JPH05135235A - Parts counting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide parts counting device by which parts supplied in a row can be exactly counted. CONSTITUTION:Parallel rollers 3 making pairs in order to receive parts 4 which drop from a part supplying device 2 are arranged, and the parts 4 are supplied while lined up in a row by the parallel rollers 3. And also, a power source 5 and an image pickup device 6 are arranged in a direction crossing the moving path of the parts 4 discharged from the parallel rollers 3, and the number of the parts 4 interrupting an optical line from the light source 5 is counted. Thus, the parts 4 dropping from a pair of parallel rollers 3 can be prevented from being overlapped with the adjacent one, and the parts 4 can be exactly counted. Moreover, detection of the passage of the parts 4 can be easily operated from the detection of the silhouette, and one image pickup device 6 is sufficient to the plural pairs of rollers 3. Thus, the low-priced and exact device can be provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a component counting device for accurately measuring the number of components such as screws and rivets which are randomly supplied from a pair of rollers arranged below a chute of a component supply device by spontaneous fall. Regarding the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when counting the number of parts such as screws and rivets, the weight of one part is measured in advance, and when the weight reaches a predetermined number, the supply of parts is stopped. In general, a counting method is used to count the approximate number of parts.

[0003]

In the component counter using this method, if the weight of each component varies or the weight of one small component is light, the measurement error becomes large and the There are drawbacks such as inaccurate counting.

The present invention is intended to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and an object of the present invention is to provide a parts counting device configured to accurately count the parts supplied in a line.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, rollers that rotate in pairs under the rotation of a rotary drive source are arranged below a chute of a component supply device.
In addition, an image pickup device including a light source that irradiates the moving path of the component falling from the roller and a plurality of image pickup elements arranged in a line facing the moving path of the component is arranged. This image pickup device has an image storage unit having a silhouette hold unit that detects the presence or absence of a silhouette of a component from the analog change amount of each image pickup device for each predetermined minute time and holds this for each image pickup device when the silhouette of the component is detected. The image storage unit is connected to the component recognition unit. Every time the component recognition unit detects the presence or absence of a silhouette of a component from the analog change amount of each image sensor, it determines whether or not all the continuous image sensors that have detected the silhouette of the component detect the silhouette of the component. When the image sensor does not detect the silhouette of the component, the detection pulse is output as if the component passed.

[0006]

In the above component counting device, when the component is supplied from the component supply device between the light source and the plurality of image pickup elements arranged in a line, the image pickup element of the image pickup element is moved every time the component passes in front of the image pickup element. The analog output changes, and the silhouette of the part is detected based on the amount of change. Moreover, the analog output of the image pickup device through which the component does not pass does not change, and the silhouette of the component is not detected.

During this period, whether or not each image sensor has detected the silhouette of a component is detected at predetermined time intervals, and the fact that the silhouette of the component has been detected for each image sensor is stored in the silhouette hold unit. Further, every time the presence / absence of a silhouette of a component is detected corresponding to each image sensor, the consecutively positioned image sensors are detected among the image sensors that have detected the silhouette of the component from the stored value of the silhouette hold unit. , It is determined whether or not the image pickup elements positioned in succession detect the silhouette of the component, and when these image pickup elements do not detect the silhouette of the component, it is determined that one component has passed. The detection pulse of is output. Similarly, for other image sensors that are located in series and that detect the silhouette of a component, the passage of the component is detected,
The number of randomly supplied components can be accurately counted in a short time regardless of the shapes of the components.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A parts counting device for counting screws, which is an example of parts, will be described below. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a component counting device, which has two pairs of parallel rollers 3 which are inclined and located below a shout 2a of a component supply device 2. The pair of parallel rollers 3 each have a moving path having a gap through which only the legs of the screws 4 pass, and the parallel rollers 3 rotate by the rotation of a rotary drive source (not shown). Is configured. A shutter portion 15 is arranged on the lower end side of the parallel roller 3 so as to block the movement path of the screw 4 discharged from the parallel roller 3.
The screw 4 can be prevented from falling. Further, the component counting device 1 includes a light source 5 which projects light in a direction intersecting with a moving path of the screw 4 discharged from the parallel roller 3, and a movement of the screw 4 in two rows so as to receive the light from the light source 5. The image pickup device 6 is composed of a plurality of image pickup devices (not shown) arranged in a line facing the road. When the screw 4 passes in front of the image pickup device of the image pickup device 6, the amount of light received is increased. It changes so that its analog output changes, and the silhouette of the screw 4 is detected by the amount of change. Further, the analog outputs of the image pickup devices are respectively output to the A / D converter 8 in the control device 7, which will be described later, and the control device 7 is configured to detect a break in the silhouette of the screw 4. Further, a distribution chute 14 having an opening is arranged below the imaging device 6 so as to guide a predetermined number of screws 4 to a storage case (not shown).

The control device 7 includes a control unit 9, an A / D conversion unit 8 for converting the analog output of the image pickup device into binary data, and an image memory for storing the binary data as the presence or absence of the silhouette of the screw 4. Unit 10, a component recognition unit 11 that detects the passage of the screw 4 based on the stored value of the image storage unit 10 and outputs a detection pulse, a counter unit 12 that counts this detection pulse,
It has an inspection start unit 13 that outputs an inspection start signal, a component supply device drive unit 2b, and a shutter unit drive unit 15a.

When the control section 9 receives an inspection start signal after the power is turned on as shown in FIG. 2, the control section 9 outputs an operation command signal to the component supply device drive section 2b, and A It is configured to output a conversion command signal to the −D conversion unit 8. When the count value of the counter unit 12 reaches a predetermined value, the control unit 9 outputs a component supply stop command signal to the component supply device driving unit 2b and outputs a cutoff command signal to the shutter unit driving unit 15a. After a predetermined time, a reset signal is output to re-drive the component supply device drive unit 2b and the shutter unit drive unit 15
It is configured to move a back. Furthermore, the A
When receiving the conversion command signal, the -D conversion unit 8 determines whether or not the analog output of each image sensor reaches a predetermined value or less, and outputs binary data "1" or "0" according to the result. It is configured. The image storage unit 10 includes a temporary storage unit 10a corresponding to each image pickup device, the temporary storage unit 10a including a register provided to temporarily store the binarized data from the AD conversion unit 8, and each image pickup device. Silhouette hold unit 10 composed of another register provided corresponding to
and b. The temporary storage unit 10a stores A
Each time the binarized data is input from the −D conversion unit 8, the storage value in the register is replaced, and the silhouette hold unit 10b stores the binary value from the AD conversion unit 8 in the temporary storage unit 10a. At the same time that the binarized data is stored, the binarized data “1” is stored in the register corresponding to the image sensor that has detected the silhouette of the screw 4, and next time the binarized data “0” is output from the AD converter 8. Is inputted, the binary data "1" when the silhouette of the screw 4 is detected last time is held until a detection pulse described later is output.

Further, the output signals of the temporary storage unit 10a and the silhouette hold unit 10b of the image storage unit 10 are configured to be sent to the component recognition unit 11, and this component recognition unit 11 is an A-D conversion unit 8. Each time the binarized data from (3) is stored in the register of the temporary storage unit 10a, the image pickup element detecting the silhouette of the screw 4 is detected from the stored value of the silhouette hold unit 10b. Further, the component recognition section 11 detects the image pickup elements which are continuously positioned among the image pickup elements which detect the silhouette of the screw 4, and stores the registers in the temporary storage section 10a corresponding to these image pickup elements. It is determined from these values whether or not these image sensors detect the silhouette of the screw 4, and when the stored value in the register corresponding to these image sensors is "0" and the silhouette of the screw 4 is not detected, the screw 4 is detected.
Is configured to output one detection pulse. The component recognition unit 11 is also configured to detect the passage of the screw 4 in all of the image pickup elements arranged in a line, and the component recognition unit 11 can detect the passage of the screw 4 formed by the parallel roller 3 in accordance with the number of movement paths. Two detection pulses can be output at the same time. Further, the detection pulse of the component recognition unit 11 is sent to the counter unit 12,
The counter unit 12 is configured to store the number of screws 4.

In the above component counting device, when the power of the device is turned on, the entire surface of the image pickup device receives light from the light source 5, and its analog output is sent to the A / D converter 8. In this state, the inspection start signal is output from the inspection start unit 13 and the drive command signal is output to the component supply device drive unit 2b. Therefore, the screw 4 is supplied from the chute 2a of the component supply device 2 onto the two pairs of parallel rollers 3, aligned in two rows, separated from the end of the parallel roller 3 and discharged from the adjacent one, and inside the distribution chute 14. (Hereinafter, the row of parallel rollers 3 will be described). When the screw 4 discharged from the end of the parallel roller 3 passes between the light source 5 and the image pickup device 6, the screw 4 passes and the light is blocked, and the analog output of the image pickup element changes, but the light continues. Then, the analog output of the image pickup element that is received does not change.

At the same time, when a conversion command signal is output from the control unit 9 to the A / D conversion unit 8 at a predetermined minute time interval, the silhouettes of the screws 4 are sequentially read, and the analog output of each image pickup device becomes a predetermined set value or less. The binarized data "1" is output when it changes, and the binarized data "0" is output when it has not changed until it reaches a predetermined set value. The binarized data “0” or “1” from the A / D converter 8 is stored in the register in the temporary storage unit 10 a of the image storage unit 10, and the binarized data “1” is stored in the image storage unit 10. Stored in the register in the silhouette hold unit 10b corresponding to the image pickup device having Every time the A / D conversion unit 8 outputs the binarized data of each image sensor to the image storage unit 10, all the stored values in the registers of the temporary storage unit 10a are replaced with new binarized data. On the other hand, the silhouette hold unit 1
The storage value of the register provided corresponding to each image pickup device of 0b is held until the passage of the screw 4 is detected once the binary data "1" is held and the detection pulse is output.

Further, the stored values of the registers of the temporary storage unit 10a and the silhouette hold unit 10b are sent to the component recognition unit 11, and have binary data "1" from the stored values of the registers of the silhouette hold unit 10b. That is, the image pickup device that detects the silhouette of the screw 4 is detected, and the image pickup devices that are continuously positioned among these image pickup devices are detected. Further, the temporary storage unit 1 corresponding to these image pickup devices
It is determined whether the stored value of the register 0a is "0" and the silhouette of the screw 4 is not detected. The silhouette of the screw 4 is continuous when any of the registers of the temporary storage unit 10a corresponding to these image pickup devices detects the silhouette of the screw 4 and stores the binary data "1". And wait for the next decision.

On the other hand, when the value stored in the register of the temporary storage unit 10a corresponding to the image pickup device is "0", the screw 4 is used.
Is passed, one detection pulse is output.
At the same time, of the stored values of the silhouette hold unit 10b,
The stored values corresponding to the image pickup elements which are continuously positioned are reset, and the next reading of the silhouette of the screw 4 is prepared.

In the component recognizing unit 11, when there are a plurality of image pickup elements which are continuously positioned among the image pickup elements which have detected the silhouette of the screw 4, the same judgment is made for each group.
Sometimes, a plurality of detection pulses are output from the component recognition unit 11.

The counter section 12 counts each time the detection pulse is sent, and when the count value reaches a predetermined set value, a coincidence signal is sent to the control section 9. Therefore, the control unit 9 outputs a stop command signal to the component supply device driving unit 2b, and the component supply device 2 stops. at the same time,
A shutoff command signal is output to the shutter drive unit 15a, the shutter 15 is shut off, and the counting of a predetermined number of screws 4 is completed. After that, when a predetermined storage time elapses and a new storage case is supplied below the distribution chute 14, a reset signal is output, the component supply device 2 is re-driven, and the shutter portion returns to the next work. Prepare

Although the silhouette hold unit is provided in the image storage unit in the embodiment, it may be provided in the component recognition unit.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, the components are dropped from the component supply device onto the pair of parallel rollers to be supplied in a line, and at the same time, the direction of intersecting the moving path of the components discharged from the parallel rollers. Since the light source and the image pickup device are arranged in and the number of the components that block the light rays from the light source is counted, the components falling from the pair of parallel rollers do not overlap with the adjacent components, and Not only can counting be performed accurately, but the detection of the passage of parts can be easily performed from the detection of its silhouette, and moreover, one imaging device can be used for multiple pairs of parallel rollers, which is inexpensive and accurate. It is possible to provide various devices.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a control device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 component counting device 2 component supply device 2a chute 2b component supply device drive part 3 parallel roller 4 screw 5 light source 6 imaging device 7 control device 8 AD conversion part 9 control part 10 image storage part 10a temporary storage part 10b silhouette hold Part 11 Component recognition part 12 Counter part 13 Detection start part 14 Distribution chute 15 Shutter part 15a Shutter part drive part

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A roller that rotates in pairs under the rotation of a rotary drive source under a chute of a component supply device, and a light source and a component that irradiate light to a moving path of the component that falls from this roller. An image pickup apparatus having a plurality of image pickup elements arranged in a line facing the moving path, and detecting the presence or absence of a component silhouette from the analog change amount of each image pickup element at every predetermined minute time to detect the silhouette of the component. The image storage unit that has a silhouette hold unit that holds each image sensor, and the continuous image sensor that detects the silhouette of the component each time the presence or absence of the component silhouette is detected from the analog variation of each image sensor Component recognition that determines if a silhouette is detected and outputs a detection pulse as if the component passed when these image sensors do not detect the silhouette of the component And a parts counting device.