A station for detecting glass disease-type defects in a segment of containers (2) having a central axis (A) and traveling along a direction of translation, without rotation about their central axis, the station including:
- a support (14) disposed along a circulation path in which circulates at least one segment of the containers extending below a finish inspection reference plane (Prib) or above a base inspection reference plane (Prif), the circulation path (Vt) successively comprising an inlet, an inspection area and an outlet for the containers;
- at least six imagers (C1, C2, . . . Ci, . . . Cn) forming images and having an optical axis directed inwardly of the inspection area by being mounted on the support such that their optical axes are distributed about the central axis (A) of the containers by choosing their azimuth angles between 0 and 360° relative to the direction of translation, so that all the points of the circumference of the segment of the containers are represented in at least one image acquired when the container segment passes through the inspection area;
- at least twelve projectors (E1, E2, . . . Ei, . . . En) forming several sets each including at least six projectors mounted on the support, each having a beam direction and positioned on the support such that:
- (a) the beam directions (DE1, DE2, . . . DEi, . . . DEn) are tangent to a cylinder centered on the central axis (A) of the container, the diameter of the cylinder being included in a range of diameters of container segments;
- (b) the beam directions (DE1, DE2, . . . DEi, . . . DEn) are distributed in azimuth such that when the projectors are selectively activated for image acquisitions by the associated imagers, all the points on the circumference of the segment of the containers are lighted by at least one of the projectors;
- an electronic system (III) connected to the projectors and to the imagers and adapted to selectively activate the imagers simultaneously with associated projectors so as to acquire images of each container passing through the inspection area with a view to their analysis in order to detect defects;
- characterized in that:
- the support (14) is a non-deformable body on which the projectors and the imagers are mounted by a complete connection (13) so as to fix, relative to said support, the beam directions (DE1, DE2, . . . DEi, . . . DEn) of the projectors and the optical axes (AC1, AC2, . . . ACi, . . . ACn) of the imagers, this support including a free volume (Vt) encompassing at least the volume generated by the profile of the containers only according to the rectilinear translation of the containers in the inspection area, the imagers and the projectors being located outside this free volume;
- several sets of projectors each include at least six projectors whose beam direction is tangent to a cylinder of a diameter included in a determined range of diameters, these ranges of diameters being different from one set to another and depending on the diameter of the segment of the container;
- the projectors of the sets have a beam direction with elevation angles of an absolute value between 0° and 45° and opposite in sign to the elevation angles of the optical axes of the associated imagers;
- the imagers have optical axes whose elevation angles have an absolute value between 0° and 60° and are opposite in sign to the elevation angles of the beam directions of the associated projectors;
- the electronic system (III) is configured to inspect the containers falling within all of said ranges of diameters, such that during the inspection of the containers whose segment diameter to be inspected is included in the range of diameters of a set, the electronic system ensures the acquisition of at least six images of each container when it passes through the inspection area by selectively activating the at least six imagers simultaneously with the associated projectors of said set.