Filter Rod End Detection System for Channel Geometry Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods lack a rapid, accurate, and reliable automated technique for monitoring the visual quality of tubular-shaped filter ends, leading to inefficiencies and potential production halts in filter manufacturing.
Innovation Solution
An in-line system that advances filter rods, captures images of their ends, compares them to standards, and assesses parameters like channel shape, material presence, and impurities, allowing for real-time acceptance or rejection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If visual quality checks are carried out by trained personnel after filter production, then quality assessment can be performed, but the process is time-consuming, expensive, and open to interpretation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual visual inspection by trained personnel with an automated image capture apparatus and analysis unit. The system captures images of filter ends and uses image processing algorithms to objectively assess quality parameters such as channel cross-section shape, material presence, and impurities, eliminating human interpretation variability and significantly reducing inspection time while maintaining or improving measurement precision
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates digital copies (images) of the filter end surfaces and analyzes these copies to assess quality. By working with image data rather than physical filters, the system enables rapid, repeated measurements without delaying production, resolving the contradiction between thorough quality assessment and inspection time
2Reliability
If quality checks are performed after production run, then product quality can be monitored, but production cannot be halted immediately if process problems are detected
Solution Approach 1:
The inspection system is positioned in-line during the filter manufacturing process, performing quality checks on filters as they are being produced rather than after completion. This preliminary inspection during production allows immediate detection of process problems and instant feedback to operators, enabling immediate production halts when defects are detected, thus maintaining reliability while eliminating delays
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides real-time feedback on filter quality by continuously analyzing images of produced filters and comparing them against quality standards. This immediate feedback loop allows operators to detect process deviations as they occur and take corrective action without waiting for post-production inspection, resolving the contradiction between reliable quality monitoring and timely production response
3Productivity
If automated vision systems are used for monitoring quality parameters, then productivity increases, but none of these systems can quantify the visual characteristics of the ends of tubular filters
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms visual characteristics of filter ends into quantifiable numerical parameters through image processing. The analysis unit measures specific parameters including channel cross-sectional area, perimeter, shape factors, material density, and impurity presence, converting subjective visual assessment into objective, quantifiable data that maintains measurement precision while enabling high-speed automated inspection
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces manual visual quantification with automated image capture and digital analysis. The image capture apparatus records detailed images of filter ends, and the analysis unit uses computer vision algorithms to precisely measure and quantify visual characteristics such as channel geometry and material distribution, achieving both high productivity and accurate quantification simultaneously
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for assessing the acceptability of product filter rods, filters or filter elements which comprise a longitudinally extending core of filtering material including a longitudinal channel (2) extending from an end of the core; the method comprising the steps of: • (a) advancing a flow (5) of product filter rods (10a), filters or filter elements such that each filter rod/filter/element in the flow is oriented with the end from which the longitudinal channel extends exposed; • (b) capturing an image of an exposed end of a filter rod, filter or filter element in the advancing flow; • (c) comparing the captured image with an image of a standard rod, filter or filter element; • (d) determining, from the differences between the captured image and the image of the standard rod, filter or filter element, a value for one or more of the following parameters: • (i) the cross sectional area of the longitudinal channel at the exposed end; • (ii) the amount of material detectable at the exposed end; • (iii) the outer perimeter of the longitudinal channel at the exposed end; • (iv) the position of the longitudinal channel in the exposed end; • (v) the outer perimeter of the core; • (vi) the amount of material detectable outside the outer perimeter of the core at the exposed end; and • (vii) the amount of impurity visible in the filtering material at the exposed end; • (viii) the shape of the cross section of the longitudinal channel at the exposed end; • (ix) the area of the exposed end having a specific colour or pigment; • (x) the diameter of the exposed end; and • (xi) the diameter of the longitudinal channel in the exposed end;• (e) comparing the (or each) determined value with a predetermined value to thereby assess whether the filter rod, filter or filter element is acceptable. Apparatus is also provided.