JP2006300875A - Liquid level detecting method, liquid amount detecting method, liquid level detector, liquid amount detector, and dispensing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To more certainly detect the liquid level of the liquid stored in a transparent or translucent container. <P>SOLUTION: This liquid level detecting method comprises a radiation step of radiating light of different luminance horizontally to the transparent or translucent container 2 storing the liquid from a side of the container 2, a photographing step of photographing the light having transmitted through the container 2, and a detecting step of detecting a liquid level position in the container 2 based on the acquired image. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid level detection method, a liquid level detection method, a liquid level detection device, a liquid level detection device, and a dispensing device.

Conventionally, as a method for detecting the liquid level of a liquid stored in a transparent or translucent container, a light source and a camera that are disposed opposite to each other across the container are provided, and uniform light is directed from the light source toward the container. The liquid level is detected by identifying the shadow of the liquid level appearing on the image by, for example, binarizing the obtained image near the liquid level and photographing the light transmitted through the container with a camera. What is detected is known (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).
JP 2001-99694 A

  However, in the case of the liquid level detection method disclosed in Patent Document 1, when the liquid is transparent, the acquired liquid layer image and air layer image are images having substantially the same brightness. For this reason, there is a problem that the shadow of the liquid surface appearing at the boundary position between the liquid layer and the gas layer becomes thin and detection becomes difficult. In addition, when the container is translucent, the shadow of the liquid level becomes thinner and difficult to detect.

  Further, in the conventional liquid level detection method in which the liquid is transparent and the obtained liquid layer image and the gas layer image have almost the same brightness, a liquid film is formed that divides the gas layer in the container up and down. The liquid film is erroneously detected as the liquid level. Furthermore, in the conventional method for detecting the shadow of the liquid level, when the container is provided with a horizontal flaw or scale, there is a disadvantage that such a flaw or scale is detected as the liquid level.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and is a liquid level detection method, a liquid level detection method, and a liquid level that more reliably detect the liquid level of a liquid contained in a transparent or translucent container. An object of the present invention is to provide a detection device, a liquid amount detection device, and a dispensing device.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following means.
The present invention relates to an irradiation step of irradiating a translucent or transparent container containing liquid with light having different luminance in the horizontal direction from the side of the container, an imaging step of photographing the light transmitted through the container, and acquisition. And a detecting step for detecting the position of the liquid level in the container based on the obtained image.

  According to the present invention, light irradiated from the side of the container and passing through the container is refracted at different angles based on the difference in refractive index between the gas layer and the liquid layer in the container. By irradiating light with different brightness in the horizontal direction as light irradiating the container in the irradiation step, the light that has passed through the gas layer and the liquid layer is acquired as an image whose brightness changes in the horizontal direction in the photographing step. Is done. In this case, since the refractive index is different between the gas layer and the liquid layer, the positions and ratios of the light layer and the liquid layer in the acquired image change. As a result, the brightness of the upper and lower images is different with the liquid surface position arranged at the boundary between the gas layer and the liquid layer as the boundary, and it is possible to clearly identify and detect the liquid surface in the detection step. Become.

  In particular, when the cross-sectional shape of the container is substantially circular, the liquid layer functions as a convex lens having a large positive power, and when shooting at a position away from the container, an image of the air layer and an image of the liquid layer And reverse. As a result, an image whose brightness is reversed up and down with the liquid surface position as a boundary is acquired, and the liquid surface position can be more clearly identified. Therefore, the liquid level position can be detected with high accuracy.

  Further, the present invention provides an irradiation step of irradiating light from the side of a translucent or transparent container containing a liquid, and the light transmitted through the container with respect to the irradiation direction of the light to the container. There is provided a liquid level detection method including a photographing step of photographing from a direction inclined in the horizontal direction and a detection step of detecting a liquid level position in a container based on an acquired image.

  According to the present invention, in the photographing step, the light that has passed through the container is photographed from a direction that is inclined in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the light irradiation direction of the container, thereby photographing the container with light having different luminance in the horizontal direction. The same effect as that obtained can be obtained. That is, only by photographing from a direction inclined in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the light irradiation direction, light passing through the air layer is acquired as an image in which one side in the horizontal direction is dark and the other side is bright. Then, the light passing through the liquid layer is acquired as an image in which the position where the brightness changes is different or an image in which the brightness is reversed due to a difference in refractive index from the air layer. As a result, images having different brightness levels at the liquid surface position located at the boundary between the liquid layer and the gas layer are obtained, and the liquid surface position can be clearly identified.

  The present invention also provides a translucent or transparent container having a scale containing a liquid, detects the liquid level position in the container by any one of the liquid level detection methods described above, and irradiates light from the side of the container. Then, the light transmitted through the container is photographed from the direction opposite to the light irradiation direction across the container, the scale position is detected based on the acquired image, and the detected scale position and liquid surface position are detected. Based on the above, a liquid amount detection method for calculating the amount of liquid contained in the container is provided.

  According to the present invention, since the gas layer and the liquid layer in the container are not different in the upper and lower positions at the scale position formed on the container, the scale cannot be detected by the liquid level detection method. On the other hand, since the scale is easily detected as a shadow, the scale as a shadow can be detected by photographing from the direction opposite to the light irradiation direction. Therefore, the liquid level and the scale can be photographed from different directions and clearly detected, respectively, and the amount of liquid in the container can be accurately detected from the obtained liquid level position and scale position. According to this invention, even if the position of the container fluctuates, the amount of liquid in the container can be accurately detected based on the scale formed on the container.

  Further, the present invention provides a light source that irradiates light having different luminance in the horizontal direction from the side of the container, a photographing apparatus that photographs light transmitted through the container, and a translucent or transparent container that contains a liquid. There is provided a liquid level detection apparatus including an image processing apparatus that detects a liquid level position in a container based on an acquired image.

  According to the present invention, when light having a different luminance in the horizontal direction emitted from the light source is irradiated from the side of the container, an image whose brightness changes in the horizontal direction is acquired by the photographing apparatus. When the liquid is stored in the container, the light passing through the gas layer travels almost straight, while the light passing through the liquid tank travels by being largely refracted. Therefore, the image of the air layer and the image of the liquid tank have different brightness patterns in the horizontal direction. As a result, pixels having different brightness values are adjacent to each other with the liquid surface position as a boundary, and the image processing apparatus is operated, for example, by an edge extraction process for calculating a luminance difference between adjacent pixels in the vertical direction. The liquid level can be extracted.

  The present invention also provides a light source for irradiating light from the side of a translucent or transparent container containing a liquid, and a direction inclined in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the optical axis of the light source. There is provided a liquid level detection device including an imaging device that captures light emitted from a light source and transmitted through a container, and an image processing device that detects a liquid level position in the container based on an acquired image.

  According to the present invention, the light emitted from the light source is irradiated on the side of the container, and the light transmitted through the container and / or the liquid is photographed by the photographing device. Since the photographing apparatus is arranged in a direction inclined substantially in the horizontal direction with respect to the optical axis of the light source, images having different brightness in the horizontal direction are acquired. In this case, since the refractive index of the gas layer is different from that of the liquid layer, an image acquired by detecting the light passing through the gas layer and an image acquired by detecting the light passing through the liquid layer Is different from the light and dark pattern along the horizontal direction. Therefore, as described above, the luminance values of adjacent pixels are clearly different with the liquid level position as a boundary, and the liquid level can be easily extracted by the edge extraction process for calculating the difference between the luminance values of the upper and lower pixels. By simply changing the positional relationship between the light source and the imaging device, the liquid level can be detected with high accuracy, and a simple and low-cost liquid level detection device can be configured.

  The present invention also provides a light source for irradiating light from the side of a translucent or transparent container having a scale containing a liquid, a light source disposed substantially on the optical axis of the light source, and emitted from the light source. A first photographing device for photographing light transmitted through the container, and a second photographing device arranged in a direction inclined in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the optical axis from the light source and photographing light emitted from the light source and transmitted through the container. The position of the scale is detected based on the image acquired by the imaging device and the first imaging device, the liquid level is detected based on the image acquired by the second imaging device, and the position of the detected scale is detected. And an image processing device for calculating the amount of liquid contained in the container based on the liquid level position.

  According to the present invention, when light is irradiated from the light source toward the side surface of the container, the light that has passed through the container and the liquid in the container is photographed by the first photographing device and the second photographing device. Light emitted from the light source to the container and transmitted straight through the container is photographed by the first photographing device, and light refracted by the liquid when passing through the container is photographed by the second photographing device. The light that passes straight through the container is acquired by the first photographing device as an image having substantially the same brightness regardless of the refractive indexes of the gas layer and the liquid layer.

  Therefore, the scale provided on the container becomes a shadow and is acquired as an image having a lightness different from that of the gas layer and the liquid layer. Therefore, the scale can be easily extracted by the operation of the image processing apparatus.

  In addition, in the second photographing apparatus arranged to be inclined in the horizontal direction with respect to the optical axis of the light source, the light passing through the gas layer and the liquid layer is acquired as an image having different brightness due to the difference in refractive index. Is done. That is, in the acquired image, pixels having different brightness values are adjacent to each other up and down with the liquid surface position as a boundary. Therefore, for example, an edge that takes a difference between adjacent pixel values in the vertical direction by the operation of the image processing apparatus. The liquid level can be easily detected by the extraction process.

Based on the scale position and the liquid level position thus obtained, the amount of liquid in the container can be accurately calculated.
According to this invention, even if it uses for the use from which the position of a container fluctuates, the liquid quantity in a container can be detected accurately on the basis of the scale provided in the container.

  The present invention also provides a translucent or transparent chip that sucks or discharges a liquid, a light source that emits light having different luminance in the horizontal direction from the side of the chip, and an imaging device that photographs light transmitted through the chip. And an image processing device that detects the liquid level position in the chip based on the acquired image.

  According to the present invention, when light having a different luminance in the horizontal direction emitted from the light source is irradiated from the side of the chip, an image whose brightness changes in the horizontal direction is acquired by the photographing apparatus. When the liquid is stored in the chip, the light passing through the gas layer travels almost straight, while the light passing through the liquid tank travels by being largely refracted. Therefore, the image of the air layer and the image of the liquid tank have different brightness patterns in the horizontal direction. As a result, pixels having different brightness values are adjacent to each other with the liquid surface position as a boundary, and the image processing apparatus is operated, for example, by an edge extraction process for calculating a luminance difference between adjacent pixels in the vertical direction. The liquid level can be extracted. If the position of the chip is accurately controlled by accurately detecting the liquid level, the amount of liquid in the chip can be calculated based on the detected liquid level position, and an accurate amount of liquid can be dispensed.

  The present invention also provides a translucent or transparent chip that sucks or discharges a liquid, a light source that emits light from the side of the chip, and a direction that is inclined in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the optical axis of the light source. A dispensing apparatus is provided that includes an imaging device that captures light emitted from a light source and transmitted through the chip, and an image processing device that detects a liquid surface position in the chip based on an acquired image.

  According to the present invention, the light transmitted through the chip is photographed from a direction inclined in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the direction of light irradiation with respect to the chip. The effect of can be obtained.

  Furthermore, the present invention provides a translucent or transparent chip having a scale for sucking or discharging a liquid, a light source for irradiating light from the side of the chip, and a light source disposed substantially on the optical axis of the light source. A first photographing device for photographing light transmitted through the chip, and a second photographing device configured to photograph light emitted from the light source and transmitted through the chip, arranged in a direction inclined in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the optical axis from the light source. The position of the scale is detected based on the image acquired by the image capturing apparatus and the first image capturing apparatus, the liquid level is detected based on the image acquired by the second image capturing apparatus, and the scale of the detected scale is detected. A dispensing device is provided that includes an image processing device that calculates the amount of liquid contained in a chip based on the position and the liquid level position.

  According to the present invention, the light emitted from the light source and transmitted through the chip is photographed by the first photographing device and the second photographing device. Since the first imaging device is disposed substantially on the optical axis of the light source, it is possible to easily detect the shadow of the light transmitted through the chip. Therefore, the scale formed on the chip can be clearly detected by the operation of the image processing apparatus.

  On the other hand, since the second imaging device is inclined in the horizontal direction with respect to the optical axis of the light source, the liquid level position that is the boundary between the liquid layer and the air layer is determined by the image processing device by using different light and dark patterns in the liquid layer and the air layer. It can be detected clearly. And based on the scale on the chip | tip and the liquid level position which were detected clearly, the liquid quantity of the liquid accommodated in the chip | tip can be detected accurately. Therefore, an accurate amount of liquid can be aspirated and an accurate amount of liquid can be dispensed.

  According to the present invention, there is an effect that the liquid level of the liquid contained in a transparent or translucent container can be detected more reliably with a simple configuration. Moreover, the process for detecting the liquid level can be facilitated, and the working time required for dispensing work and the like can be shortened, and the yield can be improved.

A liquid level detection device 1 and a liquid level detection method according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing a liquid level detection apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment.

  The liquid level detection device 1 according to the present embodiment is a liquid level detection device 1 provided in a dispensing device, and as shown in FIG. 1, a translucent chip (container) 2 that contains a transparent liquid. A light source 3 disposed on the side, a camera (photographing device) 4 disposed on the side of the chip 2, and an image processing device 5 that calculates a liquid surface position based on an image photographed by the camera 4. It has. In the figure, reference numeral 6 denotes a display device that displays the photographing result by the camera 4 and the image processing result by the image processing device 5.

  The light source 3 includes, for example, a point light source 7 such as an LED light source, and a diffusion plate 8 that diffuses light from the point light source 7. The light emitted from the point light source 7 is diffused when passing through the diffusion plate 8, and is irradiated on the side surface of the chip 2 as light having substantially uniform luminance.

The camera 4 is inclined with respect to the optical axis C2 of the light source 3 in the horizontal direction by an angle θ.
The image processing device 5 receives the image data acquired by the camera 4 and performs, for example, an edge extraction process for detecting the boundary of the image by calculating a difference between luminance values of vertically adjacent pixels, Then, binarization processing is performed on the edge-extracted image, and finally the liquid is determined by determining whether or not a predetermined number of white pixels are continuously arranged in the horizontal direction in the binarized image. The surface position is detected.

The operation of the liquid level detection device 1 and the liquid level detection method according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described below.
When the liquid is sucked into the chip 2, a liquid layer in which the liquid is stored and a gas layer in which the gas is stored are formed in the chip 2 from the lower end side, and the liquid is interposed between the gas layer and the liquid layer. A surface is formed. In order to detect the liquid level of the liquid in the chip 2 using the liquid level detection apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the chip 2 containing the liquid is disposed between the light source 3 and the camera 4 and the light source 3 is operated. Then, light is irradiated from the side of the chip 2.

  In the present embodiment, the light emitted from the point light source 7 is diffused by the diffusion plate 8 and irradiated onto the side surface of the chip 2 as a uniform bundle of light having a finite extent. Since the chip 2 and the liquid are translucent and transparent, the light emitted from the light source 3 passes through the chip 2 and the liquid.

  In this case, according to the liquid level detection device 1 according to the present embodiment, the optical axis C1 of the camera 4 is tilted in the horizontal direction with respect to the optical axis C2 of the light source 3, and thus is acquired by the camera 4. The image changes in brightness in the horizontal direction. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the camera 4 is arranged to be inclined at an angle θ clockwise about the axis of the chip 2 with respect to the light source 3 when viewed from the direction orthogonal to the paper surface. The left side of 4 approaches the light source 3 and the right side moves away from the light source 3.

  The light passing through the air layer in the chip 2 travels almost straight without being refracted so much and enters the camera 4. Therefore, in the camera 4, as shown in FIG. 2, the air layer portion in the chip 2 has a background image when the chip 2 is viewed along the optical axis C 1 of the camera 4, that is, the light source 3 is arranged. The left side is acquired as a bright image and the right side as a dark image. On the other hand, since the liquid layer portion in the chip 2 is filled with a transparent liquid, it functions as a convex lens having a large positive power. In the camera 4, the liquid layer portion in the chip 2 is the light of the camera 4. An image opposite to the background when the chip 2 is viewed along the axis C1, that is, an image that is dark on the left side and bright on the right side is acquired. As a result, the actual image shown in FIG. 2 is acquired by the camera 4.

  From this image, it can be seen that the brightness is reversed between the upper gas layer and the lower liquid layer. As a result, images with clearly different brightnesses are obtained vertically across the liquid surface position arranged at the boundary between the gas layer and the liquid layer. Therefore, as apparent from the actual image in FIG. 2, the liquid level position can be clearly determined by visual observation.

  Further, FIG. 3 shows the result of the edge extraction process performed by the operation of the image processing apparatus 5. In the image acquired by the liquid level detection device 1 according to the present embodiment, since the difference in brightness is clearly shown at the liquid level position, the liquid level is clarified by the edge extraction process as shown in FIG. Can be extracted. Thereafter, a binarization process is performed based on a predetermined threshold value, thereby obtaining a binarized image as shown in FIG. Thus, according to the liquid level detection apparatus 1 and the liquid level detection method according to the present embodiment, there is an effect that the liquid level position of the transparent liquid in the translucent chip 2 can be clearly detected.

  FIG. 5 shows, as a comparative example, an image example according to a conventional liquid level detection method in which the light source 3 and the camera 4 are arranged diametrically across the chip 2. Although depending on the size of the light source 3, in the case of FIG. 5, the difference between the upper and lower brightness levels at the liquid surface position is not clear, and the liquid surface position can be accurately extracted also by edge extraction and binarization processing. Proves difficult.

  According to the liquid level detection device 1 and the liquid level detection method according to the present embodiment configured as described above, the liquid layer and the gas layer can be acquired as images having distinctly different light and dark patterns. Therefore, even when the liquid layer has been separated by the gas layer (bubble), as shown in FIG. 6, it is possible to grasp each gas layer and the liquid layer as images having different light and dark patterns. Become. On the other hand, according to the conventional method, as shown in FIG. 7, there is a disadvantage that the gas layer and the liquid layer cannot be distinguished.

  Further, even when a liquid film is formed in the gas layer, according to the liquid level detection device 1 and the liquid level detection method according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. Can be clearly distinguished by acquiring images as images having different light and dark patterns. On the other hand, in the conventional method in which the gas layer and the liquid layer can be detected only as the same light and dark pattern, it is conceivable that the liquid film is erroneously detected as the liquid surface position as shown in FIG.

  In the description of the present embodiment, the liquid level detection device 1 and the liquid level detection method have been described. For example, when the vertical position of the chip 2 with respect to the light source 3 and the camera 4 is always constant, Using the liquid surface position information detected by the liquid surface detection device 1 according to the present embodiment, the amount of liquid stored in the chip 2 can be calculated.

  Therefore, according to the liquid amount detection device including the liquid level detection device 1 according to the present embodiment, the amount of liquid accommodated in the chip 2 can be detected with high accuracy. Moreover, according to the dispensing device provided with the liquid level detection device 1 according to the present embodiment, by accurately grasping the amount of liquid accommodated in the chip 2, an accurate amount of liquid is sucked and dispensed. There is an advantage that can be done.

In the present embodiment, the camera 4 is tilted in the horizontal direction with respect to the optical axis from the light source 3 so that light having different luminance in the horizontal direction as viewed from the camera 4 is irradiated. Alternatively, the light source 3 may be set to change the luminance in the horizontal direction.
Specifically, the transparency of the diffusion plate 8 is changed in the horizontal direction, or a shielding plate (illustrated) that blocks light from entering the left or right half of the radial direction of the chip 2 between the chip 2 and the point 7. (Omitted) may be arranged.

Next, a liquid amount detection device 10 and a liquid amount detection method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
In the description of the present embodiment, the same reference numerals are given to portions having the same configuration as the liquid level detection device 1 according to the first embodiment described above, and the description thereof is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 10, the liquid amount detection device 10 according to the present embodiment is a first camera arranged opposite to the light source 3 with a translucent chip (container) 2 containing a transparent liquid interposed therebetween. 11 is further provided. Here, the camera 4 described in the first embodiment is referred to as a second camera 4.
The liquid amount detection device 10 according to the present embodiment is applied when the chip 2 includes a scale (see FIG. 11).

The operation of the liquid amount detection device 10 according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described below.
In order to detect the amount of liquid in the chip 2 using the liquid amount detection device 10 according to the present embodiment, the light emitted from the point light source 7 is diffused by the diffusion plate 8 by turning on the point light source 7. The side surface of the chip 2 is irradiated as a uniform bundle of light having a finite extent. Since the chip 2 and the liquid are translucent and transparent, the light emitted from the light source 3 passes through the chip 2 and the liquid.

  Since the first camera 11 is disposed on the optical axis C2 of the point light source 7 at a position facing the point light source 7 with the chip 2 interposed therebetween, the light emitted from the light source 3 and transmitted through the chip 2 almost straight. Is filmed. In this case, since the chip 2 is irradiated with substantially uniform light diffused by the diffusing plate 8, even if the refractive index is different between the liquid layer and the gas layer in the chip 2, the first camera 11 is used. In the image acquired by the above, the liquid layer and the gas layer are acquired as images having substantially the same brightness. As a result, the liquid level position is difficult to identify depending on the first camera 11, while the scale formed on the chip 2 appears as a shadow in the image as shown in FIG. .

  Accordingly, the image acquired by the first camera 11 is subjected to an edge extraction process for calculating the difference between the luminance values of the upper and lower pixels by the operation of the image processing device 5, as shown in FIG. A scale of 2 is clearly detected.

  On the other hand, as described in the first embodiment, the second camera 4 can acquire an image in which the liquid level position can be clearly identified as shown in FIG. In this case, since the inside of the chip 2 is either a liquid layer or a gas layer at the position of the scale and does not change, the brightness above and below the scale is equal in the acquired image. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 14, even in the image after the edge extraction processing, the image only appears in the image as a linear shadow with a short scale only in a bright region, and like other scratched images and the like. It can be removed as noise.

As described above, according to the liquid amount detection device 10 according to the present embodiment, the position of the scale provided on the chip 2 and the liquid surface position of the liquid stored in the chip 2 can be accurately detected. Based on the detection result, the amount of liquid in the chip 2 can be detected with high accuracy.
In this case, when the amount of liquid in the chip 2 is detected, the scale provided on the chip 2 is used as a reference. Therefore, even if the vertical position of the chip 2 is not accurately positioned with respect to the liquid amount detection device 10. The liquid amount can be detected with high accuracy.
Further, by installing the liquid amount detection device 10 according to the present embodiment in the dispensing device, the dispensing amount can be managed precisely.

  In the present embodiment, two cameras 4 and 11 are provided which are a first camera 11 disposed substantially on the optical axis of the light source and a second camera 4 disposed at an inclined position. Although the side images are acquired at the same time, it is also possible to acquire images sequentially by moving a single camera to a position substantially on the optical axis and an inclined position of the light source. Alternatively, a single camera may be fixed and the light source may be moved to a different position in the circumferential direction of the chip 2.

  Moreover, in each said embodiment, although the translucent chip | tip 2 used for a dispensing apparatus was illustrated as a container, it replaces with this, Liquid level detection or liquid quantity in other arbitrary transparent containers or translucent containers It may be applied to detection.

It is a top view which shows typically the liquid level detection apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a photograph which shows the example of a real image of the chip | tip side surface acquired by the liquid level detection apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of an image which carried out the edge extraction process of the real image of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of an image which binarized the image of FIG. It is a photograph which shows the example of a real image of the chip | tip side surface acquired by the conventional liquid level detection apparatus as a comparative example of FIG. It is a photograph which shows the example of a real image of the chip | tip side surface in which the some liquid layer and gas layer which were acquired by the liquid level detection apparatus of FIG. 1 are provided alternately. It is a photograph which shows the example of a real image of the chip | tip side surface acquired by the conventional liquid level detection apparatus as a comparative example of FIG. It is a photograph which shows the example of a real image of the chip | tip side surface in which the liquid film is formed in the air layer acquired by the liquid level detection apparatus of FIG. It is a photograph which shows the example of a real image of the chip | tip side surface acquired by the conventional liquid level detection apparatus as a comparative example of FIG. It is a top view which shows typically the liquid quantity detection apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a photograph which shows the example of a real image of the chip | tip side surface which has a scale image | photographed with the 1st camera of the liquid quantity detection apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of an image which carried out the edge extraction process of the real image of FIG. It is a photograph which shows the example of a real image of the chip | tip side surface which has a scale image | photographed with the 2nd camera of the liquid quantity detection apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of an image which carried out the edge extraction process of the real image of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

C1 Optical axis 1 Liquid level detector 2 Chip (container)
3 light source 4 camera (photographing device: second photographing device)
5 image processing apparatus 11 first camera (first photographing apparatus))

Claims (9)

An irradiation step of irradiating light having different luminance in the horizontal direction from the side of the container with respect to a translucent or transparent container containing a liquid;
A photographing step for photographing the light transmitted through the container;
A liquid level detection method comprising: a detection step of detecting a liquid level position in a container based on an acquired image. An irradiation step of irradiating light from a side of the container to a translucent or transparent container containing a liquid;
A photographing step of photographing the light transmitted through the container from a direction inclined in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the irradiation direction of the light to the container;
A liquid level detection method comprising: a detection step of detecting a liquid level position in a container based on an acquired image. For a translucent or transparent container having a scale containing a liquid, the liquid level position in the container is detected by the liquid level detection method according to claim 1 or 2,
Irradiate light from the side of the container,
Photograph the light transmitted through the container from the direction opposite to the light irradiation direction with the container in between.
Detect the position of the scale based on the acquired image,
A liquid amount detection method for calculating a storage amount of a liquid in a container based on a detected position of a scale and a liquid surface position. A light source that irradiates a translucent or transparent container containing liquid with light having different luminance in the horizontal direction from the side of the container;
A photographing device for photographing the light transmitted through the container;
A liquid level detection apparatus provided with the image processing apparatus which detects the liquid level position in a container based on the acquired image. A light source for irradiating light from the side of the container to a translucent or transparent container containing a liquid;
An imaging device which is arranged in a direction inclined in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the optical axis of the light source, and shoots light emitted from the light source and transmitted through the container;
A liquid level detection apparatus provided with the image processing apparatus which detects the liquid level position in a container based on the acquired image. A light source for irradiating light from the side of the container with respect to a translucent or transparent container having a scale containing liquid;
A first imaging device that is disposed substantially on the optical axis of the light source and that captures light emitted from the light source and transmitted through the container;
A second imaging device that is arranged in a direction inclined in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the optical axis from the light source, and that images light emitted from the light source and transmitted through the container;
The scale position is detected based on the image acquired by the first imaging device, the liquid level position is detected based on the image acquired by the second imaging device, and the detected scale position and liquid level position are detected. A liquid amount detection device comprising: an image processing device that calculates the amount of liquid contained in the container based on the above. A translucent or transparent tip for aspirating or discharging liquid; and
A light source that emits light having different luminance in the horizontal direction from the side of the chip;
A photographing device for photographing light transmitted through the chip;
A dispensing apparatus comprising: an image processing device that detects a liquid level position in a chip based on an acquired image. A translucent or transparent tip for aspirating or discharging liquid; and
A light source that emits light from the side of the chip;
An imaging device which is arranged in a direction inclined in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the optical axis of the light source and shoots light emitted from the light source and transmitted through the chip;
A dispensing apparatus comprising: an image processing device that detects a liquid level position in a chip based on an acquired image. A translucent or transparent chip having a scale for sucking or discharging liquid;
A light source that emits light from the side of the chip;
A first imaging device that is disposed substantially on the optical axis of the light source and that captures light emitted from the light source and transmitted through the chip;
A second imaging device that is arranged in a direction inclined in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the optical axis from the light source, and shoots light emitted from the light source and transmitted through the chip;
The scale position is detected based on the image acquired by the first imaging device, the liquid level position is detected based on the image acquired by the second imaging device, and the detected scale position and liquid level position are detected. A dispensing device comprising: an image processing device that calculates the amount of liquid contained in the chip based on the above.

Images