Acute-Angle Container Bottom Inspection via Planar Illumination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods fail to reliably detect foreign objects, such as glass splinters, at the bottom of filled containers in high-speed automatic filling plants, and require additional equipment for bottom inspection, increasing complexity.
Innovation Solution
A method using a planar illumination device and a detection device aimed at an acute angle to create an image of the container bottom, with color-coded illumination and evaluation in HSV color space to detect local disturbances, enhancing signal-to-noise ratio and allowing for the detection of foreign objects through refraction effects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional inspection methods are used, then the inspection process is simple, but foreign objects at the container bottom cannot be reliably detected
Solution Approach 1:
The detection device is positioned at an acute angle relative to the horizontal plane, viewing the container bottom from a side angle rather than from below. This dimensional change in inspection angle allows detection of foreign objects at the container bottom without requiring complex lifting mechanisms or bottom-view illumination systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The filled container itself acts as a cylindrical lens that focuses light from the planar illumination device onto the container bottom. The container's own optical properties are utilized to illuminate and reveal foreign objects, eliminating the need for separate illumination systems at the container bottom.
2Measurement precision
If additional equipment is added for bottom inspection, then detection capability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The planar illumination device serves multiple functions: it illuminates the container, the filled container acts as a cylindrical lens to focus light onto the bottom, and the detection device captures both the illuminated container walls and the container bottom in a single imaging system. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate inspection systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The inspection system combines the illumination function and detection function into a single integrated setup viewed from an acute angle. The imaging system simultaneously captures light transmitted through the container walls and light reflected from the container bottom, merging multiple inspection functions into one system.
3Productivity
If high-speed inspection is implemented, then productivity increases, but detection reliability may decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The inspection system operates continuously at high speeds by maintaining constant illumination and continuous imaging from the acute angle position. The planar illumination device provides continuous light, and the detection device continuously captures images of containers passing by, ensuring no interruption in the high-speed inspection process.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly increases the reliability of detecting foreign objects at the bottom of filled containers, reducing complexity and enabling accurate inspection of transparent and colored glass containers, while preventing interfering light and improving inspection speed.
Implementation Method 1
a filled transparent container has the optical effect of a cylindrical lens. Light that is visible in the transmitted light image of a filled container and has illuminated the entire cross-section of the container originates from a relatively small area around the focal point or around the focal line of the container cylindrical lens.
Implementation Method 2
If the camera is pointed at the bottom of a container from above at an acute angle, total reflection occurs at the bottom edge of the container bottom. As a result, the entire surface of the bottom is illuminated
Implementation Method 3
Foreign objects on the container bottom, in particular transparent glass splinters or defects in the container wall, additionally lead to light refraction effects and to recognizable disturbance in the image created by the detection device.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for inspecting filled containers for foreign bodies, comprising: providing a planar illuminating device designed to emit radiation which radiates through a container to be examined; providing a detection device designed to detect the radiation which was emitted by the illuminating device and has radiated through the container and to create a photograph of the container on the basis of the detected radiation; providing an evaluation device designed to evaluate the image created by the detection device; wherein the detection device is aimed, at an acute angle α relative to the horizontal, at the bottom region of the container to be inspected, and wherein a foreign body on the container bottom is recognized as a local disturbance in the imaging photograph.