Patents by Inventor Tadayuki Sota

Tadayuki Sota has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9335278
    Abstract: Inspection equipment for a screw part of a bottle-can having a mouth section provided with a curl portion in which an opening edge thereof is rolled up outward and the screw part for fitting a cap by threads below the curl portion for attaching the cap with a liner, the inspection equipment inspects a shape of the screw part of the mouth section by imaging an imaging area which is set so as to include a part of the mouth section while rotating the bottle-can around a can-axis, the inspection equipment including: a rotating device which holds and rotates the bottle-can around the can-axis; a thread-illumination device which irradiates illumination light toward the screw part of the bottle-can; an imaging device which continuously obtains inspection images including reflected light of the illumination light at the imaging area; and an thread-inspection device which inspects the screw part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignees: Kurashiki Boseki Kabushiki Kaisha, Universal Can Corporation
    Inventors: Akio Kurosawa, Tadayuki Sota
  • Patent number: 9316600
    Abstract: An inspection method and inspection equipment for mouth section of bottle-can including: first-inspection process for eliminating the bottle-can in which existence of a low-brightness area is detected from a monochrome inspection-image which is obtained by imaging the curl portion with irradiating white light to the curl portion in an imaging area of the bottle-can which is conveyed along a main-conveyance path; and a second-inspection process for judging quality of the bottle-can while conveying the bottle-can which is eliminated by the first-inspection process along a secondary-conveyance path, by irradiating illumination lights having two colors from different directions to the curl portion in the imaging area along substantially a tangential direction of a cylindrical surface of the mouth section so as to image a color inspection-image, and distinguishing existence or not of the asperity on the curl portion from signal strengths of the light colors of the color inspection-image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignees: Kurashiki Boseki Kabushiki Kaisha, Universal Can Corporation
    Inventors: Akio Kurosawa, Tadayuki Sota, Tadafumi Hirano
  • Patent number: 9057708
    Abstract: Inspection equipment for mouth section of bottle-can, including: a rotating device which holds and rotates the bottle-can around a can-axis; a first illumination device which irradiates a first illumination light toward the curl portion in an imaging area; a second illumination device which irradiates a second illumination light having a different light color from that of the first illumination light toward the curl portion from an opposite side to the first illumination light with the imaging area therebetween; a third illumination device which irradiates a third illumination light having a different light color along an intersecting direction with the first and second illumination lights; an imaging device which is disposed toward the imaging area and obtains an inspection image including reflected lights at the curl portion; and an asperity-recognition device which detects an edge position of the curl portion based on the reflected light of the third illumination light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2015
    Assignees: Kurashiki Boseki Kabushiki Kaisha, Universal Can Corporation
    Inventors: Akio Kurosawa, Tadayuki Sota
  • Publication number: 20140125793
    Abstract: Inspection equipment for a screw part of a bottle-can having a mouth section provided with a curl portion in which an opening edge thereof is rolled up outward and the screw part for fitting a cap by threads below the curl portion for attaching the cap with a liner, the inspection equipment inspects a shape of the screw part of the mouth section by imaging an imaging area which is set so as to include a part of the mouth section while rotating the bottle-can around a can-axis, the inspection equipment including: a rotating device which holds and rotates the bottle-can around the can-axis; a thread-illumination device which irradiates illumination light toward the screw part of the bottle-can an imaging device which continuously obtains inspection images including reflected light of the illumination light at the imaging area; and an thread-inspection device which inspects the screw part.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2012
    Publication date: May 8, 2014
    Applicants: UNIVERSAL CAN CORPORATION, KURASHIKI BOSEKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akio Kurosawa, Tadayuki Sota
  • Publication number: 20140125796
    Abstract: An inspection method and inspection equipment for mouth section of bottle-can including: first-inspection process for eliminating the bottle-can in which existence of a low-brightness area is detected from a monochrome inspection-image which is obtained by imaging the curl portion with irradiating white light to the curl portion in an imaging area of the bottle-can which is conveyed along a main-conveyance path; and a second-inspection process for judging quality of the bottle-can while conveying the bottle-can which is eliminated by the first-inspection process along a secondary-conveyance path by irradiating illumination lights having two colors from different directions to the curl portion in the imaging area along substantially a tangential direction of a cylindrical surface of the mouth section so as to image a color inspection-image, and distinguishing existence or not of the asperity on the curl portion from signal strengths of the light colors of the color inspection-image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2012
    Publication date: May 8, 2014
    Applicants: UNIVERSAL CAN CORPORATION, KURASHIKI BOSEKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akio Kurosawa, Tadayuki Sota, Tadafumi Hirano
  • Publication number: 20140098365
    Abstract: Inspection equipment for mouth section of bottle-can, including: a rotating device which holds and rotates the bottle-can around a can-axis; a first illumination device which irradiates a first illumination light toward the curl portion in an imaging area; a second illumination device which irradiates a second illumination light having a different light color from that of the first illumination light toward the curl portion from an opposite side to the first illumination light with the imaging area therebetween; a third illumination device which irradiates a third illumination light having a different light color along an intersecting direction with the first and second illumination lights; an imaging device which is disposed toward the imaging area and obtains an inspection image including reflected lights at the curl portion; and an asperity-recognition device which detects an edge position of the curl portion based on the reflected light of the third illumination light.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2012
    Publication date: April 10, 2014
    Applicants: UNIVERSAL CAN CORPORATION, KURASHIKI BOSEKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akio Kurosawa, Tadayuki Sota