JP2001027518A - Wire harness visual inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a wire harness visual inspection device capable of visual inspection of whole wire harness without moving in parallel a camera or a drafting board. SOLUTION: This wire harness visual inspection device is provided with a pan-tilt camera 1 capable of pan and tilt, a laser pointer 3 attached to the camera 1a of the pan-tilt camera 1, and an inspection device body. By photographing each inspection object part of the wire harness 7 arranged on the drafting board 9, based on the holography image, the inspection device body is to automatically judge good or bad of each inspection object. When defect location is found, the laser pointer 3 is turned on in the state that the camera part 1a is faced to the defect location and the defect location is indicated with a laser light beam 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wire harness appearance inspection apparatus for inspecting the appearance of a wire harness using an imaging camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When an image of a wire harness is taken by a camera and the appearance of the wire harness is inspected based on the taken image, it is necessary to take an image of a wide range, but the effective image taking range of the camera is limited. Therefore, some ingenuity is required.

On the other hand, as a conventional technique, a drawing board or a camera on which a wire harness is arranged is translated in one or both of a vertical direction and a horizontal direction, so that the entire wire harness is imaged, and the wire harness is imaged. Some have made it possible to inspect the entire appearance.

[0004]

However, such a conventional technique requires a drive mechanism for moving the camera or the drawing plate in parallel, so that the cost of the drive mechanism is high.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a wire harness appearance inspection apparatus capable of inspecting the entire appearance of a wire harness without moving a camera or a drawing board in parallel.

[0006]

The technical means for achieving the above object is to provide an external appearance of a wire harness which picks up an image of a wire harness arranged on a drawing board and performs an appearance inspection of the wire harness based on the picked-up image. An inspection apparatus, comprising: a camera unit that images the wire harness; and a driving unit that swings the camera unit around at least one of a vertical axis and a horizontal axis based on an input control signal. An imaging camera, a storage unit in which imaging direction information indicating an imaging direction corresponding to an inspection target part of the wire harness to be inspected is registered in advance, and the control unit controls the driving unit of the imaging camera based on the imaging direction information. Output a signal,
The drive section swings the camera section in a direction in which the camera section captures an image of the inspection target section, and determines the acceptability of the inspection target section of the wire harness based on the captured image provided from the camera section. And a control unit for performing the following.

Preferably, the wire harness appearance inspection apparatus further includes a laser pointer installed on the camera unit of the imaging camera so as to irradiate a laser beam in an imaging direction of the camera unit. The unit, when determining that the inspection target unit is defective, irradiates the laser beam to the laser pointer in a state where the camera unit is oriented in a direction in which the inspection target unit can be imaged. .

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wire harness overview inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a pan-tilt camera provided in the inspection apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state of an overview inspection by the inspection apparatus of FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the inspection apparatus includes a pan-tilt camera 1, a laser pointer 3 attached to the pan-tilt camera 1, and an inspection apparatus main body 5. The pan-tilt camera 1 captures a color image of the wire harness 7 and has a zoom function.
a, and a main unit 1c. The main unit 1c is provided with a drive unit 1b for swinging the camera unit 1a around a horizontal axis and a vertical axis T and P that intersect perpendicularly with each other.
The drive unit 1b includes a pulse motor 1 that swings and drives the camera unit 1a around a horizontal axis P and a vertical axis T based on a control signal given from an inspection apparatus main body 5 described later.
d and 1e are provided. Image information obtained as a result of imaging by the camera unit 1a is sent to the inspection apparatus main body 5 via a predetermined signal line. The zoom control of the camera unit 1a is performed by the inspection apparatus main body 5.

The pan-tilt camera 1 configured as described above
As shown in FIG. 3, is fixed at a predetermined position on the front side of the drawing board 9 on which the wire harness 7 is arranged by a fixing member 11 fixed to the drawing board 9.

The laser pointer 3 is a pan / tilt camera 1
As shown by reference numeral 13 in FIG. 3, the camera unit 1a is directed in the imaging direction of the camera unit 1a (in this case,
(Toward the center of the laser beam). The turning on and off of the laser pointer 3 is performed by an inspection apparatus main body 5 described later.

The inspection apparatus main body 5 includes an information processing apparatus 21 that controls the information processing of the inspection apparatus according to the present invention, such as an overview inspection of the wire harness 1 based on the control of the pan-tilt camera 1 and the captured image, a display unit 23, Barcode reader 25
, An input receiving unit 27, and a notifying unit 29. The information processing device 21 and the display unit 23 include, for example, a personal computer main body and a display device. Display 23
Displays the inspection result and various setting information for the inspection.

The bar code reader 25 reads a bar code attached to the wire harness 7 and indicating the product number of the wire harness 7.

The input receiving unit 27 is provided with a start button for inputting an instruction to start an inspection to the inspection apparatus, and an input button for performing various inputs for the inspection on the inspection apparatus. The input receiving unit 27 is also provided with a reading unit that reads information from a predetermined recording medium on which a control program for inspection processing and various setting information are recorded. The notifying unit 29 is configured by a buzzer or the like, and notifies the inspection result (here, the inspected wire harness 7 is a non-defective product) by sound.

The information processing apparatus 21 includes a pan-tilt camera 1
An image input unit 31 for capturing image information sent from the camera unit 1a, an image output unit 33 for outputting image information to be displayed on the display unit 23, an input / output unit 35, and a storage unit 37
And a CPU (control unit) 39.
The CPU 39 includes an inspection control unit 39a and a notification control unit 39b.
And a display control unit 39c.

The input / output unit 35 exchanges signals with the CPU 39, the bar code reader 25, the input receiving unit 27, the notifying unit 29, and the driving unit 1b of the pan / tilt camera 1. The storage unit 37 includes a memory such as a RAM and a rewritable large-capacity recording unit such as a hard disk, and stores a control program for inspection processing and various setting information.

The inspection control section 39a of the CPU 39 is based on the control program and various setting information stored in the storage section 37, the product number information input through the barcode reader 25, and the various input information input through the input receiving section 27. Then, the drive unit 1b of the pan / tilt camera 1 is driven to cause the pan / tilt camera 1 to sequentially image each inspection target portion of the wire harness 7 arranged on the drawing board 9, and to perform image capturing based on the obtained image. The quality of the inspection target part is determined.

Here, although specific inspection contents will be described later, the storage unit 37 stores imaging direction information indicating imaging directions corresponding to a plurality of inspection target portions in each type of wire harness 7 to be inspected. In addition, zoom information indicating the imaging magnification of the camera unit 1a corresponding to each inspection target unit, and inspection information indicating inspection details and pass / fail judgment criteria are recorded.
Then, the inspection control unit 39a outputs a control signal to the driving unit 1b of the pan-tilt camera 1 based on the imaging direction information, the zoom information, and the inspection information, and outputs the control signal to the camera unit 1b.
The drive unit 1b swings the camera unit 1a by the swing angle corresponding to each inspection target unit so that the camera unit 1b faces the direction in which each inspection target unit of the wire harness 7 can be imaged. Each inspection target is imaged at the imaging magnification indicated by the zoom information corresponding to the target, and the quality of each inspection target is determined based on the captured image obtained as a result.

When the inspection result of the inspection control unit 39a of each inspection target unit is defective, the notification control unit 39b controls the driving unit 1b as necessary based on the imaging direction information, and controls the camera unit 1a. The laser pointer 3 is irradiated with the laser beam 13 in a state where the inspection target part determined to be defective is directed.

The notification control unit 39b is connected to the inspection control unit 3
As a result of the inspection by 9a, if all the inspection target parts are good, the notification unit 29 notifies the end of the inspection and the notification output indicating that the inspected wire harness 7 is a non-defective product.
Through.

The display control section 39c causes the display section 23 to display the inspection result and various setting information for the inspection.

Next, with reference to FIG. 4 to FIG. 7, inspection contents by this inspection apparatus will be described. The inspection items include an inspection regarding the presence or absence of each component constituting the wire harness 7 and an inspection regarding the appropriateness of a dimension between each point in the wire harness 7. The inspection of each inspection item described below is performed under the control of the above-described inspection control unit 39a, and information necessary for the inspection is registered in the storage unit 37 in advance.

First, the first inspection item corresponding to the above will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the wire harness 7 includes a connector 43, a clamp 45, and the like on each part of the wire bundle 41 bound by tape winding or the like. In this first inspection item, an inspection as to whether or not each of the components is properly attached is performed.

More specifically, the storage unit 37 stores the connector 4
In addition to registering the imaging direction information and the zoom information of each inspection target portion of the wire harness 7 to which a component to be inspected such as 3 is attached, it is determined whether there is a component to be attached to each inspection target portion. Information (judgment information) is registered in advance, and based on the registered information, the pan-tilt camera 1 is caused to image each inspection target portion.
By image recognition, the image pickup area 15 (more specifically,
Whether or not there is a component indicated by the determination information in the window set in the captured image (in the illustrated example of FIG. 4, the imaging region 15).
The inspection is performed by determining whether or not there is a connector 43a in a.

A method for determining whether or not there is an appropriate part in a captured image by image recognition is roughly divided into the following two methods.
There are two ways.

In the first method, a color corresponding to an overview color (or luminance level) corresponding to an appropriate part registered in the window in advance by color extraction (or luminance level extraction in the case of an achromatic image). It is determined whether the area of (or the brightness level) is equal to or larger than a predetermined area. If the area is equal to or larger than the predetermined area, it is determined that there is an appropriate component. Is determined to be missing. Here, when the appearance color of the component to be detected is an achromatic color such as gray, white, black, or the like, in order to improve recognition accuracy, each of the R, G, and B color components is weighted and averaged to obtain an achromatic color. It is preferable to perform a component presence / absence inspection based on the colored image.

In the second method, it is determined whether or not there is an appropriate part in the window by pattern matching based on a pre-registered image pattern of an appropriate part to be inspected. I have.

Next, the second inspection item corresponding to the above will be described. The wire harness 7 includes a connector 43,
The dimensions between point locations such as the clamp 45 and the branch 47 are standardized, and in this second inspection item, the suitability of the dimensions between such point locations is inspected.

This inspection step will be described for the case where the dimension between the branch portion 47a and the clamp 45a is inspected.

First, the camera unit 1a is swung based on the above-described imaging direction information, and one of the two points (the branch 47a and the clamp 45a in this case) to be inspected (the branch 47a in this example). ) Is captured by the camera unit 1a at the imaging magnification indicated by the corresponding zoom information to obtain a captured image 51 shown in FIG.

Subsequently, from the captured image 51, FIG.
As shown in (b), an image pattern (image area) 53 of a color corresponding to the color (here, black) of the wire bundle 41 is extracted by color extraction (luminance level extraction). Subsequently, FIG.
As shown in (1), the image pattern 53 is subjected to a reduction process of eroding and narrowing the image pattern from its outer edge toward the inner side, and the intersection 55 of the resulting elongated line pattern 54 is obtained. .

When the intersection 55 is obtained as described above, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5D, the line pattern 54 shown in FIG.
In response to the expansion process, return to the state before the reduction process,
The image pattern 53 returned to its original state and FIG.
The image of the branch part of the wire bundle 41 in the captured image 51 of FIG.
A position corresponding to the middle intersection point 55 is defined as a reference point (center point) 57 of the branch portion 47a.

Subsequently, the coordinates of the derived reference point 57 on the captured image 51, the imaging magnification of the camera unit 1a corresponding to the imaging area 15b, and the imaging area 15b based on a predetermined reference direction (front direction in this case). Based on the swing angle of the camera unit 1a of the pan-tilt camera 1 with respect to the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, and the distance between the camera unit 1a and the portion of the wire harness 7 located in front of the camera unit 1a. A predetermined origin position (here, the camera unit 1a
Branch position 47 on the drawing board 9 with reference to
The coordinates of the reference point 57 of a are derived.

Subsequently, the camera unit 1a is swung based on the image pickup direction information, and the camera unit 15a including the other point (here, the clamp 45a) is moved at the image pickup magnification indicated by the corresponding zoom information. 1a, and an image 61 shown in FIG. 6A is obtained.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 6B, an image pattern 63 corresponding to the clamp 45a is extracted from the captured image 61 by color extraction (or luminance level extraction) or pattern matching, and the extracted image pattern 63 is subjected to image processing. The center of gravity 65 of the image pattern 63 is determined, and subsequently, the center of gravity 6
The position in the captured image 61 of FIG. 6A corresponding to 5 is set as a reference point (centroid point) 67 of the clamp 45a.

Subsequently, the coordinates of the derived reference point 67 on the captured image 61, the imaging magnification of the camera unit 1a corresponding to the imaging area 15c, and the pan / tilt camera 1 corresponding to the imaging area 15c based on a predetermined reference direction. Camera part 1
The figure based on a predetermined origin position of the drawing board 9 based on the swing angle of the a in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, and the distance between the camera unit 1a and the portion of the wire harness 7 located in front of the camera unit 1a. Clamp 45a on plate 9
Of the reference point 67 is derived.

Subsequently, based on the coordinates of the derived reference points 57 and 67 of the branch portion 47a and the clamp 45a on the drawing board 9, the dimension between the reference points 57 and 67 is derived, and the derived dimension value is obtained. It is determined whether it is within a pre-registered allowable range, and the quality of the dimension is determined.

As another example of the dimensional inspection, the connector 43b
There is an inspection of the quality of the dimension between the branch point 47a and the branch part 47a. In this case, the inspection can be performed in the same manner as the dimension between the branch point 47a and the clamp 45a. In this case, the problem is in which position in the connector 43b the reference point for dimension measurement is set. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the connector 4 in the captured image 71 obtained by capturing the imaging region 15d including the connector 43b.
The edge of the 3b image is obtained by edge extraction, and
The center point 73 of the side of the edge on the wire connection side (section AB in FIG. 7) is determined, and the center point 73 is used as a reference point.

Next, an inspection process using the inspection apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described. First, the part number of the wire harness 7 to be inspected is input through the barcode reader 25. Subsequently, by operating the start button of the input receiving unit 27, in response to this, the control of the inspection control unit 39 of the information processing apparatus 21 causes the recording unit 37 corresponding to the input product number of the wire harness 7 to be stored. The inspection is started according to the registered inspection menu.

When the inspection is started, the inspection for each inspection item in each inspection item proceeds in a predetermined order, and when a defective portion such as the clamp 45a is not attached is found, the inspection is performed at that time. Inspection is temporarily suspended, and in response to this defect finding, under the control of the notification control unit 39b, the imaging camera 1a is capturing an image of the imaging region 15c including the mounting position of the clamp 45a (that is, the camera unit 1a is 45a in a state where the direction of the mounting position is turned),
As shown in FIG.
3 is irradiated, and a defective portion is indicated by the laser beam 13. At this time, the image of the defective portion is also displayed on the display unit 23 under the control of the display control unit 39c.

After the defective portion has been repaired, when the start button is pressed again, the inspection is restarted from the inspection target portion determined to be defective. In this embodiment, every time a defective portion is found during the inspection,
The inspection is interrupted and the defect point is notified by the laser pointer 3 or the like, but when the defect point is found,
All the inspections may be ended once while the defective portions are stored in the recording unit 37, and then the notification of the defective portions and the re-inspection by the laser pointer 13 may be sequentially performed.

When the inspection results of all the inspection items of the inspection target are good and all the inspections are completed, in response thereto, under the control of the notification control unit 39b, the termination of the inspection and the wire harness on which the inspection is performed are performed. A notification output indicating that 7 is non-defective is output through the notification unit 29.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the pan-tilt camera 1 is used as an imaging camera for imaging the wire harness 7, the imaging camera or the drawing board can be moved in parallel as in the related art. The appearance inspection of the entire wire harness 7 can be performed with a simple and low-cost configuration without providing the high-cost drive mechanism.

When a defect is found as a result of the inspection, the laser beam 13 is applied by the laser pointer 3 to the inspection target portion determined to be defective in the wire harness 7. Can be easily recognized, and a quick response can be achieved.

Further, the laser beam 1 of the laser pointer 3
Since the irradiation position of No. 3 is changed according to the swinging drive of the camera unit 1a of the pan-tilt camera 1,
There is an advantage that there is no need to provide a special configuration for changing the irradiation direction of the laser beam 13.

In this embodiment, one pan-tilt camera 1 is used to image the entire wire harness 7. However, when a large wire harness 7 is inspected, a plurality of wire harnesses 7 may be used. , And one pan-tilt camera 1 may be installed in each of the divided areas, and each pan-tilt camera 1 may inspect the corresponding divided area.

[0047]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a camera in which the camera unit swings around at least one of the vertical axis and the horizontal axis is used as an imaging camera for imaging the wire harness. Therefore, the appearance inspection of the entire wire harness can be performed with a simple and low-cost configuration without providing a high-cost driving mechanism for moving the imaging camera or the drawing board in parallel as in the related art.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the wire harness appearance inspection device determines that the wire harness is defective, the laser pointer points to the inspection target portion determined to be defective. Since the light beam is applied, the worker can easily recognize the defective portion of the wire harness, and can take quick action.

Since the irradiation position of the laser beam of the laser pointer is changed in accordance with the swinging drive of the camera unit of the imaging camera, a special configuration for changing the irradiation position of the laser beam is provided. There is an advantage that there is no need to provide

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wire harness overview inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a pan-tilt camera provided in the inspection apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state of an overview inspection by the inspection device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a wiring harness to be inspected arranged on a drawing plate.

5 (a) to 5 (e) are views showing the contents of image processing when deriving a reference point of a branch portion of a wire harness.

FIGS. 6A to 6C are diagrams showing the contents of image processing when deriving a reference point for clamping of a wire harness.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the contents of image processing when deriving a reference point of a connector of a wire harness.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pan-tilt camera 1a Camera part 1b Drive part 3 Laser pointer 5 Inspection apparatus main body 7 Wire harness 9 Drawing board 13 Laser beam 21 Information processing device 37 Storage part 39 CPU

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A wire harness appearance inspection device that images a wire harness disposed on a drawing board and performs an appearance inspection of the wire harness based on the captured image, and a camera unit that images the wire harness, and An imaging camera having a drive unit for oscillating the camera unit about at least one of a vertical axis and a horizontal axis based on an input control signal; and an inspection target part of the wire harness to be inspected. A storage unit in which imaging direction information indicating an imaging direction to be registered is pre-registered, and the control signal is output to the driving unit of the imaging camera based on the imaging direction information, and the camera unit outputs the control signal to the driving unit. The camera unit is swung in the direction in which the unit is imaged, and based on the captured image given from the camera unit, the wire harness A wire harness appearance inspection device, comprising: a control unit that determines the quality of an inspection target unit. 2. The wire harness appearance inspection device, further comprising: a laser pointer installed on the camera unit of the imaging camera so as to irradiate a laser beam in an imaging direction of the camera unit. When determining that the inspection target portion is defective, irradiating the laser beam to the laser pointer in a state where the camera portion is oriented in a direction in which the inspection target portion can be imaged. Item 2. The wire harness appearance inspection device according to item 1.