JP2010223698A - Seal failure inspection device of package, and bag making device using the device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bag making device including a means for discriminating automatically and accurately between a seal part and a non-seal part of a package or the like using a soft packing material film. <P>SOLUTION: This bag making device includes a sealing means for sealing the soft packing material film, and a cutting device for cutting a sealed film. The bag making device also includes on the downstream side of the cutting device, a procedure for managing a seal width dimension of the seal part of the film acquired by cutting by the cutting device, the film sealed by the sealing device, and one or more of procedures for managing the seal width dimension. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  Many unique packaging materials, shapes, and color schemes have been developed, and various ingenuity has been made to convey the uniqueness and added value of products more clearly to consumers. For this reason, a wide variety of packages have been born, but since productivity is not always taken into consideration, various problems may occur in the production process.

  A package including a bag using a flexible packaging material film requires a function of retaining and protecting contents and maintaining the quality. Therefore, the inside of the bag is required to maintain hermeticity.

  The flexible packaging material film used for the package is designed and manufactured to be suitable for holding and protecting the contents.

  In order to form these soft packaging material films in a bag shape, it is necessary to seal predetermined portions of the flexible packaging material film. This sealing enhances the sealing performance of the bag. Therefore, high sealing performance is required for the seal portion. That is, the fact that the sealing is not performed accurately is the same as the case where the bag has a hole. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately detect a sealing failure at the seal portion. In addition, the seal portion has a predetermined width dimension for guaranteeing the bag performance. If the seal portion is not formed with the predetermined width dimension, the seal strength and the like may be deteriorated. For this reason, even when the seal width of the seal portion is different from the predetermined dimension value, it is necessary to detect it as a seal width defective portion.

  Depending on the design of the package, the shape of the seal portion is very complicated, and the soft packaging material film has a smooth surface and is easy to slip. When the shape of the seal part is complicated, it is difficult to align the seal position in the process of making a bag, so that a positional shift is likely to occur. Further, in the soft packaging material film, the sealing position is likely to be shifted due to a problem in conveyance at the time of bag making from the surface state or a relative positional shift between a plurality of soft packaging material films.

  When a seal failure occurs, a predetermined sealing property cannot be maintained, and problems such as leakage of contents to the outside and deterioration of contents by contact with outside air occur.

  Conventionally, as a technique for inspecting such a seal failure, an inspection apparatus described in Patent Document 1 has been proposed. However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 can be applied only when an insulating material package is filled with conductive contents. In other words, the inspection can be performed only after the conductive contents are inserted. Moreover, since the package material must be an insulating material, it is not possible to inspect a package using a film having an aluminum deposited layer or the like.

  The seal width is confirmed visually by an operator offline. Therefore, at the time of production, products are shipped in a state in which products with seal width variation are included. Therefore, there is a need for a system that measures the seal width in the process of bag making and eliminates products with problems in the seal portion as defective so that products with defective seals are not mixed into products to be shipped.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-282066

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and has a device for managing the width of the seal portion in the process of forming the flexible packaging material film into a bag-like package, and the seal is provided by the device for managing the seal width. An object of the present invention is to provide a bag making apparatus including a mechanism for detecting and eliminating defects.

In order to solve the above problems, in claim 1 of the present invention,
A laser light source for irradiating the inspection object with laser light;
A screen that receives reflected light from the object to be inspected;
An imaging device that captures an image of the reflected light projected on the screen;
Condensing means for condensing the reflected light from the screen for imaging by the imaging device;
A frame for installing the laser light source, the screen, the condensing means, and the imaging means as arbitrary components at arbitrary positions;
It is set as the sealing defect inspection apparatus of the package characterized by providing.

In order to solve the above problems, in claim 2 of the present invention,
A laser light source for irradiating the inspection object with laser light;
A screen that receives reflected light from the object to be inspected;
An imaging device that captures an image of the reflected light projected on the screen;
Condensing means for condensing the reflected light from the screen for imaging by the imaging device;
A frame for installing the laser light source, the screen, the condensing means, and the imaging means as arbitrary components at arbitrary positions;
The laser light source, the screen, the imaging device and the light condensing means are movable;
It is set as the sealing defect inspection apparatus of the package characterized by providing.

In order to solve the above problems, in claim 3 of the present invention,
A sealing means for sealing the flexible packaging material film,
A cutting device for cutting the sealed film;
A bag making apparatus comprising:
3. One seal defect inspection device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a seal width dimension of a seal portion of the film obtained by cutting the film sealed by the sealing device by the cutting device is managed downstream of the cutting device. A bag making apparatus comprising the above.

  According to the bag making apparatus of the present invention, the seal width of the seal portion of the package of the flexible packaging material film can be measured in-line, and it becomes possible to eliminate products having a seal failure or a seal width failure. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a defective product from being mixed due to a seal failure at the time of product shipment.

Conventionally, since the operator visually confirms the seal width, it is possible to prevent measurement failures due to human factors, which can reduce the load on the operator.
The seal width was measured by sampling inspection, but all products can be inspected automatically.

It is the schematic diagram which showed schematic structure of the seal | sticker defect inspection apparatus which uses a laser in the method of managing the seal width dimension of the seal part which shape | molded the flexible packaging material film in the bag shape. It is operation | movement schematic explanatory drawing of the seal | sticker defect inspection apparatus shown in FIG. It is the schematic diagram which showed schematic structure of the bag making apparatus provided with the method of managing the seal width dimension of the seal part which is embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic which showed the installation structure of the seal defect inspection apparatus in the bag making apparatus provided with the seal defect inspection apparatus shown in FIG. 3 from the upper part. It is the schematic which showed the installation structure of the seal defect inspection apparatus in the bag making apparatus provided with the seal defect inspection apparatus shown in FIG. 3 from the side surface.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an apparatus using a laser for managing the seal width dimension used in the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a laser light source 3 for irradiating a test object 7 with a laser 8, a screen 4 for receiving reflected light 9 from the test object 7, and an imaging device for imaging the reflected light 9 from the screen 4. 1 and condensing means 2 for condensing the reflected light 9 from the screen 4 for imaging by the imaging device 1, the laser light source 3, the screen 4, the imaging device 1, and the imaging device 1. And a camera unit characterized in that the condensing means 2 is movable. The apparatus is referred to as a seal defect inspection apparatus 13.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a bag making apparatus provided with the seal defect inspection apparatus 13. As shown in FIG. 3, the seal failure inspection device 13 is installed on the downstream side of the cutting device 12.

  A schematic diagram of the installation method is shown in FIGS. The number of seal defect inspection devices 13 is set to an arbitrary number of one or more depending on the shape of the bag formed with the soft packaging material film. It is necessary to change the number of the seal defect inspection devices 13 as needed depending on the shape of the bag, the seal position, and the number of rows of bag making. Since the seal failure inspection device 13 automatically operates in synchronization with the operation of the bag making device, the seal failure inspection device 13 is installed in accordance with the seal portion 6 to be confirmed. In this embodiment, three seal defect inspection devices 13 are installed. The shape of the molded bag is often sealed on one or more surfaces in the flow direction and the width direction. For this reason, by installing as shown in FIG. 4, it becomes possible to correspond to each of the two directions of the flow direction and the width direction.

  The seal defect inspection device 13 is installed in a mechanical cylinder 16 whose operation is controlled by a servo motor. The mechanical cylinder 16 provided with the seal defect inspection device 13 is fixed to the gantry 15. The operation control of the mechanical cylinder 16 reciprocates the distance from the non-seal part to the non-seal part across the seal part. In other words, the seal defect inspection device 13 starts measurement from the non-seal part and detects the seal part during the movement from the seal part to the non-seal part.

  Most of the feeding methods of the bag making apparatus are intermittent feeding. The soft packaging material film 7 molded into a bag shape sent by intermittent feeding is cut by the cutting device 12 and then stopped at a predetermined location. The seal portion 6 of the stopped soft packaging material film 7 is detected by the seal failure inspection device 13.

  The method for detecting the seal portion of the seal defect inspection device 13 which is a method for managing the seal width dimension applicable in the present invention accurately detects the difference between the seal portion and the non-seal portion of the package using the soft packaging material film. It is a technique that made it possible to do.

  The seal part of a bag-like package using a soft packaging material film often has a different surface state from the non-seal part. That is, the non-sealed portion has a smooth surface state with almost no unevenness, whereas the seal portion often has a surface state with a net-like or stripe-like unevenness. This is because, in the sealing process, in order to efficiently apply heat and force to the seal portion, the seal portion is sandwiched and sealed with a seal bar having an uneven surface.

  Coherent light typified by a laser is very sensitive to such surface irregularities, and a significant change occurs in the state of reflected light. A method has been proposed in which a seal part and a non-seal part are discriminated based on the change in the reflected light and the seal width is measured. As a technique for managing the seal width dimension used in the present invention, a technique for measuring the seal width dimension using the laser is taken as an example. However, the method of managing the seal width dimension applied to the present invention is not limited to the technique of measuring the seal width dimension using the laser.

  The seal defect inspection device 13 irradiates a predetermined position on the surface of the inspection object 7 with the laser light 8 from the laser light source 3. The camera 1 captures an image of the reflected light 9 projected on the screen 4 installed at a position where the reflected light 9 reflected from the laser irradiation point can be received. A lens 2 is installed between the screen 4 and the camera 1 in order to accurately capture the image of the reflected light 9 projected on the screen 4.

  The lens 2 uses a concave lens. The seal defect inspection device 13 used in the present invention irradiates a predetermined portion of the surface of the inspection object 7 with the laser light 8 from the laser light source 3 and is installed at a position where the reflected light 9 reflected from the laser irradiation portion can be received. 4, the image of the reflected light 9 projected on the camera 4 is picked up by the camera 1. In a state where the reflected light 9 reflected from the laser irradiation spot is projected as an image on the screen 4, the reflected light 9 is reflected from the surface of the screen 4, so that the light diffuses and the image is clearly captured by the camera 1. Can not. Therefore, by installing the lens 2 between the screen 4 and the camera 1, it becomes possible to make the light of the image of the reflected light 9 projected on the screen 4 incident in the direction of the camera 1. From the above, by installing the lens 2 between the screen 4 and the camera 1, an image of the reflected light 9 projected on the screen can be taken with high accuracy.

  A laser beam 8 from the laser light source 3 is irradiated at a predetermined angle on a predetermined portion of the surface of the inspection object 7. The camera 1 as an image pickup means is installed at a position where the reflected light 9 reflected from the laser light irradiation spot can be received, and the reflected light 9 is picked up as an image. The image is sent to the PC 14 used as the storage means and further determined by the determination means. Image processing is performed to determine the surface state.

  As the camera 1 which is an image pickup means, an area sensor camera using various light receiving elements such as a CCD and a COMS can be used. The position of the camera is set in advance so that the specularly reflected light from the surface of the inspection object 7 of the laser light is incident near the center of the light receiving element.

  In the seal defect inspection device 13, it is desirable that the relative positional relationship between the laser light source 3, the camera 1, and the reflected light 9 is not changed, and only the position of the laser light irradiation location on the inspection object is changed.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, the seal defect inspection device 13 has a structure including a frame 5 that fixes the laser light source 3, the camera 1, the screen 4, and the lens 2 so that the relative positional relationship does not change. The seal defect inspection device 13 including the frame 5 moves in parallel to the surface of the inspection object 7, or the seal failure inspection device 13 including the frame 5 is stationary to place the inspection object 7 in the plane. Move with.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the frame 5 has a shape in which the laser light source 3, the camera 1, the screen 4, and the lens 2 constituting the seal failure inspection device 13 are enclosed as one component in the seal failure inspection device 13. In the sealing failure inspection device 13, the laser light 8 from the laser light source 3 is used to irradiate the surface of the inspection object 7, and the reflected light 9 reflected from the surface of the inspection object 7 is imaged by the camera 1. The dimension of the seal width of the seal part of the package of the packaging material is measured. In order to measure the dimension of the seal width with high accuracy, the laser beam 8 applied to the inspection object 7 and the reflected light 9 imaged by the camera 1 through the screen 4 from the inspection object 7 are as much as possible the light entering from the outside. Need to be eliminated. Therefore, the frame 5 has a shape surrounding the laser light source 3, the camera 1, the screen 4, and the lens 2 constituting the seal defect inspection device 13 as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 2 shows a case where the seal defect inspection apparatus 13 including the frame 5 is moved in parallel (arrow A direction) with respect to the surface of the inspection object 7, but the inspection object 7 is parallel to the x-axis direction. It can be moved. Here, the arrow A direction is assumed to be parallel to the x-axis.

  In this way, the image of the reflected light 9 is picked up by the camera 1 while moving the laser light irradiation spot on the inspection object 7 by a predetermined distance, thereby creating an image group. At this time, it is assumed that the laser light irradiation portion moves from the non-sealed portion of the inspection object 7 to the sealing portion 6 or from the sealing portion 6 to the non-sealing portion.

  The captured image group is sequentially sent to the storage unit, and further, the determination unit performs image processing to determine the surface state. By repeating this, the position of the seal portion is specified, and the width of the seal portion is further measured.

  The soft packaging material film flows in the direction of the arrow from the raw material unwinding portion, and an arbitrary surface is sealed by a sealing device. The soft packaging material film sealed by the sealing device is cut by a cutting method according to the shape of the bag by the cutting device. The seal width of the sealed portion sealed by the sealing device for the cut soft packaging material film is measured by a seal failure inspection device. Here, the seal width dimension value measured by the seal defect inspection apparatus is stored in the PC as the storage means as needed.

  The width dimension of the seal portion measured by the seal defect inspection device is stored in the PC. In the PC that stores the width dimension of the seal portion obtained by the seal defect inspection device, the operation history of the bag making device is also recorded.

  When a defect is found in the seal portion by the seal defect inspection device, it is rejected as a defective product. In addition, since the occurrence time of the seal failure is recorded, it becomes possible to quickly identify the cause of the failure occurrence by matching with the operation history of the bag making apparatus.

  As described above, the bag making apparatus equipped with the method for managing the seal width dimension of the seal portion of the present invention is very effective in preventing defects caused by the seal portion from being put on the market in the production of a package using a flexible packaging material film. Yes, it is effective in improving production efficiency and quality.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Camera 2 ... Lens 3 ... Laser light source 4 ... Screen 5 ... Seal defect inspection apparatus frame 6 ... Sealing part 7 of the soft packaging material film shape | molded in the bag shape ... Soft packaging material film shape | molded in the bag shape (inspected) object)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 8 ... Laser light 9 ... Reflected light 10 from laser light film ... Original unwinding part 11 ... Sealing device 12 ... Cutting device 13 ... Seal defect inspection device 14 ... PC
15 ... Fixing base for installing seal defect inspection device 16 ... Mechanical cylinder

Claims (3)

A laser light source for irradiating the inspection object with laser light;
A screen that receives reflected light from the object to be inspected;
An imaging device that captures an image of the reflected light projected on the screen;
Condensing means for condensing the reflected light from the screen for imaging by the imaging device;
A frame for installing the laser light source, the screen, the condensing means, and the imaging means as arbitrary components at arbitrary positions;
Storage means for storing an image captured by the imaging means;
An inspection device for defective sealing of a package, comprising: A laser light source for irradiating the inspection object with laser light;
A screen that receives reflected light from the object to be inspected;
An imaging device that captures an image of the reflected light projected on the screen;
Condensing means for condensing the reflected light from the screen for imaging by the imaging device;
A frame for installing the laser light source, the screen, the condensing means, and the imaging means as arbitrary components at arbitrary positions;
The laser light source, the screen, the imaging device and the light condensing means are movable;
Storage means for storing an image captured by the imaging means;
An inspection device for defective sealing of a package, comprising: A sealing means for sealing the flexible packaging material film,
A cutting device for cutting the sealed film;
A bag making apparatus comprising:
3. One seal defect inspection device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a seal width dimension of a seal portion of the film obtained by cutting the film sealed by the sealing device by the cutting device is managed downstream of the cutting device. A bag making apparatus comprising the above.

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