JP2000171412A - Continuous inspection apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inspection apparatus capable of continuously inspecting an article of every kind, especially, a cylindrical translucent article continuously conveyed by a conveyance means by a reduced number of cameras. SOLUTION: A translucent article (parison 1) to be inspected is conveyed by a rotary disc 10 being a conveyance means and a light source 20 and a camera 21 photographing the light transmitted through the parison are respectively arranged on both sides of the parison 1 so as to be reciprocally movable with respect to the conveying direction of the parison 1, and reciprocally moved in synchronous relation to the conveyance speed of the conveyed parison 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a continuous inspection apparatus, and more particularly, to an apparatus for continuously inspecting a parison (preform) for blow molding a plastic bottle or the like during transportation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method of inspecting a light-transmitting article such as a transparent or translucent plastic article or a glass article for abnormal wall thickness or inclusion of a foreign substance, a method of inspecting a light-transmitting article is disclosed. Irradiate light from the light source provided on the side,
2. Description of the Related Art There is known a method in which transmitted light is photographed and analyzed by a camera provided on the other side.

[0003] However, when the translucent article is a cylindrical body, for example, in the case of a parison for blow molding a plastic bottle, the entire circumference of the parison must be measured. A plurality of light sources are installed around the parison at an angle so as to cover the entire circumference of the parison, or the camera and the light source are fixed at predetermined positions and the parison is rotated.

[0004] For example, in the inspection system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-118841, a light source (light emitting unit) is installed outside the parison in the axial direction, and a camera (light receiving unit) is inserted into the parison to perform measurement. At times, the parison is rotated by driving a roller holding the parison.

That is, when inspecting a cylindrical translucent article such as a parison with a conventional inspection apparatus, the former method of installing a plurality of cameras or the like has the disadvantage that the inspection apparatus becomes more expensive. In addition, in the latter method of rotating the parison, the parison must be temporarily stopped at a predetermined inspection unit and the parison must be rotated, so that the inspection is inevitably intermittent and the transport means is also inevitably required. In addition to the need for intermittent operation, there is a limit to the improvement in inspection speed.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an inspection apparatus capable of continuously inspecting various articles continuously conveyed by the conveying means, particularly an article having a cylindrical shape and having a light-transmitting property, with a small number of cameras. It is intended to provide.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a continuous inspection apparatus according to the present invention is a continuous inspection apparatus provided with a camera for photographing an article to be inspected continuously conveyed at predetermined intervals by a conveying means. The camera is arranged so as to be able to reciprocate in the transport direction of the inspected article, and reciprocates the camera in synchronization with the transport speed of the transported inspected article.

Further, the continuous inspection apparatus according to the present invention comprises a disk-shaped transport means for transporting the translucent articles to be inspected at predetermined intervals along the circumference, and an outer circumference and an inner circumference of the circumference of the circumference of the transport means. A continuous light inspection device comprising a light source and a camera arranged on the side, respectively, wherein the light source and the camera are provided to be swingable about an axis coaxial with a central axis of the transporting means. And the swinging member is formed so as to be reciprocable from an inspection start position to an end position of the inspected article, and at the time of inspection, the angular velocity of the inspected article is Rotate at an angular velocity according to
After completion of the inspection, it is formed so as to return to the inspection start position of the next inspection target article.

Further, the article to be inspected is a parison for blow molding, and the transporting means is provided with a rotation driving means for rotating the parison at the time of inspection.

[0010]

1 to 5 show an embodiment of a continuous inspection apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view for explaining the positional relationship of equipment, and FIG. 2 is a plan view. 3, FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a main part of the conveying means, FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the rotary driving means, and FIG.

This continuous inspection apparatus is used for inspecting the parison 1 before blow molding for abnormal wall thickness, presence or absence of pinholes, mixing of foreign matter, and the like.
Rotating disk 10 as a transporting means for holding and transporting the light, a swinging member 22 equipped with a light source 20 provided on the outer peripheral side of the rotating disk 10 and a camera 21 provided on an inner peripheral side thereof, and the parison 1 at the inspection position. Rotating means having an upper holding means 30, a lower holding means 40, and a rotating drive belt 50 for holding and rotating the rotating disc 10 from above and below, while rotating the rotating disk 10, swinging the swing member 22 and rotating the light source 20. A device driving unit 60 for controlling light emission.

The rotating disk 10 has a plurality of semicircular parison holding portions 11 provided at equal intervals on the circumference thereof. As shown in FIG. 2, the parison 1 is provided on the outer circumference thereof. The carry-in section 12 for feeding the conveyer 10, the arc-shaped guide rail 13 for preventing the parison 1 being conveyed from dropping from the parison holding section 11, and the air from the nozzle 14 which passes the parison determined to be defective. And a discharge unit 16 for transporting non-defective products to the next process.

The parison 1 continuously fed from the carry-in section 12 is successively held and conveyed by the parison holding section 11 of the rotating disk 10, and after being inspected by the inspection section 17 in the middle thereof, the parison 1 The non-defective product is discharged to the discharge unit 15, and the non-defective product is guided by the guide rail 16 a of the unloading unit 16, detaches from the rotating disk 10, and is transported to the next step.

The swinging member 22 is connected to the rotating shaft 1 of the rotating disk 10.
8 rotatably provided on the rotating disk 10
And the upper and lower holding means 30 and 40 are formed in a shape which does not hinder the conveyance of the parison 1 by the above. That is, the lower swing member 23 rotatably mounted on the portion of the rotating shaft 18 located below the lower holding means 40.
And a light source supporting portion 24 bent upward from a protruding end of the lower swinging member 23 protruding in the direction of the inspection portion 17, and protruding between the carry-in portion 12 and the carry-out portion 16 on the opposite side of the inspection portion 17. A rising portion 25 bent upward from the protruding end; a camera support portion 26 inserted between the rotating disk 10 and the lower holding means 40 from the upper end of the rising portion 25 and rotatably mounted on the rotating shaft 18; Is formed. On the lower surface of the lower swing member 23, a guide member 28 guided by an arc-shaped guide rail 27 is provided, and an engagement pin 29 that engages with a swing drive member 61 of the device drive unit 60 is provided. Have been.

The upper holding means 30 is provided above the rotating disk 10 and fixed to the rotating shaft 18, and provided on the outer periphery of the upper rotating plate 31 in correspondence with the parison holding section 11. A shaft holding member 32, a movable shaft 33 inserted vertically movably into the shaft holding member 32, a fitting member 34 provided at a lower end of the movable shaft 33 to fit into the opening of the parison 1, Cam roller 3 provided at the upper end of 33
5 and a drive roller 36 fixed to the upper part of the movable shaft 33
The movable shaft 33 is urged upward by a spring provided in the shaft holding member, and is moved to a predetermined position by the cam roller 35 contacting the lower surface of the upper cam plate 37. The fitting member 34 is attached to the movable shaft 33 while being downwardly urged by the second spring.

Similarly to the upper holding means 30, the lower holding means 40 includes a lower rotating plate 41 fixed to the rotating shaft 18 below the rotating disk 10, and the parison holding means provided on an outer peripheral portion of the lower rotating plate 41. The shaft holding member 42 provided corresponding to the portion 11, the movable shaft 43 inserted vertically movably into the shaft holding member 42, and the bottom of the parison 1 provided at the upper end of the movable shaft 33 are fitted. And a cam roller 45 provided at the lower end of the movable shaft 43. The movable shaft 43 is urged downward by a spring provided in the shaft holding member. , Cam roller 45
Is formed so as to rise to a predetermined position by contacting the upper surface of the lower cam plate 46.

The rotary drive belt 50 includes a drive pulley 51,
Supported by a driven pulley 52 and a tension pulley 53, and a number of guide rollers 54 arranged in an arc shape,
It rotates in a predetermined direction by driving the drive pulley 51 from a motor 55 via a belt 56,
The arc surface of the portion supported by the guide roller 54 is formed so as to contact the drive roller 36 of the upper holding means 30 to rotate the drive roller 36.

The device driving unit 60 includes a motor 62 serving as a driving source, a speed reducer 63, a torque limiter 64, a cam mechanism 65 for swinging the swing member 22, and a light source 2
The output from the speed reducer 63 is transmitted to a large gear 67 fixed to the rotating shaft 18 so that the rotary disk 10, the upper holding means 30, and the lower holding means are controlled. While rotating at a predetermined speed, it is transmitted to the cam mechanism 65 and the VARICAM 66 via large and small gears meshed at a predetermined gear ratio. In the cam mechanism 65, the cam output shaft 68 swings at a speed corresponding to the rotation speed (angular speed) of the rotating disk 10, and the swing is transmitted to the swing member 22 via the swing drive member 61, The moving plate 22 swings at a predetermined speed to move the light source 20 and the camera 21 to predetermined positions. A signal corresponding to the position of the parison 1 is sent from the VARICAM 66 to the light emission control unit,
Thus, the light source 20 emits light at a predetermined timing.

That is, the motor 62 of the device driving unit 60
When the rotating drive belt 50 is rotated by the motor 55 while the rotating disk 10 rotates,
The parison 1 supplied from the carry-in section 12 is held in each of the parison holding sections 11, and is in a state of being continuously conveyed at predetermined intervals clockwise in FIG. And the upper cam plate 3
7 comes into contact with the cam roller 35, the fitting member 34 of the upper holding means 30 fits into the opening of the parison 1, and then the cam roller 45 comes into contact with the lower cam plate 46 to fit the lower holding means 40. The member 44 is fitted to the bottom of the parison 1, and the parison 1 is sandwiched between the upper and lower fitting members 34 and 44. At this time, the fitting member 44 of the lower holding means 40 rises against the downward biasing force of the fitting member 34 by the second spring of the upper holding means 30 to move the plug 2 of the parison 1 into the parison. It floats slightly from the holding part 11 to be in a non-contact state.

Next, the driving roller 3 of the upper holding means 30
When the movable shaft 6 contacts the rotary drive belt 50 and the movable shaft 33 of the upper holding means 30 rotates, the parison 1 enters the inspection unit 17 while rotating at a predetermined rotation speed. At the same time, the light source 20 and the camera 21 are positioned at a predetermined inspection start position by the swing of the swing member 22 by the operation of the cam mechanism 65, and the swing member 22 is rotated in the same clockwise direction at an angular velocity synchronized with the angular velocity of the rotating disk 10. To rotate. Then, the light source 20 emits light at a time corresponding to one rotation of the parison 1, and the light transmitted through the parison 1 is photographed by the camera 21 and analyzed by a predetermined analysis means, whereby the parison 1 is inspected.

When parison 1 reaches the inspection end position,
First, after the driving roller 36 is detached from the rotary driving belt 50, the cam rollers 35 of the upper and lower holding members 30, 40,
45 is detached from the cam plates 37 and 46, and the parison 1 returns to the state of being held by the parison holding unit 11, the defective product is discharged to the discharge unit 15, and the good product is conveyed from the unloading unit 16 to the next process.

On the other hand, the light source 20 after the inspection of the parison 1 is completed.
The camera 21 returns to the predetermined inspection start position by rotating the swing member 22 in the reverse direction by the cam mechanism 65, and performs the next inspection of the parison 1 in the same manner as described above.

As described above, by swinging the light source 20 and the camera 21, the parison 1 can be inspected while the parison 1 is transported by rotating the rotating disk 10 at a constant speed. As a result, the inspection of the translucent inspection object such as the parison 1 can be performed in a continuous transport state, and the inspection can be performed more smoothly than the intermittent inspection, and the inspection speed can be improved.

Further, the need for intermittent operation of the transfer means having a relatively large mass is eliminated, so that the structure of the apparatus can be simplified. In addition, by arranging the light source 20 such as an LED which is strong against vibration and light at the swing end side of the swing member 22, the camera 21 which is a precision machine can be arranged at the swing center. Swing can be minimized, and the device can be swung at high speed without imposing a large load on the device.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
2 sets of light source 20 and camera 21
The parison is formed so as to be inspected at the same time, and the inspection speed is further improved. However, the light source 20 and the camera 21 may be one set, and three or more sets may be provided if there is room in the installation place. Can also. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the state in which the parison 1 is conveyed in the circumferential direction by the rotating disk 10 is exemplified, but the present invention is also applicable to a case in which the article to be inspected is conveyed in a linear direction. The analysis of the image taken by the camera may be performed in two dimensions, but it is possible to perform one-dimensional analysis by rotating the cylindrical translucent article as described above. Simplification and improvement of analysis speed can also be achieved.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, one of the light sources is interposed between the light-transmitting inspected articles continuously conveyed at predetermined intervals by the conveying means, and the other is irradiated with the light from the light source and transmitted through the inspected articles. A camera that captures light is arranged, and the light source and the camera are arranged so as to be able to reciprocate in the transport direction of the inspected article, and the light source and the camera are synchronized with the transport speed of the transported inspected article. Although the camera is reciprocated, when the inspection is performed by photographing the reflected light of the article to be inspected by the camera, the camera may be reciprocated in synchronization with the transport speed of the article to be inspected.

[0027]

As described above, according to the continuous inspection apparatus of the present invention, the inspection can be performed while the articles to be inspected are continuously transported, so that the inspection speed can be improved and the transport means can be improved. Since the continuous operation can be performed, the configuration of the apparatus can be simplified as compared with the case of the intermittent operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating an example of a continuous inspection apparatus according to the present invention and illustrating a positional relationship between devices.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the continuous inspection device.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a main part of a conveying means.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a rotation driving unit.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Parison, 2 ... Plug part, 10 ... Rotating disk, 11 ... Parison holding part, 12 ... Loading part, 13 ... Guide rail, 1
4 ... Nozzle, 15 ... Discharge unit, 16 ... Unload unit, 17 ... Inspection unit, 18 ... Rotating axis, 20 ... Light source, 21 ... Camera, 22 ...
Swinging member, 23: lower swinging member, 24: light source support, 2
Reference numeral 5: Upright, 26: Camera support, 27: Guide rail, 28: Guide member, 29: Engagement pin, 30: Upper holding means, 31: Upper rotating plate, 32: Shaft holding member, 33:
Movable shaft, 34: fitting member, 35: cam roller, 36 ...
Driving roller 37 37 Upper cam plate 40 Lower holding means 41 Lower rotating plate 42 Shaft holding member 43 Movable shaft 44 Fitting member 45 Cam roller 46 Lower cam plate 50 ... Rotary drive belt, 51 ... Drive pulley, 5
2: driven pulley, 53: tension pulley, 54: guide roller, 55: motor, 56: belt, 60: device drive unit, 61: swing drive member, 62: motor, 63
… Reducer, 64… torque limiter, 65… cam mechanism,
66: VARICAM, 67: Large gear, 68: Cam output shaft

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Naoto Katsuki 2480 Mado, Hitotsuka-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Mitsubishi Plastics Co., Ltd. Inside the Hiratsuka Plant (72) Inventor Tenyu Nagata 2480 Mado, Hiratsuka-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Mitsubishi Plastics Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masayoshi Shimada Masakazu, Chigasaki-shi, Kanagawa, Japan 370, Enzo Mechatronic Center, Mitsubishi Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. F term (for reference) 2F065 AA30 AA61 BB05 BB15 BB16 BB22 BB23 DD06 FF04 GG01 HH12 JJ02 JJ03 JJ16 JJ25 JJ26 MM02 MM04 MM25 MM26 TT03 2G051 AA11 AA90 AB04 AB20 BA01 BC01 CA04 CD07

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A continuous inspection apparatus provided with a camera for photographing an article to be inspected continuously conveyed at predetermined intervals by a conveying means, wherein the camera can reciprocate in a conveying direction of the article to be inspected. Wherein the camera is reciprocated in synchronism with the transport speed of the article to be transported. 2. A disk-shaped transport means for transporting a translucent inspection object at a predetermined interval along a circumferential portion, light sources respectively arranged on an outer peripheral side and an inner peripheral side of the transport means circumferential portion, and A continuous inspection device comprising a camera, wherein the light source and the camera are provided on an outer peripheral portion and an inner peripheral side of a swing member provided so as to be swingable about an axis coaxial with a central axis of the transporting means. And the swinging member is formed so as to be able to reciprocate from the inspection start position to the end position of the article to be inspected, and at the time of inspection, is rotated at an angular velocity corresponding to the angular velocity of the article to be inspected. 3. The continuous inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inspection apparatus is configured to return to an inspection start position of the next inspection target article after the inspection is completed. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the inspected article is a parison for blow molding, and the transporting means includes a rotation driving means for rotating the parison at the time of inspection. Continuous inspection equipment.