JP3373273B2 - Surface inspection equipment - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a surface inspection apparatus for automatically inspecting the surface of an object to be inspected such as a synthetic resin molded product and separating it into a good product and a defective product.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Surfaces of powdered milk spoons and the like, which have strict quality requirements, are inspected after molding for foreign matter adherence or chipping. Conventionally, such inspection is performed by the naked eye of an inspector. That is, an inspector picks up an object to be inspected, such as a spoon, one by one, and visually judges the quality of the surface state to classify the product into a non-defective product and a defective product.

[0003]

However, the visual inspection by the inspector as in the prior art is time-consuming and easily causes an inspection error, and is likely to cause secondary contamination due to adhesion of the inspector's hair or the like. There is inconvenience.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a surface inspection device capable of inspecting the surface of an object to be inspected quickly and appropriately.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a pallet for transporting an object to be inspected, which comprises two pressing bodies for alternately pressing and holding the object to be inspected at two locations. And an endless transport path for transporting the pallet, and a transport path for irradiating light to an object to be inspected on the pallet held by one of the pressing bodies to determine whether the surface state of the object to be inspected is good or bad. On the detection device arranged and the above-mentioned conveying path for irradiating light to the object to be inspected on the pallet held by the other pressing body after the pressing by the one pressing body is released to detect the surface condition of the object to be inspected And a sucker for sucking out the object to be inspected from the pallet and separating and ejecting it into a good product and a defective product. The detection device is the object to be inspected It is divided into an upper surface detection device that irradiates light to determine the quality of the surface state and a lower surface detection device that irradiates light to the inspected object to determine whether the surface state is good. The structure of the surface inspection device that is arranged as a unit is adopted.

[0006]

When the object to be inspected is placed on the pallet, the pressing body presses the one place and fixes it on the pallet.

The pallet is conveyed in a fixed direction along an endless conveying path and circulates. The detection device irradiates the inspection object on the pallet traveling along the transport path with light, and determines whether the surface state of the inspection object is good or bad.

After this determination is made, on the pallet, the pressing by the one pressing body is released and the other pressing body presses the inspection object. The other detection device irradiates the inspection object on the pallet traveling along the transport path with light, and determines whether the surface state of the inspection object is good or bad. As a result, the surface of the object to be inspected which has been shielded by the pressing body is also inspected.

After this determination is made, the pressing by the pressing body is released, and the sucker sucks and takes out the object to be inspected on the pallet. Then, based on the determination of the quality of both the inspection devices, the good products and the bad products are separately discharged.

An upper surface detecting device for irradiating the object to be inspected with light to determine whether the surface condition is good or bad, and a lower surface detecting device for irradiating the object to be inspected with light to determine whether the surface condition is good or bad. Respectively, when they are arranged along the transport path, the surface condition of the portion other than the portion pressed by the pressing body of the inspection object is inspected from the upper surface or the lower surface,
The bottom or top surface is then inspected. After that, the surface condition of a portion other than the portion pressed by another pressing body is inspected from the upper surface or the lower surface, and then the lower surface or the upper surface is inspected.

[0011]

Embodiments of the surface inspection apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this surface inspection device, the object to be inspected is a spoon which is an injection-molded product of synthetic resin, and has a long spoon 1 with a handle as shown in FIG. 33, a spoon 2 with a handle as shown in FIG. Various types of spoons, such as the spoon 3 having a box-shaped cup portion as shown in FIG. 35, can be inspected. Of course, according to the present invention, not only the spoon but also other forms of product, that is, a three-dimensional product having an uneven shape can be inspected.

This surface inspection apparatus is entirely housed in a frame 4 as shown in FIG. 1, and is covered with a cover (not shown) so as to prevent foreign matters such as dust from entering the spoon 1. The inspection is performed through the stages of A to H, and the product is discharged separately into a good product and a defective product. Stage A ~
A pallet transport path 5 on which the spoon 1 is placed is provided between H, and the spoon 1 is inspected while the pallet travels from the stage A toward the stage H. Hereinafter, the pallet, its transport path 5, and each stage will be sequentially described.

Pallet and its conveying path As shown in the principle diagram of FIG. 2, the pallet 6 is slidable in the rectangular frame-shaped base 7 and in the base 7 in the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction x of the pallet 6. The two support plates 8a and 8b forming the pallet surface and the spoon 1 which is the object to be inspected are alternately pressed against the support plates 8a and 8b which are the pallet surface at two places of the cup portion 1a and the handle portion 1b. It is provided with two pressing bodies 9a and 9b for holding.

The support plates 8a and 8b are provided with guide rails 10 provided at the front and rear of the base 7 along the pallet advancing direction x.
Are supported slidably on the cup portion 1a and the handle portion 1b of the spoon 1 in a depressed state. On each support plate 8a, 8b, the tip of the cup portion 1a,
A front end side positioning member 11 and a rear end side positioning member 12 that contact the rear ends of the handle portions 1b to position the spoon 1, respectively.
Are slidably supported in the same direction as the sliding direction of the support plates 8a and 8b. The rear end side positioning member 12 is a support plate 8
It is connected to b through a compression coil spring 13 and is constantly urged toward the tip side positioning member 11.

The pressing members 9a and 9b are compression coil springs 1.
It is attached to the ends of the arms 16 and 17 via 4, 15 and the arms 16 and 17 are connected to rotary shafts 18 and 19,
The rotary shafts 18 and 19 are supported on the support plates 8a and 8b via bearings 20 and 21 so as to be parallel to the pallet traveling direction x.

However, the supporting plates 8a, 8b are initially moved to the spots to which the spoon 1 is applied, the pressing bodies 9a, 9b are rotated outward, and the spoon 1 is supported by the supporting plates 8a, 8b.
When placed on 8b, the front side positioning member 11 and the rear side positioning member 12 slide on the support plates 8a and 8b and come into contact with the front and rear of the spoon 1 to accurately position the spoon 1 on the pallet 6. I do. Next, one pressing body 9a rotates to press the cup portion 1a of the spoon 1, and the supporting plate 8b
Then, the rear end side positioning member 12 is retracted, and the surface of the handle portion 1b of the spoon 1 is inspected. When the surface inspection is completed, the support plate 8b and the rear end side positioning member 12 move forward,
The spoon 1 is sandwiched together with the tip-side positioning member 11, the pressing body 9a is separated from the cup portion 1a, the other pressing body 9b presses the handle portion 1b, and the support plate 8a and the tip-side positioning member 1 are provided.
1 retreats. As a result, the cup portion 1a is released,
The surface is inspected.

More specifically, the pallet 6 has a structure as shown in FIGS. 3 to 8. That is, only one support plate 8 is provided, and when this support plate 8 goes back and forth between the bottom of the cup portion 1a and the bottom of the handle portion 1b of the spoon 1, the cup portion is checked when the handle portion 1b is inspected. 1a is supported, and the handle 1b is supported when the cup 1a is inspected.

Rotating shafts 18 and 19 for rotating the pressing bodies 9a and 9b are mounted on the base 7 via bearings 20 and 21, and are attached to the shaft ends of the rotating shafts 18 and 19. The pinions 22 and 23 are fixed, and the pinions 22 and 23
Racks 24 and 25 that mesh with are slidably held on the base 7. The rotating shafts 18 and 19 are provided with pressing members 9a,
Cams 26, 27 for restricting the rotation stop position of 9b are fixed, and stoppers 28, 29 cooperating with the cams 26, 27 are supported on the base 7 via compression coil springs 30, 31. There is. As a result, when the racks 24, 25 are pulled in one direction, the rotating shafts 18, 19 rotate and the pressing bodies 9a, 9b move to the cup portion 1a and the handle portion 1 of the spoon 1.
When the racks 24 and 25 are brought into contact with b and pulled in the other direction, the rotation shafts 18 and 19 rotate in the opposite directions and the pressing bodies 9a and 9
b is separated from the cup portion 1a and the handle portion 1b of the spoon 1.

The front end side positioning member 11 and the rear end side positioning member 12 of the spoon 1 are separate from the support plate 8 and are slidably supported by the guide rails 10.
The rear end side positioning member 12 is mounted on a plate-shaped slider 12a, and both ends of the slider 12a are engaged with the groove of the guide rail 10.

The transfer path 5 of the pallet 6 is endless, and as shown in FIG. 1, the lifters 5a and 5b provided on the start side and the end side of the inspection apparatus, and the lifters 5a and 5b.
It has an upper guide rail 5c connecting between the upper stop positions and a lower guide rail 5d connecting between the lower stop positions of the lifters 5a and 5b. A chain (not shown) is juxtaposed to the upper and lower guide rails 5c and 5d, and the rotation speed of the roller changes due to the friction of the pallet 6 against the rollers of the chain due to its own weight pressing action. It will be conveyed at the same speed as the traveling speed. Lifter 5
The a and 5b are vertically arranged air cylinders (not shown) for transferring the pallet 6 in the vertical direction. By driving the chain and the lifter in this manner, the pallet 6 is conveyed in the inspection apparatus in the clockwise direction in FIG.

Stage A This stage A is provided with a transfer device 32 for receiving the spoon 1 from a spoon injection molding machine (not shown), introducing it into the surface inspection device, and delivering it to the pallet 6. ing.

As shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, the transfer device 32 is provided with a row of suckers 33 for sucking a plurality of molded spoons 1 discharged from the injection molding machine. The row of soccer balls 33 is supported by a horizontal support plate 34, and the support plate 34 is connected to an upper slider 36 via a rotary actuator 35 that is horizontally arranged. The upper slider 36 is vertically slidable along a vertically oriented guide rail 37 fixed to the frame 4 of the inspection apparatus, and is vertically slidable on a lower slider 38 which is vertically slidable along the guide rail 37. They are connected via an air cylinder 39 oriented. The lower slider 38 is fixed to the frame 4 of the inspection apparatus via another vertically oriented air cylinder 40.

Then, the above two air cylinders 3
By the operation of 9, 40, soccer 33 rises to the top,
A plurality of spoons 1 are received from the injection molding machine and rotated by 180 degrees by the operation of the rotary actuator 35 so that the spoons 1 face downward. During operation of the rotary actuator 35, the upper air cylinder 39
Is activated, the soccer 33 holds the spoon 1 and descends. Then, the lower air cylinder 40 is operated, and the sucker 33 holds the spoon 1 and further descends.

The pallet 6 stands by at the place where the spoon 1 descends to the lowest position, and receives the spoon 1 from the soccer 33. In this stage A, the two pressing bodies 9a and 9b rotate to the outer edge side of the pallet 6,
The support plate 8 is stopped at a position where it comes into contact with the cup portion 1a of the spoon 1. The sucker 33 leaves the spoon 1 on the support plate 8, moves up again, and waits to receive the next spoon 1 from the injection molding machine.

Another supporting plate (not shown) attached to the lifter 5a side projects into the pallet 6, and the supporting plate supports the handle 1b of the spoon 1 from below.

On this stage A, a pressing body operating piece and its driving air cylinder similar to that shown in FIG. 19, a tip side positioning member operating piece and its driving air cylinder, a rear end side positioning member operating piece and the same. A driving air cylinder is provided, and the pallet 6 is also attached to the guide rails 5.
An elevating plate and an air cylinder for driving the same, which are similar to those shown in FIG. 18, for pushing up and down on c are provided.

When the spoon 1 is received from the transfer device 32, the pallet 6 is pushed up by the elevating plate from the guide rail 5c and the rack 2
The engaging pieces 24a and 25a of 4, 25 engage the operating piece thereof, the engaging piece 11a of the leading end side positioning member 11 engages the operating piece thereof, and the engaging piece 12b of the rear end side positioning member 12 engages the operating piece thereof. I am fit. As mentioned above, spoon 1 is pallet 6
When it is placed on the top, the tip side positioning member 11 is moved toward the cup portion 1a of the spoon 1 by its operating piece, and then the rear end side positioning member 12 is moved by the operating piece of the handle portion 1b of the spoon 1. The spoon 1 is moved to one side, and the spoon 1 is positioned as a result of being pressed from the front and the back. After positioning the spoon 1, the rack 24 is pulled by the operating piece, and the pressing body 9a rotates to abut the cup portion 1a of the spoon 1 and press the cup portion 1a against the support plate 8.
Then, the rear end side positioning member 12 of the spoon 1 on the handle portion 1b side is retracted by the operating piece. After this, the lift plate descends, and the pallet 6 is placed on the guide rail 5c. The pallet 6 is sent to the next stage B by driving the chain.

Stage B and Stage C Stage B and stage C irradiate the spoon 1 which is the object to be inspected on the pallet 6 held by the one pressing body 9a as described above, and irradiate the reflected light. Further, a detection device for determining the quality of the surface state of the handle portion 1b of the spoon 1 from the background light (transmitted light) is arranged on the transport path 5. In this embodiment, the upper surface and the lower surface of the handle 1b are inspected separately. As shown in FIGS. 12 to 16, the upper surface detecting device 41 is provided on the stage B and the lower surface is provided on the stage C. Each detection device 42 is provided.

The upper surface detecting device 41 comprises two straight tube-shaped lamps 4 arranged above the guide rails 5c of the pallet 6.
3, a ring-shaped lamp 44 arranged below the guide rail 5c of the pallet 6, and two video cameras 45a and 45b arranged on the side of the ring-shaped lamp 44. As shown in FIG. 32, the two video cameras 45a and 45b respectively handle the front half and the rear half of the handle portion 1b. The upper surface detection device 41 includes a processing unit as shown in FIG. 36, and has a straight tubular lamp 43 and an annular lamp 4.
4, the illumination control means controls the irradiation light amount, the image pickup signals of the video cameras 45a and 45b are differentiated by the differentiating circuit 81, and further binarized by the second binarizing circuit 82,
The quality of the surface state is determined by the determination means and output.

The lower surface detecting device 42 includes an annular lamp 46 arranged below the guide rail 5c of the pallet 6, an annular lamp 47 arranged above the guide rail 5c of the pallet 6, and an upper portion of the guide rail 5c. Video cameras 48a, 48 arranged on the side of the annular lamp 47 of
b and 48c. Three video cameras 48
a, 48b, 48c are arranged radially as shown in FIG. 12 because the lower surface of the handle portion 1b is concave.
As shown in FIG. 32, each one side of the front half of the handle 1b is in charge of the rear half. The lower surface detection device 42 also
The processing unit shown in FIG. 36 is provided, and the upper and lower annular lamps 47, 46 are controlled in light irradiation by the illumination control device, and the image pickup signals of the video cameras 48a, 48b, 48c are differentiated by the differentiating circuit 81. Further, it is binarized by the second binarizing circuit 82, and the discriminating means discriminates whether or not the surface state is good and outputs it.

Thus, the quality of the surface condition of the upper and lower surfaces of the handle 1b is determined by both of the detection devices 41 and 42, and the spoon 1 is sent to the next stage D. Stage D On this stage D, a pallet operating device 49 as shown in FIGS. 17 to 20 is provided.

The pallet actuating device 49 has a horizontal base 50 fixed to the frame 4 under the guide rail 5c of the surface inspection device, and an elevating plate 51 for pushing or lowering the pallet 6 onto the guide rail 5c. The driving air cylinder 52 is provided on the base 50. The elevating plate 51 has a long hole 5 in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction x of the pallet 6.
3 is provided, an operating piece 54 for sliding the support plate 8 and a pin 55 for sliding the rear end side positioning member 12 are inserted into the elongated hole 53, and Air cylinders 56 and 57 for driving the operating piece 54 and the pin 55, respectively, are attached. The air cylinder 57 is a double cylinder having two types of strokes so that an object to be inspected having a short handle 1b such as the spoon 2 can be inspected. Further, at the location of the frame 4 above the guide rail 5c, the operating pieces 58a and 58b of the pressing bodies 9a and 9b and the air cylinder 59a for driving the operating pieces 58a and 58b.
59b, actuating pieces 60a, 60b for separating the stoppers 28, 29 from the cams 26, 27 and their driving air cylinders 61a, 61b, an actuating piece 62 for sliding the tip side positioning member 11 and their driving air cylinders. 63 are provided.

When the pallet 6 arrives at the stage D, the elevating plate 51 rises to push the pallet 6 above the guide rail 5c, and the operating piece 54 of the supporting plate 8 engages with the supporting plate 8. The pin 55 for sliding the rear end side positioning member 12 is engaged with the rear end side positioning member 12, and the operating pieces 58a, 58b of the pressing bodies 9a, 9b are replaced with the engaging pieces 24a, 25a of the racks 24, 25. The engaging pieces 60a and 60b of the stoppers 28 and 29 are engaged with each other,
The engaging pieces 28a, 29a of 29 are engaged. After that, the stoppers 28 and 29 are disengaged from the cams 26 and 27, the front end side positioning member 11 and the rear end side positioning member 12 are brought into contact with the front and rear ends of the spoon 1 in order, the rack 24 slides, and the pressing body 9a is rotated. The support plate 8 moves from below the cup portion 1a to below the handle portion 1b, the rack 25 slides, and the pressing body 9b moves to the handle portion 1b of the spoon 1 by rotating in a direction to release the cup portion 1a. Abut. Further, the rear end side positioning member 12 retracts and separates from the handle portion 1b, and then the front end side positioning member 11 retracts and separates from the cup portion 1a. As a result, the cup 1a of the spoon 1 is released, and the handle 1
It is pressed and supported on the support plate 8 by b. The pallet 6 is then lowered by the lift plate 51 to guide the guide rails 5.
It is placed on c and the next stage E is driven by the chain.
Sent to.

Stage E and Stage F Stage E and stage F emit light to the spoon 1 which is the object to be inspected on the pallet 6 held by the other pressing body 9b as described above, and reflect the reflected light. Also, a detection device for determining the quality of the surface state of the cup portion 1a of the spoon 1 from the background light (transmitted light) is arranged on the transport path 5. In this embodiment, the upper surface and the lower surface of the cup portion 1a are inspected separately, and as shown in FIGS. 21 to 26, the upper surface detecting device 6 is provided on the stages E and F.
4 and the lower surface detection device 65 are provided, respectively.

The upper surface detecting device 64 includes an annular lamp 66 arranged above the guide rails 5c of the pallet 6 and an annular lamp 67 arranged below the guide rails 5c.
And two video cameras 68a and 68b arranged on the side of the annular lamp 67 below the guide rail 5c. The two video cameras 68a and 68b are shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the left half and the right half of the cup portion 1a are respectively in charge.

The upper surface detecting device 64 has a processing portion as shown in FIG. 36, and the cup 6a is provided with a lamp 6a.
6 and 67 are irradiated with inspection light and video cameras 68a, 6a
Image at 8b. Then, for the contour portion of the cup portion 1a, the first binarization circuit 80 uses the first threshold value for the image pickup signal obtained as shown in FIGS. 37 (a) and 37 (b), as shown in FIG. 37 (c). And binarize to obtain first binarized data as shown in FIG. 37 (d). Further, with respect to the portion other than the contour portion of the cup portion 1a, the obtained image pickup signal as shown in FIG. 38A is differentiated by the differentiating circuit 81, and the second binarizing circuit 82 is used by the second binarizing circuit 82 as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 8B, the differential image pickup signal is binarized using the second threshold value to obtain the second binarized data as shown in FIG. Then, the quality determination is performed based on the first and second binarized data. As shown in FIG. 36, the lamp 66 is for background illumination of the spoon 1, the lamp 67 is for reflective illumination, and is preferably made of a translucent white acrylic plate or the like, and imaged by the video cameras 68a and 68b. A light diffusing plate 83 having a slit for use is interposed between the lamp 67 and the spoon 1, and a white reflecting plate 84 made of a metal plate or the like colored in white is provided behind the lamp 66 (on the left side of the lamp 66 in the figure). Is installed.

As a result, the quality of the surface condition of the upper surface of the cup portion 1a is determined and output. The lower surface detection device 65 is
A plurality of straight tube-shaped lamps 69 arranged below the guide rails 5c of the pallet 6, and two video cameras 70a, 7a arranged above the guide rails 5c of the pallet 6.
0b and. Two video cameras 70a, 70
21. Since the lower surface of the cup portion 1a is convex, b is arranged so as to be inclined as shown in FIG. 21, and as shown in FIG. The image pickup signals of the video cameras 70a, 70b are generated by the transmitted light of the cup portion 1a, differentiated by the differentiating circuit 81, further binarized by the second binarizing circuit 82, and the discriminating means determines whether the surface state is good or bad. Is output.

Both of the detection devices 64 and 65 determine whether the surface condition of the upper and lower surfaces of the cup portion 1a is good or bad. The pallet 6 passes through the stage E and the stage F at a constant speed, during which the surface of the spoon 1 on the pallet 6 is inspected.

Stage G On stage G, as shown in FIGS.
Detection device 7 for detecting the lack of the cup portion 1a of the spoon 1
1 is provided. This detecting device 71 is used for the pallet 6
Annular lamp 7 arranged below the guide rail 5c of
2 and one video camera 73. In this inspection step, an image is taken by the video camera 73, the contour portion of the cup portion 1a is extracted based on the obtained video signal, and it is determined whether or not the extracted contour line has a chip. More specifically, the inside of the extracted outline is filled with a different color from the outline by software, and it is determined that there is a defect when the different color overflows outside the outline.

The pallet 6 also passes through the stage G at a constant speed, during which the surface of the spoon 1 on the pallet 6 is inspected. Stage H The stage H is provided with the same pallet operating device as in stage D, and the pallet 6 is pushed up by the elevating plate above the guide rails 5c, and the pressing body 9 is pushed.
The a and 9b are separated from the spoon 1. This allows
The spoon 1 on the pallet 6 is released.

Further, the stage H is provided with a spoon discharging device 74 as shown in FIGS. 29 to 31. The spoon discharging device 74 sucks the spoon 1 which is the object to be inspected from the pallet 6 and takes it out and separates it into a good product and a defective product, and a good spoon 1 dropped from the soccer 75 is a defective product. It is provided with a guide plate 76 for guiding to a container (not shown) for use, and guide plates 77, 78 for guiding the good spoon 1 dropped from the soccer 75 to a container for good (not shown). The soccer 75 is reciprocated between the pallet 6 and the guide plates 76, 77, 78 by a servomotor 79, and the discrimination signals from the various detection devices 41, 42, 64, 65, 71 are non-defective. For example, the spoon 1 is released on the guide plates 77 and 78 for non-defective products, and if the determination signal is a defective product, the spoon 1 is released on the guide plate 76 for defective products.

After the support plate 8 is returned to the initial position, the pallet 6 from which the spoon 1 has been removed is sent to the lifter 5b and lowered onto the guide rail 5d which is the return path of the transport path 5, and the guide rail 5d is sent to the other lifter 5a and reaches the position where the spoon 1 is received.

Next, a series of operations of the surface inspection apparatus will be described. First, at the stage A, the transfer device 3
2 receives the spoon 1 from the injection molding machine of the spoon 1 and delivers it to the pallet 6 in the surface inspection device.

On the pallet 6, two pressing bodies 9a, 9
b is rotated to the outer edge side of the pallet 6 and stopped at a position where the support plate 8 abuts the cup portion 1a of the spoon 1. The spoon 1 is placed on the pallet 6 so that the cup portion 1a thereof contacts the support plate 8. When receiving the spoon 1 from the transfer device 32, the pallet 6 is pushed upward from the guide rail 5c by the lifting plate, and the rack 24,
The engaging pieces 24a and 25a of 25 are engaged with the operating piece, the engaging piece 11a of the leading end side positioning member 11 is engaged with the operating piece, and the engaging piece 12b of the rear end side positioning member 12 is engaged with the operating piece. ing. When the spoon 1 is placed on the pallet 6, the tip-side positioning member 11 moves the cup portion 1 of the spoon 1.
Then, the rear end side positioning member 12 moves toward the handle portion 1b of the spoon 1 and presses the spoon 1 from the front and the back to position it. After that, the pressing body 9a rotates to press the cup portion 1a of the spoon 1 against the support plate 8 to fix the spoon 1. When the spoon 1 is fixed, the rear end side positioning member 12 separates from the handle portion 1b of the spoon 1. After that, the lifting plate descends, and the pallet 6 is placed on the guide rail 5c. The pallet 6 moves to the next stage B by driving the chain.

On the stage B, the straight tube lamp and the annular lamp of the upper surface detecting device 41 illuminate the handle portion of the spoon from above and below, and the video camera photographs the upper surface of the handle portion to determine whether the surface condition is good or bad. And output.

On the stage C, the annular lamps 46 and 47 of the lower surface detection device 42 illuminate the handle portion 1b of the spoon 1 from above and below, and the video cameras 48a, 48b and 48c move the handle portion 1b.
The lower surface of b is photographed, and the quality of the surface state is determined and output.

On stage D, when the pallet 6 arrives, the lift plate 51 rises to move the pallet 6 to the guide rails 5.
It is pushed up above c and the operating piece 54 of the support plate 8 is supported.
And a pin 55 for sliding the rear end side positioning member 12 is engaged with a hole (not shown) of the support plate 12a of the rear end side positioning member 12 to operate the pressing members 9a and 9b. 58a and 58b are engaging pieces 24a and 2 of the racks 24 and 25.
5a to engage the operating pieces 60a of the stoppers 28 and 29,
60b is engaged with the engaging pieces 28a, 29a of the stoppers 28, 29. The stoppers 28 and 29 are the cams 26,
27, the front end side positioning member 11 and the rear end side positioning member 12 sequentially contact the front and rear ends of the spoon 1, the rack 24 slides, one pressing body 9a separates from the cup portion 1a, and the supporting plate 8 Moves from below the cup portion 1a to below the handle portion 1b, and the other pressing body 9b comes into contact with the handle portion 1b to contact the handle portion 1b.
Is pressed against the support plate 8. Further, the rear end portion positioning member 12 retracts and separates from the handle portion 1b, and then the front end side positioning member 11 retracts and separates from the cup portion 1a. As a result, the cup 1a of the spoon 1 is released, and the handle 1b is pressed and supported on the support plate 8. The pallet 6 is then placed on the guide rail 5c by the lowering of the elevating plate 51, and is sent to the next stage E by driving the chain.

On the stage E, the annular lamps 66 and 67 of the upper surface detection device 64 illuminate the cup portion 1a of the spoon 1 from above and below, and the video cameras 68a and 68b are connected to the cup portion 1a.
The upper surface of is photographed, the quality of the surface condition is determined, and the result is output.

On the stage F, the lamp 69 of the lower surface detection device 65 illuminates the cup portion 1a of the spoon 1 conveyed by the pallet 6, and the video cameras 70a and 70b photograph the lower surface of the cup portion 1a, and the surface condition is good or bad. Is determined and output.

On the stage G, the annular lamp 72 of the detecting device 71 for detecting the chipped portion of the cup portion 1a is changed to the cup portion 1a.
Then, the video camera 73 photographs the cup portion 1a and determines whether or not the edge of the cup portion 1a is chipped.

At the stage H, the pallet actuator operates to push the pallet 6 upward from the guide rails 5c, pull the pressing body 9b away from the spoon 1, and pull the spoon 1
To release. Next, the spoon discharging device 74 operates to adsorb the spoon 1 from the top of the pallet 6 and take it out. The soccer 75 has various detection devices 41, 42, 64, 65, 71.
Based on the output of, the good product and the defective product are released at different locations.
As a result, the good spoon 1 drops into the good container, and the bad spoon 1 drops into the bad container.

After the support plate 8 is returned to the initial position, the pallet 6 from which the spoon 1 has been removed is sent to the lifter 5b and lowered to the return path of the transport path 5, and sent from the return path to the other lifter 5a. And rises to a position where the spoon 1 is received from the injection molding machine.

[0053]

According to the surface inspection apparatus of the present invention, the surface of an object to be inspected such as a spoon can be inspected easily and accurately, and the inspector does not need to touch the object to be inspected. It is possible to prevent secondary contamination and the like due to the adhesion of the hair of the member. Further, since the pallet that carries the object to be inspected circulates through the endless conveyance path, the object to be inspected can be inspected in large quantities and continuously.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a surface inspection apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing the principle of a pallet used in a surface inspection device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the front half of the pallet according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the rear half of the pallet according to the embodiment.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VV in FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a front view seen from the traveling direction side of the pallet.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the pallet with a rack or the like removed.

8 is a sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII in FIG.

9 is a front view of the transfer device on the stage A in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 10 is a side view of the transfer device.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the transfer device.

FIG. 12 is a front view of a detection device on stages B and C in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a plan view of the detection device.

14 is a view taken along line XIV-XIV in FIG.

15 is a view taken along the line XV-XV in FIG.

16 is a view taken along line XVI-XVI in FIG.

FIG. 17 is a front view of the pallet operating device on the stage D in FIG. 1.

FIG. 18 is a rear view of the pallet operating device.

FIG. 19 is a plan view of the pallet operating device.

20 is a view taken along the line XX-XX in FIG.

FIG. 21 is a front view of a detection device on stages E and F.

22 is a view taken along the line XXII-XXII in FIG.

23 is a view taken along the line XXIII-XXIII in FIG.

24 is a view taken along the line XXIV-XXIV in FIG.

25 is a view taken along the line XXV-XXV in FIG.

26 is a front view of the detection device on stage G. FIG.

27 is a view taken along the line XXVII-XXVII in FIG.

FIG. 28 is a plan view of the detection device.

29 is a front view of the discharging device on the stage H in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 30 is a side view of the ejection device.

FIG. 31 is a plan view of the discharging device.

FIG. 32 is an explanatory diagram showing a surface inspection step.

FIG. 33 (a) is a perspective view of a spoon which is an object to be inspected,
(B) is a cross-sectional view taken along line (A) of FIG. 6, (C) is a cross-sectional view of line (A) taken along the line of (H), and (D) is a cross-sectional view of line (A) of FIG.

FIG. 34 (a) is a perspective view of another spoon which is the object to be inspected, (b) is a sectional view taken along the line of (a), and (c) is (a).
2 is a sectional view taken along the line Ha of FIG.

FIG. 35 (a) is a perspective view of another spoon which is the object to be inspected, (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line ii of (a), and (c) is (a).
2 is a sectional view taken along the line Ha of FIG.

FIG. 36 is a block diagram of a processing unit of the detection device.

FIG. 37 is a diagram for explaining the surface inspection process for the contour portion of the cup portion of the spoon.

FIG. 38 is a diagram for explaining the surface inspection processing of the portion other than the contour portion of the cup portion of the spoon.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... spoon 5 ... Transport path 6 ... Palette 9a, 9b ... Pressing body 41, 42, 64, 65, 71 ... Detection device 75 ... Soccer

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Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An object-transporting pallet having two pressing bodies for alternately pressing and holding the object to be inspected at two locations on the pallet surface, and an endless transport path for transporting the pallet. The detection device arranged on the transport path for irradiating light to the object to be inspected on the pallet held by the pressing body to determine whether the surface state of the object to be inspected is good or bad, and the pressing by the one pressing body is Another detection device arranged on the transport path for irradiating light to the inspected object on the pallet held by the other pressing body and detecting the surface state of the inspected object, A surface inspection apparatus, comprising: a sucker for sucking an inspection object and taking it out, separating it into a good product and a defective product and discharging it. 2. The above-mentioned detection devices irradiate an object to be inspected with light to determine whether the surface condition is good or not, and the upper surface detection device irradiates light to the object to be inspected to determine whether the surface condition is good or bad. The surface inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the surface inspection apparatus is divided into an apparatus and arranged respectively along the conveyance path.