JP2024067308A - Electrodeposited plate evaluation device, electrodeposited plate evaluation system, electrodeposited plate evaluation program, and electrodeposited plate evaluation method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention makes it possible to easily and appropriately determine the quality of the surface condition of an electrodeposited area of an electrodeposited plate on which non-ferrous metals are electrodeposited by electrowinning. [Solution] An electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a, 30b is configured with an image acquisition unit 31a, 31b for acquiring a surface image of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate obtained by wet electrolysis of non-ferrous metals and taken out of the electrolytic solution, a data storage unit 33a, 33b for storing sample images relating to the surface state of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate as teacher data, a learning function unit 34a, 34b for learning a judgment criterion for judging the quality of the surface state of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate using the teacher data stored in the data storage units 33a, 33b, and a quality judgment unit 35a, 35b for judging the quality of the surface state of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate related to the surface image based on the judgment criterion learned by the learning function unit 34a, 34b while comparing the surface image acquired by the image acquisition unit 31a, 31b with the teacher data stored in the data storage units 33a, 33b. [Selected Figure] Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an electrodeposited plate evaluation device, an electrodeposited plate evaluation system, an electrodeposited plate evaluation program, and an electrodeposited plate evaluation method.

Non-ferrous metals such as zinc and copper may be recovered by applying the electrowinning technique, a so-called wet electrolysis method (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Electrowinning is a technique in which electrode plates that function as an anode and a cathode are immersed in an electrolyte solution containing the non-ferrous metal to be recovered, and the non-ferrous metal is electrolytically deposited on the cathode electrode plate by electrical isolation.

Patent Publication No. 2021-143385

When recovering non-ferrous metals by electrowinning, it is preferable to select defective electroplated plates with poor electroplating conditions. However, when selecting defective electroplated plates by visual inspection, it requires skill (high level of technique) and there is a risk of oversight or misjudgment. On the other hand, it is also possible to detect the surface condition of the electroplated plate by some means and select defective electroplated plates based on the detection results, but when considering the unevenness variation (size, size distribution, shape, etc.) of the detected surface, changes in plate thickness, the degree of light scattering, etc., it is difficult to create a simple defective model standard. In other words, it is not necessarily possible to properly select defective electroplated plates simply based on the detection results of the surface condition.

The present invention provides a technology that makes it possible to easily and appropriately determine the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of an electrolytic plate on which non-ferrous metals are electrodeposited by electrowinning.

The first aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a cellular membrane comprising the steps of:
an image acquisition unit for acquiring a surface image of an electrodeposited region of an electrodeposited plate obtained by a wet electrolysis method of a non-ferrous metal, the electrodeposited plate being removed from an electrolytic solution;
a data storage unit that stores sample images relating to a surface state of the electrodeposition region of the electrodeposition plate as teacher data;
a learning function unit that learns a criterion for determining whether a surface condition of the electrodeposition region of the electrodeposition plate is good or bad by using the teaching data stored in the data storage unit;
a quality determination unit that determines the quality of a surface state of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate related to the surface image based on the determination criterion learned by the learning function unit while comparing the surface image acquired by the image acquisition unit with the teacher data stored in the data storage unit;
The electrodeposited plate evaluation device is provided with:

A second aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a composition comprising the steps of:
the image acquisition unit is configured with a narrow-angle camera that captures an image of a surface state of a representative area of the electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate,
In the electrodeposited plate evaluation device according to the first aspect, the teacher data and the judgment criteria are set so as to correspond to the imaging results obtained by the narrow-angle camera.

A third aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a composition comprising the steps of:
In the electrodeposited plate evaluation device according to the second aspect, the teacher data corresponding to the narrow-angle camera is constituted by a plurality of sample images of the electrodeposited plate having different surface smoothness.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a composition comprising the steps of:
the image acquisition unit is configured with a wide-angle camera that captures an image of a surface state of the entire electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate,
In the electrodeposition plate evaluation device according to the first aspect, the teacher data and the judgment criteria are set so as to correspond to the imaging results obtained by the wide-angle camera.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a composition comprising the steps of:
The electrodeposited plate evaluation device according to the second aspect, wherein the teacher data corresponding to the wide-angle camera includes at least one sample image of a specific aspect of a surface defect that may occur on the electrodeposited plate.

A sixth aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a composition comprising the steps of:
In the electrodeposited board evaluation device according to the first aspect, the learning function unit is configured to respond to updating of the judgment criterion in accordance with information relating to accuracy of the pass/fail judgment by the pass/fail judgment unit.

A seventh aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a composition comprising the steps of:
The electrodeposited plate evaluation device according to the first aspect,
an electrolytic bath that contains the electrolytic solution in a state in which the electrodeposition plate can be immersed;
a conveying mechanism that conveys the electrodeposited plate removed from the electrolytic cell at least to a position where an image is acquired by the image acquiring unit of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device;
an information output unit that outputs information regarding a result of a pass/fail judgment made by the pass/fail judgment unit of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device for the electrodeposited plate that has been transported to the image acquisition location and image acquisition has been performed;
The electrodeposited plate evaluation system is provided with the above.

An eighth aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a composition comprising the steps of:
The image acquisition unit of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device is configured to include a narrow-angle camera that images a surface state of a representative region of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate, and a wide-angle camera that images a surface state of the entire electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate,
The electrochemical plate evaluation system according to the seventh aspect, wherein the teacher data and the judgment criteria are set to correspond to the imaging results obtained by the narrow-angle camera and the imaging results obtained by the wide-angle camera, respectively.

A ninth aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a composition comprising the steps of:
The electrolytic bath is configured to be capable of immersing a plurality of the electrodeposition plates,
the image acquisition unit is configured to acquire surface images of the plurality of electrodeposition plates transported from the electrolytic bath in sequence,
The quality determination unit is configured to determine the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited region of each electrodeposited plate by corresponding the surface image acquired by the image acquisition unit with the identification information of each electrodeposited plate. This is an electrodeposited plate evaluation system described in the seventh or eighth aspect.

A tenth aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a composition comprising the steps of:
The identification information is information regarding a dipping position of each of the electrodeposited plates in the electrolytic bath.

An eleventh aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a composition comprising the steps of:
The information output unit is configured to output information relating to the result of the pass/fail judgment by the pass/fail judgment unit in a manner that allows the immersion position of each of the electrodeposited plates in the electrolytic bath to be visually confirmed.

A twelfth aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a composition comprising the steps of:
The quality judging unit is configured to judge the quality of the surface state of the electrodeposition region of each of the electrodeposition plates in a plurality of stages or in a plurality of items,
The information output unit is configured to output information regarding the result of the pass/fail judgment by the pass/fail judgment unit in a manner that allows the differences in the multiple stages or multiple items to be visually recognized.This is an electrodeposited plate evaluation system described in an eleventh aspect.

A thirteenth aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a composition comprising the steps of:
Computer,
an image acquisition unit for acquiring a surface image of an electrodeposited region of an electrodeposited plate obtained by a wet electrolysis method of a non-ferrous metal, the electrodeposited plate being removed from an electrolytic solution;
a data storage unit that stores sample images relating to a surface state of the electrodeposition region of the electrodeposition plate as teacher data;
a learning function unit that learns a criterion for determining whether a surface condition of the electrodeposition region of the electrodeposition plate is good or bad by using the teaching data stored in the data storage unit;
a quality determination unit that determines the quality of a surface state of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate related to the surface image based on the determination criterion learned by the learning function unit while comparing the surface image acquired by the image acquisition unit with the teacher data stored in the data storage unit;
This is an electroplating evaluation program that functions as a

A fourteenth aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a composition comprising the steps of:
an image acquisition step of acquiring a surface image of an electrodeposited area of an electrodeposited plate obtained by a wet electrolysis method of a non-ferrous metal, the electrodeposited plate being removed from an electrolytic solution;
a data storage step of storing a sample image relating to a surface state of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate as training data;
a learning step of learning a criterion for determining whether a surface state of an electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate is good or bad by using the teacher data stored in the data storage step;
a quality determination step of determining quality of a surface state of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate related to the surface image based on the determination criterion learned in the learning step while comparing the surface image acquired in the image acquisition step with the teacher data stored in the data storage step;
The electrodeposited plate evaluation method includes the steps of:

The present invention makes it possible to easily and appropriately determine the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposition area of an electrolytic plate on which non-ferrous metals are electrodeposited by electrowinning.

1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a schematic configuration example of an electrodeposited plate evaluation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of teacher data in the electrodeposited plate evaluation device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing another specific example of the teacher data in the electrodeposited plate evaluation device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of information output in the electrodeposited plate evaluation system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The following describes an electrodeposited plate evaluation device, an electrodeposited plate evaluation system, an electrodeposited plate evaluation program, and an electrodeposited plate evaluation method according to one embodiment of the present invention, based on the drawings.

(1) Example of System Configuration First, an example of the configuration of an electrodeposited plate evaluation system according to this embodiment will be described.

The electrodeposited plate evaluation system according to this embodiment is configured to recover non-ferrous metals such as zinc and copper by electrolytic extraction using a wet electrolytic method, and is further configured with a function for determining the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrode plate onto which the non-ferrous metal to be recovered is electrodeposited.

In the following explanation, we will use an example in which the non-ferrous metal (electrodeposited metal) is zinc. The electrode plate on which zinc is electroplated is sometimes called a "zinc electroplated plate" or simply an "electroplated plate."

Figure 1 is an explanatory diagram that shows a schematic example of the configuration of an electrodeposited plate evaluation system according to this embodiment.

The illustrated electrodeposited plate evaluation system 1 includes an electrolytic cell 10 that contains an electrolyte solution containing zinc and a sulfuric acid solution. Each electrode plate is immersed in the electrolyte solution of the electrolytic cell 10 as an anode and a cathode. Of these, metallic zinc is electrodeposited on the electrode plate serving as the cathode. In other words, the electrolytic cell 10 is configured to contain the electrolyte in a state in which at least the zinc electrodeposited plate 2 on which zinc is electrodeposited can be immersed. The electrolytic cell 10 is also configured so that multiple zinc electrodeposited plates 2 can be immersed in the electrolyte solution contained in the cell in a state in which they are aligned in a predetermined arrangement. The cathode is made of aluminum, has a plate shape, and has a smooth surface.

The electrodeposited plate evaluation system 1 also includes a conveyor 20 as a conveying mechanism for conveying the electrodeposited plate 2 and a cleaning and drying mechanism. The conveyor 20 is provided with a carry-in device 21 for carrying the electrodeposited plate 2 from the conveyor 20 to the electrolytic bath 10, a carry-out device 22 for removing the electrodeposited plate 2 from the electrolytic bath 10 and carrying it to the conveyor 20, and a pre-treatment device 23 for drying and cleaning the electrodeposited plate 2 removed by the carry-out device 22. The conveyor 20 is further provided with a stripping device 24 for stripping off the zinc electrodeposited on the electrodeposited plate 2, a zinc recovery section 25 for recovering the zinc after stripping, a defective plate extraction section 26 for extracting defective plates from which the zinc has not been stripped, and a good plate supply section 27 for supplying good electrodeposited plates 2 to the conveyor 20.

In the electrodeposited plate evaluation system 1 configured as described above, electricity is applied to the anode and cathode immersed in the electrolyte of the electrolytic cell 10 to electrodeposit zinc on the cathode. The zinc-electrodeposited plate 2 is then pulled out of the electrolyte by the discharge device 22, and after drying and cleaning in the pretreatment device 23, it is transported by the transport conveyor 20 to the stripping device 24, which strips the zinc that is the electrodeposit from the electrodeposited plate 2. The stripped zinc is transported and collected by the zinc recovery section 25. After the zinc has been stripped off, the electrodeposited plate 2 is transported by the transport conveyor 20 to the carry-in device 21, except for defective plates that are extracted in the defective plate extraction section 26, and is again immersed in the electrolyte of the electrolytic cell 10.

In addition, multiple electrodeposited plates 2 are immersed in the electrolytic bath 10, and zinc is electrodeposited on each of them in parallel. Each electrodeposited plate 2 is then successively lifted from the electrolytic bath 10 by the discharge device 22, and transported in turn by the transport conveyor 20. The transport speed at this time is, for example, about 5 to 10 seconds per plate.

Each electrodeposited plate 2 that is successively pulled out of the electrolytic bath 10 is provided with identification information for identifying each plate when it is pulled out. Examples of the identification information include information regarding the immersion position of each electrodeposited plate 2 in the electrolytic bath 10 (specifically, information specifying the position in the electrolytic bath 10 from which the discharge device 22 pulled up each electrodeposited plate 2). However, the identification information is not limited to this as long as each electrodeposited plate 2 can be identified.

Incidentally, there is a possibility that some of the electrodeposited sheets 2 pulled out of the electrolytic cell 10 will have a poor zinc electrodeposition state. It is preferable to select and reject such defective electrodeposited sheets.
However, while the frequency of sorting defective electrocoated plates is extremely low, the area of the electrocoated region on the electrocoated plate 2 is large (e.g., approximately 1,000 x 1,500 mm), and the transport speed after lifting is also fast. Therefore, if the sorting is done by human visual inspection, it requires skill (advanced technique), and there is a risk of oversight or misjudgment.
Regarding this point, it is conceivable to detect the surface condition of the electrodeposited plate 2 by some means and select defective electrodeposited plates based on the detection results, rather than relying on visual inspection by a human. However, there are many types of defects in the electrodeposition state of defective electrodeposited plates, and when considering unevenness variations in the detected surface, changes in plate thickness, light scattering, etc., it is difficult to create a simple defective model standard. In other words, it is not necessarily possible to properly select defective electrodeposited plates simply based on the detection results of the surface state.
Moreover, it is preferable that the judgment environment for sorting out defective electrodeposited plates be carried out in a normal work area without requiring a special environment such as a clean room.

In consideration of the above, the electrodeposited plate evaluation system 1 according to this embodiment includes electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a, 30b and an information processing device 40 communicably connected to the electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a, 30b, so as to make it possible to easily and appropriately determine the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2 on which zinc is electrodeposited by electrolytic extraction. Both electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a, 30b are disposed in correspondence with the transport path between the pre-processing device 23 and the stripping device 24, among the transport paths of the electrodeposited plate 2 by the transport conveyor 20.

(2) Configuration Example of Electrodeposited Plate Evaluation Apparatus Next, a configuration example of the electrodeposited plate evaluation apparatus 30a, 30b according to this embodiment will be described.
Here, first, an example of the configuration of one electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a will be described, and then an example of the configuration of the other electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30b will be described.

The electrochemical plate evaluation device 30a comprises an image acquisition unit 31a and a control unit 32a connected thereto. The image acquisition unit 31a and the control unit 32a may be configured as an integrated device, or may be configured separately. The control unit 32a is configured as a small computer device having various hardware resources represented by a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and functions as a data storage unit 33a, a learning function unit 34a, and a pass/fail judgment unit 35a by executing a predetermined program (software). Each of these units will be described in order below.

The image acquisition unit 31a acquires a surface image of the electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate 2, which is taken out of the electrolyte in the electrolytic cell 10 and transported to the transport conveyor 20, between the pre-processing device 23 and the stripping device 24. Specifically, the image acquisition unit 31a is composed of a narrow-angle camera that captures the surface state of a representative area of the electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate 2. The representative area captured by the narrow-angle camera may be, for example, an area of a predetermined size (e.g., about 150 x 150 mm) near the center of the entire electrodeposition area (e.g., about 1000 x 1500 mm) of the electrodeposition plate 2, where a representative surface state is thought to appear. However, this is not limited to this, and any other area may be used as the representative area as long as it is a part of the electrodeposition area. In addition, the data format of the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 31a is not limited, regardless of whether it is a still image or a video, as long as it can be used to determine the quality of the surface state, as described below.

The data storage unit 33a stores sample images relating to the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2 as teacher data. The teacher data is used to determine the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2, whose image has been acquired by the image acquisition unit 31a. Therefore, since the image acquisition unit 31a is configured as a narrow-angle camera, the data storage unit 33a stores sample images of representative areas of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2 as teacher data, so as to correspond to the image capture results by the narrow-angle camera. The teacher data stored by the data storage unit 33a is composed of multiple sample images, and specific examples of each sample image will be described in detail later.

The learning function unit 34a learns the judgment criteria for judging the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2 using the teacher data stored in the data storage unit 33a. Here, "learning" means setting judgment criteria for quality judgment, or updating the set judgment criteria to new judgment criteria. The judgment criteria may be learned in response to information input from the outside to the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a, such as information input by a user of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a. Since the image acquisition unit 31a is composed of a narrow-angle camera, the judgment criteria learned in this way are standards corresponding to the image capture results by the narrow-angle camera. Specific examples of the judgment criteria will be described in detail later.

The quality determination unit 35a determines the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2, the image of which has been acquired by the image acquisition unit 31a. The quality determination is performed based on the criteria learned by the learning function unit 34a, while comparing the surface image of the electrodeposited plate 2 acquired by the image acquisition unit 31a with the teacher data stored in the data storage unit 33a. Specific examples of quality determination will be described in detail later.

As with the above-mentioned electroplating plate evaluation device 30a, the electroplating plate evaluation device 30b also includes an image acquisition unit 31b and a control unit 32b, and the control unit 32b further functions as a data storage unit 33b, a learning function unit 34b, and a pass/fail judgment unit 35b. In other words, the electroplating plate evaluation device 30b is configured in the same manner as the electroplating plate evaluation device 30a, except for the points described below.

In the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30b, the image acquisition unit 31b is different from the image acquisition unit 31a in the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a and is composed of a wide-angle camera that images the surface state of the entire electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2.
Since the image acquisition unit 31b is configured with a wide-angle camera, the data storage unit 33b is configured to store, as teacher data, sample images of the entire electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate 2 so as to correspond to the image capture results by the wide-angle camera. The teacher data stored in the data storage unit 33b includes at least one, and preferably a plurality of, sample images, and specific examples of the sample images will be described in detail below.
In addition, since the image acquisition unit 31b is configured with a wide-angle camera, the learning function unit 34b learns a standard corresponding to the image capture result by the wide-angle camera as a judgment standard for the pass/fail judgment. Specific examples of the judgment standard will be described in detail later.

In the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a, 30b configured as described above, the program (software) that realizes the functions of the above-mentioned respective units 31a to 35a, 31b to 35b corresponds to an example of the electrodeposited plate evaluation program according to this embodiment. In this case, as long as such an electrodeposited plate evaluation program can be installed in the control unit 32a, 32b of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a, 30b, it may be provided by being stored in a recording medium (e.g., a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, etc.) that can be read by the control unit 32a, 32b, or it may be provided from outside via a network such as the Internet or a dedicated line.

(3) Example of the Configuration of the Information Processing Device Next, an example of the configuration of the information processing device 40 connected to the above-mentioned electrodeposition plate evaluation devices 30a and 30b will be described.

The information processing device 40 is configured as a computer device that combines various hardware resources, such as a CPU, and by executing a specific program (software), information processing by the software is specifically realized using the hardware resources. As a result, the information processing device 40 functions as an information management unit 41, an information output unit 42, and an image processing unit 43. Each of these units will be described in turn below.

The information management unit 41 manages the information acquired from the electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a, 30b. The information acquired from the electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a, 30b includes at least information related to the result of the pass/fail judgment by the pass/fail judgment units 35a, 35b, and identification information for identifying the electrodeposited plate 2 for which the pass/fail judgment has been made. The acquired information may also include image data (so-called raw data) related to the images acquired by the image acquisition units 31a, 31b on which the pass/fail judgment was based. The information management unit 41 manages such acquired information by storing and accumulating (e.g., creating a database) using the memory function of the information processing device 40.

The information output unit 42 outputs various information managed by the information management unit 41 to the outside as necessary. The information output by the information output unit 42 includes at least information related to the result of the pass/fail judgment by the pass/fail judgment units 35a, 35b, and identification information for identifying the electrodeposition plate 2 for which the pass/fail judgment has been made. This information output is performed, for example, by display output using the display panel of the information processing device 40. However, this is not limited to this, and the information may be output to an external device (not shown).

The image processing unit 43 performs image processing required for the information output by the information output unit 42. The image processing performed by the image processing unit 43 includes, for example, processing for generating an image to be displayed and output on a display panel. By performing such image processing by the image processing unit 43, the information output unit 42 can display and output information regarding the result of pass/fail judgment by the pass/fail judgment units 35a, 35b in a manner that allows various information accompanying the pass/fail judgment result to be visually recognized. Details of the display output contents (including the contents of the accompanying information) by the information output unit 42, i.e., specific examples of images generated by the image processing unit 43, will be described in detail later.

In the information processing device 40 configured as above, the functions of the above-mentioned units 41 to 43 are realized by executing a predetermined program (software). In this case, as long as the predetermined program can be installed in the information processing device 40, it may be provided by being stored in a recording medium (e.g., a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, etc.) that can be read by the information processing device 40, or it may be provided from outside via a network such as the Internet or a dedicated line.

(4) Procedure for Determining Pass/Fail in the Electrodeposited Plate Evaluation Device Next, an example of the processing operation of the electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a, 30b constituting the electrodeposited plate evaluation system 1 according to this embodiment will be described.

Both of the electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a and 30b are used to determine the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2 being transported on the transport conveyor 20. The quality determination is performed based on preset teacher data. In other words, the electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a and 30b have teacher data required for determining the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2 set in advance and stored in the data storage units 33a and 33b. Here, the teacher data for quality determination will be explained using a specific example.

First, the teaching data in the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a will be described.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of the training data.

When zinc is electrodeposited on the electrodeposited plate 2, the grains that make up its surface become larger and the degree of surface smoothness decreases, which increases the probability of contact between the anode and cathode and makes it more likely for an electrical short circuit to occur. When a short circuit occurs, electrical energy is converted into thermal energy, which leads to power loss during electrowinning and increased power costs. To prevent this, for example, it is possible to check the supply state of the electrolyte in the electrolytic cell 10 and increase the amount of glue added, which is an additive in the electrolyte, to prevent the occurrence of a short circuit. To do this, it is preferable to grasp the surface smoothness of the electrodeposited plate 2 pulled out of the electrolyte and reflect the results of this understanding in the supply state of the electrolyte.

For this reason, in the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a, as shown in FIG. 2, the teacher data is composed of a plurality of sample images of the electrodeposited plate 2 with different surface smoothness. These sample images are then stored in the data storage unit 33a of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a as teacher data in the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a, in which the image acquisition unit 31a is a narrow-angle camera.

Specifically, as teacher data corresponding to the narrow-angle camera, for example, a first sample image shown in FIG. 2(a) with an average grain size of 0 mm or less, a second sample image shown in FIG. 2(b) with an average grain size in the range of 1 to 2 mm, a third sample image shown in FIG. 2(c) with an average grain size in the range of 2 to 5 mm, a fourth sample image shown in FIG. 2(d) with an average grain size in the range of 5 to 7 mm, a fifth sample image shown in FIG. 2(e) with an average grain size in the range of 7 to 9 mm, and a sixth sample image shown in FIG. 2(f) with an average grain size of 9 mm or more are stored in the data storage unit 33a. In other words, the smoothness of the surface of the electrodeposited plate 2 is classified into, for example, six stages, and the teacher data corresponding to the narrow-angle camera is composed of each sample image of each stage. Note that, although six sample images are given as an example here, the number of stages to be classified is not limited to a specific value.

These sample images may be obtained by preparing multiple electrodeposited plates 2 with different surface smoothness and capturing images of the surface state of each electrodeposited plate 2 with the image capture unit 31a. However, this is not limited to this, and for example, the control unit 32a of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a may be connected to an external device (not shown) so as to be able to communicate with the external device, and the images may be acquired from the external device.

In addition, in response to the storage of the teacher data in the data storage unit 33a, in the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a, a judgment criterion for determining pass/fail is set in the learning function unit 34a. As a judgment criterion corresponding to the image capture result by the narrow-angle camera, for example, for the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 31a to be judged, the image feature amount extracted according to a predetermined parameter is compared with the image feature amount of each of the first to sixth sample images described above, and it is judged which of the sample images the image feature amount matches, or which of the sample images the image feature amount is closest to. The image feature amount extraction method and the predetermined parameters therefor may be based on publicly known technology. Furthermore, for example, if a short circuit is unlikely to occur if the average grain size is about 2 mm, it is possible to judge the acquired image that matches or is close to the first or second sample image as a pass product, and the others as a fail product. Such a judgment criterion may be set in response to information input from the outside to the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a, such as information input by the operator of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a.

After the teacher data is stored and the judgment criteria are set as described above, the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a is able to judge the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2. The quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2 is judged as follows:

When the electrodeposited plate 2 to be judged is conveyed by the conveyor 20 to the image acquisition location by the image acquisition unit 31a, the image acquisition unit 31a acquires a surface image of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2. At this time, since the image acquisition unit 31a is composed of a narrow-angle camera, for example, a surface image of a predetermined size area near the center of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2 is acquired. The reason for imaging such a partial area is that it is considered that a representative surface state appears near the center compared to the periphery of the electrodeposited area. In addition, if the imaging target is limited to a partial area, the amount of data of the acquired image can be reduced compared to the case where the entire electrodeposited area is imaged. This is also true for the sample image to be compared with the acquired image. Therefore, if the imaging target is limited to a partial area, it is possible to reduce the processing load when comparing the acquired image with the sample image. Note that, if the area of the partial area to be imaged is 1.0 to 10%, preferably about 2.0%, of the entire electrodeposited area, it is necessary and sufficient for performing the pass/fail judgment using the above-mentioned teacher data.

When the image acquisition unit 31a acquires a surface image of the electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate 2 to be judged, the quality judgment unit 35a then judges whether the surface condition of the electrodeposition area is good or bad. At this time, the quality judgment unit 35a compares the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 31a with each sample image constituting the teacher data in the data storage unit 33a. Then, the quality judgment unit 35a judges whether the surface condition of the electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate 2 to be judged is good or bad based on the judgment criteria set in the learning function unit 34a. Specifically, for example, it judges which of the first to sixth sample images the image feature amount of the acquired image matches. In other words, the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposition area of each electrodeposition plate 2 is judged in multiple stages. Furthermore, for example, if a classification criterion for good and bad products is set, it judges whether the surface condition of the electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate 2 related to the acquired image is good or bad depending on which sample image the image feature amount matches.

The result of the judgment by the pass/fail judgment unit 35a is output, for example, to the information processing device 40 and managed by the information management unit 41 in the information processing device 40.

In the electroplating evaluation device 30a that performs the above-mentioned processing operations, the learning function unit 34a can set the judgment criteria for determining pass/fail, and can also update the set judgment criteria to new judgment criteria. Therefore, the electroplating evaluation device 30a can perform the following processing operations.

When the judgment result by the pass/fail judgment unit 35a is output, the user of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a can compare the output result with the actual surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2 and recognize whether there is a discrepancy between them (i.e., whether the judgment result matches the actual surface condition). This means that information regarding the accuracy of the pass/fail judgment by the pass/fail judgment unit 35a can be recognized.

Then, upon recognizing the information regarding the accuracy of pass/fail judgment, the user of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a judges whether or not the judgment criteria for pass/fail judgment need to be updated depending on the recognition result. For example, if the degree of conformance (conformance rate) is lower than a predetermined allowable range, it is determined that the set judgment criteria need to be updated to new judgment criteria in order to improve the conformance rate. The judgment criteria can be updated by inputting information from outside to the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a.

Examples of updates to the judgment criteria include modifying parameters when extracting image features of the acquired image, and modifying the correspondence between good/bad products and each sample image. However, the updates to the judgment criteria are not limited to these, and other updates may be used as long as they contribute to improving the matching rate.

In this way, in the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a, the learning function unit 34a is adapted to update the judgment criteria in accordance with information on the accuracy of the pass/fail judgment in order to improve the conformance rate of the pass/fail judgment result. In other words, the learning function unit 34a is adapted to be able to learn the pass/fail judgment criteria as necessary. Therefore, for example, by repeating the learning process multiple times, the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a can improve the conformance rate of the pass/fail judgment result to the extent that it can ensure a defective product detection rate equivalent to that of a visual surface condition check.

Moreover, the learning function unit 34a improves the conformance rate of the pass/fail judgment result by learning the judgment criteria for the pass/fail judgment, so there is no need to modify each sample image that constitutes the training data in order to improve the conformance rate. Therefore, for example, there is no need to increase the number of sample images in order to improve the conformance rate, and it is possible to improve the conformance rate of the pass/fail judgment result without complicating or increasing the difficulty of the process for pass/fail judgment.

Next, an example of the processing operation of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30b will be described. First, the teacher data in the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30b will be described.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing another specific example of the teacher data.

In the electrodeposited plate 2, a state in which the electrodeposition is not uniform on the surface (i.e., a surface defect) may occur. Specific modes of surface defects that may occur in the electrodeposited plate 2 are roughly classified into electrodeposition defects, point shorts, and line shorts.
Defective electrodeposition refers to a state in which the electrodeposition is non-uniform on the surface of the electrodeposited plate 2, as shown in Fig. 3(a). It is desirable for the electrodeposit to be uniformly deposited on the cathode current-carrying area, but for some reason, the current may not flow well, resulting in some parts with a small electrodeposition area or amount. Also, unevenness may be seen at the end of the electrodeposition. Such non-uniformity of electrodeposition may appear on the surface of the electrodeposited plate 2 as defective electrodeposition.
A spot short circuit, as shown in Figure 3(b), is a state in which zinc is not electrolytically deposited on a part of the surface of the electrodeposited plate 2, leaving a hole. An electrical short circuit occurs when the anode and cathode come into contact for some reason, which converts electrical energy into thermal energy. The generated thermal energy can then melt the anode, causing zinc not to be electrolytically deposited in that area, leaving a hole. This is how a spot short circuit can appear.
A line short is not a hole-shaped exposed part like a point short, but a line-shaped exposed part as shown in Figure 3 (c). A line short is, for example, 1000 mm or more in length, and the width varies but is about 50 mm, and discoloration is observed, and the color is the same as the electrodeposit on the anode side (manganese dioxide in zinc electrolysis). Line shorts like this can appear.

To deal with the above-mentioned surface defect modes, in the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30b, the teacher data is composed of sample images as shown in FIG. 3. The sample images are then stored in the data storage unit 33b of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30b as teacher data in the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30b, whose image acquisition unit 31b is a wide-angle camera.

Specifically, as teacher data corresponding to the wide-angle camera, for example, a sample image of a state in which electrodeposition defects have occurred on the surface of the electrodeposited plate 2 as shown in FIG. 3(a), a sample image of a state in which a point short has occurred on the surface of the electrodeposited plate 2 as shown in FIG. 3(b), and a sample image of a state in which a line short has occurred on the surface of the electrodeposited plate 2 as shown in FIG. 3(c) are stored in the data storage unit 33a. In other words, the teacher data corresponding to the wide-angle camera is composed of each sample image of the electrodeposition defects, point shorts, and line shorts that may occur on the surface of the electrodeposited plate 2. Note that, although an example is given here in which all three types of sample images are stored to form the teacher data, this is not limited to this, and it is sufficient that the teacher data is formed by at least one of these, and the teacher data may also be formed by including sample images other than these. In other words, it is sufficient that the teacher data in the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30b is composed of at least one sample image of a specific form of surface defects that may occur on the electrodeposited plate 2.

These sample images may be obtained by preparing electrodeposited plates 2 each having at least an electrodeposition defect, a point short circuit, and a line short circuit, and capturing an image of the surface condition of each electrodeposited plate 2 with the image capture unit 31b. However, this is not limited to this, and for example, the control unit 32b of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30b may be connected to an external device (not shown) so as to be able to communicate with the external device, and the images may be acquired from the external device.

In addition, in response to the storage of the teacher data in the data storage unit 33b, in the electrodeposition plate evaluation device 30b, the learning function unit 34b sets a judgment criterion for judging pass/fail. As a judgment criterion corresponding to the image capture result by the wide-angle camera, for example, for the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 31b to be judged, the image feature amount extracted according to a predetermined parameter is compared with the image feature amount of each sample image of the above-mentioned electrodeposition defect, point short, and line short, and it is judged which image feature amount of the sample image matches, or which image feature amount of the sample image is closest to. Furthermore, for example, it is also conceivable to obtain the degree of agreement or closeness of the image feature amount, and judge whether or not the electrodeposition defect, point short, or line short occurs in the acquired image to be judged depending on the degree, and judge the product to be defective if any of these occurs. Such a judgment criterion may be set in response to information input from outside to the electrodeposition plate evaluation device 30b, such as information input by the operator of the electrodeposition plate evaluation device 30b.

After storing the teacher data and setting the judgment criteria as described above, the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30b becomes able to judge the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2. The quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2 is judged in the following procedure.

When the electrodeposited plate 2 to be judged is conveyed by the conveyor 20 to the image acquisition location by the image acquisition unit 31b, the image acquisition unit 31b acquires a surface image of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2. At this time, since the image acquisition unit 31b is composed of a wide-angle camera, for example, a surface image of the entire electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2 is acquired. The reason why the entire electrodeposited area is the subject of imaging is that while electrodeposit defects, point shorts, or line shorts can appear in any part of the electrodeposit area, it is considered that they should be reliably detected no matter where they appear. The same is true for the sample image to be compared with the acquired image. In other words, unlike the case of the electrodeposit plate evaluation device 30a described above, by imaging the entire electrodeposit area, it is possible to reliably detect any electrodeposit defects, point shorts, or line shorts if they occur.

When the image acquisition unit 31b acquires a surface image of the electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate 2 to be judged, the quality judgment unit 35b then judges the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposition area. At this time, the quality judgment unit 35b compares the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 31b with each sample image constituting the teacher data in the data storage unit 33b. Then, the quality judgment unit 35b judges the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate 2 to be judged based on the judgment criteria set by the learning function unit 34b. Specifically, for example, it judges which of the sample images for electrodeposition defects, point shorts, or line shorts the image feature amount of the acquired image matches. Furthermore, for example, depending on the degree of agreement or closeness of the image feature amount, it judges whether or not electrodeposition defects, point shorts, or line shorts have occurred in the surface condition of the electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate 2 related to the acquired image, and judges the product to be defective if any of these have occurred. In other words, the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposition area of each electrodeposition plate 2 is judged based on multiple items.

The result of the judgment by the pass/fail judgment unit 35b is output, for example, to the information processing device 40 and managed by the information management unit 41 in the information processing device 40.

In the electroplating plate evaluation device 30b that performs the above-mentioned processing operations, the learning function unit 34b can set the judgment criteria for pass/fail judgment, and can also update the set judgment criteria to new judgment criteria. This is the same as in the case of the electroplating plate evaluation device 30a described above. Since the electrodeposition state changes in terms of defect characteristics depending on the electrolysis conditions and device specifications, it is possible to make a pass/fail judgment that is adapted to the electrolysis device and conditions.

Therefore, in the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30b, the learning function unit 34b can also respond to updating of the judgment criteria according to information on the accuracy of the pass/fail judgment in order to improve the conformance rate of the pass/fail judgment judgment result. As a result, for example, by repeating the learning process, the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30b can improve the conformance rate of the pass/fail judgment judgment result to a degree that ensures a defective product detection rate equivalent to that of a visual surface condition check. Moreover, since there is no need to modify each sample image that constitutes the training data in order to improve the conformance rate, it is possible to improve the conformance rate of the pass/fail judgment judgment result without inviting the complication or difficulty of the process for pass/fail judgment.

(5) Information Processing Procedure in Information Processing Device Next, an example of the processing operation in the information processing device 40 to which the respective judgment results from the electrodeposition plate evaluation devices 30a and 30b are output will be described.

When the electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a, 30b judge the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2 transported by the transport conveyor 20, information on the judgment results is output from the electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a, 30b to the information processing device 40. Then, in the information processing device 40, the information management unit 41 manages the output information from the electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a, 30b. At this time, the information management unit 41 manages information on the results of the quality judgment of the electrodeposited plate 2 by each of the electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a, 30b in association with the identification information of the electrodeposited plate 2.

In the information processing device 40, the information output unit 42 outputs various information managed by the information management unit 41 at a predetermined timing according to need. Examples of the predetermined timing include when a user of the information processing device 40 performs an operation to request information output, and after the pass/fail judgment is performed by the electrodeposition plate evaluation devices 30a, 30b on all of the multiple electrodeposition plates 2 (i.e., the multiple electrodeposition plates 2 constituting one lot) immersed in the electrolytic bath 10 at the same time, but the timing is not necessarily limited to these.

When the information output unit 42 outputs information, a user of the information processing device 40 who refers to the output contents can recognize the result of the judgment of the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2 removed from the electrolyte in the electrolytic cell 10. Furthermore, if the information on the judgment result is associated with the identification information of the electrodeposited plate 2, it is possible to determine which electrodeposited plate 2 the judgment result for which is outputted as information, even if the transport conveyor 20 transports multiple electrodeposited plates 2 continuously.

When the information output unit 42 outputs information as described above, it is preferable that the user of the information processing device 40 who comes into contact with the information output can easily and appropriately recognize the contents of the information output. Therefore, the information processing device 40 performs the following processing operations when outputting information.

Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of information output. In the figure, (a) shows an example of information output regarding the result of pass/fail judgment by the electrodeposition plate evaluation device 30a, and (b) shows an example of information output regarding the result of pass/fail judgment by the electrodeposition plate evaluation device 30b.

In the information processing device 40, when the information output unit 42 outputs information, the image processing unit 43 performs processing to generate a display image.

The image generated by the image processing unit 43 visually indicates the immersion position of each electrodeposited plate 2 in the electrolytic bath 10 for each electrodeposited plate 2 that has been judged pass or fail by the electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a, 30b. Specifically, as shown in Figures 4(a) and (b), the electrolytic bath 10 is represented by a two-dimensional map viewed from above, and the immersion position of each electrodeposited plate 2 is identified by the display position on the two-dimensional map.

The image generated by the image processing unit 43 also shows the results of pass/fail judgments on multiple levels or items related to the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of each electrodeposited plate 2 in a manner that allows the differences in the multiple levels or items to be visually recognized. Specifically, as shown as legends in Figures 4(a) and (b), the display color of each electrodeposited plate 2 displayed on the two-dimensional map is different depending on which of the multiple electrodeposition ranks it falls into, or which of the multiple electrodeposition defects it falls into.

After the image processing unit 43 generates the image, the information output unit 42 displays and outputs the image generated by the image processing unit 43. As a result, the information output unit 42 outputs information regarding the pass/fail judgment result for each electrodeposit plate 2 in a manner that allows the immersion position of each electrodeposit plate 2 in the electrolytic bath 10 to be visually confirmed, and in a manner that allows the differences in multiple stages or items to be visually confirmed.

Therefore, a user of the information processing device 40 who refers to the output contents from the information output unit 42 can easily and appropriately recognize the result of the quality judgment of the surface condition of the electrodeposition area of each electrodeposition plate 2 removed from the electrolyte of the electrolytic cell 10.

(6) Effects of the Present Embodiment The electrodeposited plate evaluation device, the electrodeposited plate evaluation system, the electrodeposited plate evaluation program, and the electrodeposited plate evaluation method described in the present embodiment can provide one or more of the following effects.

In this embodiment, in the electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a, 30b, the surface images acquired by the image acquisition units 31a, 31b are compared with the teacher data stored in the data storage units 33a, 33b, and the quality determination units 35a, 35b determine the quality of the surface state of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate 2 related to the surface images based on the determination criteria learned by the learning function units 34a, 34b. Therefore, it is easily possible to select and eliminate defective electrodeposited plates based on the results of the quality determination by the quality determination units 35a, 35b.
Furthermore, when judging the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2, unlike when the judgment is made by visual inspection by a human, the judgment does not require skill (advanced technique) and there is no concern about oversights or judgment errors.
In addition, since the quality judgment is performed while comparing the surface images acquired by the image acquisition units 31a and 31b with the teacher data, the quality judgment can be performed appropriately regardless of the conveying speed or the size of the area of the electrodeposited plate 2. Furthermore, since the judgment criteria used for the quality judgment can be learned while comparing the surface image with the teacher data, even if there are many types of defects in the electrodeposition state and unevenness variations in the detected surface, changes in plate thickness, light scattering, etc. may occur, these can be flexibly and appropriately dealt with. In other words, even if based on the detection result of the surface state of the electrodeposited plate 2, defective electrodeposited plates can be appropriately selected.
Furthermore, the judgment environment for sorting out defective electrodeposited plates does not require a special environment such as a clean room, and can be carried out in a normal work area.
As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to easily and appropriately determine the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of the electrodeposited plate 2 on which zinc, a non-ferrous metal, is electrodeposited by electrowinning.

As described in this embodiment, if the learning function units 34a and 34b in the electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a and 30b are capable of learning the judgment criteria (especially updating to new judgment criteria), it is possible to improve the judgment result's suitability rate to a degree that ensures a defective product detection rate equivalent to that of a visual surface condition check by repeating learning times according to information on the accuracy (e.g., suitability) of the pass/fail judgment by the pass/fail judgment units 35a and 35b. Therefore, this is very preferable for easily and appropriately judging the quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate 2.
Moreover, if the learning function units 34a and 34b are capable of learning the judgment criteria, even when improving the conformance rate of the judgment result of the pass/fail judgment, there is no need to modify each sample image constituting the teacher data. Therefore, for example, there is no need to increase the number of sample images in order to improve the conformance rate, and it is possible to improve the conformance rate of the judgment result of the pass/fail judgment without complicating or increasing the difficulty of the process for the pass/fail judgment.

In this embodiment, in the electrodeposition plate evaluation device 30a, the image acquisition unit 31a is configured with a narrow-angle camera, and the narrow-angle camera captures the surface state of a representative area of the electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate 2. The teacher data in the data storage unit 33a is configured with multiple sample images of the electrodeposition plate 2 with different surface smoothness. Therefore, according to this embodiment, even if the degree of smoothness of the surface of the electrodeposition plate 2 is reduced and a short circuit is more likely to occur, this can be easily and appropriately detected. In other words, for example, it is possible to grasp the surface smoothness of the electrodeposition plate 2 pulled out of the electrolyte and reflect the grasped result in the electrolyte supply state of the electrolytic cell 10.

In this embodiment, in the electrodeposition plate evaluation device 30b, the image acquisition unit 31b is configured with a wide-angle camera, and the wide-angle camera captures the surface condition of the entire electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate 2. The teacher data in the data storage unit 33b is configured to include at least one sample image of a specific form of surface defect that may occur on the electrodeposition plate 2, preferably a sample image of a state in which electrodeposition defect occurs on the surface of the electrodeposition plate 2, a sample image of a state in which a point short occurs, and a sample image of a state in which a line short occurs. Therefore, according to this embodiment, even if, for example, electrodeposition defect, point short, or line short occurs on the surface of the electrodeposition plate 2, it is possible to easily and appropriately detect this. In other words, it is possible to determine whether or not the surface condition of the electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate 2 has, for example, electrodeposition defect, point short, or line short, and to determine that a product with any of these occurs is defective.

In this embodiment, in the electrodeposited plate evaluation system 1, the information output unit 42 outputs information on the result of the pass/fail judgment by the pass/fail judgment unit 35a, 35b of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a, 30b for the electrodeposited plate 2 that has been transported to the image acquisition location by the image acquisition unit 31a, 31b of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a, 30b and image acquisition has been performed. Therefore, a user of the information processing device 40 who refers to the output content of the information output unit 42 can recognize the result of the pass/fail judgment on the surface condition of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate 2 taken out of the electrolyte in the electrolytic bath 10. As a result, it is possible to easily and appropriately change the electrolyte supply state of the electrolytic bath 10 according to the surface condition of the electrodeposited plate 2, select defective electrodeposited plates, etc.

In this embodiment, when the information output unit 42 outputs information in the electrodeposited plate evaluation system 1, the information on the result of the pass/fail judgment by the electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a, 30b is displayed in a manner that allows the immersion position of each electrodeposited plate 2 in the electrolytic bath 10 to be visually recognized. In addition, the pass/fail judgment results for multiple stages or items related to the surface condition of the electrodeposited area of each electrodeposited plate 2 are displayed in a manner that allows the differences between the multiple stages or items to be visually recognized. Therefore, by referring to the two-dimensionally mapped output content by the information output unit 42, the user of the information processing device 40 can easily and appropriately recognize from which position in the electrolytic bath 10 each electrodeposited plate 2 was taken out and what the pass/fail judgment result is. As a result, it is very convenient for the user.

In this embodiment, the electrodeposited plate evaluation system 1 includes both an electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a having a narrow-angle camera and an electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30b having a wide-angle camera. In other words, the electrodeposited plate evaluation system 1 includes both an electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30a that uses the smoothness of the surface of the electrodeposited plate 2 as an index to perform a pass/fail judgment, and an electrodeposited plate evaluation device 30b that uses the surface defect mode of the electrodeposited plate 2 as an index to perform a pass/fail judgment. In this way, by combining the electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a and 30b that perform pass/fail judgment using different indexes, it is possible to more appropriately and accurately judge the pass/fail quality of the surface condition of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate 2 compared to the case where only one of them is provided.

(7) Modifications Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the above disclosure shows exemplary embodiments of the present invention. In other words, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above exemplary embodiments.

In the above embodiment, the non-ferrous metal (electrodeposited metal) is zinc, but the present invention is not limited to this. In other words, if the electrowinning method is applied, the present invention can be applied in the same way even when recovering other non-ferrous metals such as copper.

In the above embodiment, an example is given in which two electrodeposited plate evaluation devices 30a, 30b are arranged in the electrodeposited plate evaluation system 1, but the present invention is not limited to this. In other words, it is sufficient that at least one electrodeposited plate evaluation device is provided in the system, and three or more may be provided.

1...electrodeposited plate evaluation system, 2...electrodeposited plate, 10...electrolytic cell, 20...transport conveyor, 30a, 30b...electrodeposited plate evaluation device, 31a, 31b...image acquisition section, 32a, 32b...control section, 33a, 33b...data storage section, 34a, 34b...learning function section, 35a, 35b...good/bad judgment section, 40...information processing device, 41...information management section, 42...information output section, 43...image processing section

Claims (14)

an image acquisition unit for acquiring a surface image of an electrodeposited region of an electrodeposited plate obtained by a wet electrolysis method of a non-ferrous metal, the electrodeposited plate being removed from an electrolytic solution;
a data storage unit that stores sample images relating to a surface state of the electrodeposition region of the electrodeposition plate as teacher data;
a learning function unit that learns a criterion for determining whether a surface condition of the electrodeposition region of the electrodeposition plate is good or bad by using the teaching data stored in the data storage unit;
a quality determination unit that determines the quality of a surface state of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate related to the surface image based on the determination criterion learned by the learning function unit while comparing the surface image acquired by the image acquisition unit with the teacher data stored in the data storage unit;
An electrodeposited plate evaluation device comprising: the image acquisition unit is configured with a narrow-angle camera that captures an image of a surface state of a representative area of the electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate,
The electrodeposited plate evaluation device according to claim 1 , wherein the teacher data and the judgment criteria are set so as to correspond to the image pickup result obtained by the narrow-angle camera. 3. The electrodeposited plate evaluation device according to claim 2, wherein the teacher data corresponding to the narrow-angle camera is composed of a plurality of sample images of the electrodeposited plate having different surface smoothness. the image acquisition unit is configured with a wide-angle camera that captures an image of a surface state of the entire electrodeposition area of the electrodeposition plate,
The electrodeposited plate evaluation device according to claim 1 , wherein the teacher data and the judgment criteria are set so as to correspond to the image pickup result by the wide-angle camera. 5. The electrodeposited plate evaluation device according to claim 4, wherein the teacher data corresponding to the wide-angle camera includes at least one sample image of a specific aspect of a surface defect that may occur on the electrodeposited plate. The electrodeposited plate evaluation device according to claim 1 , wherein the learning function unit is configured to respond to updating of the judgment criteria in response to information regarding accuracy of the pass/fail judgment by the pass/fail judgment unit. The electrodeposited plate evaluation device according to claim 1 ;
an electrolytic bath that contains the electrolytic solution in a state in which the electrodeposition plate can be immersed;
a transport mechanism that transports the electrodeposited plate removed from the electrolytic cell at least to a location where an image is acquired by the image acquisition unit of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device;
an information output unit that outputs information regarding a result of a pass/fail judgment made by the pass/fail judgment unit of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device for the electrodeposited plate that has been transported to the image acquisition location and image acquisition has been performed;
An electrodeposited plate evaluation system comprising: The image acquisition unit of the electrodeposited plate evaluation device is configured to include a narrow-angle camera that images a surface state of a representative region of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate, and a wide-angle camera that images a surface state of the entire electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate,
The electrodeposited plate evaluation system according to claim 7 , wherein the teacher data and the judgment criteria are set so as to correspond to the imaging results obtained by the narrow-angle camera and the imaging results obtained by the wide-angle camera, respectively. The electrolytic bath is configured to be capable of immersing a plurality of the electrodeposition plates,
the image acquisition unit is configured to acquire surface images of the plurality of electrodeposition plates transported from the electrolytic bath in sequence,
The electroplating plate evaluation system according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the quality determination unit is configured to determine the quality of the surface condition of the electroplated region of each electroplated plate by correlating the surface image acquired by the image acquisition unit with identification information of each electroplated plate. The electrodeposited plate evaluation system according to claim 9 , wherein the identification information is information regarding a dipping position of each of the electrodeposited plates in the electrolytic bath. The electrodeposited plate evaluation system according to claim 10 , wherein the information output unit is configured to output information relating to a result of the pass/fail judgment by the pass/fail judgment unit in a manner that allows a immersion position of each of the electrodeposited plates in the electrolytic bath to be visually confirmed. The quality judging unit is configured to judge the quality of the surface state of the electrodeposition region of each of the electrodeposition plates in a plurality of stages or in a plurality of items,
The electrodeposited plate evaluation system according to claim 11 , wherein the information output unit is configured to output information about a result of the pass/fail judgment by the pass/fail judgment unit in a manner that allows differences in the multiple levels or the multiple items to be visually recognized. Computer,
an image acquisition unit for acquiring a surface image of an electrodeposited region of an electrodeposited plate obtained by a wet electrolysis method of a non-ferrous metal, the electrodeposited plate being removed from an electrolytic solution;
a data storage unit that stores sample images relating to a surface state of the electrodeposition region of the electrodeposition plate as teacher data;
a learning function unit that learns a criterion for determining whether a surface condition of the electrodeposition region of the electrodeposition plate is good or bad by using the teaching data stored in the data storage unit;
a quality determination unit that determines the quality of a surface state of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate related to the surface image based on the determination criterion learned by the learning function unit while comparing the surface image acquired by the image acquisition unit with the teacher data stored in the data storage unit;
An electroplating evaluation program that functions as a. an image acquisition step of acquiring a surface image of an electrodeposited area of an electrodeposited plate obtained by a wet electrolysis method of a non-ferrous metal, the electrodeposited plate being removed from an electrolytic solution;
a data storage step of storing a sample image relating to a surface state of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate as training data;
a learning step of learning a criterion for determining whether a surface state of an electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate is good or bad by using the teacher data stored in the data storage step;
a quality determination step of determining quality of a surface state of the electrodeposited region of the electrodeposited plate related to the surface image based on the determination criterion learned in the learning step while comparing the surface image acquired in the image acquisition step with the teacher data stored in the data storage step;
The electrodeposition plate evaluation method includes the steps of:

Images