KR20220121448A - An apparatus for inspecting presence of liquid in a translucent container - Google Patents

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the present invention, an inspection device for checking the presence or absence of a liquid of a light-transmitting container having at least one container storage unit storing a liquid comprises: a lamp module radiating light downward; an image detection module on which an image formed by light passing at least one of a light-transmitting container and a liquid stored in the light-transmitting container is projected; a capturing module capturing the image projected on the image detection module; and a control module determining whether the required quantity of the liquid is injected into the light-transmitting container based on a video of the image obtained by the capturing module.

Description

Inspection device for checking the presence of liquid in a light-transmitting container

The present invention relates to an apparatus for checking the presence of liquid in a translucent container, and more particularly, to a device for checking the presence of liquid in a translucent container, which can be applied to the manufacturing process of a disease diagnosis kit.

Recently, as COVID-19 spreads around the world, the demand for diagnostic kits for diagnosing it is rapidly increasing.

This diagnostic kit is configured to include a container 10 having a plurality of accommodation areas 12 as shown in FIG. 1 , and a quantity of a diagnostic reagent is injected into each accommodation area 12 .

At this time, since quality problems such as non-injection or over-injection may occur in the process of injecting liquid during the production process of the diagnostic kit, the diagnostic reagent is properly injected into each receiving area of the container of the diagnostic kit before shipment. A test process is performed to check whether or not a quantity of a diagnostic reagent is injected.

In the conventional case, an electrical test method of confirming the presence or absence of a diagnostic reagent in the receiving region 12 by putting a probe into the receiving region 12 and contacting a liquid such as a diagnostic reagent in the receiving region 12 has been applied.

However, in the case of the above-described electrical test method, the probe becomes contaminated over time, which reduces the accuracy of the test, and furthermore, when the contaminated probe comes into contact with the diagnostic reagent, the diagnostic reagent itself may be contaminated. There is a problem that the probe needs to be periodically replaced or cleaned.

Therefore, there is a need to develop a new type of inspection method and apparatus capable of solving the problems of the above-described contact type inspection method.

On the other hand, the following prior art document discloses a technology for a test strip cutting and inspection apparatus for manufacturing an in vitro diagnostic kit, but does not disclose the technical gist of the present invention.

Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-2031214

An apparatus for checking the presence of liquid in a light-transmitting container according to an embodiment of the present invention has the following object in order to solve the above-described problems.

An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid presence confirmation inspection device that can accurately and simply check whether a liquid, such as a diagnostic reagent, is present in each receiving area of a light-transmitting container or whether an appropriate amount of liquid is injected.

In addition, it is to provide a liquid presence confirmation inspection device that can guarantee convenience in terms of maintenance and repair.

The problems to be solved of the present invention are not limited to those mentioned above, and other problems not mentioned will be clearly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art from the following description.

An apparatus for checking the presence of liquid in a translucent container according to an embodiment of the present invention relates to a device for checking the presence or absence of liquid in a translucent container having at least one container accommodating part for accommodating a liquid, and a lighting module for irradiating light in a downward direction ; an image detection module onto which an image formed by light passing through at least one of the translucent container and the liquid accommodated in the translucent container is projected; a photographing module for photographing the image projected on the image detection module; and a control module for determining whether to inject a fixed amount of liquid in the light-transmitting container based on the image of the image obtained by the photographing module.

The lighting module may include: a first coupling unit coupled to an upper part of the facility; and a lighting unit connected to the first coupling unit and having at least one light source therein.

Preferably, the illumination module further includes a diffusion plate disposed under the illumination unit to diffuse the light emitted from the illumination unit.

The phase detection module may include a second coupling unit coupled to the facility; a seating part connected to the second coupling part and having a hollow formed therein; and a screen on which the image is projected by being seated on the seating part.

The photographing module may include a third coupling unit coupled to the facility; and a camera for photographing the rear surface of the screen exposed through the hollow formed in the seating part.

The control module may include: an input unit configured to acquire the image detected by the image capturing module; a storage unit for storing a reference image for determining whether the image is normal; a comparator for comparing the detected image with the reference image; and a determination unit that determines whether the liquid in the translucent container is quantitatively injected based on the comparison result of the comparison unit.

Preferably, the control module further includes a correction unit for correcting the detected image obtained by the input unit.

Preferably, the control module further includes a reference image generator configured to generate the reference image by learning a training set including a plurality of detection images and a determination result corresponding to the detection images.

The liquid presence inspection apparatus of the light-transmitting container according to an embodiment of the present invention is composed of an Automated Optical Inspector (AOI) having a lighting module, an image detection module and a photographing module, so that the liquid inside the light-transmitting container is non-contact. Since it is possible to confirm the presence or absence of a dependency, there is an effect of increasing the accuracy of the inspection compared to the conventional electric type inspection device that requires contact.

In addition, since there is no direct contact with the diagnostic reagent, contamination of the diagnostic reagent can be minimized, and further, the effect of minimizing the time and cost for maintenance/repair can be expected.

Effects of the present invention are not limited to those mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art from the following description.

1 is a view showing a light-transmitting container applied to a general diagnostic kit.
FIG. 2 is a view showing an apparatus for checking the presence of liquid in a light-transmitting container according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a perspective view of the lighting module of FIG. 2 .
4 is a perspective view of the phase detection module of FIG. 2 .
5 is a perspective view of the photographing module of FIG. 2 .
6 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the principle that an image is projected to the image detection module in the liquid presence confirmation inspection apparatus of the light-transmitting container according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is an example of the image projected on the phase detection module when the liquid is not injected in the liquid existence check inspection apparatus of the light-transmitting container according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 is an example of an image projected on the phase detection module when the liquid is normally injected in the apparatus for checking the presence of liquid in the translucent container according to an embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a detailed configuration of a control module in an apparatus for checking liquid presence in a light-transmitting container according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is an image for explaining bilinear interpolation of the correction unit of FIG. 9 .

A preferred embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the same or similar components are assigned the same reference numerals regardless of reference numerals, and redundant description thereof will be omitted.

In addition, in the description of the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of a related known technology may obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. In addition, it should be noted that the accompanying drawings are only for easy understanding of the spirit of the present invention, and should not be construed as limiting the spirit of the present invention by the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, it will be described with respect to the liquid presence inspection apparatus of the light-transmitting container according to an embodiment of the present invention.

An apparatus for confirming the presence of liquid in a translucent container according to an embodiment of the present invention relates to an apparatus for confirming the presence of liquid in a translucent container 10 having at least one container accommodating part 12 for accommodating a liquid such as a diagnostic reagent will be.

The light-transmitting container 10 is provided with a plurality of container accommodating parts 11 as shown in FIG. 1 , in particular, the bottom 11 of the container accommodating part 11 is generally convex in the downward direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, the apparatus for checking the presence of liquid in the light-transmitting container according to an embodiment of the present invention is particularly capable of inspecting the presence or absence of liquid and whether the liquid is quantitatively injected in a non-contact manner, as shown in FIG. 2 , a lighting module 100, a phase detection module (200), is configured to include a photographing module 300 and a control module.

The illumination module 100 performs a function of irradiating light in a downward direction, and is configured to include the first coupling unit 120 and the illumination unit 110 in FIG. 3 .

The first coupling unit 120 is configured to be coupled to the upper part of the facility for checking the presence of liquid, and the lighting unit 110 is connected to the first coupling unit 120 and has at least one light source therein.

In particular, the light source included in the lighting unit 110 may be an LED (Light Emitting Diode), and it is preferable that a plurality of LEDs are arranged at uniform intervals.

In addition, a separate diffusion plate may be disposed under the lighting unit 110 to minimize the deviation of light emitted from the lighting unit 110 for each area.

The image detection module 200 is a configuration disposed under the lighting module 100, and an image formed by light passing through at least one of the translucent container 10 and the liquid accommodated in the translucent container 10 is projected.

The phase detection module 200 is configured to include a screen 210 , a seating part 220 , and a second coupling part 230 as shown in FIG. 4 .

The second coupling unit 230 is configured to couple the image detection module 200 to the equipment, and connects the image detection module 200 and the equipment so that the center of the screen 210 coincides with the center of the lighting device 110 . It is preferably configured to do so.

The seating part 220 is a configuration for seating the screen 210, and a hollow is formed therein so that the rear side of the screen 210 can be photographed by a photographing module 300 to be described later.

The screen 210 is seated on the seating portion 220, and is configured to project the light-transmitting container 10 and an image formed by the liquid accommodated in the container-accommodating portion 12 of the light-transmitting container 10 .

The light-transmitting container 10 is disposed on the upper part of the screen 210, and the light emitted from the lighting module 100 is the container receiving part 12 and the container receiving part 12 of the translucent container 10 made of a transparent or translucent material. A phase is formed on the screen 210 after passing the liquid accommodated therein, and the phase is formed differently depending on the amount of the liquid accommodated in the container accommodating part 12 .

This is because the propagation speed of light is different when light passes through different media, and accordingly, the path of the wave is bent at the interface of the media. As shown in FIG. 6(b), when the boundary is in the shape of a convex lens, the light is collected.

That is, since the lower end of the container accommodating part 12 is formed in a concave shape as shown in FIG. 1 , when there is no liquid in the container accommodating part 12 , light is transmitted to the screen 210 as shown in FIG. 7 . A diffuse phase is formed.

Conversely, when a liquid is present in the container accommodating part 12, that is, in a situation in which reagents are normally injected, an image in which light is gathered on the screen 210 is formed as shown in FIG. 8, and the screen ( 210) is preferably formed of a translucent material.

That is, based on the shape of the image, it is possible to determine whether there is liquid in the light-transmitting container 10 and whether an appropriate amount of liquid is injected. can be obtained.

Such a photographing module 300 is disposed under the screen 210 so as to photograph the back of the screen 210, and is configured to include a camera 310 and a third coupling unit 320 as shown in FIG. 5 . do.

The camera 310 performs a function of photographing the rear surface of the screen 210 exposed by the hollow formed in the seating unit 220 , and the third coupling unit 320 is configured to be coupled to the facility.

The control module 400 performs a function of determining whether to inject a quantity of liquid in the light-transmitting container 10 based on the image obtained by the imaging module 300. Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 9, the control module 400 Let me explain in more detail.

As shown in FIG. 9 , the control module 400 is basically configured to include an input unit 410 , a storage unit 420 , a comparison unit 430 , and a determination unit 440 .

The input unit 410 performs a function of acquiring an image detected by the image capturing module 300, and the storage unit 420 performs a function of storing a reference image for determining whether an image is normal.

This reference image is a reference image of the image projected on the screen 210, preferably selected as the image projected on the screen 210 when the optimal amount of liquid is accommodated in the container accommodating part 12, and further stored In the unit 420, it will be possible to store the upper limit reference image and the lower limit reference image, respectively, in consideration of the upper and lower limits of the liquid injection amount that meet the quality standards.

The comparison unit 430 compares the image detected by the image capturing module 300 with the reference image of the image stored in the storage unit 420 , and the determination unit 440 compares the comparison result of the comparison unit 430 . It performs a function of determining whether to inject a quantity of liquid in the light-transmitting container 10 based on the.

For example, in consideration of the size of the image in the detection image, the detection image detected by photographing the image passing through the specific container accommodating part 12 of the translucent container 10 is the upper limit of the reference image stored in the storage unit 420 . If it is between the size of the upper garment and the size of the lower limit of the reference image, the determination unit 440 determines that the liquid is quantitatively injected into the container receiving unit 12 .

On the other hand, in the case of the lighting module 100 irradiating light from the upper portion of the translucent container 10, there may be a difference in the amount of light emitted from the central and peripheral portions thereof, and the image projected on the screen 210 by such non-uniform lighting may affect the accuracy of checking the presence or absence of liquid inside the light-transmitting container 10 .

In order to overcome this problem, the control module 400 may be configured to further include a correction unit 450 for correcting the detected image obtained by the input unit 410, which will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 10 below. let it do

An image obtained under non-uniform illumination may be modeled as in Equation (1) below.

<Equation (1)>

I(x,y) is the acquired image, R(x,y) is the reflection component of the original binary image, L(x,y) is the illumination component of the image at the time of image acquisition, and n(x,y) is the noise. defined

Since the two brightness values are changed in the acquired image due to the product of the original image with the non-uniform illumination, correction is required. For this, the image is first divided into sub-images, Under the assumption that it is almost constant, the brightest maximum brightness value can be uniformly corrected in each sub-image.

It is assumed that each sub-image contains the bright value of the binary image, and if lighting is corrected in this way, blocking occurs between each sub-image, so it is alleviated by using a low-pass filter and interpolation technique.

First, in order to standardize the block-based image brightness in order to correct non-uniform lighting and restore detailed information, the obtained image is MxN (i=1,2,...,M,j=1) as shown in Equation (2) below. ,2,...,N) sub-images.

<Equation (2)>

는 (i,j)번째 부영상의 좌표들의 집합, (x,y)는 각 부영상 내의 픽셀 위치,

는 각 부영상의 중심 위치이고 H 및 W는 부영상의 높이와 너비의 길이임

is the set of coordinates of the (i,j)-th sub-image, (x, y) is the pixel position in each sub-image,

is the center position of each sub-image and H and W are the lengths of the height and width of the sub-image

In order to standardize the brightness of the sub-picture, the maximum brightness value m(i, j) of each sub-picture is obtained as in Equation (3) below.

<Equation (3)>

At this time, in order to reduce the influence of noise, etc., a low-pass filter is applied to m(i,j) as shown in Equation (4) below under the assumption that the difference in illumination component between adjacent sub-images does not change rapidly, and the maximum brightness value of the sub-image is limit rapid changes in

<Equation (4)>

In this case, a Gaussian filter as shown in Equation (5) below is used as the low-pass filter.

<Equation (5)>

를 사용하여 하기 수학식 (6)과 같이 획득한 영상 I(x,y)를 나누어 주면 각 부영상의 불균일 조명을 보정하여 반사성분을 추정할 수 있다.Maximum brightness value of each sub-image with Gaussian low-pass filter applied

By dividing the obtained image I(x,y) as in Equation (6) using

<Equation (6)>

로 추정하였으므로 블록화 현상이 나타나게 되며, 이를 방지하기 위하여 조명성분이 부분적으로 연속(piecewise continuous)이라는 전제하에 보간을 수행하여 블록화 현상을 완화한다. In Equation (6), the same value for the inside of the sub-picture for each sub-picture

Since it is estimated as , a blocking phenomenon occurs. To prevent this, interpolation is performed on the premise that the lighting component is piecewise continuous to alleviate the blocking phenomenon.

을 토대로 1차적으로 조명성분

을 추정하기 위해 잡음의 영향이 작다는 가정 하에 수학식 (1)에 로그를 취하여 추정한 조명성분은 하기 수학식 (7)과 같이 각 부영상의 최대값

와 동일하다.The first estimated reflection component

Based on the primary lighting component

In order to estimate , the illumination component estimated by taking the logarithm of Equation (1) under the assumption that the influence of noise is small is the maximum value of each sub-image as shown in Equation (7) below.

same as

<Equation (7)>

는 부영상 내에서 동일한 값을 가지므로 부영상 간의 블록 artifact가 나타나기 때문에 인접 부영상 간의 추정한 조명성분의 밝기 값의 차이를 줄이기 위해서 추정한 조명성분을 인접 블록의 조명성분을 이용하여 연속적인 함수로 보간한다.In this case, the primary estimated lighting component

has the same value in the sub-picture, so block artifacts between sub-pictures appear. In order to reduce the difference in the brightness value of the estimated lighting component between adjacent sub-pictures, the estimated lighting component is a continuous function using the lighting component of the adjacent block. interpolate with

,

인 경우, 조명성분의 위치 (x,y)에 대하여 부영상의 크기 H, W를 기준으로 거리 비율에 따라

,

,

,

을 bilinear 보간하여 최종적으로 조명성분

를 구할 수 있으며, 도 10의 bilinear 보간은 하기 수학식 (8)과 같이 표현할 수 있다.In FIG. 10, H denotes the height of the sub-image, W denotes the width of the sub-image, and the coordinates in the sub-image are

,

In the case of , according to the distance ratio based on the size H, W of the sub-image with respect to the position (x, y) of the illumination component

,

,

,

Finally, by bilinear interpolation of

can be obtained, and the bilinear interpolation of FIG. 10 can be expressed as in Equation (8) below.

<Equation (8)>

로 나눠줌으로써 불균일 조명성분을 보정한 최종 영상

를 하기 수학식 (9)와 같이 획득할 수 있다.Illumination components calculated from the obtained image in Equation (8)

Final image corrected for non-uniform lighting components by dividing by

can be obtained as in Equation (9) below.

<Equation (9)>

On the other hand, as described above, the reference image, which is a reference for confirming the presence or absence of liquid in the light-transmitting container, may be directly determined or set by the operator through a test, but by machine learning the control module 400 secures a training set in advance. It is possible to determine and set an optimal reference image or reference value.

To this end, the control module 400 may further include a reference image generator 460, which generates a training set including a plurality of detection images and a determination result corresponding to each detection image. By learning, a reference image or reference value can be generated.

Specifically, the reference image generating unit 460 sets a plurality of detected images as input factors, and uses the determination results corresponding to each detected image, that is, the result values of non-injection, under-injection, normal, over-injection, etc. as output factors. setting, and deriving a correlation between an input factor and an output factor through machine learning such as deep learning, and generating a decision algorithm based on the derived correlation.

When a new detection image is input to the generated determination algorithm, it may be configured to derive the determination result of the detection image by the determination algorithm, thereby improving the reliability of the determination criterion for confirming the presence or absence of liquid in the translucent container. Therefore, it is possible to increase the inspection accuracy of the inspection device.

As mentioned above, although the present invention has been described in detail using preferred embodiments, the scope of the present invention is not limited to specific embodiments and should be construed according to the appended claims. In addition, those skilled in the art should understand that many modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention.

10: light-transmitting container
100: lighting module
200: phase detection module
300: shooting module
400: control module

Claims (8)

In the liquid presence confirmation inspection apparatus of the light-transmitting container having at least one container accommodating part for accommodating the liquid,
a lighting module for irradiating light in a downward direction;
an image detection module onto which an image formed by light passing through at least one of the translucent container and the liquid accommodated in the translucent container is projected;
a photographing module for photographing the image projected on the image detection module; and
a control module for determining whether to inject a quantity of liquid in the light-transmitting container on the basis of the image obtained by the photographing module;
Checking device for liquid presence in the light-transmitting container comprising a.
The method according to claim 1, The lighting module,
a first coupling part coupled to the upper part of the facility; and
a lighting unit connected to the first coupling unit and having at least one light source therein;
Checking device for liquid presence in a light-transmitting container comprising a.
3. The method according to claim 2,
The illumination module, the light-transmitting container liquid presence inspection device comprising a; diffusion plate disposed below the illumination unit to diffuse the light emitted from the illumination unit.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the phase detection module,
a second coupling unit coupled to the facility;
a seating part connected to the second coupling part and having a hollow formed therein; and
a screen on which the image is projected by being seated on the seating part;
Checking device for liquid presence in the light-transmitting container comprising a.
The method according to claim 4, The photographing module,
a third coupling unit coupled to the facility; and
a camera for photographing the rear surface of the screen exposed through the hollow formed in the seating part;
Checking device for liquid presence in a light-transmitting container comprising a.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the control module,
an input unit for acquiring the image detected by the image captured by the photographing module;
a storage unit for storing a reference image for determining whether the image is normal;
a comparator for comparing the detected image with the reference image; and
a determination unit for determining whether the liquid in the light-transmitting container is quantitatively injected based on the comparison result of the comparison unit;
Checking device for liquid presence in a light-transmitting container comprising a.
7. The method of claim 6,
The control module, a correction unit for correcting the detected image acquired by the input unit; Checking apparatus for checking the presence of liquid in the translucent container further comprising.
7. The method of claim 6,
The control module, a plurality of detection images and a reference image generation unit for generating the reference image by learning a training set consisting of a determination result corresponding to the detection image;

Images