WO2008068144A1

WO2008068144A1 - A sensor device for controlling pharmaceutical products

Info

Publication number: WO2008068144A1
Application number: PCT/EP2007/062677
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sergio Cicognani; Massimo Bonardi
Original assignee: I.M.A. Industria Macchine Automatiche S.P.A.
Priority date: 2006-12-06
Filing date: 2007-11-22
Publication date: 2008-06-12
Also published as: ITBO20060832A1

Abstract

A sensor device (10) for controlling products (1), in particular pharmaceutical products (1), for application in a packing machine (100) for packing the products (1) in containers, comprising at least a 5 conveyor (110) for successively advancing the products (1) along a predetermined path (W) towards the containers, and optical means (20) for detecting and controlling the products (1) on the conveyor (110); light generating means (30, 31, 32) are included for illuminating the products (1) transiting in a detection field of the optical means (20), via 10 at least a light beam (35, 36).

Description

A SENSOR DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a sensor device for controlling products and is applicable in the technical sector of packaging articles, and in particular pharmaceutical products such as pills, capsules and the like, in corresponding containers.

In particular the invention relates to an optical device destined to automatically detect the conformation of these products before they are introduced into the various containers, for example bottles or the like, in order to identify any shape or colour defects or any other similar characteristics which would make them unsuitable and liable for rejection.

BACKGROUND ART

The packaging of pharmaceutical products such as pills, capsules and the like is performed by special automatic packing machines, commonly known as counters, which are usually of a type substantially comprising a product store and a device for ordered supply of the products to a container filler group. A number of products to be supplied is predetermined by a suitable counting device. The containers are normally advanced below a filler group, such as to enable introduction of a predetermined number of products by force of gravity.

At present, these counter machines are also provided with a device for performing a quality control on the products before they are counted in order to be put in the relative container; further, the machines are also provided with an expulsion device to reject products which are found to be defective and therefore not suitable for packing.

A prior-art packing and counting machine of the above-described type is, for example, described in PCT patent application no. WO 03/097459, in the name of the same applicant, the description of which is explicity referred-to, without losing general application.

In the described counter machine of the above-cited PCT patent document, the products to be packed are loosely contained in a hopper, from which they are transferred onto a vibrating plane conveyor which orders them into parallel lines, and then to a second horizontal rotary drum conveyor. The drum is continuously rotated, and is provided with holes communicating with conduits that are maintained in depression, in order to retain the products adhering to the surface of the drum during transport thereof.

A processor-controlled optical sensor device, which detects the conformation of each pharmaceutical product, identifies defective products, for example products having a shape defect.

From the rotary drum the products are transferred, via a plurality of deflector rods, to a series of funnels arranged parallel above a same number of bottles to be filled. When a defective product passes, the deflector rod is not activated, and the product proceeds in its rotation together with the drum the drum until it is removed to a special reject container.

The above-described optical device for detecting the conformation of pharmaceutical products specifically comprises a video camera connected to a processor containing a suitable image recognition program; the program identifies the edges of each transiting product and recognises any shape defects. The data collected in reference to defective products is sent on to the control system of the packing machine, which does not activate the corresponding deflector rods when the defective product passes, and then excludes it from the subsequent packing stages.

The framing area of the camera is illuminated, generally by a light source dedicated to lighting up the rotary drum.

The resulting illumination in the framing field is substantially uniform, whether it comes from indirect sources or from a direct source. This gives rise, in some cases, to problems of recognition of defective pills.

These problems are particularly evident when the colour of the products is similar to that of the surface of the rotary drum, or in any case if the chromatic contrast between product and drum is not strong.

In this case, the identification of the product on the part of the recognition program can be difficult.

This can lead to errors in evaluating the suitability of a product, with a consequent rejection of a product that is, in effect, satisfactory; it can even lead to the acceptance of a defective product. An aim of the invention is to provide a sensor device which can recognise the edge of the products accurately and reliably, and completely independently of the intensity and type of ambient illumination.

A further aim of the present invention is to provide a sensor device for identification of products, such as for example the above-mentioned pills, which can effectively detect colour difference or even minimal chromatic contrasts.

A further aim of the present invention is to provide a sensor device which can perform an effective and precise counting of the controlled products.

The above-cited aims are entirely obtained, as set out in the contents of the claims.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The present invention provides a sensor device for controlling articles, in particular pharmaceutical products, which operate in a packing machine for packing the articles into containers, comprising at least a conveyor which advances, in succession, the articles along a predetermined course towards said articles, and optical detection and control means of the articles located on the conveyor; characterised in that it further comprises light generating means which illuminate the articles transiting in the field of detection of the optical means, by means of at least a light beam having a predetermined angle of incidence. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The characteristics of the invention, as it is characterised in the claims, as will emerge from the claims, are set out in the following detailed description, with reference to the appended figures of the drawings, in which:

figure 1 is a schematic illustration of a side view of a portion of packing machine which comprises the sensor device of the present invention;

figures 2 and 4 schematically illustrate respective lateral views, in enlarged scale, of a detail of figure 1 ;

figures 3a, 3b and 3c schematically illustrate, along observation plane Ill-Ill of figure 2, ways of lighting products of different shapes (3a, 3c) or a way of lighting a defective product (3b) by means of the device of figure 1.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION.

With reference to figure 1 , 100 denotes a packer/counter machine of pharmaceutical products 1 , for example pills, capsules or the like, into corresponding containers, for example bottles, of known type and not illustrated.

For reasons of convenience, only a significant portion of the machine 100 is illustrated in figure 1. In particular, the machine 100 comprises a horizontal rotary drum conveyor 110, which receives products 1 to be packed in parallel lines (not illustrated in the figures) from a preceding vibrating linear conveyor 105 and transport them in succession, and in a known way, along an advancement path W, towards collection devices 120 for counting and subsequent introduction the products into the relative containers.

The machine 100 further comprises deflector organs 130 for detaching the suitable products 1 from the surface 111 of the conveyor 110 and directing them towards the collection devices 120, a container 140 for defective products, and a deflector element 150 for detaching the defective products 1 from the conveyor 110 and directly them towards the container 140.

For a detailed description of the structure and functioning of the machine 100 and the components thereof, reference is made to the above-cited international patent application PCT WO 03/097459, belonging to the same applicant.

The machine 100 further comprises a sensor device 10 of the products 1 transiting on the conveyor 110 destined to acquire and process data on each product 1 , the data being sufficient to enable identification of defective products 1 and to send relative signals to a control unit (not illustrated) of the machine 100 in order that the defective products 1 can be excluded from the following packing stages.

As can be seen in figures 1 and 2, the sensor device 10 comprises means 20 for optical detection and acquisition of data relating to each of the products 1 , the means being substantially preferably defined by a fixed linear video camera 20, which is trained towards the surface of the above-cited conveyor 110. The camera 20 is electrically connected to a processor, which contains a product 1 recognition program starting from an image of the products 1 generated by the camera 20, and which is able to evaluate the integrity of the products 1.

The sensor device 10 further comprises, in particular, generator means 30 of an oriented light beam, destined to optimally illuminate the products 1 during the transit thereof in succession in the view of the linear camera 20 and to improve the contrast thereof with the surface 111 of the drum 110.

In the preferred but non-limiting embodiment illustrated in figures 1 , 2 and 4, the generator means 30 are defined by a pair of oriented beam spotlights 31 , 32 which emit light beams 35, 36 destined to interest the products 1 from different directions, starting from the perimeter edge 2 thereof, at opposite angles with respect to the line covered by the camera 20 and with relatively small acute angles of incidence α to the products 1 , such as to produce a substantially grazing illumination on the drum 110.

As can be seen in figures 1 , 2 and 4, each side-lighting light beam 35, 36 selectively illuminates the products 1 transported by the drum 110 from a predefined direction, by effect of a deviation of the beam 35, 36 via a relative mirror deflector element 38, 39 arranged along the line of the corresponding beam 35, 36 such as to intercept the beam 35, 36 and deflect it towards the products 1.

The width of each beam 35, 36 deflected by the respective deflector 38, 39 is further subjected to a limitation by means of a pair of obturator elements 49, 50, arranged with respect to one another at a predetermined distance; with respect to the drum surface 110, the pair of obturator elements 49, 50 is further arranged at a predetermined distance or height which is greater than the breadth or height of the products 1 transported by the drum 110 itself. In particular, the obturator means 49, 50 enable a concentration of the light beams of the surface 111 of the drum 110.

During use, the illumination of the portion of surface 111 of the drum 110 by the light beams 35 and 36 of the device 10 is such that the linear camera 20, in the absence of products 1 on the drum 110 itself, detects a dark line corresponding to a zone of shadow 60, having a substantially transversal section, created at a region in which neither the beam 35 nor the beam 36 light the surface 111 (figure 4); while in the presence of a product 1 , the linear camera is able to detect, moment by moment, a linear portion, perfectly illuminated by the confluence of the light beams 35 and 36, of the upper surface of the product 1 which rises beyond the cited zone of shadow 60 (figure 2).

The camera 20 is, in substance, able progressively to detect the perimeter profile 2 of each product 1 , line per line by effect of the advancing of the product 1 on the rotating drum 110, and thus it can control whether the product 1 under examination is perfect and therefore suitable for packing (figures 3a and 3c), or whether it is to be rejected, for example (figure 3b) because it is damaged or in any case defective.

All of the foregoing considerably increases the chromatic contrast or the dark-light effect between the product 1 (light) and the dark zones (39, 40) of the surface (111 ) of the drum (110) around the product 1 , thus optimally and crucially facilitating the recognition operations regarding the conformation of the products 1. Naturally the beams 35, 36 can be directly oriented towards the products 1 , thus excluding the necessity of including the deflector mirrors 37, 38. The presence of the mirrors 37, 38, however, is justified by the fact that it improves adjustment of the direction of the beams 35, 36. Given that, as already described herein above, the drum conveyor 110 usually transports a plurality of rows of products 1 in parallel, a pair of spotlights 31 , 32 are preferably but non limitedly included, and respective deflector mirrors 37, 38 and obturators 49, 50 for each row of products 1.

The present invention provides an extremely simple, effective and inexpensive way to offer a decisive improvement in recognition of the outline of the products 1 to be packed on the part of the control system, which can very precisely identify the defective products to be rejected.

The identification capacity is also substantially independent of the type and intensity of the lighting in the surrounding ambient.

The above description is intended to be purely by way of non-limiting example.

Thus, possible modifications and variation of the invention are considered to fall within the ambit of protection afforded by the present technical solution, as it is described herein and in the following claims.

Claims

1 ). A sensor device (10) for controlling products (1 ), in particular pharmaceutical products (1 ), for application in a packing machine (100) for packing the products (1 ) in containers, comprising at least a conveyor (110) for successively advancing the products (1 ) along a predetermined path (W) towards the containers, and optical means (20) for detecting and controlling the products (1 ) on the conveyor (110); characterised in that it further comprises light generating means (30, 31 , 32), which illuminate the products (1 ) transiting in a detection field of the optical means (20), via at least a light beam (35, 36) with a predetermined angle of incidence (α) .

2). The device of claim 1 , characterised in that the light generating means (30) comprise at least a spotlight (31 , 32) for generating the beam (35, 36); the beam (35, 36) reaching a surface (111 ) of the conveyor (110) at an acute angle of incidence (α), such as to illuminate the products (1 ) with a substantially grazing illumination.

3). The device of claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the generating means (30) comprise deflector means (37, 38) destined to intercept the light beam (35, 36) and direct the light beam (35, 36) towards the products (1 ) with the angle of incidence (α); and obturator means (49, 50) for defining a breadth of the light beam (35, 36).

4). The device of claim 3, characterised in that the deflector means (37, 38) are defined by a specially-directed mirror means.

5). The device of claim 1 , characterised in that the light generator means (30) with oriented beam comprise a pair of spotlights (31 , 32) which are distanced from one another and oriented such that relative beams (35, 36) of light strike each product (1 ) from opposite angles with respect to a directed line of view of the optical detection means (20).

6). The device of claim 5, characterised in that the light generator means (30) comprise a pair of deflector means (37, 38) destined to intercept the two light beams (35, 36) and direct the light beams (35, 36) towards the products (1 ); and a pair of obturator means (49, 50) for defining a dimension of the light beams (35, 36) and forming at least a zone of shadow (60) on the surface (111 ) of the conveyor (110).

7). The device of any one of the preceding claims from 1 to 6, characterised in that the conveyor (110) comprises contemporaneous transport of a plurality of products (1 ) on substantially parallel rows, and the light generator means (30) are included for illuminating the products (1 ) transported in parallel with beams of side-lighting.

8). A packing machine (100), in particular for packing and counting pharmaceutical products (1 ) in containers, characterised in that it comprises a sensor device (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9). The sensor device for control of products (1 ), in particular pharmaceutical products (1 ), substantially as described and illustrated with reference to the accompanying figures of the drawings.