KR20190143149A - Image Correction TerahertzWave Object Inspection Apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus. The apparatus includes: a transfer module transferring a subject; an output module placed above the transfer module, and outputting terahertz waves in a straight line to emit the waves to the subject; a first receiving module placed below the subject moved by the transfer module, and receiving the terahertz waves outputted from the terahertz wave output module to penetrate through the subject; a second receiving module placed symmetrically to the output module to receive the terahertz waves reflected from the surface of the subject; a vision camera placed in the upper part of the transfer module to inspect the surface of the subject moved by the transfer module; and a control module interconnected with the output module, the first receiving module, the second receiving module and the vision camera, correcting the terahertz waves received from the first and second receiving modules as an average value, and detecting foreign substances included in the subject through denoising and signal amplification to output the detected substances through a display module. Therefore, according to the present invention, since the intensity of the terahertz waves received from the first and second receiving modules are corrected as an average value before the subject enters the terahertz waves, a reference value can be set to make an image vivid, which can lead to an increase in inspection accuracy.

Description

Image Correction TerahertzWave Object Inspection Apparatus}

The present invention relates to an object inspection apparatus, and more particularly, to an image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus for inspecting an object using a terahertz wave.

Terahertz wave An electromagnetic wave located in the region between infrared and microwave, and generally has a frequency of 0.1 THz to 10 THz, and this wavelength band is also called terahertz gap.

At present, there has been continuous research and development on terahertz waves, but the research is still relatively low compared to electromagnetic waves in other wavelength bands.

However, with the continuous development efforts and the development of photon engineering and nanotechnology, the technology for terahertz waves has been further improved in recent years.

In particular, due to various properties such as straightness, permeability to materials, biosafety and qualitative identification, interest in terahertz waves continues to increase.

As a result, terahertzpa has been able to find a wide range of devices, such as screening devices at airports and security facilities, quality inspection devices for food and pharmaceutical companies, semiconductor inspection devices, dental inspection equipment, gas detection devices, explosives inspection devices, lab-on-a-chip detectors It is applied to the field.

Nevertheless, according to the prior art, there is a problem that the time required for inspecting an object is too long and the accuracy of the inspection is low.

In addition, the type or material of the test object or the foreign matter contained therein may be very diverse. According to the related art, the test performance of the test material of the various materials or types is not satisfactory.

In particular, when the test object is a food, properties such as moisture content may be different for each food, and the food may include foreign substances of various materials such as hard or soft food.

Therefore, there is a problem in inspecting various kinds of food and foreign substances.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2017-0039956 (2017.04.12) "Moisture measuring equipment of borehole medium using terahertz pulse laser" Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2018-0021631 (2018.03.05) "A device and method for analyzing biosurfactant using terahertz pulse"

An object of the present invention is to provide an image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus for correcting an image by correcting the intensity of the terahertz wave received from the receiving module to a reference value before the test object enters the terahertz wave.

According to one aspect for realizing the above object of the present invention, there is provided an image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus comprising: a transfer module for transferring an inspected object; An output module disposed above the transfer module and outputting terahertz waves in a straight line to irradiate the inspected object in a line form; A first receiving module disposed under the test object moving the transfer module and receiving a terahertz wave output from the output module and passing through the test object; A second receiving module disposed symmetrically with the output module to receive the terahertz wave reflected from the surface of the test object; A vision camera disposed on an upper portion of the transfer module and inspecting a surface of an inspected object moving the transfer module; And interlocking with the output module, the first receiving module, the second receiving module and the vision camera, correcting terahertz waves received from the first receiving module and the second receiving module to an average value, and removing noise. And a control module for detecting the foreign matter contained in the test object by amplifying the signal and outputting the detected foreign matter to the display module.

The transfer module, the first conveyor belt; And a second conveyor belt spaced apart from the first conveyor belt to form a separation space, the second conveyor belt receiving and transporting the inspected object from the first conveyor belt.

The first receiving module may be disposed below the separation space.

The control module may output the surface of the object to be photographed by the vision camera to the display module.

The first receiving module and the second receiving module may include a detector configured to detect terahertz waves by providing a plurality of antenna integrated detectors.

The control module may include a detection sensor provided as a pair and disposed at a distance from one side of the transfer module to detect an object to be transferred through the transfer module.

When the test object is detected by any one of a pair of the detection sensors, the control module may include a plurality of detection units of the first receiving module and the second receiving module before the test object enters the terahertz wave. A normalizing unit for leveling the intensity of terahertz waves received by each of the detection elements to an average value; A signal amplifier for removing noise of terahertz waves passing through the test object received by the first receiving module and the second receiving module and amplifying a signal; A wavelength analysis unit interworking with the signal amplifier and analyzing the terahertz wave which has been removed and amplified by a foreign object detection algorithm; And a foreign material image unit interworking with the wavelength analyzer and converting the analyzed terahertz waves into pixel values corresponding to image coordinates and outputting them to the display module as 2D images.

The pair of sensing sensors may be disposed on both sides of the first receiving module.

The output module may further include an output unit configured to output a terahertz wave; A first lens disposed at an output end of the output unit and radiating terahertz waves output from the output unit in a radial manner; And a second lens disposed in line with the first lens to focus the terahertz wave irradiated radially from the first lens and irradiate the object under test in a line shape.

According to an embodiment of the present invention,

First, before the test object enters the terahertz wave, the intensity of the terahertz wave received from the first and second receiving modules is corrected to an average value, so that it can be set as a reference value so that the image can be clearly displayed to improve inspection accuracy. have.

Second, the pair of detection sensors can accurately match the image corresponding to the subject and the subject.

Third, since the inspected object is inspected using both the transmitted terahertz waves as well as the reflected terahertz waves using the first receiving module and the second receiving module, it can be applied regardless of the components and materials of the inspected object. The range of the subject under test can be enlarged.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing the image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side view of the image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus shown in FIG. 1.
3 is a perspective view of a first receiving module and a second receiving module shown in FIG. 1.
Figure 4 shows a terahertz wave output from the output module of the present invention.
5 is a block diagram schematically illustrating an apparatus for inspecting an image-corrected terahertz wave object according to the present invention.
6 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the control module illustrated in FIG. 5.
7 is a graph showing the intensity of terahertz waves received over time.
8 is a perspective view schematically showing an image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a side view of the image corrected terahertz wave object inspection apparatus shown in FIG. 8.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention. At this time, it is noted that the same components in the accompanying drawings are represented by the same reference numerals as possible. In addition, detailed descriptions of well-known functions and configurations that may blur the gist of the present invention will be omitted. For the same reason, in the accompanying drawings, some components are exaggerated, omitted or schematically illustrated.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing an image corrected terahertz wave object inspecting apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the image corrected terahertz wave object inspecting apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a first receiving module and a second receiving module, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating terahertz waves output from an output module of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an apparatus for inspecting an image-corrected terahertz wave object according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is a block diagram schematically showing the control module shown in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a graph showing the intensity of terahertz waves received over time.

1 to 7, the image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus 100 of the present invention includes a transfer module 110, an output module 120, a first receiving module 130, and a second receiving module 140. ), The vision camera 150, the control module 160.

The transfer module 110 transfers the subject 10.

The output module 120 is disposed above the transfer module 110, and outputs terahertz waves in a straight line to irradiate the inspected object 10 in a line form.

The output module 120 includes an output unit 121, a first lens 122, and a second lens 123.

The output unit 121 outputs terahertz waves, and the first lens 122 is disposed at the output terminal of the output unit 121 to irradiate the terahertz waves output from the output unit 121 in a radial manner.

The output unit 131 generates a terahertz wave (T), and the terahertz wave (T) refers to electromagnetic waves in the terahertz region, and has a frequency of approximately 01 THz to 10 THz, but does not deviate greatly from this range. The area can be recognized as terahertzpa.

Here, the output unit 131 may output a terahertz wave using a gun diode, but is not limited thereto.

The gun diode is a diode that oscillates electromagnetic waves by using a gun effect, and has an advantage of minimizing volume and volume at a low cost.

The terahertz waves generated by the gun diode can be emitted through the horn.

In addition, the second lens 123 is disposed in line with the first lens 122 to focus the terahertz wave T irradiated radially from the first lens 122 to form a line shape on the inspected object 10. Investigate.

Here, the terahertz wave T irradiated from the second lens 123 is formed in a shape as shown in FIG.

The terahertz wave T irradiated from the second lens 123 is formed in a trapezoidal shape as shown in FIG. 4B when viewed from the front, based on the moving direction of the inspected object 10. When viewed from the side, as shown in (c) of Figure 4 is formed in a reverse triangular leather shape is irradiated in a line shape to the first receiving module 130.

That is, the end of the terahertz wave (T) is formed long in the longitudinal direction of the first receiving module 130 in the form of a line in a plane can be received by the first receiving module 130 smoothly.

In addition, the first lens 122 and the second lens 123 are installed in a straight line so that the terahertz wave T is irradiated in a straight line, and the distance between the first lens 122 and the second lens 123 is adjusted to adjust the distance between the first lens 122 and the second lens 123. It can be installed by adjusting the focusing distance.

Here, the distance between the first lens 132 and the second lens 133 is the size of the image correction terahertz wave object inspection device 100 of the present invention, the height of the transfer module 110 and the size of the inspected object (10). It is possible to change according to.

The first receiving module 130 is disposed below the inspected object 10 moving the transport module 110, and receives the terahertz wave output from the output module 120 and transmitted through the inspected object 10.

The second receiving module 140 is disposed symmetrically with the output module 120 to receive the terahertz wave T ′ reflected from the surface of the object 10.

In addition, the first receiving module 130 and the second receiving module 140 include detection units 131 and 141.

The detectors 131 and 141 include a plurality of antenna-integrated detection elements E to detect terahertz waves T and T '.

Here, the plurality of detection elements E may be arranged in an n × m array.

In addition, the second receiving module 140 includes a reflective condenser lens 143 which focuses the terahertz wave T ′ reflected from the surface of the object 10.

Here, the reflective condenser lens 143 focuses the diffusion of the terahertz wave T 'reflected from the surface of the object 10 and transmits it to the second receiving module 140 in a line form.

In this case, the reflective condenser lens 151 may be provided so that the terahertz wave T ′ reflected from the surface of the object 10 is irradiated in a line shape.

The vision camera 150 is disposed on the transfer module 110 to inspect the surface of the inspected object 10 moving the transfer module 110.

Here, the vision camera 150 may be provided in plurality.

The control module 160 is interlocked with the first receiving module 130, the second receiving module 140, and the vision camera 150, and received from the first receiving module 130 and the second receiving module 140. The terahertz wave is corrected to an average value, the noise is removed and the signal is amplified to detect the foreign matter contained in the object 10 and output the detected foreign matter to the display module 170.

In addition, the control module 160 outputs the surface of the inspected object 10 photographed by the vision camera 150 to the display module 170.

In addition, the control module 160 includes detection sensors 161 and 162, a normalization unit 163, a signal amplifier 164, a wavelength analyzer 165, and a foreign material imaging unit 166.

The sensing sensors 161 and 162 are provided in pairs and are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance on one side of the transfer module 110, and detect the inspected object 10 transferred through the transfer module 110.

In addition, the pair of sensing sensors 161 and 162 are disposed at both sides of the first receiving module 130 as shown in FIG. 1.

For convenience of description, the detection sensors 161 and 162 are shown as a first detection sensor 161 and a second detection sensor 162.

The first detecting sensor 161 first detects the inspected object 10 moving the transfer module 110, and the second detecting sensor 162 detects the inspected object 10 that has passed through the terahertz wave T. do.

When the inspected object 10 is detected by the first detecting sensor 161, the normalizing unit 163 may include the first receiving module 130 and the second receiving module 140 before the inspected object 10 enters the terahertz wave. The intensity of the terahertz waves T and T 'received by each of the plurality of detection elements E of the detection units 131 and 141 of the control unit 131 is equalized to an average value.

In the image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus 100 of the present invention, the intensity of the terahertz waves T and T 'received from each of the plurality of detection elements E is constant as shown in FIG. Not maintained.

This may be caused by the terahertz wave scattered by foreign matters on the conveyor belt of the transfer module 110 or foreign matters in the air.

As shown in (a) of FIG. 7, the intensity of the terahertz wave received by each of the plurality of detection elements E is different.

In this state, when the inspected object 10 enters the terahertz wave T, since the intensity of the terahertz waves received from each of the plurality of detection elements E is different, accurate inspection cannot be performed.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7B, the terahertz waves received from each of the plurality of detection elements E are corrected to average values, and all of the plurality of detection elements E are set as reference values to pass through the inspected object 10. Accurately determine the intensity of a terahertz wave.

Here, the X axis of FIGS. 7A and 7B represents a plurality of detection elements E, and the Y axis represents the intensity of the terahertz wave received.

For example, assuming that the intensity of the terahertz wave received by the detection element 1 is represented by 3 and the intensity of the terahertz wave received by the detection element 2 is represented by 1,

When the terahertz wave is received by the detection element 1 and the detection element 2 after passing through the object 10, the terahertz wave received by the detection element 1 passes through the foreign matter portion included in the object 10 and has an intensity of 0.5. When the terahertz wave received by the detection element 2 is received at the intensity of 2 through the portion free of foreign matter

Then, since the intensity of terahertz waves received by the detection element 1 and the detection element 2 is not set to the same as the default value, the intensity of the terahertz wave passing through the test object is represented by 3.5 in the detection element 1 and 3 in the detection element 2. May appear similarly and no accuracy check can be made.

However, before the test object 10 enters the terahertz wave (T), if the reference value is set by correcting an average value of the intensity of the terahertz waves received from the plurality of detection elements,

The intensity of the terahertz waves passing through the foreign matter and the terahertz waves passing through the foreign matter are clearly different so that accurate tests can be performed.

The signal amplifier 164 removes noise of terahertz waves received by the first receiving module 130 and the second receiving module 140 and amplifies the signal.

The wavelength analyzer 165 is interlocked with the normalizer 164 and analyzes the terahertz wave that has been removed and signal-amplified by a foreign material detection algorithm.

The foreign body image unit 166 is interlocked with the wavelength analyzer 165 and converts the analyzed terahertz waves into pixel values corresponding to the image coordinates and outputs them to the display module 170 as two-dimensional images.

When the test object 10 is detected by the first detection sensor 161, the control module 160 corrects the intensity of terahertz waves received from the plurality of detection elements E using the normalization unit 163 to an average value. To set the reference value,

As soon as the object 10 enters the terahertz wave T, the image data is generated using the signal amplifier 164, the wavelength analyzer 165, and the foreign object imager 166, and outputs the image data to the display module 170. do.

In addition, the pair of detection sensors 161 and 162 may accurately match an image corresponding to the object 10 and the object under test.

When the inspected object 10 passes through the second detection sensor 162, the movement of the inspected object 10 is confirmed, and thus the matched image may be matched with the output image.

 The controller 167 controls the overall operation of the control module 160.

As such, the image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus 100 of the present invention may not maintain the output ratio of the terahertz wave T output from the output module 120 as time passes.

The image data generated by using the terahertz waves (T, T ') received from the first receiving module 130 and the second receiving module 140 may generate a lot of noise, and thus the inspection may not be performed correctly.

Therefore, the control module 160 normalizes the wavelengths of the terahertz waves T and T 'received by the first and second receiving modules 130 and 140, corrects the wavelengths to average values, and sets them as reference values. Therefore, the image of the object 10 output from the display module 170 may be clearly displayed, thereby improving the accuracy of the test.

The object inspection is performed by using both the reflection method and the transmission method by the first receiving module 130 and the second receiving module 140.

Therefore, various kinds and materials can be inspected without being limited to the materials and kinds of the inspected object 10.

Therefore, it is possible to inspect irrespective of hard foreign matters and soft foreign matters without being influenced by the moisture content or raw materials of the inspected object 10.

The vision camera 150 photographs the surface of the inspected object 10 which is disposed above the spaced space S and is transferred through the transfer module 110.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating an image corrected terahertz wave object inspection apparatus according to another embodiment, and FIG. 8 is a side view of the image corrected terahertz wave object inspection apparatus illustrated in FIG. 7.

The image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment has the same configuration except for the image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus 100 and the transfer module 210 according to the previous embodiment, and thus a detailed description thereof is omitted. do.

The transfer module 210 of the image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment includes a first conveyor belt 211 and a second conveyor belt 212.

The first conveyor belt 211 moves the inspected object 10, and the second conveyor belt 212 is spaced apart from the first conveyor belt 211 by a predetermined distance to form a space S, and is disposed therein. The object to be inspected 10 is transferred from the conveyor belt 211.

Here, the space (S) is formed in a width that does not fall off the floor during the test object 10 is moved from the first conveyor belt 211 to the second conveyor belt 212.

The first conveyor belt 211 and the second conveyor belt 212 may be formed of a material through which a terahertz wave T passes.

The first receiving module 230 is disposed below the separation space S, and receives the terahertz wave T output from the output module 130 and transmitted through the test object 10.

Although described with reference to the embodiments above, those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention can be variously modified and changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Could be.

110 ... feed module 120 ... output module
121 ... output 122 ... first lens
123 Second lens 130 First receiving module
131 ... detector 140 ... second receiving module
141 detector 150 vision camera
160 ... control module 161, 162 ... detection sensor
163 Normalizing section 164 Signal amplification section
165 Wavelength Analyzer ...

Claims (8)

A transfer module for transferring the inspected object;
An output module disposed above the transfer module and outputting terahertz waves in a straight line to irradiate the inspected object in a line form;
A first receiving module disposed below the inspected object moving the transport module and receiving a terahertz wave output from the output module and passing through the inspected object;
A second receiving module disposed symmetrically with the output module to receive the terahertz wave reflected from the surface of the test object;
A vision camera disposed on an upper portion of the transfer module and inspecting a surface of an inspected object moving the transfer module; And
The terrestrial wave received by the first receiving module and the second receiving module is interlocked with the first receiving module, the second receiving module and the vision camera, and is corrected to an average value. Image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus comprising a control module for detecting the foreign matter contained in the output to the display module the detected foreign matter. The method of claim 1,
The transfer module,
A first conveyor belt; And
It is disposed to form a spaced space spaced apart from the first conveyor belt by a predetermined distance, and includes a second conveyor belt for receiving and transporting the test object from the first conveyor belt,
The first receiving module,
Image correction terahertz object inspection apparatus, characterized in that disposed in the lower space. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
The control module,
The image corrected terahertz wave object inspection apparatus, characterized in that for outputting the surface of the object to be photographed by the vision camera to the display module. The method of claim 3,
The first receiving module and the second receiving module,
An image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus comprising a detection unit for detecting terahertz waves having a plurality of antenna integrated detection elements. The method of claim 4, wherein
The control module,
The image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus provided as a pair is disposed at a predetermined distance apart from one side of the transfer module, and comprises a detection sensor for detecting the object to be transferred through the transfer module. The method of claim 5,
The control module,
When the object to be detected is detected by any one of the pair of detection sensors, each of the plurality of detection elements of the detection unit of the first receiving module and the second receiving module is received before the inspected object enters the terahertz wave. A normalizing unit for leveling the intensity of terahertz waves to an average value;
A signal amplifier for removing noise of terahertz waves passing through the test object received by the first receiving module and the second receiving module and amplifying a signal;
A wavelength analysis unit interworking with the signal amplifier and analyzing the terahertz wave which has been removed and amplified by a foreign object detection algorithm; And
The image correction terahertz wave object inspection, further comprising: a foreign material image unit interworking with the wavelength analyzer and converting the analyzed terahertz wave into a pixel value corresponding to the image coordinates and outputting it to the display module as a 2D image. Device. The method of claim 6,
The pair of detection sensors are image correction terahertz wave object inspection apparatus, characterized in that arranged on both sides of the first receiving module. The method of claim 7, wherein
The output module,
An output unit for outputting terahertz waves;
A first lens disposed at an output end of the output unit and radiating terahertz waves output from the output unit in a radial manner; And
And a second lens arranged in line with the first lens to focus the terahertz wave irradiated radially from the first lens and irradiate the object under test in a line shape. .

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