JPH09271734A - Device for removing hindrance to inspection - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an error in judgment of inspection by removing a friction reducing agent stuck on the bottom part of the vessel before an inspection process in which the bottom part of a glass vessel is inspected for flaws, soil or the like. SOLUTION: A bottle to be inspected 1 is carried out from an outlet star wheel 15 through an inlet star wheel 11, a first inspection table 12, an intermediate star wheel 13 and a second inspection rotary table 14. The bottle 1 is inspected for a defect in the side part thereof and for a defect in the bottom part thereof by the first inspection rotary table 12 and the second inspection rotary table 14 respectively. The inlet star wheel 11 is provided with a washing water jetting nozzle 23 for washing the bottle bottom and an air jetting nozzle for blowing air 24. In this way, a friction reducing agent which becomes a hindrance to inspection of the bottle bottom stuck on the bottle bottom is washed and removed the a process in which the bottle is conveyed to a bottle inspection device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inspection device for inspecting the presence or absence of defects such as scratches and stains on a container formed of a material having high light transmission such as a glass container. It is an object of the present invention to provide a removing device that removes adhered substances such as a lubricant (friction reducing agent) that adheres to the bottom of a container while being conveyed to the inspection device and makes or hinders the inspection.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Containers made of highly light-transmissive materials such as glass containers, which are widely used for filling drinking water such as tea, soft drinks, beer, etc., can be filled before or after filling the contents. After that, it is inspected whether or not there are defects such as stains on the container, chipping of the container, and cracks. An optical inspection device is generally used for the defect inspection of the container.

FIG. 11 shows an example of an optical glass bottle bottom inspection device, and shows a schematic configuration of the device. The inspection apparatus main body 100 includes a CCD camera 101 for photographing the bottom of the bottle 1 via a mirror 107, a strobe main body 102 having an illuminating device 102a, and a bottle base 105 for supporting the bottle.
A rotary table 104 that conveys bottles and a control device 103 that performs various controls of the inspection device are provided. The bottle base is rotatably attached to the rotary table 104, and a glass window 109 is provided on the top on which the bottle is placed. Further, above the rotary table 104, a top locator 106 for pressing the bottle mouth and rotating the bottle at the bottle inspection position is provided. The rotary table 104 is provided with an encoder 108,
The transport position of the bottle to be inspected is detected, and the operation timing of the strobe 102 and the CCD camera 101 is set.

When the bottle 1 to be inspected is conveyed to the inspection position by the rotary table, the control device 103 operates the strobe 102 to cause the illumination device 102a to emit light, and the CCD camera 101 captures an image of the bottom of the bottle 1. To do.
The image obtained by the CCD camera 101 is the monitor TV 1.
The image signal is displayed by 10, and the video signal is arithmetically processed by the inspection machine main body 100 so that it can be detected if the bottom of the bottle is scratched or a foreign substance is present in the bottle. When a foreign substance or other defect is detected, for example, the removing device 120 is operated to remove the corresponding bottle from the transport line.

[0005]

By the way, such a container having a good light transmission property such as a glass bottle is carefully cleaned and disinfected inside and outside of the container before being subjected to the container inspection, and is subjected to the above-mentioned inspection process by a belt conveyor. Come out.

However, in order to prevent the container from tipping over or being damaged due to the congestion of the container at the part where the width of the conveyer path is narrowed or the part where the convey direction is changed (the part to be transferred to the next conveyor), the surface of this belt conveyer is prevented. Is coated with a friction-reducing agent (lubricant, surfactant) such as soap solution to appropriately reduce the friction between the bottle bottom and the conveyor surface. When the bottle bottom is inspected with a friction reducing agent such as soap liquid that adheres to the outer surface of the bottle bottom of the glass container, the friction reducing agent itself does not adhere to the inside of the bottle. Although there was no problem, there was a risk of being judged as dirty or defective. Further, in addition to the friction reducing agent, there is a possibility that an adhering substance that malfunctions the inspection device may adhere to the inspection device before it reaches the inspection device, although there is no problem on the product.

The present invention is for solving the above-mentioned problems, and a container having a high light transmittance, such as a glass container, which has reached a container inspection device through a conveyor-carrying path, is passed through the carrying path. This is to remove the above-mentioned friction reducing agent and other deposits adhering to the bottom of the container.First, water or a cleaning agent is sprayed onto the bottom of the container to wash away the deposit, and then compressed air to the bottom of the container. An object of the present invention is to provide an inspection inhibitor removal device characterized in that deposits such as a friction reducing agent remaining on the bottom of the container and the liquid used for cleaning are blown out of the container by spraying. .

[0008]

The above-mentioned problems can be solved by the following solving means. The inspection obstruction removal device of the present invention removes adhered substances adhering to the bottom surface of a container having high light transmittance such as a glass container conveyed by a conveying device before an inspection step for inspecting defects at the bottom of the container. Which is a test obstruction removing device, wherein the cleaning water spraying means sprays cleaning water onto the bottom surface of the container from below, and a gas that sprays gas onto the bottom surface of the container from below below after spraying the cleaning water. And a spraying means.

According to the present invention, before the glass container or the like is transferred to the inspection process for inspecting the bottom of the container for defects such as cracks and dirt, the deposits such as the lubricant adhered to the bottom of the container are removed. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the defect inspecting device at the bottom of the container from erroneously determining a deposit such as a friction reducing agent as a crack or a stain attached to the bottom inside the container. .

Further, by providing suction means for sucking the bottom surface of the container after the gas blowing means, it is possible to more reliably remove the test inhibitor. In addition,
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The inspection obstacle removing device of the present invention is particularly suitable for cleaning a container on the bottom surface of which a friction reducing agent used for a conveyor is attached.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below by applying the present invention to a bottle inspection device used for beer, liquor, drinking water and the like. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a glass bottle inspection device 10.
In FIG. 1, the bottle inspection device 10 includes an inlet star wheel 11, a first inspection rotary table 12, an intermediate star wheel 13, a second inspection rotary table 14, and an outlet star wheel 15. The bottle 1 to be inspected is an inlet star wheel 11, an inlet star wheel 11, a first
Inspection rotary table 12, intermediate star wheel 13,
The second inspection rotary table 14 and the exit star wheel 15 are sequentially conveyed. The inlet star wheel 11 is provided with a fountain nozzle 23 and an air jet nozzle 24, which will be described later. The first inspection rotary table 12 is provided with a side inspection device 16 for bottles, in which the body 1 of the bottle 1 is inspected for defects. The bottle 1 discharged from the first inspection rotary table 12 is transferred to the second inspection rotary table 14 via the intermediate star wheel 13. In the second inspection rotary table 14, the bottom inspection device 17 inspects the bottom of the bottle for defects. The bottle 1 exiting the second inspection rotary table 14 is transferred to a predetermined unloading line via the exit star wheel 15.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the arrangement of the entrance star wheel 11 and its peripheral equipment. The bottle 1 whose inside and outside have been washed by a device (not shown) is conveyed by the inlet conveyor 20 and introduced into the inlet star wheel 11 to guide the guide 2.
1 and the star wheel 11 are configured to move while being supported on the side surface portion thereof and the bottle bottom portion by the transport rail 22. A plurality of water spray nozzles 23 are arranged along a part of the transfer rail 22 along the transfer rail 22, and air injection nozzles 24 are arranged at predetermined positions downstream in the transfer direction.

The fountain nozzle 23 is set so as to eject water or washing water toward the bottom of the bottle as shown in FIG. This fountain nozzle 23 has a bottle 1 which is a bottle inspection device 1
This is for cleaning and removing a friction reducing agent such as a lubricant or a surfactant applied on the conveyor attached to the bottom of the bottle in the process of being conveyed to 0.

The installation position of the fountain nozzle 23 is below the transfer guide 21 that supports one side surface of the bottle to be transferred, and is slightly below the bottom of the bottle, and its jet outlet is directed to the upper bottle bottom. The inclination angle of the nozzle 23 with respect to the horizontal plane is about 10 ° or less, and the nozzle 23 is in a substantially lying state. This is because if the angle is increased so that the nozzle stands upright toward the bottom of the bottle, the sprayed water will not spread over a wide area of the bottle bottom and sufficient cleaning cannot be performed. Further, by setting such an angle as lying down, the bottom of the bottle is recessed upward, and even if the bottle 1 is placed on the rail 22, the washing water cannot be sprayed toward the center of the bottom of the bottle. It will be possible. Further, if the cleaning water is continuously spouted when the bottles are continuously sent, the cleaning water reaches the side surface of the bottle at the boundary between the bottles and the first bottle inspection apparatus This is because it will hinder the inspection of the bottle side portion of the inspection star wheel. The position where the sprayed cleaning water is applied is approximately at the center of the bottom of the bottle. Further, not only one fountain nozzle but also a plurality of fountain nozzles are arranged so that a certain range can be washed simultaneously. In this embodiment, four fountain nozzles are arranged so that they can be ejected simultaneously.

The bottle 1 which has undergone the washing process using the fountain nozzle 23.
Are then sent to the air injection process by the air injection nozzle 24. As shown in FIG. 4, the air injection nozzle 24 is installed so as to eject air from a position obliquely below the bottom of the bottle toward the center of the bottom of the bottle. This air jetting step scatters and removes the washing water and the friction reducing agent that have not been removed in the washing step performed previously by the fountain nozzle.

The air jet nozzle 24 has a plurality of nozzle openings arranged in a line and integrated into a nozzle so that the nozzles are directed toward the transport path.
They are installed in rows (see Fig. 2), and at the same time, a wide range of air can be blown. This air jet nozzle 2
Similarly to the fountain nozzle 23, the nozzle 4 is also laid on a horizontal surface. When the nozzle is set up, the flow of air becomes dull, and the effect of splashing the washing water remaining on the bottom of the bottle is reduced.

After cleaning the bottom of the bottle, the bottle 1 is moved to the first inspection rotary table 12 (see FIG. 1) and inspected for the presence of cracks, cracks and stains on the bottle mouth and body. It should be noted that this inspection method is performed using a light source and a CCD image sensor as in the above-described bottle bottom inspection method. Next, the bottle 1 has an intermediate star wheel 13
After passing through the second inspection rotary table 14, the bottle bottom is inspected while moving the star wheel.

The bottles 1 that have undergone all the inspections move to the exit star wheel 15, where they are sorted into good bottles and defective bottles based on the inspection results that have already been carried out, and sent to the conveying means. FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the air injection nozzles are provided in two stages of the first air injection nozzle 25 and the second air injection nozzle 26. The first air injection nozzle 25 has the same structure as the above-mentioned air injection nozzle 24, but the first air injection nozzle 25 attaches importance to the air volume of the air rather than the pressure and scatters and removes bubbles and water droplets over a wide range. Set to do. Further, the second air injection nozzle 26 emphasizes the wind pressure rather than the air volume, and mainly removes the water droplets remaining on the bottom of the bottle. FIG. 6 shows the installation state of the second air injection nozzle 26. The nozzle is installed in a substantially horizontal position below the transport guide 21 so that the air ejection direction is not obstructed by the rail supporting the bottle 1 Oriented towards the center of the bottom. By the air injection by the second air injection nozzle 26, bubbles and water droplets attached to the bottle bottom can be almost completely scattered and removed.

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the first and second air nozzles shown in FIG.
In the embodiment provided in stages, the intermediate star wheel 13
Is provided with a plate 27 in contact with the bottom of the bottle. The plate 27 is provided with a plurality of holes 28, and the surface of the bottle bottom is sucked from below the plate 28 using a suction pump or the like so that suction air can be circulated through the holes 28.

The bottle 1 can further remove water droplets and the like remaining on the bottom of the bottle by suction air while moving the intermediate star wheel 13. In each of the above-described embodiments, the water jet nozzle and the air jet nozzle are the first inspection rotary table 12.
Although they are arranged in front of the side inspection device 16 of FIG. 1, these do not necessarily have to be at this position, and may be located before the bottle bottom inspection step. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, it is possible to arrange a cleaning process using a fountain and a removing process using an air jet on the upstream side of the perforated plate 27 of the intermediate star wheel 13.

Next, FIG. 8 to FIG. 10 show the results of an experiment conducted to confirm the effect of the test inhibitor removing apparatus according to the present invention. These experimental results are for the entrance star wheel 1
1, the washing water jet by the washing water jet nozzle provided in 1.
The result of photographing the bottom of the bottle when air jetting by the air jetting nozzle and suction air means by the perforated plate 27 provided on the intermediate star wheel 13 are operated individually or in combination is shown.

In FIG. 8, (a) cleaning water jet, (b) air jet, and (c) suction air are individually operated. As can be seen from the figure, if only the washing water is jetted, In this case, the lubricant and bubbles of cleaning water remain, which hinders the inspection. Also, in the case of only air injection,
As in (b), also in this case, the foam of the lubricant remains on the bottom of the bottle almost all over the bottom of the bottle. Further, even if only the suction air is operated as in (c), the lubricant remains similarly.

FIG. 9 shows the result of using two of the above-mentioned means in combination. FIG. 9 (a) shows a case where both cleaning water injection and air injection are used, but as can be seen, almost no lubricant or cleaning water inspection inhibitor remains, and a good bottle bottom inspection can be performed. . It is understood that the combination of the cleaning water and the suction air in (b) and the combination of the air injection and the suction air in (c) are not preferable because the lubricant and the cleaning water remain.

FIG. 10 shows the results of activating all of the cleaning water jetting, air jetting, and suction air, and as shown in this figure, the test inhibitor can be removed almost completely. As described above, as shown in FIG. 9 (a), by performing cleaning water spraying and then air spraying by the air spray nozzle, a test object that is a friction reducing agent such as a lubricant that adheres to the bottom of the bottle interferes with the test. Can be removed to the extent that there is no Further, as shown in FIG. 10, after the air is jetted, by further sucking the surface of the bottom surface of the container, the test inhibitor can be removed more reliably.

Although the bottle to be inspected has been described as an empty bottle before being filled with the contents in the above-mentioned embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the empty bottle, and the bottle filled with the contents is not limited thereto. It is clear that it can also be applied to.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, before the inspection step for inspecting the bottom of a container having high light transmittance such as a glass container conveyed by the conveying device, for cracks, stains and the like,
By providing cleaning water spraying means for spraying cleaning water on the bottom surface of the container from below, and gas spraying means for spraying cleaning water on the bottom surface of the container after spraying gas from below on the bottom of the container, Before the inspection, it is possible to clean and remove the deposits such as the friction reducing agent that adhere to the bottom of the container, which is an obstacle to the inspection, and prevent an error in the determination of the inspection device that inspects the bottom of the container for defects. Further, by providing the suction means for sucking the bottom surface of the container after the cleaning water spraying means and the gas spraying means, it is possible to reliably remove the deposit such as the friction reducing agent attached to the bottom of the container.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall schematic configuration of an embodiment of a test inhibitor removal device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan layout view of a water jet nozzle and an air jet nozzle.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing an arrangement state of fountain nozzles.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing an arrangement state of air injection nozzles.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing an arrangement state of second air injection nozzles.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a removed state of the friction reducing agent when each of the cleaning water jetting means, the air jetting means, and the air sucking means is operated independently.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a removal state of the friction reducing agent when the cleaning water jetting means, the air jetting means, and the air sucking means are operated in combination.

FIG. 10 is a view showing a removal state of the friction reducing agent when the cleaning water jetting means, the air jetting means, and the air sucking means are operated in combination.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a bottle bottom inspection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Bottle 11 Inlet Star Wheel 12 First Inspection Rotary Table 13 Middle Star Wheel 14 Second Inspection Rotary Table 15 Outlet Star Wheel 16 Side Inspection Device 17 Bottom Inspection Device 23 Wash Water Injection Nozzle 24 Air Injection Nozzle 25 First Air Injection Nozzle 26 Second Air Injection Nozzle 27 Perforated Plate

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An inspection obstruction removal for removing a friction reducing agent adhering to the bottom surface of a glass container conveyed by a conveying device before an inspection process for inspecting the bottom of the container for defects such as cracks and dirt. An apparatus, comprising: cleaning water spraying means for spraying cleaning water onto the bottom surface of the container from below the bottom, and gas spraying means for spraying gas onto the bottom surface of the container from below below the cleaning water. An inspection obstacle removing device characterized in that 2. The inspection obstacle removing device according to claim 1, further comprising suction means for sucking the bottom surface of the container after the gas blowing means.