Inspection system

An inspection system particularly for detecting excessive particulate matter in liquid filled vials or the like, comprising:

• a rotatable vial deck;
• means including an infeed star wheel for infeeding vials to and an outfeed star wheel for outfeeding vials from said vial deck;
• one or more inspection units rotatable with said vial deck, each said inspection unit including a scanning device axially offset from said vial deck and aimed radially inward, optical means bending the line of sight of said scanning device axially toward the plane of said vial and then radially outward toward said vial, and light means for illuminating the contents of said vial;
• said vial deck including a vial supporting puck mounted for spinning with respect to said vial deck and means for holding a said vial coaxially on said puck in the vial deck orbit from the infeed star wheel to the outfeed star wheel, said puck and vial holding means comprising parts of a given said inspection unit, spinning means engageable with said puck to spin same during one segment of the clamped vial orbit, said vial stopping its spinning with respect to said vial deck in a next segment of such clamped vial orbit, means coordinated with said vial advancement into an inspection segment of said clamped vial orbit to obtain video signals from the scanning device viewing the vial, for inspection purposes.

An inspection system for detecting excessive particle content in liquid filled vials or the like, comprising:

• scanning means for line scanning a field superposed on an illuminated, fluid containing vial to detect suspended particles therein;
• means coupled to said scanning means and responsive to scanning of such a particle thereby for producing a corresponding pulse signal;
• a processer circuit including detector circuit means for detecting the presence of such a pulse signal at each of several adjacent points on the same scan line of said scanning device and then in each of several adjacent scan lines of a field of said scanning device, and then in each of several successive fields of scan of said scanning device;
• means coupled to said processer circuit and responsive to such a detecting for indicating that such vial has an unacceptable particle content.

An inspection system for detecting excessive particulate matter in liquid filled vials or the like, comprising:

• a television camera for scanning a fluid containing vial and producing a video signal output variable as the camera scanning beam crosses particles in the vial and other discontinuities in the scene viewed thereby;
• means responsive to said video signal output from said television camera for producing pulses at least when the camera scanning beam sweeps over particles in said vial;
• detector circuit means responsive to a particular pattern of occurrence of said pulses, as would correspond to scanning of a particle large enough to merit rejection of the vial for producing a vial reject signal;
• focus sensing means for receiving said video signal and including means responsive to a video signal pulse as would be generated by scanning of a particle or the like somewhat narrower than detected by said detector circuit means, said focus sensing means including means responsive to absence of such a video signal pulse during the period of scanning of the vial by said television camera for producing a further reject pulse, wherein said further reject pulse suggests that said camera is not properly focused;
• reject means operatively connected to said detector circuit means and focus sensing means and responsive to a reject signal from either for indicating that the vial is to be rejected.

An inspection system particularly for detecting excessive particulate matter in liquid filled vials or the like, comprising:

• a rotatable vial deck;
• means for infeeding vials to and outfeeding vials from corresponding vial locations on said vial deck;
• one or more inspection units each including a scanning device and a periscope means rotatable with said vial deck, a given said rotatable scanning device being axially offset from a corresponding vial location on said vial deck and aimed radially inward therebeyond, said rotatable periscope means being oriented for bending the line of sight of said scanning device axially toward the level of said vial location and then radially outward toward said vial location, and light means for illuminating the contents of said vial;
• a frame with respect to which said vial deck is rotatable, a semicircular cam fixed with respect to said frame and loosely coaxially surrounding said periscope means axially between said scanning device and vial deck, each said inspection unit including a chuck vertically slidably mounted above a corresponding vial location on said vial deck and lowerable into gripping engagement with the top of a vial at such location, a substantially horizontal lever mounted for rotation with and vertically pivotable with respect to said vial deck, said lever vertically supporting said chuck and riding said cam to lift the chuck above the level of said vials for loading and unloading of vials with respect to said vial deck and to allow said chuck to ride on said vials during orbiting of the latter with said vial deck.

An inspection system for detecting excessive particle content in liquid filled vials or the like, comprising:

• a black and white television camera located for line scanning a field superposed on a fluid containing vial to detect suspended particles therein;
• a color television monitor having a display screen, said camera and monitor having scanning beams which are synchronized;
• particle detection circuit means responsive to the video output of said camera for displaying spots on said monitor screen in response to scanning by the camera of the particles in said vial, said detection circuit means including size detection means responsive to signals derived from said camera video for displaying a visible warning pattern on said monitor screen upon scanning by the camera of a particle of substantial size and at least one of said displays being of preselected color;
• window circuit means synchronized with the scanning beams of said camera and monitor and connected with said detection circuit means for limiting operation of the latter to a central portion of the field of view of said camera and monitor, said window circuit means being connected to said monitor for display of said window area and the screen area bounding such window area in colors contrasting with each other and with at least one of said spot and warning image.

An inspection system particularly for detecting excessive particulate matter in liquid filled vials or the like, comprising:

• a rotatable vial deck having circumferentially distributed vial locations thereon;
• means for infeeding vials to and outfeeding vials from said vial deck;
• a scanning device rotatable with said vial deck and having a line of sight axially offset from a corresponding vial location on said deck;
• a periscope means rotatable with said vial deck in continuously fixed opposed relation to a corresponding vial location on said vial deck, said periscope means having its one end radially opposing said scanning device and its other end radially opposing said corresponding vial location;
• and
• light means for illuminating the contents of said vial.