Method and apparatus for checking containers
AssigneeGEA Till GmbH & Co.
InventorsRainer Woite, Volker Till
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of and apparatus for determining whether kegs, which are to be cleaned and filled on a bottling plant production line, have physical distortions which may prevent cleaning and/or filling and/or emptying. The testing of the barrels is accomplished by capturing images of the ends and processing the data commensurate with the captured images to identify radial distortion. Axial distortion, which may accompany any radial distortion, is determined by measuring the distances between plural points on the keg and a reference plane to which the keg axis would, under normal conditions, be transverse.
Claims23
A process for the pre-processing testing of generally barrel-shaped containers for deformation, each container having a pair of oppositely disposed ends and a collar which extends about at least one of said container ends, said process comprising the steps of:
- capturing an image of at least the said one container end and the adjacent collar;
- processing the image to determine the inner and outer diameters of the collar at a plurality of locations spaced about the periphery of the container;
- employing the determined diameters to analyze the degree of distortion of the collar, said step of employing the determined diameters including:
- calculating mean inner and outer collar diameters from the determined inner and outer diameters respectively;
- comparing the calculated mean inner and outer diameters with the determined inner and outer diameters respectively;
- determining deviations between the determined outer diameters and a circle defined by the calculated mean outer diameter;
- and
- determining deviations between the determined inner diameters and a circle defined by the calculated mean inner diameter.
A process for the pre-processing testing of generally barrel-shaped containers for deformation, each container having a pair of oppositely disposed ends and a collar which extends about at least one of said container ends, said process comprising the steps of:
- capturing an image of at least the said one container end and the adjacent collar;
- processing the image to determine the inner and outer diameters of the collar at a plurality of locations spaced about the periphery of the container;
- employing the determined diameters to analyze the degree of distortion of the collar;
- measuring the distance between a reference plane and a plurality of points on the container collar;
- and
- comparing the measured distances to determine if a plane defined by the collar is angularly inclined with respect to the reference plane.
A process for the pre-processing testing of generally barrel-shaped containers for deformation, each container having a pair of oppositely disposed ends and a collar which extends about at least one of said container ends, said process comprising the steps of:
- capturing an image of at least the said one container end and the adjacent collar;
- processing the image to determine the inner and outer diameters of the collar at a plurality of locations spaced about the periphery of the container;
- employing the determined diameters to analyze the degree of distortion of the collar;
- measuring the distance between a reference plane and a plurality of measuring points on the end of the container disposed within the adjacent collar;
- and
- comparing the measured distances between the reference plane and container end to determine if a plane defined by the measuring points on the container end is angularly inclined with respect to the reference plane.
Apparatus for use in the pre-processing testing of generally barrel-shaped containers for deformation, the containers having a pair of oppositely disposed ends and collars which extend about said ends, said apparatus comprising:
- at least a first image capture device for capturing an image of a section of the container to be tested, the captured section including the bottom of the container with the surrounding collar;
- means for processing the captured image;
- and
- means for measuring the distance between a plurality of points on the container section which is imaged and a reference plane.
A process for the pre-processing testing of generally barrel-shaped containers for deformation, each container having a pair of oppositely disposed ends and a collar which extends about at least one of said container ends, said process comprising the steps of:
- capturing an image of at least the said one container end and the adjacent collar;
- processing the image to determine the inner and outer diameters of the collar at a plurality of locations spaced about the periphery of the container;
- employing the determined diameters to analyze the degree of distortion of the collar, said step of employing the determined diameters including:
- calculating the mean inner and outer collar diameters from the determined inner and outer diameters respectively;
- counting the number of pixels comprising the captured image which lie within an annulus defined by the calculated mean inner and outer diameters;
- counting the number of pixels comprising the captured image which lie outside of the annulus defined by the calculated mean inner and outer diameters;
- and
- comparing the number of pixels lying within and outside the annulus.
A process for the pre-processing testing of generally barrel-shaped containers for deformation, each container defining an axis and having a pair of oppositely disposed ends, a collar which extends about at least one of said container ends, and a fitting which is supported by, and extends into, the said one container end, said process comprising the steps of:
- capturing a image of at least the said one container end and the adjacent collar;
- processing the image to determine the inner and outer diameters of the collar at a plurality of locations spaced about the periphery of the container;
- employing the determined diameters to analyze the degree of distortion of the collar;
- measuring the displacement in the axial direction of the container between at least a pair of points on the fitting and a pair of reference points on the said one container end;
- comparing the measured displacements;
- and
- generating an error signal if the comparison indicates that at least one of the measured displacements varies from the other by more than a predetermined amount.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.