Abstract: The present invention includes a holding unit holding an annular product, a rotation drive unit causing the holding unit holding the annular product to rotate about a center axis of the annular product, a first illumination unit having a line-shaped light projector along a radial direction of the annular product and radiating a filmy illumination light from the light projector to an outside surface of the annular product, a line sensor camera having a line-shaped light receiving unit and arranged such that the light receiving unit is parallel to the light projector and imaging, from a direction identical to the radiating direction of the first illumination unit, the outside surface of the annular product illuminated by the first illumination unit as a region to be imaged, and a judgment device processing an image captured by the line sensor camera to judge whether the annular product is defective in appearance.

Abstract: A visual inspection system includes a conveyance device conveying an inspection target on a glass plate in a rotating direction of the glass plate, an outer-side-surface image capturing device capturing an image of the inspection target at an outer-side-surface image capturing position, and a judgment device judging based on the captured image whether the inspection target is defective in appearance or not. The outer-side-surface image capturing device has an illumination unit for inspection and three image capturing units arranged around the illumination unit. Each image capturing unit includes first and second mirrors receiving light reflected from an outer side surface of the inspection target at position below the illumination unit, a third mirror reflecting reflected light from the first and second mirrors upward, and an imaging camera arranged above the third mirror.

Abstract: An appearance inspection apparatus has conveying means for conveying an inspection object and surface shape inspecting means for inspecting the surface shape of the inspection object. The surface shape inspection means has a slit beam irradiating section for irradiating a band-shaped slit beam on the surface of the inspection object, an area sensor camera for capturing images of the slit beam, first and second optical mechanisms for receiving reflected lights of the slit beam on the downstream and upstream sides in a conveyance direction, respectively, and guiding them to the area sensor camera, and a shape judging section for judging appropriateness of the surface of the inspection object based on images captured by the area sensor camera. Optical paths of the first and second optical mechanisms allow images of the reflected lights to be formed on the area sensor camera in a state of being aligned laterally.

Abstract: An appearance inspection apparatus 1 has an aligning and conveying device 25 which has an aligning and conveying member 26 with one or a plurality of conveying passages, and a vibration exciter for alignment 37 for applying a vibration to the aligning and conveying member 26 and which aligns the inspection objects in a row and conveys them in each of the conveying passages, a slide-down mechanism 40 which has slide-down passages separately connected to the respective conveying passages of the aligning and conveying member 26 an provided to be tilted downward with respect to extensions of the slide-down passages, an imaging device 60 disposed in the vicinity of the slide-down passages for imaging the inspection objects sliding down in the slide-down passages, and a sorting device 80 for analyzing the images of the inspection objects captured by the imaging device, judge the qualities thereof, and sorting the inspection objects sliding down in the slide-down passages on the basis of analysis results.

Abstract: An appearance inspection apparatus has conveying means for conveying an inspection object and surface shape inspecting means for inspecting the surface shape of the inspection object. The surface shape inspection means has a slit beam irradiating section for irradiating a band-shaped slit beam on the surface of the inspection object, an area sensor camera for capturing images of the slit beam, first and second optical mechanisms for receiving reflected lights of the slit beam on the downstream and upstream sides in a conveyance direction, respectively, and guiding them to the area sensor camera, and a shape judging section for judging appropriateness of the surface of the inspection object based on images captured by the area sensor camera. Optical paths of the first and second optical mechanisms allow images of the reflected lights to be formed on the area sensor camera in a state of being aligned laterally.

Abstract: There is provided a tablet printing apparatus that can perform printing at a high speed on tablets arbitrarily supplied in volume at irregular intervals and has a high printing quality. A tablet printing apparatus 1 for multicolor printing on tablets T comprises a conveying belt 24 for conveying the tablets T in a moving direction A1-A2, an inkjet printer 42 disposed in the middle of the moving direction A1-A2 of the conveying belt 24 for performing non-contact printing onto surfaces of the tablets T conveyed by the conveying belt 24, an encoder 28 and a tablet sensor 29 for detecting moving positions of the tablets T conveyed by the conveying belt 24, and a unit control substrate 32 for controlling printing timing on the tablets T of the inject printer 42 or 46 based on the moving conditions or/and the moving positions of the tablets T detected by the encoder 28 and the tablet sensor 29.

Abstract: An aligning and feeding device capable of reliably aligning objects having a plane shape with an unequal ratio of length to width longitudinally and feeding them is provided. An aligning and feeding device has a rotary table 2 horizontally rotatable, drive means 3 for rotating the rotary table 2, a supply mechanism for supplying objects to be aligned onto the rotary table 2 and a guide mechanism 7 for defining a conveying path for the objects to be aligned conveyed by the rotary table 2. The guide mechanism 7 has an introduction guide 11, first pair of alignment guides 16, second pair of alignment guides 19 and pair of discharge guides 23 which each has a guide face and are disposed sequentially along the conveying path for the objects to be aligned.

Abstract: An appearance inspecting apparatus includes a parts feeder aligning rubber stoppers in tandem by torsionally vibrating a bowl having a spiral track formed therein, an air conveying portion conveying the rubber stoppers aligned in tandem by blowing compressed air thereto, first and second conveying tables conveying rubber stoppers by suction-holding a surface not to be inspected of the rubber stoppers, an inspecting portion inspecting a surface to be inspected of the rubber stoppers conveyed by the first and second conveying tables, and a selecting portion sorting out rubber stoppers that are determined to be defective, in accordance with the result of inspection by the inspecting portion. Objects to be inspected having a complicated shape are aligned preliminarily by using a vibration parts feeder, while highly accurate appearance inspection is conducted.

Abstract: This invention provides a seed-sorting apparatus that includes an alignment trough having a plurality of grooves into which the seeds are distributed, a line sensor camera for inspecting the seeds, a nozzle device having a number of nozzles that is the same as the number of grooves on the upper surface of the alignment trough, and a control unit. The control unit, through a series of calculations, is capable of differentiating between different types of seeds and can direct a seed sorting and sucking device to suck the seed.