JPH09243574A - Container inspection apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable the conservation of labor, the conservation of the space of an arranging place and inexpensive production by taking the image of the whole of the inner surface of a container and discriminating the contamination of the inner surface of the container on the basis of the obtained signal. SOLUTION: The light from a light source is applied to a paper cup 2 to be inspected through the optical fiber supported at a fixed position by a support 12 and the reflected light is imaged by a CCD image sensor 16 through a wide- angle lens 14 and the taken image is transmitted to an image processor 20 and a part other than an inspection part (e.g; edge part having possiblity judged to be contaminated) is subjected to image processing and a mask is applied to form an inspection image. An image is calculated by adding the standard image sample preliminarily stored in a memory and the inspection image. As a result, the light and shade of the image are set off to form an image having a constant hue. Since a change appears on the image if there is a part different from a standard image in the taken image, the change is judged to be a flaw (contamination, molding inferiority) to output a signal.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a container inspection device, and more particularly, to a container inspection device for inspecting stains and molding defects attached to the inner surfaces of food containers such as paper cups and plastic cups after they are manufactured. Regarding Since the present invention is particularly suitable for inspecting food containers for dirt, the following description will be made in connection with the inspection of food container for dirt, but the present invention is limited to an apparatus for inspecting food container for dirt. However, the present invention can be applied to an apparatus for inspecting a molding defect of a food container or a stain or a molding defect of a container other than a food container.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Food containers such as cups manufactured in mass production sites have been inspected by human eyes or inspected by an inspection device. In the conventional inspection device, the inner surface of the cup to be inspected is irradiated with light, and a one-dimensional photosensitive device such as a CCD line sensor is used to inspect the entire surface of the inner surface of the cup by rotating the cup. Was configured to do.

[0003]

In the former visual inspection by humans, the operator has to visually judge the object to be mass-produced at high speed, so that the fluctuation of the inspection judgment threshold and the non-human Work and cheap product unit price,
It's becoming unrealistic.

Therefore, although the latter type of inspection device is generally used, the inspection device having the above-described structure is expensive because of the mechanical elements for rotating the object to be inspected, and has a large installation area. However, there is a problem that it is difficult to maintain and manage the inspection accuracy. For this reason, the inspection device is not used to inspect all food containers,
It was only used to inspect food containers, which are cost-effective and have high unit prices.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a container inspection device which can save labor, save space in an installation place, and can be manufactured at low cost.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an irradiation means for irradiating the entire inner surface of a container to be inspected, which is placed at a fixed position with an opening upward, and an irradiation means. Image means for receiving the reflected light from the irradiated container above the container and imaging the entire inner surface of the container,
A container inspecting apparatus is provided, which has a dirt identifying unit for identifying dirt on the inner surface of the container (or defective molding of the container) based on the signal obtained by the image unit.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, a container inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a container inspection device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of a support for supporting an optical fiber, and FIG. 3 is a line 3 in FIG.
3 is a cross-sectional view of the support seen from -3, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the support seen from line 4-4 of FIG. 2, and FIG. It is a side view which shows the arrangement | positioning relationship of the optical fiber used, and FIG. 6 is a top view which shows the cylinder attachment part of a paper cup.

As shown in FIG. 1, the container inspection apparatus of the present invention is arranged above a paper cup 1, which is an object to be inspected. The container inspection device has therein an inspection device main body 10 having means for irradiating the inner surface of the paper cup 1 with light and imaging means for imaging with the light reflected from the inner surface of the paper cup 1.

The inspection apparatus main body 10 is a ring-shaped support 12 that supports a plurality of optical fibers used for emitting light.
It has. The support 12, which will be described in detail in connection with FIGS. 2 to 4, has a plurality of hole groups (A hole group, B hole group, B hole group, B) for receiving optical fibers arranged in, for example, three stages in the radial direction. C hole group) is formed, and the individual holes of each hole group are formed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. The optical fiber is provided for transmitting the light from the light source so that the light from the light source (not shown), which is a direct current lighting lamp, is irradiated toward the inner surface of the paper cup.

A lens 14 (preferably a wide-angle lens) is mounted inside the support 10 by a suitable mounting means, and a CCD image (imaging) sensor 16 in a two-dimensional array (for example, a vertical lens) is provided above the lens 14. Direction pixel: 512,
Horizontal pixels: 780) are arranged. Therefore,
Reflected light from the inner surface of the paper cup 1 is incident on the CCD image sensor through the wide-angle lens 14, and the entire inner surface of the paper cup can be imaged. The inspection device body 10 has a cable 18
Is connected to the image processing device 20 including a display device.

Next, the arrangement of the optical fibers with respect to the support will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 2, the support 12 is formed with three groups of holes (A hole group, B hole group, C hole group) in the radial direction in order to receive and support the optical fiber. A large number of individual holes of the group are provided in the circumferential direction, preferably at equal intervals.

As shown in FIG. 3, the holes of each hole group are provided at different inclination angles with respect to the horizontal plane. For example, in this example, the individual holes in the A hole group are 90 ° (perpendicular) to the horizontal plane, the individual holes in the B hole group are 50 ° to the horizontal plane, and the individual holes in the C hole group are The holes are 25 ° to the horizontal. By arranging optical fibers in these holes and irradiating the light from the light source toward the inner surface of the paper cup by the arrangement in the circumferential direction as shown in FIG. 2 and the arrangement in the inclination angle as shown in FIG. Can cover the entire inner surface of the cup.

Further, in the case of inspecting a paper cup as an object to be inspected, as shown in FIG. 4, in order to eliminate a shadow caused by a step difference in a body-attached portion of the paper cup described later, as shown in FIG. The individual holes are preferably inclined in the circumferential direction at an angle of, for example, 70 ° with respect to the horizontal plane.

Next, referring to FIG. 5, a paper cup 1 is shown as an example of the object to be inspected. The paper cup 1 comprises a frustoconical body 2 and a flat circular bottom 3. The body portion 2 and the bottom portion 3 are fixed to each other at the edge portion 4, and the body portion 2 itself has a body-attached portion attached by the laminated portions 2'and 2 ', as shown in FIG. Edge part 2a of the body sticking part
In this case, a step is formed, and if the optical fibers are not arranged at an angle in the circumferential direction as shown in FIG.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, since the optical fibers are arranged at an angle in the circumferential direction as well, no shadow is produced by the stepped portion of the paper cup 1 attached to the body, and as a result, False identification of dirt is avoided.

For a food container such as a plastic cup that does not have a body sticking portion, it is not necessary to arrange the optical fibers at an angle in the circumferential direction as shown in FIG. However, by arranging the optical fibers as shown in FIG. 4, the present invention can be applied to both a plastic cup and a paper cup having a body-attached portion, and has versatility.

Next, the inspection operation of the container inspection apparatus of the present invention will be described. In preparation for inspection, a standard image sample is created and stored in a memory (not shown) of the image processing apparatus 20. A standard image sample is prepared by selecting a paper cup free from defects (dirt or defective preparation) as a good product, and samples the light from a light source through an optical fiber supported by a support 12 at a fixed position as shown in FIG. To the CCD image sensor 1 through the wide-angle lens 14.
6, the image is transmitted to the image processing apparatus 20, and a portion other than the inspection portion (for example, the edge portion 4 that may be identified as dirt) is masked by image processing to obtain a negative image in which black and white are inverted. Create and use the negative image as a standard image sample.

Next, the food containers such as paper cups to be inspected are individually inspected. In the inspection, as shown in FIG. 1, light is applied from a light source to a paper cup to be inspected through an optical fiber supported by a support 12 at a fixed position, and the reflected light is reflected by the wide-angle lens 1
The image is picked up by the CCD image sensor 16 via the image pickup device 4, the image pick-up is transmitted to the image processing device, and the image other than the inspection portion (for example, the edge portion 4 that may be identified as dirt) is masked by image processing to make an inspection image. To create. After that, an image obtained by adding the standard image sample stored in advance in the memory and the inspection image is obtained. In the resulting image, each light and darkness is canceled out,
The image has a constant color tone. Here, if the captured image has a portion different from the standard image, a change appears in the image. Therefore, the change is determined to be a defect (dirt, molding defect), and a signal is output.

Since the image picked up by the CCD image sensor can be processed at high speed by simple software, this inspection apparatus is extremely effective.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to save labor, save space in an installation place, and obtain a container inspection device that can be manufactured at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a container inspection device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a support body that supports an optical fiber.

3 is a sectional view of the support taken along the line 3-3 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the support taken along the line 4-4 of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing an arrangement relationship between a paper cup as an object to be inspected and an optical fiber arranged on a support.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a body-attached portion of a paper cup.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Paper Cup 10 Inspection Device Main Body 12 Support 14 Lens 16 Sensor 20 Image Processing Device

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An irradiation unit for irradiating the entire inner surface of a container to be inspected, which is placed at a fixed position with an opening upward, and reflected light from the container irradiated by the irradiation unit, which is received above the container to receive the reflected light from the container. Image means for imaging the entire inner surface,
A container inspecting apparatus, comprising: dirt or the like identifying means for identifying dirt on the inner surface of the container (or defective molding of the container) based on the signal obtained by the image means. 2. The container inspection apparatus according to claim 1,
The irradiation means is supported by a ring-shaped support disposed above the body of the container and a plurality of holes for supporting optical fibers formed in the support, and directs light from a light source toward the inner surface of the container. A container inspection device comprising a plurality of optical fibers arranged to irradiate. 3. The container inspection device according to claim 2,
The plurality of holes for supporting the optical fiber of the support has a plurality of hole groups arranged in the radial direction, and the individual holes of each hole group are inclined in the radial direction at different predetermined angles with respect to the horizontal plane. A container inspection device characterized by being formed as described above. 4. The container inspection device according to claim 3,
The container inspection device, wherein the individual holes of the hole group are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. 5. The container inspection device according to claim 3,
A container inspection device, wherein each hole of each hole group is formed so as to be inclined in a circumferential direction at a predetermined angle with respect to a horizontal plane. 6. The container inspection apparatus according to claim 1,
The container inspecting device, wherein the image means comprises a wide-angle lens that transmits reflected light from the entire inner surface of the container and a two-dimensional CCD image sensor that receives the light that has passed through the wide-angle lens. 7. The container inspection apparatus according to claim 1,
The container inspection device characterized in that the dirt identifying means identifies the dirt by performing image processing on the signal obtained from the image means. 8. The container inspection apparatus according to claim 1,
The stain identifying means is a standard image sample storing means for storing in advance a negative image of an image of a stain-free container as a standard image sample in a memory, an inspection image obtained from a container to be inspected, and the standard image. A standard image sample from the sample storage means to obtain an image of a constant color tone. 9. The container inspection device according to claim 8,
The container inspecting apparatus, wherein the dirt identifying unit further comprises a mask unit for masking an image portion other than the inspection portion in image processing.