Detection of opaque foreign articles from among transparent bodies

Abstract: To detect an opaque foreign body (2) such as a piece of stone, from amongst transparent bodies (1) such as of glass, the pieces (1,2) on a moving belt (3) are allowed to drop over a chute (4) where each is separately scanned a plurality of times by a linearly polarized lazer beam (L) transversely to their path of movement, the lazer beam from a light source (6) being reflected by a polygon scanner (7) rotated at constant speed for a period so that each object is scanned two or more times whilst it drops; the reflected light is introduced into a charge-coupled-device camera (9) after passing through a polarizing filter (8) and is detected as an electrical signal; the scanning light is also detected by a sensor (10) and the signal therefrom is divided into pulses by a divider (11) and fed to the camera (9) to control the scanning speed; an analog signal from the camera is also taken by a control circuit and is binary digitized and checked to determine whether the object is opaque or transparent. Opaque objects may be removed by an air blow removing device (12). Most of the polarized beam passes through a transparent piece while only a small fraction thereof is reflected whilst most of the beam is scattered irregularly from an opaque article. The invention provides satisfactory discrimination between the different bodies.

Description: This invention relates to a method of detecting an opaque foreign article, such as a stone or a pottery piece, from among transparent bodies such as glass pieces of recovered cullets or the like. A method of detecting an opaque foreign article from among transparent bodies is already known and is disclosed, for example, in our U.S. Patent No. 4,730,932. According to the known method, a laser beam is irradiated into a spot upon an object being inspected which is being transported on a conveyor line, and irregular reflection components of reflected light from the object are detected and converted into electric signals by means of a photoelectric transducer. Then, output levels of such electric signals are checked in order to determine whether the object being inspected is a glass piece or an opaque foreign article. With the detecting method which is based merely on such irregular reflection components of reflected light, however, output levels of electric signals originating from a glass piece and an opaque foreign article do not exhibit a distinct difference, and besides the S/N ratio (signal-to-noise ratio) of such electric signals is low. Consequently, satisfactory results of detection cannot be obtained. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for detecting an opaque foreign article from among transparent bodies which assures a distinct difference between detecting signals originating from a transparent body and an opaque foreign article and a high S/N ratio in such detection signals and is improved in accuracy in detecting operation. US-A-3097744 provides a method of detecting an opaque foreign body from amongst a plurality of transparent bodies comprising moving said bodies individually past a scanning point, scanning the body then at said scanning point with a linearly polarized beam of light and detecting the light reflected from each said body by using an optical sensor, the light passing through a polarizing filter before it reaches the optical sensor. According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided such a method characterized in that said beam is moved as well as linearly polarized by reflection on a rotating mirror and that said body is scanned a plurality of times at said scanning point with said moving beam. According to the invention we also provide apparatus for detecting an opaque foreign body from amongst a plurality of transparent bodies, comprising means for moving the said bodies individually past a scanning point, means for scanning the body then at said scanning point, optical sensing means for detecting the light reflected from each said body, and a polarizing filter being provided at a position through which said beam passes before it reaches an optical sensing device characterised in that said scanning means is rotatable at a fixed speed so as to reflect and thus polarize a beam of light for scanning the body. With the detecting method, most of a beam of linearly polarized light which is irradiated upon a transparent body passes through the transparent body. Even if part of the linearly polarized light beam is reflected by the transparent body, it is subsequently cut by the polarizing filter because almost all of it is a linearly polarized light component, and only when there is some irregular condition on a reflecting face of the transparent body, a very small amount of a circularly polarized light component can pass through the polarizing filter. Accordingly, only a very small amount of reflected light will be introduced into the optical sensor. On the other hand, most of a linearly polarized light beam which is irradiated upon an opaque foreign article is scattered by a surface of the opaque foreign article while part of the linearly polarized light beam is absorbed by the surface of the opaque foreign article. Most of such scattered reflected light is circularly polarized light and almost completely passes through the polarizing filter. Consequently, such scattered reflected light is introduced in a great amount into the optical sensor. Thus, since an object for the detection is scanned by a linearly polarized light beam and reflected light is detected by the optical sensor by way of the polarizing filter, the difference between inputs to the optical sensor of reflected light from a transparent body and an opaque foreign article appears distinctly. Consequently, a transparent body and an opaque foreign article can be detected and separated precisely with a simple optical construction. Thus, the object is preferably scanned at different locations thereof by a plurality of times by a light beam, and reflected light from the object is detected for each scanning by the optical sensor and then binary digitized. The amount of reflected light to be introduced into the optical sensor is small where the object being scanned is a transparent body but is large where the object is an opaque foreign article, and besides the changing rate of reflected light is high where the object is a transparent body but is low where the object is an opaque foreign article. Accordingly, when binary digitized outputs of the optical sensor are ANDed for a plurality of times of scanning operations, the value obtained is smaller than any of the binary digitized outputs where they originate from a transparent body, but is bigger than any of the binary digitized outputs where they originate from an opaque foreign article. Consequently, the difference between the two values is greater and more distinct than the difference between optical inputs to the optical sensor. When the object is scanned a plurality of times and digital signals obtained by such scanning operations by a plurality of times are ANDed in this manner, a transparent body and an opaque foreign article can be detected and separated more precisely than ever, and besides the S/N ratio is improved. The invention will be further described by reference to the preferred embodiments thereof shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIG. 1 is a generalized flow diagram illustrating a detecting method according to the present invention; FIGS. 2 and 3 are schematic illustrations showing reflection and transmission of light by and through a glass piece; FIGS. 4 and 5 are schematic illustrations showing reflection of light by an opaque foreign substance; FIGS. 6(A) and 6(B) are waveform diagrams showing output of a CCD (charge-coupled-device) camera when it receives reflected light from a glass piece without and with a polarizing filter interposed in the passage of the reflected light, respectively; FIGS. 7(A) and 7(B) are waveform diagrams showing output of the CCD camera when it receives reflected light from an opaque foreign article without and with the polarizing filter interposed in the passage of the reflected light, respectively; FIG. 8 is a diagram illustratively showing a scanning manner for a glass piece and a waveform of an analog signal of the CCD camera upon such scanning; FIG. 9 and 10 are time charts illustrating digital processing of signals originating from a glass piece; FIG. 11 is a diagram illustratively showing a scanning manner for an opaque foreign article and a waveform of an analog signal of the CCD camera upon such scanning; FIGS. 12 and 13 are time charts illustrating digital processing of signals originating from an opaque foreign article; and FIG. 14 is a flow chart illustrating determination processing. Referring first to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a detecting method according to the present invention. A large number of objects for the detection are transported on a belt conveyor or a vibrating feeder 3 to a drop chute 4. Such objects for the detection are transparent bodies such as, for example, pieces 1 of glass in which stones, pottery pieces and so forth may be mixed as opaque foreign articles 2, and here, the detecting method of the present invention is applied to detect such opaque foreign particles 2 from among glass pieces 1. At the drop chute 4, the objects for the detecting are let to drop in a separated condition in several rows by a plurality of separating fins 5 of the drop chute 4. While the objects for the detection including glass pieces 1 and opaque foreign substances 2 are dropping, they are scanned a plurality of times by a linearly polarized laser beam L along a transverse line in a direction perpendicular to the dropping direction at a predetermined height. In particular, a laser beam emitted from a laser light source 6 is reflected by a polygon scanner 7 which is constantly rotating at a fixed speed in a predetermined direction so as to make for a scanning operation a linearly polarized laser beam L. The period of such scanning operation is determined such that a same object for the detection can be scanned two or more times while it drops. Accordingly, the object for the detection will be scanned not at the same location thereof by two or three times but at two or more different locations thereof. Reflected light from an object for the detection is introduced into a CCD (charge-coupled-device) camera 9 by way of a polarizing filter 8 and is detected as an electric signal by the CCD camera 9. In order to synchronize such detecting operation with a scanning operation by a linearly polarized laser beam L, scanning light is detected by a scanning light detecting sensor 10 (step 51) located within a scanning range of scanning light from the polygon scanner 7, and a detection signal of the scanning light detecting sensor 10 is divided into a pulse signal by a divider 11 and then fed back to the CCD camera 9 in order to control a scanning speed and period of the CCD camera 9 (step 52), for example, by way of a suitable control circuit (not shown). While such control is being executed, an analog signal of the CCD camera 9 is taken in (step 52) by the control circuit, and the start and the end of the data of the analog signal are detected as a preprocessing step (step 54) also by the control circuit. Then, the analog signal is binary digitized (step 55) by a binary digitizer (not shown), and the binary data obtained is checked by a determination circuit (not shown) to determine whether the object for the detection is either a glass piece 1 or an opaque foreign article 2 as hereinafter described (step 56). Then, in case the result of the determination represents an opaque foreign article 2, an air blow removing device 12 is controlled by a controlling circuit (not shown) therefore in response to a removing signal from the determination circuit so that the opaque foreign article 2 may be separated from glass pieces 1 by an air blow produced by the air blow removing device 12 while it is dropping (step 57). It is to be noted that, while such operations as described just above are described as executed by several electric circuits such as the control circuit, binary digitizing circuit, determination circuit and controlling circuit, they may otherwise be executed suitably by a microcomputer or like electronic means which operates in accordance with a flow of operations including such steps 51 or 52 to 57 illustrated in FIG. 1. It is also to be noted that, since the scanning light detecting sensor 10 detects scanning light at a fixed position within the scanning range of scanning light (step 51), a period of a scanning operation can be detected from two successive timings of detection of scanning light by the scanning light detecting sensor 10. Thus, according to the present embodiment, a linearly polarized laser beam L is irradiated upon glass pieces 1 and opaque foreign articles 2 which are dropping, and reflected light from them is detected by the CCD camera 9 by way of the polarizing filter 8. When the linearly polarized laser beam L is irradiated upon a glass piece 1, most of it passes through the glass piece 1 while only a small fraction of it is reflected by the glass piece 1 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Here, in case the reflecting face of the glass piece 1 is flat and accordingly reflects light regularly, the light after it is reflected by the reflecting face of the glass piece 1 remains as linearly polarized light, and consequently, the reflected light will be cut by the polarizing filter 8 and will not be introduced into the CCD camera 9. On the other hand, in case the reflecting face of the glass piece 1 is uneven or has some scratches or the like thereon, or in case light is reflected from the opposite ends of the glass piece 1, the reflected light will be circularly polarized light, and only one component of the reflected light will pass through the polarizing filter 8 but is very small in amount. Meanwhile, when the object for the detection is an opaque foreign article 2, most of a linearly polarized laser beam L is scattered but irregularly by a surface of the opaque foreign article 2 while part of the linearly polarized laser beam L is absorbed as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Since such irregularly scattered light is circularly polarized light, most of it passes through the polarizing filter 8 and is introduced into the CCD camera 9. The amount of light then is very large comparing with that when the object for the detection is a glass piece 1. Accordingly, the output of the CCD camera 9 which may be an output of a CCD line sensor presents a great difference depending upon whether the object for the detection is a glass piece 1 or an opaque foreign article 2. FIGS. 6(A) and 6(B) show output waveforms when the CCD line sensor measures reflected light from a glass piece 1. In particular, FIG. 6(A) shows such output waveform when the polarizing filter 8 is not used, and FIG. 6(B) shows such output waveform when the polarizing filter 8 is used. FIGS. 7(A) and 7(B) show similar output waveforms when the CCD line sensor measures reflected light from an opaque foreign substance 2 without and with the polarizing filter 8 interposed in the passage of the reflected light, respectively. As can be seen from those figures, in case the polarizing filter 8 is not used, when the CCD camera 9 receives reflected light from a glass piece 1, it produces an output of a sawtooth waveform which exhibits large and irregular variations and is high in level, but when the CCD camera 9 receives reflected light from an opaque foreign article 2, it produces an output having a waveform resembling a rectangular waveform which exhibits small variations and is high in level and besides continuous in time, and although the two outputs are different in waveform, they do not have a great difference in level nor in duration. On the other hand, in case the polarizing filter 8 is used, an output of the CCD camera 9 when it receives reflected light from a glass piece 1 makes a single sharp and short pulse which is low in level, but when the CCD camera 9 receives reflected light from an opaque foreign article 2, it produces an output in the form of a regular rectangular wave which is much higher in level than that of the former case and is sufficiently long in duration. While signals obtained upon optical scanning of a glass piece 1 and an opaque foreign article 2 exhibit distinct differences due to optical processing before light is introduced into the CCD camera 9, such differences are made more precise in electric signal processing by the following method. It is assumed here that a glass piece 1 is scanned three times by a linearly polarized laser beam L while it is dropping as shown in FIG. 8 (a scanned location of the glass piece 1 is displaced as the glass piece 1 drops), and analog signals from the CCD camera 9 upon first, second and third scanning operations which are taken in at step 53 of FIG. 1 are such as shown at (1) of 1, (2) of 1 and (3) of 1 of FIG. 8, respectively. It is also assumed that an opaque foreign substance 2 is scanned by three times similarly by a linearly polarized laser beam L while it is dropping as shown in FIG. 11, and analog signals from the CCD camera 9 upon first, second and third scanning operations are such as shown at (1) of 2, (2) of 2 and (3) of 2 of FIG. 11, respectively. Referring to FIG. 14, after those analog signals are binary digitized into digital signals at step 55 of the flow chart of FIG. 1, a width reference value W is set to a predetermined initial value and a transparent/opaque determination boundary value T is set first at step 60. Subsequently at step 61, a width and a position of a signal along a scanning line A (initially in the first scanning operation) are detected, and then at step 62, a width and a position of another signal along a next scanning line B (initially in the second scanning operation) are detected similarly, whereafter the signals from the lines A and B are ANDed (ANDed) at step 63. Here, in other words, a width W n (W₁, W₂, ...) of an overlapping portion of the signals from the line A and the next line B is detected. FIG. 9 is a time chart illustrating operations at steps 61 to 63 when a glass piece 1 is scanned as illustrated in FIG. 8, and FIG. 12 is a time chart illustrating similar operations when an opaque foreign substance 2 is scanned as illustrated in FIG. 11. Subsequently at step 64, it is judged whether or not the detected width W n is greater than the width reference value W (W n >W), and in case the former is greater than the latter, W n is stored as the width reference value W, that is, the detected width Wn is set as a new width reference value W, at step 65. On the contrary when W n is not greater than W, the detected width W n is not adopted, but W is maintained or stored as it is at step 66. The sequence advances from step 65 or 66 to step 67 at which it is judged whether or not there is a digital signal from a next scanning line, and in case there is a digital signal, the scanning lines A and B are advanced, at step 68, by one line to A+1 and B+1, respectively, and a width W n of an overlapping portion is detected similarly as described above (refer to FIGS. 10 and 13). Then, the processing from step 61 to step 65 or 66 is repeated until it is judged at step 67 that there is no digital signal any more. Since the value of W n is updated as new W only at step 65 when W n is greater than W at step 64, the processing from step 61 to step 65 or 66 is after all processing to extract a maximum detected value W n among detected values from the first to last lines, and when it is judged at step 67 that there is no digital signal input any more, W exhibits such maximum detected value. Accordingly, as can be seen from FIGS. 9 and 10, the width of a digital signal originating from a glass piece 1 is small originally, and besides where the object for the detection is a glass piece 1, even if regularly reflected light is detected which exhibits an uneven waveform due to such local reflection as described above, since a location scanned by a laser beam is displaced for each scanning operation, the possibility that a similar regularly reflected condition may take place twice successively is very low and digital signals obtained by twice scanning operations are displaced in position in the scanning direction. Consequently, a detected width W n obtained by ANDing the thus displaced two digital signals is smaller than the width of any one of the digital signals. On the other hand, the width of a digital signal originating from an opaque foreign article 2 is small originally as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, and besides where the object for the detection is an opaque foreign substance 2, reflected light of a high level is detected successively, and consequently, positions of digital signals obtained by twice scanning operations will be overlapped with each other. Consequently, a detected width W n obtained by ANDing the two digital signals is very great comparing with that obtained from signals originating from a glass piece 1. Besides, since only a maximum width value among them is adopted, the difference is increased further. At subsequent step 69, it is judged whether or not the maximum detected value W is higher than the transparent/opaque determination boundary value T (W>T), and in case the former is not higher than the latter, it is determined at step 70 that the object for the detection is a glass piece 1. In this case, the air blow removing device 12 is not rendered operative. On the contrary, in case the maximum detected value W is higher than the transparent/opaque determination boundary value T at step 69, a point of time at which scanning light passes the scanning light detecting sensor 10 is detected based on detection by the scanning light detecting sensor 10 at step 71, and at a point of time when the opaque foreign article 2 drops to a height at which it cannot be scanned by the laser beam L any more, a removing instruction is developed at step 72 to render the air blow removing device 12 operative. In this instance, the air blow removing device 12 produces, by control at step 57 of FIG. 1, an air blow only at a position corresponding to the dropping opaque foreign article 2 to blow off and remove the opaque foreign article 2. It is to be noted that such removal and scanning by a laser beam may otherwise be performed at any location other than the dropping location or may be performed by any other means than by an air blow. Further, it may be applicable to scan with a beam of light other than a laser beam, to AND digital signals obtained by three or more scanning operations or to detect reflected light by means of an optical sensor other than a CCD line sensor.

Claims: A method of detecting an opaque foreign body (2) from amongst a plurality of transparent bodies (1), comprising moving said bodies individually past a scanning point (4), scanning the body (1,2) then at said scanning point with a linearly polarized beam (L) of light and detecting the light reflected from each said body by using an optical sensor (9), the light passing through a polarizing filter (8) before it reaches the optical sensor (9), characterised in that said beam (L) is moved as well as linearly polarized by reflection on a rotating mirror and that said body (1,2) is scanned a plurality of times at said scanning point with said moving beam (L). A method as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the outputs of said optical sensor (9) are converted to binary digitised form and these digitized outputs for the plurality of scanning operations are ANDed. A method as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein said optical sensor is a charge-coupled-device camera (9). Apparatus for detecting an opaque foreign body (2) from amongst a plurality of transparent bodies (1), comprising means (3) for moving the said bodies individually past a scanning point (4), means (7) for scanning the body (1,2) then at said scanning point (4), optical sensing means (9,10,11) for detecting the light reflected from each said body (1,2), and a polarizing filter (8) being provided at a position through which said beam passes before it reaches an optical sensing device (9) characterised in that said scanning means (7) is rotatable at a fixed speed so as to reflect and thus polarize a beam of light (L) for scanning the body. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 4, which includes a binary digitizer connected to the output of said optical sensing device (9) and a determination circuit capable of determining from said data whether the object at said scanning position is an opaque (2) or transparent (1) body. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 or 5, wherein the optical sensing device includes a charge-coupled-device camera (9).

Inventors: SAWAMURA MASAKI, SAWAMURA, MASAKI,, SAWAMURA, MASAKI, C/O TOYO GARASU KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Applicants: TOYO GLASS CO LTD, TOYO GLASS COMPANY LIMITED
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B07C5
IPC codes: B07C5, G01N21