JPH07209195A - Circular element inspection apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To certainly detect the flaw of tablet even in the case where it shows an area the same as when the tablet has no chipping or crack like when the tablet in completely broken. CONSTITUTION:A PTP sheet 6 is photographed from one surface thereof by a television camera while the other surface of the PTP sheet 6 is illuminated by an illumination device 2 and the image taken by the television camera 3 is processed by an image processor 4 to inspect whether the area S and peripheral lengh L of the tablet 5 on the PTP sheet and the ratio of them are within a preset range and, on the basis of the inspection result, the breakage or crack of the tablet 5 is detected.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for inspecting the appearance of a circular body, and in particular, a circle suitable for inspecting each tablet placed on a PTP sheet for cracks or cracks. The present invention relates to a shape inspection device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When making a tablet PTP sheet, after putting the tablet in a pocket of transparent or translucent PVC sheet,
While conveying this PVC sheet containing tablets, while illuminating from the lower surface, an image of the tablet is picked up by a camera arranged on the upper side to detect the area of the tablet, and this area has a preset value. Occasionally, it is determined that the tablet is not chipped or cracked. On the other hand, when the area is smaller than the preset value, it is determined that the tablet has a chip or a crack, and the tablet PTP sheet containing such a chip or a broken tablet is excluded from the line. ing.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional tablet inspection method, the area of the tablet is measured to detect the presence or absence of chipping or cracking of the tablet, so that the method shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 8B, when the area of the tablet 101 that is not chipped or cracked is the same as the area of the tablet 101 that is completely cracked, the tablet 10
There is a problem that the defect No. 1 cannot be detected.

In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, the present invention ensures the defect of the circular body even if the circular body has the same area as when there is no chip or crack, such as when the circular body is completely cracked. It is an object of the present invention to provide a circular body inspection device capable of detecting.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 is an apparatus for detecting defects such as chips and cracks in a circular body, which is a circular body to be inspected. And an area S of the circular body by processing an image captured by the image capturing means.
And an image processing means for determining the quality of the circular body based on the area S and the peripheral length L, and measuring the peripheral length L.

Further, in the invention described in claim 2, the image processing means is based on the area S of the tablet, the peripheral length L, and the ratio L ² / S of the square of the peripheral length L to the area S. The quality of the circular body is determined.

Further, the invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the circular body is a tablet placed on a PTP sheet.

[0008]

In the above structure, the circular body to be inspected is imaged by the image pickup means by the transillumination, and the image is supplied to the image processing means. The image processing means processes the image picked up by the image pickup means to measure the area and the perimeter of the circular body, and judges the quality of each tablet based on the area and the perimeter. .

According to the second aspect of the invention, in addition to the area S and the perimeter L, the ratio L ² / S of the square of the perimeter L and the area S is given.
Based on the above, the quality of the circular body is determined. As the circular body, a tablet placed on a PTP sheet is suitable. In particular, the sugar-coated tablet has a larger variation in outer diameter than the plain tablet, and thus the application of the present invention is effective.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a front view showing a PTP tablet inspection apparatus which is an embodiment to which a circular body inspection apparatus according to the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the PTP tablet inspection apparatus.

The tablet inspecting apparatus for PTP shown in these figures comprises an illuminating device 2 provided in a blister pack device 1.
, A television camera 3 and an image processing device 4, and the PTP sheet 6 on which the tablets 5 are being conveyed is placed.
While illuminating the PTP sheet 6 from below by the lighting device 2, the PTP sheet 6 is imaged from above by the television camera 3, and the image signal obtained by this imaging operation is processed by the image processing device 4 to be placed on each PTP sheet 6. It is inspected whether the tablet 5 is chipped or cracked.

The illuminating device 2 includes an illuminating case 7 arranged below the conveying conveyor for conveying the PTP sheet 6, and FIG.
Two linear light sources (only one is shown in the figure) 8 arranged in the lighting case 7 as shown in the partially cut side view of FIG.
And 2 which respectively reflect the light from each of these linear light sources 8.
Two arc-shaped reflectors (only one is shown in the figure) 9
And a plate shape having a V-shaped cross-section that reflects the light from each of the arc-shaped reflectors 9 and the light from each of the linear light sources 8 and reflects toward the opening 11 side formed in the upper portion of the illumination case 7. A reflector 10 and a shading correction plate 12 that makes the light reflected by the plate-shaped reflector 10 uniform are provided.
Each linear light source 8 is turned on, and the light thus obtained is reflected upward by the arc-shaped reflector 9 and the plate-shaped reflector 10 and then made uniform by the shading correction plate 12 through the opening 11. The PTP sheet 6 which is emitted and is conveyed on the conveyor is illuminated from below.

Further, the television camera 3 is arranged above a conveyer conveys the PTP sheet 6, picks up an image of the PTP sheet 6 illuminated by the illumination device 2,
The image signal obtained by this imaging operation is supplied to the image processing device 4.

The image processing device 4 takes in the image signal output from the television camera 3 and binarizes the image signal with a preset threshold value to generate a binarized image showing the shape of the tablet 5. Then, based on this binarized image, PT
Radius and area of each tablet 5 placed on the P sheet 6,
Measure the perimeter. Then, based on the measurement result, it is determined whether or not each tablet 5 has a chip or crack, and if there is a chip or crack, the PTP sheet 6 of the tablet 5 is discharged from the line.

In this case, the criteria for determining the quality are (A) the area S of each tablet 5 and the area S of the reference tablet 5
Whether ₀ and satisfy the following formula. S ₀ −α ≦ S ≦ S ₀ + α (1) where α: allowable error value (B) The perimeter L of each tablet 5 and the reference perimeter L _{0 of the} tablet 5 satisfy the following equation. Whether or not L ₀ −β ≦ L ≦ L ₀ + β However, β: allowable error value (2) If these expressions (1) and (2) are not satisfied, each tablet 5 has a chip or a crack. It is determined that the PTP sheet 6 including the tablet 5 having a chip or a crack is discharged from the line, and if the expressions (1) and (2) are satisfied, (C) each of the following expressions. The ratio P of the square of the peripheral length L of the tablet 5 and the area S of each tablet 5 is obtained. The ratio P is as follows: P = L ² / S = (2 · π · r) ² / (π · r ² ) = 4 · π (3) Originally, if each tablet 5 has a disk shape, regardless of the variation in the radius r of each tablet 5,
Since the value is always a constant value of 4 · π, the ratio P is 4 · π.
If it is not within the range of ± γ (where γ is the tolerance value), it is determined that each tablet 5 has a chip or crack,
The PTP sheet 6 including the tablets 5 with chips or cracks is discharged from the line, and if the above expression (3) is satisfied, it is determined that each tablet 5 has no chips or cracks, and the next step is performed. Let

As a result, each tablet 5 placed on the PTP sheet 6 as shown in FIG. 4 is a normal tablet without chipping or cracking. When the image of this PTP sheet 6 is binarized, If the binarized image shown in FIG. 5 is obtained, all of the expressions (1) to (3) are satisfied, and the PTP sheet 6 is moved to the next step.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, each tablet 5 placed on the PTP sheet 6 has a chip or a crack.
If the binarized image shown in FIG. 7 is obtained when the image of the P sheet 6 is binarized, any one of the equations (1) to (3) is not satisfied, and the PTP sheet 6 is removed from the line. Is discharged.

As described above, in this embodiment, the PTP sheet 6 on which the tablets 5 being transferred are placed on the illumination device 2
While illuminating from below from above, the PTP sheet 6 is imaged from above by the TV camera 3, the image signal obtained by this imaging operation is processed by the image processing device 4, and each tablet 5 on the PTP sheet 6 is processed. Image of (1)
It is determined whether or not the expressions (3) to (3) are satisfied, and whether or not each tablet 5 has a chip or a crack is determined based on this determination result. As described above, even if the tablet 5 has the same area as when there is no chip or crack, the defect of the tablet 5 can be detected,
This makes it possible to prevent defective tablets 5 from being shipped accidentally.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, P
Even if a circular body such as a tablet placed on a TP sheet is completely cracked, even if the circular body has the same area as when there is no chip or crack, the circular body defect can be reliably detected. It becomes possible to do.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a PTP tablet inspection apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

2 is a side view of the PTP tablet inspection device shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a partially cut side view showing a detailed configuration example of the lighting device shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a processing example of the PTP tablet inspection apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

5 is a schematic diagram showing a processing example of the PTP tablet inspection device shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a processing example of the PTP tablet inspection apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a processing example of the PTP tablet inspection apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a plan view for explaining a problem of the conventional PTP system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Blister pack device 2 Lighting device 3 Television camera 4 Image processing device 5 Tablets 6 PTP sheet

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for detecting defects such as chipping or cracking of a circular body, the image capturing means capturing an image of the circular body to be inspected by transillumination, and processing the image captured by the image capturing means. The area S of the circular body and the perimeter L are measured, and the area S and
An image processing unit for determining the quality of the circular body based on the perimeter L, and a circular body inspection apparatus comprising: 2. The image processing means includes a tablet area S,
The circular body inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the quality of the circular body is determined based on the perimeter L and the ratio L ² / S of the square of the perimeter L to the area S. 3. The circular body inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circular body is a tablet placed on a PTP sheet.