JPH11116037A - Surface inspection and attitude setting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a surface inspection and attitude setting device, capable of automatic operation instead of manual operation. SOLUTION: A camera 60 is provided to rotationally drive a hourglass roller 20 to the same direction for photographing over the hourglass roller 20. An object 10 is stopped when a specific point 15 comes to a required position. A reflecting mirror 70 to see the whole object and a 90-degree rotating mechanism and a carrying mechanism for the object are provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a surface inspection / posture aligning apparatus suitable for automatic fruit sorting and sorting, box packing, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Vegetables and fruits have few scratches on the surface and excellent color tone depending on the type, which affect quality evaluation.
It greatly affects sales results. Therefore, it is necessary to inspect the surface of these vegetables and fruits, and in the past, the operator has to visually check the scratches and the color tone while holding it in his hand.

[0003] In addition, the work of aligning the orientation of vegetables and fruits for sale is also performed. For example, in the case of tomatoes, it is the opposite side with a waste that the appropriate ripeness and deliciousness appear. It is preferable for sale to arrange them side down.
As a means of aligning the posture, if the dimensions are constant and the geometric characteristics are clear such as industrial products, for example, bolts and bottle caps, it is conventionally automatically aligned and supplied. Many devices have been developed and used.
However, for example, aligning the toe side of the tomato to the bottom side described here means that even if it simply captures geometric features and tries to automatically process it, the shape of the tongue, the dimensions of the tomato itself, etc. Automation was difficult due to too many elements.

[0004] That is, in the related art, whether a surface inspection is performed or a posture is aligned, there is no other way than to make a visual judgment by an operator and to perform a manual operation.

[0005]

The conventional classification and sorting work performed by an operator has the following problems. 1. The manual work of the operator is troublesome, and there is variation in the grade judgment due to individual differences. 2. As a result of the concentration of the required amount during the prime season, there is a limit to the processing capacity, such as the case where the above-mentioned boxing work may become a bottleneck and the shipment cannot be carried out smoothly. 3. Simple repetitive work tends to be unpleasant, and it will become increasingly difficult to secure workers in the future.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a surface inspection / posture alignment apparatus that can be automated except for manual inspection and alignment work by an operator.

[0007]

The present invention that achieves the above object has the following matters specifying the invention. (1) A camera in which two conical rollers arranged in parallel with each other are rotatably driven in the same direction, and an image of an object placed on the two conical rollers and capable of rolling from above is taken. In the state where the singular point of the object rotated by the conical roller from the image captured by the camera reaches a predetermined position, the object does not contact the conical roller and stops. It is characterized by providing means.

(2) In the above (1), a reflecting mirror is installed on a side opposite to the object which can be rolled by being mounted on the conical roller, and an image reflected by the reflecting mirror is also taken by the camera. It is characterized in that shooting is performed at

(3) In the above (1), the means for stopping the object so as not to contact the conical roller may include means for rotating the object so as to change the direction of the object itself by approximately 90 °. It is characterized by having been added.

(4) In the above (1), the means for stopping the object by making it not contact with the conical roller is provided between two conical rollers arranged in parallel with each other. A bucket shaft that can be driven up and down is aligned with the center of the gap, and a bucket finger that extends from the bucket axis and scoops the object is positioned in the gap.

(5) The two continuous rollers arranged in parallel with each other, and the object is placed on the continuous roller and the object is rolled in a state where the singular point of the object reaches a predetermined position. A means for stopping the contact with the only roller is provided on the transport chain so that the roller can be transported.

(6) In the above (5), the means for stopping the object in a non-contact state with respect to the conical roller includes means for rotating the object so as to change the direction of the object itself by approximately 90 °. It is characterized by having been added.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Here, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 illustrates a basic configuration of a device for rolling and positioning and stopping a singular point of an object to be inspected, where (a) is a plan view and (b) is a plan view.
Is a side view, and (c) is a front view. In FIG. 1A, a continuous roller 20 has a roller shaft 21 whose bearing 2
2 and are rotatably mounted in parallel with each other, are connected so as to rotate in the same direction by a belt 24 and a pulley 23, and are driven by an electric motor 28 via pulleys 25 and 27 and a belt 26. When the object 10 to be inspected, such as a fruit, is placed between the two continuous rollers 20, the object 10 rotates in the opposite direction by the rotation of the roller 20 in the same direction as shown in FIG. For example, a singular point 15 such as a spatula periodically appears upward, as shown in FIG.
An image is taken by the camera 60 located above shown in FIG. Image data captured by the camera 60 is processed by an arithmetic unit (not shown) to calculate the time when the singular point 15 comes to a predetermined phase, and to stop the object 10 in accordance with the time. become.

When stopping the object 10, the object 10
Means for scooping up the roller 20
A bucket shaft of a bucket 32 having four fingers 30, 31 provided between the conical rollers 20 so as to ascend from below the center, as shown in FIGS. 1 (b) and 1 (c). 33 is raised by the operation of the lifting / lowering air cylinder 37, the object 10 is lifted to be the object 11 at the ascending position, and the contact with the conical roller 20 is cut off. The four fingers 30 and 31 rise and fall within the gap between the conical rollers 20, and do not interfere with the conical rollers 20. In the figure, 34 is a bearing, 3
5, 38 are pins, 36 is a piston end, and 39 is a pedestal.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1 (c), on both sides of the rotational position of the object, there are reflecting mirrors 70 installed facing each other.
The reflecting mirror 70 stores the entire object 10 in a camera 60. The camera 60 has a virtual image 1 in addition to the real image 10 of the object.
2 (on both sides) are also photographed at the same time, and by photographing several times continuously during one rotation, the entire surface of the object can be captured without blind spots, and the surface can be inspected.

The object 10 picked up by the four fingers 30 and 31 at the designated position, that is, the object 10 stopped in a state where the singular point 15 such as a flap is at a fixed position.
Is sucked by a vacuum suction pad 80 or the like shown in FIG. 1 (c) and transferred to a tray (not shown) which is transferred to a grade discriminating / sorting apparatus. In this case, the positioning of the singular point is not necessary if only the surface inspection is performed, but the positioning of the singular point is required if the posture is to be aligned.

According to the above-described configuration, when the object 10 is supplied onto the two continuous rollers 20, the object 10 is driven at a point in contact with the continuous roller and starts rotating.
If the circumference of the orbit of the contact point is different between the left and right rollers, the object is twisted until the right and left are balanced. And
Finally, the circumferences in contact with the roller 20 are equal on the left and right sides, and the roller 20 rotates stably. At that time, the rotation axis of the object 10 is parallel to the axis of the conical roller 20, and the singular point 15 on the object surface appears on the same trajectory. In rare cases, the singular point may coincide with the rotation axis position of the roller shaft 21, but generally moves on the same orbit by stable rotation. During this time, the camera 60 installed above the object 10
The object 10 is photographed without being overwhelmed, and the object 1
Shooting is performed several times while 0 rotates once. In addition, by seeing the virtual image 12 by the reflecting mirror 70, imaging without leakage around the entire circumference is ensured.

If the singular point 15 on the object surface is photographed for the first time and the second time appears on the same orbit, it may be considered that the rotation is stable. Therefore, when positioning the singular point 15, the rotation angle therebetween can be calculated by comparing the first phase and the second phase, and the rotation angular velocity can be determined from the time difference. Can be calculated when it comes to the top position. At this time, if the air cylinder 37 is driven to lift the object 10 and stop it accurately, the posture where the singular point 15 is at the uppermost position on the trajectory can be adjusted.

Although it depends on the shape of the object 10, in many objects 10, the singular point 15 can be stopped at the highest position of the object. However, depending on the shape of the object 10, the singular point 15 may not come to the uppermost position. That is, if the trajectory of the singular point 15 is the trajectory of the maximum diameter of the sphere, the singular point 15 comes to the highest point of the center of the object 10 on the roller 20 and stops. , But not the highest point of the object. Similarly, in the case of an ellipse, the singular point may not be the highest point. For this reason, the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 was further invented.

FIG. 2 shows an example of an apparatus provided with a 90 ° rotation function so that a singular point comes directly above or below an object. In FIG. 2B which is a side view, a part of the bucket shaft 33 to which the bucket 32 is attached is substantially 90
A sleeve 40 having a groove 41 for each angle is integrally mounted. The groove 41 is attached to the air cylinder 43 and meshes with a key 42 that enters and exits the groove 41. Further, the pulley 44 below the sleeve 40 is frictionally driven by a driving wheel 45 connected to a motor 46. At the lowermost end of the shaft 33, there is a groove 47 into which a roller 48 at one end of the fork-like lever 50 is fitted. Unlike the case of FIG. 1, the fulcrum 51 is moved by the operation of an air cylinder 55 connected to the other end of the fork-like lever 50. The bucket shaft 33 moves up and down freely as the center, and moves up and down.

When the object 10 is supplied onto the conical roller 20 and the rotation is stabilized, the singular point 15 becomes, for example, as shown in FIG.
It turns on the track 17 shown in FIG. As described above, when the singular point 15 comes to the uppermost position of the trajectory (not the uppermost position of the target object 10), the stop is stopped and the bucket 32 is raised. With the object 10 stopped and settled in the bucket 32, the key 42 is removed, the pulley 44 is rotated 90 ° by the driving wheel 45 and fixed by the key 42, and the conventional track 1
7 is at the position 19 in FIG. 2A, and the singular point 15 is at the position 18 in FIG. Then, when the bucket 32 is lowered, the object 10 starts to rotate again on the roller 20, at which time the singular point 18 is perpendicular to the roller shaft 21, and has a central portion as a trajectory, and passes through the highest position of the object 10. become. After the stable rotation, the motor stops at the designated position by the same calculation as described above. Thus, the singular point 15 of the object 10 can be determined at the highest position of the object. The object 10
The designated position can be selected at any position on the spherical surface by means for changing the direction by 90 °. In FIG. 2, 49, 53, and 56 are pins, 52 and 57 are pedestals, and 54 is a piston rod.

As apparent from FIGS. 1 and 2 and the description thereof, it is possible to carry out a surface inspection over the entire surface of the object 10 and to determine the position of the singular point of the object 10 on the object 1.
It can be positioned at the highest position of 0 or any selected position. The present invention further includes a device suitable for continuous processing for actual automatic fruit sorting and sorting boxes. FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 show an apparatus capable of transporting the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in order to continuously perform surface inspection and posture alignment of an object. In FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, a mechanism for raising and lowering the bucket shaft and a substantially 90 °
The rotation mechanism for changing the direction of the object shows an example different from those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and has a structure suitable for continuous processing.

In FIG. 3, a common plate 193 for mounting the bearing 122 of the roller 120 for rotating the object 110 is fixed to a link plate of a conveyor chain 192 driven by a driving device (not shown). That is, the continuous roller 120 is connected to the roller shaft 12.
1. Attached to the common plate 193 via the bearing 122, the common plate 193 can be moved by the conveyor chain 192. Further, a sprocket wheel 123 attached to the roller shaft 121 of the continuous roller 120 meshes with a drive chain 124, and the drive chain 124
5 is driven by another driving device (not shown).
The drive chain 124 and the sprocket wheel 123
Is to rotate the roller shaft 121 itself,
20 is driven to rotate in the same direction.

The common plate 193 to which the continuous roller 120 is attached via the bearing 122 is further provided with a box 19.
4 are attached. In the box 194, a bucket shaft 133 for supporting the rotating bucket 132 ascending and descending, or rotating, to lift and place the object 110 from the conical roller 120 as shown in FIG. Bearing 134 is accommodated.

A pin 148 is attached to the lower surface of the bearing 134, and a link 14 is provided between the pin 148 and a pin 151 at the lower end of the fixed frame 195 attached to the box 194.
7, a toggle mechanism comprising a lever 150 and a center pin 153, the lever 150 is raised by a rail 158 lifted by the operation of the air cylinder 155, the bearing 134 is raised in the box 194, and the bucket Shaft 133
And the bucket 132 rises. In this case, the box 194 and the fixed frame 195 are
The unit supported by 93 and uniting them is movable by the conveyor chain 192, and therefore, the above-mentioned toggle mechanism is also movable.
Air cylinder 155 for moving lever 150 and rail 1
58 is fixed to the unit.

Further, the pulley 14 is provided below the box 194.
4 and a Y-shaped lever 137 are provided. This structure is a mechanism that enables the bucket shaft 133 to rotate by approximately 90 degrees, and is a structure that is clearly shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 show a cross section taken along line AA of FIG. 3B. An index plate 140 that rotates integrally with the bucket shaft 133 is attached to a lower portion of the bucket shaft 133, and an upper portion of the pulley 144 The index plate 140 is provided with concave portions 141 at approximately 90 ° intervals so that the rollers 142 of the Y-shaped lever 137 are fitted. Y-shaped lever 137
The roller rotates about a fulcrum 135, and rollers 136 and 142 are attached to two points at the tip thereof, and a spring 138 is attached to another point. The spring 138 gives a force for fitting the roller 142 of the Y-shaped lever 137 into the concave portion 141 of the index plate 140.

FIG. 5 shows a situation where the bucket shaft is rotated by 90 °. At a 90 ° rotation position of the bucket shaft 133, the roller 136 of the Y-shaped lever 137 is rotated by the dog 146 attached to the frame 190. The Y-shaped lever 137 rotates about a fulcrum 135 against the force of the spring 138, and the roller 142
Deviates from 1. In this state, the bucket shaft 133 and the pulley 144 attached to the lower portion thereof are rotatable. At the same time, the pulley 144 hits the friction plate 145 attached to the frame 190, and the pulley 144 rotates and the bucket shaft 133 rotates as the unit mounted on the common plate 193 and the fixed frame 195 moves. When the bucket shaft 133 rotates by 90 °, the Y-shaped lever 137 is rotated by the force of the spring 138, and the roller 142 is fitted into the next concave portion 141 to perform indexing.

The imaginary line on the right side of FIG. 5 shows the state after 90 ° rotation, and the finger 13
This is a mechanism for placing the object 110 lifted by 0, 131 on the continuous roller 120 again.
When the roller 159 at the leading end of the roller 50 is pushed down by the fixed plate cam 197 as shown by the arrow B-B, the bucket 132 is lowered, and the object 110 is put on the continuous roller 120 and starts to rotate again. As means for lowering the bearing 134 to lower the bucket 132, the spring 19
8 (see FIG. 3). Note that FIG.
14A, the roller 159 at the tip of the lever 150
Is for smoothing the movement of the lever 150 when the unit moves, and slides on the surface of the fixed plate cam 197 at the upper limit of the lever 150 for raising the bucket 132 and the bearing 134 by the operation of the air cylinder 155. .

In FIG. 3A, members 196 and 191 on the fixed frame 190 are chain guides.

FIG. 6 shows the operation of the object 110 by the moving device shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, and is an explanatory view of the operation when the object 110 is continuously carried out while being conveyed. P
1 to P14 are symbols attached to the respective positions, and are assumed to sequentially proceed rightward from P1 to P14. FIG. 6A shows the relationship between the positions of the singular points 115 (118) and the mirror 170 and the relationship with the mirror 170 when viewed in a plan view, and FIG. Roller 120, bucket finger 130
The relationship is shown below. That is, the object 11 input at P1
0 is stable with the singular point 115 passing on the trajectory 117 between P1 and P4, the bucket rises at P5, the bucket rotates 90 ° at P6, and the bucket descends at P7 to lower the object 110
Is re-rotated, the trajectory 119 of the singular point 118 comes to the center, and the timing P1 at which the singular point 115 comes to the bottom, for example,
The figure shows a state in which the bucket is stopped at the position 0, the bucket is raised (P11), and the bucket is picked up by the vacuum pad 180 and sent to the next step with an appropriate interval.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining how the surface inspection / posture alignment apparatus of the present invention functions in a vegetable or fruit sorting and sorting facility. The target object 110 is sent on the supply conveyor a, and is supplied to the upstream part of the apparatus b at the terminal end. The object 10 whose surface has been inspected while being conveyed and whose posture has been aligned is transferred to the tray 81 on the sorting conveyor C by transfer means such as a vacuum pad near the downstream as described above, and stored. are sorted according to have data graded sorting conveyor d _1, ... shows a state to be cut out in such d _5.

[0032]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects. (1) A camera in which two conical rollers arranged in parallel with each other are rotatably driven in the same direction, and an image of an object placed on the two conical rollers and capable of rolling from above is taken. In the state where the singular point of the object rotated by the conical roller from the image captured by the camera reaches a predetermined position, the object does not contact the conical roller and stops. By installing the means, the object can be inspected entirely by its rotation, and the object can be stopped at a required position. (2) Further, in addition to the above (1), a reflecting mirror is installed on a side opposite to the object which can be rolled by being placed on the squeeze roller, and the image reflected by the reflecting mirror is also described above. By photographing with the camera, the inspection of the object can be made almost complete, and the positioning accuracy can be improved. (3) In the above (1), a means for rotating the object so as to change the direction of the object itself by approximately 90 ° is added to the means for stopping the object in non-contact with the conical roller. Thus, the singular point can be located at any position such as the uppermost position of the object. (4) In the above item (1), as means for stopping the object from being brought into contact with the conical roller, the means for stopping between the two conical rollers arranged in parallel with each other. A bucket shaft that can be driven up and down is aligned with the center of the gap, and a bucket finger that is wider than this bucket axis and scoops up the object is provided in the gap. Objects can be raised and lowered in a space-saving manner. (5) two continuous rollers arranged in parallel with each other;
Means for stopping the non-contact of the object with the conical roller while the singular point of the object placed on the conical roller and rolling to a predetermined position is provided on the transport chain. The surface inspection and the posture alignment can be performed very efficiently. (6) In the above (5), means for rotating the object so as to change the direction of the object itself by approximately 90 ° is added to the means for stopping the object in non-contact with the conical roller. Thereby, the alignment of the posture can be automated with high accuracy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an example of an embodiment of the present invention,
The basic block diagram of a stopping means.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of rotation, stop, and 90 ° rotation of an object in another example of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a unit capable of rotating, stopping, and rotating 90 ° of an object and a moving mechanism of the unit in still another example of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a mechanism operation state for 90 ° rotation.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a continuous operation in the configuration of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state of use in actual equipment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 110 Inspection object 15, 115 Singular point (for example, tomato tongue) 20, 120 Knob-shaped roller 30, 31, 130, 131 Bucket finger 32, 132 Bucket 37, 55, 155 Bucket lifting air cylinder 40 Indexing grooved sleeve 43 Indexing key insertion / removal air cylinder 44,144 Bucket shaft rotating pulley 45 Drive wheel 50,150 Bucket elevating lever 60 Camera 70,170 Reflector 80,180 Vacuum suction pad 133 Bucket shaft 134 Bearing 158 Lifting rail 192 Conveyor chain 193 Common plate 194 Box 197 Plate cam

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor: Akira Yamazaki 4-6-22 Kannonshinmachi, Nishi-ku, Hiroshima-shi, Hiroshima Hiroshima Research Laboratory, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus, comprising: a pair of parallel rollers arranged so as to be rotatable in the same direction; and an image of an object placed on the two rollers and capable of rolling from above. A camera is installed, and the object is brought into non-contact with the pinch roller in a state where a singular point of the object rotated by the pinch roller from a captured image of the camera reaches a predetermined position. Surface inspection / posture alignment device that installs means to stop. 2. A reflecting mirror is provided on a side opposite to an object which can be rolled by being mounted on the conical roller, and an image reflected by the reflecting mirror is also taken by the camera. The surface inspection / posture alignment apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The means according to claim 1, wherein said means for stopping said object in non-contact with said conical roller includes means for rotating said object itself so as to change its direction by approximately 90 °. Surface inspection / posture alignment device. 4. The means for stopping the object from being brought into non-contact with the conical roller and stopping the object in the center of a gap between two conical rollers arranged in parallel with each other. 2. The surface inspection / posture alignment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein possible bucket axes are aligned, and a bucket finger wider than the bucket axis and scooping the object is positioned in the gap. 5. A squeezing roller arranged in parallel with each other, and said object being squeezed in a state where a singular point of the object placed and rolled on said squeezing roller reaches a predetermined position. A surface inspection and a means for stopping the contact with the roller in a non-contact state so that the roller can be transported.
Posture alignment device. 6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said means for stopping said object in non-contact with said conical roller includes means for rotating said object itself so as to change its direction by approximately 90 °. Surface inspection / posture alignment device.