JPH07280735A - Packed body sealing failure inspecting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a packed body sealing failure inspecting method for automatically discriminating the sealing quality of a packed body storing contents with fluidity by seal-packing. CONSTITUTION:A packed body 1 storing contents such as powdery oxygen absorbent with fluidity by four-way seal packing of upper edge side (d), lower edge side (a) and lateral edge sides b, c is position-fluctuated so that the oxygen absorbent 2 comes in uniform contact with each seal part, and then image processing is performed using an inspecting visual device 3 formed of a CCD camera 4, a controller 5 and a display device 6. The image is compared with the prestored normal image to detect the packed body with the contents entered a sealing failure part.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention externally inspects a package containing a granular or liquid fluid content in a seal packaging to determine the quality of the seal packaging, and detects a package with a defective seal. The present invention relates to a method for inspecting a seal defect of a package for the purpose.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A package containing a fluid content such as a powdered medicine, a liquid seasoning, and a powdered oxygen absorbent is usually manufactured by the following method. One of them is to seal the lower edge and the both sides along the longitudinal direction of the long packaging material that are orthogonal to the longitudinal direction while facing the two long packaging materials that have been fed out and moving in the vertical direction, After filling a predetermined amount of contents from the opening in the upper part, a so-called four-way seal for sealing the opening is formed into a strip-shaped packaging body in which a large number of packaging bodies are connected in series, and the obtained strip-shaped packaging body is sealed at the sealing portion. This is a method of cutting to obtain individual packages. The other is to continuously feed a long wrapping material in a horizontal state, but fold it in half from the center in the longitudinal direction, and fold it in the longitudinal direction at regular intervals with respect to a V-shaped wrapping material whose bottom is the fold. After forming a sealing portion orthogonal to the above and filling a predetermined amount of contents from the open upper part, a so-called three-way seal for sealing the upper opening forms a strip-shaped package in which a large number of packages are connected in series. The method for producing an individual package by cutting the obtained strip-shaped package at the seal portion.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In a package in which a fluid content is contained in a seal packaging, the content leaks out if the seal part is defective, or air enters the inside to deteriorate the content. There is a risk that the product value will be lost. Therefore, you can inspect the quality of the seal by picking up the package after seal packaging and observing it individually, or irradiating light from one side of the flow in the manufacturing process of the package and inspecting from the opposite side. A part of the inspection is performed by judging whether or not the contents have entered the seal portion by shading and excluding the packaging body having a poor seal from the manufacturing process.

However, since all of these tests are observations with the naked eye, skill is required to judge the quality.
It is complicated and lacks accuracy. In particular, the inspection by light rays has a problem in versatility because the packaging material is transparent or close to it, and is limited to the packaging body in which the defective portion of the seal can be easily confirmed from the outside. In addition, the seal packaging of such a package is generally either a so-called four-sided seal that seals all four sides of the package or a so-called three-sided seal that seals three sides other than the folded part. Therefore, it is impossible to judge the quality of the seal part unless the contents come into contact with each seal part in the manufacturing process and the contents enter the seal part. It cannot be done.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides a method for inspecting a seal defect of a package which can automatically and accurately determine a seal defect inspection of a package in which a fluid content is sealed and packaged. The purpose is to provide. Another object of the present invention is to seal a package in a manufacturing process of the package, which is capable of confirming with high accuracy the quality of all the seal parts of each package of the band-shaped package composed of a large number of packages. The purpose is to provide a defect inspection method. Still another object of the present invention is to reduce the labor of the inspector by automatically determining the quality of the seal portion of the package which is seal-wrapped by image capturing.

[0006]

In order to achieve these objects, a method for inspecting a defective seal of a package according to the present invention is to seal a content of a package containing a fluid content in a seal package. After forcibly contacting the package, the package is image processed by a visual inspection device and compared with a normal image stored in advance to detect the package in which the contents have entered the defective seal. It is characterized by that.

In the present invention, the package is obtained by sealing and packaging a fluid content, and the fluid content is a granular or liquid content. The package basically has a shape with four sides,
It may not necessarily have a side but may be circular. The seal of the package is a so-called three-way seal in which one package is folded in two and the other three sides are sealed, even if it is a so-called four-way seal that abuts two packages and seals the four circumferences. May be. Also, a cylindrical packaging material may be used, for example, a two-way seal for sealing the lower edge side and the upper edge side may be used, and the packaging body is limited to a specific material as long as it is a sealable material. However, a material that can be heat-sealed is most preferable.

Although the packages to be inspected may be independent ones, a plurality of packages are divided by a seal portion and are continuously connected in the vertical and / or horizontal direction in a band-like package. It may be an individual package that constitutes the body.
In the case of a strip-shaped packaging body in which a plurality of such packaging bodies are arranged in series, the strip-shaped packaging body is repositioned so that the contents of each packaging body come into uniform contact with each seal portion, and then each The package is subjected to image processing by an inspection visual device and compared with a normal image stored in advance to detect the package in which the contents have entered the defective seal portion.

The seal-wrapped package is one in which the contents having fluidity are forcibly brought into contact with the respective seals at the time of inspection. Specifically, the contents are evenly contacted with the respective seal parts. The position of the package is changed so that it is performed. The positional fluctuation of the package includes, for example, vertically inverting the package in a vertical state and moving the upper edge side to the lower edge side, or tilting the right or left edge side in the lateral direction to lower the right or left edge side to the lower edge side. This means that there is no special limitation on the means for changing the position, and the point is that the position of the package is adjusted so that the fluid contents contained in all of the seal parts can be sufficiently contacted. It can be changed, and does not necessarily mean locational movement.

Since the contents contained in the package have fluidity, the contents are positioned on the lower edge side by their own weight when the package is held in a vertical state. The contents are sufficiently in contact with the seal portion on the lower edge side. However, for example, when the sealing failure part of the lower edge side sealing part is small, the content having fluidity may not sufficiently enter the sealing failure part by its own weight. Therefore, vibrate the package with a vibrator. With this, it is possible to forcibly feed the fluid content into the defective seal portion.

The package in which the contents having fluidity are forcibly brought into contact with the respective seal parts is subjected to image processing by a visual inspection apparatus and compared with a normal image stored in advance to confirm that the seal is defective. The inspection visual device is used to detect a package whose contents have entered the part.
Basically, it consists of a camera for image processing of the package, a controller for reading the images taken by the camera and comparing normal images stored in advance, and a display device. For example, a solid-state image sensor (charge) that converts an optical signal into an electric signal
There is a CCD camera having a coupled device and the like.

[0012]

According to the method for inspecting a seal defect of a package of the present invention, when inspecting a seal portion of a package in which a fluid content is contained by seal packaging, the contained fluid content is attached to the seal portion before the inspection. Since it is forcibly contacted, if there is a defective seal part, the contents will surely enter the defective seal part by applying its own weight or vibration. Can be found. In addition, the inspection can be automated because image processing is performed using an inspection visual device having a CCD camera, and a package with a defective seal can be detected by comparison with a normal image stored in advance. .

[0013]

EXAMPLE As a practical example of the seal defect inspection method of the package of the present invention, a seal defect inspection method of a package containing an oxygen absorbent will be specifically described below. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an inspection process of a package 1 in which a granular oxygen absorbent 2 is sealed and packaged as a content. The package 1 is formed by joining two heat-sealable packaging materials, and The edge side “a” and the left and right edge sides “b” and “c” are first heat-sealed to form a bag member having an open upper portion, and the granular oxygen absorbent 2 is filled from the open upper portion, and then the open upper edge side “d” is heat-sealed. It is a four-side sealed package.

When the packaging body 1 of such a four-way sealed package is set in a vertical state as shown in FIG. 1A, the contained contents (oxygen absorbent 2) move downward due to its own weight. is doing. Therefore, the oxygen absorbent 2 is in sufficient contact with the seal portion on the lower edge side. Therefore, for example, if there is a defective seal portion X, the oxygen absorbent 2 enters the defective seal portion X by its own weight. At this time, if the package 1 is vibrated, the oxygen absorbent 2 can more reliably enter the defective sealing portion X. Next, while the packaging body 1 is held in a vertical state, the position is changed so that the left edge side b becomes the lower edge as shown in FIG. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 1C, the position is changed so that the upper edge side d becomes the lower edge. At this time, since the defective seal portion Y exists on the upper edge side d, the oxygen absorbent 2 enters and is retained in the defective seal portion Y. Further, when the position is changed so that the right edge side c becomes the lower edge as shown in (D) of FIG. 1, each seal portion is located at least once on the lower edge side, and the oxygen absorbent 2 is not easily applied to the seal portion. It is a contact that is even and reliable, and if there is a defective seal portion X or Y, the oxygen absorbent 2 enters that portion and that state is maintained. Thus, the packaging body 1 in which the oxygen absorbent 2 is evenly contacted with the seal portion is inspected by the inspection visual device 3 as shown in FIG. This inspection visual device 3 is composed of a CCD camera 4, a controller 5 and a display device 6, and is a package which has been subjected to the process of uniformly contacting the sealant with the oxygen absorbent 2 which is the content. When the body 1 is photographed by the CCD camera 4 and the image is sent to the display device 6 via the controller 5,
Since the image of the package having no seal defect displayed on the display device 6 and the sent image are subjected to comparison calculation processing and the seal defective portions X and Y of the image are displayed, CC
It is possible to visually judge that the packaging body 1 photographed by the D camera 4 has a defective seal.

The above-mentioned embodiment is a method of inspecting a seal defect for one sealed package. Next, a package containing an oxygen absorbent as a fluid content in a four-way sealed package is vertically Also, a method for inspecting a seal defect of a strip-shaped package integrally provided in the lateral direction will be described. In FIG. 2, 11a and 11b are long wrapping materials having a predetermined width and thickness obtained by laminating a breathable polyester film and a polyethylene film having a lower melting point than the polyester film, A molding in which the two long packaging materials 11a and 11b are horizontally arranged with a low melting point polyethylene film surface facing each other and a plurality of square frame-shaped convex strips formed on the surface. It is supplied between the rolls 12 and 12 from above. The packaging material 11 supplied between the molding rolls 12 and 12.
a and 11b are the packaging materials 11a and 11 at the narrowest gap position where the molding rolls 12 and 12 facing each other are in contact with each other.
Since a horizontal seal portion which is the lower edge of the package is formed in b and a vertical seal which is the seal portions on both sides is performed at the same time, the forming rolls 12,
Fixed amount hoppers 13, 13 ...
When a fixed amount of powdered oxygen absorbent 14 is dropped from
Each bag member is further sealed at the upper portion opened by the molding rolls 12, 12, and a plurality of packaging bodies 15 (four rows in the embodiment) filled with the oxygen absorbent 14 are continuously provided in the lateral direction via the sealing portions. To be done. Then, the forming roll 12,
12, the packaging materials 11a and 11b are continuously supplied,
Further, by dropping the oxygen absorbent 14 from the fixed amount supply hopper 13, a large number of packages 15, 15 filled with the oxygen absorbent 14 in the vertical and horizontal directions are arranged in a band-shaped package 16.
Is obtained. At that time, since the oxygen absorbent 14 filled in each package 15 gathers at the bottom by its own weight, the seal portion on the lower edge side is in sufficient contact with the oxygen absorbent 14, and if the seal portion on the lower edge side is defective, the The oxygen absorbent 14 enters the defective portion.

The strip-shaped package 16 delivered from the forming rolls 12 and 12 is paired horizontally above the reversing rolls 17 via the reversing rolls 17 arranged horizontally below the forming rolls 12 and 12. Is taken up by the horizontal feed rolls 18, 18. Since the strip-shaped package 16 taken up by the lateral feed rolls 18 and 18 has the reversing roll 17 interposed therebetween, the reversal of the reversing roll 17 causes the seal portion on the lower edge side of each package 15 to be the upper edge side and the seal portion on the upper edge side to be the lower edge side. Flip to. Therefore, the oxygen absorbent 14 in the package 15 also comes into sufficient contact with the seal portion on the upper edge side, which is inverted to the lower edge side by its own weight.

The strip-shaped wrapping body 16 sent out laterally (horizontally) from the lateral feed rolls 18, 18 is moved, for example, to the pair of twist rolls 19, 19 arranged vertically in the forward direction. The left edge 16a faces upward, that is, the left edge side 16a is turned upside down, that is, the left edge side 16a is inverted at an angle of 90 degrees. Therefore, since the seal portion on the right edge side 16b is on the lower side, the oxygen absorbent 14 filled in each package 15 is sufficiently in contact with the seal portion on the right edge side 16b by its own weight.

The strip-shaped package 16 sent out from the twist rolls 19 and 19 is moved by the pair of twist reversal rolls 20 and 20 arranged in front so that the right edge side 16b located on the lower side becomes the upper position, that is, Pick it up at an angle of 180 degrees. Therefore, since the seal portion on the left edge side 16a is on the lower side, the oxygen absorbent 14 filled in each package 15 is left edge side 16a by its own weight.
Will be in good contact with the seal part of.

As described above, since the band-shaped package 16 is arranged such that each seal portion for sealing and packaging each of the constituent package 15 is at least once on the lower side during the movement, the oxygen absorbent 14 which is the content is not required. The oxygen absorbent 14 evenly contacts the respective seals, and if there is a defect in the seals, the oxygen absorbent 14 enters the defective seals. At this time, in order to allow the oxygen absorbent to more efficiently and surely enter the defective seal portion, vibration may be applied to the strip-shaped package 16 by the vibration mechanism 22 such as a vibrator during the movement.

The strip-shaped package 16 in which the oxygen absorbent 14 thus filled is evenly contacted with the seal portion, and the feed roll 2 is arranged in a vertical state while maintaining the state as it is.
1, 21 and the twist reversal roll 2
The quality of the sealed state of each package 15 is inspected by the CCD camera 23 of the inspection visual device provided at a predetermined position between the 0, 20 and the feed rolls 21, 21. This inspection is similar to that described in the above embodiment. When photographing the moving strip-shaped package, each package 1
The proximity switch confirms that 5 has moved to the set position of the CCD camera, and images are taken in synchronization with the pitch of this movement. In addition, when the oxygen absorber 14 inside contains a magnetic substance such as iron powder, the image of each package 15 can be inspected by inputting an image with a magnetic waveform to the controller using magnetism. Is.

The strip-shaped packages 16 delivered from the feed rolls 21 and 21 are individually cut as strip-shaped packages by cutting from the center of the seal portion along the longitudinal direction by a cutter or the like in a subsequent step, or in the vertical and horizontal directions. The seal portions of are sequentially cut into individual packages. At that time, when the strip-shaped package 16 is wound up into a product, only the defective package stored in the controller is cut and automatically removed from the production line to obtain a good-seal package. The connected parts can be wound up by connecting the cut parts together and winding up. Also,
In the individually cut packages, defective packages can be excluded each time, and only packages without defects can be obtained as products.

Further, the strip-shaped package 16 formed by the molding rolls 12 and 12 is once cut from the longitudinal seal portion and separated into four rows to form a strip-shaped package.
The contents may be evenly contacted with the respective seal parts while sequentially reversing this, and then images may be taken by a plurality of CCD cameras corresponding to the number of rows of the band-shaped package. Also, cut immediately after passing the twist reversing rolls 20, 20,
A plurality of CCs arranged in parallel as a plurality of strip-shaped packages
An image may be taken with a D camera.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view for explaining a method for inspecting a seal defect of a strip-shaped package in which a package containing an oxygen absorbent is integrally and continuously provided in a vertical and horizontal direction by so-called three-way seal packaging. In the figure, a long wrapping material 31 wound on a roll having a predetermined width and thickness obtained by laminating a breathable polyester film and a polyethylene film having a melting point lower than that of the polyester film 31.
Is drawn out through the guide roll 32, and is folded by a folding device 33 having a V-shaped cross section in order from the center in the longitudinal direction so that the low melting point polyethylene film surfaces face each other, and a strip-shaped V-shaped cross section having an open top. Will be sent out. The strip-shaped packaging material 31 having an open top through the folding device 33 is vertically, that is, folded V by a sealing device 34 that is disposed so as to face the packaging material 31.
The bag member 35 having an open upper portion having a bottom portion formed by folding and left and right edge sides formed by the seal is continuously sealed so as to be orthogonal to the letter-shaped bottom portion at a predetermined interval. Is formed. This bag member 35
The fixed amount hopper 3 placed above the transfer line
After a predetermined amount of oxygen absorbent 37 is supplied through 6,
The open upper edge side is heat-sealed by a sealing device 38 composed of two roll-shaped rotating bodies arranged at opposite positions with the moving bag member 35 sandwiched therebetween, whereby an oxygen absorbent 37 is sealed inside. A band-shaped wrapping body 40 is formed in which the wrapping body 39 formed by the directional seal wrapping is continuous on the left and right.

The band-shaped package 40 is twisted at an angle of 90 degrees by a pair of twist rolls 41, 41 arranged in the vertical direction and sent downward. Therefore, since the seal portion on the right side edge located at the front portion in the traveling direction is located below, the oxygen absorbent 37 filled in each package 39 contacts the seal portion by its own weight, If the sealing portion has a defective sealing portion, the oxygen absorbent 37 enters the defective sealing portion.

Then, the strip-shaped package 40 is turned over by the reversing roll 42.
And is sent to the twist rolls 43, 43 arranged at substantially the same height as the twist rolls 41, 41. In the strip-shaped package 40 in which the downward direction is turned by the reversing roll 42 to the upward direction, the seal portion on the left side edge, which was located above in the moving step, is located below due to the reversal. The agent 37 moves downward due to its own weight and sufficiently contacts the seal portion.

The strip-shaped package 40 delivered from the twist rolls 43, 43 is sealed by the pair of twist reversal rolls 44, 44 arranged in a vertical state after the oxygen absorbent 37 is filled, and is sealed on the upper edge side. Will be taken down as it goes down. Therefore, the oxygen absorbent 37 also comes into contact with the seal portion on the upper edge side at this stage, and if there is a defect in the seal portion, the oxygen absorbent enters the seal defective portion.
Thus, each of the packages 39 in which the three heat-sealed seal portions are evenly and thoroughly contacted with the oxygen absorbent is subjected to the inspection visual device in the same manner as the strip-shaped packages in the case of the four-direction seal described above. To be inspected. In addition,
In the figure, 45 is a CCD camera of an inspection visual device, 46 is a vibrator for giving vibration to the band-shaped package 40, 47 is a feed roll, and 48 is a cut for individually cutting each package 39 connected in a band-like manner. Shows the device.

[0027]

According to the method for inspecting a seal defect of a package of the present invention, when a seal defect inspection of a package containing a fluid content in a seal packaging is performed, a previously stored fluid content is sealed. Since the position is changed so as to make uniform contact with each seal part, if there is a defect in the seal part, a fluid content should enter that part and inspect all seal parts for quality. You can In addition, at the time of inspection, each package can be individually photographed by a visual inspection device and sent to a controller composed of a computer without manual labor, so that the display unit can compare with a package with a normal seal portion. , It is possible to automatically inspect each package with high confirmation accuracy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of an inspection process showing an embodiment of a method for inspecting a seal defect of a package according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a method for inspecting a seal defect of a strip-shaped packaging body in which four-sided sealed packaging packaging bodies are continuously provided.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a method for inspecting a seal defect of a strip-shaped packaging body in which three-sided sealed packaging packaging bodies are continuously provided.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Sealed Package 2 Oxygen Absorber Stored in Package 3 Visual Device for Inspection 4 CCD Camera 5 Controller 6 Display Device a Lower Edge Side of Package 1 b Left Edge of Package 1 c Right of Package 1 Edge side d Upper edge side of package 1 X Poor sealing portion Y Poor sealing portion

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. The contents of a package containing a fluid content in a seal wrap are forcibly brought into contact with each seal portion, and then the package is subjected to image processing by an inspection visual device and stored in advance. A method for inspecting a seal defect of a package, comprising detecting a package body in which a content has entered a defective seal portion by comparing with a normal image. 2. A means for forcibly contacting the contents of a package containing the fluid contents in a seal wrap with the respective seals is such that the contents are evenly contacted with the respective seals. The method for inspecting a seal defect of a package according to claim 1, wherein the method is to change the position. 3. A strip-shaped package obtained by integrally arranging a package containing a fluid content in a seal packaging in a longitudinal direction and / or a lateral direction, wherein the content of each package is a seal. After changing the position so as to make uniform contact with all parts, image processing was performed on each package with an inspection visual device, and the contents invaded the defective seal by comparing it with a normal image stored in advance. A method for inspecting a seal defect of a package, which comprises detecting the package. 4. The strip-shaped packaging body is characterized in that the packaging body in which fluid contents are sealed and packaged by a four-way seal or a three-way seal is integrally connected in a vertical or / and horizontal direction. The method for inspecting a seal defect of a package according to claim 3.