JP7415264B2 - Gear inspection equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a gear inspection device that uses an imaging device and an illumination device to determine the condition of one side of a tooth of a gear.

Conventionally, gears such as helical gears used in automobile transmissions are required to have strength and quietness, so there has been a gear cutting process in which the outer periphery of a forged gear material is cut to form outer peripheral teeth. A chamfering process for removing burrs, a heat treatment process for hardening to impart residual compressive stress to the gear surface, and a polishing process for removing thermal distortion (quenching distortion) caused by heat treatment and finishing the tooth surface. It is manufactured according to procedures such as an inspection process that checks dimensions, shapes, etc. In the final inspection process, a dimensional inspection is performed to determine the size of the gear, dents, and run-out due to shaft eccentricity, and a roughness inspection is performed to determine the remaining oxide film (black scale) left in the polishing process. The remaining tests will be carried out.

If an operator performs all the gear inspection steps, the cycle time will become longer and there is a risk that individual differences will occur in the judgment criteria. Therefore, techniques for automating the inspection process have been proposed.
The inspection device of Patent Document 1 includes a camera (imaging means) that is arranged to face the chamfer formed on the tooth tip of a gear, and an irradiation unit (illumination means) that irradiates parallel light perpendicularly to the chamfer. and a determining unit that determines whether the gear is defective based on a comparison between an image captured by the camera and an image of a normal chamfered portion with no defects. Since the target area is imaged from the direction directly facing the chamfer, it is possible to avoid the occurrence of areas that become dark even though there are no defects in the determination image.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2014-115222

The inspection device of Patent Document 1 can eliminate dark areas from the determination image even if the tooth traces are in a helical line shape, such as in a helical gear, and can avoid erroneous detection of defects.
Similar to gear defect inspection, it is conceivable to apply image processing technology to automate rough remaining inspection. However, when applying the above-mentioned image processing technology to roughness inspection, there is a concern in the manufacturing process that it may be difficult to distinguish between the roughness remaining on the tooth and the oxide film formed on the tooth tip and the chamfered part of the tooth edge. .

As shown in FIG. 8(a), the helical gear G in which the tooth traces are formed in a helical line shape is shown in FIG. 8(b) when light is irradiated by the illumination means from the direction facing the tooth surface Thus, the teeth adjacent to the tooth ends of the tooth surfaces in the imaging target area are reflected, forming a shadow area A2.
Further, in the polishing process, the chamfered portions of the tooth tip and the tooth end are usually not polished, so even after the polishing process is finished, the oxide film A1 remains on the portions corresponding to the chamfered portions.

FIGS. 9(a) to 9(c) show the state of the tooth surface of the helical gear G irradiated with red light. Note that (a) is a captured image, (b) is a region setting image, and (c) is a determination image.
As shown in FIGS. 9(a) and 9(b), in addition to the rough remaining part A3 remaining on the tooth surface, the oxide film A1 of the chamfered part and the shadow part A2 reflected on the tooth end are shown in the captured image. existence is recognized.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9(c), since the black oxide film A1 exists at the same time as the black rough remaining part A3 in the image-processed judgment image, a predetermined evaluation reference value is determined from the judgment image. It is difficult to extract only the rough remaining portion A3 using this method, and it is difficult to automate the quality determination of the tooth surface.
That is, after the polishing process is completed, it is not easy to automatically inspect the gear using an imaging means and an illumination means.

An object of the present invention is to provide a gear inspection device that can automatically inspect the rough remaining portion of a gear that has been polished.

A gear inspection apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes: an imaging means capable of imaging a region to be imaged including one side surface of a tooth of a gear that has been subjected to grinding; In a gear inspection apparatus, the gear inspection apparatus includes a panel-shaped illumination unit capable of irradiating light to a surface of the gear, and a determination unit that determines a state of one side of a tooth of the gear based on imaging information captured by the imaging unit. The means includes a light-shielding portion that is an area facing the imaging target region and prohibits transmission of irradiation light, and a means is disposed on one side and the other side of the rotational axis direction of the gear with respect to the light-shielding portion, respectively; a pair of first light attenuating parts in which the transmittance of the irradiated light is partially limited; and a pair of first light attenuating parts each disposed on one side and the other side of the light shielding part in a direction perpendicular to the rotational axis of the gear, and transmitting the irradiated light. a pair of second light attenuating parts whose rate is partially restricted, and a total transmission part which is a four corner area of the panel-shaped illumination means and where transmission of the irradiated light is not restricted; By prohibiting transmission, halation of the rough remaining part of the gear is prevented, and the irradiated light from the first and second light reduction parts induces halation of the oxide film on the chamfered part of the gear, and the light from the completely transparent part is prevented. The irradiation light is configured to illuminate tooth ends on both sides of the gear in the direction of the rotation axis, and the imaging means is disposed on one side in the direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the gear and includes one side surface of the teeth of the gear. one-side imaging means capable of imaging a region to be imaged on one side; and another-side imaging device disposed on the other side in the direction orthogonal to the rotational axis of the gear and capable of imaging a region to be imaged on the other side including the other side surface of the teeth of the gear; The panel-shaped illumination means includes a red flat illumination capable of emitting red light, and a cross-shaped mask portion having the light shielding portion and first and second light reduction portions, The present invention is characterized in that a pair of reflecting plates are provided at one end and the other end of the gear in the direction of the rotation axis of the illumination, respectively, and are capable of reflecting the irradiation light of the red flat illumination.

In this gear inspection device, the panel-shaped illumination means includes a light-shielding portion that is an area opposite to the imaging target region and that prohibits transmission of irradiation light, and a light-shielding portion in a direction of the rotational axis of the gear with respect to the light-shielding portion. a pair of first light attenuating parts disposed on one side and the other side and partially restricting transmission of irradiated light; and a pair of first light attenuating parts disposed on one side and the other side, respectively, and on one side and the other side in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the gear with respect to the light shielding part. Since it has a pair of second light attenuating portions which are respectively disposed at the sides and partially restrict the transmission of the irradiation light, the amount of transmission of the irradiation light can be reduced in proportion to the distance between the panel-shaped illumination means and the imaging target area. This makes it possible to actively promote halation that occurs in the oxide film of the chamfered portion formed on one side of the tooth while suppressing halation that occurs in the rough remaining portion that exists on one side of the tooth. Since the panel-shaped illumination means has fully transparent parts in the four corner areas of the panel-shaped illumination means in which transmission of the irradiation light is not restricted, the irradiation light can reach the tooth end without forming a shadow part. .
Thereby, it is possible to remove the oxide film and the shadow part of the chamfered part from the judgment image obtained by converting the captured image into a binary value, and it is possible to automatically judge only the rough remaining part.

Since the imaging means includes the one side imaging means and the other side imaging means, it is possible to simultaneously image one side and the other side of the tooth of the gear, thereby shortening the cycle time.
The panel-shaped illumination means is red flat illumination and has a cross-shaped mask part, so the contrast between the normal part of the tooth surface and the black remaining rough part can be coordinated, and the rough remaining part can be adjusted with a simple configuration. Halation of the chamfered portion can be promoted while suppressing halation of the chamfered portion. In addition, since a pair of reflectors that can reflect the irradiation light of the red flat illumination is provided, the reflected light from the reflectors can avoid adjacent teeth and reach both sides of the tooth end from the upper and lower directions. It is possible to reliably eliminate the shadows at the tooth ends.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that in the invention according to claim 1 , the first and second light attenuation parts transmit 2/3 to 3/4 of the irradiation light of the total transmission part.
According to this configuration, it is possible to promote halation in the chamfered portion while reliably suppressing halation in the rough remaining portion.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2 , further comprising a gear testing means for inspecting at least one of the size, dents, and tooth runout of the gear while rotating the gear around the rotation axis. and the imaging means is characterized in that it takes an image while the gear testing means is in operation.
According to this configuration, the dimension inspection and the remaining roughness inspection can be performed in parallel, and the cycle time can be further shortened.

The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that in the invention according to claim 1 or 2 , the gear is a helical gear.
According to this configuration, in the helical gear, the oxide film and shadow portion of the chamfered portion can be removed from the determination image obtained by binarizing the captured image of the tooth surface, and only the roughness remaining can be automatically determined.

According to the gear inspection device of the present invention, by removing the oxide film on the chamfered portion using halation, the rough remaining portion of the gear after polishing can be automatically inspected based on image information.

3 is a step chart of a method for manufacturing a helical gear according to Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a helical gear inspection device. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the inspection device with a reflex plate omitted. FIG. 2 is a side view of the inspection device with a reflex plate omitted. FIG. 3 is a front view of the illumination means. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a captured image, a region setting image, and a determination image according to the first embodiment. It is a step chart of the processing procedure concerning an inspection process. It is an explanatory view of a problem concerning a helical gear. It is a figure which shows the captured image, area setting image, and determination image based on a prior art.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the form for implementing this invention is demonstrated based on drawing. The following description of preferred embodiments is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the invention, its applications, or its uses.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on FIGS. 1 to 7.
Prior to explaining the gear inspection apparatus and inspection method, a method for manufacturing the helical gear G (see FIG. 8(a)) will be explained based on FIG. Note that Si (i=1, 2, . . . ) is a step indicating each process.

As shown in FIG. 1, the helical gear G, which is a completed product (final product), is manufactured through a gear cutting process S1, a chamfering process S2, a heat treatment process S3, a polishing process S4, and an inspection process S5.
In the gear cutting step S1, the dimensions and shape of the teeth in the finished product are formed on the gear material.
The gear material is alloy steel for hardening (carbon steel for machine structures), for example, chrome steel (SCR420HZ). The teeth are cut by hobbing using a hobbing machine or by gear cutting using a pinion cutter or the like. Generating gear cutting is performed by rotating the gear material at a fixed ratio as the hob rotates, and simultaneously feeding the hob in the direction of the gear axis.

In the chamfering step S2, burrs formed on the tooth ends of the gear to be cut are cut off.
The gear to be cut, which has been roughly cut from the gear material using a hobbing machine, has burrs on the tooth end, so the tooth end is chamfered using a chamfering device (not shown) such as a phrasing cutter. . In addition to chamfering, the tooth surface may be shaved using a shaving device (not shown).

In the heat treatment step S3, the gear to be cut is carburized and hardened.
After the chamfering step S2 has been completed, the gear to be cut is heated to, for example, a temperature range of 900 to 950° C. and held for 1.5 to 4 hours to perform carburization and diffusion treatment. Thereafter, the temperature is lowered to 850°C and held for a predetermined time, and then quenched by immersing it in a salt bath at 200 to 250°C for a predetermined time.
After this heat treatment step S3 is completed, an oxide film (black crust) is uniformly formed on the surface of the gear to be cut.

In the polishing step S4, the tooth surface of the gear to be cut is finished.
A gear-shaped grinding tool and a gear to be cut are arranged so that their rotation axes intersect, and the grinding tool is rolled along the gear to be cut. After the tooth surface grinding process is completed, the gear to be cut is cleaned and sent to the inspection step S5 as a completed helical gear G.

In the inspection step S5, the dimensions, shape, etc. of the helical gear G are compared with evaluation reference values.
In this inspection step S5, an engagement inspection with the master gear g is performed to determine the dimensions of the gear, and a roughness inspection is performed to determine the uncut portion (roughness) of the oxide film in the polishing step. A helical gear G that satisfies the evaluation standard value is transported to a subsequent assembly process as a non-defective product, and a helical gear G that does not satisfy the evaluation standard value is transported to a rework process as a defective product.

Next, the inspection apparatus 1 used in the inspection step S5 will be explained based on FIGS. 2 to 5.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the inspection device 1 includes a gear holding mechanism 10 that holds a helical gear G to be inspected rotatably around a vertical axis, and a master gear G for dimension inspection that holds a master gear G rotatably around a vertical axis. a master gear holding mechanism 20 that takes an image of the helical gear G; a controller 2 (judgment means) that processes images taken by the imaging mechanism 30, controls various operating devices, and determines inspection results; It is equipped with a monitor 3 etc. for displaying the results.
Hereinafter, in the drawings, an explanation will be given assuming that the direction of arrow F is forward, the direction of arrow L is leftward, and the direction of arrow U is upward.

First, the gear holding mechanism 10 will be explained.
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the gear holding mechanism 10 has a lower support part 11 fixed to the base 4, and can hold the rotation axis of the helical gear G in cooperation with the lower support part 11. and an upper support part 12. The lower support part 11 is formed to be able to fit from below to the rotational axis of the helical gear G, and is configured to be rotatable around a vertical axis with the helical gear G placed on the top. The upper support part 12 is movably provided on a column 5 extending upward at a position near the front side of the lower support part 11 .

The upper support part 12 is formed to be able to fit from above to the rotational axis of the helical gear G, and cooperates with the lower support part 11 to sandwich the helical gear G. Therefore, the upper support part 12 which is waiting at the initial position which is a predetermined distance above the lower support part 11 is moved downward by a drive motor (not shown) after the helical gear G is set on the lower support part 11. The upper support portion 12 that has moved downward is driven to rotate around the vertical axis while cooperating with and holding the rotation axis of the helical gear G between the lower support portions 11 .

Next, the master gear holding mechanism 20 will be explained.
The inspection device 1 drives a master gear g having regular dimensions and tooth surfaces to mesh with a helical gear G when performing a meshing inspection. Therefore, the master gear g is moved by the master gear holding mechanism 20 between an initial position where it is separated from the helical gear G and an operating position where it engages with the helical gear G and is driven. The master gear holding mechanism 20 is one of the main components of the gear testing means.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the master gear holding mechanism 20 includes a first movable table 21, a first actuator 22 that moves the first movable table 21 in the left-right direction, and a first movable table 21 that is fixed to the first movable table 21. A master gear support portion 23 and the like capable of holding the master gear g are provided.
A pair of front and rear guides 24 are arranged on the base 4 so as to extend left and right. The first movable table 21 is configured to be slidable with respect to the pair of guides 24 . When the rod of the first actuator 22 is extended, the master gear g is placed in the operating position (meshing position), and when the rod of the first actuator 22 is retracted, the master gear g is placed in the initial position.
The master gear support section 23 includes a motor 23a that rotates the master gear g held at the top at a rotational speed of, for example, 20 rpm.

Next, the imaging mechanism 30 will be explained.
The imaging mechanism 30 includes a second movable table 31, a second actuator 32 that moves the second movable table 31 in the front-back direction, and an illumination device that is fixed to the second movable table 31 and can illuminate the imaging target area of the helical gear G. 33 (illumination means), a pair of left and right cameras 34 (imaging means) fixed to the second movable table 31 and capable of imaging the imaging target area of the helical gear G, and upper and lower cameras arranged above and below with the illumination 33 in between. A pair of reflectors 35 (reflectors) and the like are provided.
The imaging target area is set at a portion shifted by 90 degrees around the rotation axis of the helical gear G with respect to the meshing area between the master gear g and the helical gear G.

A guide 36 is arranged on the base 4 so as to extend back and forth. The second movable table 31 is configured to be slidable with respect to the guide 36. When the second movable table 31 is moved forward by the second actuator 32, the imaging mechanism 30 is placed in an operating position where it can image the helical gear G, and when the second movable table 31 is moved backward by the second actuator 32, the imaging mechanism 30 is It is arranged at an initial position separated from the helical gear G by a predetermined distance (for example, 150 mm).

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, the illumination 33 is constituted by a substantially rectangular backlight-type red flat illumination that can irradiate the imaging target area of the helical gear G with red light having a long wavelength.
The illumination 33 that has been moved to the operating position is arranged to face (directly face) the imaging target area of the helical gear G held by the gear holding mechanism 10 from behind.
In order to prevent the formation of shadows at the tooth ends of the teeth in the imaging target region, the vertical dimension of the illumination 33 is preferably set to approximately 3 to 10 times the width of the helical gear G (dimension in the rotational axis direction). In this embodiment, it is set to approximately 9 times.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, a cross-shaped mask portion 37 is provided on the surface of the illumination 33. The illumination 33 is divided into nine square areas by the mask part 37, and these nine areas are divided into a light shielding part 33e where the transmission of the irradiation light is substantially prohibited, and a first part where the transmission of the irradiation light is partially restricted. , second light attenuating parts 33b, 33d, 33f, and 33h, and fully transmitting parts 33a, 33c, 33g, and 33i where transmission of irradiated light is not restricted.

The light shielding portion 33e is formed in the center region of the illumination 33 closest to the imaging target region of the helical gear G. This prevents halation of the rough remaining portion due to irradiation light.
The first light reducing parts 33b and 33h are formed adjacent to the upper and lower parts of the light shielding part 33e, respectively, and the second light reducing parts 33d and 33f are formed adjacent to the right and left parts of the light shielding part 33e, respectively. The first and second light attenuating parts 33b, 33d, 33f, and 33h are set in areas relatively close to the imaging target area of the helical gear G in a straight line distance from the vertical and horizontal directions.

The fully transparent parts 33a, 33c, 33g, and 33i correspond to areas where the mask part 37 is not placed, so-called four corner parts of the illumination 33, so that the irradiation light directly reaches the tooth end from an oblique direction.
The first and second light attenuation parts 33b, 33d, 33f, and 33h are configured to transmit 2/3 to 3/4 of the irradiation light of the total transmission parts 33a, 33c, 33g, and 33i. Thereby, halation of the oxide film A1 of the chamfered portion is actively induced while suppressing halation of the rough remaining portion A3 (see FIG. 6).

The pair of cameras 34 are disposed behind the helical gear G across the illumination 33 from the left and right sides, and are each configured by, for example, a CCD (Charge Coupled Device). One camera 34 images one side of a tooth existing within the imaging target area of the helical gear G, and at the same time, the other camera 34 images the other side of another tooth existing within the imaging target area of the helical gear G. Therefore, at the timing when one camera 34 finishes capturing images of one side of the teeth of the helical gear G, the other camera 34 finishes capturing images of the other side of the teeth of the helical gear G. Image signals captured by the pair of cameras 34 are output to the controller 2. In this embodiment, in the dimension inspection performed as the meshing inspection, the camera 34 captures an image in synchronization with the timing when the helical gear G is rotationally driven.

As shown in FIG. 2, the pair of reflex plates 35 are respectively disposed from the illumination 33 moved to the operating position to a position corresponding to the imaging target area of the helical gear G. The lower reflex plate 35 is fixed to the base 4, and the upper reflex plate 35 is fixed to the upper support part 12 and is configured to be movable up and down. These reflex plates 35 reflect the diffused light from the illumination 33 and allow the irradiated light to reach the tooth surface of the helical gear G from above or below. Thereby, the shadow part of the tooth end is eliminated without forming the shadow part A2 due to the tooth adjacent to the tooth end part.

The controller 2 includes an image processing section.
The image processing unit extracts a region setting image (see FIG. 6(b)) corresponding to the inspection region from the captured image of the target region inputted from the pair of cameras 34 (see FIG. 6(a)).
The image signal of the extracted region setting image is divided into 256 gradations (brightness) to create a grayscale image, and this grayscale image is binarized based on a predetermined brightness to create a binary image.
The controller 2 creates a determination image (see FIG. 6(c)) in which black parts such as the rough remaining portion A3 are displayed in white and white parts are displayed in black, and the white area (roughness) in the created determination image is The remaining portion A3) is compared with a preset evaluation reference value (area value for quality determination). If the white area is less than the evaluation reference value, it is determined to be good, and if the white area is greater than or equal to the evaluation reference value, it is determined to be defective.

The monitor 3 is configured to be able to display various image information and various determination results output from the controller 2. When the determination image is displayed, the comparison result between the white area corresponding to the rough remaining portion A3 and the evaluation reference value is displayed.

Next, based on FIG. 7, the processing procedure of the inspection process of the helical gear G will be explained. Note that Si (i=11, 12, . . . ) is a step indicating each process.

First, various information related to inspection conditions such as evaluation reference values are acquired (S11).
A red flat illumination 33 equipped with a cross-shaped mask section 37 is prepared in advance, and before the start of the inspection process, the helical gear G to be inspected is set on the lower support section 11, and the master gear G is set on the master gear support. 23.
After S11 ends, the second movable table 31 moves forward so as to approach the helical gear G (S12). Specifically, the light shielding part 33e of the illumination 33 moves forward to a point opposite to the imaging target area of the helical gear G at a distance of 80 mm in a horizontal direction.

Next, the upper support part 12 moves downward from the initial position (S13). The upper support part 12 cooperates with the lower support part 11 and stops at a position where the helical gear G is held between them.
After S13 ends, the first movable table 21 moves to the right (S14). The first movable table 21 starts rotating the helical gear G in a state where the teeth of the master gear g mesh with the teeth of the helical gear G and are pressed with a constant force (S15). The motor 23a of the master gear support section 23 rotates at a rotational speed of 20 rpm.

Next, a dimension inspection (S16) and a rough remaining inspection (S17) are performed in parallel.
In S16, the size of the helical gear G, dents on the tooth surface, and eccentricity of the rotating shaft are detected. These test results are sequentially output to the monitor 3.

In S17, it is inspected whether or not there is a rough remaining portion A3 on the tooth surface that cannot be overlooked even though the polishing step S4 has been completed. S17 includes a step of imaging an imaging target area including one side of the teeth of the helical gear G using the illumination 33, and a step of determining the state of one side of the teeth of the helical gear G based on the captured image information.
A plurality of imaging target regions covering the entire outer periphery (teeth) of the helical gear G are set, and the camera 34 images each imaging target region. The captured image of each imaging target area is processed into a determination image via a region setting image, and a determination is made using the evaluation reference value. These determination results are sequentially output to the monitor 3.

After completing S16 and S17, the tooth contact test results and rough remaining test results are displayed (S18).
The monitor 3 displays the test results output from the controller 2 in response to an operator's request. For example, when an instruction is given to display a captured image for a predetermined imaging target area, the image shown in FIG. The image in FIG. 6(c) is displayed.

After S18 ends, the motor 23a of the master gear support section 23 is stopped, the first and second movable tables 21, 31, and the upper support section 12 return to their initial positions, and the inspection process ends (S19).

Next, the functions and effects of the gear inspection apparatus and inspection method described above will be explained.
According to this inspection device, the illumination 33 is located at the light shielding portion 33e, which is a region facing the imaging target region and prohibits transmission of irradiation light, and at the upper side, which is in the direction of the rotation axis of the helical gear G with respect to the light shielding portion 33e. and a pair of first light attenuating parts 33b and 33h, which are respectively disposed on the lower side and partially restrict the transmission of the irradiated light, and a right side which is orthogonal to the rotation axis of the helical gear G with respect to the light shielding part 33e. Since it has a pair of second light attenuating parts 33d and 33f, which are respectively disposed on the left side and partially restrict transmission of the irradiation light, the transmission of the irradiation light is reduced in proportion to the distance between the illumination 33 and the imaging target area. The amount can be limited, and while suppressing the halation that occurs in the rough remaining part A3 existing on one side of the tooth, it actively promotes the halation that occurs in the oxide film A1 of the chamfered part formed on one side of the tooth. be able to. Since the illumination 33 has fully transparent parts 33a, 33c, 33g, and 33i which are the four corner areas of the illumination 33 and the transmission of the irradiation light is not restricted, the irradiation light can reach the tooth end without forming the shadow part A2. be able to. Thereby, the oxide film A1 and the shadow area A2 of the chamfered portion can be removed from the determination image obtained by binarizing the captured image, and only the rough remaining area A3 can be automatically determined.

The imaging means includes a left camera 34 that can image a region to be imaged on one side including one side surface of the teeth of the helical gear G, and a right camera 34 that can image a region to be imaged on the other side including the other side surface of the teeth of the helical gear G. Therefore, one side and the other side of the teeth of the helical gear G can be imaged simultaneously, and the cycle time can be shortened. The illumination 33 includes a red flat illumination capable of emitting red light, and a cross-shaped mask portion 37 having a light shielding portion 33e and first and second dimming portions 33b, 33d, 33f, and 33h. The contrast between the normal portion of the surface and the black rough remaining portion A3 can be coordinated, and halation of the chamfered portion can be promoted while suppressing halation of the rough remaining portion A3 with a simple configuration. In addition, since a pair of reflex plates 35 are provided at the upper end and lower end of the red flat illumination and are capable of reflecting the irradiated light of the red flat illumination, the reflected light from the reflex plate 35 is avoided from adjacent teeth. It is possible to reach both side portions of the tooth end from the top and bottom directions, and the shadow portion A2 of the tooth end can be reliably erased.

The first and second light attenuating parts 33b, 33d, 33f, and 33h transmit 2/3 to 3/4 of the irradiation light of the total transmitting parts 33a, 33c, 33g, and 33i, thereby ensuring that the rough remaining part A3 Halation of the chamfered portion can be promoted while suppressing halation.

It has a master gear holding mechanism 20 that inspects the size, dents, and tooth runout of the helical gear G while rotating the helical gear G around the rotation axis. Inspection and rough remaining inspection can be performed in parallel, further shortening cycle time.

Since the gear is a helical gear G, in the helical gear G, the oxide film A1 and the shadow area A2 of the chamfered part can be removed from the judgment image obtained by binarizing the captured image of the tooth surface, and only the rough remaining part A3 can be removed automatically. can be determined.

According to the above-mentioned gear inspection method, there is a light shielding part 33e which is an area facing the imaging target area and prohibits transmission of the irradiation light, and an upper and lower side in the direction of the rotation axis of the helical gear G with respect to the light shielding part 33e. A pair of first light attenuating parts 33b and 33h are arranged on the sides and partially restrict transmission of the irradiated light, and a pair of first light reducing parts 33b and 33h are arranged on the right side and the left side, which are perpendicular to the rotation axis of the helical gear G with respect to the light shielding part 33e. Since it includes the step of preparing the red flat illumination 33 in which the mask part 37 having a pair of second dimming parts 33d and 33f each having a pair of second dimming parts 33d and 33f in which the transmission of the irradiated light is partially restricted is provided, the red flat illumination 33 is normally disposed. The contrast between the rough remaining portion A3 and the black rough remaining portion A3 can be coordinated, and halation of the chamfered portion can be promoted while suppressing halation of the rough remaining portion A3 with a simple configuration. The step of imaging an imaging target area including one side surface of the tooth of the helical gear G with the red flat illumination 33, and the step of determining the state of the one side surface of the tooth of the gear based on the captured image information, The oxide film A1 and the shadow area A2 of the chamfered portion can be removed from the determination image obtained by binarizing the captured image, and only the rough remaining area A3 can be automatically determined.

Next, a modified example in which the above embodiment is partially modified will be described.
1] In the above embodiment, an example was explained in which the tooth surface of the helical gear G is inspected, but the target gear can be applied to any gear such as a spur gear, a helical gear, or a bevel gear.

2] In the above embodiment, an example was explained in which the gear testing means detects the size, dents, and tooth runout of the helical gear G in the dimensional inspection. It is sufficient if one of them can be detected. Furthermore, two of the size, dents, and tooth runout may be inspectable.

3] In the embodiment described above, an example of the inspection device 1 that supports the rotation shaft of the helical gear G in the vertical direction has been described, but an inspection device that supports the rotation shaft of the helical gear G in the horizontal direction may be used. In addition, although an example has been described in which the illumination 33 is a single light source, red flat illumination, provided with the cross-shaped mask portion 37, at least eight light sources arranged around the area avoiding the portion facing the imaging target area are used. You may also prepare and adjust the amount of illumination from these light sources.

4] In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which the imaging target area is set at a part shifted by 90° around the rotation axis of the helical gear G with respect to the meshing area between the master gear g and the helical gear G. may be set anywhere other than the meshing area between master gear g and helical gear G.

5] In addition, those skilled in the art will be able to implement various modifications to the embodiments described above or combinations of the embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and the present invention can be implemented in such a manner. It also includes any modifications.

1 Inspection device 2 Controller 20 Master gear holding mechanism 33 Lights 33a, 33c, 33g, 33i Fully transparent parts 33b, 33h First dimming part 33d, 33f Second dimming part 33e Light shielding part 34 Camera 35 Reflector plate 37 Mask part G Helical gear

Claims (4)

An imaging means capable of imaging a region to be imaged including one side surface of a gear tooth that has been subjected to grinding; and a panel-shaped illumination means disposed opposite to the region to be imaged and capable of irradiating light to the region to be imaged. and a determination means for determining a state of one side of a tooth of the gear based on the imaging information taken by the imaging means,
The panel-shaped illumination means includes a light-shielding part that is an area facing the imaging target area and prohibits transmission of irradiation light, and a light-shielding part on one side and the other side of the gear in the direction of the rotational axis with respect to the light-shielding part, respectively. a pair of first light attenuating parts disposed and having a partially limited transmittance of irradiated light, and a pair of first light attenuating parts disposed on one side and the other side of the light shielding part in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the gear, respectively; a pair of second light attenuating parts in which the transmittance of the irradiated light is partially limited, and a total transmitting part in the four corner areas of the panel-shaped illumination means in which the transmittance of the irradiated light is not limited;
Halation of the rough remaining portion of the gear is prevented by prohibiting transmission of the irradiated light in the light shielding portion, and halation of the oxide film on the chamfered portion of the gear is induced by the irradiated light from the first and second light reduction portions. , configured to illuminate the tooth end portions on both sides of the gear in the rotational axis direction with the irradiated light from the fully transparent portion;
The imaging means includes a one-side imaging means that is disposed on one side in a direction perpendicular to the rotational axis of the gear and is capable of imaging a one-sided imaging target area including one side surface of a tooth of the gear; and another side imaging means that is disposed on the other side in the direction and can image the other side imaging target area including the other side surface of the tooth of the gear,
The panel-shaped illumination means includes a red flat illumination capable of emitting red light, and a cross-shaped mask portion having the light shielding portion and first and second light reduction portions,
A gear characterized in that a pair of reflecting plates are provided at one end portion and the other end portion of the gear in the rotational axis direction of the red flat illumination, respectively, and are capable of reflecting the irradiation light of the red flat illumination. Inspection equipment. 2. The gear inspection device according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second light attenuation parts transmit 2/3 to 3/4 of the irradiation light of the total transmission part. a gear testing means for inspecting at least one of the size, dents, and tooth runout of the gear while rotating the gear around the rotation axis;
3. The gear inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the imaging means takes an image while the gear testing means is in operation. The gear inspection device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the gear is a helical gear.

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