JP2841200B2 - Array pattern inspection device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to an array pattern inspection apparatus, and in particular, a plurality of different colors are colored like a wire portion of a connector with a colored wire. The present invention relates to an array pattern inspection apparatus for inspecting an array pattern and the number of arrays in a test object.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, many connectors have been used for electrical products in order to electrically connect circuits or devices to each other.

This connector generally comprises a terminal portion and a cable (electric wire) portion electrically connected to each terminal. If there is an error in the connection between the terminal portion and the electric wire portion, the product does not operate. In some cases, inspection of the connection state between the electric wire and the terminal is important because the product may be broken in some cases.

Conventionally, the inspection of the connection state between the electric wire and the terminal in such a connector has been performed by artificial means. The reason why the inspection is performed by artificial means is that a continuity test between the electric wire and each terminal of the connector is necessary for the connection test, and in order to perform the continuity test, the connector to be inspected is assembled. (Connector with electric wire) and insertion into the mating connector may be necessary. In such a case, the connector, electric wire, and electric wire arrangement pattern are various, so that it is difficult to mechanize.

Therefore, in order to make the inspection by this artificial means as easy as possible, use a colored wire (color code) corresponding to the terminal number of the connector, and visually inspect the arrangement state of the wires in a color arrangement. Has been done.

However, as the production automation of products has progressed, the automatic mounting of electronic components by machines has become a problem.
In addition, there has been a problem that the discovery is difficult.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Therefore, an apparatus capable of automatically reading a rating code of a component, that is, an automatic inspection of the above-described color arrangement has been conventionally considered.

As an automatic color arrangement inspection apparatus, for example, an apparatus that immediately inspects a color arrangement using a color sensor or the like that discriminates a color of an object by applying a sensing technique has been considered.
However, this inspection apparatus has a configuration in which the number of color sensors corresponding to the number of inspections of the object to be inspected is provided, or the inspection point is moved for each inspection unit of the object to be inspected, and serial inspection is performed by one color sensor. In this case, in the former case, if the object to be inspected is small, it may be physically impossible to arrange a plurality of sensors, and in the latter case, a mechanism for positioning the object to be inspected. In addition, there is a problem that it is impractical, for example, the precision is required and the inspection time is long.

Further, as another inspection apparatus, a color image signal from an object to be inspected is created using an image reading mechanism such as an ITV color camera, and the color image signal is subjected to image processing to obtain a normal arrangement pattern and an arrangement pattern measured. There is also a color arrangement inspection apparatus that compares non-defective products to determine non-defective products and defective products.

However, this color arrangement inspection apparatus inspects an object to be inspected that has the same color as the background color of the inspection area, for example, an object to be inspected that includes a black wire when the background color of the inspection area is black. In this case, it is difficult to discriminate between the black background color and the black electric wire, and it is difficult to accurately inspect the number of electric wires.

As described above, even when the color arrangement is automatically inspected using an ITV color camera, in the inspection object including the inspection object of the same color as the background of the inspection area, the inspection object, for example, the connector wire portion. It is difficult to accurately inspect the number of wires, and it may not be possible to detect the so-called “stripping” of the wires, which is insufficient in the number of wires, in the inspection of the connector wire portion, etc., and there is a problem that the number of inspected objects cannot be accurately tested.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described conventional problems, and it is possible to accurately set the number of arrays and the state of the arrangement even on an inspection object including an inspection object of the same color as the inspection object mounting surface of the inspection table. It is an object of the present invention to provide an array pattern inspection apparatus capable of performing automatic inspection.

[Arrangement of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) An arrangement pattern inspection apparatus according to the present invention provides an arrangement pattern for inspecting an arrangement pattern of a plurality of color-coded inspection objects based on reflected light from the inspection objects. In the inspection apparatus, an inspection table having the mounting surface on which the inspection object is mounted and divided into two or more inspection regions by color, and reflected light from the inspection object mounted on the inspection table Based on the array pattern information for each inspection area obtained by measuring the array pattern information for each inspection area by measuring each inspection area on the inspection table mounting surface. An image processing mechanism for obtaining an arrangement pattern of the inspection object.

(Operation) According to the present invention, an object to be inspected is placed on an inspection table having a mounting surface divided into at least two or more inspection regions by color, and the inspection object is placed for each inspection region on the inspection table mounting surface. By measuring the reflected light of the inspection table, the arrangement pattern information of each inspection quantity is obtained, and the arrangement pattern of the inspection object is obtained by referring to the arrangement pattern information of each inspection area. Even an inspected object including an inspected object of the same color as the object mounting surface can be inspected for the exact arrangement number and arrangement state.

(Embodiment) An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an arrangement pattern inspection apparatus for inspecting a connector with a colored electric wire will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of an embodiment. An object to be inspected in this embodiment is a connector 1 with a colored electric wire. As shown in the figure, the basic configuration of the arrangement pattern inspection apparatus of the present embodiment includes, for example, an inspection illumination 2 such as a halogen lamp illumination, an inspection table 3 for mounting a connector 1 with a colored electric wire, and An image reading mechanism 4 such as an ITV black-and-white camera for reading reflected light from the image reading mechanism 4 and a signal processing unit 5 for processing an image signal from the image reading mechanism 4.

A two-color acrylic plate, for example, a white acrylic plate 6 and a black acrylic plate 7 are stuck on the surface of the inspection table 3 on which the connector 1 is mounted in a stripe shape. It is configured to be fixed across. The connector 1 is fixed to the inspection table 3 by a fixing mechanism, for example, a work guide 8 provided above the inspection table 3.

The measuring operation of the arrangement pattern inspection apparatus having such a configuration will be described below.

First, the wire portion 1a of the connector 1 is automatically inserted between the inspection table 3 and the work guide 8 by an artificial or arm mechanism, and the wire portion 1a of the connector 1 is fixed at a predetermined position on the acrylic plates 6, 7. I do.

Next, the inspection lighting 2 is turned on, the light is emitted to the colored wire portion 1a of the connector 1, the reflected light c is read by the image reading mechanism 4, and the image signal of the connector 1 and the colored wire portion 1a is output. This image signal is processed by the signal processing unit 5 and the connector 1
A determination signal of the color arrangement of the colored electric wire portion 1a and the number of electric wires is output.

Here, the white acrylic plate 6 and the black acrylic plate 7
Is a background color for calculating the number of electric wires from the colored electric wire 1a having a high lightness component to the colored electric wire 1a having a low lightness component, that is, from the white electric wire to the black electric wire.

The operation of determining the number of electric wires based on the obtained image processing signal will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

As shown in FIG. 2, the electric wire portion 1a of the connector 1 of this embodiment has blue, green, black, red,
It is composed of a total of six colored wires of yellow and white.

As shown in the figure, the lightness component distribution of the colored electric wire portion 1a placed in the color arrangement determination area 3a on the inspection table 3 is divided into a black background area and a white background area in the background of the color arrangement determination area 3a. Therefore, the position and the number of the colored wire group 1a are identified by the difference in the lightness component distribution, and the color arrangement determination area is further determined.
The number of wires of the colored wire portion 1a including the black wire of the same color as the background color of 3a, such as black, is also determined.

The non-defective / defective product of this color arrangement is determined in the color
The image of the colored electric wire portion 1a of the connector 1 placed in the connector 3a is taken in by the image reading mechanism 4, and the composite video signal at that time is read by the image signal input / output unit 9 in the signal processing unit 5 as shown in FIG.
Decomposes into brightness signal data and stores it. Then, the system controller 10 analyzes each brightness data of the brightness signal data, and performs color-specific analysis and comparison inspection of the colored electric wire portion 1a, thereby making a pass / fail determination.

That is, the lightness component distribution in the black background area and the lightness component distribution in the white background area obtained by the image reading mechanism 4 are the fourth.
As shown in the figure, the lightness component distribution (the fourth
In FIG. 4 (a), the peak value of the brightness corresponding to the color brightness of each colored electric wire is large on the basis of the black level. On the other hand, in the brightness component distribution in the white background area (FIG. 4 (b)),
Since the white level is used as a reference, the brightness of each color is such that a concave peak group is formed based on the white level.

Then, a threshold value is provided for each of the lightness component distribution in the black background region and the lightness component distribution in the white background region, and each lightness peak portion exceeding the threshold value is detected, and coloring is performed from both background regions. Determine the presence of the wire. That is, if there is a lightness peak in either the black or white background area, or if there is a lightness peak in both the black and white background area, the colored electric wire is present.

Therefore, even if the colored wire portion 1a of the connector 1 includes a wire of the same color as the background color of the color arrangement determination area 3a, for example, a black wire, this can be reliably detected, and the wire is "unplugged".
Inspection of the color arrangement pattern can be performed in consideration of the inspection described above, and the number of electric wires of the colored electric wire portion 1a can be accurately determined. Further, since the peak value of the lightness signal for each color of each colored electric wire is different, color discrimination can be performed based on this peak value.

In the above-described embodiment, the inspection of the connector with the colored electric wire as the inspection object has been described as an example.
The type of the object to be inspected is not limited as long as the position of the image reading mechanism 4 and the inspection illumination 2 can be adjusted so that the object to be inspected falls within 3a. May be two or more colors, and in addition to the above-described configuration, the present invention can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the gist thereof.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, by dividing the background of the color arrangement determination area into at least two colors, video signals having different lightness component distributions on the measurement line in each background color are formed. Therefore, since the position and the number of the inspected objects are identified, even the inspected object including the inspected table and the inspected object of the same color can surely inspect the exact array number and the arrangement state, In addition, since it has a simple configuration, it is possible to provide an array pattern inspection apparatus excellent in versatility.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of an arrangement pattern inspection apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a color arrangement determination area of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a configuration example of a signal processing unit of the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a lightness component distribution of the test object measured by the apparatus according to the embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Connector with colored electric wire 2 ... Power supply for inspection 3 ... Inspection table 4 ... Image reading mechanism 5 ... Signal processing unit 6 ... White acrylic plate 7 ... Black acrylic plate 8 ... Work guide

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Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An arrangement pattern inspection apparatus for inspecting an arrangement pattern of a plurality of color-coded test objects based on reflected light from the test object, wherein the test object is placed and two or more colors are set according to colors. An inspection table having a mounting surface divided into an inspection area, and measuring the reflected light from the object to be inspected mounted on the inspection table for each inspection area of the inspection table mounting surface to perform each of the inspections. An image reading mechanism for obtaining array pattern information for each area; and an image processing mechanism for obtaining an array pattern of the inspection object based on the array pattern information for each inspection area obtained by the image reading mechanism. Characteristic array pattern inspection device.