements 33A to 33C. Next, the film pouch 300 is moved in the second direction along the conveying direction of the conveyor 22.
When transported to the heater heating position d, the second heat seal portion 300B is heated by the heater element 34a at the second heater heating position d.

[Binarization Processing (Step S4)] The video image information is stored in the film pouch 30 by the heaters 33 and 34.
It is divided into four pieces of video image information corresponding to 0 heating positions ad. Then, for each piece of video image information, the same binarization processing as in step S4 of the first embodiment is performed.

[Detection of Heating State of Container Forming Material (Step S5)] Detection of the heating state of the film pouch 300 (good or bad welding) is based on two pixels of light and dark (black and white) in image information obtained by performing binarization processing. For example, bright (white) in the group
The area of the pixel group is measured, and the heat seal part 300 is measured.
A, 300B is measured by measuring the planar shape and dimensions, and comparing these measured values with predetermined preset values.

That is, when the heating temperature of the film pouch 300 by the heaters 33 and 34 is high, the “white” pixel area increases, and when the heating temperature is low, the “white” pixel area decreases. Also, when the “white” pixel area increases, the heat seal portion 300
When the planar shape dimensions of A and 300B increase and the “white” pixel area decreases, the planar shape dimensions of the heat seal portions 300A and 300B decrease.

For this reason, the "white" pixel area and the range of the planar shape dimensions of the heat seal portions 300A and 300B in the case where the heating temperature of the film pouch 300 can be permitted are set as predetermined values in advance, and are set within these allowable ranges. When the measured values of the “white” pixel area and the planar shape and dimension are included, the welded state of the film pouch 300 is determined to be “good”. on the other hand,
When the measured values of the “white” pixel area and the planar shape and dimensions are out of the allowable range, the welding state of the film pouch 300 is determined to be “defective”. This determination is made for each video image information corresponding to the heating positions a to d of the film pouch 300 by the heaters 33 and 34.

It is the same as in the first embodiment that the quality judgment of the welding of the film pouch 300 is also made by comparing the video image of the film pouch 300 on the video monitor 10 with the temperature scale.

[Heating the next container forming molten material (step S
6)] If it is determined in step S5 that the welding state of the film pouch 300 is "good" for each video image information, no instruction signal is output to the heater output controller for heating (not shown), that is, the heater is not output. The next film pouch 300 on the conveyor 22 is heated without changing the current heating temperature by 33 or 34.

[Adjustment of Heating Temperature of Heater (Step S
7)] If it is determined in step S5 that the welding state of the film pouch 300 is "defective" with respect to the single video image information, the current heating temperature by the heater elements 33A to 33C and 34A corresponding to this video image information is determined. An instruction signal is output from the controller 15 to the heater output controller for heating 8 to make a change.

In this case, if the measured value of the “white” pixel area is larger than the upper limit of the allowable range, the heater elements 33A to 33A
It is determined that the current heating temperature by the heater elements 33C and 34A (for example, the heater element 33A) is high, and the heater element 34A
Is output to the heater output controller 8 for heating. If the measured value of the “white” pixel area and the measured value of the planar shape dimensions of the heat seals 300A and 300B are smaller than the lower limit of the allowable range, the current heating temperature by the heater elements 33A to 33C and 34A (for example, the heater element 34A) is obtained. Is determined to be low, and an instruction signal to increase the heating temperature by the heater element 34A is output to the heater output controller 8 for heating.

Each of these heater elements 33A-33
The heating temperature of C and 34A can also be adjusted by visually recognizing a video image on the video monitor 12 and outputting an instruction signal to the heating heater output controller 8 as in the first embodiment.

In each of the embodiments, the case where the heating state of the container molding material is detected by measuring the bright (white) pixel area (in the third embodiment, the quality of welding is determined) has been described. The invention is not limited to this, and the same effect as in each embodiment can be obtained by measuring the dark (black) pixel area and detecting the heating state of the container forming material (determining whether or not welding is good).

Further, the number of sections of the container molding material and the video image information in the present invention is, of course, not particularly limited to the above embodiment.

[0057]

As described above, the present invention (Claims 1 to 5)
According to 9), a pre-heated container molding material is photographed by an infrared camera, and then this photographing information is binarized into two pixel groups. Since the heating state of the container-forming material is detected by the detection, the temperature information of the entire container-forming material can be obtained at the time of detecting the heating state, so that the heating state of the container-forming material can be detected with high accuracy.

In the first to ninth aspects of the present invention, the ability to detect the heating state of the container molding material can determine the quality of the container molding material. It can also be divided into

In particular, according to the present invention, since the temperature information about each image information corresponding to each heater element can be obtained, the heating temperature of each heater element can be adjusted based on the respective temperature information. In addition, a good heating state of the container molding material can be obtained.

In the ninth aspect, the fact that the temperature information of the container forming material is obtained means that the welding state can be detected based on this temperature information, so that the quality of the welding of the container forming material can be determined. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an apparatus for detecting a heated state of a material for molding a container according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an apparatus for detecting a heating state of a container forming material according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for detecting a heated state of a container forming material according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an apparatus for detecting a heated state of a container forming material according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an apparatus for detecting a heating state of a container forming material according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 3 heater 3a-3f heater element 4 infrared camera 5 image processing device 9 infrared thermal image processing means 10 video image processing means 100 preform

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An infrared camera for photographing a container molding material heated by a heater, and a heating state of the container molding material by applying image processing to photographing information of the container molding material and connected to the infrared camera. An apparatus for detecting a heating state of a material for forming a container, comprising: an image processing apparatus for detecting the temperature. 2. The heating state detection of a container molding material according to claim 1, wherein the image processing is performed by performing binarization processing to divide the image into two pixel groups and based on the pixel group information. apparatus. 3. The image processing is a gray processing,
The apparatus for detecting a heating state of a material for forming a container according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is performed by comparing with a gray scale. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heater is composed of a plurality of heater elements, and the image processing by the image processing device is performed by dividing the photographing information for each portion corresponding to the plurality of heater elements. 4. The apparatus for detecting a heating state of a container molding material according to 2 or 3. 5. A pre-heated container molding material is photographed by an infrared camera, and the photographed information is binarized to be divided into two pixel groups. A method for detecting a heated state of a container forming material, comprising detecting a heated state of the container forming material. 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the binarization process is performed by dividing photographing information of the container molding material into a plurality of pieces of image information. 7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the two pixel groups are obtained by performing a gray processing on a density difference of a heated portion in the container molding material.
The method for detecting a heating state of a container molding material according to the above. 8. The method for detecting the heating state of the container molding material,
8. The container molding material according to claim 5, wherein the measurement is performed by measuring an area of any one of the two pixel groups and comparing the measured value with a specified value. Heating state detection method. 9. The method for detecting a heated state of a container molding material according to claim 5, wherein the container molding material is made of a preform. 10. The method for detecting a heated state of a container-forming material according to claim 5, wherein the container-forming material comprises a cup-forming sheet. 11. The method for detecting a heated state of a container-forming material according to claim 5, wherein the container-forming material comprises a film pouch.