JPH11242007A - Inspection device of o-ring - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically inspect whether an O-ring which has been vulcanization-molded and aligned lengthwise and breadthwise on a rubber substrate to be inspected is conforming or not by moving an inspection head to each O-ring position on the front and reverse sides of the rubber substrate to be inspected and applying strobe light at a corresponding position to each O-ring. SOLUTION: A lower surface inspection table 20 sucks a rubber substrate W to be inspected on a mount surface 13 by its suction table 24 and positions it to a specific height position of a lower inspection head 30. A relative movement in an XY direction is given between the lower surface inspection table 20 and a lower inspection head 30, the lower inspection head 30 is moved to an area below an O-ring OR to be inspected of the rubber substrate W to be inspected and strobe light-emitting equipment 34 is allowed to emit light, and an image is picked up via an image pick-up lens 33. An image on the lower surface of the O-ring OR is compared with a normal image inputted in advance for judging to see if it is conforming therewith. Then, the rubber substrate W to be inspected is transferred onto a placement surface 43 of an upper inspection table, and the upper surface of each O-ring OR is similarly inspected.

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 the suitability of each O-ring after vulcanizing and molding a plurality of O-rings on a rubber substrate in a state where the O-rings are aligned vertically and horizontally.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, vulcanization molding of a small O-ring is performed by supplying a rubber material between upper and lower molding dies having a plurality of O-ring dies arranged in a matrix. Before the plurality of O-rings are separated from the substrate, whether or not they are correctly formed (whether or not they are scratched) is inspected. Conventionally, this inspection was visually performed by an operator, but not only is the workability poor, but sometimes a defective product is overlooked.
Automation was desired.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for determining whether or not an O-ring vulcanized and formed in a state of being vertically and horizontally aligned on a rubber substrate to be inspected.
An object of the present invention is to provide an O-ring inspection device capable of automatically inspecting.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An O-ring inspection apparatus of the present invention is for inspecting a rubber substrate to be inspected which has vulcanized and molded O-rings arranged vertically and horizontally. Inspection table that holds CCD in a visible state; Lower inspection head that has a CCD camera and a strobe device facing the lower surface of the rubber substrate to be inspected that is held by the lower inspection table; An upper surface inspection table held in a possible state; facing an upper surface of a rubber substrate to be inspected held by the upper surface inspection table;
An upper inspection head having a CCD camera, a strobe device and a print head; between the lower inspection table and the lower inspection head, and between the upper inspection table and the upper inspection head, in the vertical and horizontal alignment directions of the O-ring on the rubber substrate to be inspected. The upper and lower inspection heads are moved by the moving mechanism to respective O-ring positions on the front and back sides of the rubber substrate to be inspected supported by each inspection table. At the corresponding position, the strobe device irradiates strobe light, and the CCD camera judges the quality of the O-ring by pattern recognition under the strobe light irradiation. The print head of the upper inspection head is at least near the defective O-ring. The result of the inspection is printed.

The lower surface inspection table can be constituted by a suction table holding the upper surface of the rubber substrate to be inspected by suction and opening the lower surface, or a transparent inspection table on which the rubber substrate to be inspected is placed. In the case of a transparent inspection table, both the upper surface inspection table and the lower surface inspection table can be used. The light emitting section of the strobe device is preferably formed in a ring shape around the imaging lens of the CCD camera.

[0006]

FIG. 4 shows a vulcanized O-ring OR.
Shows the rubber substrate W to be inspected, which is aligned vertically and horizontally. The O-ring OR is in a state where its outer and inner circumferences are connected to the rubber substrate W to be inspected by thin cut portions,
After the inspection, the non-defective product is cut out of the cut portion and taken out as an O-ring.

FIG. 1 shows an inspection apparatus for the rubber substrate W to be inspected.
As shown in the figure, the work introduction table 10, the lower surface inspection table 20, the lower inspection head 3
0, an upper surface inspection table 40, an upper inspection head 50, an unloading head 60, and a work unloading table 70.

The work introduction table 10 can be moved in the X direction in FIG. 1 by a feed screw 11 and a guide rod 12 which are parallel to each other, and the mounting surface 1 on which the rubber substrate W to be inspected is mounted.
3 is provided. The lower surface inspection table 20 is similarly movable in the X direction in the drawing in the horizontal plane above the work introduction table 10 by the feed screw 21 and the guide rod 22, and includes a lifting table 23 and a suction table 24 below the table. ing. The elevating table 23 is moved up and down (moves in the Z direction (vertical direction)) by an elevating cylinder 25. The vacuum table is used to move the suction table 24 by a vacuum pressure. W is suction-held with its lower surface open.

The lower inspection head 30 is provided on the lower inspection table 2.
Below 0, it is movable in a Y direction in a horizontal plane orthogonal to the X direction and the Z direction by a feed screw 31 and a guide rod 32 parallel to each other. The lower inspection head 30 is C
It is provided with a CD camera and a strobe device, and as shown in FIG.
And a ring-shaped strobe light emitter 34 located on the outer periphery of the imaging lens 33. Bottom inspection table 20
The lower inspection head 30 and the lower inspection head 30 are relatively movable in two directions (X direction and Y direction) orthogonal to each other in the plane direction of the rubber substrate W to be inspected.
Reference numeral 4 denotes each O-ring OR on the rubber substrate W to be inspected by the relative movement of the lower surface inspection table 20 and the lower inspection head 30.
Can be moved to the corresponding position.

The upper surface inspection table 40 is movable in the X direction by a feed screw 41 and a guide rod 42, and has a mounting surface 43 on which the rubber substrate W to be inspected opened from the lower surface inspection table 20 is mounted. . In addition, the upper inspection head 5
0 is above the upper surface inspection table 40,
It has a lift 54 that can be moved in the Y direction by a feed screw 51 and a guide rod 52 and that moves up and down (moves in the Z direction) by a lift cylinder 53. The lift 54 is
The camera is provided with a CCD camera, a strobe device, and a printing machine (for example, an ink jet printing machine). As shown in FIG. , And a ring-shaped strobe light emitter 56 and a print head (inkjet) 57. The lower inspection head 30 and the upper inspection head 50 (elevation table 54) differ in whether or not they have a top and bottom and a print head 57, and are otherwise substantially the same.

The take-out head 60 is mounted on the upper surface inspection table 40.
The feed screw 61 and the guide rod 62
, And has an elevating table 64 that moves up and down (moves in the Z direction) by an elevating cylinder 63. The lifting table 64 is provided with a suction table 65 for holding the rubber substrate W to be inspected by vacuum pressure.

The work take-out table 70 has a take-out head 6
Below 0, it is movable in the X direction by a feed screw 71 and a guide rod 72, and has a mounting surface 73 on which the rubber substrate W to be inspected is mounted. Work introduction table 1
0, upper surface inspection table 40, and work take-out table 7
0 moves in the X direction on substantially the same plane.

The present O-ring inspection apparatus having the above configuration operates as follows. The inspection target rubber substrate W is mounted on the mounting surface 13 of the work introduction table 10, and the lower surface inspection table 20 is
Is transported below. The lower surface inspection table 20 uses the suction table 24 to hold the inspection target rubber substrate W on the mounting surface 13.
The rubber substrate W to be inspected is moved downward by the lower inspection head 30 by the elevating table 23, the adsorption table 24, and the elevating cylinder 25.
At a predetermined height above the. In this state, the lower surface of the rubber substrate W to be inspected is visible.

In this state, the lower surface inspection table 20
The lower surface of each O-ring OR of the rubber substrate W to be inspected is inspected by giving a relative movement in the X and Y directions between the lower inspection head 30 and the lower inspection head 30. In this inspection, the lower inspection head 30 is moved below the O-ring OR to be inspected on the rubber substrate W to be inspected, and in this state, the strobe light emitter 34 emits light. Image. This O-ring OR
Is compared with an image of a normal (non-defective) O-ring OR input in advance, and the quality is determined by a pattern recognition technique. The quality of the lower surface of each O-ring OR on the rubber substrate W to be inspected is stored in a memory together with its position (address).

The rubber substrate W to be inspected for which the lower surface has been inspected as described above is transferred by the lower surface inspection table 20 onto the mounting surface 43 of the upper surface inspection table 40. It moves below the upper inspection head 50. In this state, the rubber substrate W to be inspected is in a state where the upper surface thereof can be viewed. The upper inspection head 50 causes the imaging lens 55, the strobe light emitter 56, and the print head 57 to be positioned at a predetermined height above the rubber substrate W to be inspected by the lifting cylinder 53 and the lifting table 54. In this state, between the upper surface inspection table 40 and the upper inspection head 50,
By giving relative movement in the X and Y directions, the upper surface of each O-ring OR of the rubber substrate W to be inspected is inspected.

In the inspection of the upper surface, similarly to the inspection of the lower surface described above, the upper inspection head 50 is moved over the O-ring OR of the rubber substrate W to be inspected, and the strobe light emitting device 56 is Is emitted, and the image at that time is captured via the imaging lens 55 to perform the operation. The image of the O-ring OR is a normal (non-defective) O-ring OR that has been input in advance.
Are compared with each other, and pass / fail is determined by the pattern recognition technique. The quality of the upper surface of each O-ring OR on the rubber substrate W to be inspected is recognized together with its position (address), and together with the quality of the lower surface previously inspected and stored, at least one of the upper and lower surfaces is determined to be defective. In this case, the inspection result is printed by the print head 57 near the corresponding O-ring OR. When all the inspections have been completed, the same print head 57 is placed at an appropriate position on the rubber substrate W to be inspected.
Prints the inspection end mark. This is because if the printing is not performed by the print head 57 for a good product,
This is because when all the O-rings OR are non-defective, it is unknown whether the inspection is completed or not, and it is convenient to print an inspection end mark at a predetermined position on the rubber substrate W to be inspected.

The rubber substrate W to be inspected as described above is sucked and removed from the mounting surface 43 of the upper surface inspection table 40 by the suction table 65 of the unloading head 60, and the mounting surface of the work unloading table 70 is removed. 73. The work take-out table 70 is sent to the take-out position, where the inspected rubber substrate W is taken out.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the O-ring inspection apparatus of the present invention. The upper inspection table and the lower inspection table of the rubber substrate W to be inspected are combined into a single transparent inspection table 1.
10 is also used. Transparency inspection table 11
Numeral 0 has a transparent substrate (glass plate) 111 on which a rubber substrate W to be inspected is placed at the center thereof, and is provided so as to be able to rectilinearly move back and forth by a guide rod 112 and a feed screw 113. When the feed screw 113 is rotationally driven by the forward / reverse drive motor 114, the transparent inspection table 110 moves between the load / unload stage L and the inspection stage I.

On the inspection stage I, an inspection device 130 is provided. The inspection device 130 is provided with the upper inspection head 5
0 and the lower inspection head 30 are driven in three orthogonal directions.
An X-direction moving block 132 that can move in the feed direction of the transparent inspection table 110 along the guide rail 131, and the transparent inspection table 110 is placed on the X-direction moving block 132.
Y-direction moving block 133 provided so as to be movable in a direction orthogonal to the feeding direction, and this Y-direction moving block 1
The upper test head 50 and the lower test head 30 are supported by the vertical support 134 so as to be movable in the vertical direction (Z direction).
Since the X-direction moving block 132, the Y-direction moving block 133, and the moving mechanism of the upper inspection head 50 and the lower inspection head 30 can be constituted by well-known mechanisms, their illustration is omitted.

The lower inspection head 30 has an imaging lens 33 of a CCD camera and a ring-shaped strobe light emitter 34 located on the outer periphery of the imaging lens, similarly to the embodiment of FIGS. Reference numeral 50 includes a print head 57 in addition to an imaging lens 55 of a CCD camera and a ring-shaped strobe light emitter 56 located on the outer periphery of the imaging lens.

In this embodiment, the O-ring OR of the rubber substrate W to be inspected by the upper inspection head 50 and the lower inspection head 30 is used.
Inspection can be performed simultaneously. That is,
The rubber substrate W to be inspected is set on the transparent substrate 111 of the transparent inspection table 110 at the load / unload stage L, and sent to the inspection device 130 of the inspection stage I. In the inspection device 130, the strobe light emitting device 3 is placed in a state where the imaging lenses 33 and 55 of the upper inspection head 50 and the lower inspection head 30 are positioned on the front and back of the O-ring OR of the rubber substrate W to be inspected.
4 and 56 emit light, and the image at that time is taken by the imaging lens 33.
And 55 can be imaged. The inspection result can be printed in the same manner as in the first embodiment, so that the O-ring OR of the rubber substrate W to be inspected can be inspected more quickly.

In the above embodiment, for the sake of simplicity, the configuration is such that the rubber substrates W to be inspected are supplied one by one to one table. The substrate is placed, and the number of upper and lower inspection heads 50 and lower inspection heads 30 can be increased according to the number of rubber substrates to be inspected.

[0023]

According to the O-ring inspection apparatus of the present invention, the quality of the vulcanized O-rings can be automatically inspected in a state of being aligned vertically and horizontally on the rubber substrate to be inspected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of an O-ring inspection apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a lower inspection head.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the upper inspection head drawn upside down.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an inspection mode using an inspection head.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the O-ring inspection apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 work introduction table 20 lower surface inspection table 23 elevating table 24 suction table 30 lower inspection head 33 55 imaging lens 34 56 strobe light emitter 40 upper surface inspection table 43 mounting surface 50 upper inspection head 54 elevating table 57 print head 60 ejection head 64 elevating Table 65 Suction table 70 Work take-out table 73 Mounting surface 110 Transparent inspection table 111 Transparent substrate 130 Inspection device OR O-ring W Rubber substrate to be inspected

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A rubber substrate to be inspected having vulcanized O-rings aligned in a vertical and horizontal direction;
A lower surface inspection table for holding the lower surface in a visible state; a lower inspection head having a CCD camera and a strobe device facing the lower surface of the rubber substrate to be inspected held by the lower surface inspection table; An upper inspection table for holding the upper surface in a visible state; an upper inspection head having a CCD camera, a strobe device, and a print head facing the upper surface of the rubber substrate to be inspected held on the upper inspection table; A lower inspection head, and a movement mechanism that provides relative movement of the O-ring on the rubber substrate to be inspected in the vertical and horizontal alignment directions between the upper inspection table and the upper inspection head; By the moving mechanism, each O-ring is moved to each O-ring position on the front and back of the rubber substrate to be inspected supported by each inspection table. At the corresponding position, the strobe device irradiates strobe light, the CCD camera determines the quality of the O-ring by pattern recognition under the strobe light irradiation, and furthermore, the print head of the upper inspection head has at least a defective O head. An inspection device for an O-ring, wherein the inspection result is printed near the ring. 2. The inspection device according to claim 1, wherein the lower surface inspection table sucks and holds an upper surface of the rubber substrate to be inspected.
An O-ring inspection device consisting of a suction table that opens its lower surface. 3. The O-ring inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lower surface inspection table and the upper surface inspection table are shared by a transparent inspection table on which a rubber substrate to be inspected is placed. 4. The inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting portion of the strobe device has a ring shape located around the imaging lens of the CCD camera.