Method and device for testing cigarette packages wrapped with film

• US 8,577,122 B2
• Filed: 04/06/2009
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Focke & Company
• Original Assignee: Focke & Company
• Inventors: Czarnotta, Michael, Kral, Vincent, Drcke, Dirk
• Primary Examiner(s): Park, Edward
• Application Number:
  US12/988,080
• Publication Number:
  US 20110038526A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,674 Days
• Field of Search: 382/141, 382/143, 209/509, 209/734
• US Class Current: 382/143
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 19/22 Wrapping the cigarettes; Packaging the cigarettes in containers formed by folding wrapping material around formers
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/21 Polarisation-affecting properties G01N21/19 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/8806 Specially adapted optical and illumination features
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/95 characterised by the material or shape of the object to be examined G01N21/89 - G01N21/91, G01N21/94 take precedence

Abstract

A method for testing moving products having at least two layers, such as cigarette packages wrapped with film, wherein at least one layer of the product, namely an inner layer which is arranged further inwards, is covered at least regionally by at least one, at least partially transparent product layer, namely an outer layer which is arranged further outwards, wherein the outer layer of the product is illuminated under an angle of incidence of about 35°, with light, in which the light that is reflected at this layer comprises at least 70%, at least 90%, or at least 95%, of linearly s-polarized light, the s-polarized component of the light reflected by the outer layer and/or of the light reflected by the inner layer and/or the p-polarized component of the light reflected by the outer layer and/or of the light reflected by the inner layer are recorded in each case using at least one suitable electrooptic recording element in the form of an image or partial image of the product and wherein the recorded s-polarized and/or the recorded p-polarized light component are evaluated in order to be able to draw conclusions relating to features of the outer layer and/or of the inner layer.

Claims

1. A method for testing moving products (11) having at least two layers, wherein at least one layer (14) of the product (11), which is arranged further inwards, namely an inner layer, is covered at least regionally by at least one, at least partially transparent product layer (16), which is arranged further outwards, namely an outer layer, comprising the steps of:

a) illuminating the outer layer (16) of the product (11) by unpolarized light, with light that is reflected at the outer layer (16) comprising at least 70% of linearly s-polarized light;

b) the s-polarized component of the light reflected by the outer layer (16) and/or of light reflected by the inner layer (14) and/or a p-polarized component of the light reflected by the outer layer (16) and/or of the light reflected by the inner layer (14) is/are recorded in each case separately using at least one suitable electrooptic recording element (28, 35) in the form of an image or partial image of the product (11),

c) the recorded s-polarized and/or the recorded p-polarized light component is/are evaluated in order to be able to draw conclusions relating to features of the outer layer (16) and/or of the inner layer (14),

wherein the outer layer (16) is part of a film wrap (12) of a cigarette package (13) and the inner layer (14) is part of the cigarette package (13), wherein the angle of incidence, under which the outer layer (16) is illuminated, is greater than 85% of the Brewster angle of the outer layer (16) and smaller than 115% of the Brewster angle of the outer layer (16), and approximately corresponds to the Brewster angle of the outer layer (16).

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of, for examining the inner layer (14), evaluating the p-polarized light component of the reflected light, specifically the p-polarized image/partial image of the product (11).

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein, for examining the outer layer (16) of the product (11), the evaluation comprises the subtraction of an image/partial image of the p-polarized light component from an image/partial image of the s-polarized light component.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for detecting defects in one or both layers (14, 16) of the product (11), s-polarized and/or p-polarized images/partial images of the product (11) is/are evaluated by detecting the defects by way of comparing stored reference images/reference partial images with the images/partial images of the product (11) recorded by the electrooptic recording element (28, 35) or by detecting the defects inside the images/partial images recorded by the electrooptic recording element (28, 35) using suitable pattern recognition methods.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the s-polarized and/or the p-polarized light component is/are filtered out of the reflected light in each case using suitable polarization filters (27, 29, 31, 32).

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the products (11) are moved past the electrooptic recording element (28, 35) using a conveyor (18) during the testing process.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the moving product is a package wrapped with film.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the moving product is a cigarette package (13) wrapped with film.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light that is reflected at the outer layer (16) comprises at least 90% of linearly s-polarized light.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light that is reflected at the outer layer (16) comprises at least 95% of linearly s-polarized light.

11. A device for testing moving products (11) having an inner layer (14) covered at least regionally by at least one, at least partially transparent product outer layer (16), wherein the device has:

at least one illumination element (20);

a polarization filter (27, 31) for filtering p-polarized light and/or a polarization filter (29, 32) for filtering s-polarized light; and

at least one electrooptic recording element (28, 35),

wherein;

a) the at least one illumination element (20) is directed at least at one side of the product (11) such that unpolarized light emitted by the illumination element (20) illuminates the outer layer (16) of the product (11), with light comprising at least 70%, of linearly s-polarized light,

b) the polarization filter (27, 31) for filtering the p-polarized light and/or the polarization filter (29, 32) for filtering the s-polarized light is/are arranged in a beam path of the light reflected at the outer layer (16) and/or the inner layer (14),

c) the at least one electrooptic recording element (28, 35) is positioned such that it records the s-polarized light and/or the p-polarized light after passage through the polarization filter(s) (27, 29, 31, 32) in each case separately as an image or partial image of the product, and

d) the outer layer (16) is part of a film wrap (12) of a cigarette package (13) and the inner layer (14) is part of the cigarette package (13), wherein the angle of incidence, under which the outer layer (16) is illuminated, is greater than 85% of the Brewster angle of the outer layer (16) and smaller than 115% of the Brewster angle of the outer layer (16), and approximately corresponds to the Brewster angle of the outer layer (16).

12. The device as claimed in claim 11, further comprising an evaluation unit, which evaluates the images transmitted by the camera (28, 35), for detecting defects in the outer and/or inner layers (14, 16) of the product (11).

13. The device as claimed in claim 11, wherein the device has at least two electrooptic recording elements (28, 35), specifically a first electrooptic recording element (35) for recording the s-polarized light component of the reflected light and a second electrooptic recording element (28) for recording the p-polarized light component of the reflected light.

14. The device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the light reflected by the product is split into two partial beams using a beam splitter (26), wherein, for recording a first partial beam, the first electrooptic recording element (35) is positioned in a beam path of the first partial beam and the second electrooptic recording element (28) is positioned in a beam path of the second partial beam, wherein one of the polarization filter (27, 29) which blocks p-polarized light and transmits s-polarized light is arranged in the beam path of the first partial beam upstream of the first electrooptic recording element (35) and another of the polarization filters (27, 29) which blocks s-polarized light and transmits p-polarized light is arranged in the beam path of the second partial beam upstream of the second electrooptic recording element (28).

15. The device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the light reflected by the product is split into two partial beams using a beam splitter (30) and wherein the polarization filters (31, 32) are part of the beam splitter (30).

16. The device as claimed in claim 11, wherein the electrooptic recording element (28, 35) is configured in the form of a line-scan camera with a single sensor line.

17. The device as claimed in claim 11, wherein the illumination element (20) is configured and positioned such that it produces on the product (11) a strip-type illuminated area that is illuminated as uniformly as possible.

18. The device as claimed in claim 11, wherein the moving product is a package wrapped with film.

19. The device as claimed in claim 11, wherein the moving product is a cigarette package (13) wrapped with film.

20. The device as claimed in claim 11, wherein the light emitted by the illumination element (20) comprises at least 90% of linearly s-polarized light.

21. The device as claimed in claim 11, wherein the light emitted by the illumination element (20) comprises at least 95% of linearly s-polarized light.