JP2008213906A - Inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inspection device capable of inspecting a state of the lower portion of a container packaged with a heat-shrinkable label. <P>SOLUTION: The inspection device comprises a detector 5 which projects light beams on a lower part of a container packaged with a heat-shrinkable film and receives the light reflected by the lower part of the container, and a determination apparatus 6 for determining presence/absence of any heat-shrinkable film on the lower part of the container based on the output of the detector. The detector includes a plurality of sensors to detect presence/absence of any heat-shrinkable film at a plurality of parts located at substantially the same level of the lower part of the container. The lower part of the container to be detected by the detector is preferably set to be higher than the lower limit height position in a range of the height position at which the heat-shrinkable film is packaged. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an inspection apparatus for inspecting the packaging state of a container packaged with a heat-shrinkable film.

  Conventionally, a cylindrical heat-shrinkable film is placed on the outer periphery of a beverage container such as a bottle container filled with beer, a bottle filled with soft drinks, etc., and then it is contracted and packaged. ing. The shrinkage of the heat-shrinkable film is performed in the shrink tunnel. The inside of the shrink tunnel is maintained at a high temperature of around 80 ° C. The shrinkage of the heat-shrinkable film may fluctuate due to changes in temperature conditions in the shrink tunnel, and a beverage container may be generated in a state where packaging with the heat-shrinkable film is poor.

The beverage containers that have finished shrink packaging are transported to the inspection section by a conveyor. During the transportation, an inspector visually inspects the packaging state of the container and removes the beverage container having a poor packaging state.
JP 2000-326934 A

  FIG. 2 shows a beer bottle with a beverage container that is poorly packaged with a heat-shrinkable film. (A) is a beer bottle whose packaging state is uniformly covered with a heat-shrinkable film from the top to the bottom of the side surface of the beer bottle. (B) is a beer bottle in which folding has occurred at the upper end of the heat-shrinkable film 4, and (c) is a beer bottle in which cornering has occurred at the upper end of the heat-shrinkable film 4. In (d), the heat-shrinkable film is shifted upward due to over-shrinkage of the upper part, and a so-called skirt-up occurs in which a region not covered with the heat-shrinkable film is generated at the lower part of the beer bottle, that is, the side surface near the lower end. Beer bottle. (E) is a beer bottle in which wrinkles are generated on the lower side surface of the heat-shrinkable film.

  Among the bad packaging states shown in (b) to (e), the state of (b), (c) and (e) can be confirmed as a difference in shape and structure of the defective part, so the inspector is defective even visually. It is possible to inspect the packaging state. However, the skirted state shown in (d) cannot be easily recognized as a difference in shape because the heat-shrinkable film is in close contact with the container, and there are almost no color differences above and below the skirted portion. Therefore, it was difficult for the inspector to visually inspect the rising state.

  An object of this invention is to provide the test | inspection apparatus which test | inspects the state of the container lower part packaged with the heat-shrinkable film.

  The inspection apparatus according to the present invention includes a detector that projects a light beam onto a lower part of a container packaged with a heat-shrinkable film and receives light reflected from the lower part of the container, and a container based on the output of the detector. And a determiner for determining the presence or absence of the heat-shrinkable film in the lower part of the film.

  According to the embodiment of the present invention, the detector may include a plurality of sensors and detect the presence / absence of a heat-shrinkable film at a plurality of locations located at substantially the same height below the container. Moreover, it is preferable that the lower part of the container detected by the detector is set higher than the lower limit height position in the range of the height position where the heat-shrinkable film is to be packaged.

  According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the container is measured by a plurality of sensors, the container is stationary with respect to the conveyor that conveys the container, and the plurality of sensors are spaced along the direction of travel of the conveyor. It can be arranged on both sides of the conveyor. Or when a container is measured by a plurality of sensors, it is rotated by the conveyor which conveys a container, and a plurality of sensors can be arranged at one side of a conveyor at intervals along the advancing direction of the conveyor.

  According to the embodiment of the present invention, when the determiner determines that there is no heat-shrinkable film in the lower part of the container, the unit may further include a unit that performs error processing, and the unit is provided with the heat-shrinkable part in the lower part. It is preferable to include a discharger that discharges the container determined to have no adhesive film out of the transport path of the conveyor.

  According to an embodiment of the present invention, the container may be a container filled with a beverage.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the test | inspection apparatus which test | inspects the state of the container lower part packaged with the heat-shrinkable film can be provided.

  Examples of the container packaged with the heat-shrinkable film to be inspected by the inspection apparatus of the present invention include bottle containers such as beer and beverage containers such as PET bottles filled with soft drinks. Embodiment demonstrates the case where the beer bottle 3 packaged with the heat-shrinkable film is inspected.

  The beer bottle 3 filled with beer is conveyed rightward in FIG. 1 by a conveyor 1 driven by a drive unit. The beer bottle 3 is covered with a heat-shrinkable film 4 on the upstream side of the shrink tunnel 2. The beer bottle 3 covered with the heat-shrinkable film 4 is heated by, for example, steam at around 80 ° C. in the shrink tunnel 2. Then, the heat-shrinkable film 4 shrinks and adheres to the beer bottle 3, and the beer bottle 3 is packaged with the heat-shrinkable film 4. As the heat-shrinkable film 4, it is preferable to use a film made of a heat-shrinkable polyester film such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or copolymerized polyester having a thickness of 10 to 100 μm. The heat-shrinkable film 4 can be formed in a cylindrical shape by superimposing both ends of a film having characters, designs, etc. printed on one side so that the printing surface is on the inside and adhering the overlapping portions.

  In the beer bottle 3 normally packaged with the heat-shrinkable film 4, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), the heat-shrinkable film 4 covers up to the lower end of the side surface of the beer bottle. In the beer bottle 3 in which the hemming has occurred, as shown in FIG. 3B, the lower end of the heat-shrinkable film 4 is pulled upward from the lower end of the side surface of the beer bottle, and the lower side of the beer bottle, that is, the side surface near the lower end portion is The heat-shrinkable film 4 is not covered. In the present embodiment, in the beer bottle 3 that is normally packaged, by detecting the presence or absence of the heat-shrinkable film 4 at the lower part of the beer bottle that should be covered by the heat-shrinkable film 4, that is, near the lower end of the side surface, Determine whether it has occurred. As a detector for detecting the presence or absence of the heat-shrinkable film 4, a sensor that projects a light beam onto the beer bottle and receives light reflected by the beer bottle is used. As shown in FIG. 3A, in the beer bottle 3 that is normally packaged with the heat-shrinkable film 4, the light beam projected from the sensor 5 is reflected on the surface of the heat-shrinkable film 4, and its reflection. The sensor 5 receives the light. On the other hand, in the beer bottle 3 in which the heat-shrinkable film 4 is packaged in a raised state, the heat-shrinkable film 4 does not exist on the surface of the beer bottle on which the light beam is projected, and the light beam passes through the beer bottle. 5 hardly receives reflected light. Therefore, by measuring the amount of reflected light received by the sensor 5, it is possible to determine whether or not there is a heat-shrinkable film at the location where the light beam is projected, that is, whether or not the heat-shrinkable film is in a skirted state. The height position of the location where the light beam is projected is set to a position higher than the lower limit height position of the range of the height position where the heat-shrinkable film 4 is to be wrapped, for example, a position 5 mm above the bottle bottom. .

  3B is a state where the skirt rises uniformly over the peripheral surface of the bottle. However, if the heat-shrinkable film 4 over-contracts unevenly, for example, at the upper part of the bottle 3, the skirt rise may not occur uniformly over the peripheral surface of the bottle. In that case, the lower end height position of the heat-shrinkable film changes depending on the peripheral surface portion of the bottle, and as shown in FIG. In order to detect such a slanted skirt, it is necessary to detect the presence or absence of the heat-shrinkable film 4 in at least two locations near the lower part of the beer bottle, and the plurality of sensors 5a and 5b can detect the heat-shrinkable film. It is preferable to detect the presence or absence.

  When the plurality of sensors 5a and 5b are used, the arrangement of the plurality of sensors differs depending on whether the beer bottle 3 is stationary or rotating with respect to the conveyor that conveys the beer bottle 3.

  Hereinafter, two examples relating to the arrangement of sensors will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 6.

  FIG. 1 shows a first sensor arrangement example. In this arrangement example, when the reflected light of the light beam projected to the beer bottle 3 packaged with the heat-shrinkable film 4 is measured by the plurality of sensors 5 a and 5 b, the beer bottle 3 is stationary with respect to the conveyor 1. is doing. The two sensors 5a and 5b project light beams on both sides of the conveyor 1 at intervals along the traveling direction of the conveyor 1 (right direction in FIG. 1) in a direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the conveyor 1. Is arranged. Since the beer bottle 3 is stationary with respect to the conveyor 1, the sensor 5a and the sensor 5b are located at substantially the same height on the peripheral surface of the beer bottle 3 and have two skirts that are shifted from each other by approximately 180 degrees. To detect. That is, it is possible to detect the obliquely skirted state shown in FIG. In order to more reliably detect the rising state, it is also possible to change the light beam projection direction to increase the number of sensors installed to three or more. The reason for arranging the plurality of sensors at intervals along the traveling direction of the conveyor is to provide the light beams projected from the sensors so as not to interfere with each other.

  FIG. 5 shows a flow in which the determiner 6 determines the packaging state of the beer bottle. In step 1, the determiner 6 acquires a reflected light reception result that is an output of the sensors 5a and 5b. In step 2, the determiner 6 determines whether or not the amount of light received by the sensor 5a is greater than a predetermined threshold value. The threshold value is set to a value smaller than the amount of reflected light received with respect to the heat-shrinkable film and larger than the amount of reflected light received with respect to the glass without the heat-shrinkable film. If it is determined that the amount of light received by the sensor 5a is not greater than the threshold value, the determiner 6 has no heat-shrinkable film in the light projecting portion by the sensor 5a, and the packaging state of the beer bottle has increased. It is determined that the state is defective. If it is determined in step 2 that the amount of light received by the sensor 5a is larger than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step 3. In step 3, the determiner 6 determines whether or not the amount of light received by the sensor 5b is greater than a threshold value. If it is determined that the amount of light received by the sensor 5b is not greater than the threshold value, the determiner 6 has no heat-shrinkable film in the light projecting portion of the sensor 5b, and the beer bottle packaging state has increased. It is determined that the packaging state is defective. If it is determined that the amount of light received by the sensor 5b is greater than the threshold value, the determiner 6 indicates that the beer bottle packaging state has a heat-shrinkable film in the light projecting portions of the sensors 5a and 5b, and the skirt has risen. Determine that there is no normal packaging condition.

  FIG. 6 shows a second sensor arrangement example. In this arrangement example, the beer bottle 3 wrapped with the heat-shrinkable film exiting the shrink tunnel 2 is transferred to the pair of conveyors 1b and 1c. The conveyors 1b and 1c both proceed so as to convey the beer bottle 3 in the right direction in FIG. 6, but are provided so that the traveling speed of the conveyor 1c is larger than the traveling speed of the conveyor 1b. Since the beer bottle 3 straddles the conveyors 1b and 1c having different traveling speeds, the beer bottle 3 is conveyed in a state of being rotated by the speed difference between the two conveyors 1b and 1c. In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, the beer bottle 3 rotates counterclockwise as viewed from above. In this arrangement example, the plurality of sensors 5a and 5b are arranged on one side of the conveyor, specifically, on the lower side of the conveyor 1b in FIG. 6 at intervals along the traveling direction of the conveyor. Unlike the first arrangement example, the beer bottle 3 is conveyed while rotating, so that the sensors 5a and 5b having a space between each other are packaged at different locations of the beer bottle 3 even if they are arranged on the same side with respect to the conveyor. A state can be detected. Also in this arrangement example, it is possible to provide three or more sensors based on the rotational speed of the beer bottle 3 and the interval between the sensors so as to detect the rising state more reliably.

  When the determiner 6 determines that there is a beer bottle in which the determiner 6 rises, an alarm device 9a or a display device 9b can be installed to inform the inspector.

  In addition, when the determiner 6 determines that there is a beer bottle in a hemmed state, a unit that performs error processing can be further provided. The unit that performs the error processing can include a discharger 7 that discharges the corresponding beer bottle 3 from the regular conveyance path. In FIG. 1, the evacuator 7 collects the beer bottle 3 in a skirted state by pushing it onto the branch conveyor 8 outside the conveyance path. However, instead of providing the branch conveyor 8, the beer bottles 3 that are raised from the top of the conveyor 1 may be pushed out and collected in a beer bottle collection box arranged at the lower side of the conveyor 1. The unit that executes the error processing sends a command to the drive unit that drives the conveyor 1 and stops the drive of the conveyor 1 when the determiner 6 determines that there is a beer bottle in a skirted state. It may be a simple mechanism. When the inspector finds that the conveyor 1 is stopped, the inspected beer bottle 3 may be removed from the conveyor, and then the driving of the conveyor 1 may be restarted.

The figure which shows an example of a structure of a test | inspection apparatus. The figure which shows the various packaging states of the container packaged with the heat-shrinkable film. The figure which shows the principle of the method which test | inspects a hemming state. The figure which shows a diagonally hemming state. The figure which shows the determination flow of a determination device. The figure which shows the other example of a structure of an inspection apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

1, 1a-1d: conveyor, 2: shrink tunnel, 3: beer bottle (container),
4: Heat-shrinkable film, 5a, 5b: Sensor (detector), 6: Determinator, 7: Exhaust device,
8: Branch conveyor, 9a: Alarm, 9b: Indicator 9b

Claims (8)

A detector for projecting a light beam to a lower part of a container wrapped with a heat-shrinkable film and receiving light reflected by the lower part of the container;
A determiner for determining the presence or absence of the heat-shrinkable film in the lower part of the container based on the output of the detector;
An inspection apparatus comprising:   The inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detector includes a plurality of sensors and detects the presence or absence of the heat-shrinkable film at a plurality of locations located at substantially the same height below the container. .   The inspection according to claim 1, wherein a lower portion of the container detected by the detector is set to be higher than a lower limit height position of a range of height positions where the heat-shrinkable film is to be packaged. apparatus. The container is stationary with respect to a conveyor that conveys the container when measured by the plurality of sensors,
The inspection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of sensors are arranged on both sides of the conveyor at intervals along the traveling direction of the conveyor. The container is rotated by a conveyor that conveys the container when measured by the plurality of sensors,
The inspection device according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of sensors are arranged on one side of the conveyor at intervals along the traveling direction of the conveyor.   The inspection apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a unit that executes error processing when the determination unit determines that the heat-shrinkable film is not present under the container.   The inspection apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the unit includes a discharger that discharges a container determined to be free of the heat-shrinkable film in a lower portion to the outside of a conveyance path of the conveyor.   The inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the container is a container filled with a beverage.

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