The present patent application claims priority to the European patent application identified by Serial No. 08007671, filed Apr. 19, 2008, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
Reference to a “Sequence Listing,” a table, or a computer program listing appendix submitted on a compact disc and an incorporation-by-reference of the material on the compact disc (see §1.52(e)(5)). The total number of compact discs including duplicates and the files on each compact disc shall be specified.
Not Applicable.
The invention relates to a device for the optical detection of characteristics on traveling material webs and methods for making and operating this device.
Devices of this type are used in industry for the purpose of controlling the lateral position of traveling material webs in such a way that the detected characteristic of the material web is kept at a desired lateral position, even when disruptive influences are acting on the material web. Control circuits that perform this function are known per se and have been described often. An early form is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,431,425 (1969).
In order to meet the increasing demands of the processing industry, these control circuits are continuously developed over time. In particular, the optical sensor for the detection of the control characteristic was also the goal of continuous development so as to be able to use even difficult to detect characteristics for the lateral regulation of material webs. In the case of printed material webs, characteristics in the sense used here could be parts of a printed image; however, differences in the color of the material web itself, or partial coatings on the surface of the material web should often be used as a characteristic for the purpose of regulating the position of the material web.
This type of optical sensors normally includes one or more light sources, one or more light-sensitive receiver elements, elements for forming light beams, such as, for example, lenses, apertures, and mirrors, and electronic elements for processing the output signals of the light-sensitive receiver elements. If necessary, keys and display elements may also be present for operating the sensor. Today, integrated CMOS or CCD circuits are used as light-sensitive receiver elements in which a plurality of these receiver elements are combined on a semiconductor crystal and that are preferably arranged in lines for the application discussed here. In conjunction with the imaging optical elements of such a sensor, this results in a linear scanning area on the surface of the material web that is preferably arranged orthogonally to the direction of movement of the material web.
On the one hand, as already recited in U.S. Pat. No. 3,431,425, the characteristics to be detected may be linear characteristics or repeating patterns such as, for example, bar codes, which are often printed on packaging material. Other unambiguously recognizable patterns may also be used as control characteristics with the image processing methods available today. The edge of the material web itself relative to a support roll may also result in a corresponding contrast and then be used as a characteristic for position regulation.
Moreover, devices are in demand that react to characteristics that arise from the fact that sections of the surface differ from neighboring regions in terms of glossiness. For example, on drug packaging whose glossy coating cannot be easily written on by pencils, ballpoint pens, or markers, a small field of the coating is omitted in order to allow information such as dosage instructions to be written in by hand. These matte fields do not differ from the surrounding areas in terms of their color or brightness, but rather only in terms of their reflective behavior.
Differences in glossiness of the type discussed above may also exist, for example, at the border between a glossy coating and uncoated, non-glossy material. However, the same thing may also result from partial mechanical surface finishing or other forms of surface finishing. It is also sometimes the case that the edge of a glossy, transparent material surface may be used to contrast with a non-glossy or less glossy support roll or with another background for the purpose of position regulation. One recurring goal is to use a color-based characteristic for one production run and a gloss-based characteristic for another production run, both at the very same point in a system.
DE 36 37 874 A1 (1988) describes a device that allows the edge of a glossy, transparent material surface to be scanned relative to a less glossy background. In DE 100 22 597 (2001), a complete sensor for both tasks is described, namely, first the scanning of gloss-based characteristics and second the scanning of color-based characteristics; here, light sources dedicated to both tasks are provided for the scanning area, which are alternatively and cumulatively activated.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,566,670 (2003) also describes such a combination device. In all three devices mentioned above, a flat, diffuse light source is used for illuminating the glossy surface that essentially comprises a diffusing screen that is illuminated from behind.
It has now been shown that devices of the type mentioned above do not result in a good contrast between glossy and non-glossy surfaces if the non-glossy surface is a light color or white without any additional color. This effect is caused by the diffuse light source. In the case of a diffuse light source, light beams are emitted from its surface in all directions. Only a small portion of these light beams has the correct angle when it strikes the glossy surface to arrive at the receiver elements under the mirror rule of angle of incidence=angle of reflection. A substantially greater portion of the beams from the diffuse light source does not reach the receiver elements after being reflected by the glossy surface. However, if the non-glossy surface is located in the field of the sensor rather than the glossy surface, then all of the light beams from the diffuse light source that strike the field of the sensor cause the material web to be illuminated. This explains the small difference in contrast in the case discussed above.
Similar problems exist for printed material webs that are additionally partially coated with a transparent layer. The printed image located below the transparent layer reflects al light beams of the diffuse light source corresponding to the printing ink used, while the transparent layer again reflects only those light beams that fulfill the mirror rule back to the receiver elements. This disrupts the certain recognition of the border between coated and non-coated sections of the surface because parts of the printed image shine through the transparent coating and they are not covered sufficiently by the reflection of the light on the transparent coating.
The object of the invention is therefore to create an optical combination sensor that may be switched, on the one hand, to scan color-based characteristics, even if they are located below a transparent, glossy coating and, on the other hand, may be used to reliably detect characteristics that are present as differences in glossiness on the surface of a material web, even if they are present on pale backgrounds or printed material webs.
The manner of attaining this object is described in the Claims.
The second illumination device to be used for the detection of gloss-based characteristics is formed by a light source that is as punctiform as possible and an optical condenser. A monochromatic light diode may be considered as a punctiform light source because, on the one hand, the light-emitting surface of such a light diode is very small and thus approximates a punctiform light source very well and, on the other hand, because the color of the light (wavelength) plays a rather subordinate role in light reflection on glossy surfaces. Another possibility is the use of an aperture with a correspondingly small light exit opening.
The maximum diameter of the light diode or an aperture depends on the minimum resolution required by the receiver and the parameters of directed lighting. In a concrete embodiment with regard to number and arrangement of the lenses, size of the aperture, and other relevant parameters, in the case of a certain resolution requirement, for the size of the light-sensitive receiver element being 12.5 μm, a length of the detection area (extending at a right angle to the travel direction of the material) of 30 mm and a required resolution of approximately 125 lines, a maximum diameter of the light source of 1 mm results is calculated.
Now, if the optical geometry, namely the distance between the punctiform light source and the condenser (which should be viewed as the preferred example of focusing optics), the focal length of the condenser, the focal length of the condensing lens(es), and the total of the distances between the condenser and the detection area as well as between the detection area and the lens of the imaging system is selected in accordance with Claim 1, this ensures that all beams reflected by the material web in the detection area also arrive at the receiving elements.
The invention shall be described in greater detail in the following by the description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings, which show:
a the beam path of a light beam striking a completely reflective surface;
b the case of
c the case of
a is a schematic depiction of the parts of the device designated for the detection of glossy elements, with the optically equivalent depiction of the beam path being shown with dashed lines;
b the depiction of
a schematic view of a device with all essential component groups;
The section of a material web to be scanned shown in
In order to illuminate the material web 1, which is traveling in the direction of the arrows, in the detection area, there is a first illumination device 20 located on the same side as the imaging system and whose light beams strike at a smaller angle β. Insofar as mirror reflection occurs in the detection area, the beams, which reflect at the same angle β, pass far away from the lens 10 of the optical imaging system.
This first illumination device 20 primarily serves to scan color-based characteristics. Only beams of diffuse reflection as shown in
A second illumination device is composed of a punctiform light source 10 and a focusing lens 12 and is preferably located on the other side of the perpendicular at the angle α to the material web 1, such that its beams are directed at the object lens 14 in the case of mirror reflection.
The optical properties of this second illumination device should meet certain conditions, which will be explained by the following considerations:
a shows the behavior of a light beam when it emanates from a light source 10 and strikes a completely reflective material web 1. It is reflected and may be registered by a receiver element only in a direction α. At the position 10′, the mirror image of the light source may be observed.
a expands upon the depiction in
b shows the elements of the depiction in
If a normal lens is used, the distance between the imaging system 14/16 and the material web must be kept constant or tolerances must be allowed with regard to the recognition precision. These limitations may be omitted if a special lens is used (which is expensive, however), in particular a telecentric lens, and the focusing lens is adapted to its beam path in the same manner as described above; the advantages of such an arrangement are particularly felt if, during operation of the device, the characteristics of the cyclically scanned images of the detection area are compared to a stored pattern or a learned model, having to do with distances from one color transition to another.
Additionally,
If, therefore, according to the present recommendation, only such light beams strike the analyzed area of the material web as will reach the receiver elements according to the rule of reflection and no additional light beams that do not meet these requirements, then a considerable difference in amplitude will result between glossy and non-glossy portions of the surface. If, on the other hand, as in the prior art, additional light beams were added at other angles, then the non-glossy areas of the material web would be illuminated (or brightened) and the difference in amplitude between glossy and non-glossy portions of the surface would be reduced or would disappear entirely.
The arrangement according to
Finally,
This disc must be arranged in such a way that no light reflection is able to penetrate from its inner surface to the lens 14. Preferably, this disc is arranged at a right angle to the beam path of the lens. The material web is preferably scanned nearby or on a support roll 40 in order to guarantee a stable geometry of the arrangement. A connection for electrical signal exchange with the additional components of a web guidance system has been designated with 28. This signal exchange should preferably be embodied as a digital interface so as to be able to transmit complex information as well. However, in the case of lower requirements, an analog signal exchange may be used as well. In this manner, the signal processing unit 30 located inside the sensor is connected to the other components of the web guidance system. Moreover, a control panel 26 is provided as well.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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08007671 | Apr 2008 | EP | regional |