JP4711300B2 - Inspection equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an article inspection apparatus that inspects an object to be inspected while conveying it, and determines whether the object to be inspected is good / bad according to the inspection result. When the object to be inspected is determined to be defective, the conveying operation is performed. It is related with the article inspection apparatus which stops the thing and excludes the said to-be-inspected object (defective product).

  An article inspection device is installed in the product production line to inspect the weight of the product (inspected object) being transported to the conveyor, etc. and the presence or absence of foreign matter, etc. May be. This article inspection apparatus compares the inspection result by the inspection means with a predetermined condition at a predetermined determination position on the conveyor, and determines whether the inspection object is good or defective. At this time, if it is determined to be good, the transfer operation of the transfer conveyor is continued and the inspection object (non-defective product) is transferred to the subsequent stage as it is. If it is determined to be defective, a stop signal is sent from the transfer control means. Is output, the transfer operation of the transfer conveyor is stopped, the inspection object (defective product) is stopped at the determination position, and the operator or the like removes it from the production line.

  Such defective product removal is described as a stop mode in Patent Document 1 below (see paragraph 0006). In this stop mode, when a weighing error occurs, the weighing conveyor is stopped simultaneously with the detection of the weighing error, and the operator removes the weighing object (defective product) related to the weighing error from the line.

The above-mentioned defective product removal using the stop mode is used when there is a risk of damage to the weighing object when sorting by the sorting device, when the weighing object is heavy, or when weighing errors rarely occur. It is done.
Japanese Patent No. 3443611

  However, in the conventional article inspection apparatus as described above, when the inspection object is determined to be defective, the conveyance conveyor stops and the inspection object (defective product) determined to be defective may stop at the determination position. In practice, however, defective products have moved not only at the determination position, but also due to the inertial force generated by the sudden stop of the transport conveyor that has continued to perform the transport operation, and slippage of the belt and chain of the transport conveyor.

  In particular, since a plurality of inspection objects are continuously conveyed in the production line, some inspection objects including defective products stop near the determination position. The worker had to identify the defective product. However, in this case, there is a possibility that an operator mistakes a defective product and makes a removal mistake such as removing a non-defective product or an uninspected product, and the remaining defective product may flow out to the subsequent stage. Such a removal error becomes a serious problem when, for example, foreign substances such as food are detected.

  Further, removing all the inspection objects stopped near the determination position in order to prevent such a removal error has caused a problem that the production statistical values do not match.

  Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, the present invention displays the defective product stopped on the conveying means on the display means, so that the operator can easily and reliably identify the defective product. Reduces the burden required to identify non-defective products, eliminates removal mistakes, prevents outflow of defective products, and removes only defective products from the inspection object being transported, resulting in production statistics An object is to provide a matching article inspection apparatus.

Next, means for solving the above problems will be described with reference to the drawings corresponding to the embodiments.
The article inspection apparatus 1 according to claim 1 of the present invention is configured to convey the inspection object W in a predetermined conveyance direction Y and convey it to the rear conveyor 4, and the inspection object conveyed by the conveyance means 2. Inspection means 8 for inspecting the object W, and determination means for comparing the inspection result of the inspection means 8 with the set condition to determine whether the inspection object W is good or bad at a predetermined determination position P of the transport means 2 9 and an article inspection apparatus 1 including a conveyance control means 10 that outputs a stop signal for stopping the conveyance operation of the conveyance means 2 when the determination means 9 determines a defect.
An input unit 7 for inputting in advance a position where the inspection object W stops when the stop signal is output from the transfer control unit 10 and the transfer operation of the transfer unit 2 is stopped;
Stop of the inspection object W ′ that is determined to be defective by the determination unit 9 based on the stop position input by the input unit 7 and stopped on at least one of the transport unit 2 or the rear conveyor 4 A display state that clearly indicates that the inspection object W ′ is a defective product together with a figure representing the conveying means 2 and the rear conveyor 4 (for example, a state in which the position is clearly indicated by blinking or changing the color) Display means 13 for displaying on the screen 14 with,
It is characterized by comprising.

  The article inspection apparatus 1 according to claim 2 is characterized in that a value obtained by actual measurement for each type of the inspection object W is used as the stop position input by the input means 7.

  According to such a configuration, when the transport operation of the transport means 2 is stopped, the stop position of the inspected object W ′ (defective product) determined to be defective is indicated by blinking or changing the color. By providing the display means 13 for displaying on the screen 14, the operator can know the position where the defective product W ′ is actually stopped by checking the display means 13.

The article inspection apparatus 1 according to claim 3 includes a detection unit 6 that outputs a detection signal each time the passage of the inspection object W in the transport unit 2 is detected.
Storage means 12 for sequentially storing output intervals of the detection signals output from the detection means 6;
In the display means 13, a plurality of inspection objects W that are continuously conveyed to the conveyance means 2 based on the output intervals of the detection signals stored in the storage means 12 are actually conveyed to the conveyance means 2. It is displayed in a lined-up state.

According to such a configuration, the storage unit 12 sequentially stores the output intervals of the detection signals output from the detection unit 6, so that the conveyance operation of the conveyance unit 2 is performed even when the inspection object W is continuously conveyed. Is stopped, it is possible to display on the screen 14 the inspection object W ₀ arranged in a state substantially similar to the state in which the inspection objects W are actually arranged. Further, by clearly indicating the defective product W ₀ ′ from the plurality of inspected objects W ₀ displayed on the screen 14 of the display means 13, the operator can easily identify the actual defective product W.

  According to the article inspection apparatus according to the present invention, when a defective product occurs and the conveying unit stops, a display unit is provided for displaying the defective product stop position by blinking or changing the color. Thus, the operator can check the display means and know the position of the defective product actually stopped on the transport means. That is, the operator can easily and reliably identify the defective product in the transport unit. As a result, it is possible to reduce the burden on the worker and prevent the left defective product from flowing out to the subsequent stage by eliminating the removal mistake such as the operator removing the non-defective product or the uninspected product by mistake. .

  Further, since only defective products can be removed from the production line, production statistics can be matched, and as a result, production efficiency is improved.

  Further, the storage means sequentially stores the output intervals of the detection signals output from the detection means, so that even when the inspection object is continuously conveyed to the conveyance means, when the conveyance means stops, they are actually aligned. It is possible to display the inspection object in a state of being arranged in substantially the same manner as the existing state. Further, by specifying only defective products from the plurality of inspected items displayed on the display means, it becomes easy for the operator to identify actual defective products. Thereby, similarly to the above, it is possible to reduce the burden on the worker and eliminate the operator's removal mistake.

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment of an article inspection apparatus (weight measuring apparatus) according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a display on the display means of the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when the inspection object is determined to be defective by the determination means.

As shown in FIG. 1, the article inspection apparatus 1 according to the present invention is installed in a production line and inspects an inspection object W while conveying it in a predetermined conveyance direction Y. Are compared to determine whether the inspection object W is good or bad.
Such an article inspection apparatus 1 includes a weight inspection apparatus, a metal detection apparatus, an X-ray foreign matter detection apparatus, and the like. In this specification, the weight inspection apparatus will be described as an embodiment of the present invention.

  The weight inspection apparatus 1 according to this embodiment calculates a measurement value by weighing while conveying the inspection object W, compares the calculated measurement value with a preset value, and compares the calculated inspection value of the inspection object W. Determine good / bad.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the weight inspection apparatus 1 includes a conveyance unit 2, a detection unit 6, an input unit 7, an inspection unit 8, a determination unit 9, a conveyance control unit 10, and a display unit 13. And is roughly composed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the transport conveyor 2 as a transport means transports the inspection object W that has been continuously transported from the preceding conveyor 3 at an appropriate interval in a predetermined transport direction Y, and further selects It is carried out to the rear conveyor 4 provided with the device 5 and the like. In the present embodiment, the conveyor 2 is a belt conveyor.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the above-described transport conveyor 2 detects that a detection signal is intermittently output to a storage unit to be described later every time the inspection object W transported to the transport conveyor 2 is detected. A passage detection sensor 6 is provided as a means. The passage detection sensor 6 is composed of a pair of opposed light projecting and receiving elements (not shown), and is disposed at both end portions on the front stage side of the transport conveyor 2 so as to be orthogonal to the transport direction Y. These light projecting / receiving elements are arranged at different heights on the upper and lower sides, and light rays are irradiated obliquely from the light projecting elements and received by the light receiving elements.

  The input means 7 is preliminarily inputted with a position at which the inspection object W that has been transported to the transport conveyor 2 until now stops in the transport direction Y when the transport conveyor 2 stops. The inspection object W moves in the conveyance direction Y due to the inertia force generated when the conveyance conveyor 2 stops, the slip of the conveyor belt, and the like, and the distance moved varies depending on the type. Therefore, the movement distance can be obtained by actually measuring in advance.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the weighing means 8 as the inspection means is configured by a weighing unit (not shown) such as a load cell mounted with a conveyor 2, and is inspected being conveyed to the conveyor 2. The measurement value is calculated by measuring the weight of W at a predetermined measurement timing. The measurement timing is determined based on an empirical rule from the type of the inspection object W and the belt speed of the conveyor 2, and is started when the passage detection sensor 6 detects the passage of the inspection object W. The weighing means 8 measures the object to be weighed W while conveying it (dynamic weighing).

  As shown in FIG. 2, the determination unit 9 compares the measurement value (inspection result) calculated by the measurement unit 8 with a preset weight value to determine whether or not the measurement value is within the set weight range. To determine whether the inspection object W is good or bad. That is, the determination means 9 determines that the measurement value is good if the measurement value is within the set weight range, and conversely determines that the measurement value is defective if the measurement value is outside the set weight range. Furthermore, when the determination unit 9 determines that the defect is present, the determination unit 9 outputs a defect determination signal to a conveyance control unit described later. Further, the determination of the inspection object W by the determination means 9 is performed at a predetermined determination position P (see FIG. 1) on the conveyor 2. In the present embodiment, the rear end side of the conveyor 2 is set as the determination position P. At this time, this position (rear end side) can be set as the determination position by adjusting the belt speed of the conveyor 2 and / or the measuring timing of the measuring means 8.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the transfer control unit 10 described above receives the failure determination signal output from the determination unit 9 and outputs a stop signal to the transfer conveyor 2 to stop the transfer operation of the transfer conveyor 2.

Further, the conveyance control means 10 is provided with a defective product stop position input means 11 and a storage means 12.
The defective product stop position input means 11 is based on the stop position input in advance to the input means 7 and the inspection object W ′ (defective product) determined to be defective by the determination means when the conveyor 2 is stopped. The distance traveled from the determination position P is calculated, and the calculation result is output to the display means described later.

  Further, the storage means 12 sequentially stores the output intervals of the detection signals intermittently output from the passage detection sensor 6 and outputs the output intervals of the stored detection signals to the display means.

As shown in FIG. 2, the display unit 13 described above displays the inspected object W in substantially the same manner as in the state where the display unit 13 is actually arranged on the conveyor 2 based on the output interval of the detection signal output from the storage unit 12. At the same time, the position where the defective product W is actually stopped is displayed based on the movement distance calculated by the defective product stop position input means 11. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a schematic inspection device is displayed on the screen 14 of the display means 13, and inspected in a state in which it is arranged in substantially the same manner as it is actually arranged in the conveyor 2. The object W ₀ is displayed, and in particular, the defective product W ₀ ′ is displayed in a state clearly indicated by blinking or changing the color.

  The configuration of the weight inspection apparatus (article inspection apparatus) according to the present embodiment has been described above. From here, the object to be inspected is displayed on the display means after the object to be inspected is determined to be defective (after the defective product is generated). The operation until the stop position is displayed will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, as shown in FIG. 4, a defective product is generated from the inspected object W being transported to the transport conveyor 2 (S1). Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the weight of the object W is weighed by the weighing means 8, and the measured value is calculated. Then, the measurement value is compared with a preset weight value by the determination means 9. At this time, when the measured value is outside the set weight range, the determination unit 9 determines that the inspection object W ′ is defective.

  Next, the conveyor 2 is stopped when it is determined that the inspection object W 'is defective (S2). Here, a defect determination signal is output from the determination unit 9 to the conveyance control unit 10. In response to this, the transport control means 10 outputs a stop signal to the transport conveyor 2 to stop the transport operation of the transport conveyor 2.

  Next, the stop position of the defective product W ′ is calculated by the defective product stop position calculating means 11 (S3). Here, the defective product stop position calculating means 11 calculates the stop position (movement distance from the determination position P (see FIG. 1)) of the defective product W ′ based on the stop position previously input to the input means 7.

Finally, the screen 14 of the display means 13 is displayed in a state clearly indicated by blinking the stop position of the defective product W ₀ ′ or changing the color (S4). Here, based on the stop position (movement distance from the determination position P) calculated by the defective product stop position calculation means 11, it is substantially the same as the position where the defective product W ′ is actually stopped on the screen of the display means 13. Defective product W ₀ ′ is displayed at the position.
The display means 13 is actually transported to the screen 14 of the display means 13 based on the output interval of the detection signal of the passage detection sensor 6 stored in the storage means 12 simultaneously with the display of the above-mentioned defective product W ₀ ′. The object to be inspected W ₀ is displayed in a state of being arranged in substantially the same manner as that of being arranged on the conveyor 2.

Then, the operator sees the stop position of the defective product W ₀ ′ displayed on the screen 14 of the display means 13 and identifies the defective product W ′ actually stopped on the transfer conveyor 2, and this defective product W 'Is removed from the production line and then the conveyor 2 is restarted.

According to this embodiment, when the inspection object W is determined to be defective and the transfer operation of the transfer conveyor 2 is stopped, the defective product W ₀ ′ is blinked or the color is changed and the screen is clearly displayed. 14 is provided, the operator can confirm the screen 14 and know the position of the defective product W ′ actually stopped on the conveyor 2. That is, the operator can easily and reliably specify the defective product W ′ stopped on the transport conveyor 2. As a result, the burden on the worker is reduced, and the defective product W ′ is replaced with the defective product W ′ by eliminating a mistake such as removing the other inspection object W (good product, uninspected product) by mistake. Outflow to the conveyor 4 can be prevented.

  In addition, since only the defective product W ′ can be removed from the conveyor 2 during the operation of the production line, the production statistics can be matched.

Further, the storage means 12 sequentially stores the output intervals of the detection signals output from the passage detection sensor 6, so that the transport operation of the transport conveyor 2 can be performed even when the inspection object W is continuously transported to the transport conveyor 2. When stopped, it is possible to display on the screen 14 of the display means 13 the inspected objects W ₀ that are arranged in substantially the same manner as they are actually arranged on the conveyor 2. In addition, by specifying the defective product W ₀ ′ from among the plurality of inspected objects W ₀ displayed on the screen 14, the operator can easily identify the defective product W ′. Thereby, similarly to the above, it is possible to reduce the burden on the operator and eliminate the operator's removal mistake.

In the embodiment described above, a schematic inspection device is displayed on the screen 14 of the display means 13, and when the conveyor is stopped, the defective product W ₀ ′ is blinked or the color is changed. However, the display on the screen 14 is not limited to this, and various displays are possible. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, characters such as “NG” may be displayed and displayed on the defective product W ₁ ′ in the screen 14. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, a defective product W ₂ ′ may be displayed with a letter or the like in a balloon.
In addition, it is also conceivable to display the inspection device and defective products on the screen in a three-dimensional manner instead of in a planar manner.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the determination position P for determining whether the inspection object W is good / bad is adjusted by adjusting the belt speed of the conveyor 2 and / or the measuring timing of the measuring means 8, after the conveyor 2. Although it was on the end side (see FIG. 1), as shown in FIG. 7, when the belt speed of the conveyor 2 is fixed, the determination position L is determined by the belt speed V (m / s) and the measurement timing T (s). When the measurement timing T (s) is set so that the value obtained by multiplying by is smaller than the belt total length L _C (m), the following equation (1) is obtained.
L = V × T (L _C > L) (1)
As a result, the determination position L that can satisfy the measurement timing T (s) ≈determination timing can be calculated. That is, the determination by the determination means 9 can be performed substantially simultaneously with the measurement of the inspection object W.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the weighing timing of the weighing means 8 is determined by an empirical rule from the type of the inspection object W and the belt speed of the conveyor 2, and the inspection object W is detected by the passage detection sensor 6. However, the inspection object W can be detected by the inspection signal output from the weighing means 8. In this case, as shown in FIG. 8, the inspection object W can be detected by setting the detection timing to a stable position after the inspection object W has entered the weighing unit 8.
In addition to the weight inspection means, there are metal detection devices and X-ray foreign matter detection devices as article inspection devices. FIGS. 9 and 10 show inspection signals at the inspection timings of the metal detection device and the X-ray foreign matter detection device, respectively. This represents a method for detecting an object to be inspected.

1 is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment of an article inspection apparatus (weight inspection apparatus) according to the present invention. It is a functional block diagram in FIG. It is a figure which shows the display state in the display means of the embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence when the to-be-inspected object is determined to be defect by the determination means which comprises the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the other display state in a display means. It is a figure which shows the other display state in a display means. It is a typical front view which shows the other calculation method of a determination position. It is a figure which shows the detection timing when detecting a to-be-inspected object from an inspection signal in a weight inspection apparatus. It is a figure which shows the detection timing when detecting a to-be-inspected object from an inspection signal in a metal detection apparatus. (A), (b) It is a figure which shows the detection timing when detecting a to-be-inspected object from a test | inspection signal in a X-ray foreign material detection apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

1 ... Article inspection device (weight inspection device)
2 ... Conveying means (conveying conveyor)
6. Detection means (passage detection sensor)
7 ... Input means 8 ... Inspection means (measuring means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 9 ... Judgment means 10 ... Conveyance control means 12 ... Memory | storage means 13 ... Display means P ... Judgment position W ... Test object W '... Test object determined to be defective (defective product)
Y ... Transport direction

Claims (3)

A transport means (2) for transporting the inspection object (W) in a predetermined transport direction (Y) and carrying it out to the rear conveyor (4), and an inspection means for inspecting the inspection object transported by the transport means ( 8), a determination unit (9) for comparing the inspection result by the inspection unit and the set condition to determine whether the inspection object is good or defective at a predetermined determination position (P) of the transport unit, and the determination In the article inspection apparatus (1), comprising a conveyance control means (10) for outputting a stop signal for stopping the conveyance operation of the conveyance means when it is determined as defective by the means,
An input means (7) for inputting in advance a position at which the inspection object stops when the stop signal is output from the transport control means and the transport operation of the transport means is stopped;
Based on the stop position input by the input means, the stop position of the inspection object (W ′) determined to be defective by the determination means and stopped on at least one of the transport means or the rear conveyor A display means (13) for displaying in a display state clearly indicating that the object to be inspected is a defective product together with a figure representing the transport means and the rear conveyor .
An article inspection apparatus comprising:   2. The article inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a value obtained by actual measurement for each type of the inspection object (W) is used for the stop position input by the input means (7). Detection means (6) for outputting a detection signal each time the passage of the inspection object (W) in the conveying means (2) is detected;
Storage means (12) for sequentially storing output intervals of the detection signals output from the detection means;
In the display means (13), a plurality of objects to be inspected that are continuously conveyed to the conveying means based on the output intervals of the detection signals stored in the storage means are actually arranged in the conveying means. The article inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article inspection apparatus is displayed in a state where the article is present.

Images