Inspecting apparatus and inspecting method of absorbent sheet-like member related to absorbent article

An inspecting apparatus that inspects whether or not a liquid absorbent particulate is deposited with a predetermined deposition pattern on an absorbent sheet-like member, the absorbent sheet-like member having a continuous web and a plurality of absorbent bodies, the continuous web being transported along a transport direction, the absorbent bodies being formed on one surface of the continuous web in a spaced apart manner in the transport direction, each absorbent body including the liquid absorbent particulate as a main material, the inspecting apparatus comprising:

• an imaging process section which is adapted to image, from one side of a surface of the absorbent sheet-like member, a region on the absorbent sheet-like member where the absorbent body is expected to exist, and that is adapted to produce data relating to a planar image of the region as planar image data of the absorbent body;
• an extracting process section which is adapted to extract a proper quantity region from the planar image by performing a binarization process on the produced planar image data based on a threshold value, the proper quantity region being an imaged region in which the liquid absorbent particulate is of a specified amount or more;
• and
• a pass/fail determination process section that is adapted to perform a pass/fail determination process based on a value indicating a size of the proper quantity region,
• wherein
• the inspecting apparatus is arranged downstream of a heat sealing unit,
• the absorbent sheet-like member is provided with a plurality of particulate deposition target regions for each absorbent body based on the deposition pattern, the particulate deposition target regions being arranged discretely in an island-like manner, each of the particulate deposition target regions being a region in which the liquid absorbent particulate is expected to exist,
• the extracting process section sets respective inspection windows for at least some of the plurality of particulate deposition target regions and is adapted to extract the proper quantity region for each inspection window, the inspection window having a contour corresponding to a contour of the particulate deposition target region, and
• the pass/fail determination process section is adapted to perform a pass/fail determination of the absorbent body based on an area as a value indicating the size of the proper quantity region which has been extracted for each inspection window,
• the pass/fail determination process section:
• compares the area of each of the proper-quantity regions extracted in each of the inspection windows with a pass/fail determination threshold associated with the inspection windows;
• in a case where the area of the proper-quantity region is greater than or equal to the pass/fail determination threshold, applies temporary acceptable product information to the proper-quantity region as primary determination information;
• in a case where the area of the proper-quantity region is less than the pass/fail determination threshold, applies temporary defective product information as the primary determination information;
• in a case where the temporary acceptable product information is applied to all the proper-quantity regions, applies acceptable product information to a single-cut sheet-like product of the absorbent sheet-like member corresponding to the planar image as secondary determination information, and
• in a case where any one of the proper-quantity regions has temporary defective product information applied thereto, applies defective product information to the single-cut sheet-like product of the absorbent sheet-like member corresponding to the planar image as secondary determination information.