JP4145221B2 - Mass production inspection equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a product inspection apparatus, and more particularly to a product inspection apparatus suitable for inspecting a product such as a container that is produced in large quantities.

  For example, container products such as glass containers and plastic bottles, or products such as chemicals and beverages filled in these containers are often produced in large quantities. In such a mass-production product manufacturing facility, a product inspection device is generally provided in the manufacturing process for quality control. In addition, in the production of mass-produced products, it is also required to control the number of products produced, and in particular in the manufacture of chemicals, it is required to manage the number of production more strictly, and the inspection process It is no exception. For this reason, product detection sensors that detect the presence or absence of products on the transport line are installed at various locations on the inspection device, and the number of inspections, non-defective products, defective products, etc. are counted by this product detection sensor and the results are displayed. It is widely done. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique related to product counting in such a manufacturing process.

JP-A-8-287213

  The product counting technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 simply counts the number of products by a product detection sensor provided in the manufacturing process. Therefore, in the inspection process, if the product falls off or breaks in the transfer line in the inspection device, or if trouble occurs in the inspection device, the count values of the number of inspections, non-defective products, and defective products are matched. There is a problem in that the performance is impaired, and sufficient data cannot be obtained for strict management of the production number. The same applies to the trouble of the product detection sensor itself.

  In addition, when troubles related to product counting occur, it is required to be able to issue an alarm so that appropriate measures can be taken quickly. This technology was difficult to meet this.

  The applicant of the present application has previously proposed a product check system using an IC chip as Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-194891. According to this technology, a check system that can comprehensively manage products while tracking from the production process to the distribution process by using the individual ID for each product becomes possible. However, it takes time for the use of IC chips to spread widely in product management, and in the process up to that point, the technology that counts products in the manufacturing process using product detection sensors etc. is an important technology. is there. Therefore, in the technique, for example, in the case of an inspection process, it is also important to prevent inconsistencies among the count values of the number of inspections, the number of non-defective products, and the number of defective products.

  The present invention has been made in the background as described above. As an inspection device installed in the manufacturing process of mass-produced products, the present invention uses the counting result by the product counting function for the management of the production number. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an inspection apparatus capable of obtaining more effective data. In addition, in the event of a trouble that causes inconsistencies between the count values of the number of inspections, the number of non-defective products, and the number of defective products, the provision of an inspection device that can promptly respond to the trouble by issuing an alarm etc. It has other purposes.

The present invention relates to an inspection apparatus for mass-produced products used for inspecting products in which bottles or plastic bottles or cans that are mass-produced while moving on a conveyance line are used as containers,
Inspection line,
Each sorting line including good and defective products,
An absolute encoder that is provided in the inspection line and outputs the movement amount on the inspection line as a machine angle updated by a unit machine angle;
A first detection sensor which is provided on the carry-in side of the inspection line and detects the presence or absence of product passage at that position one after another for each product;
The inspection line is provided at a position corresponding to a distance of a predetermined relative mechanical angle from the first detection sensor on the inspection line, and inspection data including whether the passing product is non-defective or defective at that position is sequentially detected for each product. A second detection sensor;
Each of the sorting lines is provided at a position corresponding to a distance of a predetermined relative mechanical angle from the first detection sensor, and each detection sensor corresponding to the sorting line detects the presence or absence of product passage at each position,
Processing means for successively inspecting inspection data of the second detection sensor for each product, performing inspection processing including whether each product is a non-defective product or a defective product, and outputting a selection signal including whether the product is non-defective or defective;
A sorting unit that is provided between the inspection line and the sorting line and performs product sorting from the testing line to the corresponding sorting line based on the sorting signal by the processing means;
The mechanical angle output of the encoder when the passing product detected by the first detection sensor passes, and the encoder when the passing product passes by the second detection sensor and each detection sensor corresponding to the sorting line. From the mechanical angle output of the first detection sensor, the time when the second detection sensor passes through the first detection sensor and the time when each detection sensor corresponding to the sorting line passes. The encoder mechanical angle output is determined by adding the predetermined relative mechanical angle up to the second detection sensor and each detection sensor corresponding to the sorting line to the mechanical angle output of the encoder when passing, and based on the specified result Corresponding products selected by the inspection data of the second detection sensor including the non-defective product and the defective product in the processing means and the sorting unit are sorted into the corresponding sorting line. And check means for checking the whether or not the,
An inspection apparatus for mass-produced products comprising

  Further, according to the present invention, the above check means checks whether or not it has reached and counts the number of arrivals, and further provides a display unit to display the check results and the count results, and inspects mass-produced products. An apparatus is disclosed.

  Further, the present invention provides mass production comprising alarm means for notifying inconsistency between the count values of the number of product inspections, the number of non-defective products, and the number of defective products in combination with or separately from the display unit. A product inspection device is disclosed.

  Furthermore, the present invention discloses a mass-produced product inspection device having means for automatically stopping the inspection operation when a mismatch occurs between the count values of the number of product inspections, the number of non-defective products, and the number of defective products. .

  In the inspection apparatus of the present invention, as described above, since it is possible to determine the consistency between the presence / absence detection of products made by a plurality of product detection sensors, more effective data can be obtained, Stricter management of the number of production in the inspection process becomes possible. Further, since it becomes possible to detect sorting troubles and errors in the inspection based on the determination of consistency, it is possible to issue an alarm so that the troubles can be quickly dealt with.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 schematically shows the configuration of an inspection apparatus according to an embodiment. The inspection apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a carry-in conveyor 2 that takes in a product 1 to be inspected, an inspection conveyance line 3 that conveys the product 1 for inspection, an inspection unit 4 provided in the middle of the inspection conveyance line 3, an inspection An image processing unit (inspection data creation unit) 5 that processes an image obtained by photographing the product 1 with a camera 4c provided in the unit 4 and outputs inspection data, and based on inspection data from the image processing unit 5 A determination processing unit 6 for determining whether the product 1 is good or defective, a selection unit 7 for selecting the product 1 based on the determination of good / bad by the determination processing unit 6, and a mechanical angle of the transport system that causes the product 1 to move. Encoder 8 which is a means for detecting the above, a mechanical angle distribution unit 9 which distributes the machine angle detected by the absolute encoder 8 to each processing unit, a non-defective conveyor 10 which conveys the non-defective product sorted by the sorting unit 7, and a sorting unit The defective product conveyor 11 that transports the defective products sorted in step 1, the first product detection sensor 12 provided at the entrance of the inspection transport line 3, the second product detection sensor 13 provided on the non-defective product conveyor 10, Based on the information from the third product detection sensor 14 and the first to third product detection sensors 12, 13, 14 provided on the non-defective product conveyor 11, the product is counted, and the number of inspections is performed in the counting process. The sensor information processing unit 15 that generates alarm information when there is a mismatch between the count values of the number of non-defective products and the number of defective products, and the display unit 16 that displays the count results and alarm information obtained by the sensor information processing unit 15 It has.

  Each of the first to third product detection sensors 12, 13, and 14 detects the presence or absence of the product 1. In other words, the transfer systems of the carry-in conveyor 2, the inspection transfer line 3, the non-defective product conveyor 10, and the defective product conveyor 11 are configured to convey the product 1 at a constant interval (pitch). Therefore, the product detection sensors 12, 13, and 14 detect the presence / absence of the product 1 at regular intervals.

  The absolute encoder 8 is installed on the drive shaft of the inspection transport line 3 or a rotating shaft synchronized therewith, and detects the mechanical angle of the transport system in the range of 0 to 360 degrees. In this embodiment, every time the product 1 moves by one pitch, the difference in mechanical angle is 6 degrees. By using such a mechanical angle detected by the absolute encoder 8, the movement of the product 1 can be tracked, and the relationship between the first to third product detection sensors 12, 13, 14 and the inspection unit 4. Can be specified as a time series in the movement of the product 1. An example of the specific data is shown in FIG. FIG. 3 shows the mechanical angle difference between the first to third product detection sensors 12, 13, 14 and the inspection unit 4.

  Each of the columns (a) to (d) in FIG. 2 represents the relationship between the first to third product detection sensors 12, 13, and 14 and the inspection unit 4 when tracking the movement of the product 1 by the mechanical angle. ing. Specifically, the (a) row with respect to the (a) row is detected by the product detection sensor 12 because the mechanical angle difference between the product detection sensor 12 and the inspection unit 4 is 72 degrees (12 pitches). This shows the relationship that the same product should be taken for inspection by the inspection unit 4 after 12 pitches and be judged as good / bad by the determination processing unit 6. Similarly, row (c) relative to row (a) is detected by product detection sensor 12 because the mechanical angle difference between product detection sensor 12 and product detection sensor 13 is 174 degrees (29 pitches). If the same product is a non-defective product, the product detection sensor 13 should be detected after 29 pitches. The (a) row with respect to the (a) row indicates the product detection sensor 12 and the product detection sensor. 14 is 180 degrees (30 pitches), when the same product detected by the product detection sensor 12 is defective, it is detected by the product detection sensor 13 after 30 pitches. It represents the relationship that should be done.

  Such data is created by the sensor information processing unit 15. That is, the sensor information processing unit 15 attaches a presence / absence mark (◯, −) to the row (a) of FIG. 2 based on the product presence / absence information from the product detection sensor 12 and the machine angle obtained from the machine angle distribution unit 9. Based on the determination information from the determination processing unit 6 and the machine angle obtained from the machine angle distribution unit 9, the determination result of good / bad is attached to the row (a) in FIG. Further, based on the product presence / absence information from the product detection sensor 13 and the machine angle obtained from the machine angle distribution unit 9, the presence / absence mark, the non-output mark (Δ), and the overoutput mark (×) are displayed in the row (c) of FIG. In addition, based on the product presence / absence information from the product detection sensor 14 and the machine angle obtained from the machine angle distribution unit 9, the presence / absence mark, the non-output mark or the over-output mark is attached to the row (d) of FIG.

  Non-output means a case where a product that is supposed to be at the pitch position based on tracking by a mechanical angle cannot be detected. On the other hand, the excessive output means a case where a product that is supposed not to be in the pitch position based on tracking by a mechanical angle is detected. That is, in the case of the example of FIG. 2, for example, the product numbered 11 in the figure is detected by the product detection sensor 12 at the entrance of the inspection transport line 3, and the inspection determination result is a non-defective product. is there. Accordingly, the product of number 11 is originally transferred to the non-defective product conveyor 10 by the sorting unit 7 and must be detected by the product detection sensor 13, but is transferred to the defective product conveyor 11 due to some trouble or error in the sorting unit 7. And is detected by the product detection sensor 14. For this reason, the product detection sensor 13 becomes “not output” at the pitch position where the product of the number 11 should be present, while the product detection sensor 14 becomes “over output” at the pitch position where the product of the number 11 should not exist.

  In this way, the movement of the product is tracked based on the machine angle, and by using the product movement tracking information, it is possible to determine “not output” or “over output”. That is, the consistency between the count values of the number of inspections, the number of non-defective products, and the number of defective products (this is also the consistency between the presence / absence detection of products made by the first to third product detection sensors 12, 13, and 14). It becomes possible to judge. As a result, more effective data can be obtained, and the production number can be managed more strictly. Also, based on this consistency judgment, it becomes possible to detect that a trouble or a selection error has occurred in the sorting unit 7, and when it is detected, alarm information for alarm is generated and displayed. It is also possible to display on the unit 16 so as to be able to quickly deal with troubles. In this case, it is more preferable that the alarm information is displayed on the display unit 16 and at the same time the operation of the inspection apparatus is automatically stopped.

  Here, the data example of FIG. 2 shows the determination result in the determination processing unit 6 (the counting result of the inspection unit 4) and the selection result in the selecting unit 7 (the counting result of the second product detection sensor 13 and the third product). This is an example in which there is a mismatch only with the counting result of the detection sensor 14, but in addition to this, for example, the second product detection sensor 13 with respect to the counting result by the first product detection sensor 12. If there is a discrepancy between the total value of the count value by and the count value by the third product detection sensor 14, it is also possible to detect it.

  FIG. 4 shows the counting results in the data example of FIG. 2 and includes count values for the number of inspections, the number of non-defective products, the number of defective products, the number of non-outputs and the number of over-outputs. By obtaining the data shown in FIG. 4 together with the data shown in FIG. 2, the operating state of the inspection apparatus can be grasped in more detail. As a result, it becomes possible to carry out stricter management of the production number.

  As can be seen from the above description, the mechanical angle of the transport system detected by the absolute encoder 8 is used to track the movement of the product 1 in the inspection apparatus. That is, the absolute encoder 8 which is a mechanical angle detection means of the transport system functions as a means for tracking the movement of the product 1 in the inspection apparatus. The absolute encoder 8 is used as such a product movement tracking means. In addition to the method of detecting the mechanical angle, an appropriate method can be used.

  As described above, in the present invention, it is possible to determine the consistency between the presence / absence detection of products made by each of a plurality of product detection sensors, so that more effective data can be obtained, and in the inspection process Stricter management of the number of production becomes possible. Further, since it becomes possible to detect sorting troubles and errors in the inspection based on the determination of consistency, it is possible to issue an alarm so that the troubles can be quickly dealt with. Accordingly, the present invention can greatly contribute to the development of manufacturing technology in the field of manufacturing mass-produced products such as container products such as glass containers and plastic bottles, or chemicals and beverages filled in these containers.

It is a figure showing typically the composition of the inspection device by one embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the data which specified the relationship between each product detection sensor and a test | inspection part as a time series in the movement of a product. It is a figure which tabulates and shows the mechanical angle difference between each product detection sensor and an inspection part. It is a figure which shows the count result obtained from the example of data of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Product 2 Carry-in conveyor 3 Inspection conveyance line 4 Inspection part 5 Image processing part (inspection data creation part)
6 Judgment Processing Unit 7 Sorting Unit 8 Absolute Encoder 9 Machine Angle Distribution Unit 10 Good Product Conveyor 11 Defective Product Conveyor 12 First Product Detection Sensor 13 Second Product Detection Sensor 14 Third Product Detection Sensor 15 Sensor Information Processing Unit 16 Display Part

Claims (4)

In an inspection apparatus for mass-produced products used for inspecting products that use bottles or plastic bottles or cans that are mass-produced while moving on a conveyance line as containers,
Inspection line,
Each sorting line including good and defective products,
An absolute encoder that is provided in the inspection line and outputs the movement amount on the inspection line as a machine angle updated by a unit machine angle;
A first detection sensor which is provided on the carry-in side of the inspection line and detects the presence or absence of product passage at that position one after another for each product;
The inspection line is provided at a position corresponding to a distance of a predetermined relative mechanical angle from the first detection sensor on the inspection line, and inspection data including whether the passing product is non-defective or defective at that position is sequentially detected for each product. A second detection sensor;
Each of the sorting lines is provided at a position corresponding to a distance of a predetermined relative mechanical angle from the first detection sensor, and each detection sensor corresponding to the sorting line detects the presence or absence of product passage at each position,
Processing means for successively inspecting inspection data of the second detection sensor for each product, performing inspection processing including whether each product is a non-defective product or a defective product, and outputting a selection signal including whether the product is non-defective or defective;
A sorting unit that is provided between the inspection line and the sorting line and performs product sorting from the testing line to the corresponding sorting line based on the sorting signal by the processing means;
The mechanical angle output of the encoder when the passing product detected by the first detection sensor passes, and the encoder when the passing product passes by the second detection sensor and each detection sensor corresponding to the sorting line. From the mechanical angle output of the first detection sensor, the time when the second detection sensor passes through the first detection sensor and the time when each detection sensor corresponding to the sorting line passes. The encoder mechanical angle output is determined by adding the predetermined relative mechanical angle up to the second detection sensor and each detection sensor corresponding to the sorting line to the mechanical angle output of the encoder when passing, and based on the specified result Corresponding products selected by the inspection data of the second detection sensor including the non-defective product and the defective product in the processing means and the sorting unit are sorted into the corresponding sorting line. And check means for checking the whether or not the,
Inspection equipment for mass-produced products equipped with Further, the check means checks whether or not it has reached and counts the number of arrivals, and further provides a display unit to display the check result and the count result. apparatus. 3. A mass-produced product according to claim 2, further comprising alarm means for notifying the occurrence of inconsistency between the count values of the number of product inspections, the number of non-defective products, and the number of defective products in combination with or separately from the display unit. Inspection equipment. 4. The mass production product inspection device according to claim 1, further comprising means for automatically stopping the inspection operation when a mismatch occurs between the count values of the number of product inspections, the number of non-defective products, and the number of defective products. .

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