Apparatus and methods for container inspection
AssigneeApplied Vision Company, LLC
InventorsRichard A. Sones, Carl E. Sebeny, Brian M. Baird, Michael A. Kress, Michael L. Kress
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Abstract
Apparatus, systems, and methods to recognize features on bottom surfaces of containers on a container production line, detect defects in the containers, and correlate the defects to specific production equipment of the container production line, based in part on the recognized features. The system includes imaging apparatus, programmable processing devices, and encoders. The methods include synchronization techniques and correlation techniques.
Claims23
A system for associating a defective metal container produced on a metal container production line with particular production equipment of said metal container production line, said system comprising:
- an encoder operationally interfacing to a necker star wheel of said metal container production line and adapted to generate a plurality of electric encoder pulses over the course of every revolution of said star wheel, indicating a current rotational position of said star wheel;
- a tracking device operationally interfacing to said encoder and adapted to generate a necker pocket identifier corresponding to a current pocket of said necker star wheel in response to said encoder pulses and to generate a part-identification code;
- at least one defect-detecting imaging apparatus mounted on said metal container production line and adapted to detect at least one type of defect occurring in said metal containers, one metal container at a time, and generate corresponding inspection information as each said metal container passes by said at least one defect-detecting imaging apparatus on said metal container production line;
- a controller operationally interfacing to said at least one defect-detecting imaging apparatus and adapted to trigger said at least one defect-detecting imaging apparatus to acquire images and to generate said part-identification code in response to any of said defect-detecting imaging apparatus being triggered;
- and
- a correlator operationally interfacing to said tracking device and said at least one defect-detecting imaging apparatus and adapted to receive said necker pocket identifier and said inspection information and correlate said received necker pocket identifier and said received inspection information to a particular metal container based on said part-identification code.
A method of associating a defective metal container produced on a metal container production line with particular production equipment of said metal container production line, said method comprising:
- generating a current necker pocket identifier corresponding to a current pocket of a necker out-feeder star wheel holding a first metal container and incrementing a first part-identification code of said necker out-feeder star wheel to generate a first part-identification value, and associating said first part identification value with said current necker pocket identifier;
- triggering a first defect-detecting imaging apparatus to acquire a first image of said first metal container as said first metal container passes by said first defect-detecting imaging apparatus on said metal container production line and incrementing a second part-identification code of said first defect-detecting imaging apparatus to generate said same first part-identification value;
- detecting any of a first type of defect occurring in said first metal container in response to said acquired first image, generating corresponding first inspection information, and associating said first inspection information for said first metal container with said same first part-identification value;
- and
- correlating said current necker pocket identifier and said first inspection information to said first metal container in response to said associated same first part-identification value.
A method of associating a defective metal container produced on a metal container production line with particular production equipment of said metal container production line, said method comprising:
- (a) generating a first part-identification code when a metal container is modified by a first production equipment on a metal container production line;
- (b) generating a second part-identification code when said metal container is inspected by a defect-detecting imaging apparatus on said metal container production line to generate inspection information of said metal container, wherein a value of said second part-identification code is the same as a value of said first part-identification code due to synchronization of said metal container production line;
- and
- (c) correlating said first production equipment and said inspection information to said metal container based on said same value of said first part-identification code and said second part-identification code.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.