JP2001027610A - Method and apparatus for inspecting resin pellets - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To certainly inspect resin pellets with high accuracy for a short time. SOLUTION: An inspection method of resin pellets is constituted so that resin pellets 9 are supplied to a feed passage 10 illuminated by a shadowless light source to be moved along the feed passage 10 and line sensor cameras 4, 5 are arranged so that the visual fields thereof transverse the feed passage 10 to photograph the resin pellets passing through the visual fields and the obtained image data is analyzed to detect the flaw of the resin pellets.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for inspecting resin pellets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, inspection of resin pellets is performed by photographing resin pellets moving in a transport path over a predetermined range by an area camera arranged above or below a transport path, and obtaining image data. It is done by analyzing. Since the image obtained by the area camera is a two-dimensional image, the resolution and the processing speed are lower than those of a line sensor camera described later. Also release the shutter,
Since data is captured for each image, it is not suitable for continuous inspection.

In addition, as another inspection camera, there is a line sensor camera having a linear visual field. Since a one-dimensional image obtained by this line sensor camera is developed into a two-dimensional image, it is known that if this is used for inspection of a film or the like, inspection can be performed at high speed based on a high-resolution image. ing. However, the line sensor camera is used only for inspection of a planar article such as a film, and is not used for inspection of an aggregate of powder and granules such as resin pellets.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to inspect a resin pellet with high accuracy and in a short time. It is in.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to supply a resin pellet to a transport path illuminated without shadow, move the resin pellets along the transport path, and move the line sensor camera so that the visual field crosses the transport path. Is placed, the resin pellets passing through the field of view are photographed, and the obtained image data is analyzed.
This is achieved by configuring to detect defects in the resin pellet.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a main configuration of one embodiment of a resin pellet inspection apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, 1
Is a vibration conveyor, 2 is a supply device, 3 is a recovery device, 4 and 5 are line sensor cameras, 6 and 7 are shadowless illumination devices,
Reference numeral 8 denotes an analyzer, and 9 denotes a resin pellet.

[0007] The vibrating conveyor 1 includes a transport path 10 and a side wall 1.
1 and a vibration device 12. The transport path 10 is a long rectangular member whose four lower corners are supported by the vibrating device 12 so as to be gently inclined downward from one end to the other end. At least the area other than both ends of the transport path 10 is a transparent section 10a made of a transparent plate. The side wall 11 is provided along the long side of the transport path 10 so that the resin pellets 9 supplied on the transport path 10 do not spill outside from the side of the transport path 10.

The supply device 2 is a hopper provided above and near the upstream end of the vibrating conveyor 1, and supplies the resin pellets 9 onto the transport path 10. Collection device 3
Is provided below the vicinity of the downstream end of the vibration conveyor 1 and receives the resin pellets 9 discharged from the vibration conveyor 1. Reference numerals 4a and 5a denote optical axes of the line sensor cameras 4 and 5, respectively. Each of the line sensor cameras 4 and 5 is provided so that its visual field crosses the transport path 10, and one line sensor camera 4
The line sensor camera 5 photographs the resin pellet 9 from the lower surface of the transport path 10 and the resin pellet 9 from the upper surface, and outputs the obtained image data to the analyzer 8 described later.

The shadowless illumination device 6 includes light sources 60, 61, and 62.
, Reflection hoods 63, 64, 65 and a light diffusion plate 66. The light sources 60, 61, and 62 are long cylindrical light-emitting bodies, and two of the light sources
Are arranged parallel to each other with the optical axis 4a of the line sensor camera 4 interposed therebetween, and their respective central axes are parallel to the field plane of the line sensor camera 4.

The light source 62 is located above the transport path 10 and
The line sensor camera 4 is arranged on an extension of the optical axis 4 a so that its central axis is parallel to the field plane of the line sensor camera 4. The reflection hoods 63 and 64 are, as shown in FIG. 1, J-shaped members arranged in the vicinity of the light sources 60 and 61 so that the light beams emitted from the light sources 60 and 61 converge on the transport path 10 side, respectively. is there. The reflection hood 65
A longitudinal section V arranged so as to cover the upper surface side of the transport path 10 so that light rays emitted from the light source 62 converge on the transport path 10 side.
It is a letter-shaped member.

The light diffusing plate 66 is, for example, a milky white board, and is disposed between the light source 62 and the transport path 10 and at a predetermined distance from the transport path 10. The emitted light is diffused so that the light emitted from the light source 62 does not directly enter the line sensor camera 4, and the light that reaches the transport path 10 becomes uneven and no shadow is formed.

The shadowless illumination device 7 includes light sources 70, 71, 72
, Reflection hoods 73, 74, 75, and a light diffusion plate 76. The shadowless illumination device 7 is arranged around the line sensor camera 5 upside down with respect to the shadowless illumination device 6. The analysis device 8 performs analysis based on the image data input from the line sensor cameras 4 and 5, detects defective pellets,
The data required for the inspection is tabulated and output. The resin pellet 9 is a transparent or opaque resin pellet. The shape of the resin pellet 9 is shown as a sphere in the figure, but may be flat or disk-shaped.

When the resin pellet 9 is inspected by the resin pellet inspection apparatus, the feeding apparatus 2 is filled with the resin pellet 9 to be inspected, the vibration conveyor 1 is operated, and the light sources 60, 61, 62, 70, 71 and 72 emit light. Next, a predetermined amount of the resin pellets 9 is discharged from the supply device 2 per unit time, and the resin pellets 9 are transferred to the transport path 10.
Supply on top. The supply amount of the resin pellets 9 is set so that the resin pellets 9 do not overlap on the transport path 10.
The resin pellets 9 supplied on the transport path 10 are gradually sent downstream by vibration, and are collected by the collection device 3.
The resin pellets 9 that have passed through the field planes of the line sensor cameras 4 and 5 are photographed by the line sensor cameras 4 and 5 and photographed sequentially, and the obtained image data is analyzed by the analysis device 8.

The present invention is characterized in that an inspection is performed at a high speed based on a high-resolution image obtained by photographing a resin pellet with a line sensor camera. For example, the resin pellet is conveyed. The system may use other transport systems such as a belt conveyor. Also, when the resin pellets are transparent or translucent,
If particularly high inspection accuracy is not required, the line sensor camera may be provided only on one of the upper and lower sides.

Further, in a place where the line sensor camera is provided above the transport path, the transport path is made milky white to diffuse light, and the light diffusing plate can be omitted. Further, the line sensor camera may be provided only above the transport path, and may be used to inspect transparent and opaque resin pellets.In this case, at least the front and rear including the visual field plane of the transport path are milky white, The light diffusion plate can be omitted. In addition, one line sensor camera may be provided, or three or more line sensor cameras may be provided.
In this case, the installation position of the line sensor camera may be any position as long as the resin pellet on the transport path can be photographed.

A plurality of line sensor cameras capture images of a visual field plane on one line crossing the transport path, and the image data obtained by each line sensor camera is connected to obtain one image data. You may. Further, the shadowless illumination device may be any device as long as it does not cause shadow on the resin pellet on the transport path.

[0017]

Since the present invention is configured as described above,
According to the present invention, the inspection of resin pellets can be performed with high accuracy and in a short time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a main configuration of an embodiment of a resin pellet inspection apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vibration conveyor 10 Conveying path 10a Transparent part 11 Side wall 12 Vibration device 2 Supply device 3 Recovery device 4 Line sensor camera 4a Optical axis 5 Line sensor camera 5a Optical axis 6 Shadowless illumination device 60 Light source 61 Light source 62 Light source 63 Reflection hood 64 Reflection Hood 65 Reflective hood 66 Light diffusion plate 7 Shadowless illumination device 70 Light source 71 Light source 72 Light source 73 Reflection hood 74 Reflection hood 75 Reflection hood 76 Light diffusion plate 8 Analysis device 9 Resin pellet

Claims (7)

[Claims] A step of supplying resin pellets (9) to a uniformly illuminated conveyance path (10) and moving the resin pellets (9) along the conveyance path (10); A step of photographing the resin pellets (9) moving on the transport path (10) by a line sensor camera (5) arranged face-to-face, and a step of analyzing image data obtained by the line sensor camera (5). , Consisting of a resin pellet inspection method. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the light source is a shadowless light source. 3. A transport path (10) for transporting resin pellets (9) from one end to the other end, and a shadowless illumination device (7) for illuminating the transport path (10). And a line sensor camera (5) arranged to be able to photograph the resin pellets (9) transported by the transport path (10).
And an analyzer (8) for analyzing image data obtained by the line sensor camera (5). 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the conveying path is a vibrating conveyor. 5. The apparatus for inspecting resin pellets according to claim 3, wherein the conveying path is inclined so that the resin pellets can move from an upstream end to a downstream end. 6. The supply device according to claim 3, wherein the supply device supplies the resin pellets on the conveyance path with a predetermined force, and the resin pellets are moved downstream by the force.
The resin pellet inspection device according to any one of the above. 7. A transparent part (10a) made of a transparent material, at least a part of the transport path (10), illuminating a resin pellet (9) passing through the transparent part (10a). 7. The shadowless illumination device (6) is provided, and a line sensor camera (4) is arranged on a side of the transport path (10) opposite to a resin pellet transfer surface. Inspection method for resin pellets.