JP2007278989A - Inspection apparatus and inspection method - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to effectively detect a pale discoloration.
Light from a light source is directed to a container by a half mirror. A reflection plate 28 is arranged on the back side of the container 26, the light reflected by the reflection plate 28 is photographed by the camera 30, and the obtained image is processed by the image processing device 32 to be a liquid in the container 26. Inspect the drug 24 for discoloration.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an inspection apparatus and an inspection method for inspecting an object to be inspected by irradiating light.

  Conventionally, optical inspection has been performed on various objects such as drugs, drinking water, jelly, and containers thereof. For example, a change in color tone or transparency due to foreign matter contamination or alteration of the liquid is detected based on image processing, absorbance of irradiated light, or the like.

  For example, a liquid medicine stored in a glass bottle or the like is photographed with a camera, and it is inspected from the color tone whether the medicine is in a normal state.

  FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the inspection apparatus. Light from the light source 10 is applied to a container 14 containing a liquid medicine 12. A camera 16 is disposed on the opposite side of the container 14 from the light source 10 and photographs the container containing the medicine 12 irradiated with light from the back.

  The camera 16 is composed of a CCD camera or the like, and obtains a full color image. An image obtained by the camera 16 is sent to the image processing device 18. The image processing device 18 takes out the portion of the medicine 12 from the image sent from the camera 16 and detects its color tone. Then, from the detection result, for example, when the coloring is different from the set value, the medicine 12 is determined to be abnormal.

JP 2003-130805 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 03-175344

  However, the conventional example has a problem that it is difficult to detect an abnormality with sufficient accuracy when the coloring is relatively light.

  The present invention is an inspection apparatus that inspects an object that transmits light, a light source that irradiates the inspection object with light for inspection, a reflection plate that reflects light that has passed through the inspection object, and a reflection plate An image pickup device that picks up an image of the object to be inspected that is irradiated with the light reflected by the image pickup device, and inspecting the object to be inspected based on the image of the object to be inspected as an image pickup result of the image pickup device. Features.

  The inspected object is preferably a liquid in a container.

  In addition, it is preferable to inspect the inspection object by detecting the color tone of the inspection object in the imaging result.

  The inspection method of the present invention irradiates the inspection object with the inspection light, reflects the light passing through the inspection object, irradiates the reflected light to the inspection object, and And inspecting the object to be inspected based on the obtained image of the object to be inspected.

  In addition, it is preferable to inspect the inspection object by detecting the color tone of the inspection object in the imaging result.

  According to the present invention, the light source is provided on the imaging device side, and the reflection plate is disposed on the back side. Therefore, the light from the light source is reflected by the reflector after passing through the object to be inspected. For this reason, the imaging apparatus superimposes and captures both the direct image of the object to be inspected and the image reflected by the reflector, and effectively detects discoloration or the like even for a lightly colored object to be inspected. Can do.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an inspection apparatus according to an embodiment. Light from the light source 20 is applied to the half mirror 22. The half mirror 22 changes the direction of the light from the light source by 90 degrees and irradiates the container 26 containing the liquid medicine 24. The light that has passed through the container 26 is reflected by the reflecting plate 28 and is again irradiated to the container 26 from the back surface. And the light which permeate | transmitted the container passes the half mirror 22, reaches the camera 30, and the image of the container in which the chemical | medical agent 24 was accommodated is obtained.

  An image obtained by the camera 30 is supplied to an image processing device 32 where it is processed. The camera 30 is a full-color CCD camera or the like as in the conventional example, and the image processing device 18 takes out an image of the portion of the medicine 12 and detects its color tone. For example, it detects how much the ratio in each signal of R (red), G (green), and B (blue) deviates from that of white light, and checks the color tone.

  Then, from this test result, for example, when the coloring is different from the set value, the medicine 12 is determined to be abnormal.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, the light source 20 is not provided on the back side of the container 26 but on the camera 30 side, and the reflection plate 28 is disposed on the back side. Therefore, part of the light from the light source 20 passes through the medicine 24 and the container 26 (object to be inspected), is reflected by the reflecting plate, and is again irradiated to the medicine 24 and the container 26 from the back side. For this reason, the camera 30 superimposes and captures both the direct image of the medicine 24 and the container 26 and the image reflected by the reflector, and effectively detects discoloration or the like of the lightly colored medicine 24. be able to.

  Here, when the object to be inspected is transported as in the case of the inspection of the medicine 24 in the container 26 described above, or when the object to be inspected is rotated during the inspection, the transport system and the rotation drive device are used. Etc. are provided. In an inspection apparatus using transmitted light, the camera 30 and the light source 20 must be disposed with an object to be inspected therebetween, and it is necessary to avoid interference with a transport system, a rotation drive device, and the like during the arrangement configuration.

  On the other hand, according to this embodiment, since the camera 30 and the light source 20 can be provided on the same side with respect to the container 26 (inspected object), on the side opposite to the side where the camera 30 and the light source 20 are arranged. Only the thin reflector 28 is arranged. Therefore, an effect that the arrangement of the inspection apparatus becomes easy can be obtained.

  The reflector 28 can be a normal flat mirror, but a concave mirror or a convex mirror may be used. As the light source 20, for example, a continuously lit white LED can be used, but a strobe is suitable when a large amount of light is required, and a xenon lamp or the like can also be used. The emitted light is preferably white light, but may be colored.

  Furthermore, it is also preferable to provide a trajectory for continuously transferring a large number of containers 26 and to photograph the container 26 containing the moving medicine 24 with the camera 30.

  The object to be inspected is applicable to any object that transmits light, such as the above-described medicine in a container, the container itself, and jelly.

  FIG. 3 shows a configuration example in which the light source 20 and the camera 30 are arranged side by side and the half mirror 22 is omitted. With this configuration, the number of components can be reduced.

It is a figure which shows the structure of embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of a prior art example. It is a figure which shows the other structural example.

Explanation of symbols

    10, 20 Light source, 12, 24 Drug, 14, 26 Container, 16, 30 Camera, 18, 32 Image processing device, 22 Half mirror, 28 Reflector.

Claims (6)

An inspection apparatus for inspecting an object that transmits light,
A light source that irradiates the inspection object with light for inspection;
A reflector that reflects light that has passed through the object to be inspected;
An imaging device that captures an image of an object to be inspected irradiated with light reflected by the reflector; and
Including
An inspection apparatus that inspects an object to be inspected based on an image of the object to be inspected as an imaging result of the image pickup apparatus. The inspection apparatus according to claim 1,
The inspection apparatus is characterized in that the object to be inspected is a liquid in a container. The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
An inspection apparatus that inspects an inspection object by detecting a color tone of the inspection object in the imaging result. Irradiate the inspection object with light for inspection,
Reflecting the light that has passed through the inspection object, irradiating the inspection object with the reflected light, and capturing an image of the inspection object,
An inspection method comprising inspecting an object to be inspected based on the obtained image of the object to be inspected. The inspection method according to claim 4,
The inspection object is a liquid in a container. The inspection method according to claim 4 or 5,
An inspection method for inspecting an inspected object by detecting a color tone of the inspected object in an imaging result.

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