Patent ID: 7889333

Claim:
A visual inspection system for ceramic balls that inspects flaws in a surface of ceramic balls, the system comprising: an oil tank for holding oil; a rotation device for rotating a ceramic ball targeted for inspection that is immersed in the oil in the oil tank, said rotation device including a drive roller, a pair of control rollers, and a support roller which fix the ceramic ball in a prescribed position in the oil, wherein each of said control rollers is equipped with an eccentric helical gear and the ceramic ball is rotated by the eccentric helical gears so that detection of the ceramic ball is possible along a meridian; imaging means for imaging an entire surface of the ceramic ball rotated by the rotation device, said imaging means including a light source for irradiating light onto the ceramic ball and a digital camera having a lens; image processing means for image processing an image taken by the imaging means; and assessing means for assessing a presence of flaws in the ceramic ball based on image data resulting from the image processing.