JP2003075352A - Method and device for inspecting heat-bonding part of sealed package - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To precisely inspect in a short time the quality of a heat-bonding part for a sealed package stored with a packaged object containing oil in a packaging bag sealed by the heat-bonding part. SOLUTION: This inspection device for the heat-bonding part of the sealed package 1 stored with the packaged object 3 containing the oil in the packaging bag 2 sealed by the heat-bonding part 2a is provided with a lighting system 5 for irradiating the heat-bonding part with an ultraviolet ray for making the oil contained in the packaged object emit light, a camera 4 for image-picking up the heat-bonding part irradiated with the ultraviolet ray by the lighting system, an image processing means 8 for image-processing an image image- pickaged up by the camera to extract a luminescent portion brought by the ultraviolet ray, an area calculating means 9 for calculating an area of the luminescent part extracted by the image processing means, and a judge- determination means 10 for comparing the area calculated by the area calculating means with a preset control value to judge-determine the quality of the heat-bonding part.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for inspecting a heat-bonded portion of a hermetically sealed package in which an object to be packaged containing oil is contained in a packaging bag hermetically sealed by the heat-bonded portion. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, fried confectioneries such as potato chips are stored in a packaging bag sealed by a heat-bonding portion because the oil is oxidized and the quality is impaired when exposed to air. In this type of package, when the packaging bag is heat-bonded and the article to be packaged is sandwiched between the heat-bonded parts, the appearance of the heat-bonded parts is impaired and the heat-bonded parts are broken by pinholes and sealed. The sex may be impaired.

Conventionally, as a method for inspecting the presence or absence of this kind of defect, a visual method is used, in which the heat-bonded portion of the package is irradiated with light and the package is imaged by a camera, and the heat-bonded portion of the obtained image is detected. There is a method of judging the quality based on the shape of the portion, a method of placing the package in a vacuum container and pressing the outer surface of the package, and determining the hermeticity based on the change with time of the pressing force.

[0004]

However, there is a problem in the accuracy of the inspection with respect to, and regarding, if there is printing or wrinkles in the heat-bonded portion, it can be distinguished from the packaged object sandwiched in the heat-bonded portion. However, there is a problem in that it may be erroneously determined to be defective, and there is a problem in that 100% inspection cannot be performed because the inspection takes time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a hermetically sealed package in which an object to be packaged containing oil is contained in a packaging bag hermetically sealed by a heat-bonding portion. It is to enable the quality of the heat-bonded portion to be accurately inspected in a short time.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention of claim 1 is a hermetically sealed package in which an object to be packaged containing oil is housed in a packaging bag hermetically sealed by a heat-bonding portion. A method for inspecting a heat-bonded part of a body, wherein the heat-bonded part is irradiated with ultraviolet rays that cause the oil to illuminate, and the quality of the heat-bonded part is determined based on the size of the part or the area inside the part that is illuminated by the ultraviolet rays Is a method for inspecting a heat-bonded portion of a hermetically sealed package.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the inspection method according to the first aspect, the heat-bonded portion irradiated with the ultraviolet rays is imaged by a camera, and the portion emitted by the ultraviolet rays is extracted from the obtained image. At the same time, the area of the light emitting portion or the area inside thereof is calculated, and the quality of the heat-bonded portion is judged by comparing this area with a preset judgment value.

The invention according to claim 3 is an inspection device for a heat-bonded portion of a hermetically sealed package, wherein an object to be packaged containing oil is housed in a packaging bag hermetically sealed by the heat-bonded portion. An illumination device that irradiates the heat-bonded portion with ultraviolet rays that cause oil to be emitted, a camera that captures the heat-bonded portion that is illuminated with ultraviolet light by the illumination device, and an image processed by the camera to perform image processing on the image captured by the camera. The image processing means for extracting the light emitting portion, the area calculating means for calculating the area of the light emitting portion or the region inside thereof extracted by the image processing means, and the area calculated by the area calculating means are preset. An inspection device for a heat-bonded portion of a hermetically-sealed package, comprising: a judgment unit that judges whether the heat-bonded portion is good or bad by comparing it with a judgment value.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a front view of a main part of an inspection apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a method of processing an image captured by a camera of the inspection apparatus of FIG.

The inspection apparatus according to the present embodiment has a band-shaped heat-bonding portion 2a provided on both end edges of a hermetically sealed package 1 having a pillow type packaging bag 2 in which an object to be packaged (fried confectionery) 3 is stored. A camera 4 for inspection, which is arranged above the inspection position P, and an illumination device 5 which is arranged below the inspection position P.
And a control device 6 connected to the camera 4 and the lighting device 5.

The sealed packages 1 are conveyed from the left to the right in the figure by the conveyors 7, 7 and are supplied to the inspection position P one by one. When the thermal bonding portion 2a of the hermetically sealed package 1 reaches the inspection position P, it is detected by a sensor (not shown).

As the illuminating device 5, a fluorescent lamp type general-purpose black light is used, and its peak wavelength is 3
It has a width of 68 nm and a width of 350 to 400 nm. When the ultraviolet light emitted from the illumination device 5 hits the small piece 3a of the article to be packaged 3 sandwiched between the heat-bonding portions 2a, the small piece 3a emits light.

As the camera 4, it is possible to use a general-purpose CCD camera which is sensitive to light rays in the visible region, but it is more preferable to use a camera that is sensitive to both light rays in the ultraviolet region and visible light region. As such a camera, for example, a back-illuminated type C manufactured by Hamamatsu Photonics KK
Examples thereof include C8000 which is a CD camera, and N7640 which is an Electron Bombertment type CCD camera manufactured by Hamamatsu Photonics KK. In addition, it is preferable to use a bandpass filter F in the camera lens in order to efficiently detect only light emitted by being excited by ultraviolet rays.

The control device 6 is composed of a microcomputer, and has therein an image processing means 8 for image-processing an image captured by the camera 4 to extract a light emitting portion, and a light emitting portion extracted by the image processing means 8. Area calculating means 9 for calculating the area of the area inside the area, and determining means 10 for comparing the area calculated by the area calculating means 9 with a preset judgment value to judge whether the heat-bonded portion 2a is good or bad.
It has and. The image processing unit 8, the area calculation unit 9, and the determination unit 10 are configured by a program stored in the ROM.

Next, the operation of the inspection apparatus configured as described above will be described. When one of the heat-bonded portions 2a of the hermetically sealed package 1 reaches the inspection position P, the sensor detects this, the lighting device 5 emits light, and the camera 4 images the inside of a predetermined area. When the small piece 3a of the article to be packaged 3 is sandwiched between the heat-bonded portions 2a, a space is created around the small piece 3a, and the oil that has exuded from the small piece 3a enters into this space, so that this portion emits light by the light of the lighting device 5. .

The image picked up by the camera 4 (see FIG. 2A) is sent to the control device 6, and the image processing means 8 performs processing such as differentiation and integration on this image, and the portion of the heat-bonding portion 2a. To stand out. Next, after rotating the image to correct the position of the portion of the heat-bonding portion 2a, the portion of the heat-bonding portion 2a is binarized based on a predetermined threshold value to extract the light emitting portion R. (See FIG. 2 (b)).

The area calculating means 9 calculates the area by counting the number of pixels in the region inside the light emitting portion R, and the judging means 10
Compares this area with a preset judgment value,
If it is less than the judgment value, it is judged as good, and if it is more than the judgment value, it is judged as bad. When the determination result is good, the sealed package 1 is conveyed to the next step by the conveyor 7, and when the determination result is bad, the sealed package 1 is conveyed by the conveyor 7 by the transfer device (not shown). Transferred off the route.

In the inspection apparatus of the present invention, even if the heat-bonded portion is printed or has wrinkles, these do not emit light and therefore are not mistakenly detected as the object to be packaged. Further, in the conventional inspection apparatus, it is necessary to set the printed portion to be deleted during the image processing prior to the inspection so that the printing applied to the heat-bonded portion is not erroneously detected. Then, there is no need to make such a setting.

Further, in the inspection apparatus of the present invention, image processing is performed with the intensity of light of a specific wavelength as a threshold value, and therefore, the influence of the color, shape, shadow, etc. of the inspection object as in the conventional inspection apparatus is affected. Never receive. Further, since the light of the lighting device is ultraviolet light, all the parts other than the light emitting part are black, and the packaged object sandwiched between the heat-bonded parts can be accurately detected.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to detect even a small object to be detected, and as a result of experiments, it has been found that it can be detected if it is 0.3 mm square or more. Further, in the present invention, the time required for inspection is short, and one hermetically sealed package is 100 mmse
It can be inspected under c or less, and 100% inspection is possible.

In the present invention, when the film forming the packaging bag is transparent, the object to be packaged sandwiched between the heat-bonded portions can be detected most accurately. When the film contains a vapor-deposited layer of aluminum, visible light and ultraviolet rays are slightly transmitted, and thus the packaged object sandwiched between the heat-bonded portions can be detected, but the accuracy is higher than that when the film is transparent. drop down. When the film contains an aluminum foil layer, it can be detected only when the packaged object breaks the aluminum foil layer.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. 3 is a front view of a main part of an inspection device according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the positional relationship between the illumination device 5 and the inspection position P of the inspection device of FIG. In the present embodiment, parts corresponding to those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and description of the same parts is omitted.

In this embodiment, the illuminating device 5 is formed in a ring shape and is arranged between the inspection position P and the camera 4. In the first embodiment, the light of the illumination device 5 reaches the camera 4 through the space formed around the small piece 3a of the article to be packaged 3 sandwiched between the heat-bonding portions 2a, but hits the small piece 3a. Since the reflected light is reflected on the side opposite to the camera 4, it does not reach the camera 4. Therefore, the camera 4
In the image captured by, only the portion of the space around the small piece 3a emits light.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, since the light reflected by the small piece 3a reaches the camera 4, the small piece 3a also emits light in the image captured by the camera 4. Then, the area calculation means 9 calculates the area of the light emitting portion by counting the number of pixels of the light emitting portion extracted by the image processing means. Then, the determination means 10 compares this area with a preset determination value to determine the quality of the heat-bonded portion 2a.

In each of the above embodiments, the image processing means performs image processing on the image sent from the camera based on one threshold value to extract the light emitting portion. You may make it image-process based on a threshold value and extract a light emission part. In this way, the boundary portion between the light emitting portion and the non-light emitting portion can be removed, so that more accurate determination can be performed.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the quality of the light emitting portion is automatically determined by using the camera and the computer, but the inspector may visually determine the quality of the light emitting portion. May be.

Besides, various modifications can be made to the above-described embodiment without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The heat-bonded part of the hermetically sealed package, which contains the object to be packaged that contains oil in the packaging bag that is sealed by the heat-bonded part, emits UV light to the heat-bonded part that is sandwiched between the heat-bonded parts. Let
Since the quality of the heat-bonded portion is determined based on this light emitting portion, the heat-bonded portion of the hermetically sealed package can be inspected accurately in a short time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a main part of an inspection device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

2 is an explanatory diagram of a method of processing an image captured by a camera of the inspection device in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a main part of an inspection device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a plan view showing a positional relationship between an illumination device and an inspection position of the inspection device shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 sealed package 2 packaging bags 2a Heat bonded part 3 Items to be packaged 4 cameras 5 Lighting equipment 8 Image processing means 9 Area calculation means 10 Judgment means

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Naoki Hosoi             1-1-1, Ichigaya-Kagacho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo             Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2G051 AA11 AB13 BA05 BA20 CA04                       CC07 DA06 EA11 EB01 ED04                       ED12

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method for inspecting a heat-bonded portion of a hermetically-sealed package in which an object to be packaged containing oil is housed in a packaging bag hermetically sealed by a heat-bonded portion, wherein the ultraviolet light that causes the oil to emit light is used. A method for inspecting a heat-bonded portion of a hermetically sealed package, which comprises irradiating the heat-bonded portion and determining the quality of the heat-bonded portion based on the size of a portion that emits light by the ultraviolet rays or a region inside thereof. 2. An image of the heat-bonded portion irradiated with the ultraviolet rays is picked up by a camera, a portion emitted by the ultraviolet rays is extracted from the obtained image, and an area of the light-emitting portion or a region inside thereof is calculated, The method for inspecting the heat-bonded portion of the hermetically sealed package according to claim 1, wherein the quality of the heat-bonded portion is judged by comparing this area with a preset judgment value. 3. An inspection device for a heat-bonded portion of a hermetically sealed package, wherein an object to be packaged containing oil is housed in a packaging bag hermetically sealed by a heat-bonded portion, wherein the ultraviolet light for causing the oil to emit light is used. An illumination device that irradiates the heat-bonded portion, a camera that images the heat-bonded portion that is irradiated with ultraviolet rays by the illumination device, and an image that performs image processing on the image captured by this camera and extracts the portion that emits light by the ultraviolet rays. The processing means, the area calculation means for calculating the area of the light emitting portion or the region inside thereof extracted by the image processing means, and comparing the area calculated by the area calculation means with a preset judgment value, An apparatus for inspecting a heat-bonded portion of a hermetically sealed package, comprising: a determination unit that determines whether the heat-bonded portion is good or bad.