Rotatable Inspection Device Lighting Housing for Continuous Cleaning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing container inspection devices, particularly those for bottles, require frequent cleaning to maintain reliability and accuracy, leading to increased time and resource expenditure.
Innovation Solution
An inspection device featuring a rotatable transparent hollow body surrounding the illuminating unit, which allows for motor-driven rotation and integration of a cleaning unit with mechanical scrapers and gas flushing to remove dirt, label residue, and moisture without interrupting the inspection process, utilizing materials transparent to visible, infrared, and ultraviolet rays, and optionally including a diffusion element and polarization filter.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the illuminating unit is stationary and fixed, then the device structure is simple, but the illuminating unit requires frequent cleaning to maintain reliability and accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the hollow body rotatable about a central axis. This allows the illuminating unit to be dynamically positioned relative to the container being inspected, enabling cleaning of the illuminating unit while containers pass through the inspection zone, thus eliminating downtime for cleaning operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The cleaning unit is positioned to clean the hollow body before the illuminating unit requires cleaning. By having the hollow body rotate through the cleaning zone in advance, the system performs preliminary cleaning actions that maintain reliability without interrupting the inspection process.
2Measurement precision
If the hollow body is made transparent to allow light transmission, then the inspection quality is improved, but the hollow body accumulates dirt, label residue, and moisture requiring cleaning
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs self-service by integrating a cleaning unit that automatically cleans the hollow body as it rotates. The hollow body serves itself by rotating through the cleaning zone, allowing continuous operation without manual intervention to maintain inspection quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotating hollow body enables continuous inspection operation. While one portion of the hollow body is being cleaned, other portions continue to transmit light for inspection, maintaining continuous useful action without interruption to the inspection process.
3Reliability
If the hollow body is cleaned frequently to maintain accuracy, then inspection reliability is improved, but the time and resources spent on cleaning increase
Solution Approach 1:
By making the hollow body rotatable, the system can clean only the necessary portions at the necessary times during operation. This dynamic approach replaces frequent stationary cleaning with targeted rotational cleaning, maintaining accuracy while improving operational efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The hollow body rotates periodically through the cleaning zone, allowing cleaning to occur at specific intervals during operation rather than requiring frequent stops. This periodic cleaning action maintains inspection accuracy without significantly impacting productivity.
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
Significantly reduces the need for frequent cleaning, maintaining the device's operational reliability and accuracy by continuously or intermittently cleaning the illuminating unit during operation, preventing contamination and maintaining the interior's cleanliness through over-pressure and filtered gas flushing.
Implementation Method 1
the hollow body is a tube produced from a material or a material mixture that is transparent to rays of wavelengths in the optically-visible range, in the infrared range, and/or in the ultraviolet range
Implementation Method 2
The diffusion element results in the illuminating means being homogenized
Implementation Method 3
a polarization filter is provided, for example, between the hollow body and the top side of the illuminating unit
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to an inspection device for monitoring containers, particularly bottles, comprising at least one transport path for supplying and removing the containers, a lighting unit, and optical measuring unit, and a control unit, wherein the lighting unit is surrounded by a transparent hollow body mounted in a rotatable fashion about the central axis, and the hollow body may be driven by a motor, either directly or via appropriate operative connections. Ideally, the hollow body is a tube made of a material or mixture of materials that is transparent to rays in the optically visible wavelength range, in the infrared range, and/or in the ultraviolet range, wherein the material is at least partially transparent to said rays.