JP5074476B2 - Tablet inspection device and PTP packaging machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention belongs to a technical field including a tablet inspection apparatus used in manufacturing a PTP sheet and a PTP packaging machine equipped with the tablet inspection apparatus.

  In general, a PTP sheet is attached to a packaging film made of resin in which a pocket portion filled with tablets or the like is formed, and the packaging film so that the opening side of the pocket portion is sealed to the packaging film. It is comprised from the cover film made from aluminum.

  In manufacturing the PTP sheet, after the pocket portion is filled with tablets or the like, the appearance abnormality relating to chipping or cracking of the tablets is inspected. In the inspection, for example, light is irradiated from the irradiation means, the transmitted light is imaged by a camera, and a chip of the tablet is inspected based on the captured image data.

  Generally, in the above inspection, a window that matches the shape and size of the tablet is prepared in advance, and the window is set according to the tablet position of the image data, and then the tablet area and the reference value in the window are set. Is compared to determine whether or not the tablet is a non-defective tablet without any chipping (for example, see Patent Document 1).

JP 2000-105197 A

  However, the above-described prior art is very time-consuming, such as calculating the center of gravity of the tablet from the image data and performing an inspection after aligning the center of the window with the center of gravity of the tablet.

  Furthermore, the tablet shape and size in the image data vary depending on the manufacturing error of the tablet and the filling position of the pocket, etc., so it is necessary to adjust the size of the window according to the shape and size of the tablet. There is also. For example, when a circular window is set for a circular tablet imaged in a slightly elliptical shape with a filling posture in the pocket portion, the diameter of the window has to be reduced so as to fit in the tablet. In addition, when the window size is reduced in this way, the peripheral edge of the tablet that cannot be detected also appears, which may reduce the inspection accuracy.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a tablet inspection apparatus and a PTP packaging capable of dramatically improving inspection efficiency and inspection accuracy when inspecting a chip of a tablet or the like in the manufacturing process of a PTP sheet. One of the main purposes is to provide a machine.

  Hereinafter, each means suitable for solving the above-described problem will be described separately. In addition, the effect specific to the means to respond | corresponds as needed is added.

Means 1. In the manufacturing process of the PTP sheet, a tablet inspection device for inspecting a tablet contained in a pocket portion formed in a belt-shaped packaging film to be conveyed,
Illumination means capable of irradiating light to the tablet accommodated in the pocket portion,
Imaging means capable of imaging tablets in a range illuminated by the illumination means;
An image processing device for processing an image signal output from the imaging means,
The image processing apparatus includes:
On the basis of image data obtained from the image signal, a contour extraction process for extracting the contour of the tablet;
A tangent determination process for determining whether a tangent at a predetermined point on the contour has another contact on the contour; and
When the tangent at the predetermined point has another contact point, a missing area calculation process for calculating the area of the missing region surrounded by the tangent and the contour;
A tablet inspection apparatus that performs quality determination processing for determining whether or not the area of the chipped region is within an allowable range.

  According to the above-described means 1, it is possible to detect the lack of the peripheral edge of the tablet and determine the quality of the tablet without performing a relatively time-consuming process such as a window setting process. Thereby, the inspection processing speed can be improved. In addition, it is possible to detect a chip appropriately without being affected by variations in the shape and size of the tablets. As a result, it is possible to dramatically improve the inspection efficiency and the inspection accuracy related to the inspection of the chip of the tablet or the like.

  In addition, as a method of detecting the chip | tip of the peripheral part of a tablet, the method etc. which consider the direction change of the tangent vector of the outline of a tablet are also considered, for example. However, only with such a method, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, when a concave chip 71 is formed in the peripheral portion 70 a of the tablet 70, the orientation of the tangential vector of the bottom 71 a of the chip 71 is not the chip 71. Since there is a change in the direction of the tangential vector of the peripheral edge portion 70a of the proper tablet 70 having no defect, there is a possibility that the chip 71 cannot be detected as one large chip that becomes defective, resulting in a decrease in inspection accuracy. Concerned. In this respect, according to the present means, the concave chip 71 as described above can be appropriately detected based on the tangent line 75 contacting the start point 73 and the end point 74 of the chip 71.

  Mean 2. The tablet inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tangent determination processing is performed for tangents of all points on the contour.

  According to the above-described means 2, since inspection can be performed without performing processing for specifying the presence position of a defect in advance, it is possible to improve inspection efficiency. For example, it is suitable for inspection of tablets with relatively few occurrences of chipping.

Means 3. At least before performing the tangent determination process, perform a missing position specifying process for specifying the position of the missing chip,
The tablet inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tangent determination processing is performed only for a tangent of a point in a predetermined section including the position where the chip is present in the outline of the tablet.

  According to the above means 3, since it is not necessary to execute the tangent determination process for the tangents of all points on the outline of the tablet, it is possible to improve the inspection efficiency. For example, it is suitable for inspection of tablets having a relatively large number of chippings.

Means 4. Out of the outline of the tablet, the tangent determination process is sequentially performed from one end to the other end of the predetermined section including the position where the chip is present,
4. The tablet inspection apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the tangent determination process in the predetermined section is terminated when a tangent having another contact is first detected.

  As shown in FIG. 8, tangent determination processing must be performed for a large number of tangents with respect to sharp parts such as the start point 83 and the end point 84 of the chip 81. Furthermore, there may be a case where a plurality of other tangents having contacts are found at one point, such as tangent lines 85 and 86 in FIG. However, regarding the chip 81 shown in FIG. 8, if the tangent line 85 located at the outermost peripheral part of the tablet 80 can be grasped, the area of the chipped area necessary for the pass / fail judgment can be calculated. Nevertheless, if the tangent determination process is executed over the entire predetermined section including the chip 81, the number of processes may increase significantly. In addition, there may be a situation where a plurality of chipped area calculation processes and pass / fail judgment processes are performed for the same chipping 81.

  In this regard, according to the present means, when a tangent having another contact is first detected, the tangent can be grasped as a tangent located on the outermost peripheral side of the tablet, so that the inspection processing speed can be improved. Can be planned.

  Means 5. A PTP packaging machine comprising the tablet inspection device according to any one of means 1 to 4.

  By providing the tablet inspection apparatus in the PTP packaging machine as in the above means 5, there is a merit that defective products can be efficiently excluded in the manufacturing process of the PTP sheet.

It is a schematic diagram which shows schematic structure, such as a PTP packaging machine in one Embodiment. (A) is a perspective view which shows a PTP sheet, (b) is a partial expanded sectional view which shows a PTP sheet. It is a block diagram which shows the electric constitution of a tablet inspection apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows an "inspection routine." It is a schematic diagram which shows the outline of the extracted tablet. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating a tangent determination process. It is an expansion schematic diagram of a tablet showing a chip etc. of a tablet. It is an expansion schematic diagram of a tablet showing a chip etc. of a tablet.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the PTP sheet is inspected for defects in the PTP packaging machine by installing the tablet inspection device in the PTP packaging machine.

  As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the PTP sheet 1 is attached to the container film 3 as a packaging film having a plurality of pocket portions 2 and the container film 3 so as to close the pocket portions 2. And a sealing film 4 as a covered cover film.

  The container film 3 is made of, for example, a relatively hard thermoplastic resin material having a predetermined rigidity, such as PP (polypropylene) or PVC (polyvinyl chloride), and has light transparency (here, transparent). Presents). The sealing film 4 is made of aluminum.

  Each pocket 2 contains a disk-shaped tablet 5 one by one. Although the tablet 5 of this embodiment has a color close to white, the color is not limited to this.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the PTP packaging machine 7 automatically packages the tablets 5 on the container film 3. Specifically, a belt-shaped resin film such as PP or PVC is fed to the heating device 12 and the molding device 13 by the film feed roll 9 and the tension rolls 10 and 11, and the pocket portion 2 for filling the tablet 5 is used as the resin film. Mold. And if the container film 3 in which the pocket part 2 was shape | molded by the resin film is sent to the bottom of the filling apparatus 14, the filling apparatus 14 will fill each pocket part 2 with the tablet 5 automatically.

  On the other hand, the sealing film 4 formed in a belt shape is guided toward the film receiving roll 18 via the tension rolls 16 and 17. A heating roll 19 can be pressed against the film receiving roll 18, and a lattice-like line (not shown) formed in a slightly convex shape is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the heating roll 19. The container film 3 and the sealing film 4 are fed between the rolls 18 and 19. The sealing film 4 is attached to the container film 3 by passing both the films 3 and 4 between the rolls 18 and 19 in a heated and pressed state. Thus, a long PTP film 20 in which the tablet 5 is filled in each pocket portion 2 is manufactured.

  Now, on the downstream side of the filling device 14 and on the upstream side of the film receiving roll 18 and the heating roll 19, a tablet inspection device 21 for inspecting a defect of the tablet 5 along the transfer path of the container film 3. Is arranged. The tablet inspection device 21 performs an inspection mainly intended to detect a chip in the peripheral edge of the tablet 5.

  After the inspection, after the sealing film 4 is attached to the container film 3, the PTP film 20 is cut into one PTP sheet by a punching device (not shown). When a defective product is determined by the tablet inspection device 21, the PTP sheet that has been determined to be defective is separately discharged by a defective sheet discharge mechanism (not shown).

  The outline of the PTP packaging machine 7 is as described above. In the following, the tablet inspection apparatus 21 will be described more specifically based on FIG.

  The tablet inspection device 21 includes an illumination device 22 as illumination means, a camera 23 as imaging means, an image processing device 24, a monitor 25, a keyboard 26, and the like.

  The illuminating device 22 is provided on the pocket portion 2 side of the container film 3 (see FIG. 1) and can emit light.

  The camera 23 is provided on the opposite side (upper side in FIG. 1) to the lighting device 22 through the container film 3, and the light transmitted from the lighting device 22 is transmitted through the container film 3. Imaging is possible. In the present embodiment, a CCD camera is employed as the camera 23.

  Thus, in this embodiment, the light irradiated from the illuminating device 22 illuminates the container film 3 and the tablet 5, and the light transmitted therethrough is configured to be two-dimensionally imaged by the camera 23. The image data captured by the camera 23 is converted into a digital signal inside the camera 23 and then input to the image processing device 24 in the form of a digital signal.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the image processing device 24 includes an image memory 41 corresponding to the camera 23, a binarizing unit 43, a determination memory 44, an inspection result and statistical data memory 45, a camera timing control unit 46, and a CPU. And an input / output interface 47 and the like, and can perform image data processing, defect determination (inspection), and the like as described later.

  The two-dimensional image data captured by the camera 23 is converted into a digital signal and then stored in the corresponding image memory 41. Further, the image data is binarized by the binarizing means 43 at the time of inspection, and then stored in the image memory 41 again.

  The CPU and the input / output interface 47 execute various processing programs while using the stored contents of the determination memory 44 and the like, and send control signals to the PTP packaging machine 7 or various signals such as operation signals from the PTP packaging machine 7. Is for sending and receiving. Thereby, for example, the defective sheet discharge mechanism of the PTP packaging machine 7 can be controlled. The CPU and input / output interface 47 also has a function of sending display data to the monitor 25. With this function, binary or grayscale image data, defect inspection results, and the like can be displayed on the monitor 25. Further, the CPU and input / output interface 47 has a function of inputting data from the keyboard 26.

  The inspection result and statistical data memory 45 stores data such as coordinates relating to image data, inspection result data, statistical data obtained by probabilistically processing the inspection result data, and the like. These inspection result data and statistical data can be appropriately displayed on the monitor 25 based on the control of the CPU and the input / output interface 47. Further, the CPU and the input / output interface 47 can send a control signal to the PTP packaging machine 7 based on these inspection result data and statistical data.

  The camera timing control means 46 controls the timing at which image data captured by the camera 23 is taken into the image memory 41. Such timing is controlled based on a signal from an encoder (not shown) provided in the PTP packaging machine 7, and images (photographs) in sheet units (for example, PTP sheet units to be punched) by the camera 23 every time the container film 3 is fed by a predetermined amount. Is done.

  Next, the procedure of the above-described defect inspection (inspection for chipping at the peripheral edge of the tablet 5) will be described according to the flowchart of FIG.

  As shown in the figure, in the “inspection routine”, first, in step S101, binarization processing is executed. Specifically, the binarization unit 43 performs binarization processing on the image data stored in the image memory 41.

  In step S102, chunk processing is executed. Specifically, the tablet area corresponding to the tablet 5 is recognized based on the binarized data obtained in step S101.

  In step S103, a contour extraction process for extracting the contour shape of the tablet region obtained in step S102 is executed. Specifically, the coordinate value of each point on the outline of the tablet region is obtained.

  In step S104, a tangent determination process is executed. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the tangent line at a predetermined point on the contour obtained in step S103 has another contact point on the contour. In this embodiment, it is performed about the tangent of all the points on the outline 5a (refer FIG. 5) of the tablet 5. FIG. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the tangent determination processing related to the points is sequentially executed in the order of points A, B, C,... Along the outline 5 a of the tablet 5. Then, at the position of the point C that is the starting point of the chip 51, a tangent line 52 that is in contact with the point D that is the end point of the chip 51 is detected.

  In step S105, a missing area calculation process is executed. This process is executed when a tangent line that touches two points is detected in step S104, such as the tangent line 52 shown in FIG. 6, and is surrounded by the tangent line and the outline 5a of the tablet 5. This area is calculated as the area Sx of the missing area. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the area of the chip 51 area (the area with the dot pattern) surrounded by the tangent line 52 and the outline 5 a of the tablet 5 is calculated. If there are a plurality of chips, the area Sx of the chipped area is calculated for each chip.

  In step S106, it is determined whether or not the area Sx of the missing region calculated in step S105 is equal to or smaller than a predetermined determination reference value So. Such a process constitutes a pass / fail determination process.

  If the area Sx of the missing region is equal to or smaller than the determination reference value So, a non-defective product determination is performed in step S107, and this process is terminated. On the other hand, if there is even one missing area Sx larger than the determination reference value So, a failure determination is made in step S108, and this process is temporarily terminated. These inspection results are output to the monitor 25 and the PTP packaging machine 7 (including the defective sheet discharge mechanism).

  Note that the processing from step S101 to step S108 is executed for each tablet 5 on the PTP film 20, and when the tablet 5 that is later cut into the PTP sheet 1 is judged to be defective on the same sheet, If it is included, the sheet is judged to be defective and discharged.

  As described above in detail, according to the present embodiment, the defect 51 of the peripheral edge of the tablet 5 is detected and the quality of the tablet 5 is determined without performing relatively time-consuming processing such as window setting processing. Can do. Thereby, the inspection processing speed can be improved. Further, the chip 51 can be appropriately detected without being affected by variations in the shape and size of the tablet 5. Further, it is not necessary to perform processing for specifying the location of the chip 51 in advance. As a result, it is possible to dramatically improve the inspection efficiency and the inspection accuracy related to the inspection of the chip 51 of the tablet 5 and the like.

  In the embodiment described above, for example, a part of the configuration can be appropriately changed as follows. Of course, other modifications not exemplified below are also possible.

  (A) In the above embodiment, a disk-shaped flat tablet is illustrated as an example of the tablet 5 to be inspected. However, the type of tablet is not limited to this, and for example, a central portion and a peripheral portion. It may be a tablet having a different thickness, a so-called lens tablet, or a deformed tablet such as a triangle, a quadrangle, or an ellipse as long as it has a contour shape without a recess.

  (B) In the said embodiment, it has the structure which inspects the tablet 5 by imaging with the camera 23 the transmitted light irradiated from the illuminating device 22 and permeate | transmitted the container film 3. FIG. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and a configuration may be adopted in which reflected light reflected from the tablet 5 is imaged and the inspection is performed. According to the inspection using reflected light, the tablet 5 can be inspected even after the sealing film 4 is attached to the container film 3.

  (C) In the above embodiment, the tangent determination process in step S104 is performed for the tangents of all points on the outline 5a of the tablet 5. Not limited to this, a chip position specifying process for specifying the position of the chip 51 of the tablet 5 in advance is performed, and a tangent determination process is performed on a point within a predetermined section including the position of the chip 51 in the outline 5 a of the tablet 5. It is good also as a structure performed only about tangent. With such a configuration, it is not necessary to perform the tangent determination process for the tangents of all points on the outline 5a of the tablet 5, so that the inspection efficiency can be improved.

  In performing the missing position specifying process, as a method for detecting the missing 51 of the tablet 5, for example, a method that considers the change in the direction of the tangent vector of the outline 5a of the tablet 5 can be employed.

  In addition, when the tangent determination process is performed only for the tangent of a point in the predetermined section including the position where the chip 51 is present in the outline 5a of the tablet 5, the tangent determination process is executed sequentially from one end to the other end of the predetermined section. Thus, the tangent determination process in the predetermined section may be terminated when the tangent line 52 in contact with the two points is detected. With such a configuration, when a tangent line 52 in contact with two points is detected, the tangent line 52 is grasped as a tangent line positioned on the outermost peripheral side of the tablet 5 related to the chip 51, and the quality determination of the chip 51 is performed. The required area Sx of the missing region can be calculated. As a result, it is not necessary to perform the tangent determination process or the like over the entire predetermined section including the chip 51, and it is possible to suppress an increase in the number of processes and improve the inspection processing speed.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... PTP sheet, 2 ... Pocket part, 3 ... Container film, 4 ... Sealing film, 5 ... Tablet, 5a ... Contour, 7 ... PTP packaging machine, 21 ... Tablet inspection apparatus, 22 ... Illumination device, 23 ... Camera, 24: Image processing apparatus, 51: Chipping, 52: Tangent, Sx: Area of the chipped area, So: Determination reference value.

Claims (5)

In the manufacturing process of the PTP sheet, a tablet inspection device for inspecting a tablet contained in a pocket portion formed in a belt-shaped packaging film to be conveyed,
Illumination means capable of irradiating light to the tablet accommodated in the pocket portion,
Imaging means capable of imaging tablets in a range illuminated by the illumination means;
An image processing device for processing an image signal output from the imaging means,
The image processing apparatus includes:
On the basis of image data obtained from the image signal, a contour extraction process for extracting the contour of the tablet;
A tangent determination process for determining whether a tangent at a predetermined point on the contour has another contact on the contour; and
When the tangent at the predetermined point has another contact point, a missing area calculation process for calculating the area of the missing region surrounded by the tangent and the contour;
A tablet inspection apparatus that performs quality determination processing for determining whether or not the area of the chipped region is within an allowable range.   The tablet inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tangent determination process is performed for tangents of all points on the contour. At least before performing the tangent determination process, perform a missing position specifying process for specifying the position of the missing chip,
The tablet inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tangent determination processing is performed only on a tangent of a point in a predetermined section including the position where the chip is present in the outline of the tablet. Out of the outline of the tablet, the tangent determination process is sequentially performed from one end to the other end of the predetermined section including the position where the chip is present,
4. The tablet inspection device according to claim 3, wherein the tangent determination processing in the predetermined section is terminated when a tangent having another contact is first detected.   A PTP packaging machine comprising the tablet inspection apparatus according to claim 1.

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