This application relates to and claims a priority from corresponding Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-312286 filed on Sep. 4, 2003.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color sorting apparatus for granules, and more particularly to a color sorting apparatus equipped with a display control device that is configured to be able to sense images of a granule picked up by a CCD sensor to thereby display the images on an operation panel and perform detection sensibility control for the defective granules while observing the displayed images.
2. Description of the Related Art
When performing the control of the background or sensibility in the conventional color sorting apparatus, sensor signals were displayed on an oscilloscope or a touch panel to carry out the control while observing the displayed signals. More particularly, in the conventional sensibility control of thinly-coloration and partly-coloration for the defective granules such as thinly-colored granules and partly-colored granules, the falling level of signals to be regarded as the defective granule has been carried out based on the magnitude of the falling with respect to the background signal level being set to 100% while observing the actual sorting condition. The key map of the conventional sensibility control is shown in
The above explained conventional background control and sensibility control greatly depend on human senses and experiences since such controls are carried out while observing the actual sorting condition, and the matters of how a CCD sensor actually senses the granule and on what basis the signal processing section detects a granule as a defective granule had been estimated on the basis of the results of the actual sorting, without clarifying such matters.
However, when such controls are made only based on the actual sorting results, there have been cases in which the background control and the sensibility control do not always accurately associate with the sorting results, since the sorting results are also influenced by other factors including the performance, timing control and the like of an ejector which is arranged at the downstream side of a sensing means for the defective granules.
Another conventional technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Kokai-Publication No. 11-94749. In this disclosure, there is disclosed a technique wherein the frequency distribution of quantity of light of the respective light received data is displayed on an operation panel of a color sorting apparatus and an operator can set up an appropriate range of quantity of light (i.e., a difference between the upper limit threshold and the lower limit threshold) while observing the display. However, the technique of this disclosure also is directed to determine whether the control or setting of the threshold is appropriately carried out or not from the actual sorting results. Hence, this technique is not different from the foresaid prior art in terms of that the control is dependent on senses and experiences of the operator.
As described above, in either of the above-explained prior arts, the determination whether the respective thresholds in order to sense the defective granules are in the state being properly set up or not has been made by observing the actually-sorted defective granules. Further, based on the sorting results, the controls of the respective thresholds were repeatedly executed by necessity until the sorting results have come to be the proper sorting results in view of human senses and experiences.
Therefore, in order to overcome the foresaid disadvantages in the prior arts, it is a first object of the present invention to provide a color sorting apparatus that displays images of a granule picked up by an imaging apparatus such as a CCD sensor on an operation panel to permit an operator to accurately perform the sensibility control while observing the displayed images.
Further, it is a second object of the present invention to provide a color sorting apparatus that has a performance to separately display a defective granule with a densely-colored part (hereinafter referred to as a partly-colored granule) and a different defective granule having a given area or more of thinly-colored part (hereinafter referred to as a thinly-colored granule) based on different thresholds in addition to the display of the whole images of a granule picked up by an imaging sensing apparatus.
Still further, it is a third object of the present invention to provide a color sorting apparatus that can come back to the past after the sorting to display and check on what signal basis was the individual defective granule detected as the defective granule.
The granule color sorting apparatus equipped with a display control device according to the present invention, that can achieve the objects of the present invention as described above, is characterized by comprising:
In the color sorting apparatus described above, the defective determination means comprises a first defective determination means for determining a granule having a given area or more of part exceeding a first threshold that corresponds to a first density as the defective granule and outputting said defective part in the form of first defective pixel binary data, and a second defective determination means for determining a granule having a part exceeding a second threshold that corresponds to a second density being denser than the first density as the defective granule and outputting said defective part in the form of second defective pixel binary data.
In the color sorting apparatus described above, the first defective pixel binary data represents the thin and large colored part (thinly-colored granule), while the second defective pixel binary data represents the densely-colored part (partly-colored granule).
In the color sorting apparatus described above, said given area is determined in accordance with the number of sequential pixels each exceeding the first threshold level.
In the color sorting apparatus described above, the defective display means comprises a first defective display means for displaying a first defective pixel binary data output from a first defective determination means and a second defective display means for displaying a second defective pixel binary data output from a second defective determination means.
In the color sorting apparatus described above, the first defective display means represents a monitor for thinly-colored one, and the second defective display means represents a monitor for partly colored one.
The above-described color sorting apparatus may further comprise an image memory for storing the contour binary data and the defective pixel binary data.
In the color sorting apparatus described above, the thresholds may be changed or adjusted manually.
With the granule color sorting apparatus equipped with a display control device according to the present invention, since the sensibility can be controlled after confirming the defective granules determined as defective based on the set-up sensibility by means of a display means, it is possible to perform more accurate sensibility controls than the prior arts in which the sensibility control, etc. are carried out while observing the actually sorted granules.
With the granule color sorting apparatus equipped with a display control device according to the present invention, the respective thresholds can be adjusted separately, since the defective granule having a part with dense coloration (partly-colored granules) and the defective granule with a given area or more of thinly-colored part (thinly-colored granules), those which are sensible based on different thresholds in addition to the whole image of the granules, can be separately displayed.
With the granule color sorting apparatus equipped with a display control device according to the present invention, trouble shooting can be facilitated, since it is possible to fully separate a part for which the defective determination of a granule is carried out from an eliminating means using an ejector which is arranged at the downstream side of the part in terms of the accuracy. More particularly, the operator can immediately know, when the sorting results are unsatisfactory, the reason of such unsatisfactory results is due to either the defective or improper fixing or adjustment of the ejector, even though the sensibility control is favorably set up by the display control device.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention explained with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to an example shown in the attached drawings.
In the surrounding of the predetermined falling locus, at least a pair of optical detection units 15a, 15b are symmetrically arranged such that they have said falling locus in the center therebetween. The optical detection unit 15a comprises CCD line sensors 16a, 17a, a lamp 18a, a background plate 19a, etc. Similarly, the other optical detection unit 15b comprises CCD line sensors 16b, 17b, a lamp 18b, a background plate 19b, etc. The CCD line sensors 16a, 17a, 16b, 17b in the optical detection units 15a, 15b pick up images of the granules having reached the detecting position O in the falling locus and transmit the image pickup signals to a controller 20 that will be described in detail later. The controller 20 performs to specify the contours of the granules and the determination of the defective granules in accordance with the image pickup signals output from the CCD line sensors. The controller including its constitution will be described in detail later. When the controller 20 has detected the defective granule, an elimination signal is transmitted from the controller 20 toward an open-and-close valve 23 of an eliminating unit 22 containing an air nozzle 21 therein. The eliminating unit 22 ejects air through the air nozzle 21 to blow out only the defective granules from the given falling locus to eliminate them to the outside of the color sorting apparatus through a defective elimination port 24 in accordance with elimination signals transmitted from the controller 20. The normal granules having passed through the given falling locus, for those which the eliminating unit 22 was not actuated, are collected through a normal granule collection port 25.
Next, the controller 20 that processes the image pickup signals output from the CCD line sensors 16a, 17a, 16b, 17b in the optical detection units 15a, 16a will be described with reference to
Components connected externally to the controller 20 through the input/output circuit 36 include a display panel 40, an eliminating unit 22 and a threshold adjustment input section 41.
Now, how the contours of the granules and the defective granules are detected by the contour comparator 31, the first comparator 32 and the second comparator 33 will be described hereunder with reference to
Next, in what situation the granule having a part that corresponds to the relatively thin first density is detected as the defective granules will be described hereunder. Here, it is supposed that the granule has two colored parts F1, F2 each having a relatively thin first density and a different area. In this case, signals exceeding the first threshold corresponding to the first density appear at two locations that correspond to said colored parts F1, F2 in the signal waveforms shown in
Next, how the granule having a colored part F3 that corresponds to the second density being denser than the first density is detected as the defective granule will be described hereunder. In this case, signals exceeding the second threshold that corresponds to the second density appear in response to the part F3 in the signal waveforms shown in
Though it was supposed in the above description that the granule has two thinly-colored parts with different areas and one densely-colored part, the actual number of the colored parts in the granule is uncertain. It is appreciated from the description above that the granule can be determined as the normal granule if all the colored parts in the granule are only the part that corresponds to the part F2 described above of which colored part has a relatively-small area and is thin-colored, because such colored parts will not give much unacceptable disadvantageous effect on the product quality.
Next, in what manner the image of a granule picked up by the CCD sensor is displayed on the display panel 40 will be described hereunder with reference to
Since an elimination signal is emitted from the controller 20 to the eliminating unit 22 via the input/output circuit 36 with respect to the granules displayed as the defective granules on the monitor 40b for the partial coloration and the monitor 40c for the thin coloration, the operator can understand that the operational timing and the like of the eliminating unit 22 is not properly adjusted when no granule that corresponds to the foresaid defective granules is contained in the defective granules in the sorted-out-granules. Therefore, trouble shooting can be made quite easily with the color sorting apparatus according to the present invention.
When the granules having been not treated as the defective granules but treated as the normal granules, for example, at the previous adjustment time, after that the respective thresholds were once adjusted, (e.g., two thinly-colored granules displayed at the top right on the granule display monitor 40a shown in
Now, the flow of the sensibility control operation to be carried out prior to the steady-state or running operation will be described hereunder with reference to
Note that the color sorting apparatus equipped with a display control device according to the present invention is not limited to the scope of the above-described examples shown by the drawings, and it is naturally feasible to apply various modifications and variation to this invention within a range not departing from the subject matter of the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2003-312286 | Sep 2003 | JP | national |