Apparatus for high speed inspection of objects
First Claim
1. A conveying apparatus for electro-optical inspection of objects, each said object having opposed large dimensioned side surfaces and small dimensioned edge surfaces extending between the side surfaces, said conveying apparatus comprising:
- a hopper for storing a plurality of said objects;
a feeder for sequentially feeding objects from said hopper with each said object being stably supported on one of said large dimensioned side surfaces;
an uprighter for sequentially rotating said objects into an upright orientation supported on one of said small dimensioned edge surfaces; and
a linear conveyor in proximity to said uprighter for conveying the upright objects linearly from said uprighter, said conveyor including a vacuum source for holding said objects securely in said upright orientation.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A conveying system for tablet inspection is provided. The conveying system includes a hopper assembly for feeding tablets to a conveyor at a controlled rate. The conveyor includes a pair of conveyor belts surrounding a plenum that communicates with a vacuum pump. The conveyor belts are parallel to one another and are spaced a distance for efficiently supporting a tablet thereon. An uprighter is disposed between the hopper assembly and the conveyor to rotate the tablets into an upright condition supported on an edge. The tablets are stably held in the upright position by the vacuum pump and are moved rapidly in their upright condition by the rotatably driven conveyor belts. The upright orientation of the tablets permits the opposed sides of each tablet to be electro-optically inspected for defects without repositioning the tablets and without changing the direction of movement.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A conveying apparatus for electro-optical inspection of objects, each said object having opposed large dimensioned side surfaces and small dimensioned edge surfaces extending between the side surfaces, said conveying apparatus comprising:
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a hopper for storing a plurality of said objects; a feeder for sequentially feeding objects from said hopper with each said object being stably supported on one of said large dimensioned side surfaces; an uprighter for sequentially rotating said objects into an upright orientation supported on one of said small dimensioned edge surfaces; and a linear conveyor in proximity to said uprighter for conveying the upright objects linearly from said uprighter, said conveyor including a vacuum source for holding said objects securely in said upright orientation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An inspection apparatus for inspecting each of a plurality of objects, said apparatus comprising:
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a hopper for storing said plurality of said objects; a feeder for sequentially feeding objects from said hopper; a linear conveyor for linearly conveying said objects from said feeder; a spacing scanner in proximity to said linear conveyor for sensing spacing between adjacent objects on said conveyor; a blow-off unit downstream from said spacing scanner for removing objects having an elapsed time spacing relative to adjacent objects less than a predetermined minimum elapsed time spacing; and a pair of oppositely directed cameras disposed respectively on opposite sides of said conveyor for optically inspecting opposed sides of each object being linearly conveyed by said conveyor. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. An apparatus for inspecting each of a plurality of objects, said apparatus comprising:
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a hopper for storing said plurality of said objects; a feeder for receiving said objects from said hopper and for sequentially feeding said objects received from said hopper; a linear conveyor for linearly conveying said objects from said feeder, said linear conveyor comprises a pair of oppositely rotatable pinch belts driven about parallel axes; and a pair of oppositely directed cameras disposed respectively on opposite sides of said conveyor for optically inspecting opposed sides of each object being linearly conveyed by said conveyor, at least one said camera being aligned with said pinch belts. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. An apparatus for inspecting each of a plurality of objects, said apparatus comprising:
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a hopper for storing said plurality of said objects; a feeder for receiving said objects from said hopper and for sequentially feeding said objects received from said hopper; a fixed guide in proximity to said feeder for rotationally orienting each said object being fed by said feeder into a selected orientation for viewing; a linear conveyor for linearly conveying said rotationally oriented objects from said feeder; and a pair of oppositely directed cameras disposed respectively on opposite sides of said conveyor for optically inspecting opposed sides of each said rotationally oriented object being linearly conveyed by said conveyor.
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Specification