JP6668593B2 - Saddle stitching wire shape inspection device and saddle stitching machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a saddle stitching wire shape inspection apparatus and a saddle stitching machine for inspecting a shape of a binding wire used for binding in a bookbinding process of a saddle stitch binding type.

  The bookbinding process involves imposing a plurality of pages in a bound state on a single sheet of printing paper and printing the book, folding the book in the page order to form a signature. In this work, the signatures are stacked by any one of the methods, and the other three sides without the binding are cut and trimmed.

  As a method of binding signatures, there is a method using a bond, thread, wire, etc., but for magazines and catalogs having a relatively small number of pages, both ends of the U-shaped wire are attached to the signature back. Saddle stitch binding is used in which the wire is driven so that it penetrates from the side to the inside, and the wire ends protruding inward are bent and formed so as to face each other.

  Saddle stitch binding using this wire has been automated and widely used since ancient times. A general saddle stitching apparatus is in the form of a chain called a gathering chain, and has a transport mechanism provided with partitions at intervals corresponding to approximately one book.

  Further, a plurality of feeders for supplying signatures from the upstream to the downstream along the gathering chain are provided, and the signatures are set in order from the upstream feeder in the book page order. Each feeder sequentially supplies the signatures into the sections provided in the gathering chain, so that the signatures are overlapped and collated in page order in each section.

  In addition, the feeder feeds signatures in a U-shape with the folds of the signatures at the top apex and the opening at the bottom, and the gathering chain conveys the signatures while maintaining them. have.

  On the other hand, a mechanism called a stitcher for driving a wire is arranged at a downstream portion where the signatures are overlapped and collated and conveyed. The wire to be driven is long and reeled, and is continuously supplied to the apparatus. This is cut into a certain length on the device side and then molded into a U-shape.

  The signatures that have been collated as described above are conveyed to the stitcher in a C-shape with the folded part at the top. The stitcher strikes a U-shaped wire from the top of the signature directly below the signature, penetrates into the inside of the signature in the shape of the letter C, and bends the two wire tips protruding into each other so as to face each other.

  In such a process, the driving or molding of the wire may fail, resulting in a defective wire shape. Shape failure is, for example, when wire feeding from the reel fails, if a wire shorter or longer than the specified length is formed into a U-shape, it will fail to drive the wire or when it is bent inside the signature after the driving Poor shape or poor wire shape inside the signature causes poor wire shape on the back of the book.

  Among the wire shape defects, especially the wire shape penetrating the inside of the signature fails to bend and the wire shape on the back side becomes protruding due to failure to bend or the protrusion on the back side becomes dangerous. Therefore, when a shape defect occurs, it must be detected and eliminated.

  Inspection methods of these wire shapes have been studied so far, and the optical system consisting of the laser irradiation unit and the light receiving unit is arranged so that the back of the book is sandwiched from the left and right sides, and the wire shape protruding to the back side is An inspection method has been devised (Patent Document 1).

  In addition, a method has been devised in which a back portion is imaged by a method using illumination and a camera, and a wire shape defect is inspected by image analysis of the image. However, these methods are effective for the back side inspection, but cannot inspect the inner shape (Patent Document 2).

  As an inner inspection method, a CCD camera and an optical system with illumination are installed at the position where the signature is conveyed in a state of opening in a U-shape immediately after the wire is driven, image the wire shape from the inside, and analyze the image Inspection methods have been devised. In this method, it is possible to detect the case where the wire is not in a normal wire shape, but there is a problem that it is not possible to quantitatively detect how many mm the wire projects (Patent Document 3).

  Further, a detection method using a movable plate that can be arranged so as to be in contact with a case where a wire protrudes has been devised. With this method, abnormalities in the direction of the protrusions beyond a certain level can be detected, but it is difficult to detect short protrusions due to rupture. Furthermore, when the wire contacts the detection roller, jamming may occur (Patent Document 4).

  Further, a method has been devised in which the shape in the projection direction is detected in a non-contact manner using two sensors for detecting the magnetic field intensity. This method can detect abnormalities in the direction of the protrusions beyond a certain level, and it is possible that even a short protrusion caused by a tear can be detected as a state without wires. However, it is necessary to arrange the wires very close to the wire, which may cause jamming and may cause a malfunction by jamming on a sensor when jamming occurs (Patent Document 5).

Japanese Patent No. 3681478 JP 2012-161996 JP 2008-93838 A Japanese Patent No. 4785082 Japanese Patent No. 5463825

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and it is possible to quantitatively detect a projection state of a binding wire inside a booklet at the time of bookbinding of a saddle stitching machine, without causing jamming and approaching the wire. An object of the present invention is to provide an inspection apparatus capable of performing an inspection without using the inspection apparatus.

As means for solving the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 is a saddle stitch bookbinding for inspecting a binding wire shape inside a booklet at the time of bookbinding by a saddle stitching machine and determining whether or not it is defective. A wire shape inspection device, comprising a measuring device and a laser irradiation device for obtaining height information from the surface of the booklet signature of the wire immediately after the stitcher that drives the wire into the signature, and a laser beam of the laser irradiation device, While maintaining the angle θ formed by the laser beam of the measuring device, the direction of the laser beam from the laser irradiating device is set at an angle of θ / 4 with respect to the direction perpendicular to the signature paper surface of the booklet. This is a saddle stitching wire shape inspection device that is a feature.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the saddle stitching wire shape inspection apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the measuring device is a measuring device based on a light cutting method using laser light.

Further, the invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the incident angle of the laser beam in the measuring device has an angle within 15 ° with the direction perpendicular to the signature paper surface of the booklet. Item 4. A saddle stitching wire shape inspection device according to item 2.

  The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the distance adjusting means between the measuring device and the signature paper surface of the booklet is a lens and high refractive glass. The saddle stitching wire shape inspection device described in the above.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the saddle stitching wire shape inspection apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the measuring device includes an air purge mechanism for preventing foreign matter from adhering. is there.

  The invention according to claim 6 has a function of correcting the height information with an algorithm for removing vibration noise, assuming that the signature paper surface of the booklet is flat. A saddle stitching wire shape inspection device according to any one of Items 1 to 5.

  The invention according to claim 7 has a determination function of determining a defect from the height information, a function of tracking a booklet having a defective portion on a line, and a function of removing a booklet having a defective portion. The saddle stitching wire shape inspection device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising:

  The saddle stitching apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the invention according to claim 8 is provided with a function of issuing an alarm notifying the defect when it is determined to be defective. This is a wire shape inspection device.

  According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a saddle stitching apparatus including the saddle stitching wire shape inspection device according to any one of the first to eighth aspects.

  With the saddle stitching wire shape inspection device of the present invention, inspection can be performed without approaching the wire. Automatic inspection is possible, and there is no fear of jamming.

It is a conceptual diagram showing an optical system of a saddle stitching wire shape inspection device of the present invention. It is a conceptual diagram of the optical system which showed regular reflection. 1 is a conceptual plan view of a saddle stitching apparatus showing a mounting position of a saddle stitching wire shape inspection device of the present invention. 1 is a conceptual cross-sectional view of a saddle stitching apparatus showing a mounting position of a saddle stitching wire shape inspection device of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a dustproof mechanism using a laser, a camera, and pressurization. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating removal of vibration noise by software. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a path of a laser beam when high-refractive glass is used as a distance adjusting unit according to the present invention. It is a conceptual diagram showing dustproof by high refractive glass and pressurization. It is the conceptual diagram which showed the state which inclined the saddle stitching wire shape inspection apparatus in order to suppress the influence by regular reflection.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a saddle-stitching wire shape inspection device 1 of the present invention, which is composed of a measuring device 2 and a laser irradiation device 3, which irradiates a wire 7 driven into a booklet 20 with a laser beam 4 and reflects the laser beam 4. Is received.

  As a measuring method, a height (H) profile measurement by a light cutting method using a combination of a laser beam 4 and a light receiving element such as a CCD used in the measuring device 2 is used. By using the infrared region, the laser wavelength can be measured without being affected by the printing color around the wire 7.

  FIG. 2 shows the laser beam 4 that has shown regular reflection. Since the wire 7 is a metal, there is an angle at which the laser light 4 is regularly reflected, and the wire 7 is formed into a curved shape. Therefore, when the angle between the wire 7 and the laser light 4 becomes a specific angle, a measuring device is used. The amount of the laser beam 4 incident on the laser beam 2 becomes extremely strong or weak.

  Assuming that the angle between the measuring device 2 and the laser irradiating device 3 is 20 degrees, specularly reflected light is directly incident on the light receiving surface when tilted by 10 degrees with respect to the measuring surface, and when tilted by 20 degrees in the opposite direction, Since the specularly reflected light is reflected in the direction directly opposite to the light receiving surface, the amount of received light decreases and the light becomes dark. As shown in FIG. 1, by inclining by 角度 of the angle formed between the light receiving device and the irradiation device, it is possible to suppress the intensity of the received light amount due to the reflection of the laser beam 4 on the wire curved surface.

  The actual curved surface of the wire 7 is approximately within 10 degrees with reference to the 20 booklets. Accordingly, by setting the angle between the measuring device and the irradiation device to about 20 ° and inclining it by about 5 °, it is possible to suppress the extreme intensity of the amount of received light due to regular reflection on a curved surface of about ± 10 °.

  The resolution of the sensor is preferably about 0.2 mm because the wire thickness is about 0.5 mm. Since the measurement field of view in the width direction is not problematic only around the wire, assuming 10 mm, the light receiving element has about 50 pixels. Measurement can be made in the same direction in the height direction, and measurement can be made with an element of 50 × 50 pixels or more.

  On the other hand, the maximum transport speed is about 150 m / min. For visualizing a vertically rising wire, the resolution in the flow direction needs to be finer than 0.5 mm. Accordingly, a high-speed camera or the like capable of capturing images 5000 times or more per second is required. In addition, it is desirable to install an encoder for recognition of conveyance in the flow direction.

  FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the position of the saddle stitching wire shape inspection device attached to the saddle stitching apparatus.

  At the time of production, the transport mechanism 10 advances to the left in the upper part of the figure and is transported downward by the rotating mechanism at the left position outside the figure. The continuous operation of being transported upward again is performed.

  During the conveyance from the right position outside the figure to the figure, collation in which a plurality of signatures are stacked is performed. As shown in FIG. 4, the signature 20 being conveyed is conveyed while being opened in a C-shape, the wire is driven by the wire driving mechanism 12, and the signature is spelled to form the booklet 20.

  Thereafter, the transport mechanism 13 transports the booklet upward from the inside of the C-shape so that the booklet is transported upward while being bound. The transport mechanism 10 is forwarded as it is. The above operations are continuously performed, and bookbinding is performed.

  FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the position of the saddle stitching wire shape inspection device 1 attached to the saddle stitching bookbinding machine 40. The installation position of the saddle stitching wire shape inspection device 1 is immediately after the wire driving mechanism 12. The wire shape can be measured from the inner surface by being provided before the transport mechanism 13 that is transported vertically.

  Immediately before the installation position of the saddle stitching wire shape inspection device 1, a sensor for detecting the approach of the booklet 20 is provided, and the timing of the measurement start is set. Alternatively, the measurement timing of each booklet can be recognized by capturing the operation of the link mechanism of the wire driving unit.

  W / D is the distance between the sensor of the saddle stitching wire shape inspection device 1 and the booklet 20, and is about 100 mm depending on the device.

  Further, paper dust and the like are extremely generated at the installation position of the sensor. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, it is necessary to house a camera or the like in a closed mechanism having only a laser path opened, and to perform purging with compressed air. Also, it is desirable to provide a mechanism or a cover for closing the opening for stopping the air supply.

  As described above, since the wire is continuously driven at a relatively high speed, vibration occurs near the sensor installation. Although it is desirable to provide an anti-vibration mechanism that mechanically suppresses vibration, it is difficult to completely suppress the generation of vibration, and the booklet side is also subject to flutter due to the effect of airflow during conveyance. Therefore, it is necessary to remove noise such as vibration from the measured data.

  According to the light cutting method, height H information (line profile) is obtained for each flow resolution. By arranging them, the entire length of the booklet folded portion can be grasped as a three-dimensional shape. Therefore, based on the height of the booklet surface and the position of the folded portion, it is possible to measure the rising and bending of the wire.

  However, the raw data measured as shown in FIG. 6 includes a noise component such as vibration, and the shape of the folded portion 30 which is originally a straight line may be distorted. In that case, the wire is also distorted.

  Therefore, assuming that the booklet surface portion is flat, the position of the line profile adjacent to the front and rear is corrected using the data of the booklet surface portion 31 so as to have the same height. Since there are two surface portions and a V-shape, noise such as vibration in the width direction and the height direction can be removed as shown at 30 '.

  The booklet surface portion serving as the reference surface for correction is preferably as close as possible to the folded portion 30, but if the wire 7 enters the reference surface, the correction fails. Therefore, it is desirable to set the reference surface slightly outside the non-defective standard value of the wire in the width direction.

  As an example, the position is corrected based on the “previous” paper surface profile, the height profile of the “previous” wire from the paper surface is also compared, and those having a height outside the reference value are determined to be defective, If it is determined to be defective, the booklet is removed. When the present inspection apparatus is installed in an existing bookbinding machine, a defective discharge device of another inspection machine is often already installed, and it is possible to divert this.

  However, the discharge position may be approaching the inspection position, and a high-speed determination process within approximately one second may be required. Therefore, the number of wires struck and the flow direction position are set in advance, and processing is performed after extracting data in the vicinity of the position, thereby increasing the speed.

Adding machining to the structure of the bookbinding machine to install the sensors increases costs. FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing the path of a laser beam when high refractive glass is used as a distance adjusting unit, and shows a case where a laser profiler is used as a measuring device 2 having a measuring function and a laser irradiation mechanism. Therefore, it is possible to select a method of extending the measurable range while maintaining the irradiation angle.

  The laser profiler usually takes a laser path 4. However, by interposing the glass between the wire to be measured and the laser, the laser refracts and becomes a path 4 ', so that the measurement range can be shifted to a distant place.

  The distance to be shifted can be calculated by Snell's law if the incident angle of the laser beam to the glass and the refractive index are confirmed. By devising the material of the glass block 8 and the shape of the laser incident portion, the measurement range can be shifted to a required position. However, since the amount of laser light is attenuated when passing through the glass, it is desirable that the glass passing distance be the minimum necessary.

  Further, as described above, the installation position of the laser profiler has a lot of paper powder and the like. Covering the upper surface of the laser profiler with glass is also advantageous from paper dust measures.

  However, if a foreign substance or the like adheres to the glass, measurement becomes impossible. Therefore, as shown in FIG.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 9, in order to suppress the influence of specular reflection, it is preferable to tilt the measuring device in the sealing mechanism and adjust the angle.

  According to the saddle stitching wire shape inspection method according to the present invention, it is possible to quantitatively inspect the wire shape in-line, which is effective in improving productivity and quality.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Saddle stitching wire shape inspection device 2 ... Measuring device 3 ... Laser irradiation device 4 ... Laser beam 5 ... Air nozzle 6 ... Sealing mechanism 7 ... Wire 8 ... High refraction glass 9 ・ ・ ・ Booklet signature page 10 ・ ・ ・ Transport mechanism (gathering chain)
11: Separation per book 12: Wire driving mechanism (stitcher)
13: transport mechanism 20: booklet 30: booklet folding part 31 on data ... booklet surface part 40 on data: saddle stitching machine

Claims (9)

A saddle stitching wire shape inspection device for inspecting a binding wire shape inside a booklet at the time of bookbinding by a saddle stitching machine and determining whether or not it is defective,
Immediately after the stitcher for driving the wire into the signature, a measuring device and a laser irradiating device are provided to obtain height information from the surface of the booklet signature of the wire. a saddle stitching wire shape characterized in that the direction of the laser beam from the laser irradiation device is set at an angle of θ / 4 with respect to the direction perpendicular to the signature paper surface of the booklet while maintaining θ. Inspection equipment.   The saddle stitching wire shape inspection device according to claim 1, wherein the measurement device is a measurement device based on a light cutting method using a laser beam. 3. The saddle stitching wire shape inspection according to claim 2, wherein an incident angle of the laser beam in the measuring device has an angle within 15 [deg.] With a direction perpendicular to the signature paper surface of the booklet. apparatus.   The saddle stitching wire shape inspection device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a distance adjusting unit between the measuring device and the booklet signature sheet is a lens and a high refractive glass.   The saddle stitching wire shape inspection device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the measurement device includes an air purge mechanism for preventing foreign matter from adhering.   6. The function according to claim 1, wherein the height information is corrected based on an algorithm for removing vibration noise, assuming that the signature paper surface of the booklet is flat. Saddle stitching wire shape inspection device.   2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a determination function of determining a defect from the height information; a function of tracking a booklet having a defective portion on a line; and a function of removing the booklet having a defective portion. 7. The saddle stitching wire shape inspection device according to any one of claims 6 to 6.   The saddle stitching wire shape inspection apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a function of issuing an alarm notifying the failure when the failure is determined.   A saddle stitching machine comprising the saddle stitching wire shape inspection device according to any one of claims 1 to 8.