JP5317623B2 - Inspection equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an article inspection apparatus, and more particularly, to an article inspection apparatus that inspects various products such as foods and medicines to make a pass / fail judgment.

  In general, in order to inspect the quality and condition of products such as foods and medicines to be produced, an article inspection apparatus is incorporated in a production line and widely used.

  A conventional article inspection apparatus detects a predetermined physical quantity of an object to be inspected sequentially by a sensor, makes a pass / fail judgment by comparing with a set reference value, and outputs the judgment result. . Further, the inspection object is carried out to the subsequent stage of the production line or excluded from the production line according to the determination result by a sorting unit integrated with the article inspection apparatus or separately.

By the way, as a conventional article inspection apparatus, an apparatus in which an article determined to be defective is inspected again for the purpose of improving the reliability of the determination result and improving the yield is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). ).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho 61-220774

  However, in the conventional article inspection apparatus, what is determined to be good after re-inspection after being determined to be defective is handled as a non-defective product. Therefore, since the judgment in the first inspection is overturned, the good judgment in the first inspection may be overturned, resulting in a failure judgment. Are not necessarily good products. That is, there is a problem that the determination result of one inspection is not highly reliable in both the initial inspection and the re-inspection.

  In particular, when re-inspecting with strict inspection conditions, it is doubtful that the good judgment in the first loose inspection can be trusted, and in addition, only one inspection under each different inspection condition is required. Since it is not implemented, it does not enjoy the benefits of multiple inspections. In other words, while trying to improve the inspection quality without deteriorating the yield and the inspection efficiency, the reliability of the determination is substantially low, and it cannot be said that the inspection quality is improved.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide an article inspection apparatus capable of improving the reliability of the determination result.

  The article inspection apparatus according to the present invention inspects the inspection object conveyed by the conveyance means and the inspection object conveyed by the conveyance means a plurality of times under the same inspection condition, and the inspection object is a good product for each inspection. Or provisional determination means for making a temporary determination as to which of the defective products, and whether the inspection object is a non-defective product or a defective product based on a plurality of temporary determinations made by the temporary determination means for each inspection. And a main determination means for performing the main determination.

  According to this configuration, since a plurality of inspections are performed under the same inspection conditions and a pass / fail provisional determination is performed for each inspection, the reliability of the determination result can be improved as compared with the case where the determination is performed only once.

  Further, the article inspection apparatus according to the present invention is configured such that when the main determination unit has more temporary determinations of non-defective products than the temporary determination of defective products among the plurality of temporary determinations performed by the temporary determination unit, the inspection object It is characterized in that this determination is made that is non-defective.

  With this configuration, when the non-defective product tentative determination is more than the defective product tentative determination among the plurality of tentative determinations, the main determination that the inspection object is a non-defective product is performed, thereby improving the reliability of the determination result. be able to.

  In the article inspection apparatus according to the present invention, the temporary determination unit includes a plurality of inspection units arranged in the transport direction of the transport unit, and the inspection object is a non-defective product or a non-defective product for each inspection by the inspection unit. It is characterized by performing a temporary determination as to which of the non-defective products.

  With this configuration, when there are more tentative determinations of non-defective products out of two tentative determinations made by inspection by a plurality of inspection units, the main determination that the object to be inspected is non-defective is performed. Therefore, the reliability of the determination result can be improved.

Further, in the article inspection apparatus according to the present invention, the conveying means conveys the same inspection object a plurality of times, the temporary determination means inspects the same inspection object conveyed by the conveying means a plurality of times, It is characterized in that a provisional determination is made as to whether the inspection object is a good product or a defective product for each inspection.
It is characterized by that.

  With this configuration, a plurality of provisional determinations can be performed by one inspection unit, and the reliability of the determination result can be improved with a simple apparatus configuration.

  The present invention can provide an article inspection apparatus that can improve the reliability of determination results.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
First, the configuration will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an article inspection apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 2A to 2C are block diagrams showing a configuration example of an inspection unit of the article inspection apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the article inspection apparatus 1 includes a transport unit 2, a setting unit 4, a temporary determination unit 5 having inspection units 31 and 32, a main determination unit 6, a display unit 7, and a projector / receiver. 8 and.

  The transport unit 2 sequentially transports, for example, the products to be inspected W set in advance by the setting unit 4 from the products W to be inspected for various products such as food and medicine. Consists of horizontally arranged belt conveyors. The transport unit 2 is driven by a drive motor (not shown), and transports the inspected object W at a predetermined transport speed set in advance.

  The provisional determination unit 5 includes inspection units 31 and 32 that are arranged side by side in the conveyance direction of the conveyance unit 2 and detect a physical quantity of the inspection object W, and each time the inspection units 31 and 32 detect a physical quantity, It is temporarily determined whether the inspection object W is a non-defective product or a defective product, and the temporary determinations of the inspection unit 31 and the inspection unit 32 are generated as temporary determination signals K1 and K2 and output to the main determination unit 6. It has become.

  The inspection units 31 and 32 are arranged close to the conveyance direction of the conveyance unit 2, and the inspection object W conveyed to the conveyance unit 2 is successively inspected in the order of the inspection units 31 and 32. In addition, since the places where the same inspection object W is inspected are substantially the same and the inspection time is substantially the same, the inspection can be performed under the same inspection conditions.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, the inspection units 31 and 32 detect the presence or absence of metal contamination in the inspection object W by detecting a change in the magnetic field due to the inspection object W passing through the alternating magnetic field. In accordance with the detection result, the object to be inspected W has a configuration of a metal detection device for making a temporary determination as to whether it is a non-defective product or a defective product, or as shown in FIG. X-rays generated by the generator 30 and transmitted through the inspection object W are detected by the X-ray detectors 31a and 32a, and the presence or absence of foreign matter in the inspection object W and the internal structure and quality of the inspection object W Inspected and provided with a configuration of an X-ray inspection apparatus that performs a tentative determination as to whether the inspection object W is a non-defective product or a defective product according to the inspection result, or as shown in FIG. The weight of the inspection object W is detected and compared with a threshold value, and the inspection object W is detected according to the comparison result. It can be adopted with the structure of a measuring instrument for performing temporary decision of whether it is a goods or defective. In the configuration as the measuring instrument shown in FIG. 2C, the transport unit 2 includes an upper transport unit 2 a corresponding to the inspection unit 31 and an upper transport unit 2 b corresponding to the inspection unit 32. It is divided. The inspection conditions of the inspection units 31 and 32 are the frequency and intensity of the magnetic field, the sensitivity of the receiving circuit, the conveyance speed when configured as a metal detection device, and when configured as an X-ray inspection device. The tube voltage and tube current of the X-ray generator 30, the type and presence / absence of image processing, and the conveyance speed. When configured as a measuring instrument, the measurement timing, signal processing, and conveyance speed. These inspection conditions are set from the setting unit 4 to be the same in common for the inspection unit 31 and the inspection unit 32.

  The setting unit 4 performs an operation for setting the type of the inspection object W conveyed by the conveyance unit 2, and the inspection units 31 and 32 of the provisional determination unit 5 inspect the inspection object W so that the provisional determination signal K 1, Various settings relating to the operation of the inspection object W, including input values such as set values for inspection conditions for outputting K2 and set values for the main determination unit 6 to perform main determination based on the temporary determination signals K1 and K2. And a plurality of keys and switches operated for setting and instruction, and a storage unit for storing setting values.

  The main determination unit 6 performs a main determination as to whether the inspection object W is a non-defective product or a defective product based on the temporary determination signals K1 and K2 received from the temporary determination unit 5, and the result of the main determination is used as a main determination signal. It is generated as H and output to the display unit 7 or a sorting unit (not shown).

  Specifically, the main determination unit 6 determines that the two temporary determination signals K1 and K2 received from the temporary determination unit 5 are non-defective products: defective products = 2: 0, that is, a plurality of temporary determination signals of the temporary determination unit 5. When the non-defective product tentative determination is more than the defective product tentative determination among the determinations, the main determination that the inspected object W is a non-defective product is performed. Further, the main determination unit 6 performs the main determination that the inspection object W is a defective product when the two temporary determination signals K1 and K2 received from the temporary determination unit 5 are non-defective product: defective product = 0: 2. I do. In other words, when the two temporary determinations match, the main determination unit 6 adopts the matching temporary determination as the main determination and outputs the main determination signal H.

  Note that this determination for the workpiece W when the non-defective product: defective product = 1: 1 is set in advance from the setting unit 4. At this time, a threshold value serving as a determination criterion for the same number determination may be provided so as to be stricter than the threshold value during the inspection. If the setting is made based on the variation in the physical quantity detected by the inspection units 31 and 32 when the object W is repeatedly inspected, it is possible to avoid being affected by the instability of the determination near the threshold due to the variation in the physical quantity.

  The display unit 7 is configured by, for example, a liquid crystal display or the like, and displays a set value when a setting operation is performed from the setting unit 4, a result of temporary determination by the temporary determination unit 5, a result of main determination of the main determination unit 6, and the like. It is like that.

  The light projector / receiver 8 is configured as passage detection means for detecting the passage of the inspection object W on the transport unit 2 and includes a light projector and a light receiver (not shown). The detection signal of the light projector / receiver 8 is used to calculate the timing at which the inspection units 31 and 32 of the provisional determination unit 5 should inspect the workpiece W.

  Next, the operation of the article inspection apparatus 1 will be described.

  First, the type of the inspection object W is set by the setting unit 4, and the inspection object W of the set type is carried into the conveyance unit 2 from the upper production line or manually.

  Next, the inspection object W conveyed by the conveyance unit 2 is inspected and provisionally determined by the inspection units 31 and 32 of the provisional determination unit 5 based on the timing when the passage is detected by the light projecting and receiving device 8. Temporary determination signals K1 and K2 are output to the main determination unit 6.

  Next, the main determination unit 6 performs a main determination as to whether the inspection object W is a non-defective product or a defective product based on the temporary determination signals K1 and K2 received from the temporary determination unit 5, and the result of the main determination is obtained. The determination signal H is generated. The result of this determination is displayed on the display unit 7 and output to a sorting unit (not shown).

  As described above, the article inspection apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment inspects the conveyance unit 2 that conveys the inspection object W and the inspection object W conveyed by the conveyance unit 2 a plurality of times under the same inspection conditions. Based on the provisional determination unit 5 that performs provisional determination as to whether the inspection object W is a non-defective product or a defective product for each inspection, and the provisional determination unit 5 performs a plurality of provisional determinations for each inspection. And a main determination unit 6 for performing a main determination as to whether the product is a non-defective product or a defective product.

  For this reason, since a plurality of inspections are performed under the same inspection conditions and a temporary determination of pass / fail is performed for each inspection, the reliability of the determination result can be improved as compared with the case where the determination is performed only once.

  In addition, even if only the measurement value from one inspection is extremely different from the measurement values from other inspections, all the inspection results are provisionally judged as either good or bad. The influence of different measurements can be reduced.

  In addition, the article inspection apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, when the main determination unit 6 has more temporary determinations of non-defective products among the plurality of temporary determinations performed by the temporary determination unit 5, The main determination is made that the inspection object W is a non-defective product.

  For this reason, since the final determination that the inspected object W is a non-defective product is performed when the non-defective product temporary determination is more than the defective product temporary determination among a plurality of temporary determinations, the reliability of the determination result is improved. be able to.

  Further, in the article inspection apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the temporary determination unit 5 includes a plurality of inspection units 31 and 32 arranged in the transport direction of the transport unit 2, and each inspection by the inspection units 31 and 32 is performed. A provisional determination is made as to whether the inspection object W is a good product or a defective product.

  For this reason, when there are more tentative determinations of non-defective products among the two tentative determinations performed by inspecting by the plurality of inspection units 31 and 32, the book that the inspection object W is a non-defective product. Since the determination is performed, the reliability of the determination result can be improved.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an article inspection apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Moreover, Fig.4 (a)-(c) is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the test | inspection part of the goods inspection apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the component similar to above-mentioned embodiment, and description is abbreviate | omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the article inspection apparatus 1 includes a transport unit 2, a setting unit 4, a provisional determination unit 5 having inspection units 31, 32, and 33, a main determination unit 6, a display unit 7, and a projecting unit. And a light receiver 8.

  The provisional determination unit 5 includes inspection units 31, 32, and 33 that are arranged side by side in the conveyance direction of the conveyance unit 2 and detect a physical quantity of the inspection object W. The inspection units 31, 32, and 33 each detect a physical quantity. Each time the inspection object W is a non-defective product or a defective product, provisional determination is made as the temporary determination signals K1, K2, and K3 for each of the inspection unit 31, the inspection unit 32, and the inspection unit 33. Then, it is output to the main determination unit 6.

  The inspection units 31, 32, and 33 are substantially the same as those of the first embodiment except that the number of inspection units 31, 32, and 33 is different. As shown in FIG. A metal detection device that detects a change in the magnetic field to detect the presence or absence of metal contamination in the inspection object W, and performs a tentative determination as to whether the inspection object W is a good product or a defective product according to the detection result. As shown in FIG. 4B, X-rays generated by the X-ray generator 30 and transmitted through the inspection object W are detected by the X-ray detectors 31a, 32a, and 33a. Inspecting the presence or absence of foreign matter in the inspected object W, the internal structure and quality of the inspected object W, and temporarily determining whether the inspected object W is a non-defective product or a defective product according to the inspection result An X-ray inspection apparatus having a configuration to be performed or as shown in FIG. Detecting the weight of W and comparing it with a threshold value, and adopting a measuring instrument as a measuring instrument that makes a temporary determination as to whether the inspection object W is a good product or a defective product according to the comparison result Can do. 4C, the transport unit 2 includes an upper transport unit 2a corresponding to the inspection unit 31, a middle transport unit 2b corresponding to the inspection unit 32, It is divided into a lower conveyance unit 2 c corresponding to the inspection unit 33. In the three inspection units 31, 32, and 33, the same inspection conditions are set from the setting unit 4 as in the first embodiment.

  Based on the temporary determination signals K1, K2, and K3 received from the temporary determination unit 5, the main determination unit 6 performs a main determination as to whether the inspection object W is a non-defective product or a defective product, and the result of the main determination is obtained. The determination signal H is generated and output to the display unit 7 or a sorting unit (not shown).

  Specifically, the main determination unit 6 determines that the three temporary determination signals K1, K2, and K3 received from the temporary determination unit 5 are non-defective products: defective products = 3: 0 or 2: 1, that is, temporary determination. When the non-defective product tentative determination is more than the defective product tentative determination among the plurality of tentative determinations of the unit 5, the main determination that the inspection object W is a non-defective product is performed. The main determination unit 6 determines that the inspection object W is defective when the two temporary determination signals K1, K2, and K3 received from the temporary determination unit 5 are non-defective product: defective product = 1: 2 or 0: 3. This determination is made.

  As described above, in the article inspection apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the provisional determination unit 5 includes the plurality of inspection units 31, 32, and 33 arranged in the transport direction of the transport unit 2. A provisional determination is made as to whether the inspection object W is a non-defective product or a defective product for each inspection by 32 and 33.

  For this reason, the provisional determination unit 5 performs three provisional determinations on one inspection object W, and the main determination unit 6 determines that a good product among the plurality of provisional determinations of the provisional determination unit 5 is a provisional determination of a defective product. If there are too many, the final determination that the inspected object W is a non-defective product will be performed, so the temporary determination of the non-defective product will not be the same number as the temporary determination of the defective product. Can be obtained.

(Third embodiment)
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an article inspection apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 6A and 6B are block diagrams showing a configuration example of the inspection unit of the article inspection apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the component similar to above-mentioned embodiment, and description is abbreviate | omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the article inspection apparatus 1 includes a transport unit 2, a setting unit 4, a temporary determination unit 5 having an inspection unit 31, a main determination unit 6, a display unit 7, and a light projecting / receiving device 8. It has.

  The transport unit 2 causes the inspection unit 31 to pass through the inspection object 31 three times in the order of the right direction, the left direction, and the right direction in the drawing until the next inspection object W is loaded. It has become.

  The provisional determination unit 5 includes an inspection unit 31 that is disposed in the conveyance path of the conveyance unit 2 and detects a physical quantity of the inspection object W. Each time the inspection object 31 detects a physical quantity through the inspection object W, In addition, it is temporarily determined whether the inspection object W is a non-defective product or a defective product, and the temporary determination is generated as temporary determination signals K1, K2, and K3 and output to the main determination unit 6.

  The inspection unit 31 is substantially the same as the first embodiment and the second embodiment except that the number of the inspection units 31 is different. However, as shown in FIG. 6A, the inspection target passes through an alternating magnetic field. A change in the magnetic field due to the object W is detected to detect the presence or absence of metal in the object W, and a provisional determination is made as to whether the object W is a good product or a defective product according to the detection result. As shown in FIG. 6B, an X-ray detector 31a detects X-rays generated by the X-ray generator 30 and transmitted through the object W as shown in FIG. The inspection object W is inspected for the presence of foreign matter, the internal structure and quality of the inspection object W, and a provisional determination is made as to whether the inspection object W is a good product or a defective product according to the inspection result. An apparatus having the configuration of an X-ray inspection apparatus can be employed.

  Based on the temporary determination signals K1, K2, and K3 received from the temporary determination unit 5, the main determination unit 6 performs a main determination as to whether the inspection object W is a non-defective product or a defective product, and the result of the main determination is obtained. The determination signal H is generated and output to the display unit 7 or a sorting unit (not shown).

  Specifically, the main determination unit 6 determines that the three temporary determination signals K1, K2, and K3 received from the temporary determination unit 5 are non-defective products: defective products = 3: 0 or 2: 1, that is, temporary determination. When the non-defective product tentative determination is more than the defective product tentative determination among the plurality of tentative determinations of the unit 5, the main determination that the inspection object W is a non-defective product is performed. The main determination unit 6 determines that the inspection object W is defective when the two temporary determination signals K1, K2, and K3 received from the temporary determination unit 5 are non-defective product: defective product = 1: 2 or 0: 3. This determination is made.

  When the inspection object W is manually inserted into the transport unit 2, the inspection target W (defective product) determined to be defective may be returned to the carry-in side of the transport unit 2. . In such a case, if both the first and second inspection tentative judgments are bad, the third examination tentative judgment is good and the bad is bad, so this judgment is bad. The inspection may not be performed. Thereby, the inspection can be performed promptly, and the defective product is returned to the carry-in side of the transport unit 2 and can be easily removed manually.

  As described above, in the article inspection apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the transport unit 2 transports the same inspection object W a plurality of times, and the temporary determination unit 5 transports the same object to be transported a plurality of times. The inspection object W is inspected, and a provisional determination as to whether the inspection object W is a good product or a defective product is performed for each inspection.

  Therefore, a plurality of provisional determinations can be performed by one inspection unit 31, and the reliability of the determination result can be improved with a simple apparatus configuration.

  The embodiment disclosed this time is illustrative in all respects and is not limited to this embodiment. The scope of the present invention is shown not by the above description of the embodiments but by the scope of the claims, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the scope of the claims. For example, more provisional determinations may be performed by providing four or more inspection units or allowing one inspection unit to pass four or more times.

  As described above, the article inspection apparatus according to the present invention has an effect that the reliability of the determination result can be improved, and in particular, an article that performs quality determination by inspecting various products such as food and medicine. It is useful as an inspection device.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the article inspection apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. (A)-(c) is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the test | inspection part of the article inspection apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the article inspection apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. (A)-(c) is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the test | inspection part of the article inspection apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the article inspection apparatus which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. (A), (b) is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the test | inspection part of the article inspection apparatus which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Item inspection apparatus 2 Conveyance part (conveyance means)
4 Setting part 5 Temporary judgment part (temporary judgment means)
6. Main determination unit (main determination means)
7 Display unit 8 Emitter / receiver 30 X-ray generator 31, 32, 33 Inspection unit 31a, 32a, 33a X-ray detector W Inspection object

Claims (2)

A transport means (2) for transporting the inspection object (W);
Said plurality of test portions arranged close to the conveying direction of the conveying means have a (31, 32), the inspection object being conveyed by examining a plurality of times under the same test conditions by said conveying means, each Every time the inspection unit passes, a provisional determination is made once for each inspection object to determine whether the inspection object is a non-defective product or a defective product, and a temporary determination signal (K1, K2) is output. Means (5);
The temporary determination means receives a temporary determination made for each inspection, and based on a plurality of the temporary determinations, one of the inspection objects is used to determine whether the inspection object is a non-defective product or a defective product. The determination means (6) that outputs the determination signal (H) once, and
An article inspection apparatus comprising: a display unit (7) configured to display a result of the main determination based on the main determination signal.   The main determination means performs the main determination that the inspection object is a non-defective product when the temporary determination of the non-defective product among the plurality of temporary determinations performed by the temporary determination means is greater than the temporary determination of the defective product. The article inspection apparatus according to claim 1.

Images