JPH0310064B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for automatically and accurately inspecting a treated end of an electric wire such as a covered conductor.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a device known as a so-called wire stripper is known which automatically cuts an electric wire such as a coated conductor wire to a certain length and strips the coating from the end thereof. Furthermore, there are also known devices that automate processing operations such as automatically threading, soldering, and crimping terminals at the locations where the sheathing has been stripped off. However, for example, in order to fully inspect the terminals of electric wires with terminals crimped on them, conventional methods have been based on visual inspection, which requires manpower and does not necessarily guarantee accurate inspection.

Therefore, the applicant of this invention first filed a patent application in 1983-
In applications such as No. 61937 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 57-175942),
We have proposed an inspection device for the terminal crimping points. However, when trying to operate this testing device accurately,
Positioning of objects also requires precision. Therefore, if you want to grasp the wire on a conveyor and move it intermittently, and then accurately and automatically inspect the processing status of the wire end during that time, it is necessary to position the wire end more accurately than with conventional means. .

However, it is quite difficult to accurately position the terminal end of a flexible electric wire, and even if this positioning can be performed accurately, the processing condition, especially the terminal Conventional methods have not been sufficient to accurately inspect complex conditions such as crimped conditions.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an inspection device that can solve the above-mentioned problems by processing video signals from a television camera. That is, the outline of the present invention is to include a television camera having the terminal section within its field of view and whose horizontal scanning direction is perpendicular to the electric wire, and further to input the video signal of the television camera and scan the adjacent horizontal lines. A video signal difference calculation means for calculating the difference between the video signals between scans, a sum calculation means for calculating the sum of the absolute values of the calculated differences for each horizontal scan, output information of the sum calculation means is inputted, and the output information of the sum calculation means is inputted to the terminal unit. The detection device is equipped with an evaluation means for evaluating.

An embodiment of this invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. First, please refer to Figure 1.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of an electric wire end processing device that is effective when implementing the inspection device of the embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a conveyor means installed on the main body 1 in the left-right direction. Means 2 is not shown in detail, but
It is configured to move intermittently one pitch S at a time.
Further, the means 2 is provided with a conveyor clamping claw 2a that opens and closes to the left and right for each pitch S, and grips the electric wire _W1 to be processed in a direction perpendicular to the intermittent transfer direction of the means 2 (horizontal direction in the figure).

Reference numeral 3 denotes a known wire stripper attached to the means 2, and is configured to cut the coated wire W wound around the reel 3a into a predetermined size and to strip the coating from both ends thereof.

And the cut electric wire _W1 processed in this way is
It is bent into a U shape as shown in the figure, and the two ends are attached with two claws.
a, and is intermittently fed to the left in the figure by means 2.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a known wire stranding machine attached to the wire stripper 3 on the downstream side of the means 2, and the wire stranding machine 4 is used to strip the wire that has been intermittently transferred by the means 2.
This is done to prevent the terminal part of W ₁ from coming apart.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a known terminal punching machine attached to the stranding machine 4 on the downstream side of the means 2, and winds it on the reel 5a at the end portion of the electric wire _W1 that has been intermittently transferred by the means 2. It is designed to automatically crimp the continuous terminals that have been attached one by one.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a terminal inspection device which is an embodiment of the present invention and is attached to the terminal punching machine 5 on the downstream side of the means 2.
In the present invention, the device 6 is based on optical means, which will be described later.

7 is a sorting means attached to the means 6 on the downstream side of the means 2. The means 7 is provided with two sets of clamping claws 7a, and is configured to be able to selectively rotate either 90 degrees or 180 degrees clockwise from the illustrated position by power 7b.

Thus, the above-mentioned means 2 includes the electric wire terminal processing means T.
As shown in FIG. Each of these arrangements is then adapted to operate during downtimes between intermittent movements of the means 2.
A control means C is provided to control the operation and timing of each of these components.

Next, details of the inspection device 6 will be explained below together with details of the terminal crimping locations.

That is, in FIG.
1b and a connecting part 11c with a male terminal) is shown crimped to the end 12 of the electric wire W.
In this case, the gripping portion 11a securely grips the sheathing portion 12a of the electric wire 12 all around and with a certain length L left over from the sheathing end, and the gripping portion 11b grips the conductor portion of the electric wire 12. It is necessary to securely grip 12b all around the circumference and crimp it. However, when crimping the terminal, although it is rare, the above-mentioned gripping position may be deviated from, for example, the gripping portion 11a grips a part of the conductor portion 12b, or the gripping portion 11b grips a portion of the covering portion 12a,
Alternatively, the grip portion 11a may not securely grip the covering portion 12a over the entire circumference, resulting in poor terminal attachment. Therefore, in this embodiment, a terminal 11 of a certain shape and size is crimped to an electric wire 12 having a certain stripping length, a certain outer diameter, and a certain diameter of the conductor part 12b, and the terminal crimping condition of the terminal crimped electric wire is optically inspected. This is what I am trying to do. Please refer to Figure 3 below.

13 is a light source. The light source 13 responds to the detection output of the electric wire detection means 14 (using a known method such as detecting the interruption of the light beam of the light emitting means when the electric wire 12 is present between the phototransistor and the light emitting means). A light source called a flash light is used, which is designed to project light for a short period of time.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a cylinder body with a built-in condensing lens, which is connected to the light source 13 via an optical fiber 16. The tip of this cylindrical body 15 is directed toward the terminal crimped portion of the terminal crimped electric wire to be inspected. The light from the cylindrical body 15 is directed along the light projection axis C to illuminate the terminal crimping portion.

17 is a photoreceptor of a television camera TV placed on a reflection optical axis _C2 with respect to a light projection axis _C1 , and in FIG. . Further, the photoreceptor 17 is equipped with a known scanning means for scanning the photoreceptor surface 17a in a certain direction (vertical scanning in the axial direction of the terminal crimped electric wire, horizontal scanning in the direction perpendicular to this) and converting it into a continuous waveform signal. ing.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a lens of the camera TV disposed on the reflective optical axis _C2 and between the terminal crimped electric wire and the light receiving surface 17a.

Reference numeral 19 denotes a delay circuit for one horizontal scan of the video signal from the light receiving element.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a video signal difference calculation means for calculating the difference between adjacent horizontal scans of the video signals from the photoreceptor; It is designed to find the difference.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a sum calculation means for calculating the sum of the absolute values of the difference signals obtained by the means 20 for each horizontal scan. The sum value determined by means 20 is connected to control means C for input. The main component of the control means C is a known computer.

Reference numeral 22 is a memory of the computer, and the mutual limit position {fourth , 5A}, the signal to be output from the means 21 {see FIGS. 4 and 5B} is recorded in advance as information.

23, the output information from the means 21 is stored in the memory 2;
In other words, in the output information from the means 21, whether or not the part corresponding to the length of the covering end L is longer than l ₁ in FIG. This is an evaluation means for determining whether the rising edge h ₁ is small and larger than l ₂ in FIG.

24 is the determination result in the means 23, that in the output information from the means 21, the portion corresponding to the length of the covering end L is greater than l ₁ or smaller than l ₂ , or there is a rising h ₁ This defect information output means is designed to output defect information and input it to the control means C when the value is smaller than the value.

It is assumed that these means 23 are connected to be activated by a detection signal from means 14.

The effects of the above-mentioned embodiments will be described below.

First, the operator inputs into the control means C the cutting length of the wire _W1 , the length to strip off the coating from both ends, and the number of wires.

The wire stripper 3 processes the coated wire W on the reel 3a as instructed in synchronization with the intermittent movement of the conveyor means 2 in response to a command from the means C, and successively clamps both ends of the wire between the claws 2a.

Then, due to the intermittent movement of the means 2, while the claw 2a stops facing the stranding machine 4, the conductor portion 12b
There is a lot of pressure.

Further, due to the step of the means 2, while the claw 2a stops facing the terminal puncher 5, the conductor portion 12b
Terminal 11 is crimped to.

Next, as the means 2 advances, the claw 2a is moved to the inspection device 6.
While the terminal 11 is stopped facing the terminal 11, the crimped state of the terminal 11 is inspected by the above-mentioned optical means.

That is, at this time, the detection means 14 is activated by the electric wire 12, and the light source 1 is activated by the detection signal.
3 operates for a single time and emits light.

The terminal crimping area is illuminated by this light,
The image formed on the light receiving surface 17a of the television camera TV is horizontally and vertically scanned by a scanning means in a known manner.

Then, the horizontally scanned video signal is delayed by the time required for one horizontal scan by the delay circuit 19, and both the delayed signal and the other real-time signal are input to the calculation means 20, and the difference is calculated. Output. That is, the difference between the video signals between one horizontal scan is output from the calculation means 20, that is, the difference signal between adjacent video signals in the direction perpendicular to the electric wire 12 is obtained, and if there is no difference in the difference signal, then The output signal from the means 20 is at a low level, but if the difference is large, a high level signal is included.

And the output signal from this means 20 is the means 21
The sum of the absolute values of the output signals from the means 20 for each horizontal scanning line is calculated. Therefore, the output signal of the means 21 is at a low level in the portion where the image changes little along the electric wire 12, and is at a high level in the portion where the change is large, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 B. .

The output information from this means 21 is output from means 23.
is compared with the information _stored in memory ₂₂ at
If _h1 is larger than a certain value (because if both ends of the gripping part 11a touch and securely grip the covering part 12a, the change in the image will be greater than if it does not), the evaluation is "good". If either of them is not the case, the means 24 outputs information indicating the evaluation as "defective".

That is, if the signal of the portion corresponding to the length of the covered end L is larger than l ₁ or smaller than l ₂ , then
There is a possibility that the grip portion 11b may grip a part of the covering portion 12a, or the grip portion 11a may grip a portion of the conductor portion 12b.
Furthermore, when the rising signal _h1 is _h2 smaller than a certain value, as shown in FIG. It is something that is emitted.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the delay circuit 19 delays the time for one scan, but it may also delay the time for two or more integer scans. Furthermore, it is good when the surface of the covering portion 12a of the electric wire 12 has one color, but when this has a multicolored pattern, the output information of the means 23 is disturbed by this color pattern, so the optical system is It is desirable to interpose a color filter in either of them to reduce this disturbance as much as possible. Furthermore, the industrial television TV may be equipped with an image pickup tube other than a solid-state camera. Furthermore, in addition to crimp terminals, it can also be used to inspect the wire end itself, which is made into a round loop. Further, if a flash light is used as the light source, the detected information can be expected to be accurate regardless of the slight movement of the wire terminal, but other light sources may also be used. Further, the light source may be directly illuminated with a light instead of being guided through an optical fiber.

As mentioned above, the positioning of the processed electric wire terminals is not necessarily accurate due to their flexibility, and as long as they are within the field of view of the industrial television, the video signal processing Since the present invention is designed to determine whether the wire is good or bad, the present invention can sufficiently perform its function, for example, when it is included in a part of a device that continuously and automatically processes electric wires. Further, the time required for the image processing can be as short as, for example, when using a one-dimensional image sensor. Furthermore, unlike normal pattern recognition, it does not require an image memory and the hardware configuration can be simplified. Furthermore, by creating a shadow depending on the direction of the illumination light relative to the object, its shape can be further captured. It can produce various unique and remarkable effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an overall perspective view of a wire terminal processing device including the device of this invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view of an example of the terminal, Fig. 3 is an overall perspective block diagram of an embodiment of the device of this invention, and Figs. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the action. 12... end of electric wire, TV... television camera,
20... Video signal difference calculation means, 21... Sum calculation means, 23... Evaluation means.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An apparatus for inspecting the condition of a processed electric wire terminal, comprising a television camera having the terminal section within its field of view and whose horizontal scanning direction is perpendicular to the electric wire, and further comprising: Video signal difference calculating means for inputting the video signal of the television camera and calculating the difference between the video signals of adjacent horizontal scans; sum calculating means for calculating the sum of the absolute values of the calculated differences for each horizontal scan; The inspection device comprises evaluation means for inputting the output information of the sum calculation means and evaluating the terminal unit. 2. The inspection device according to claim 1, wherein the field of view of the television camera is to be illuminated by a flash light source.