Hollow body inspection system, hollow body inspection apparatus and signal transmission apparatus

• US 5,267,033 A
• Filed: 11/27/1991
• Issued: 11/30/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Dai Nippon Printing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Dai Nippon Printing Company Limited
• Inventors: Hoshino, Masaru
• Primary Examiner(s): Britton, Howard W.
• Application Number:
  US07/800,624
• Time in Patent Office: 734 Days
• Field of Search: 358/93, 358/100, 358/101, 358/106, 382/8, 250/223 B, 455/95
• US Class Current: 348/92
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

While carrying and rotating a tubular body to be inspected, an image pick up device is inserted into the tubular body to be inspected to pick up an image of the internal surface thereof to take out a corresponding video signal to transmit the video signal to an image processing device through an antenna device to carry out image processing to judge the internal surface of the tubular body to be inspected. In the antenna device ring-shaped conductors are oppositely arranged in a ring-shaped hollow chamber provided within an electromagnetic shielding body wherein one ring-shaped conductor is rotated and the other is fixed.

Claims

1. A tubular body inspection system comprising:

a carrying path in a loop form;

carrying means moving on said carrying path and capable of carrying a tubular body to be inspected;

transfer means provided at a position in the vicinity of said carrying path to transfer said tubular body to be inspected from outside onto said carrying means;

inspection means positioned one downstream side of said transfer means in the vicinity of said carrying path so as to be inserted into the tubular body to be inspected while moving together with said carried tubular body to be inspected to pick up an image of the internal surface of said tubular body to output a video signal thereof;

transmission means for taking out the video signal from said inspection means in a non-contact manner to transmit it;

image processing means to receive the transmitted video signal to discriminate a state of the internal surface of said tubular body to be inspected on the basis of the video signal whereby when said image processing means detects a defective article, it outputs a defective detection signal for specifying the defective article;

defective article rejection means positioned on downstream side of said inspection means in the vicinity of said carrying path to reject a corresponding defective article from said carrying mean in accordance with the defective detection signal; and

take-out means positioned on downstream side of the defective article rejection means in the vicinity of the carrying path for taking out said carried tubular body to be inspected from said carrying means to discharge it.

2. A tubular body inspection apparatus comprising:

carrying means for carrying a tubular body having a bottom surface on its one end;

image pick up means carried in association with said tubular body so as to be inserted into said tubular body to pick up an image of an internal surface of said tubular body to output a video signal;

transmission wave formation means for forming a transmission wave for transmitting a video signal from said image pick up means;

signal transmission and reception means for transmitting the video signal in a non-contact state; and

image processing means for processing the video signal transmitted through said signal transmission and reception means to discriminate a state of the internal surface of said tubular body.

3. A tubular internal surface inspection apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said image pick up means carries out, with respect to an entire side wall surface and a bottom surface of said tubular body, an operation for picking up images of a side wall surface and bottom portion in a visual field determined in a state wherein said image pick up means is directed to the side wall surface and the bottom surface of said tubular body and is arranged close to said side wall surface and said bottom surface.

4. A tubular internal surface inspection apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said image pick up means is inserted into said tubular body by moving either said tubular body or said image pick up means.

5. A tubular body internal surface inspection apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said image processing means includes memory means for storing an image divided into a plurality of segments in order to carry out processing, in a divided form, an image picked up by said image pick up means, and judgement means for binarizing the image stored by said memory means to judge the data.

6. A tubular body internal surface inspection apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said transmission wave formation means includes a selector for grouping a plurality of image pick up means for picking up an image of a tubular body mounted on said rotary inspection table into a plurality of blocks to select signal take-out cameras in respective groups, and a converter for outputting in succession video signals of the cameras selected by said selector to carry out a frequency conversion.

7. A tubular body internal surface inspection apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said image pick up means is composed of twelve CCD cameras, images from said CCD cameras being selected one by one by four VIDEO selectors.

8. A tubular body internal surface inspection apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said image processing means comprises reproducing means for reproducing, in correspondence with a plurality of frequencies on a transmitting side, a signal obtained by applying frequency convertion to a signal of an image of the internal surface of said tubular body picked up by said image pick up means rotational angle information generation means for a rotary block, and judgement means for judging which image pick up means provides an image reproduced by said reproducing means.

9. A tubular body internal surface inspection apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said image processing means includes a video image checker for carrying out image processing, horizontal and vertical synchronizing signals from said video image checker being taken out to transmit them to the image pick up means corresponding to said video image checker through the signal transmission and reception means.

10. A tubular internal surface inspection apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said image pick up means carries out, with respect to an entire internal surface of said tubular body, an operation for picking up an image of an internal bottom surface portion in a visual field determined in a state wherein said image pick up means is directed to the internal surface of said tubular body and is arranged close to said internal bottom surface.

11. A tubular body internal surface inspection apparatus as set forth in claim 10, wherein said image pick up means picks up an image of said internal bottom surface while holding a state wherein said image pick up means is arranged close to said internal bottom surface, and while relatively carrying out planar movement between said image pick up means and said tubular body.

12. A tubular body internal surface inspection apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said carrying means is composed of a rotary inspection table one end of said body to be inspected being mounted on said rotary inspection table while holding it by a first holding member, a second holding member for holding the other end of said body held by said first holding member arranged on said rotary inspection table said image pick up means being inserted from the other end of said body held by said first and second holding members.

13. A tubular body internal surface inspection apparatus as set forth in claim 12, wherein said first holding member is mounted on a rotary seat attached to said rotary inspection table, said rotary seat being formed on an upper surface of a rotational body which intermittently rotates by a predetermined angle in accordance with rotation of said rotary inspection table, a centering shaft movable upward and downward being provided within said rotational body, an upper portion of said centering shaft being inserted into said first holding member to carry out centering of said first holding member.