JPH1035862A - Carrying device and visual inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To carry elliptic-spherical tables while reversing them, and facilitate the change of size without generating noise and dust by providing an oblique part at a part of a passage so as to obliquely pass the object to be carried, and rolling the object to be carried in the direction crossing the carrying direction on a conveyor belt. SOLUTION: Each passage 11 is provided along the carrying direction of a belt conveyor, and tablets (t) placed on the conveyor belt for supply are carried inside of the passage 11. Furthermore, an oblique part 12 obliquely passed in relation to the carrying direction is formed at an intermediate part of the passage 11. Oblique width of the oblique part 12 is formed nearly the same with a half 1/2c of the peripheral length of a minor diameter part r1 of the elliptic-spherical tablet (t), and the tablet (t) is turned at 180 degree for reversal in this oblique part 12. With this structure, generation of noise and dust can be prevented, and change of size is facilitated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a conveying device suitably used for inspecting the appearance of an oval spherical tablet and an appearance inspecting device using the conveying device.
The transported object can be reversed during transport,
The present invention relates to a transport device and a visual inspection device capable of transporting a stable posture even when an object to be transported is an elliptical sphere, and capable of performing an external inspection efficiently and reliably.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For tablets, capsules, and the like, appearance inspections are performed to remove those having defects such as mixing of foreign matter, deformation, and cracks.
In general, a visual inspection is performed in which an inspection target, such as a tablet or a capsule, is transported in an aligned state, and an inspector removes defective products from the transported tablet or capsule. In recent years, tablets and capsules being transported have been photographed with a camera, and images captured using a computer have been subjected to various image processings to judge pass / fail and automatically perform inspections by sorting out defective products. Inspection equipment has also begun to spread.

Here, when the appearance of the above-mentioned tablets and capsules is inspected, it is naturally necessary to inspect both the front side and the back side (in the case of capsules, the whole circumference). Even during inspection, it is necessary to invert tablets and capsules during transportation.

In this case, in the case of a capsule, it is possible to inspect the entire circumference by transporting the capsule while rolling it. In the case of tablets, a transport drum having a large number of storage pockets is used, the tablets are stored and transported in the storage pockets, and the tablets are transferred between the two drums. The tablets are placed between a pair of string-shaped round belts arranged in parallel with the drum system to be inverted, and the tablets are conveyed by sucking them with the suction force of the blower, and from the upper and lower sides of the round belt respectively. A round belt system for inspecting the front and back of a tablet is known.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned drum system, the processing cost of the drum is very high, and the drum must be replaced every time the size of the tablet changes. The replacement work is also complicated. Further, since this drum system has a configuration in which a plurality of transport drums are vertically connected, there is a disadvantage that the height of the apparatus is increased and the handling is inferior.

Further, the above-mentioned round belt system requires a powerful blower to adsorb the tablets, and generates a loud noise. In addition, there is a problem that ambient dust is easily attracted and adhered to the tablets.

[0007] Furthermore, the method of transporting rolls employed in capsules and the like is, for example, in the case of an elliptical spherical tablet, the rolling method is unstable, and the method of transporting the tablets, whether visually or automatically using a camera, is used. It is difficult to perform a visual inspection.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to turn over an elliptical tablet while transporting it, without causing problems of noise and dust, and with easy and complicated work. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transport device that can be easily resized without requiring a device and that can be configured relatively inexpensively, and a visual inspection device using the transport device.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a belt conveyor for placing an object to be conveyed on a flat belt-shaped conveyor belt, and a conveying direction above the conveyor belt. And a through-groove-shaped passage formed along the belt conveyor, and a conveying device that places an object to be conveyed on a conveyor belt of the belt conveyor and conveys the inside of the passage, wherein a part of the passage is provided. A skewed portion is provided, the conveyed object is skewed in the skewed portion, and the conveyed object is conveyed while being rolled on a conveyor belt in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, so that the conveyed object is conveyed during conveyance. Provided is a transport device characterized in that the transport device is configured to be inverted at the skewed portion.

As described above, the transport device of the present invention is provided along the transport direction when the transported object is transported by placing the transported object on the flat belt-shaped conveyor belt. By allowing the transported object to pass through the through-groove-shaped passage, even if the transported object is an oval spherical tablet, if the tablet is transported along the length direction of the elliptical sphere, It can be transported in a stable posture on a certain track guided by the above passage. Furthermore, in this case, in the device of the present invention,
Since a skew portion is provided in a part of this passage, and the conveyed object is skewed obliquely with respect to the conveyance direction,
The conveyed object will be conveyed while rolling in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction on the conveyor belt at this skewed portion,
The skewed portion can reverse the elliptical spherical object.

Therefore, it is possible to carry out an appearance inspection on the front side of the object to be conveyed on the front side in the conveying direction of the skewed section, and to carry out an appearance inspection on the back side on the rear side in the conveying direction of the skewed section. Before and after the skewed portion where the inspection is performed, as described above, the transported object is transported in a stable posture on a fixed trajectory,
The appearance inspection can be surely performed.

Further, the transfer device of the present invention does not require expensive parts such as a transfer drum, can be constructed relatively inexpensively, and can change the width of the through groove-shaped passage. Since it is possible to easily cope with objects of various sizes, it is easy to handle and the size can be easily changed without complicated work. Further, since there is no need for a blower for adsorbing tablets or the like as a conveyed object, there is no problem of noise and dust.

Further, the present invention provides a visual inspection apparatus using this conveyor, which comprises: a belt conveyor for mounting the object to be inspected on a flat belt-shaped conveyor belt; and conveying the object to be inspected above the conveyor belt in the conveying direction. A through-groove-shaped passage formed along a part of the skewed part, an object supply means for continuously supplying the object to be inspected onto the conveyor belt, and a front side of the skewed part in a conveying direction. A first camera for photographing the object to be inspected, and a second camera for photographing the object to be inspected on the rear side of the skewed section in the transport direction. The object to be inspected is continuously supplied on the conveyor belt, and the object to be inspected is placed on the conveyor belt and conveyed in the passage, and the object to be inspected is skewed in the skew portion, Place the test object on a conveyor belt By transporting while rolling in a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction, the inspection object is inverted at the skewed portion during transportation, and the inspection object is photographed by the first camera on the near side in the transport direction of the skewed portion. And inspecting the front surface of the inspection object by inspecting the back surface of the inspection object by photographing the inspection object with the second camera at the rear side in the transport direction of the skewed portion. Provide equipment.

That is, this appearance inspection apparatus uses the transport device of the present invention to convey an object to be inspected, and the object to be inspected by a first camera on the front side of the skewed portion for inverting the object to be inspected. While taking a picture and capturing the image of the front side of the inspection object,
By taking an image of the inspected object after inversion by the second camera behind the skewed portion, capturing an image of the back side of the inspected object, and performing an appearance inspection by a known method using the obtained image, The whole surface of the inspection object is inspected.

Therefore, according to the appearance inspection apparatus, the appearance inspection can be automatically performed, and the appearance inspection can be reliably performed even if the inspected object is an oval spherical tablet.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 show an appearance inspection device provided with a transport device according to one embodiment of the present invention. This appearance inspection device is used for, for example, mixing and adhesion of foreign substances for an elliptical dragee, It automatically inspects for any deformation, dirt, scratches, cracks, etc. and sorts out defective products.

The appearance inspection apparatus includes a tablet supply unit (inspection object supply means) 1 for supplying an elliptical tablet t, which is an inspection object, and a transportation unit 2 for transporting the supplied tablet t.
And an inspection unit 3 for inspecting the tablet t being conveyed and judging pass / fail.
And a sorting unit 4 for sorting defective products.

The tablet supply section 1 is composed of a square funnel-shaped hopper 5, a vibration feeder 6, and a vibration plate 7. The vibration plate 7 is finely vibrated by the vibration feeder 6. The tablets t in the hopper 5 are supplied onto the diaphragm 7. As shown in FIG. 1, the upper surface of the diaphragm 7 is divided into a plurality of lanes (five lanes in the figure) by a plurality of partition walls 8 and slightly in one direction (left side in the figure). The tablet t in each lane is sent in one direction in an aligned state by being vibrated by the vibration feeder 6 in an inclined state.

The transport section 2 includes a belt conveyor 10 having a flat belt-shaped conveyor belt 9 and a plurality of (five in FIG. 5) through-groove passages 11 disposed above the conveyor belt 9. It is configured.

The belt conveyor 10 is arranged such that one end thereof is close to the tip of the diaphragm 7 and the tablets t supplied from the diaphragm 7 are placed on the conveyor belt 9 and the other end thereof is placed on the conveyor belt 9. Is transported to the separation unit 4 provided in the printer. In this case, the conveying speed of the tablets t by the belt conveyor 10 is set to be slightly higher than the feeding speed of the tablets t by the vibrating feeder 6, whereby the tablets t supplied from the vibrating plate 7 are separated for a predetermined interval. It is conveyed in the state where it was done. The conveyor belt 9 is preferably formed of a material having relatively large frictional resistance, and is not particularly limited, but is preferably a rubber flat belt.

Each of the passages 11 is provided along the direction of conveyance by the belt conveyer 10 so as to be continuous from each lane of the diaphragm 7, and is supplied and placed on the conveyor belt 9 from the diaphragm 7. The tablet t is transported in this passage. Further, a skewed portion 12 that is skewed obliquely with respect to the transport direction is provided at an intermediate portion of each of the passages 11.
Are formed, and the tablet t is inverted at the inclined rear portion 12.

Here, the skew portion 12 of the passage 11 will be described with reference to FIG. 5. The skew width s of the skew portion 12 (see FIG. 5C) is shorter than that of the oval spherical tablet t. The width of the tablet t is almost the same as the half of the outer peripheral length at the diameter r1 (see FIGS. 7A and 7B). Can be done. In this case, the skew width s is determined by the relationship between the angle θ in the skew direction d2 with respect to the transport direction d1 and the length L of the skew portion 12 (see FIG. 7C). If θ is too large, the tablet t may be caught by the skewed portion 12 and may not be able to be transported smoothly, and the reversing operation of the tablet t may be unstable, while the angle θ is small. If too long, tablet 180
(4) The length L of the skewing portion 12 must be increased in order to rotate the device, which increases the size of the device. Accordingly, although not particularly limited, the skew angle θ is preferably about 14 °. The width w of the passage 11 is set slightly larger than the minor diameter r1 of the tablet t so that the elliptical spherical tablet t can move along the major axis r2 (see FIG. 7A). In this case, the tablets t
Is preferably set so that a clearance of about 1 mm can be obtained between the tablet t and the inner wall of the passage 11. It is preferable that both side walls forming the passage 11 have a low frictional resistance whose surface is treated with tetrafluoroethylene or the like.

Next, the inspection unit 3 includes two line sensor cameras 13a and 13b, illumination devices 14a and 14b,
Computer (not shown) that performs image processing and quality judgment
It is composed of Of the two cameras, the first
The camera 13a is installed so as to photograph the tablet t being conveyed on the front side in the conveying direction of the skewing section 12, and
The second camera 13b is installed on the rear side of the skewed section 12 in the transport direction so as to photograph the tablet t being transported. The illuminating devices 14a and 14b illuminate the imaged locations of the first and second cameras 13a and 13b, respectively. Further, the computer (not shown) performs various image processings on the images obtained by the first camera 13a and the second camera 13b, and removes foreign matter from the obtained images according to a known method, such as mixing of foreign matter, deformation, and cracking. A defect is detected to determine the quality. The dashed lines 20a and 20b in FIG. 1 correspond to the cameras 13a and 13b, respectively.
b is a photographing line.

Further, the sorting section 4 includes a sorting machine 19 including a piston cylinder 17 and a sorting pipe 18, a good product collecting can 15, and a defective product collecting can 16. The sorting unit 4 is provided at the rear end of the belt conveyor 10 and sorts and collects the transported tablets t into non-defective product collection cans 15 and defective product collection cans 16 based on the quality judgment by the computer. Things.

That is, as shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the conveyed tablets t are collected into the non-defective product collection can 15 through the distribution pipe 18, and as a result of the quality judgment by the computer, when it is judged to be defective,
(B) As shown in the figure, the piston cylinder 1
7 operates to move the distribution pipe 18 rearward and collect the defective tablets t 'directly from the belt conveyor 10 to the defective product collection can 16. In addition, the separator 19 including the piston cylinder 17 and the distribution pipe 18
As shown in FIG. 3, the computer is provided for each of the passages 11, and the pass / fail judgment is performed by the computer for each of the passages 11 to sort out defective products.

Next, a series of operations in the case of inspecting the appearance of an oval tablet using this appearance inspection apparatus will be described.

First, an oval-shaped tablet t to be inspected is accommodated in the hopper 5 of the tablet supply section 1, and the vibration feeder 6, the belt conveyor 10, the distributor 19, the camera 13
a, 13b, the lighting devices 14a, 14b, and a computer (not shown) are started.

The tablets t in the hopper 5 are placed in an aligned state in each lane on the diaphragm 7 and
Are sequentially sent to the belt conveyor 10 by the vibrations caused by the vibration, and are supplied onto the conveyor belt 9 of the belt conveyor 10. In this case, as described above, the transport speed by the belt conveyor 10 is set slightly higher than the feed speed of the tablets t by the vibrating feeder 6,
The tablets t sequentially placed on the conveyor belt 9 are transported at predetermined intervals.

The tablets t placed on the conveyor belt 9 of the belt conveyor 10 are conveyed to the sorting section 4 by the circulating motion of the conveyor belt 10. At this time, the tablets t move in the passage 11 while being placed on the conveyor belt 9, and are conveyed while being guided by the passage 11.
Then, at a position before the skewed section 12, the first camera 1
3a, an image of the front side (the surface facing upward at this time) is captured, and then the tablet t passes through the above-mentioned skewed portion 12 of the passage 11 and is guided by the skewed portion 12 at this time. The paper is conveyed while being skewed, and is rotated by 180 ° and turned over.
3b, the image of the back side (the surface facing upward after passing through the skewed section 12) is captured, and then the sorting section 4
Sent to.

The front side image of the tablet t captured by the first camera 13a and the back side image of the tablet t captured by the second camera 13b are image-processed by a computer (not shown) by known means. Then, a defect such as mixing of foreign matter, deformation, cracking, and the like is detected, and quality is determined. The sorting machine 19 operates as described above in accordance with the result of the pass / fail judgment, and separates and collects defective products and non-defective products.

Here, the reversing operation of the tablet t in the skewing section 12 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in the figure, when passing through the skewed section 12, the tablet t is guided by the skewed section 12 and
The sheet obliquely moves in the oblique direction (the direction of the arrow f1 in the figure) with respect to the transport direction (the direction of the arrow F in the figure). At this time, the tablet t
(A), the force F generated by the weight of the tablets t and the friction coefficient of the conveyor belt 9 due to the movement of the conveyor belt 9 as shown in FIG. (Referred to as “inner wall”) can be decomposed into a force f1 skewed in parallel to the inner wall and a force f2 generated perpendicular to the inner wall, and the tablet t skewed by f1 as shown in FIG. The force r against the force f2 is generated from the contact point between the tablet t and the inner wall, and the rotation moment acting on the tablet t by an amount that overcomes the reversal prevention moment f3 due to the frictional force with the inner wall acts on the tablet t, and the tablet t is placed on the conveyor belt 9. Rotate to roll. As a result, the tablets t
, The paper is conveyed while rolling on the conveyor belt 9 in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction.

As described above, the appearance inspection apparatus of this embodiment is
When the tablets t are placed on the conveyor belt 9 and transported, the tablets t are made to pass through the through-groove-shaped passages 11 provided along the transport direction. Even if t is an elliptical sphere, by conveying the tablet t along the length direction of the elliptical sphere, the above-mentioned passage 1
1 and can be conveyed on a fixed orbit in a stable posture. Further, in this case, the skew portion 12 is provided in a part of the passage 11 so that the tablet t is skewed obliquely with respect to the conveying direction. The sheet is conveyed while rolling on the belt 9 in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction.
In step 2, the oval spherical tablet t can be inverted.

Therefore, it is possible to carry out an external appearance inspection of the front side of the tablet t on the front side in the transport direction of the skewed section 12 and an external appearance inspection on the rear side behind the skewed section 12 in the transport direction. Before and after the skewed section 12 where these inspections are performed, the tablet t is conveyed in a stable posture on a fixed trajectory as described above, so that the appearance inspection can be reliably performed.

The transfer device used in the visual inspection device does not require expensive parts such as a transfer drum, and can be constructed relatively inexpensively. By simply changing the width, tablets t (transported objects) of various sizes can be easily handled, so that the size can be easily changed without requiring complicated and easy handling. Further, since there is no need for a blower for adsorbing the tablet t, there is no problem of noise and dust.

The transport device and the appearance inspection device of the present invention are not limited to the above embodiment, and the configurations of the tablet supply unit 1, the inspection unit 3, the sorting unit 4 and the like can be appropriately changed. Further, in the above embodiment, the tablets t being transported are photographed by the cameras 13a and 13b, and the appearance inspection is performed. However, the tablet t being transported may be visually inspected by an inspector. Other configurations may be appropriately changed without departing from the gist of the present invention. Furthermore, the transport device and the visual inspection device of the present invention can also be used for transport or visual inspection other than oval spherical tablets,
For example, a capsule can be transported and inspected similarly.

[0036]

As described above, the conveying device of the present invention can turn over an elliptical tablet while conveying it, does not cause noise and dust problems, and is easy to handle and complicated. The size can be easily changed without requiring a complicated operation, and the configuration can be made relatively inexpensively. Therefore, according to the appearance inspection apparatus of the present invention using this transport device, it is possible to reliably perform the appearance inspection on the entire surface of the elliptical inspection object despite its relatively simple structure. Moreover, there is no problem of noise, dust and cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a transport device and a visual inspection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view showing the same device.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are explanatory diagrams illustrating a mechanism for reversing an object to be conveyed (inspection object) in the same apparatus. FIG. 3A is a partially enlarged plan view, and FIG. FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a mechanism for separating non-defective products and non-defective products in the apparatus.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a relationship between a skewed portion of a passage constituting the apparatus and an object to be conveyed (object to be inspected).

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 tablet supply unit (inspection object supply unit) 2 conveyance unit (conveyance device) 3 inspection unit 4 separation unit 9 conveyor belt 10 belt conveyor 11 passage 12 sloping unit 13a first camera 13b second camera t tablet (subject Conveyed object, inspection object)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A belt conveyor for placing and transporting an article to be transported on a flat belt-shaped conveyor belt, and a through-groove-like passage formed along the transport direction above the conveyor belt. In a transfer device for placing an object to be conveyed on a conveyor belt of the belt conveyor and conveying the object in the passage, a skew portion is provided in a part of the passage, and the object is conveyed by the skew portion. By skewing, the conveyed object is conveyed while being rolled on a conveyor belt in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, so that the conveyed object is inverted at the skewed portion during conveyance. Transport device. 2. The transportation according to claim 1, wherein the object to be transported is an oval spherical tablet, and a large number of the tablets are arranged in a longitudinal direction of the tablet, placed in a passage, and continuously transported. apparatus. 3. A belt conveyor for placing an object to be inspected on a conveyor belt in the form of a flat belt and transporting the same, and a through-hole formed on the upper side of the conveyor belt along the transport direction and partially having a skewed portion. A groove-shaped passage, an inspection object supply means for continuously supplying the inspection object on the conveyor belt, a first camera for photographing the inspection object on the near side in the conveying direction of the skewed section, A second camera for photographing the object to be inspected on the rear side in the conveying direction of the skewed section, wherein the object to be inspected is continuously supplied onto the conveyor belt of the belt conveyor by the object to be inspected supply means. , While placing the object to be inspected on the conveyor belt and transporting the inside of the path,
The object to be inspected is skewed in the skewed portion, and the object to be inspected is conveyed while being rolled on a conveyor belt in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction. The first camera captures an image of the object to be inspected on the near side in the conveying direction of the skewed portion to inspect the surface of the object, and the second camera is provided on the rear side in the conveying direction of the skewed portion. A visual inspection apparatus for photographing an object to be inspected and inspecting a back surface of the object.