Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
  • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
  • B07C5/00—Sorting according to a characteristic or feature of the articles or material being sorted, e.g. by control effected by devices which detect or measure such characteristic or feature; Sorting by manually actuated devices, e.g. switches
  • B07C5/34—Sorting according to other particular properties
  • B07C5/3412—Sorting according to other particular properties according to a code applied to the object which indicates a property of the object, e.g. quality class, contents or incorrect indication

Definitions

• the invention relates to a device for reading reliefs on a transparent container, and more precisely an optoelectronic device.
• the invention will be more particularly described with reference to the reading of the mold number inscribed on the lower part of the body of a glass bottle. These numbers are usually produced in the form of point codes obtained by indentations made on the internal surface of the mold or else are produced in the form of an alphanumeric code in plain text.
• the invention obviously extends to any type of transparent container and to the reading of any type of relief in the form of hollows or bumps, produced with the material constituting the container. or from added elements such as for example an enamel tablet, ....
• This code is usually read using optical sensors positioned on the bottle conveyor line.
• optical sensors positioned on the bottle conveyor line.
• reading the mold number therefore requires rotating the bottle along its vertical axis in front of the sensor so that the entire periphery of the bottle runs past the sensors.
• the sensors can thus reproduce the image of the mold number which makes it possible to associate the manufacturing mold with the origin of the bottle.
• Such a device associated with a bottle control device makes it possible to identify the mold responsible for possible anomalies on the bottle.
• the object of the invention is therefore to provide a device for reading the mold number which does not have the drawbacks mentioned above and more particularly which does not lead to wear of the bottles and which leads to a rapid result, including during a change in production.
• an optoelectronic relief reading device placed on the body of a transparent container associating a light source and a reception system, the light source illuminating the entire periphery of a part of the body. of the container and the receiving system being able to restore a complete image of the periphery of said part of the body of the container.
• the device according to the invention thus makes it possible by reading a complete image of the periphery of the part of the body of the container on which the mold number is written, to read said number without any rotation operation. No tool therefore comes into contact with the container. There is thus no wear due to friction.
• the reading time can be greatly reduced compared to the techniques of the prior art, the stage of rotation of the container not existing with the use of the device according to the invention.
• the adjustment times of the device are also reduced, in particular due to the absence of tools for performing a rotation; it suffices to adjust the reception system so that it restores the image of the periphery of the part of the body of the container having the mold number.
• the reception system consists of at least two sensors.
• the sensors are associated with an electronic tool making it possible to restore a complete image of the periphery of the part of the body of the container, from elementary images supplied by each sensor.
• each of the sensors is preferably made up of a matrix, of photoelectric diodes, of frustoconical shape, capable of reproducing at least the image of the half-periphery of the body part of the body. container.
• each sensor renders an image greater than that of a half-periphery of the part of the body of the container, so that the electronic system reconstitutes a complete image from these two elementary images.
• the reception system consists of four sensors, these restore elementary images corresponding to at least the image of a quarter of the periphery of the part of the body of the container.
• an electronic system is provided to restore a complete image.
• the reception system consists of at least one sensor and at least one optical operator acting on the light radiation reflected by the periphery of said part of the body of the container.
• the reception system comprises two optical operators, these being mirrors having the form of frustoconical elements.
• the mirrors are then advantageously associated with a sensor placed above the container and along its vertical axis.
• Such an embodiment associating two optical operators and a sensor leads to a relatively simple and space-saving device, the two operators can for example be arranged on either side of the container conveyor and thus does not hinder the passage of said container. Similarly, the sensor which is placed above the container does not hinder its passage. The device thus allows a reading of the reliefs such as a rapid mold number and without any contact with the container.
• An electronic management system associated with the device then makes it possible, for example, to associate the container observed with its manufacturing mold. This information is then stored and used when the container is checked to possibly associate anomalies of the container with the manufacturing mold. The various information thus obtained therefore make it possible, on the one hand, to remedy the anomalies observed very quickly and, on the other hand, to store this information with a view, for example, to the production of statistics on the reliability of the molds.
• Another advantage of the device according to the invention is that after having restored an image of the periphery of a part of the container, the reading of the reliefs also indicates the position of these reliefs on the image.
• This indication very simply makes it possible to determine the orientation of the container when it passes through the relief reading device.
• the orientation of the container is not usually changed up to the various control stations which follow the relief reading device, these stations not being distant.
• FIGS. 1 and 2 represent:
• FIG. 1 a diagram of a front view of the device
• Figure 2 a diagram of a top view of this same device.
• Figures 1 and 2 show a diagram of a mold number reading device adapted to bottles whose shape has a symmetry of revolution.
• This consists of a light source 3 made up of two elements, defined by a person skilled in the art to illuminate the entire periphery of the area of the bottle comprising the dot code 4 making it possible to identify the mold for manufacturing said bottle 1.
• the light source 3 consists of two elements arranged on either side of the conveyor so as not to hinder the path of the bottle 1.
• two optical operators 5 are arranged above, two frustoconical mirrors in the present case.
• the shape of these mirrors can be defined by a person skilled in the art, so that they are capable of receiving rays reflected by more than half a periphery of the zone concerned of the bottle.
• the position of these mirrors is also defined so that they reflect these rays on the camera 6.
• the camera 6, associated with an electronic system, not shown, can thus reproduce a complete image of the area of the bottle comprising the mold number .
• this identification of the mold number will in particular allow the bottle 1 to be associated with its manufacturing mold; this information being stored, the detection of anomalies during subsequent checks can, for example, be quickly resolved by intervention on the mold if the latter is the cause.
• the device according to the invention can be applied to any type of container, whatever its shape; they may, for example, be containers with a square, triangular section or, for example, shapes of the type of those of flanges.
• the light source the shape and the position of the optical operators capable of reflecting the rays reflected on a camera. so that the latter reproduces a complete image of the periphery of the zone of the container comprising the relief or reliefs to be read.

Landscapes

• Moulds For Moulding Plastics Or The Like (AREA)
• Image Input (AREA)
• Length Measuring Devices By Optical Means (AREA)
• Image Processing (AREA)
• Image Analysis (AREA)
• Character Input (AREA)
• Light Sources And Details Of Projection-Printing Devices (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=9490904

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (8)

Families Citing this family (12)

Family Cites Families (12)

• 1996
  • 1996-04-04 FR FR9604233A patent/FR2747211B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 1997
  • 1997-04-03 EP EP97919473A patent/EP0833700A1/de not_active Ceased
  • 1997-04-03 JP JP9535907A patent/JPH11507138A/ja active Pending
  • 1997-04-03 CA CA002223263A patent/CA2223263A1/fr not_active Abandoned
  • 1997-04-03 BR BR9706589A patent/BR9706589A/pt unknown
  • 1997-04-03 WO PCT/FR1997/000599 patent/WO1997037779A1/fr not_active Ceased
  • 1997-04-03 AU AU23931/97A patent/AU726641B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1997-04-03 US US08/952,961 patent/US6028302A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events