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CN-114624249-B - Device and method for inspecting transparent cylindrical containers containing milky products, in particular for medical applications

CN114624249BCN 114624249 BCN114624249 BCN 114624249BCN-114624249-B

Abstract

The invention relates to an apparatus for inspecting a transparent cylindrical container, comprising supporting and/or gripping means for the cylindrical container adapted to support and rotate the cylindrical container about a vertical rotation axis, a camera directed to pattern and capture a pixelated image of a window of a side wall of the cylindrical container, a first illumination means aligned to illuminate said window, a second illumination means aligned to illuminate said window opposite said first illumination means in a symmetrical position with respect to said window, a control unit operatively connected to the supporting and/or gripping means, the camera and the first and second illumination means and programmed to capture images of said window at constant angular intervals, alternately activating the first and second illumination means for each angular range until the cylindrical container is completely rotated 360 °, processing the obtained images in order to program the internal or external position of any contaminant with respect to the side wall of the cylindrical container.

Inventors

  • Luca Varati

Assignees

  • 诺瓦欧姆皮埃有限公司

Dates

Publication Date
20260508
Application Date
20211209
Priority Date
20201209

Claims (9)

  1. 1. An apparatus (4) for inspecting transparent cylindrical containers (8) containing milky products for medical applications, comprising: -support and/or gripping means for a cylindrical container (8), adapted to support said cylindrical container (8) and provided with means for rotating it about a vertical rotation axis coinciding with the cylindrical axis of symmetry of said cylindrical container (8); -a camera (12) directed to pattern and capture a pixel-like image of a window (16) of a side wall (20) of the cylindrical container (8); -a collimated first lighting device (24) directed to illuminate the window (16); -a second lighting device (28) aligned to illuminate the window (16) opposite to the first lighting device (24) in a symmetrical position with respect to the window (16); -a control unit (32) operatively connected to said support and/or clamping means, said camera (12) and said first lighting means (24) and said second lighting means (28) and programmed to: Capturing a first partial image (36 ') and a second partial image (36 ' ') of the window (16) at constant angular intervals, alternately activating the first illumination means (24) and the second illumination means (28) for each angular interval until the cylindrical container (8) is rotated completely through 360 DEG, Continuously associating said first partial image (36 ') and said second partial image (36 ") obtained by alternately activating said first lighting means (24) to obtain a first aggregate image (40') of said cylindrical container (8) and activating said second lighting means (28) to obtain a second aggregate image (40") of said cylindrical container (8), Identifying within each aggregate image (40 ', 40' ') the presence of possible irregular pixels (48), said irregular pixels (48) having a color difference corresponding to the contaminant, -In case at least one of said irregular pixels (48) is identified, effecting deriving a control image (52) from the difference between said first aggregate image (40') and said second aggregate image (40 ") and compiling the position of said contaminant relative to the side wall (20) of said cylindrical container (8) from said control image (52).
  2. 2. The device (4) according to claim 1, wherein the control unit (32) is programmed to: classifying the contaminant as being outside a side wall (20) of the cylindrical container (8) if the control image (52) comprises at least one irregular pixel (48), -Classifying the contaminant as being inside a side wall (20) of the cylindrical container (8) if the control image (52) does not comprise at least one irregular pixel (48).
  3. 3. Apparatus (4) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the support and/or clamping device is provided with a rotary encoder to measure the rotation of the cylindrical container (8), said rotary encoder being operatively connected to the control unit (32) to alternately activate the first lighting device (24) and the second lighting device (28).
  4. 4. The device (4) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the image acquisition of the side wall (20) of the cylindrical container (8) is double oversampled in order not to cause a resolution loss, such that the resolution in the direction of surface extension is doubled.
  5. 5. The device (4) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the constant angular spacing is 0.05 degree angular spacing.
  6. 6. A method for inspecting transparent cylindrical containers (8) containing milky products for medical applications, comprising the steps of: -providing a transparent cylindrical container (8) containing a creamy product, supported for rotation about a vertical rotation axis coinciding with the axis of axial symmetry of the container (8) itself; -providing a camera (12) directed to pattern and capture a pixel-like image of a window (16) of a side wall (20) of the cylindrical container (8); -providing a collimated first illumination device (24), directed to illuminate the window (16); -providing a second lighting device (28), aligned to illuminate the window (16) opposite to the first lighting device (24) in a symmetrical position with respect to the window (16); -capturing a first partial image (36') and a second partial image (36 ") of the window (16) at constant angular intervals, alternately activating the first illumination means (24) and the second illumination means (28) for each angular interval until the cylindrical container (8) is completely rotated by 360 °; -associating without interruption the respective partial images (36 ', 36 ") obtained by alternately activating the first lighting means (24) to obtain a first aggregate image (40') of the cylindrical container (8) and activating the second lighting means (28) to obtain a second aggregate image (40") of the cylindrical container (8); -identifying within each aggregate image (40', 40 ") the presence of possible irregular pixels (48), said irregular pixels (48) having a chromatic aberration corresponding to a contaminant; -in case at least one of said irregular pixels (48) is identified, effecting deriving a control image (52) from the difference between said first aggregate image (40') and said second aggregate image (40 ") and compiling the position of said contaminant relative to the side wall (20) of said cylindrical container (8) from said control image (52).
  7. 7. The method of claim 6, comprising the steps of: -classifying the contaminant as being outside a side wall (20) of the cylindrical container (8) if the control image (52) comprises at least one irregular pixel (48); -classifying the contaminant as being inside a side wall (20) of the cylindrical container (8) if the control image (52) does not comprise irregular pixels (48).
  8. 8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, comprising the steps of: double oversampling of the image acquisition of the side wall (20) of the cylindrical container (8) doubles the resolution in the direction of surface extension.
  9. 9. The method of claim 6 or 7, wherein the constant angular spacing is 0.05 degree angular spacing.

Description

Device and method for inspecting transparent cylindrical containers containing milky products, in particular for medical applications Technical Field The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for inspecting transparent cylindrical containers containing milky products, in particular for medical applications. Background It is well known in the medical field that transparent containers for analysing medical substances are necessary to detect the presence of any impurities within the container. In the case of a positive result, it is obviously necessary to discard the container, since the medical substance may contain unacceptable contamination of any type. Systems employed in the art are optical systems that utilize a camera to scan each container to detect any contaminants. However, the known system has some drawbacks. In fact, known optical systems, while capable of detecting the presence of contaminants/impurities, cannot reliably distinguish whether the location of the contaminants is inside or outside the container. In this connection, it is evident that the container has to be discarded only when the contaminants are inside, i.e. in contact with the medical substance contained therein. For safety reasons, the calibration of the known system is obviously more "conservative", resulting in a higher positive rejection rate. In order to at least partially remedy such defects, the inspection time of the containers is prolonged, but in this way, if false rejects are to be reduced on the one hand, on the other hand, the inspection time is prolonged in an unacceptable way, increasing costs. It should be noted that inspection time is a non-negligible cost factor, as the batch to be inspected may contain tens of thousands of containers. Thus, the known solutions do not allow to obtain both a lower positive reject rate and a shorter inspection time. Disclosure of Invention In view of this, there is a need to address the drawbacks and limitations of the prior art described above. In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention relates to a device for inspecting transparent cylindrical containers containing milky products, in particular for medical applications, comprising supporting and/or gripping means for the cylindrical container, adapted to support the cylindrical container and provided with means for rotating it about a vertical axis of rotation coinciding with the cylindrical axis of symmetry of the cylindrical container, a camera directed to pattern and capture a pixelated image of a window of the side wall of the cylindrical container, a first illumination means directed to illuminate the window, a second illumination means directed to illuminate the window opposite the first illumination means in a symmetrical position with respect to the window, a control unit operatively connected to the supporting and/or gripping means, the camera and the first and second illumination means and programmed to capture a first partial image and a second partial image of the window at constant angular intervals, alternately activating the first illumination means and the second illumination means for each angular interval until the cylindrical container is completely rotated 360 DEG, intermittently associating a first polymerization image obtained by alternately activating the first illumination means and a second polymerization image obtained by alternately activating the first polymerization image and a second polymerization image obtained by alternately activating the second polymerization image and the second polymerization image is not regularly identifiable to the first partial image and the second polymerization image is obtained by the second partial image being irregularly identifiable to the first partial image and the second partial image is not identifiable to the second image is obtained by the first partial image, and based on the control image, recording the location of the contaminant relative to the sidewall of the cylindrical container. The invention also relates to a method of inspecting a transparent cylindrical container containing a creamy product, in particular for medical applications, comprising the steps of providing a transparent cylindrical container containing the creamy product supported for rotation about a vertical axis of rotation coinciding with the axis of symmetry of the container itself, providing a camera directed to pattern and capture a pixelated image of a window of a side wall of the cylindrical container, providing a first illumination means directed to illuminate the window, providing a second illumination means directed to illuminate the window opposite the first illumination means in a symmetrical position with respect to the window, capturing a first partial image and a second partial image of the window at a constant angular spacing, alternately activating the first illumination means and the second illumination means for each angular spacing unti