JP3041800B1 - Bottle misalignment inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract: PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately and fully automatically inspect a printing error of a bottle. An inspection unit is provided with imaging means for imaging a mark (dog) provided on a carrier, imaging means for imaging a lag of a bottle, and imaging means for imaging a predetermined reference portion of printing on the bottle. . The image processing unit detects a shift amount of the stop position of the carrier from an image of the dog imaging unit, detects a rotational shift amount of the bottle with respect to the carrier from the image of the lug imaging unit, and detects an image of the printing imaging unit. The position of the printing reference portion is detected from the position, and the position of the printing reference portion is corrected by the shift amount of the stop position of the carrier and the rotation shift amount of the bottle with respect to the carrier. Is determined to be acceptable when the deviation amount with respect to the set value is smaller than the set value, and is determined to be defective when the deviation amount is larger than the set value. As a result, printing deviation can be performed fully automatically with high accuracy.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for inspecting the positional deviation of a print placed at a predetermined position on a glass bottle in the circumferential direction of the bottle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When printing and attaching a label to a glass bottle, the printing and the label must be in a predetermined positional relationship. In such a case, the bottle is provided with a lug serving as a mark, and printing and labeling are performed so that the lug is located at a predetermined position. If the print and the label are in a predetermined position with respect to the rug, the positional relationship between the print and the label will be normal, but if either of them is misaligned with respect to the rug, the positional relationship between the print and the label will be normal. Will shift and the appearance will deteriorate.

Conventionally, inspection for positional deviation of printing on a bottle has been performed by visual inspection by an inspector. This test is
For example, it is performed as follows. Place the bottle in a predetermined position at a predetermined angle (for example, so that the lug position is at the front)
When the inspector looks at the print through the slit, it passes if a predetermined portion of the print is visible through the slit, and fails otherwise.

[0004]

The above-mentioned conventional visual inspection not only imposes severe strain on the inspector, but also causes variations in the inspection accuracy due to individual differences among the inspectors. There is a problem that is bad. The present invention
It is an object of the present invention to accurately and fully automatically inspect a bottle for print misalignment and solve such a problem.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an apparatus for inspecting a printing deviation at a predetermined position with reference to a mark (lug) provided on a bottle, which holds a printed bottle. An imaging means for imaging a mark (dog) provided on the carrier in the inspection section, an imaging means for imaging a lag of the bottle in the inspection section,
The inspection unit includes an imaging unit that captures a predetermined reference portion of bottle printing, and an image processing unit that processes images captured by these imaging units to determine whether a printing position is acceptable. The amount of deviation of the stop position of the carrier is detected from the image of the imaging means of the dog, the amount of rotation deviation of the bottle relative to the carrier is detected from the image of the imaging means of the lug, and the reference portion of the printing is determined from the image of the imaging means of printing. The position is detected, and the position of the printing reference portion is corrected based on the amount of deviation of the stop position of the carrier and the amount of rotational deviation of the bottle with respect to the carrier. A bottle misalignment inspection apparatus characterized in that it is determined to be acceptable when the value is smaller than the predetermined value, and is determined to be defective when the value is greater than the set value.

Since the inspection apparatus of the present invention has the above-described configuration, even if the stop position of the carrier carrying the bottle in the inspection section is shifted (usually, a slight shift occurs), the bottle is moved with respect to the carrier. Even if it is held in a state where the rotation is deviated, accurate inspection can be performed.

The inspection apparatus of the present invention can be inspected for misalignment immediately after printing by incorporating the inspection apparatus in a well-known bottle printing machine, and a special inspection space is not required. In this case, the carrier of the inspection apparatus of the present invention can also serve as the carrier provided in the printing press and for moving the bottle to the printing unit. The inspection unit is provided downstream of the printing unit.

When the inspection apparatus according to the present invention is incorporated in a well-known bottle printing machine, a carrier speed sensor for detecting the moving speed of the carrier 4, a conveyor for carrying out the bottle from the printing machine, and a moving speed of the conveyor. A conveyor speed sensor for detecting, a means for eliminating defective bottles in contact with the conveyor, and a control unit for controlling the excluding means are provided. The timing which flows to the position of the elimination means is calculated from the speed signals of the carrier speed sensor and the conveyor speed sensor, and the elimination means is operated at the timing to eliminate the defective bottle. The control unit always keeps track of the movement amount of the carrier and the conveyor by the carrier speed sensor and the conveyor speed sensor, so that the removing unit can be operated when the defective bottle accurately flows before the removing unit. , Elimination mistakes can be prevented.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings of embodiments. 1 to 10 relate to the inspection apparatus of the embodiment, FIG. 1 is a plan view of the inspection apparatus of the embodiment incorporated in the bottle printing machine 1, FIG. 2 is a side view of the inspection section, FIG.
Is an explanatory view of a dog of a carrier, FIG. 4 is a rear view of a bottle provided with a lug, FIG. 5 is a front view of a printed bottle, FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of a lug, and FIG. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the correction of the stop position deviation and the rotational position deviation, FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the correction value of the rotational position deviation, and FIG. 10 is a signal to the image processing unit and the control unit. It is a block diagram explaining the flow of.

The inspection apparatus of the embodiment inspects printing deviation of a glass bottle G (round bottle), and is incorporated in a well-known printing machine 1 for printing a glass bottle as shown in FIG. The formed glass bottle G is held by a carrier 4 of the printing press 1 from a conveyor (not shown) and flows to the printing unit 2 in the direction of the arrow. In the printing unit 2, the carrier is temporarily stopped, and printing is simultaneously performed on two bottles. As shown in FIG. 4, the bottle G is provided with a lug 11. The carrier 4 holds the bottle G and then rotates the bottle so that the lug 11 faces downward. At this time, the position of the lug is detected when a pin (not shown) brought into contact with the bottle contacts the lug 11. This method of detecting the lag position is well known in the printing press 1. As shown in FIG. 6, the lug 11 has notches formed on both sides of the center portion 11a. FIG. 5 shows an example of printing on a bottle. In this case, the letters "VSOP" are printed on the opposite side of the lug 11 by silk printing. "." In the center of the character "VSOP" indicates the reference portion 1 for inspecting the printing position deviation.
2a.

[0011] After the printing is completed, the bottle G flows from the printing unit 2 to the downstream inspection unit 3 and stops. Meanwhile, the carrier rotates the bottle 180 degrees so that the lugs 11 are in the upward orientation. In the inspection unit 3, the printing position deviation of the two bottles is inspected simultaneously. In the inspection unit 3, for each bottle, an imaging unit 5 for imaging a mark (a dog 8) provided on the carrier 4, an imaging unit 6 for imaging a lug 11 of the bottle, and a reference unit 12 a for printing the bottle 12. And a bottle detection sensor 13 are provided.
That is, two sets of these imaging means and sensors are provided. The imaging means 5, 6, 7 are CCD cameras. The image picked up by the image pickup means is processed by the image processing unit 19 (computer), and it is determined whether or not the printing position of the bottle is acceptable.
In FIG. 2, reference numeral 9 denotes a ring-shaped light source,
Reference numeral 10 denotes a diffusion surface light source.

When the bottle is sent to the inspection unit 3, the bottle sensor 13 detects the bottle and sends a signal indicating “the presence of a bottle” to the image processing unit 19. Upon receiving this, the image processing section 19 sends an inspection signal to the imaging means 5, 6, 7, and releases the shutter of the CCD camera. The image signals picked up by the image pickup units 5, 6, and 7 are sent to the image processing unit 19, where the images are analyzed and the pass / fail judgment is performed.

An image pickup means 5 picks up an image of a mark (dog 8) provided on the upper surface of the carrier 4. The dog 8 is a plate-like member having a front shape as shown in the upper part of FIG. 3, the central part 8a protrudes upward, the upper surface of the central part 8a is mirror-finished,
Other parts are painted black. The lower part of the figure shows an image of the dog 8 captured by the image capturing means 5, in which the central portion 8a is bright and the other portions are dark. The image processing unit 19 detects the position of the dog center line t of the central portion 8a (the center position of the carrier 4) from this image, and detects the amount of shift in the stop position of the carrier. As shown in FIG. 7, the image processing unit 1
9, the reference position s is set in advance, and the difference between the dog center line t and the reference position s is the stop position deviation amount a of the carrier. 7 and 8, the direction of movement (downstream) of the bottle is plus (+) and the opposite side is minus (-) for convenience. FIG. 8 is a view of the bottle viewed from below (the print 12 is on the lower side of the bottle), and the plus and minus directions are opposite to those of FIG.

The imaging means 6 images the lug 11 provided on the bottle. The lower part of FIG. 6 shows an image of the lug 11 imaged by the imaging means 6. Center part 1 of lug 11
1a is a bright part, and the image processing unit 19 determines from this image the position of the lug center line u of the central part 11a (the lug 11).
(Center position of the bottle) is detected, and the amount of rotational deviation of the bottle with respect to the carrier 4 is detected. As shown in FIG. 7, from the difference b between the lug center line u and the reference position s, the aforementioned carrier stop position shift amount a
Is the amount of rotation deviation of the bottle with respect to the carrier 4.

The image pickup means 7 includes a reference portion 1 for printing a bottle 12.
2a is imaged. The image processing unit 19 converts the image into FIG.
, The center line v of the reference portion 12a is detected.

The image processing section 19 corrects the position of the center line v for printing based on a stop position shift of the carrier 4 and a rotation shift of the bottle with respect to the carrier 4. First, the stop position deviation of the carrier 4 is corrected. Since the stop position deviation amount is a as described above, the correction is performed in the opposite direction by the same amount a. That is, in FIG. 8, if the stop position deviation amount is +1 mm, the center line v is corrected by 1 mm in the minus direction (to the right in FIG. 8).

Next, a description will be given of a correction based on a rotational displacement of the bottle with respect to the carrier 4. As shown in FIG. 9, the rotation deviation amount (horizontal direction) of the bottle is c, and the central angle at that time is θ.
And the correction amount (horizontal direction) is d. The radius of the bottle at the position of the lug is r, and the radius of the bottle at the position of the printing reference portion is R. In this case, since the amount of rotation deviation of the bottle is shifted to the plus side by c, the center line v is shifted to the plus side by d.
Only the correction is needed. In the normal case, since θ is a small value, d = c × R / r. However, θ is calculated based on the value of the radius r from c, and d is calculated based on the value of the radius R from θ. If the calculation is performed, more accurate correction can be performed.

The image processing section 19 compares the corrected position of the center line v with the position of the reference position s. If the difference is larger than the set value, it is determined that the printing position is defective. The determination is sent to the control unit (computer) 20. If the difference is within the set value, it is determined to be acceptable.

After the inspection is completed, the bottle is carried downstream by the carrier 4 and sent out onto the conveyor 16.
The carrier 4 is provided with a carrier speed sensor 17 for detecting the moving speed, and the conveyor 16 is provided with a conveyor speed sensor 18 for detecting the moving speed. These speed sensors 17 and 18 are encoders that generate a pulse (speed signal) each time the carrier 4 or the conveyor 16 moves at a predetermined speed. The speed signals from these speed sensors 17 and 18 are sent to the control unit 20. The control unit 20 includes speed sensors 17 and 18 from when the bottle reaches the inspection unit 3 to the elimination unit.
Are set. The conveyor 16 is provided with an elimination means 14 and a cullet chute 15. The removing means 14 is an air nozzle which pushes out the defective bottle toward the cullet chute 15 to remove it. Two rejecting means 14 are provided, because printing and inspection make two bottles at once.

When a failure signal is sent from the image processing unit 19 to the control unit 20, the control unit 20 counts the number of pulses of the carrier speed sensor 17, and after counting the set number of pulses, continuously continues the conveyor speed sensor. When the number of pulses is counted and the set number of pulses is counted, the defective bottle just flows to the position of the elimination means 14.
To eliminate.

[0021]

According to the present invention, the printing position deviation can be automatically inspected by processing the image picked up by the image pickup means, so that the burden on the inspector can be remarkably reduced, and the inspection accuracy due to individual differences among the inspectors can be reduced. The problem of variation is also eliminated. Since the inspection is automatically performed almost instantaneously, the inspection efficiency is improved and the speed of the bottle forming machine can be increased. In addition, even if the stop position of the carrier is shifted in the inspection unit or the bottle is held in a state of being rotationally shifted with respect to the carrier, an accurate inspection can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory plan view of an inspection apparatus according to an embodiment incorporated in a printing press 1. FIG.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory side view of an inspection unit.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a dog of a carrier.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the glass bottle G.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the glass bottle G.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a lug.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a stop position shift of the carrier and a rotational position shift of the bottle with respect to the carrier.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of correction of a stop position shift and a rotational position shift.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a correction value of a rotational position shift.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a flow of signals to an image processing unit and a control unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printing machine 2 Printing part 3 Inspection part 4 Carrier 5 Imaging means 6 Imaging means 7 Imaging means 8 Dog 9 Light source 10 Light source 11 Lug 12 Printing 13 Bottle sensor 14 Elimination means 15 Cullet chute 16 Conveyor 17 Carrier speed sensor 18 Conveyor speed sensor 19 Image processing unit 20 Control unit

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-10-203512 (JP, A) JP-A-7-243808 (JP, A) JP-A-6-186002 (JP, A) JP-A-63- 235804 (JP, A) JP 52-95249 (JP, A) JP 50-14409 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01B 11 / 00-11 / 30 102 G01N 21/84-21/91 B41F 17/18

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] An apparatus for inspecting a positional shift of a print (12) performed at a predetermined position based on a mark (lug (11)) provided on a bottle. The carrier 4 to be moved and the imaging unit 5 for imaging the mark (dog 8) provided on the carrier 4 in the inspection unit 3.
An imaging unit 6 for imaging the bottle lug 11 in the inspection unit 3, an imaging unit 7 for imaging a predetermined reference portion 12 a of the bottle print 12 in the inspection unit 3,
And an image processing unit 19 that processes the images captured by the steps 6 and 7 to determine whether the print position is acceptable or not.
The amount of stop position deviation of the carrier 4 is detected from the image of the imaging unit 5 of the dog 8, the amount of rotation of the bottle with respect to the carrier 4 is detected from the image of the imaging unit 6 of the lug 11, and the imaging unit 7 of the print 12 is detected. Reference part 12 of print 12 from image
The position of the reference portion 12a is detected, and the position of the reference portion 12a for printing is corrected by the amount of shift of the stop position of the carrier 4 and the amount of rotation shift of the bottle with respect to the carrier 4. A bottle misregistration inspection apparatus characterized in that if the deviation amount from the reference position is smaller than a set value, the pass is judged; 2. The inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the carrier is a carrier provided in the printing press for moving the bottle to the printing unit, and the inspection unit is a printing unit in the printing press.
Bottle print misalignment inspection device provided downstream of a bottle 3. The inspection device according to claim 2, wherein the inspection device conveys a bottle from the printing press.
It has a conveyor speed sensor 18 for detecting the moving speed of the conveyor 16, an exclusion unit 14 provided in contact with the conveyor 16, and a control unit 20 for controlling the exclusion unit. The controller 20 detects the timing at which the bottle flows to the position of the elimination means 14 when a failure signal is sent from the image processing unit 19. A bottle misregistration inspection apparatus which calculates from the speed signals of the sensor 17 and the conveyor speed sensor 18 and operates the elimination means at that timing to eliminate defective bottles.