Transferring and inspecting unit of a group of elongated elements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11375743-B2
Application number	US-201716312626-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 19, 2017
Priority date	Jun 22, 2016
Publication date	Jul 5, 2022
Grant date	Jul 5, 2022

Abstract

A transferring and inspection unit for transferring and inspecting a group of elongated elements that are rod-shaped for smoking articles that includes a forming pocket, having a longitudinal axis, which is provided with a hollow housing suitable for housing a group of elongated elements to be inspected; a transporting conveyor of the forming pocket which is configured to advance the pocket along an advancing path through a first inspection position; a first tridimensional inspecting optical assembly configured to perform in respective successive scanning instants a plurality of first tridimensional optical scans by projecting a first light blade over a first head face of the group, during advancing of the forming pocket through the first inspection position; a processing device configured to obtain, for each first tridimensional scan, a respective first scanning line associated with the respective scanning instant and to reconstruct a first tridimensional profile of the first head face on the basis of the plurality of the first scanning lines, positioned in respective first reference positions. The forming pocket includes a first front face that in turn includes a first shaped surface be the first optical assembly is configured to perform simultaneously with each first tridimensional scan of the first head face also a respective first tridimensional scan of the first shaped surface to obtain a respective further scanning line; the processing device is in addition configured to calculate the reference position of each first scanning line analyzing the respective further scanning line.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A transferring and inspection unit of a group of elongated elements that are rod-shaped for smoking articles, including:
a forming pocket, having a longitudinal axis, which is provided with a hollow housing suitable for housing a group of elongated elements to be inspected;
a transporting conveyor of the forming pocket which is configured to advance the pocket along an advancing path through a first inspection position, including:
a first tridimensional inspecting optical assembly configured to perform in successive scanning instants a plurality of first tridimensional optical scans by projecting a first light blade over a first head face of the group, during the advancing of the pocket through the first inspection position;
a processing device configured to obtain, for each first tridimensional scan, a respective first scanning line associated with the respective scanning instant and to reconstruct a first tridimensional profile of the first head face based on the plurality of the first scanning lines obtained,
in which each scanning line is positioned in the first tridimensional profile in a respective first reference position indicating a corresponding zone of the first head face of the group inspected at the scanning instant, and in which
the pocket having a first front face that includes a first shaped surface; and in which moreover
the first optical assembly is configured to perform simultaneously with each first tridimensional scan of the first head face also a respective first tridimensional scan of the first shaped surface to obtain a respective further scanning line; and
the processing device is in addition configured to calculate the reference position of each first scanning line analyzing the respective further scanning line.

2. The transferring and inspection unit according to claim 1 , wherein the first optical assembly includes a first projector of the first light blade and a first optical apparatus for a 3D profile, and in which the first projector is configured to project the first light blade over the first head face and over the first shaped surface of the first front face, and the first optical apparatus is arranged to frame the first head face and the first shaped surface and to acquire in the same first image both the first head face and the first shaped surface such that the first optical assembly can simultaneously perform the tridimensional scan of the first head face of the groups and of the first shaped surface of the first front face.

3. The transferring and inspection unit according to claim 2 , and in which moreover the first optical assembly further includes at least one respective first optical deflector suitable for generating a first virtual mirror plane of the first image, and optionally also a second optical deflector suitable for generating a second virtual mirror plane of the first image when the first image is reflected by the first optical deflector, such that the first optical apparatus can acquire the first image from the first optical deflector, or optionally from the second optical deflector, however the first optical apparatus is arranged with respect to the pocket.

4. The transferring and inspection unit according to claim 3 , and in which moreover the first projector is arranged to project the first light blade parallel to the longitudinal axis of the pocket and perpendicularly to an advancing direction of the pocket, which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pocket, and in which the first optical apparatus has a first optical axis that is tilted with respect to the first light blade.

5. The transferring and inspection unit according to claim 1 , wherein the pocket has an elongated substantially parallelpiped shape that extends along three directions that are mutually orthogonal to one another, a first direction defined by the longitudinal axis of the pocket, the remaining two directions being defined by an advancing direction of the pocket, which is orthogonal to the longitudinal axis and by a vertical direction, that is orthogonal to both the advancing direction of the pocket and the longitudinal axis of the pocket; and in which the pocket includes: a first greater lateral face, connected to the transporting conveyor; a first lesser lateral face, arranged downstream of a second lesser lateral face with respect to the advancing direction and in which the first front face includes a first outline surface that surrounds a first mouth of the hollow housing.

6. The transferring and inspection unit according to claim 5 , and in which moreover the first outline surface is flat and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pocket and in which the first front face comprises includes a first shaped surface that is flat, that is coplanar with the first outline surface, that projects from an opposite side of the first greater lateral face and is arranged at the group of elongated elements; and in which the first outline surface further includes a first lateral edge and a second lateral edge, which are rectilinear, parallel to the advancing direction and arranged outside the group on opposite sides of the first shaped surface; and in which the optical assembly is in addition configured to perform in succession at least one tridimensional scan of the first lateral edge to obtain a first edge scanning line that is rectilinear, perform the plurality of tridimensional scans of the first head face of the group and of the first shaped surface to obtain the first scanning lines and respective further straight scanning lines, and lastly perform at least one tridimensional scan of the second lateral edge to obtain a second rectilinear edge scanning line.

7. The transferring and inspection unit according to claim 6 , wherein the first shaped surface is configured as a right-angled triangle, provided with a tilted edge constituting the hypotenuse of the right-angled triangle, which is the connection between the first lateral edge and the second lateral edge, and in which the processing device is suitable for calculating, for each tridimensional scan, a first reference distance between one end of the further scanning line and a reference line, in particular horizontal, joining respective edges of the first edge scanning line and of the second edge scanning line; the respective reference position of the first scanning line being directly proportional to the first reference distance.

8. The transferring and inspection unit according to claim 6 , and in which the first shaped surface is configured as a saw tooth provided with a plurality of tilted edges constituting respective hypotenuses of right-angled triangles extending between the first lateral edge and the second lateral edge, and in which the processing device is suitable for associating an ordinal number with each saw tooth being inspected and calculating a second reference distance between one end of the further scanning line and a reference line, in particular horizontal, joining respective edges of the first edge scanning line and of the second edge scanning line, the first reference position being directly proportional to the second reference distance and to the ordinal number associated with the saw tooth being inspected.

9. The transferring and inspection unit according to claim 5 , and in which moreover the first front face of the pocket includes:
a first calibration surface that is flat, that lies on a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pocket and is arranged at a first preset calibration distance from the first outline surface of the first mouth;
a second calibration surface that is flat, parallel to the first calibration surface and staggered in relation thereto along the longitudinal axis, which is

Assignees

• Gd Spa

Inventors

• Casagrande Alberto
• Morelli Sergio
• Federici Luca

Classifications

• B65B19/28

  Control devices for cigarette or cigar packaging machines · CPC title

• G01N21/952 Primary

  Inspecting the exterior surface of cylindrical bodies or wires (G01N21/956 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A24C5/3412 Primary

  by means of light, radiation or electrostatic fields (A24C5/3406 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B65B19/30

  responsive to presence of faulty articles, e.g. incorrectly filled cigarettes · CPC title