JPH11183141A - Inspecting apparatus for molded article - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To align molded articles at high speed and inspect the presence/ absence of four adhesion to the molded articles to keep up with the high speed by picking up images of the object to be measured while moving the object relatively to a camera via a space part of a product path frame and judging from a photodetecting signal converted to an electric signal whether the object is finished good or not. SOLUTION: A product path frame 2 has a space part 4 where images of objects A to be measured are picked up and also a guide part 6 aligning the objects A. A pickup camera 10 with a line sensor 11 picks up an image of the object A while moving the object relatively in a state in which the object is kept horizontal. An illumination device 25 projects the object in the horizontal state to the pickup camera 10. An operation circuit part 16 converts a light receiving signal detected at the line sensor 11 of the pickup camera 10 to an electric signal, judges whether the object A is finished good or not, for example, whether a burr adheres to the object or not, and transmits a judgment signal to a control part 5 for a package process.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for inspecting a molded product after a finishing process. In particular, the present invention relates to a molded product inspection apparatus that enables high-speed inspection.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a prior art relating to the present invention, there is an O-ring counting device shown in FIG. FIG. 11 is a side view of the counting device.

In FIG. 11, reference numeral 51 denotes a table. The table base 51 is provided with a rotating shaft 53 having a tongue table 52 attached to one end. The rotating shaft 53 is provided with a toothed pulley 54. On the other hand, a motor 55 is attached to the table base 51, and a toothed pulley 56 is also provided on a rotating shaft of the motor 55.

[0004] The toothed pulley 54 of the rotating shaft 53 and the toothed pulley 56 of the motor 55 are connected by a toothed belt 57.
2 can rotate intermittently.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of the tongue table 52. The tan table 52 is provided with a station 58 capable of setting the O-ring A evenly around the circumference and capable of inspecting the entire surface of the burrs. Then, the O-ring A is placed on the conveyor 59 and moved near the tan table 52, and the
2 is moved to the second station 58 and set.

The O-ring set on the tongue table 52 moves to the shooter 62 at a certain point while being counted by the counter 61 together with the inspection, and a predetermined quantity is packed at the tip of the shooter 62.

[0007]

In the counting device constructed as described above, the O-ring A is connected to the station 58.
Must be temporarily stopped and counted by the counter 61, and it is difficult to continuously count at a high speed.
Further, it takes time to perform a burr inspection at a station, and a maximum of 10 inspections can be performed per minute.

[0008] The O-ring A
Since it is difficult to accurately detect burrs and the like attached to the O-ring A, the O-ring A with the burrs is packaged in the packaged bag. For this reason, when assembling the O-ring A to the apparatus, there arises a problem that it must be removed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its technical problem is to align molded products at a high speed and determine whether or not burrs are adhered to the molded products. Is to be inspected at high speed.

[0010] Another object of the present invention is to enable sorting in which a finished product such as a burr is prevented from flowing into the next step.

[0011]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the technical means thereof are configured as follows. That is,

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a space (4) for photographing the object to be measured (A) which is a molded product and a guide portion (6) for aligning the object to be measured (A). A photographing camera (10) including a product passage frame (2), a line sensor (11) for relatively moving the object to be measured (A) in a planar state through the space (4), and photographing; An illumination device (25) for projecting the object to be measured (A) onto the camera (10) in a plane state, and receiving light signals detected by a line sensor (11) of the photographing camera (10). An arithmetic circuit unit (16) for converting the signal into a signal to determine the quality of the finish of the object to be measured (A) and transmitting the determination signal to the control unit (5) in the packaging process.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the product passage frame (2) is connected to an aligning device (30) for aligning O-rings.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the illumination device (25) is disposed at a position symmetrical to the photographing camera (10) with respect to the product passage frame (2), and the product passage frame (2) is transparent. It is formed of a material.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an arithmetic circuit unit (16).
Is to judge the quality of the object to be measured (A) from the time in the scanning direction of the line sensor (11) facing the object to be measured (A) and the change in the number of pixels of the line sensor (11).

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an arithmetic circuit unit (16).
Is used to binarize a black signal from the line sensor (11) that does not pass through the object to be measured (A) and a white signal that passes through other than the object to be measured (A). An arithmetic circuit unit (16) is provided for determining whether the object to be measured (A) is good or bad by comparing the set value with the stored one.

[0017]

According to the present invention, even if the molded article moves at a high speed in the product passage frame 2, the line sensor 11 determines that the molded article portion is black and the transmitted signal is white.
This is compared with the set value set in the arithmetic circuit section 16 or by scanning the object A to be measured by the line sensor 11 to check the shape and size of the molded article from a signal having a time change by scanning. judge. Then, the defective product to which the burrs are adhered can be removed at the final end of the product passage frame 2, or the post-process packaging operation can be stopped to prevent the defective product from being mixed.

Further, by directly connecting the product passage frame 2 to an alignment device for aligning the product at a high speed, it is possible to determine the quality of the molded product at a high speed.

The illumination device 25 is arranged at a position symmetrical to the photographing camera 10 with respect to the product passage frame 2, and
By forming the product passage frame 2 from a transparent material,
Even if burrs adhere to the molded product and move at high speed, it is possible to accurately determine the quality of the molded product by the line sensor 11 included in the photographing camera 10.

Further, if the quality is determined based on the change in the time in the scanning direction of the line sensor and the number of pixels of the line sensor, it is possible to easily determine the adhesion of burrs on the molded article moving at a high speed.

When the quality of a molded article and a transparent part which is not a molded article is binarized by converting a black-and-white signal into a binary value and compared with a set value stored in a setting section to determine whether the molded article is good or not, a high-speed moving molded article can be easily manufactured. And the arithmetic circuit can be a simple circuit.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A molded product inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual sectional view of a molded product inspection apparatus showing an embodiment according to the present invention. Also, FIG.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a product passage frame. The product passage frame 2 is formed with a passage 3 so that both sides of the molded product A (including burrs B) in the outer diameter direction can be guided and passed. The molded product A in the passage 3 is moved by the air outlet 38 at a constant speed. The product passage frame 2 has a circular space 4.
Are formed. Further, one end of the product passage frame 2 is connected to an alignment device 30 described later. And product passage frame 2
On the other end side, the passage 3 formed by the guide portion 6 is branched into two first and second shooters 5a and 5b.
One of the first shooters 5a is configured so that the inspected molded article A flows to the packaging process through the control unit 5 in response to an arithmetic signal from the arithmetic circuit unit 16. The other second shooter 5b is formed so that a defective molded product A2 flows out. The product passage frame 2 is made of a plastic material so as to be transparent. The product passage frame 2 may be made of another material as long as it is transparent.

Next, the aligning device 30 connected to the product passage frame 2 is provided on the right side of the product passage frame 2. In the alignment device 30, the base 31 is formed in a cylindrical shape. The base 31 has a height of about 1.1 to 1.5 times the height of the molded article A and a width of about 1.1 to 1.4 times the outer diameter at one position tangential to the inner peripheral surface. An outlet 32 having a dimension is provided, and the outlet 3 communicates with the passage 3 of the product passage frame 2.

A first tangential gas outlet 33 is provided at one end of the inner peripheral surface of the base 31 so as to blow compressed air to the outlet 32. Further, a second air flow is provided adjacent to the product passage frame 2 and below the outlet 32 of the product passage frame 2 so as to lower the air flow from the first gas outlet 33 at a lower speed. Are provided.

Further, a stirring section 34 is formed on the side plate 36 of the inner chamber 35 of the base 31 so as to protrude therefrom. This stirring unit 34
The molded article A is provided so that the molded article A is along the inner peripheral surface of the base 31 by the compressed air from the first gas outlet 33.

The inner chamber 35 of the base 31 is
Are formed in a size into which several hundred pieces are put. The injection of the molded article A into the inner chamber 35 of the molded article A is performed because the side plate 36 of the base 31 is configured to be opened and closed by a hinge.
This is performed by opening the side plate 36. Also, the molded product input port 39
It is continuously fed from.

In the aligning device 30 configured as described above, since the appropriate compressed air is blown out from the first air outlet 33, the molded article A charged into the inner chamber 35 is moved in the direction of arrow F inward. It moves along the inner peripheral surface of the chamber 35. Then, it is guided from the outlet 32 into the passage 3 of the product passage frame 2 and moves. While this molded product A is moving by blowing compressed air,
When a plurality of molded articles A are adhered, they may collide with the stirring section 34 and be separated.

Also, by intermittently blowing compressed air from the second air outlet 37 toward the cut 40 of the product passage frame 2, the first air outlet 33 sent to the product outlet 32 from the first air outlet 33. The fluid is divided by the fluid blown out from the second air outlet 37, and the molded product A
Each of them is introduced into the passage 3 of the product passage frame 2.
Then, the molded product A moves in the direction of the arrow G in the passage 3 of the product passage frame 2.

Next, a photographing camera 10 having a built-in image sensor, particularly a line sensor 11, is provided above the space 4 of the product passage frame 2 in the figure. An illumination device 25 is provided at a symmetric position of the photographing camera 10 with respect to the product passage frame 2.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of the photographing camera 10 and a circuit related thereto. In FIG. 3, an object to be measured (subject) is an O-ring A. The O-ring A will be described later. On the other hand, the photographing camera 10
2, a line sensor 11 behind the lens, and C for converting the white and black light receiving signals of the line sensor 11 into electric signals.
CD is built in.

The line sensor 11 is 15 μm or 25 μm.
A maximum of 2048 pieces are arranged at an interval of μm or 28 μm. The light projected on the line sensor 11 hits the photoelectric conversion element of the transistor, and accumulates electric charges. The amount of accumulated electric charge is determined by the intensity of light and the irradiation time. The electric charge accumulated by the light is converted in series by a timing signal at regular intervals, and is sequentially transmitted by a current or a voltage from one signal line. The dimensions of the O-ring A are illuminated by counting the number of current or voltage pulses sent out from the signal line, since the spacing between the elements of the line sensor is accurately confirmed as described above. You can know the external dimensions of the image.

The end signal 15 is a signal notifying that the measurement has been completed. As the type of signal, a start signal for starting measurement relating to the exposure time, a clock pulse for converting a parallel signal into a serial signal, a video signal pulse as a signal from a photoelectric element, and the like are transmitted.

These signals are transmitted to the arithmetic circuit section 16. Since this signal only indicates the number of sensor elements that are illuminated, the O-ring A is obtained by multiplying this sensor interval to determine the shape length of the photoelectric image, and dividing by the magnification.
Is processed to determine whether there is a burr.

Further, it is also transmitted to the display circuit unit 17 so that it can be seen by the operator.
Thus, the burr state of the O-ring A can be visually determined. Then, the quality of the O-ring A is determined via the arithmetic circuit unit 16 or the display circuit unit 17.

The counter 18 counts the number of the O-rings A inspected based on a signal from the CCD, and feeds back such that the number to be wrapped in a subsequent process is a predetermined number. The drive circuit 19 controls the line sensor 11 and the like.

The inspection unit 13 is provided with the counter 18
, An operation circuit section 16 and a display circuit section 17. The arithmetic circuit unit 16 is provided with a setting unit 14 to which signal data relating to the shape of the measured object A is input. If necessary, non-defective data is taken out from the setting unit 14 and compared with the object A to be measured, thereby making it possible to determine the quality.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a concept in which an O-ring A as an object to be measured is measured while moving with respect to the line sensor 11. In FIG. 4, a lighting device 2 (not shown) is provided on a side symmetrical to the line sensor 11 with respect to the O-ring A.
5 are provided. For this reason, in the shadow of the burr B on the O-ring A, the pixels of the line sensor 11 are represented as black. Further, the portion without the burr B transmits light and is represented as white. That is, the range of B 'and C' is displayed as black, and the range of A 'is displayed as white.
The O-ring A has a thin burr B on the inner diameter side from the molding. This burr B is finished in the finishing step, but may adhere due to poor cutting. Further, even if the burrs are cut, the burrs B may adhere to the O-ring A because both are rubber materials. If the width of the O-ring A is B ''',
The sum of the dimension B ″ ′ and the width B ″ of the burr B in the same direction is the width dimension B ′ of the subject. The width C ′ of the other object in the radial direction of the O-ring A is the sum of the B ″ ″ dimension and the width C ″ of the burr B. The B ″ dimension and the C ″ dimension are not always the same because they are indeterminate burrs B width dimensions.

By fixing the line sensor 11 and moving the O-ring A relative to the line sensor 11, the A 'range and B' for the time t from the start time X to the end Y at which the O-ring A measures are measured. The change in black and white between the range and the C 'range is measured, and the change is converted into an electric signal. This determination method will be described later.

FIG. 5 shows a burr B by the photographing camera 10 while the O-ring A shown in FIG.
It is a flowchart of the inspection process of presence or absence. In FIG. 5, if Y, Z, and W seconds have elapsed from the measurement start time X of the O-ring A and the black / white ratio of the line sensor 11 is abnormal, the O
The burr will be present in the ring A. In this case, a signal is transmitted from the arithmetic circuit section 16 of the inspection section 13 to the second shooter 5b so as to exclude the signal to the defective product side.

Next, the flow chart of FIG. 5 and the movement relationship of the O-ring A of FIGS. 6 to 10 will be described. The detection relationship by the line sensor 11 during the movement of the O-ring A in the flowchart of FIG. 5 is as shown in FIGS. 6 to 10 are plan views showing the positional relationship of the line sensor 11 with respect to the movement of the O-ring A.

FIG. 6 shows an O-ring A for the line sensor 11.
Is a state diagram in which the vehicle passes through and approaches a product passage frame 2 (not shown). A burr B is formed on the O-ring A. The O-ring A has a B 'dimension at the upper side in the figure with respect to the longitudinal direction of the line sensor 11, and a C' dimension at the lower side in the figure. This intermediate hollow is formed in A 'dimension. The detection of the line sensor 11 starts by the approach of the O-ring A. In addition, O which does not transmit light of the O-ring A
The ring portion is black, and the hollow, light-transmitting portion is white.

Step S1 in the flowchart of FIG. 5 is the positional relationship of the O-ring A with respect to the line sensor 11 shown in FIG. In FIG. 7, it is detected whether or not the range A ′ is B mm or more. If the A 'range is not more than B mm, the check is performed again.

The O-ring A shown in FIG. 8 has been moved to a position Y seconds after the position of the O-ring A with respect to the line sensor 11 shown in FIG. FIG. 8 corresponds to the step S2 of the flowchart of FIG. At the position of the O-ring A, the range A 'is represented by a white portion, the ranges B' and C 'are represented by a black portion, and D m
m or less. If it is not less than D mm, the check is performed again.

The O-ring A shown in FIG. 9 has been moved to a position Z seconds after the position of the O-ring A with respect to the line sensor 11 shown in FIG. FIG. 9 corresponds to the step S3 in the flowchart of FIG. At this time, the range A ′ becomes a black portion and has a size of D mm or more. If it is not more than D mm, the check is performed again.

The O-ring A shown in FIG. 10 has been moved to a position W seconds after the position of the O-ring A with respect to the line sensor 11 shown in FIG. FIG. 10 corresponds to the step S4 in the flowchart of FIG. At this time, the black portion in the range A ′ has a size of B mm or less. If it is not less than B mm, the check is performed again.

The above process is a flow chart in which the photographing camera 10 detects each O-ring A. If this flow chart is passed, it is determined that the molded product has no inner burr. Further, even if the inner burr is formed on the O-ring A, if the burr is very small, it can be determined as a good product.

Further, in the flowchart shown in FIG. 5, when there is an abnormality, this determination signal is sent to the control unit 5 of the packaging process.
The control unit 5 operates a sorting device (not shown) of the first shooter 5a or the second shooter 5b so that the defective product is not mixed in the packaging process. Further, the abnormality determination signal is transmitted to the control unit of the molding machine (not shown), and the control unit controls the molding conditions of the molding machine to prevent the occurrence of the abnormality.

The line sensor 11 provided in the photographing camera 10 is configured to judge the quality of the measured object A based on a change in the time in the scanning direction and the number of white and black pixels. Therefore, even if the measured object A moves at a high speed, the shape of the burr can be detected.

Further, the black signal which does not pass through the object to be measured A and the light which has passed through other than the object to be measured A are binarized as white signals, and the arithmetic circuit section 16 supports the binarization. By storing the set values, it is possible to simplify the configuration of the arithmetic circuit and speed up the operation and determination.

By adopting the above-described measuring method, in the conventional inspection of O-rings having defective burrs using an area sensor or the like, the number of O-rings is limited to 10 per minute. By doing so, 50 pieces became possible.

Next, the illuminating device 25 only needs to provide a strong contrast between the measured object A and the background.
It is preferable to illuminate the photographing camera 10 from a position distant from the measured object A. However, the measurement was good even if the illumination device 25 was arranged on the side between the photographing camera 10 and the object A to be measured. However, in order to obtain a strong contrast of the measured object A, a halogen illumination that irradiates only the measured object A with strong light or a back lighting device 25 is employed. In particular, backlighting that produces shadows is preferred.

[0053]

According to the inspection apparatus for molded articles of the present invention, the object to be measured is passed through the passage of the transparent product passage frame by the line sensor, so that the object to be measured which is supplied from the aligning device at a high speed is measured by one. It is possible to measure whether or not all 50 pieces are burred per minute, and it is also possible to measure the quantity, which is recognized to be extremely useful as a packaging inspection apparatus in a later process.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, even if the objects to be measured are aligned at a high speed by the alignment device, all the inspections can be performed at a high speed by the inspection using the line sensor. For this reason, an extremely excellent inspection device that can be used in a packaging alignment device and that prevents defective products from being mixed can be expected.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the product passage frame is formed of a transparent material and the illuminating device is arranged on the symmetric side of the photographing camera, the object to be measured is not transmitted by the product passage frame. In addition, it is possible to further arrange the camera on the symmetrical side of the photographing camera, and it is possible to expect an effect that the imaging becomes clear.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the line sensor is configured to judge the quality of the object to be measured based on a change in the time in the scanning direction and the number of pixels. Can be expected.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the black signal which does not pass through the object to be measured and the white signal which passes through other than the object to be measured are binarized, and the binarization stored in the setting section is performed. Since the quality of the object to be measured is determined by comparing it with the corresponding set value, the arithmetic circuit unit can be simplified and the cost of the arithmetic circuit unit can be expected to be reduced. Further, the signal generation processing of the control unit becomes easy, and an effect of speeding up the determination of the quality of the measured object can be expected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual cross-sectional view of a molded product inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the molded product inspection apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the photographing camera of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a measurement state of a line sensor and an O-ring in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a measurement state of an object to be measured in the molded product inspection apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration in which the line sensor of the photographing camera is O
It is a top view of the state where a ring moves and approaches.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of FIG. 1, in which an O-ring moves and approaches a line sensor of the photographing camera and measurement starts.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a state where the O-ring shown in FIG. 7 has moved after elapse of Y seconds.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a state where the O-ring shown in FIG. 8 has moved after elapse of Z seconds.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a state where the O-ring shown in FIG. 9 has moved after a lapse of W seconds.

FIG. 11 shows a conventional counter device for measuring an object to be measured.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Inspection apparatus 2 ... Product passage frame 3 ... Passage 4 ... Space part 5 ... Control part 5a ... 1st shooter 5b ... 2nd shooter 6 ... Guide part 10. Photo camera 11. Line sensor (or image sensor) 12. Lens 13. Inspection unit 14. Setting unit 15. End signal 16. Operation circuit unit 17. Display circuit unit 18. Counting Device 19 Drive circuit 25 Lighting device 30 Alignment device 31 Base 32 Outlet 33 First gas outlet 34 Stirring unit 35 Inner chamber 36 Side plate 37・ Second gas outlet 38 ・ ・ Air outlet 39 ・ ・ Molding inlet 51 ・ ・ Table base 52 ・ ・ Tan table 53 ・ ・ Rotating shaft 54 ・ ・ Toothed pulley 55 ・ ・ Motor 56 ・ ・ Toothed pulley 57. ・ Toothed belt 58 ・ ・ Station 59 Conveyor 60 Actuator 61 Counter 62 Shooter

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A product passage frame (2) having a space (4) for photographing an object to be measured (A) which is a molded product and having a guide portion (6) for aligning the object to be measured (A). ), A photographing camera (10) having a line sensor (11) for relatively moving the object to be measured (A) in a planar state through the space (4), and the photographing camera (10). And an illumination device (25) for projecting the object to be measured (A) in a planar state with respect to the image sensor (A), and converts a light reception signal detected by a line sensor (11) of the photographing camera (10) into an electric signal. A molded product inspection apparatus, comprising: an arithmetic circuit section (16) for determining whether the object to be measured (A) is finished or not and transmitting a determination signal to a control section (5) for a packaging process. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the product passage frame is connected to an aligning device for aligning O-rings. 3. The illumination device (25) is arranged at a position symmetrical to the photographing camera (10) with respect to the product passage frame (2), and the product passage frame (2) is formed of a transparent material. The molded product inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The arithmetic circuit section (16) calculates the time in the scanning direction of the line sensor (11) relative to the object to be measured (A) and the change in the number of pixels of the line sensor (11). The molded product inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the quality of the measured object (A) is determined. 5. The arithmetic circuit section (16) includes a black signal from the line sensor (11) that does not pass through the object to be measured (A) and a white signal that passes through other than the object to be measured (A). An arithmetic circuit unit (16) for binarizing the signal and comparing the set value stored in the setting unit (14) to determine the quality of the object to be measured (A). The molded product inspection device according to claim 1.