EP-4212860-B1 - INSPECTION DEVICE FOR FILLING APPARATUS

Inventors

• MORITA, SATOSHI

Dates

Publication Date

20260513

Application Date

20230110

Claims (2)

1. An inspection device (1) configured to inspect an inspection target (100) based on image data, the inspection device comprising: an image capture device (2) configured to capture an image of an inspection target to generate image data; a box (3) containing the image capture device (2); an air supply source (4) configured to supply air into the box (3); and a storage device (7) configured to store the image data, wherein the inspection device (1) is configured to, based on a most recent piece of the image data and a group of previously accumulated pieces of the image data, inspect the inspection target as the inspection target was at a time at which the image capture device generated the most recent piece of the image data, wherein the box (3) has an attachable and detachable face portion (31) inside an image capture area (21) of the image capture device (2) so that in the detached state no object is present between the image capture device (2) and the inspection target.
2. The inspection device according to claim 1, wherein the inspection target is a filler device (100) for charging beverage liquid.

Description

Technical Field The present invention relates to an inspection device configured to inspect a filler device. Background Art Factories for production of liquid products such as beverages commonly use a filler device including a circular rotor drivable to rotate and a plurality of filler machines arranged along the perimeter of the rotor. Filler devices of that type are typically configured such that the rotation of the rotor causes the filler machines to revolve along a track and that during the revolution, the filler machines each repeat the sequence of receiving an empty container from the preceding step, filling the empty container with beverage liquid, and transferring the filled container to the next step. A defect in any one of the filler machines may let the filler machine continue to produce a defective liquid product in every revolution. This necessitates identifying any defective filler machine and taking a measure such as repairing or replacing the filler machine identified. WO 2016/114062 A1 (Patent Literature 1), for example, discloses a filling and sealing apparatus configured to carry products with use of a turret. The filling and sealing apparatus utilizes the turret carriage to associate (i) the inspection result about the amount of liquid with which each product is filled with (ii) the filler machine that has filled the product. This allows identification of the filler machine that has caused an abnormality in the amount of liquid with which a product is filled. WO 2021/054376 A1 discloses an inspection apparatus including an image processing unit, an inspection unit, a processing condition setting unit, a learning unit and a memory unit. Imaging devices are coupled with the inspection apparatus for capturing images of containers. The learning unit performs training of a neural network using the captured image. Specifically, the learning unit learns defect-free images and images with various defects to construct a neural network model. Citation List Patent Literature Patent Literature 1 WO 2016/114062 A1 Summary of Invention Technical Problem The technique of Patent Literature 1 does not allow detection of a defect that involves no abnormality in the amount of liquid with which a product is filled; the filling and sealing apparatus is not designed to detect such defects as a loss or discoloring of a component of a filler machine or adherence of foreign matter on a filler machine. The filler machines each include some parts so attached as to potentially come off and enter the liquid product when defective. At some factories, a worker visually checks all such parts every day to prevent their entry into products. There has been a demand for reducing the inspection effort. Visual checks may be replaced with a method of capturing an image of a filler machine as an inspection target and determining based on data on the image whether the filler machine is defective. The room containing the filler device may, however, receive high-temperature steam for sterilization and consequently have a high-temperature, high-humidity environment, which may break down the image capture device. This has made it difficult to adopt the inspection method based on image data. There has thus been a demand for an inspection device configured to determine whether a filler device has any visually recognizable abnormality and capable of normal operation even when the inspection device is in a high-temperature, high-humidity environment. Solution to Problem An inspection device according to the present invention is defined in the independent claim. It is an inspection device configured to inspect an inspection target based on image data, the inspection device including: an image capture device configured to capture an image of an inspection target to generate image data; a box containing the image capture device; and an air supply source configured to supply air into the box. The above configuration allows air to be supplied into the box containing the image capture device to prevent the image capture device from being surrounded by steam. Preventing the image capture device from being in a high-temperature, high-humidity environment as such protects the inspection device if the inspection device is in a high-temperature, high-humidity environment. An inspection device of the present invention is configured such that the box has an attachable and detachable face portion inside an image capture area of the image capture device. If the image capture device is enclosed in a box on all sides, the image capture device may generate image data with impaired quality even if the box is made of a transparent material. The above configuration allows a face portion inside the image capture area to be detached for the image capture device to capture an image. This prevents the image capture device from generating image data with quality impaired by the box. An inspection device as a preferable embodiment of the present invention is con