The present invention generally relates to the inspection of articles such as glass containers, and more particularly to an optical inspection apparatus and method for inspecting container lean and other aspects of the container bearing surface.
In the manufacture of glass articles, such as glass containers, various anomalies or variations can occur that affect the commercial acceptability of the containers. These anomalies, termed “commercial variations,” can involve one of numerous attributes of the container. For example, commercial variations can include dimensional characteristics of the container at the container bottom or bearing surface, at the container finish, or at the container sealing surface, they can also include variations such as stones or checks within the container finish, sidewall or bottom. It is conventional practice to mold indicia on each container that is indicative of the mold of origin of the container for inspection and quality control purposes. Thus, it is often times useful to provide inspection equipment capable of inspecting the containers for commercial variations, mold indicia or other features that warrant inspection. The term “inspection” is used in its broadest sense to encompass any optical, electro-optical, mechanical or electrical observation or engagement with the container to measure or determine a potentially variable characteristic, including but not necessarily limited to mold codes and commercial variations.
An example of an inspection apparatus is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,313,409, which discloses an apparatus for inspecting glass containers in which a starwheel conveys containers in sequence through a series of inspection stations. At one of the inspection stations, container lean is inspected by contacting the bearing surface on the container base with a pair of diametrically opposed rollers. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,433,785, the rollers are coupled to linear variable differential transformers (LVDTs) to provide signals as the container is rotated. These signals are processed to indicate departure of the bearing surface from a plane and/or departure from perpendicularity to the axis of rotation. Another apparatus for transporting containers through a series of inspection stations is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,751.
Although the inspection apparatus disclosed in the patents noted above, and assigned to the assignee hereof, have enjoyed substantial commercial success, improvements remain desirable. The rollers are in contact with the container bottom, and are subject to mechanical wear and inaccuracy. The sizes of the rollers may limit the sizes of containers with which they can be employed, and they may affect the size (resolution) of variations that can be detected. It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for inspecting containers that address and overcome the aforementioned deficiencies in the art, and can be used for inspecting the bottom or bearing surface of the container.
The present invention includes a number of aspects, which can be implemented separately from or, more preferably, in combination with each other.
Apparatus for inspecting lean of a container in accordance with one aspect of the present invention includes a light source positioned beneath a container for directing light energy onto the container bottom as the container is held in position and rotated around an axis. A light sensor positioned beneath the container receives portions of the light energy from the source reflected from the container bottom. An information processor is coupled to the light sensor for determining, as a combined function of the reflected light energy and container rotation, departure of the container bottom from a plane perpendicular to the axis. The container preferably is held in position and rotated around an axis by a drive roller that urges the container against axially spaced backup rollers so as to define an average axis of rotation as a function of the geometry of the container and spacing between the backup rollers. In the preferred embodiment, a light source/sensor pair is positioned on diametrically opposed sides of the container bottom, and measurements are made as a function of a comparison of the sensor outputs. This preferred configuration makes the measurement independent of container axial motion.
An optical inspection apparatus for inspecting the bearing surface of a container in accordance with another aspect of the present invention includes a light source, a light sensor and an information processor. The light source is positioned generally beneath the bearing surface and is capable of emitting light that strikes the bearing surface. The light sensor is positioned generally beneath the bearing surface, and is adapted to receive light reflected from the bearing surface and providing a sensor output signal representative of the reflected light. The information processor receives the sensor output signal and utilizes the signal to determine the departure of the bearing surface from a plane that is perpendicular to an axis of the container.
According to a method aspect of the present invention, a container bearing surface is inspected according to the following steps: (a) providing a light source that generally faces the bearing surface, (b) providing a light sensor that generally faces the bearing surface, (c) rotating the container about its axis while maintaining it in an upright position, (d) causing the light source to emit light which reflects from the bearing surface, (e) causing the light sensor to record the position at which the reflected light strikes the light sensor, and (f) analyzing the bearing surface from the position data obtained as the container rotates.
According to another method aspect of the present invention, the amount of data processed during optical inspection of a container bearing surface can be reduced. This method includes the following steps: (a) providing an optical inspection apparatus having a light source, a light sensor, a pre-processor, and a primary processor, (b) causing the light source to reflect light from the bearing surface, (c) causing the light sensor to record the position of the reflected light at a first interval, (d) causing the pre-processor to scan the recorded position data of step (c) at a second interval, wherein the second interval is greater than the first interval, and (e) causing the primary processor to analyze the bearing surface from the scanned data of step (d).
According to another method aspect of the present invention, the bearing surface of a container can be analyzed by optical inspection. This method includes the steps of: (a) providing a first optical probe for inspecting a first point on the bearing surface, (b) providing a second optical probe for inspecting a second point on the bearing surface, (c) causing the first and second optical probes to reflect light off of the bearing surface and record data pertinent to the reflections, (d) utilizing a sinusoidal expression representative of the relative positions of the first and second points, wherein the expression has at least one variable, (e) utilizing a least square fitting technique to solve for the variable, and (f) utilizing the variable to analyze the bearing surface.
The invention, together with additional objects, features and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description, the appended claims and the accompanying drawings in which:
The optical inspection apparatus and method of the present invention may be used to inspect one of any number of types of containers for different criteria, but is particularly well suited for inspecting the bottom or bearing surface of glass containers for container lean. The term “bearing surface” is used in its broadest sense to encompass all container bottom or lower axial surfaces. This includes, but is not limited to, bearing surfaces that are flat, smooth, stipled and/or knurled, as well as those surfaces having circumferentially extending seating rings, where the rings are smooth, stipled and/or knurled.
An example of an indexing and inspection machine that may utilize the optical inspection apparatus and method of the present invention is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,751, which is incorporated herein by reference. This machine receives a continuous stream of glass articles from an infeed conveyer and transports the articles through a series of angularly spaced inspection stations, each of which examines the container according to different criteria. The indexing and inspection machine includes a first array of gripping fingers mounted on a lower carrier, and a second array of gripping fingers mounted on an upper carrier. Rotation of the carriers with respect to each other causes the finger arrays to grip and release the glassware articles between the individual fingers, while rotation of the carriers conjointly causes them to index the glassware between inspection stations. At least some of the inspection stations include drive rollers for rotating a container about its axis for inspection or other purposes.
Another example of an indexing and inspection machine that could utilize the optical inspection apparatus and method of the present invention is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,313,409, which was previously mentioned in the background section and is incorporated herein by reference. The apparatus shown in this patent uses a belt conveyer to transport containers along a guideway. In general operation, the containers encounter an indexing head that is circular and has a plurality of circumferentially spaced pockets for receiving the containers. The indexing head is successively indexed to bring each container into position in adjacent inspection stations, which may inspect the containers for various commercial variations and/or other characteristics. After the container has been inspected by each inspection station, the container encounters a discharge station which ejects it onto a conveyer for carrying the container away from the machine. Of course, these are only two examples of machines that may employ the optical inspection apparatus and method of the present invention, as numerous other machines also exist.
Turning now to
The apparatus of the invention also preferably, but not necessarily, includes a slide plate 22 on which the container bottom rests during rotation. The slide plate 22 not only provides a plane of reference (
Container rotation controller 30 is operably coupled to drive roller 24 and provides electronic signals to an information processor 56 that are indicative of angular rotation of container 34. This angular rotation information can be based upon fixed angular intervals of rotation, or upon fixed intervals of time during which the rotational velocity of the container is constant. It is also possible for inspection station 20 to include additional components, such as sensors for detecting the presence of a container, other pieces of inspection equipment, etc.
Optical inspection apparatus 32 is a non-contact, optical inspection apparatus that primarily inspects the bearing surface of the container for container “lean”, but can also analyze other parameters such as knurl depth, bent container necks, and saddle-shaped or warped bearing surfaces, to name but a few. The “lean” of a container is generally measured by determining the departure of the bearing surface from a plane that is perpendicular to the axis of the container; if the departure exceeds a predetermined amount, then the container can be considered a “leaner.” Inspection apparatus 32 preferably includes two optical probes 46 and 48 (
With reference now to
Lens system 52 (
Light sensor 54 is positioned beneath bearing surface 62 and near the focal point of lens 92, such that it receives light beams from the lens system and transmits electronic signals representative of the bearing surface position to information processor 56. Light sensor 54 preferably is a camera that includes a linear array sensor 102. The linear array sensor comprises an array of CCD sensing elements or pixels disposed in a line, each of which records the intensity of light striking that pixel by assigning the intensity a numerical value. According to a preferred embodiment, sensor 102 includes 512 linearly aligned pixels. Alternatively, light sensor 54 may include an area array sensor having one or more rows and columns that provide the information processing device with a two-dimensional image, as opposed to a one-dimensional line, of the reflected light. This can be a particularly useful arrangement if the apparatus inspects other parameters of the container. Light sensor 54 can be one of various types cameras, but is preferably a line scan camera such as a Dalsa Orion series high sensitivity line scan camera. Information processor 56 scans the linear array sensor at a constant predetermined interval, either a spatial or a temporal interval, to obtain a picture of the light reflected from bearing surface 62.
Information processor 56 communicates with various components of inspection station 20 and the overall inspection machine, and is capable of analyzing the bearing surface based upon the information received from light sensor 54 of each probe 46, 48. Preferably, the information processor includes one or more inputs and/or outputs for communicating with container rotation controller 30, light source 50 and light sensor 54 of both probes 46, 48, and operator display 58. The information processor also preferably includes first and second electronic processors 96, 98 and a camera controller, to name but a few of the possible components that could be included within the information processor. First processor 96, also referred to as a pre-processor, compresses data from the information provided by light sensor(s) 54 by scanning that information at an interval of container rotation that is greater than the interval at which the processor scans the reflected light. This screening or data compression technique will be explained subsequently in greater detail. Second or primary processor 98 receives the compressed information from pre-processor 96, and executes algorithms and other commands used by the optical inspection apparatus. As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, comparable electronic devices and combinations of electronic devices could be used in lieu of the general description of information processor 56 provided above.
In general operation, each of the two probes 46, 48 emits incident light line 60 that strikes a different point on bearing surface 62, and each of the probes records the position of the refracted light beams 82 incident on their respective light sensors 54. A comparison of these two readings allows the inspection apparatus to determine whether or not a container is a “leaner”, as well as to determine other parameters of the container. For purposes of simplicity, operation of only one of the two probes will be described, as they both operate in the same general manner. Incident light line 60 and reflected light beam 80 shown in the drawings are aligned along what are referred to as the “nominal optical axes”; that is, the axes of the incident and reflected light under ideal conditions where the bearing surface is contained in a plane perpendicular to rotation axis A. The nominal axes of both the incident and reflected light are angled at 45° to an axis parallel to axis A. The nominal optical axes lie in a plane parallel to axis A. Thus, light sensor 54 generates a stream of data representative of the various reflections from the rotating bearing surface. This stream of data is provided to information processor 56 in the form of a sensor output signal which can be directly sent to primary processor 98 for analysis, or it may first be sent to pre-processor 96 for compression. The primary processor uses the information of the sensor output signal to analyze various parameters of the bearing surface, including container lean and knurl depth. If a container is found to have an unacceptable commercial variation, then that container is flagged as a reject and is removed from the manufacturing process at a downstream station.
With reference now to
A graph representing the sub-scanned information sent by pre-processor 106 according to this method is seen in
With reference to
y(I)=h2(I)−hI(I)=a0+a*sin(2πI/N+θ0) (Equation 1);
where a0 is an average axial offset of bearing surface from the plane, a is the amplitude of the sine wave and is the primary variable being solved for, N is the cycle of the sine wave, and θ0 is the initial phase of the sine wave. It is therefore an object of this method to use the least square fitting technique to calculate a value for ‘a’ so that the expression above best models the measured data provided by light sensor 54. A linearization of expression (1) makes it easier to apply the least square fitting technique to the measured data, and yields the value of a:
y(I)=a0+a*sin(2 πI/N+θ0)=a0+a*cos θ0*sin(2 πI/N)+a*sin θ0*cos(2 πI/N)=a0+a1*sin(2 πI/N)+a2*cos(2 πI/N) (Equation 2)
a=√(a12+a22) (Equation 3);
Once sine wave amplitude a is known, the lean of the container can be calculated by the following equation:
Lean=a*Container Height/Diameter (Equation 4).
If the calculated lean exceeds a predetermined amount, then the container is deemed a “leaner” and is rejected.
Use of the least square fitting technique above requires some initial knowledge of the sine wave, such as the sine cycle N. The least square fitting calculations and analysis of the resulting sine wave described above are oftentimes quite time consuming, especially if an exhaustive search of the sine cycle N is completed. In an effort to minimize the amount of computing time required, an additional technique referred to as a golden section search technique may be employed. The golden section search is a line search method for achieving fast and accurate searching of the sine cycle N, and is only needed during the setup for inspection of a particular bottle design. Once the sine cycle N is found, then it becomes a known parameter in Equation 1. For any container, initial estimations of the sine cycle can be made based on the revolutions per gauge and the number of scan lines in the image (e.g., 72 scan lines in the above example). Once the initial estimations are made, a line search having a golden search ratio of 0.168 is performed over a closed interval. An object of this search is to use multiple iterations to determine a sine cycle N that gives a minimum fitting error.
For example, a first line search iteration involves searching a first range of possible N values that includes golden section points N1 and N2. This first range begins at a “start” value, extends along a line through golden section points N2 and N1, in that order, and terminates at an “end” value. The fitting error at N1, referred to as Q(N1), is compared to the fitting error at N2, referred to as Q(N2). If Q(N1) is ≧Q(N2), then the optimum N value lies along the line between the start point and golden section point N1, if Q(N1) is <Q(N2), then the optimum N value lies along the line between golden section point N2 and the end point. Thus, the second line search interval is over either the range start-N1 or N2-nd, both of which are smaller ranges than the first range. The second line search iteration requires selection of new golden section points, as the N1 and N2 values are no longer in the middle of the search range. In the instance where the range of the second search iteration is from start-N1, new golden section points N3 and N4 are selected such that they are within this range and point N4 is equal to N2. Again, fitting errors Q(N3) and Q(N4) are calculated for each of the new golden section points; but because point N4 is equal to point N2, only Q(N3) needs to be calculated. If Q(N3) is ≧Q(N2), then the optimum N value lies along the line between golden section point N3 and N1; if Q(N3) is <Q(N2), then the optimum N value lies along the line between the start point and golden section point N2. In this manner, each search iteration is over a smaller and smaller range until the process converges on an optimal N value which minimizes the fitting error. Another technique that may be used by the optical inspection apparatus of the present invention to improve the least square fitting method involves the use of Min/Max values. Not all points measured by the optical inspection apparatus are needed to solve Equation 1, as that equation can be accurately solved by selecting only those points within a certain distance of a Min and Max value. In fact, computation of the least square fitting algorithm is quicker with less data points. For example, if a point A represents the maximum point for the height differential curve expressed in Equation 1 and point B represents the minimum point, then this technique selects only those points falling within a predetermined range, say within 15% of the difference between point A and B. The least square fitting method can then be performed on only these points. If this fails to provide enough points for accurate testing, simply increase the percentage to a level that does supply enough points.
There have thus been disclosed an optical inspection apparatus and method for inspecting the bearing surface of a container, which fully satisfy all of the objects and aims previously set forth. Several alternatives and modifications have been described. Other alternatives and modifications will readily suggest themselves to persons of ordinary skill in the art. For example, pre-processor 106 is shown as being included within information processor 56, however, the pre-processor could just as easily be incorporated into light sensor 54 or another appropriate component. Also, incident light line 60 is described as a line of light having a predetermined width W, but it is possible for light source 50 to emit an incident light beam instead. The majority of the discussion above pertains to the inspection of knurled surfaces, however, non-knurled or smooth bearing surfaces could just as easily be inspected. In the case of a smooth bearing surface, either with or without a seating ring, the reflected light beam received by the light sensor would be a continuous beam. The invention is intended to embrace all such alternatives and modifications as fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.
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