Device and method for automatically detecting appearance defects of welding drying pipe based on CCD vision

Abstract

The invention discloses a device and method for automatically detecting appearance defects of a welding drying pipe based on CCD vision, and the device comprises a stepping rotating table, and the top surface of the stepping rotating table is fixedly provided with a plurality of placement tools which are uniformly distributed in the circumferential direction; the visual detection system is used for discriminating whether the appearance of the material is a good product; a feeding station, an optical fiber detection station, a side bottom phase taking station, a first end phase taking station, a radial position adjusting station, a second end phase taking station and a discharging station are sequentially arranged on the top face of the workbench in the rotating stepping direction of the containing tool. Automatic stepping feeding, material state detection, multi-angle visual detection analysis of welding position appearance, classified automatic discharging of good products and defective products and comprehensive appearance detection after material feeding can be achieved, the detection result is accurate and reliable, the detection period of a single product is short, multiple products are synchronously detected, and the detection efficiency is high.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of visual inspection equipment technology, specifically to an automatic inspection device and method for appearance defects of welded drying pipes based on CCD vision. Background Technology

[0002] Machine vision inspection uses a computer equipped with a CCD vision inspection system to replace human eye inspection. It can detect and judge product appearance defects, material surfaces, migrations, exudates, blooming, discoloration, foreign matter, contaminants, and other unknown substances, including unknown powders, liquids, and particles. Appearance inspection is the most widely used application in the field of machine vision inspection. With the right vision inspection equipment, inspection efficiency is significantly improved. Most products undergo quality inspection after production, and appearance inspection is a type of quality inspection. Many quality problems can be directly displayed through visual inspection. For example, Figure 1 The appearance of the refrigeration valve stem, a commonly used small part, directly affects its performance and the overall lifespan of the refrigeration equipment that uses it.

[0003] like Figure 1 The welded drying tube 100 shown consists of a drying tube 110 and a branch tube 120. The branch tube 120 is welded to the drying tube 110 to form an integral structure and is connected to the interior of the drying tube 110. Because the branch tube 120 is close to the tapered end (neck) of the drying tube 100, the weld at the welding position is prone to unevenness, and the high welding temperature can easily cause deformation of the tapered end of the drying tube 100. If the surface of the drying tube 100 is deformed, dented, scratched, or dirty, it will not only affect the appearance quality of the product, but also have an adverse effect on its subsequent normal working performance and service life.

[0004] Currently, the visual inspection of welded drying tubes is still generally carried out manually. However, traditional visual inspection relies on human eyes, and the results are inconsistent due to the experience level of the inspectors. Furthermore, prolonged observation of small, localized welded areas can easily lead to eye fatigue, causing inspectors to mistakenly pass off defective products as good, thus compromising the overall quality of batch products. The low work continuity of general employees also increases production costs, and manual inspection reduces the automation level of the production line, resulting in low inspection efficiency. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To address the aforementioned deficiencies and shortcomings, this invention proposes an automatic inspection device and method for appearance defects of welded drying tubes based on CCD vision. This device enables automatic step-by-step feeding after material loading, material status detection, multi-angle visual inspection and analysis of the appearance of the welding position, automatic unloading of good and defective products, comprehensive appearance inspection coverage, accurate and reliable inspection results, short inspection cycle for a single product, and simultaneous inspection of multiple products, resulting in high inspection efficiency.

[0006] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present invention adopts the following technical solution: An automatic inspection device for appearance defects of welded drying pipes based on CCD vision, including A stepping rotary table is set at the top center of the workbench, and several circumferentially distributed placement fixtures are fixed on its top surface for the placement and initial positioning of the welded drying tube to be inspected. The visual inspection system is used to receive image information of the welded drying tube captured by the camera assembly and compare it with the preset standard pattern to determine whether the material appearance is good. The top surface of the worktable is arranged sequentially along the rotational stepping direction of the tooling: The loading station is used to place the welded drying tubes to be inspected onto the placement fixture; The fiber optic inspection station is equipped with a light detection device to detect the presence or absence of materials placed on the fixture, and to generate corresponding camera shooting control signals. The bottom-side imaging station is equipped with two sets of camera components, which take pictures of the welding positions on the welding drying tubes that have reached the corresponding stations from the bottom side, and transmit the pictures to the vision inspection system. At the first image acquisition station at the end, a set of camera components is set up to take pictures of the outer end of the welding drying tube. The radial position adjustment station is equipped with a material guiding mechanism to adjust the position of the welding drying tube on the placement fixture so that the outer end of the welding drying tube is on a trajectory circle of a fixed radius. At the second end-of-line imaging station, a set of camera components is set up to take further pictures of the outer end of the welding drying tube and transmit them to the vision inspection system. The unloading station is equipped with a sorting and unloading mechanism to remove and classify good and defective products identified by the visual inspection system from the placement fixture.

[0007] Furthermore, the placement fixture is arranged along the radial direction of the stepping rotary table and fixedly connected to the top edge of the stepping rotary table. The top surface of the placement fixture away from the stepping rotary table is provided with a placement groove with an arc-shaped cross section, and the radius of the arc-shaped cross section matches the radius of the main body of the welding drying tube.

[0008] Furthermore, a through groove is provided at the bottom of the placement groove. The width of the through groove is smaller than the diameter of the main body of the welded drying tube but not smaller than the diameter of the branch pipe of the welded drying tube.

[0009] Furthermore, the loading station is fixedly equipped with an arc-shaped prepositioning plate, which is coaxially arranged with the stepping rotary table. Its top surface is located on the bottom surface of the tooling, and its outer side surface is located on the inner side of the outer side surface of the tooling.

[0010] Furthermore, the bottom side-mounted phase-taking station is also equipped with pneumatic grippers for clamping and positioning the branch pipes of the welding drying tube.

[0011] Furthermore, the material guiding mechanism includes a material guiding plate, the side of the material guiding plate near the stepping rotary table is a concave arc surface, the concave arc surface is coaxially arranged with the stepping rotary table and located on the outside of the tooling placement area.

[0012] Furthermore, the sorting and unloading mechanism includes a first support and a second support. The first support is fixed with a first air nozzle and a second air nozzle located above the inner end of the top surface of the tooling. The second support is fixed with a first conveyor belt device located below the first air nozzle and a second conveyor belt device located below the second air nozzle.

[0013] Furthermore, the top of the second bracket is an arc-shaped plate, which is located directly below the outer end of the welding drying tube, and the distance between its top surface and the bottom surface of the tooling is less than the length of the branch pipe of the welding drying tube.

[0014] Furthermore, the end-capturing station is also provided with a material deflection guide plate located on the upstream side inside the camera assembly and below the outer end of the tooling.

[0015] A method for automatic detection of appearance defects in welded drying pipes based on CCD vision is also provided, which is applied to the aforementioned automatic detection equipment for appearance defects in welded drying pipes based on CCD vision, and includes the following steps: S1. Start the equipment, and the stepper rotary table drives the tooling to move step by step; S2. At the feeding station, the welded drying tubes to be inspected are placed one by one into the placement fixture according to the preset posture, and the stepping rotary table feeds the material step by step. S3. The light detection device detects whether there is material inside the fixture. If there is, it triggers the subsequent camera to take pictures. S4. The two sets of camera components at the side bottom imaging station take pictures of the welding position from the side bottom; S5. The camera assembly at the first image acquisition station at the end takes an image of the conical surface of the drying tube from the side. S6. The material guiding mechanism adjusts the radial position of the material; S7. The camera assembly at the second image acquisition station at the end takes further images of the conical surface of the drying tube. S8, the visual inspection system compares and analyzes the image information transmitted by each camera component to determine whether the appearance of each material is good; S9. The sorting and unloading mechanism removes the good and defective products determined by the vision inspection system from the placement fixture and collects them separately.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: 1. This invention uses a stepping rotary table to drive the stepping rotation of each placement fixture. By placing the welded drying tube to be inspected on each placement fixture according to a preset posture, continuous stepping feeding is completed in subsequent work stations. Through the reasonable configuration of the material guiding mechanism and camera components, the posture adjustment of the material or the acquisition of appearance images at each work station is realized, realizing automatic continuous stepping feeding and positioning, with high work efficiency and significantly reducing labor costs. 2. This invention can realize automatic step feeding after material loading, material status detection, multi-angle visual inspection and analysis of welding position appearance, automatic unloading of good and defective products, comprehensive appearance inspection, accurate and reliable inspection results, short inspection cycle for a single product, and simultaneous inspection of multiple products, with high inspection efficiency and accuracy. Attached Figure Description

[0017] Figure 1 A three-dimensional structural diagram of a welded drying tube inspected using the automatic appearance defect detection equipment of the present invention; Figure 2 This is one of the three-dimensional structural schematic diagrams of the automatic detection device for appearance defects of welded drying pipes according to the present invention; Figure 3 This is a second three-dimensional structural schematic diagram of the automatic detection device for appearance defects of welded drying pipes according to the present invention; Figure 4 This is one of the structural diagrams showing the assembly and positional relationships of the various functional components on the workbench; Figure 5 The second structural diagram shows the assembly and positional relationship of the various functional components on the workbench; Figure 6 The third structural diagram showing the assembly and positional relationships of the various functional components on the workbench; Figure 7 This is a structural diagram showing the assembly relationship of the stepper rotary table on the worktable. Figure 8 This is a three-dimensional structural diagram of the tooling. Figure 9 A three-dimensional structural diagram showing the assembly relationship of the prepositioning plate on the worktable; Figure 10 A three-dimensional structural diagram showing the assembly relationship of the light detection device on the worktable; Figure 11 This is a three-dimensional structural diagram showing the assembly relationship of various functional components on the workbench at the bottom side phase-taking station. Figure 12 This is a three-dimensional structural diagram showing the assembly relationship of the sorting and feeding mechanism on the workbench.

[0018] In the diagram: 1. Cabinet; 2. Workbench; 3. Stepping rotary table; 301. Motor bracket; 302. Rotary drive motor; 303. Rotary support platform; 304. Connecting column; 4. Fixture placement; 401. Placement slot; 5. Pre-positioning plate; 501. First column; 6. Light detection device; 601. First cantilever beam; 602. First suspended mounting bracket; 603. Second suspended mounting bracket; 7. Pneumatic gripper; 8. Material guiding mechanism; 9. Sorting and unloading mechanism; 901. First bracket; 902. Second bracket; 903. First air nozzle; 904. Second air nozzle; 905. First conveyor belt device; 906. Second conveyor belt device; 907. Second column ; 908, Third column; 909, Second cantilever beam; 910, Third cantilever beam; 911, Second suspended mounting bracket; 912, Third suspended mounting bracket; 10, Ring supplementary light; 11, First horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket; 12, Second horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket; 13, Third horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket; 14, Fourth horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket; 15, Fifth horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket; 16, Sixth horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket; 17, Seventh horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket; 18, Material deflection guide plate; 21, First camera; 22, Second camera; 23, Third camera; 24, Fourth camera; 100, Welded drying pipe; 110, Drying pipe; 120, Branch pipe. Detailed Implementation

[0019] The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, so that the advantages and features of the present invention can be more easily understood by those skilled in the art, thereby providing a clearer and more explicit definition of the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0020] It should be noted that when a component is said to be "installed on" another component, it can be directly on the other component or it may be in a component that is centered on it. When a component is said to be "set on" another component, it can be directly set on the other component or it may also be in a component that is centered on it. When a component is said to be "fixed to" another component, it can be directly fixed to the other component or it may also be in a component that is centered on it.

[0021] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention pertains. The terminology used herein in the specification of this invention is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. The term "or / and" as used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0022] Please see Figure 2 and Figure 3 An automatic inspection device for appearance defects of welded drying pipes based on CCD vision is disclosed, comprising a cabinet 1 and a horizontally positioned workbench 2 fixed in the middle of the cabinet 1. The cabinet 1 utilizes the equipment cabinets used in existing automated inspection equipment. The lower part of the cabinet 1 houses a conventional control and power system, including an industrial control computer, servo motor drivers, a pneumatic system, and other system control and power drive components. The industrial control computer contains a vision inspection system and image recognition processing software, used to receive image information of the welded drying pipes captured by the camera assembly and compare it with preset standard patterns to determine whether the material appearance is good. Cabinet doors are provided on each side of the upper part of the cabinet 1 for convenient production and equipment maintenance. A touch screen display (not shown in the figure) is located on one side of the top of the cabinet 1. This touch screen display is communicatively connected to the industrial control computer host and is used to display inspection data information in real time, as well as adjust and set control parameters. The above are all existing technologies and will not be elaborated upon here. The following only provides a detailed description of the specific structure and working principle of the inventive design of this invention.

[0023] like Figures 4 to 6 A motor bracket 301 is fixedly installed at the center of the top surface of the workbench 2. A rotary drive motor 302 is fixedly installed inside the motor bracket 301. The output shaft of the rotary drive motor extends through to the top surface of the motor bracket 301 and is fixedly connected to a rotary support platform 303. A circular stepping rotary platform 3 is fixedly connected to the top edge of the rotary support platform 303 through multiple evenly distributed connecting columns 304. Specifically, as shown... Figure 7 As shown, several circumferentially distributed placement fixtures 4 are fixed to the top edge of the stepper rotary table 3 by screws for placing and initially positioning the welded drying tube 100 to be inspected. The rotary drive motor 302 is a servo geared motor, allowing for convenient speed adjustment to regulate inspection efficiency. The bottom end of the rotary support table 303 is rotatably connected to the top surface of the motor bracket 301 via a thrust bearing. A drive shaft is fixedly mounted at the center of its bottom surface, and the bottom end of the drive shaft is inserted into the top output shaft of the rotary drive motor 302 for transmission connection. The stepper rotary table 3 and the rotary support table 303 are connected by a connecting column 304, facilitating height adjustment of the stepper rotary table 3 and its assembly with the rotary support table 303.

[0024] The fixture 4 is positioned along the radial direction of the stepping rotary table 3 and fixedly connected to the top edge of the stepping rotary table 3. On the top surface of the worktable 2, along the rotational stepping direction of the fixture 4, are sequentially arranged a fiber optic detection station, a side bottom phase-taking station, an end first phase-taking station, a radial position adjustment station, an end phase-taking station, and a material unloading station. The stepping rotary table 3 is driven by a rotary drive motor 302 to rotate in fixed step angles (360° / number of fixtures 4), causing the fixtures 4 on it to advance one by one. This allows the same fixture 4 to switch sequentially between different stations, completing the corresponding detection process at each station.

[0025] like Figure 8 As shown, the top surface of the placement fixture 4, away from the stepping rotary table 3, has an arc-shaped placement groove 401. The radius of the arc-shaped section matches the radius of the main body (drying tube 110) of the welding drying tube 100, and the outer side of the placement groove 401 is an opening. This allows the drying tube 110 to be placed quickly and accurately into the placement fixture 4. A through groove is formed at the bottom of the placement groove 401. The width of the through groove is smaller than the diameter of the drying tube 110 but not smaller than the diameter of the branch pipe 120, making the outer end of the placement fixture 4 U-shaped. Thus, after the drying tube 110 is placed into the placement fixture 4, the branch pipe 120 can be positioned downwards and movably inserted into the through groove, facilitating subsequent circumferential position and circumferential posture adjustment of the welding drying tube 100.

[0026] like Figure 9 As shown, an arc-shaped pre-positioning plate 5 is fixedly installed on the top surface of the workbench 2 at the loading station. Its bottom two sides are fixedly connected to the top surface of the workbench 2 via first columns 501, making the pre-positioning plate 5 coaxial with the stepping rotary table. Its top surface is located on the bottom surface of the placement fixture 4, and its outer side is located inside the outer side of the placement fixture 4. Thus, at the loading station, the welding drying tube 100 is placed on the placement fixture 4 by manual placement by personnel or by a robotic arm, with the end containing the branch pipe 120 located on the outer side of the placement fixture 4 (away from the stepping rotary table 3) and facing downwards in the through groove at the bottom of the placement slot 401. Since the pre-positioning plate 5 is located below the placement fixture 4, it can radially limit the branch pipe 120, thereby achieving the initial positioning of the welding drying tube 100 on the placement fixture 5. Preferably, the arc length of the pre-positioning plate 5 can cover at least three placement fixtures 4 to increase the error tolerance during manual placement.

[0027] like Figure 9As shown, a first horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket 11 is fixedly installed on the top surface of the workbench 2. The first horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket 11 includes a horizontal slide rail, a horizontal positioning block slidably installed on the top of the horizontal slide rail, a vertical slide rail fixedly connected to the top surface of the horizontal positioning block, and a vertical positioning block slidably installed on the side of the vertical slide rail. A rack is fixedly embedded in the top surface of the horizontal slide rail. A gear meshing with the rack is rotatably installed inside the horizontal positioning block. A knob coaxially fixedly connected to the gear is rotatably installed on the outside of the horizontal positioning block. By turning the knob, the horizontal positioning block can be driven to move horizontally under the meshing action of the rack and gear, thereby realizing the horizontal position adjustment of the vertical slide rail in the horizontal direction. The assembly method between the vertical positioning block and the vertical slide rail is the same as that between the horizontal positioning block and the horizontal slide rail. Therefore, by turning the corresponding knob, the vertical position adjustment of the vertical positioning block can be realized. Therefore, the first horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket 11 can ultimately realize the horizontal and / or vertical position adjustment of other components installed on the vertical positioning block. In this equipment, other workstations also adopt position adjustment mechanisms with the same or similar structure as the first horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket 11 to realize the position adjustment of functional components.

[0028] A light detection device 6 is installed at the fiber optic inspection station to detect the presence or absence of materials on the fixture 4, generating a corresponding camera control signal. Specifically, such as... Figure 10 As shown, the optical fiber detection device 6 includes a first cantilever beam 601 fixedly installed on the side of the vertical positioning block of the first horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket 11 at the workstation. A first suspension mounting bracket 602 and a second suspension mounting bracket 603 are fixedly connected to the bottom of the first cantilever beam 601. The transmitter and receiver of the optical fiber sensor are respectively installed at the bottom ends of the first suspension mounting bracket 602 and the second suspension mounting bracket 603. When a placement fixture 4 steps to the optical fiber detection workstation, the transmitter and receiver are located at the outer ends of the top surface of the placement fixture 4, thereby detecting whether there is material in the placement groove 401. If the receiver cannot receive the optical signal from the transmitter, it means that there is material in the placement slot 401. Then, after the corresponding placement fixture 4 steps to the subsequent image acquisition station, the camera component on the corresponding station will be automatically activated to take pictures (the relative positions of each image acquisition station and the fiber optic detection station are fixed, and the corresponding number of steps is also fixed). If there is no material in the placement slot 401, after the corresponding placement fixture 4 steps to the subsequent image acquisition positions, the camera components will not take pictures.

[0029] like Figure 11As shown, a phase-taking through hole is provided on the top surface of the workbench 2 at the side bottom phase-taking position. A second horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket 12 is fixedly installed on the top surface of the workbench 2 outside the phase-taking through hole. Two vertical positioning blocks are provided on the second horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket 12. A pneumatic gripper 7 is fixedly installed on the side of the upper vertical positioning block for clamping and positioning the branch pipe 120 of the welding drying tube 100. A ring-shaped supplementary light 10 located directly below the clamping position of the pneumatic gripper 7 is fixedly installed on the side of the lower vertical positioning block. In the non-clamping state, the two fingers of the pneumatic gripper 7 are in the open state and located outside the outermost running trajectory of the placement fixture 4. When the placement fixture 4, on which the welding drying tube 100 is placed, steps to the side bottom phase-taking position, the two fingers of the pneumatic gripper 7 move closer to each other and clamp the branch pipe 120, so that the branch pipe 120 is in a vertical state and located directly above the axis of the ring-shaped supplementary light 10. On the bottom surface of the workbench 2, a third horizontal-vertical adjustment bracket 13 and a fourth horizontal-vertical adjustment bracket 14 are fixedly installed on both sides of the image acquisition through hole. A first camera 21 and a second camera 22 are fixedly installed on the vertical positioning blocks of the third horizontal-vertical adjustment bracket 13 and the fourth horizontal-vertical adjustment bracket 14, respectively. The first camera 21 and the second camera 22 are tilted upwards, so that the two image acquisition lenses are directly facing the clamping position of the pneumatic gripper 7. This allows for image acquisition of the welding position on the welding drying tube 100 that has reached the corresponding workstation from the side and below, and the image is then transmitted to the vision inspection system. After the image acquisition is completed, the two fingers of the pneumatic gripper 7 are reopened to allow the material after image acquisition to continue to be fed downwards.

[0030] like Figure 5 As shown, a fifth horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket 15 is fixedly installed on the top surface of the workbench 2 at the first image-taking position at the end. A third camera 23 is fixedly installed on the side of the vertical positioning block of the fifth horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket 15, and the third camera 23 is horizontally positioned. When the placement fixture 4, on which the welding drying tube 100 is placed, steps to the first image-taking position at the end, the image-taking lens of the third camera 23 is positioned directly opposite the end position of the welding drying tube 100, thereby taking a side view of the tapered surface (neck position) of the end of the welding drying tube 100 that has reached the corresponding position, and transmitting the image to the vision inspection system.

[0031] like Figure 5As shown, a sixth horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket 16 is fixedly installed on the top surface of the worktable 2 at the radial position adjustment station. A material guiding mechanism 8 is fixedly installed on the side of the vertical positioning block of the sixth horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket 16. The material guiding mechanism 8 includes a material guiding plate. The side of the material guiding plate near the stepping rotary table 3 is a concave arc surface. The concave arc surface is coaxially arranged with the stepping rotary table 3 and located outside the placement fixture 4. During the rotation of the welding drying tube 100 and the placement fixture 4 with the stepping rotary table 3, the outer end of the welding drying tube 100 slides along the concave arc surface of the material guiding plate until it separates from the concave arc surface, so that the outer end of the welding drying tube 100 is on the trajectory circle of a fixed radius, that is, the detection surface is in the same position, realizing the axial position adjustment of the welding drying tube 100 on the placement fixture 4. The placement is unclear due to different object distances.

[0032] like Figure 5 As shown, a seventh horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket 17 is fixedly installed on the top surface of the workbench 2 at the second end-positioning station. A fourth camera 24 is fixedly installed on the side of the vertical positioning block of the seventh horizontal and vertical adjustment bracket 17. The imaging lens of the fourth camera 24 is horizontally positioned facing the axis of the stepping rotary table 3. When the placement fixture 4, on which the welding drying tube 100 is placed, steps to the second end-positioning station, the imaging lens of the fourth camera 24 captures an image of the outer end portion of the welding drying tube 100 and transmits it to the vision inspection system. After the first camera 21 and the second camera 22 capture images of the weld position on the welding drying tube 100 from different angles, and the third camera 23 captures a partial image of the end conical surface of the welding drying tube 100, only the partial end conical surface that connects to the wall of the placement groove 401 remains uncaptured. Therefore, the second end-positioning station is also equipped with a material deflection guide plate 18 located upstream of the fourth camera 24 and below the outer end of the placement fixture 4. As the welding drying tube 100 rotates forward with the placement fixture 4, the material deflection guide plate 18 blocks the side of the branch tube 120 until the placement fixture 4 reaches the end image taking position and stops. Then, the branch tube 120 drives the drying tube 110 to rotate in place to nearly 90° in the placement tank 401. The branch tube 120 then overlaps the top of the material deflection guide plate 18, so that the local end conical surface that was originally in contact with the tank wall of the placement tank 401 is rotated to the top and bottom position of the drying tube 110, thus being exposed to the shooting field of the fourth camera 24 and being photographed by the fourth camera 24.

[0033] The first camera 21 and the second camera 22 capture images of the weld seam on the weld drying tube 100 from different angles. The third camera 23 and the fourth camera capture images of the tapered end surface of the weld drying tube 100 from different positions. The captured images are transmitted to a vision inspection system, which compares and analyzes the captured images with preset standard images to determine whether the inspected weld drying tube 100 is a good product, i.e., whether there are obvious deformations, scratches, dents, dirt, etc. This automatically classifies all inspected materials into good and bad products for subsequent automatic sorting and unloading.

[0034] A sorting and unloading mechanism 9 is installed on the top surface of workbench 2 at the unloading station. This mechanism removes and collects the good and defective products, as determined by the visual inspection system, from the placement fixture 4. For example... Figure 12 As shown, the sorting and unloading mechanism 9 includes a first support 901 and a second support 902. The first support 901 is fixed with a first air nozzle 903 and a second air nozzle 904 located above the inner end of the top surface of the tooling 4. The second support 902 is fixed with a first conveyor belt device 905 located below the first air nozzle 903 and a second conveyor belt device 906 located below the second air nozzle 904.

[0035] Specifically, in this embodiment, the top of the second support 902 is an arc-shaped plate, and the bottom two sides of the arc-shaped plate are fixed to the top surface of the workbench 2 by the second columns 907. When the placement fixture 4, on which the welding drying tube 100 is placed, moves to the unloading station, the arc-shaped plate is located directly below the outer end of the welding drying tube 100, and the distance between its top surface and the bottom surface of the placement fixture 4 is less than the length of the branch pipe 120 of the welding drying tube 100. In this way, the arc-shaped plate blocks the rotation of the branch pipe 120, allowing the drying tube 110 to rotate in place within the placement groove 401, thereby making the branch pipe 120 in a nearly horizontal state and movably overlap the top surface of the arc-shaped plate, so as to minimize the collision damage to the branch pipe 120 during the unloading process. The first support 901 is also an arc-shaped plate, with its bottom two ends fixedly connected to the top surface of the workbench 2 by the third columns 908, and its top two sides fixedly connected by screws to the second cantilever beam 909 and the third cantilever beam 910, respectively. The bottom ends of the second cantilever beam 909 and the third cantilever beam 910 are respectively fixedly provided with a second suspension mounting bracket 911 and a third suspension mounting bracket 912. The first jet nozzle 903 is fixedly installed on the second suspension mounting bracket 911, and the second jet nozzle 904 is fixedly installed on the third suspension mounting bracket 912.

[0036] The air outlet direction of the first jet nozzle 903 and the second jet nozzle 904 is set outward along the radial direction of the stepping rotary table 3. If a welding drying tube 100 on a placement fixture 4 is determined to be a good product by the vision inspection system, then when the placement fixture 4 steps to the working position of the first nozzle 903, the first nozzle 903 sprays high-pressure gas, pushing the corresponding welding drying tube 100 on the placement fixture 4 to move horizontally outward and fall onto the first conveyor belt device 905, and is then sent out by the first conveyor belt device 905 for subsequent manual or robotic arm to pick up and unload. Similarly, if a welding drying tube 100 on a placement fixture 4 is determined to be a defective product by the vision inspection system, then when the placement fixture 4 steps to the working position of the first nozzle 903, the first nozzle 903 does not work. When the placement fixture 4 continues to step to the working position of the second nozzle 904, the second nozzle 904 sprays high-pressure gas, pushing the corresponding welding drying tube 100 on the placement fixture 4 to move horizontally outward and fall onto the second conveyor belt device 906, and is then sent out by the second conveyor belt device 906 for subsequent manual or robotic arm to pick up and unload. In this way, the welded drying tubes 100, which are distinguished as good and bad products, are automatically sorted and unloaded.

[0037] The present invention also provides an automatic detection method for appearance defects of welded drying pipes based on CCD vision, which is applied to the aforementioned automatic detection equipment for appearance defects of welded drying pipes based on CCD vision, and includes the following steps: S1. Start the equipment, and drive the stepper rotary table 3 to place the tooling 4 step by step; S2. At the feeding station, the welded drying tubes 100 to be inspected are placed one by one into the placement fixture 4 according to the preset position, and the stepping rotary table 3 feeds the material step by step. S3, the light detection device 6 detects whether there is material in the placement fixture 4. If there is, it triggers the subsequent camera to take pictures. S4. The first camera 21 and the second camera 22 at the side bottom imaging station respectively capture images of the welding position from the side bottom and transmit the captured images to the vision inspection system. S5. The third camera 23 at the first image acquisition station at the end takes an image of the conical surface of the drying tube from the side and transmits the captured image to the vision inspection system. S6, the material guiding mechanism 8 adjusts the radial position of the material; S7. The fourth camera 24 at the second end-of-line imaging station takes further pictures of the conical surface of the drying tube and transmits the captured images to the vision inspection system. S8, the visual inspection system compares and analyzes the image information transmitted by the four cameras, identifies the appearance of the weld position and conical surface position of each welded drying tube, and thus determines whether the appearance of each material is good. S9, the sorting and unloading mechanism 9 removes the good and defective products determined by the vision inspection system from the placement fixture 4 and collects them separately.

[0038] The technical features of the above embodiments can be combined in any way. For the sake of brevity, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

Claims

1. An automatic inspection device for appearance defects of welded drying pipes based on CCD vision, characterized in that: include A stepping rotary table is set at the top center of the workbench, and several circumferentially distributed placement fixtures are fixed on its top surface for the placement and initial positioning of the welded drying tube to be inspected. The visual inspection system is used to receive image information of the welded drying tube captured by the camera assembly and compare it with the preset standard pattern to determine whether the material appearance is good. The top surface of the worktable is arranged sequentially along the rotational stepping direction of the tooling: The loading station is used to place the welded drying tubes to be inspected onto the placement fixture; The fiber optic inspection station is equipped with a light detection device to detect the presence or absence of materials placed on the fixture, and to generate corresponding camera shooting control signals. The bottom-side imaging station is equipped with two sets of camera components, which take pictures of the welding positions on the welding drying tubes that have reached the corresponding stations from the bottom side, and transmit the pictures to the vision inspection system. At the first image acquisition station at the end, a set of camera components is set up to take pictures of the outer end of the welding drying tube. The radial position adjustment station is equipped with a material guiding mechanism to adjust the position of the welding drying tube on the placement fixture so that the outer end of the welding drying tube is on a trajectory circle of a fixed radius. At the second end-of-line imaging station, a set of camera components is set up to take further pictures of the outer end of the welding drying tube and transmit them to the vision inspection system. The unloading station is equipped with a sorting and unloading mechanism to remove and classify good and defective products identified by the visual inspection system from the placement fixture.

2. The automatic inspection equipment for appearance defects of welded drying pipes based on CCD vision according to claim 1, characterized in that: The placement fixture is set along the radial direction of the stepping rotary table and fixedly connected to the top edge of the stepping rotary table. The top surface of the placement fixture away from the stepping rotary table is provided with a placement groove with an arc-shaped cross section. The radius of the arc-shaped cross section matches the radius of the main body of the welding drying tube.

3. The automatic inspection equipment for appearance defects of welded drying pipes based on CCD vision according to claim 2, characterized in that: The bottom of the placement groove is provided with a through groove, the width of which is smaller than the diameter of the main body of the welded drying tube and not smaller than the diameter of the branch pipe of the welded drying tube.

4. The automatic inspection equipment for appearance defects of welded drying pipes based on CCD vision according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that: The loading station is fixedly equipped with an arc-shaped prepositioning plate, which is coaxially arranged with the stepping rotary table. Its top surface is located on the bottom surface of the tooling, and its outer side surface is located on the inner side of the outer side surface of the tooling.

5. The automatic inspection device for appearance defects of welded drying pipes based on CCD vision according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The bottom side-mounted phase-taking station is also equipped with pneumatic grippers for clamping and positioning the branch pipes of the welding drying tube.

6. The automatic inspection device for appearance defects of welded drying pipe based on CCD vision according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The material guiding mechanism includes a material guiding plate. The side of the material guiding plate near the stepping rotary table is a concave arc surface. The concave arc surface is coaxially arranged with the stepping rotary table and located outside the tooling.

7. An automatic inspection device for appearance defects of welded drying pipes based on CCD vision according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The sorting and unloading mechanism includes a first support and a second support. The first support is fixed with a first air nozzle and a second air nozzle located above the inner end of the top surface of the tooling. The second support is fixed with a first conveyor belt device located below the first air nozzle and a second conveyor belt device located below the second air nozzle.

8. The automatic inspection equipment for appearance defects of welded drying pipes based on CCD vision according to claim 7, characterized in that: The top of the second bracket is an arc-shaped plate, which is located directly below the outer end of the welding drying tube, and the distance between its top surface and the bottom surface of the tooling is less than the length of the branch pipe of the welding drying tube.

9. The automatic inspection equipment for appearance defects of welded drying pipes based on CCD vision according to claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The end-capturing station is also equipped with a material deflection guide plate located on the upstream side inside the camera assembly and below the outer end of the tooling.

10. An automatic detection method for appearance defects of welded drying pipes based on CCD vision, applied to the automatic detection equipment for appearance defects of welded drying pipes based on CCD vision as described in any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: S1. Start the equipment, and the stepper rotary table drives the tooling to move step by step; S2. At the feeding station, the welded drying tubes to be inspected are placed one by one into the placement fixture according to the preset posture, and the stepping rotary table feeds the material step by step. S3. The light detection device detects whether there is material inside the fixture. If there is, it triggers the subsequent camera to take pictures. S4. The two sets of camera components at the side bottom imaging station take pictures of the welding position from the side bottom; S5. The camera assembly at the first image acquisition station at the end takes an image of the conical surface of the drying tube from the side. S6. The material guiding mechanism adjusts the radial position of the material; S7. The camera assembly at the second image acquisition station at the end takes further images of the conical surface of the drying tube. S8, the visual inspection system compares and analyzes the image information transmitted by each camera component to determine whether the appearance of each material is good; S9. The sorting and unloading mechanism removes the good and defective products determined by the vision inspection system from the placement fixture and collects them separately.

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