阅读说明：本技术 输送装置和图像检查装置 (Conveying device and image inspection device ) 是由 川井宗明 于 2019-08-30 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供输送装置和图像检查装置。在上游侧的第1吸附输送部(1)与下游侧的第2吸附输送部(2)之间设置防下垂辊(16)。在自第1吸附输送部(1)向第2吸附输送部(2)送入了被检查物时,在被检查物的前端因自重或向下方的卷曲等而下垂之前,该前端与防下垂辊(16)抵接并爬上该防下垂辊(16),该被检查物被夹在防下垂辊(16)与第2吸附输送部(2)之间,并无延迟地开始稳定的吸附输送。(The invention provides a conveying device and an image inspection device. A sag-resistant roller (16) is arranged between the 1 st adsorption conveying part (1) on the upstream side and the 2 nd adsorption conveying part (2) on the downstream side. When an object to be inspected is fed from a 1 st suction conveying part (1) to a 2 nd suction conveying part (2), before the front end of the object to be inspected sags due to its own weight or downward curl, the front end abuts against a sag prevention roller (16) and climbs up the sag prevention roller (16), and the object to be inspected is sandwiched between the sag prevention roller (16) and the 2 nd suction conveying part (2), and stable suction conveying is started without delay.)

1. A conveying device is characterized in that a conveying device is arranged in the conveying device,

the conveying device is provided with:

a 1 st conveying unit arranged such that a conveying surface for conveying a sheet-like object to be conveyed is an upper surface side;

a 2 nd conveying unit which is disposed adjacent to the conveying surface of the 1 st conveying unit along a conveying direction of the conveyed object so that a conveying surface on which the sheet-like conveyed object is conveyed is a lower surface side; and

and a sagging prevention member that is provided between the 1 st conveyance unit and the 2 nd conveyance unit and that delivers and receives the conveyed object from an upstream side to a downstream side in the conveyance direction so as to prevent a tip portion of the conveyed object from sagging.

2. An image inspection apparatus, comprising: a 1 st conveying unit configured to convey a sheet-like object to be inspected such that a conveying surface thereof is an upper surface side; a 2 nd conveying unit which is disposed adjacent to the conveying surface of the 1 st conveying unit along a conveying direction of the object to be inspected so that a conveying surface for conveying the sheet-like object to be inspected is a lower surface side; a 1 st inspection unit that inspects a front surface of the object conveyed by the 1 st conveyance unit; and a 2 nd inspection unit for inspecting a back surface of the object conveyed by the 2 nd conveyance unit, the image inspection apparatus being characterized in that,

a sagging prevention member is provided between the 1 st conveying unit and the 2 nd conveying unit, and the sagging prevention member receives and delivers the test object from an upstream side to a downstream side in the conveying direction so as to prevent a tip portion of the test object from sagging.

3. The image inspection apparatus according to claim 2,

the anti-sagging member is an anti-sagging roller having a roller portion divided into comb teeth in an axial direction orthogonal to a conveying direction of the test object.

4. The image inspection apparatus according to claim 2,

the image inspection apparatus includes:

a 1 st supporting portion to which the 1 st inspection portion is attached and which is positioned with respect to the 1 st conveying portion;

a 1 st conveying direction adjusting unit provided on the 1 st support portion and configured to adjust a conveying direction in which the 1 st conveying portion conveys the test object with respect to the 1 st inspection portion;

a 2 nd support part to which the 2 nd inspection part is attached and which is positioned with respect to the 2 nd conveying part; and

and a 2 nd conveying direction adjusting unit provided in the 2 nd support portion and configured to adjust a conveying direction in which the 2 nd conveying portion conveys the test object with respect to the 2 nd inspection portion.

5. The image inspection apparatus according to claim 2,

the image inspection apparatus is provided with a skew correction roller which is adjacent to an upstream end of the conveying unit located upstream in the conveying direction of the object to be inspected in the 1 st conveying unit and the 2 nd conveying unit and corrects skew of the object to be inspected conveyed from a previous stage.

6. The image inspection apparatus according to claim 2,

at least one of the 1 st inspection unit disposed on the relatively downstream side in the 1 st conveying unit and the 2 nd inspection unit disposed on the relatively upstream side in the 2 nd conveying unit is movable in a width direction of the object to be inspected, which is parallel to the conveying surface.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an image inspection apparatus that conveys a sheet-like object to be inspected in one direction by two conveying units and can inspect images formed on the front and back surfaces of the object with high accuracy, and a conveying apparatus that can be preferably applied to the image inspection apparatus.

Background

In an image forming apparatus having a function of forming images on the front and back surfaces of a sheet, it is sometimes necessary to inspect the images on the front and back surfaces of the sheet while conveying the sheet. In such a case, the following structure can be adopted: a camera and a sensor for capturing an image formed on a sheet are provided, a reversing section is provided on a path for conveying the sheet, the image of the front surface is checked by the sensor, the sheet is reversed, and the sheet passes the position of the sensor again to check the back surface. However, the method of conveying and inverting the sheet by the inverting portion as described above has a problem that the mechanism is complicated and large.

Patent document 1 discloses an invention of an image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus includes a jam recovery device that recovers printing from an image formed on a leading jam sheet on condition that an instruction from a user to recover printing is given when the leading jam sheet is located on the downstream side of the sheet inspection device 150.

The image forming apparatus includes a camera unit 230, and the camera unit 230 is provided with a sheet transport path 223 for transporting a sheet in one direction from upstream to downstream, and two cameras 231 and 232 are disposed at the same vertical position of the sheet transport path 223 so as to face each other. That is, unlike a configuration in which the front and back surfaces of a sheet are inspected by one camera and an inversion portion of a conveyance path, in the camera unit 230, the sheet is conveyed in one direction without being inverted, and during conveyance, images of the upper surface and the lower surface of the conveyed sheet are read by two cameras 231 and 232, respectively. The sheet inspection apparatus 150 inspects an image printed on a sheet using a captured image of the sheet sent from the camera unit 230.

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2018-31963

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

In the camera unit of the image forming apparatus disclosed in patent document 1, two cameras are disposed so as to face each other at the same position in the vertical direction with a sheet conveying path therebetween, and the two cameras capture images of the front and back surfaces of the same portion of the sheet. Therefore, at a position of the sheet conveying path where the camera is provided, it is necessary to expose the front and back surfaces of the sheet to the camera in a sufficient area. However, when large openings are provided in both the upper and lower surfaces of a portion of the sheet conveying path where the camera is disposed in order to expose the front and rear surfaces of the conveyed sheet to a large extent, the sheet cannot be guided and held sufficiently, and the position of the sheet fluctuates during the conveyance, which may cause a problem in that the accuracy of the image capturing by the camera may decrease.

The present inventors have found the conventional techniques and the problems thereof, and have made intensive studies to solve the problems. As a result, a new image inspection apparatus is conceived, which can stably convey an object to be inspected in one direction without using a complicated mechanism for inverting the sheet-like object to be inspected, and can inspect the front and back surfaces of the object to be inspected with required accuracy in the process.

The image inspection apparatus includes: an upstream-side 1 st conveying unit arranged such that a conveying surface on which a sheet-like inspection object is conveyed faces an upper surface; a 2 nd conveying unit disposed adjacent to the conveying surface of the 1 st conveying unit so that the conveying surface on which the test object is conveyed is a lower surface side; a 1 st inspection unit that inspects the front surface of the object conveyed by the 1 st conveying unit; and a 2 nd inspection unit that inspects the back surface of the object conveyed by the 2 nd conveyance unit.

However, the present inventors have further intensively studied the image inspection apparatus, and as a result, have found a problem to be solved further with respect to the image inspection apparatus. In the image inspection apparatus, when the inspection object is delivered from the 1 st conveying unit on the upstream side to the 2 nd conveying unit on the downstream side, the front end portion of the inspection object may hang down and the delivery of the inspection object to the 2 nd conveying unit on the downstream side may fail.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus in which a sheet-like object to be inspected can be conveyed in one direction by two conveying units and images formed on the front and back surfaces of the object to be inspected can be inspected with high accuracy by the two inspecting units, in which the transfer of the object to be inspected at the two conveying units is ensured. Further, the present invention is directed to a conveying device for conveying a sheet-like object to be inspected in one direction by two conveying units, wherein the object to be inspected is reliably transferred to and from the two conveying units.

Means for solving the problems

Technical solution 1 provides a conveyor device, characterized in that the conveyor device includes:

a 1 st conveying unit arranged such that a conveying surface for conveying a sheet-like object to be conveyed is an upper surface side;

a 2 nd conveying unit which is disposed adjacent to the conveying surface of the 1 st conveying unit along a conveying direction of the conveyed object so that a conveying surface on which the sheet-like conveyed object is conveyed is a lower surface side; and a sagging prevention member that is provided between the 1 st conveyance unit and the 2 nd conveyance unit and that delivers and receives the conveyed object from an upstream side to a downstream side in the conveyance direction so as to prevent a tip portion of the conveyed object from sagging.

Technical solution 2 provides an image inspection apparatus including: a 1 st conveying unit configured to convey a sheet-like object to be inspected such that a conveying surface thereof is an upper surface side; a 2 nd conveying unit which is disposed adjacent to the conveying surface of the 1 st conveying unit along a conveying direction of the object to be inspected so that a conveying surface for conveying the sheet-like object to be inspected is a lower surface side; a 1 st inspection unit that inspects a front surface of the object conveyed by the 1 st conveyance unit; and a 2 nd inspection unit for inspecting a back surface of the object conveyed by the 2 nd conveyance unit, the image inspection apparatus being characterized in that,

a sagging prevention member is provided between the 1 st conveying unit and the 2 nd conveying unit, and the sagging prevention member receives and delivers the test object from an upstream side to a downstream side in the conveying direction so as to prevent a tip portion of the test object from sagging.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

According to the conveying apparatus described in claim 1,

the object to be conveyed is held on the upper surface side of the 1 st conveying unit by, for example, adsorption or adhesion, and is stably conveyed. The object to be conveyed is delivered from the upstream side to the downstream side between the downstream side end of the 1 st conveying unit and the upstream side end of the 2 nd conveying unit by the sagging prevention member, and the tip end of the object to be conveyed does not sag. Therefore, the leading end portion of the object to be conveyed is reliably held on the conveying surface of the 2 nd conveying unit and stably conveyed toward the downstream in this state. In this way, the object to be conveyed is continuously and stably conveyed from the 1 st conveying part to the 2 nd conveying part.

According to the image inspection apparatus of claim 2,

the object to be inspected is held on the upper surface side of the 1 st conveying unit by, for example, suction or adhesion, and is stably conveyed. The object to be inspected is delivered from the upstream side to the downstream side between the downstream side end of the 1 st conveying unit and the upstream side end of the 2 nd conveying unit by a sag preventing member, and the tip end of the object to be inspected does not sag. Therefore, the leading end portion of the test object is reliably held on the conveying surface of the 2 nd conveying unit and stably conveyed toward the downstream in this state. In this way, since the object to be inspected is continuously and stably conveyed from the 1 st conveying unit to the 2 nd conveying unit, the desired accuracy can be ensured in the inspection by the 1 st inspecting unit and the inspection by the 2 nd inspecting unit.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image forming system including an image inspection apparatus according to an embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image inspection apparatus according to an embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of the image inspection apparatus shown by further adding a support portion of the inspection portion to the schematic configuration diagram of fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a front view of the image inspection apparatus of the embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the image inspection apparatus according to the embodiment viewed from obliquely above.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the image inspection apparatus according to the embodiment viewed obliquely from below.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the upstream side suction conveying unit, the inspection unit, and the like of the image inspection apparatus according to the embodiment viewed from obliquely above.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the suction conveying unit and the inspection unit of the image inspection apparatus according to the embodiment viewed obliquely from below.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the holding unit and the inspection unit on the upstream side of the image inspection apparatus according to the embodiment viewed obliquely from below.

Fig. 10 is an exploded and diffused perspective view of the upstream holding unit and the suction/transport unit of the image inspection apparatus of the embodiment viewed from obliquely above.

Fig. 11 is a schematic perspective view of a conveyance direction adjusting unit for adjusting the conveyance direction of the inspection unit with respect to the object conveyed by the suction conveyance unit in the image inspection apparatus according to the embodiment.

Fig. 12 is a schematic plan view of a conveyance direction adjusting unit for adjusting the conveyance direction of the inspection unit with respect to the object conveyed by the suction conveying unit in the image inspection apparatus according to the embodiment.

Fig. 13 is a schematic front view showing a 1 st modification of the image inspection apparatus according to the embodiment.

Fig. 14 is a schematic front view showing a 2 nd modification of the image inspection apparatus according to the embodiment.

Fig. 15 is a schematic front view showing a 3 rd modification of the image inspection apparatus according to the embodiment.

Fig. 16 is a schematic front view showing a 4 th modification of the image inspection apparatus according to the embodiment.

Fig. 17 is a schematic front view showing a 5 th modification of the image inspection apparatus according to the embodiment.

Fig. 18 is a schematic front view showing a 6 th modification of the image inspection apparatus according to the embodiment.

Fig. 19 is a perspective view of the upstream suction conveying unit, the inspection unit, and the like as viewed from obliquely above in a 7 th modification of the image inspection apparatus according to the embodiment.

Fig. 20 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a modification example 8 of the image inspection apparatus according to the embodiment.

Description of the reference numerals

1. A 1 st adsorption conveying part as a 1 st conveying part; 2. a 2 nd adsorption conveying part as a 2 nd conveying part; 11. the 1 st inspection part; 12. a 2 nd inspection part; 11a, 12a, one inspection part (camera) requiring relatively low arrangement accuracy among the inspection parts of the suction conveying part; 11b, 12b, one of the inspection portions of the adsorption conveying portion (CIS) requiring relatively high arrangement accuracy; 16. a sag prevention roller as a sag prevention member; 21. 1 st support part; 22. a 2 nd support part; 35. a fixing pin for forming a conveying direction adjusting unit of the adsorption conveying part; 36. a positioning hole forming a conveying direction adjusting unit of the adsorption conveying part; 37. a movable pin constituting a conveying direction adjusting unit of the adsorption conveying part; 38. an operation member constituting a conveying direction adjusting unit of the adsorption conveying part; 39. a long hole forming a conveying direction adjusting unit of the adsorption conveying part; 40. an operation handle of a conveying direction adjusting unit forming the adsorption conveying part; 42. a sag prevention member; 43. a skew correcting roller; 50. a guide rail constituting a moving mechanism of the camera; 51. a moving body constituting a moving mechanism of the camera; 52. a fixed plate constituting a moving mechanism of the camera; 54. a rotating mechanism part which constitutes a moving mechanism of the camera; 55. a cable tray constituting a moving mechanism of the camera; 200. 200a to 200g, an image inspection apparatus; A. b, C, support the fulcrum of the frame of the image inspection device in a rotatable way with the bearing part; x, the width direction of the object to be inspected; y, the conveying direction of the object to be inspected; z, the rotation direction of the lens part based on the rotation mechanism part.

Detailed Description

Basic Structure of image Forming System

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 1 to 12.

As schematically shown by simplifying the configuration in fig. 1, the embodiment of the present invention relates to an image forming system including a printing apparatus 100, an image inspection apparatus 200, and a post-processing apparatus 300, and particularly has a feature in the configuration of the image inspection apparatus 200 as described in detail below.

The printing apparatus 100 includes a plurality of inkjet heads 101 having different ink colors, a conveyance path 102 for conveying a sheet-like medium (printing paper) as an inspection object of the image inspection apparatus 200, and an adsorption conveyance unit 103 provided directly below the inkjet heads 101 so as to be continuous with the conveyance path 102. Other structures such as a supply unit for printing paper are not shown. The post-processing apparatus 300 is an apparatus that applies various post-processes to and discharges a printing sheet on which an image is printed by the printing apparatus 100 and the image is inspected by the image inspection apparatus 200. As the contents of the post-processing, there are sorting operations such as sorting and stacking, stapling, inserting of inserts, folding of various forms, inserting into envelopes, and the like, and the post-processing device 300 having a desired function can be provided according to the purpose.

Basic Structure of image inspecting apparatus

First, a basic configuration of the image inspection apparatus 200 is described with reference to fig. 2 and 3.

The image inspection apparatus includes two suction transport units (a 1 st suction transport unit 1 and a 2 nd suction transport unit 2) as transport units for a sheet-like object to be inspected (a sheet-like medium, i.e., printing paper). First, the 1 st adsorption/transport unit 1 will be briefly described within the range shown in fig. 2. The 1 st suction conveying unit 1 includes a belt conveyor in which a conveyor belt 6 is wound around a drive roller 3 on the downstream side, a driven roller 4 on the upstream side, and two small driven rollers 5. As shown in other figures (see fig. 5, for example), a resin intermediate plate 7 is in contact with the lower surface of the upper conveyor belt 6 of the 1 st suction conveyor unit 1, and a platen 8, which is a plate material, is in contact with the lower surface of the intermediate plate 7. The conveyor belt 6, the intermediate plate 7, and the platen 8 have a large number of through holes formed therein. A chamber, not shown, is attached to the lower surface of the platen 8, and a fan, not shown, attached to the lower portion of the chamber sucks air from the inside of the chamber to maintain negative pressure. Therefore, when the fan is driven, air is sucked into the chamber from above the conveyor belt 6 through the through-holes of the conveyor belt 6, the through-holes of the intermediate plate 7, and the through-holes of the platen 8, and therefore the object is attracted to the conveying surface of the conveyor belt 6, and the object can be conveyed when the conveyor belt 6 is driven.

The upstream side and the downstream side are used in the sense that the suction conveying unit conveys the upstream side and the downstream side in the conveying direction of the test object, and the same applies to the following description.

In this way, in the suction conveying unit of the image inspection apparatus 200, a sheet of paper, which is a sheet-like medium such as printing paper, is a conveyance target. Unlike a paper bag or the like having a structure in which two sheets are stacked, the sheets are fixed in the conveying surface with respect to the conveying belt 6 at positions where the entire surfaces of the sheets are attracted to the conveying belt 6 and in the vertical direction, and can be conveyed by the movement of the conveying belt 6 in a stable state. Therefore, the position of the conveyed sheet in the height direction does not change, and the positional accuracy is high. Therefore, when a CIS or the like having a shallower depth of field than a camera or the like and requiring higher arrangement accuracy for obtaining desired reading accuracy is used as a unit for inspecting a sheet conveyed by the suction conveying unit, the originally high reading accuracy of the CIS can be sufficiently exhibited. The camera and the CIS will be explained later.

As shown in fig. 2, in the conveyance direction of the inspection object from left to right in the drawing, the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 is located on the upstream side, and the 2 nd suction conveying unit 2 is located on the downstream side. The 1 st suction-conveyance unit 1 and the 2 nd suction-conveyance unit 2 have the same structure in terms of function, but the 1 st suction-conveyance unit 1 is horizontally disposed so that a conveyance surface for sucking and conveying an object to be inspected is on the upper surface side. Therefore, the object to be inspected conveyed by the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 is conveyed with its front surface facing upward. In contrast, the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2 is disposed upside down from the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1. That is, the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2 is horizontally disposed so that a conveying surface for sucking and conveying the test object is on the lower surface side. Therefore, the object to be inspected conveyed by the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2 is conveyed with the back surface thereof directed downward. The 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 and the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2 are disposed adjacent to each other with their respective conveying surfaces substantially aligned, and can continuously convey the object to be inspected along one horizontal conveying path.

As shown in fig. 2, this image inspection apparatus includes two inspection units (a 1 st inspection unit 11 and a 2 nd inspection unit 12) as inspection means for an object to be inspected. The 1 st inspection unit 11 is provided above an upstream end of the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 so as to face the conveyor belt 6 and face downward. The 2 nd inspection unit 12 is provided facing the conveyor belt 6 and facing upward below the upstream end of the 2 nd suction conveyor unit 2. The 1 st inspection unit 11 and the 2 nd inspection unit 12 are CIS (Contact Image Sensor) of the same specification, but the inspection unit that reads an Image formed on an object to be inspected for inspection is not limited to the CIS, and may be a Sensor of another principle or configuration, and may use a camera as described below.

As shown in fig. 2, the image inspection apparatus 200 is provided with an introduction guide 13 in the vicinity of the upstream side of the 1 st suction conveying unit 1, and the introduction guide 13 guides the inspection object fed from the upstream printing apparatus 100 to the conveying surface. A pressing roller 14 is provided above the driven roller 4 of the 1 st suction conveying unit 1, and the pressing roller 14 presses the leading end of the test object introduced through the introduction guide plate 13. The pressing roller 14 rotates following the conveyor belt 6.

As shown in fig. 2, in the image inspection apparatus 200, an intermediate guide 15 is provided between the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 and the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2, and the intermediate guide 15 guides the object to be inspected, which is fed from the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1, to the conveying surface of the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2. As described later with reference to other drawings (for example, fig. 6 and 8), a sag prevention roller 16 is provided below the driven roller 4 of the 2 nd suction conveying unit 2, and the sag prevention roller 16 serves as a sag prevention member for preventing the front end of the object to be inspected, which is introduced through the intermediate guide 15, from sagging.

As shown in fig. 2, the image inspection apparatus 200 is provided with a discharge guide 17 in the vicinity of the downstream side of the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2, and the discharge guide 17 discharges the object to be inspected conveyed by the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2.

Next, referring to fig. 3, a basic configuration of the image inspection apparatus 200 not shown in fig. 2 will be described. The 1 st inspection unit 11 is attached to the 1 st support unit 21 positioned with respect to the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1, and the 2 nd inspection unit 12 is attached to the 2 nd support unit 22 positioned with respect to the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2. The 1 st supporting unit 21 and the 2 nd supporting unit 22 have substantially the same configuration in terms of function, but are disposed upside down so as to face the conveying surface of the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 and the conveying surface of the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2 so as to face the conveying surfaces of the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 and the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2, which are disposed upside down from each other. As described later with reference to other drawings (for example, fig. 5 and the like), the 1 st support portion 21 and the 2 nd support portion 22 are supported by a frame, not shown, of the apparatus at both ends of the long support shaft 23 so as to be rotatable at the support point A, B. In fig. 3, the center axis of the long support shaft 23 is perpendicular to the paper surface, and the 1 st support portion 21 and the 2 nd support portion 22 are supported by the frame in a state of being rotatable in both left and right directions about the center axis (hereinafter, the description will be given with reference to the arrow shown in fig. 5). The 1 st support portion 21 and the 2 nd support portion 22 are rotatably supported by a frame, not shown, of the apparatus at support points C by short support shafts 24, respectively. In fig. 3, the center axis of the short support shaft 24 is substantially horizontal and parallel to the paper surface, and the 1 st support portion 21 and the 2 nd support portion 22 are supported by the frame in a state rotatable about the center axis in both the forward direction and the depth direction of the paper surface (hereinafter, the description will be given with reference to the arrows shown in fig. 5). The supported state at the support point A, B, C of the 1 st support part 21 and the supported state at the support point A, B, C of the 2 nd support part 22 are not fixed, and when an external force is applied to the frame and deformation occurs, the 1 st support part 21 and the 2 nd support part 22 can be rotated in the above-described two directions, and therefore, the 1 st support part 21 and the 2 nd support part 22 are not deformed or the positional relationship therebetween is not changed adversely, which will be described in detail later.

According to the image inspection apparatus 200 of the embodiment including the basic configuration described above, the object to be inspected is sucked and held on the conveyance surface on the upper surface side of the 1 st suction-conveyance unit 1, is stably conveyed, is transferred to the 2 nd suction-conveyance unit 2, is sucked and held on the conveyance surface on the lower surface side, and is stably conveyed. Since the inspection object is sucked and conveyed in this way, the position and posture of the inspection object are not unstable during conveyance, and the front and back surfaces of the inspection object can be inspected with required accuracy by the two inspection units 11 and 12 while stably conveying the inspection object in one direction without using a complicated mechanism for reversing the inspection object.

In the image inspection apparatus 200, since the inspection units 11 and 12 are disposed near the upstream ends of the suction-conveying units 1 and 2, most of the conveying surfaces of the suction-conveying units 1 and 2 are open and have no obstacles. Therefore, a manager who manages the apparatus or a worker who performs maintenance or the like on the apparatus can easily come into contact with the conveying surfaces of the suction conveying units 1 and 2. Therefore, as described in the "conventional art", the conveyance path 102 of the object to be inspected is not sandwiched by the inspection unit unlike the camera unit of the image forming apparatus disclosed in patent document 1, and therefore, even if the object to be inspected is jammed during conveyance, it is possible to easily remove the jammed object to be inspected by inserting a hand into the problem portion.

Further, according to the image inspection apparatus 200, since the inspection units 11 and 12 are disposed in the vicinity of the upstream end portions of the suction-conveying units 1 and 2, when the detection results based on the images obtained by the inspection units 11 and 12 are used on the downstream side, a time margin can be obtained, which is preferable. For example, in the post-processing device 300 located at the subsequent stage of the image inspection apparatus 200, when an inspection object whose inspection result is not preferable is selected as an NG item, it is desired to obtain information from the inspection units 11 and 12 as soon as possible in order to determine whether the inspection object is an NG item. According to the present embodiment, since the inspection units 11 and 12 are located on the upstream side of the suction conveying units 1 and 2, the control unit can obtain the inspection result earlier than in the case where the inspection units 11 and 12 are located on the downstream side, and perform the necessary post-processing without delay.

Detailed configuration of image inspection apparatus

Next, a more specific configuration of the image inspection apparatus 200 having the basic configuration described above will be described with reference to fig. 4 to 12. First, the 1 st support unit 21 to which the 1 st inspection unit 11 is attached, the 2 nd support unit 22 to which the 2 nd inspection unit 12 is attached, and the structure for positioning these support units 21 and 22 on the suction conveying units 1 and 2 will be described with reference to fig. 4 to 9.

In particular, as shown in fig. 5 and 9, the 1 st supporting portion 21 is a frame having a substantially square outer shape substantially matching the planar shape of the 1 st suction conveying portion 1. A 1 st inspection unit 11 is attached to the inside of an upstream wall portion orthogonal to the conveyance direction among the four wall portions of the 1 st support unit 21, and the 1 st inspection unit 11 has a longitudinal direction (a width direction of the object to be inspected) orthogonal to the conveyance direction. The inspection elements of the 1 st inspection section 11 face in the direction of the conveyor belt 6.

As shown in fig. 9, in particular, support leg portions 25 each having a predetermined size are provided so as to protrude from the 1 st suction-conveying portion 1 on the side of the four corner portions of the 1 st support portion 21. A groove 26 is formed in the support leg 25 along the longitudinal direction. In particular, as shown in fig. 4 and 5, the four support legs 25 of the 1 st support portion 21 are respectively brought into contact with the upper surface of the platen 8 protruding from the intermediate plate 7 of the 1 st suction-conveying portion 1 at two positions (four positions in total) with the conveyor belt 6 interposed therebetween. As described below, particularly as shown by the distance D in fig. 4, the 1 st support portion 21 keeps the 1 st suction conveying portion 1 pressed against the support leg portion 25, thereby keeping the distance between the 1 st inspection portion 11 and the conveying surface of the 1 st suction conveying portion 1 constant.

As shown in fig. 4, 5, and 7 in particular, first, the winding shaft 27 is provided in parallel to the conveying direction on one wall portion of the 1 st support portion 21 on the side opposite to the 1 st suction-conveying portion 1 and parallel to the conveying direction. As shown in fig. 5 and 7 in particular, two pulleys 28a and 28b are provided at each end of the winding shaft 27. Further, pulleys 29, 29 are provided at two corner portions of the 1 st supporting portion 21 on the opposite side to the 1 st suction conveying portion 1 and on the other wall portion parallel to the conveying direction. A suspension wire 30 is wound around the pulleys 28a, 28b of the winding shaft 27, and a base end portion of the suspension wire 30 is connected to the pulleys 28a, 28 b. Two suspension wires 30, 30 of outer two pulleys 28a, 28a out of the two pulleys at both ends of the winding shaft 27 are drawn out in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction, are wound around two pulleys 29, 29 located at positions opposite to the side where the winding shaft 27 is located, are guided by the 1 st suction-conveying portion 1 below along two grooves 26, 26 formed in the two support leg portions 25, and are coupled to two portions of the platen 8 where the two support leg portions 25, 25 abut, by their respective distal end portions. The two suspension wires 30, 30 of the inner two pulleys 28b, 28b out of the two pulleys at the both ends of the winding shaft 27 are guided downward along the two grooves 26, 26 formed in the two support legs 25, 25 positioned directly below, and are connected by their respective leading end portions to the two portions of the platen 8 where the two support legs 25, 25 abut.

A 360-degree rotatable handle 31 is provided on a wall portion of the 1 st support portion 21 located on the opposite side of the wall provided with the winding shaft 27 with the conveyor belt 6 interposed therebetween. The rotation shaft of the handle 31 is linked to the windup shaft 27 via a transmission mechanism such as a belt, a pulley, a worm, and a wheel. Therefore, when the winding shaft 27 is rotated in a predetermined direction by the operation of the handle 31, the suspension wire 30 is wound around the pulleys 28a and 28b to lift the platen 8, and the platen 8 can be pressed against the front ends of the four support legs 25 of the 1 st support portion 21 with a required force to be positioned. Here, since the suspension wire 30 is disposed in the groove 26 of the support leg portion 25 and connected to the platen 8, the force of the suspension wire 30 lifting up the platen 8 directly acts on the position where the support leg portion 25 abuts. Therefore, the fixing of the platen 8 (i.e., the 1 st suction-conveying section 1) to the support leg 25 is ensured. The force for lifting the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 by the suspension wire 30 depends on the weight of each part and the like, and for example, one suspension wire 30 may be 7N, and the total of four suspension wires may be 28N.

In this way, the 1 st support portion 21 on which the 1 st inspection portion 11 is mounted positions the platen 8 so that the platen 8 is aligned with a virtual plane defined by the front ends of the four support leg portions 25, and the platen 8 is fixed at that position with a required force. Therefore, the 1 st inspection unit 11 attached to the 1 st support unit 21 at a predetermined position is parallel to the conveyance surface of the inspection object facing the 1 st inspection unit, and the distance between the 1 st inspection unit 11 and the conveyance surface is a predetermined constant value. Even if the platen 8 is not originally a flat surface but has some problem in flatness, the flatness of the platen 8 can be corrected by a force that pulls the platen 8 by the suspension wire 30 and makes it contact with the support leg portion 25.

The inspection unit of the present embodiment is a CIS, and the depth of field of the CIS is generally shallow, and high placement accuracy is required to obtain a desired reading accuracy. For example, the allowable error is about ± 0.2mm when the distance is set to 12 mm. Therefore, high accuracy is required for positioning between the CIS and the conveying surface of the object to be inspected. However, according to the present embodiment, the 1 st inspection unit 11 is attached to the 1 st support unit 21 so as to be parallel to a virtual plane formed by the distal end surfaces of the four support legs 25 provided on the 1 st support unit 21, and when the support legs 25 of the 1 st support unit 21 are brought into contact with the platen 8 and fixed in the virtual plane, the platen 8 and the 1 st inspection unit 11 are parallel to each other, and the image inspection of the object to be inspected conveyed by the 1 st suction-conveyance unit 1 by the 1 st inspection unit 11 can be appropriately performed with a desired accuracy.

The 1 st supporting section 21 and the 1 st suction-conveying section 1 are described as a mechanism for pulling the suction-conveying sections 1 and 2 by the suspension wire 30 to bring them into contact with the supporting leg portions 25 of the supporting sections 21 and 22 and position them, and since the 2 nd supporting section 22 and the 2 nd suction-conveying section 2 are also substantially functionally identical, the description of the 1 st supporting section 21 and the like will be referred to and omitted. However, as shown in the right side of fig. 5, the 2 nd support part 22 is different from the 1 st support part 21 and the like in terms of the direction of force and the like in that the 2 nd suction conveying part 2 located above is pulled downward by the four suspension wires 30 and the 2 nd suction conveying part 2 is brought into contact with the upper end surfaces of the four support leg parts 25 projecting upward. The support portions 21 and 22 of the embodiment position the platen 8 so that the platen 8 is aligned with the virtual plane defined by the front ends of the four support legs 25, but the virtual plane may be uniquely defined by the surface passing the front ends of the support legs 25, and therefore, three or more support legs 25 may be provided. Further, the positioning accuracy of the platen 8 can be further improved by setting the number of the platen to five or more.

As shown in fig. 4 to 7, in particular, a long support shaft 23 perpendicular to the conveying direction is provided on the upstream side frame of the pair of wall portions of the 1 st support portion 21 parallel to the conveying direction. Both ends of the long support shaft 23 protrude outward of the wall portion, and as shown by the bidirectional arrows around the long support shaft 23 in fig. 5, both ends of the long support shaft 23 are rotatably coupled to a frame, not shown, of the image inspection apparatus 200 so that the long support shaft 23 can rotate. That is, the 1 st support portion 21 is attached to the downstream side or the upstream side of the conveyor belt 6 so as to be rotatable in a direction of swinging up and down about the long support shaft 23. In the 1 st support portion 21, the lower end of the connecting plate 32 extending upward is fixed to the center portion of the wall portion on the downstream side of the pair of wall portions orthogonal to the conveying direction. The upper end of the connecting plate 32 is rotatably connected to a frame, not shown, of the image inspection apparatus 200 by a short support shaft 24 parallel to the conveyance direction. The center axis of the short support shaft 24 is perpendicular to and substantially horizontal to the center axis of the long support shaft 23, and as shown by the double-headed arrow around the short support shaft 24 in fig. 5, the 1 st support part 21 is supported by the frame in a state of being rotatable about the short support shaft 24 in both the oblique forward direction and the oblique depth direction on the paper surface. Therefore, both ends of the long support shaft 23 are the support points A, B (see fig. 3) that rotatably support the 1 st support part 21 to the frame, and the short support shaft 24 is the support point C (see fig. 3) that rotatably supports the 1 st support part 21 to the frame. The 2 nd support portion 22 is also attached to the frame with substantially the same configuration as the 1 st support portion 21 in terms of function, and therefore, the description of the 1 st support portion 21 and the like will be referred to and omitted. Thus, the supported state at the support point A, B, C of the 1 st support portion 21 is not fixed. Therefore, when the frame is deformed by applying an external force of a certain force, the 1 st support portion 21 is in a support state of being rotatable in two orthogonal surfaces as shown in fig. 5, and the posture is maintained as much as possible by releasing the force transmitted from the frame, and the 1 st support portion 21 is not deformed or the arrangement relationship between the 1 st support portion 21 and the 2 nd support portion 22 is not changed in a harmful manner.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the support portions 21 and 22 on which the inspection portions 11 and 12 are mounted are supported at three points in a non-fixed state in which they are rotatable with respect to the frame of the main body, and the following effects can be obtained by this configuration. That is, when the image inspection apparatus 200 is installed on a floor surface with low flatness, or when the height adjustment is performed using the adjusters of the four support legs of the image inspection apparatus 200 corresponding to the installation on the floor surface with low flatness, but the adjustment is not complete and the height of the support legs is different, the image inspection apparatus 200 in either case is in an inclined posture that is offset from a required horizontal state. Therefore, an external force is applied to the frame of the apparatus, and deformation occurs. When the frame is deformed, if the support portions 21 and 22 are directly fixed to the frame, first, the support portions 21 and 22 are also deformed, and the positional relationship between the inspection units 11 and 12 attached to the support portions 21 and 22 and the conveying surface of the inspection object is changed. Secondly, the mutual positional relationship between the 1 st inspection unit 11 and the 2 nd inspection unit 12 is also changed. As a result, the inspection units 11 and 12 may erroneously detect the inspection unit.

However, according to the present embodiment, since the support portions 21 and 22 on which the inspection portions 11 and 12 are mounted are three-point supported in a state of being not fixed to the frame of the main body, even if deformation occurs due to application of unnecessary external force to the frame of the apparatus, the deformation is not easily transmitted to the support portions 21 and 22, the standard positional relationship between the inspection portions 11 and 12 attached to the support portions 21 and 22 and the suction conveying portions 1 and 2 can be maintained, and the mutual positional relationship between the 1 st inspection portion 11 and the 2 nd inspection portion 12 which is appropriately set is not easily changed. As a result, the inspection units 11 and 12 do not erroneously detect the object to be inspected.

As shown in fig. 6 and 8 in particular, the sag preventing rollers 16 are provided at positions below the driven rollers 4 of the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2, that is, below the upstream end of the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2. As described above with reference to fig. 2, the sag preventing rollers 16 are sag preventing members that prevent the front end of the object to be inspected introduced through the intermediate guide 15 from sagging. The sag prevention roller 16 has a roller portion divided into comb teeth in an axial direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the test object. When an object to be inspected is fed from the upstream 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 to the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2, before the leading end of the object to be inspected sags due to its own weight or downward winding, the leading end abuts against the sag-preventing roller 16, climbs up the sag-preventing roller 16, is sandwiched between the sag-preventing roller 16 and the conveyor belt 6, and starts suction-conveying by the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2. Alternatively, before the leading end of the test object sags, the leading end is sandwiched between the sag prevention roller 16 and the conveyor 6, and suction conveyance by the 2 nd suction conveying unit 2 is started.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the sag prevention roller 16 is provided at the transfer position of the object to be inspected between the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 and the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2, and the following effects can be obtained by this configuration. That is, in the image inspection apparatus 200 of the present embodiment, the 1 st inspection unit 11 reads the image of the upper surface of the inspection object at the entrance of the 1 st suction transport unit 1, and the timing for starting the reading of the image of the lower surface by the 2 nd inspection unit 12 is set according to the reading timing and the transport length thereafter. The images detected by the CIS as the inspection units 11 and 12 are compared with the original image data to determine whether or not the images are proper, but the resolution of the images detected by the CIS is high resolution of 300 to 600 dpi. Therefore, when the leading end of the object to be inspected sags during the transfer of the object to be inspected between the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 and the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2, the timing of the entry of the object to be inspected into the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2 varies, and erroneous detection of reading occurs in the 2 nd inspection unit 12. However, according to the present embodiment, since the sag prevention roller 16 is provided at the entrance of the 2 nd suction conveying unit 2, the problem of sagging of the leading end of the object to be inspected due to its own weight does not occur, and the problem of erroneous detection does not occur because the setting of the reading timing at the 2 nd inspection unit 12 based on the reading timing at the 1 st inspection unit 11 and the like does not vary.

When the distal end portion of the object is viewed in a line of sight parallel to the transport direction, wavy deformation (wrinkling) may be observed. Such deformation reduces the accuracy of the inspection by the inspection unit such as the CIS, and causes erroneous detection, and therefore it is preferable to correct the deformation as much as possible. In this embodiment, since the sag prevention rollers 16 sandwich the test object between the sag prevention rollers 16 and the conveyor belt 6 by the comb-teeth-shaped roller portions, the shape of the wrinkles of the test object can be corrected in the direction in which the wave crests are crushed and the depth of the wave troughs is reduced, and as a result, the deformation is changed to a wave shape having a smaller cycle, and therefore, the same result as in the case where the wrinkles are corrected is obtained, and an effect of preventing erroneous detection by the test portions 11 and 12 can be obtained.

In particular, as shown in fig. 9 to 12, the 1 st supporting portion 21 is provided with a 1 st conveying direction adjusting means for adjusting the conveying direction in which the 1 st suction conveying portion 1 conveys the test object. In the 1 st support portion 21, a fixing pin 35 is provided so as to protrude downward on one side of a pair of wall portions parallel to the conveying direction. The fixing pin 35 is inserted into a positioning hole 36 provided in the platen 8. Further, a movable pin 37 is provided to protrude downward on the other side of the pair of wall portions parallel to the conveying direction. The movable pin 37 is eccentrically attached to the lower surface of a cylindrical operation member 38 rotatably attached to the 1 st support portion 21, and is inserted into a long hole 39 provided in the platen 8. An operation knob 40 for rotating the operation member 38 is provided on the peripheral surface of the operation member 38. A scale plate 41 indicating the angle of rotation of the operating member 38 is attached around the operating member 38.

When the 1 st suction-conveying portion 1 is lifted by the suspension wires 30 (not shown in fig. 10) from the state shown in fig. 10 and brought into contact with the four support leg portions 25 of the 1 st support portion 21, the fixed pins 35 are inserted into the positioning holes 36, the movable pins 37 are inserted into the elongated holes 39, and the state shown in fig. 7 is achieved. This state is a state shown in fig. 5 as a whole including the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2 and the 2 nd inspection unit 12, and shows a state in normal use. In such a normal use, when a problem or the like occurs in the inspection accuracy of the 1 st inspection unit 11 due to, for example, insufficient parallelism between the 1 st inspection unit 11 and the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1, it is necessary to correct the conveying direction in which the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 conveys the object to be inspected.

When the 1 st suction-conveying section 1 is corrected in the conveying direction in which the object is conveyed by using the 1 st conveying direction adjusting means, first, the force with which the 1 st suction-conveying section 1 is suspended by the suspension wire 30 is appropriately reduced, and the platen 8 is in a state in which it can slide with respect to the support leg portions 25. Then, as shown in fig. 11 and 12, the operating member 38 is rotated by a desired angle by the operating handle 40, and the movable pin 37 is rotated by a desired amount. The change in angle corresponding to the operation amount of the operation knob 40 can be read from the scale plate 41. With such an operation, the platen 8 of the 1 st suction conveying portion 1 can be oriented at the maximum angle θ about the fixing pin 35. After the adjustment, the suspension force of the suspension wire 30 is appropriately increased to fix the platen 8 to the support leg portion 25.

As described above, in the present embodiment, a mechanism is provided for changing the conveying direction of the test object by adjusting the orientation of the suction conveying units 1 and 2 with respect to the supporting units 21 and 22 on which the test units 11 and 12 are mounted. Therefore, when the positional relationship between the inspection units 11 and 12 and the conveying direction is problematic for some reason, the positional relationship between the inspection units 11 and 12 and the conveying direction is corrected by the operation of the operation knob 40, and the occurrence of erroneous detection can be prevented. When the object is skewed in the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1, the timing at which the leading end of the object reaches the sag preventing roller 16 is delayed when the object is transferred to the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2, and the sag preventing effect by the sag preventing roller 16 can be reduced. However, when the conveyance direction of the 1 st suction-conveyance unit 1 located on the upstream side is adjusted by operating the operation handle 40 to correct the skew of the object to be inspected and the conveyance directions of the 1 st suction-conveyance unit 1 and the 2 nd suction-conveyance unit 2 are made to coincide with each other, the effect of preventing sagging by the sagging prevention rollers 16 described above can be reliably ensured.

Further, similarly to the 1 st supporting part 21, the 2 nd supporting part 22 is also provided with a 2 nd conveying direction adjusting means for adjusting the conveying direction in which the 2 nd suction conveying part 2 conveys the test object, but since the 2 nd conveying direction adjusting means has the same configuration as the 1 st conveying direction adjusting means in terms of function, the description of the 1 st conveying direction adjusting means is referred to avoid redundant description.

Modifications of image inspecting apparatus according to the embodiment

A modification of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 13 to 18.

Fig. 13 is a schematic front view showing a modification 1. The image inspection apparatus 200a is the same as the embodiment in that the 1 st suction-conveyance unit 1 and the 2 nd suction-conveyance unit 2 are disposed on the upstream side and the downstream side, respectively, along the conveyance direction of the inspection object, but the conveyance surface of the 2 nd suction-conveyance unit 2 has an inclination angle inclined downward toward the downstream side with respect to the conveyance surface of the 1 st suction-conveyance unit 1.

In the embodiment, the conveying direction of the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 and the conveying direction of the 2 nd suction conveying unit 2 are assumed to coincide with each other, but in such a configuration, the leading end of the test object to be transferred may hang down and not be properly adsorbed by the 2 nd suction conveying unit 2, and the transfer may not be smoothly performed. In this case, as shown in modification 1, the downstream end of the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2 is slightly lowered downward to provide the inclination angle. In order to set the inclination angle, the tension of the suspension wire 30 on the downstream side that suspends the 2 nd suction-conveying portion 2 can be reduced compared to the upstream side, and the inclination angle can be adjusted.

An example of a specific tilt angle is explained. For example a basis weight of 200g/cm²Since the paper sheet having a thickness greater than or equal to a certain thickness has a high hardness, it is less likely to sag during the transfer. Therefore, it is preferable that the angle measured below the two suction conveying units is set to about 177 degrees or less, where the angle between the conveying surface of the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 and the conveying surface of the 2 nd suction conveying unit 2 is 180 degrees or less. That is, in this case, the angle at which the downstream end of the 2 nd adsorption conveyor 2 is lowered is about 3 degrees. For example, a basis weight of 40g/cm²In the case of the left and right thin sheets, since the hardness is weak, the sheets are liable to sag at the time of transfer. Therefore, it is preferable that the angle measured below the two adsorption conveying sections be taken as the angleAn angle between the conveyance surface of the 1 st suction conveyance unit 1 and the conveyance surface of the 2 nd suction conveyance unit 2 is set to about 170 degrees. That is, the angle at which the downstream end of the 2 nd adsorption conveyor 2 is lowered is about 10 degrees.

According to this image inspection apparatus 200a, even if the leading end portion of the object to be inspected conveyed from the 1 st suction-conveyance unit 1 to the 2 nd suction-conveyance unit 2 hangs down from the conveyance surface of the 1 st suction-conveyance unit 1 due to paper quality or the like, the leading end portion is pressed by the conveyance surface of the 2 nd suction-conveyance unit 2 inclined downward toward the downstream, and therefore, the leading end portion can be reliably sucked and held, and can be stably conveyed downstream.

In the image inspection apparatus 200a, the inclination angle of the conveying surface of the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2 that inclines downward toward the downstream side may be set according to the image forming condition when forming an image on the object to be inspected. Here, as the image forming conditions, in addition to the type of the object indicated by the basis weight, the orientation of the object, the print amount, the arrangement balance of the print range in the image forming surface of the object, and the like may be listed. The tilt angle may be set to an appropriate value manually or automatically according to these image forming conditions.

Fig. 14 is a schematic front view showing a modification 2.

In the image inspection apparatus 200b, the conveyance surface of the downstream end of the 1 st suction-conveyance unit 1 and the conveyance surface of the upstream end of the 2 nd suction-conveyance unit 2 overlap each other. The other structures are the same as those of the embodiment. In the portion where the two conveying surfaces overlap, the two conveyor belts 6, 6 face each other with an interval of 0.5mm or less in the vertical direction. In an example, since a thick paper sheet, which is a paper sheet for forming an image in an image forming apparatus, is often about 0.2mm, if the distance between the two conveyor belts 6, 6 is 0.5mm or less in such a case, the transfer of the object to be inspected is not hindered. According to the 2 nd modification, the following effects are provided: no mechanism (for example, an intermediate guide plate 15 shown in fig. 2) for the transfer is required between the upstream 1 st suction-conveyance unit 1 and the downstream 2 nd suction-conveyance unit 2, and the transfer is smooth.

Fig. 15 is a schematic front view showing a modification 3.

In this image inspection apparatus 200c, the camera 11a and the CIS11b are provided as the inspection units in the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1, and the camera 12a and the CIS12b are provided as the inspection units in the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2, but in both suction-conveying units 1 and 2, the CIS11b and 12b (having a relatively shallow depth of field) having relatively high required arrangement accuracy are disposed at positions on the downstream side with respect to the conveying direction of the object to be inspected, and the cameras 11a and 12a (having a relatively deep depth of field) having relatively low required arrangement accuracy are disposed at positions on the upstream side with respect to the conveying direction of the object to be inspected. The other structures are the same as those of the embodiment. In the suction conveying units 1 and 2, the suction force with respect to the test object during the conveyance is higher in a state where the test object is sucked to the downstream side of the conveyor belt 6 and most of the holes are blocked and conveyed than in a state where the test object is sucked only to the upstream side of the conveyor belt 6 and most of the holes are not blocked and conveyed. That is, in the case where the sheet has wrinkles and curls, the sheet hardly adheres to the transport belt in the former case, and the sheet easily adheres to the transport belt in the latter case. Therefore, by arranging the cameras 11a and 12a with relatively low accuracy (with a deep depth of field) and the CIS11b and 12b with relatively high accuracy (with a shallow depth of field) in the respective suction- conveyance units 1 and 2 as described above, it is possible to arrange the inspection units of different types with the arrangement accuracy required for the respective inspection accuracies to function, and it is possible to ensure the level of the inspection accuracy of the respective inspection units.

Fig. 16 is a schematic front view showing a 4 th modification.

The image inspection apparatus 200d includes a sagging prevention member 42 between the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 and the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2, and the sagging prevention member 42 extends a lower plate body of the intermediate guide 15 to a position below an upstream end of the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2. The other structures are the same as those of the embodiment. The sagging prevention member 42 can obtain an effect of preventing the tip end portion of the object to be inspected transferred from the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 to the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2 from sagging due to gravity, curling, and the like, similarly to the sagging prevention roller 16 (see fig. 2, fig. 6, and the like) described above.

Fig. 17 is a schematic front view showing a modification example 5.

In the image inspection apparatus 200e, a skew correction roller 43 is provided in a portion adjacent to the upstream side of the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1, and the skew correction roller 43 corrects skew of the object to be inspected which is conveyed from the upstream side of the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1. The skew correcting roller 43 waits in a stopped state and starts rotating in the conveying direction when the object to be inspected (printing paper) abuts against it. A top edge sensor 44 (see fig. 4 and 5) for detecting the front edge of the object is provided at a position very close to the skew correcting roller 43 on the upstream side of the skew correcting roller 43, and when the top edge sensor 44 detects the front edge of the object, the control unit that receives the detection signal from the top edge sensor 44 drives the skew correcting roller 43. The other structures are the same as those of the embodiment. According to the skew correction roller 43, even if the printing paper (object) fed from the upstream printing apparatus 100 is skewed, the printing paper can be fed to the 1 st inspection unit 11 in an appropriate posture by correcting the skew.

Fig. 18 is a schematic front view showing a modification 6.

According to the image inspection apparatus 200f, the CIS11b, 12b are provided as the inspection units in the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 and the 2 nd suction conveying unit 2, respectively, and in any of the suction conveying units 1, 2, the CIS11b, 12b as the inspection unit are disposed in the vicinity of the downstream end. The other structures are the same as those of the embodiment. In the suction conveying units 1 and 2, the suction force of the object to be inspected which is conveyed is higher in a state where the object to be inspected is sucked to the downstream side of the conveyor belt 6 and most of the holes are blocked than in a state where the object to be inspected is sucked only to the upstream side of the conveyor belt 6 and most of the holes are not blocked. That is, the suction conveying units 1 and 2 convey the test object to the downstream side with higher force for holding the test object on the conveyor belt, and the holding is more stable. Therefore, in view of the high arrangement accuracy required for the CISs 11b, 12b as the inspection units to function with the desired inspection accuracy, the CISs 11b, 12b are arranged downstream of the adsorption and transport units 1, 2 as described above. Thus, the object to be inspected conveyed to the downstream side by the suction conveying units 1 and 2 is stably held on the conveyor belt 6 with a sufficient suction force, and images can be detected with desired high accuracy by the CIS11b and 12 b.

When the leading end of the test object is located on the upstream side of the conveyor 6 and the suction of the negative pressure or the like is low, the trailing end of the test object does not enter the suction conveyor 1, and therefore the test object is not sucked and adhered, and the conveyance of the test object is unstable. However, when the front end of the test object reaches the rear end of the suction conveying unit 1, the whole test object is sucked and adhered, the conveyance is stable, and the possibility of the test object shaking in the height direction is reduced. Then, when the rear end of the object to be inspected reaches the 1 st inspection unit 11b located downstream of the 1 st suction-conveyance unit, for example, the negative pressure acting on the rear end of the object to be inspected becomes low, but the front end of the object to be inspected is sucked by the 2 nd suction-conveyance unit 2 on the downstream side, and the stable conveyance state can be maintained as conveyance even if the negative pressure becomes low only at the rear end of the object to be inspected due to inertia in a state where the negative pressure is high until immediately before the front end of the object to be inspected reaches the second suction-conveyance unit 2. However, a stable state can be maintained with only the assistance of the inertia described above.

Fig. 19 is a schematic perspective view showing a modification example of fig. 7.

Although the image inspection apparatus 200g includes the 1 st suction-conveyance unit 1 and the 2 nd suction-conveyance unit 2, in fig. 19, only the 1 st suction-conveyance unit 1 on the upstream side is shown in a view obliquely downward as viewed obliquely from above on the downstream side of the front, and illustration of the 2 nd suction-conveyance unit 2 on the downstream side is omitted. In addition, although the structure of the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 is partially or partially shown in fig. 19 and reference numerals that should be assigned to the structural parts are appropriately omitted, the parts other than the inspection part (for example, the 1 st support part 21, the parts of the conveying direction adjusting means, and the like) are substantially the same as those of the embodiment and the modification described above, and therefore, the conventional description is basically referred to for these parts to avoid redundant description. In fig. 19, the conveying surface of the test object is the front surface of the conveyor belt 6 to which the test object is adhered by suction, and the conveying direction of the test object is indicated by an arrow Y parallel to the conveying surface. The width direction of the test object orthogonal to the conveyance direction Y of the test object is indicated by an arrow X.

As shown in fig. 19, in the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 of the image inspection apparatus 200g, a CIS11b as the 1 st inspection unit is provided at a position on the upstream side (left side in the drawing) with respect to the conveying direction Y of the object to be inspected. The CIS11b is a device for inspecting the front surface of an object to be inspected in linear inspection regions on the object to be inspected parallel to the width direction X, and the inspection range thereof sufficiently covers the length in the width direction of an image of the object to be inspected, and is capable of obtaining data of the entire image formed on the object to be inspected from pixel data read for each of a plurality of linear inspection regions arranged along the transport direction Y. The depth of field, the deployment height, etc. are as described above.

As shown in fig. 19, in the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 of the image inspection apparatus 200g, a camera 11a as a 3 rd inspection unit is provided downstream (right side in the figure) of the CIS11b with respect to the conveyance direction Y of the object to be inspected. The camera 11a is a device for inspecting the front surface of an object to be inspected in a planar inspection area parallel to a conveyance surface, and has a rectangular inspection area in which an image (for example, a rectangular area of about 50mm × 100 mm) having a predetermined area in which a visually effective size exists in both directions of a conveyance direction Y and a width direction X can be read, such as a QR code. The depth of field, the deployment height, etc. are as described above.

As shown in fig. 19, the camera 11a is mounted on a slide-type moving mechanism and is movable in the width direction X of the object, that is, in a direction parallel to the linear inspection region on the front surface of the object. The moving mechanism will be explained below. A guide 50 is fixed to the frame of the image inspection apparatus 200g above the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 in parallel to the width direction X. A movable body 51 is provided on the guide rail 50 so as to be movable in the width direction X. The movable body 51 can be manually set at an arbitrary position. However, the moving body 51 may be moved by a drive source not shown, and in this case, the position in the width direction X of the image of the planar inspection region to be detected can be automatically set at an arbitrary position by the drive source, based on the detection information from the upstream CIS11b, various control information from the control unit, or the like. The driving source may be a semiautomatic type that moves the movable body 51 by operating only when the operator turns off the energizing switch. The upper end of the fixed plate 52 is attached to the side surface of the moving body 51, and the fixed plate 52 hangs downward from the guide rail 50. The camera 11a is attached to the front surface of the fixed plate 52 at substantially the center thereof. The camera includes a lens portion 53 that adjusts the focus by rotating the focus ring, and a rotation mechanism portion 54 that rotates the lens portion 53 in the rotation direction indicated by the arrow Z. The rotation mechanism portion 54 can rotate the lens portion 53 by an angle of 90 degrees. Both the focus ring and the rotation mechanism 54 of the lens unit 53 are manual, and when they are to be operated, the operator opens the opening/closing door located on the front surface of the frame of the image inspection apparatus 200g and inserts his/her hand into the opening/closing door to perform an operation. One end of a cable bracket 55 that can be bent is connected to the fixing plate 52 to which the camera 11a is attached. The cable bracket 55 is bent to change its orientation by 180 degrees, and the other end side of the cable bracket 55 is disposed along the guide rail 50 toward one end of the guide rail 50. The control wire 56 of the camera 11a is routed along the cable tray 55 and connected to a control unit, not shown.

The 2 nd adsorption conveyor unit 2 is disposed adjacent to the 1 st adsorption conveyor unit 1 so as to be turned upside down from the 1 st adsorption conveyor unit 1, and in the 2 nd adsorption conveyor unit 2, the CIS12b as the 2 nd inspection unit is disposed on the relatively upstream side and the camera 12a as the 4 th inspection unit is disposed on the relatively downstream side in the same arrangement as the CIS11b and the camera 11a of the 1 st adsorption conveyor unit 1, which is not illustrated. In the 2 nd suction transport unit 2, the CIS12b and the camera 12a mounted on the moving mechanism are disposed below the 2 nd suction transport unit 2 in an upward direction opposite to the 1 st suction transport unit 1, and the back surface of the object to be inspected is inspected.

According to the image inspection apparatus 200g of the 7 th modification example, each linear inspection region with respect to the printed image of the object can be inspected by the upstream CIS11b, and an image (for example, a barcode image or the like) of a two-dimensional planar inspection region formed at a predetermined position of the object can be inspected by the downstream camera 11 a. In this case, it is necessary to appropriately set the position of the camera 11a in the width direction X in advance by the above-described manual, automatic, or semi-automatic operation according to the position of the planar inspection region formed in the object to be inspected in the width direction X. The rotation mechanism 54 of the camera 11a needs to be operated to set the rectangular inspection range of the camera 11a to an appropriate arrangement of the vertical length and the horizontal length in advance according to the shape of the image of the planar inspection region on the inspection target. Further, since the height of the camera 11a from the conveying surface is constant and the sheet-like inspection object (sheet) is fixed to the conveying surface of the conveyor belt 6 by suction over the entire surface thereof in a stable state, the focus of the camera 11a once aligned is less likely to be shifted, but the focus of the camera 11a can be confirmed as necessary.

According to the image inspection apparatus 200g, even if jamming occurs at the interface portion (the sag prevention roller 16 or the sag prevention member 42 as shown in fig. 16) of the object to be inspected between the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 and the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2, at least the inspection unit on the downstream side of the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 is the camera 11a movable in the width direction X, and therefore, when the jamming occurs in the vicinity of the camera 11a, the camera 11a is moved in the width direction X, whereby a working space is secured, and the work of releasing the jamming can be performed more easily by manual operation.

In the image inspection apparatus 200g, the object to be inspected, which is a conveyance target of the suction conveyance unit, is a sheet-like single sheet. Therefore, unlike the case of conveying a paper bag or the like having a structure in which two sheets of paper are stacked in order to provide a space inside, in the image inspection apparatus 200g, the entire surface of the sheet-like object to be inspected is attracted to the conveying surface of the conveying belt 6 and conveyed in a state in which the position in the vertical direction is fixed. Therefore, the high reading accuracy of the CIS11b, which has a shallower depth of field than the camera 11a and requires high arrangement accuracy to obtain desired reading accuracy, can be sufficiently exhibited.

Further, since the inspection of the object to be inspected in the 1 st suction transport unit 1 of the image inspection apparatus 200g is performed in the following order, first, each linear inspection region is inspected by the CIS11b on the upstream side, and then, the planar inspection region is inspected by the camera 11a on the downstream side, when the trace abnormality or the image abnormality of the object to be inspected is detected in the image inspection on the line unit on the upstream side, the inspection process of the planar inspection region on the downstream side is stopped using the abnormality detection as a trigger signal, and the useless inspection of the object to be inspected can be omitted. The object to be inspected having the abnormality detection may be provided with a sorting device or a sorting device downstream of the image inspection apparatus 200g, and the object to be inspected having the abnormality detection and the object to be inspected having no problem may be sorted or sorted into different paths and collected. When an abnormality is detected in the inspection by the CIS11b, the inspection by the camera 11a may be continued as it is, the subject to be inspected having the abnormality detection may be retained as an inspection record, and the subject to be inspected having the abnormality detection may be again put into the inspection line and the image inspection may be performed again.

Further, the following problems are generally considered to exist: in the image inspection apparatus 200g, if the object is displaced in the width direction X during conveyance, the planar inspection area does not enter the inspection range of the camera 11a set in accordance with the position of the planar inspection area (for example, QR code), and inspection cannot be performed. However, according to this image inspection apparatus 200g, the CIS11b of the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 can detect the position of the edge in the width direction X of the object to be inspected at both ends of the linear inspection region. Therefore, when the CIS11b inspects the linear inspection region a plurality of times to obtain a plurality of data of the positions of the edges located on the same side in the width direction X, the control unit to which these data are input can immediately determine whether or not the position of the object to be inspected in the width direction X is shifted by comparing these plurality of data, and can immediately calculate the shift amount when the shift occurs. Then, based on the amount of deviation, the control unit controls the moving mechanism of the camera 11a located downstream, thereby correcting the position of the camera 11a in the width direction X, and making it possible to appropriately inspect the planar inspection region by matching the position of the new planar inspection region with the inspection range of the camera 11 a.

Fig. 20 is a schematic front view showing a modification example 8.

In the image inspection apparatus 200h, the configuration of the conveying mechanism centering on the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 and the 2 nd suction conveying unit 2 is the same as that of the image inspection apparatus 200 of the embodiment shown in fig. 2, and the same reference numerals as in fig. 2 are assigned to corresponding components to refer to the description of the embodiment, and the description thereof will be omitted. The types and the number of the inspection units are the same as those in the modification 3 of the embodiment shown in fig. 15, but the arrangement of the inspection units in the conveyance direction of the object to be inspected is different from that in fig. 15.

That is, as described above with reference to fig. 19, in the image inspection apparatus 200h, the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 located on the upstream side in the conveying direction is arranged in the order of CIS11b and camera 11a from the upstream side, while the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2 located on the downstream side is arranged in the order of camera 12a and CIS12b from the upstream side. That is, both the inspection units disposed at positions very close to the upstream side and the downstream side of the sag prevention roller 16 (or the sag prevention member 42 as shown in fig. 16) are cameras. The configurations of the CIS11b and 12b and the cameras 11a and 12a are as described above in the present modification. However, as a more specific example of the arrangement of the inspection section, the height of the CIS11b, 12b from the conveying surface of the conveyor belt 6 is set to 24mm, and the height of the cameras 11a, 12a from the conveying surface of the conveyor belt 6 is set to 120mm in view of the fact that the cameras 11a, 12a are area array cameras (japanese: エリアカメラ) having a wide inspection range. The cameras 11a and 12a are mounted on a sliding type moving structure, as in the 7 th modification shown in fig. 19. The description of the moving mechanism refers to the description of modification 7.

According to this image inspection apparatus 200h, since both the inspection units 11a and 12a are arranged at positions very close to the upstream side and the downstream side of the sag prevention roller 16 (or sag prevention member 42 as shown in fig. 16) which is the interface portion of the object to be inspected, when a jam occurs in the vicinity of the sag prevention roller 16 (or sag prevention member 42 in fig. 16), the cameras can be moved from the conveyance paths on both the upstream side and the downstream side of the sag prevention roller 16 (or sag prevention member 42) to the device rear side, and the space into which the worker inserts his or her hands can be increased, and therefore, the jam removal work is easier than in the case of the image inspection apparatus 200g (fig. 19) of the 7 th modification.

In the present embodiment and the modifications thereof, the 1 st transport unit is disposed so that the transport surface is on the upper surface side, and the 2 nd transport unit is disposed so that the transport surface is on the lower surface side and is adjacent to the transport surface of the 1 st transport unit along the transport direction of the test object. That is, for example, in fig. 2, the test object is conveyed from left to right, but may be conveyed from right to left. Further, in fig. 2, the arrangement of the 1 st conveying section 1 and the arrangement of the 2 nd conveying section 2 may be switched left and right, and in this case, the conveying direction of the sheet may be either one of the left and right directions.

Further, as the transport unit of the test object in the present embodiment and the modification thereof, the belt suction transport by the fan is explained, but the suction transport by the static electricity, the adhesive transport by the adhesion using the roller transport, and the adhesive transport using an arbitrary adhesive means can be used. As an example of the adhesion conveyance, that is, the adhesion conveyance using the roller conveyance, for example, a roller conveyance unit in which an adhesive material having an adhesive force of such an extent that the adhesive material does not fall down by its own weight is applied to the surface of a roller can be used to convey a sheet by adhering the sheet to the roller, and this method can be used in place of the suction conveyance unit of the present embodiment. As the adhesive conveyance to which another adhesive means is applied, adhesive conveyance to which belt conveyance to apply the adhesive to a conveyor belt for conveyance can be applied. In the case of such adhesive conveyance, a peeling section for peeling the paper from the adhesive material of the conveyor belt or the roller may be provided. As described above, the means for conveying the test object is not limited to the belt suction conveyance by the fan as in the present embodiment. Even when the suction conveyance and the adhesion conveyance are performed by static electricity, the inspection unit may be disposed downstream of the conveyance units 1 and 2. This is because, for example, in the case of adsorption conveyance by static electricity, the downstream electrostatic adsorption area is wide and adsorption is stable. Even when bonding conveyance is performed by a plurality of rollers, in the conveyance units 1 and 2, suction is more stable and conveyance is more reliable in a state where bonding conveyance is performed by two or more rollers on the downstream side than in a state where bonding conveyance is performed by one roller 1 on the upstream side.

In addition, in view of ease of illustration and understanding, in the drawings attached to the present specification, for convenience, the scale, the aspect ratio, the shape, and the like may be appropriately changed from the actual ones to schematically show the drawings. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and the modifications thereof described using the attached drawings, and other embodiments, examples, and application techniques that can be implemented by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments and the modifications thereof are all included in the scope of the present invention.

Paper feeding device and its effects according to each of the embodiments and modifications

The adsorption conveyor according to claim 1 is characterized by comprising:

a 1 st suction conveying unit arranged such that a conveying surface on which a sheet-like object to be conveyed is an upper surface side;

a 2 nd suction-conveying unit which is disposed adjacent to the conveying surface of the 1 st suction-conveying unit along a conveying direction of the conveyed object so that a conveying surface on which the sheet-like conveyed object is conveyed is a lower surface side; and

and a sagging prevention member that is provided between the 1 st suction-conveying section and the 2 nd suction-conveying section, and that delivers and receives the object to be conveyed from an upstream side to a downstream side in the conveying direction so as to prevent a tip portion of the object from sagging.

According to the adsorption conveying device of the claim 1,

the object to be conveyed is sucked and held on the upper surface side of the 1 st suction conveying part 1 and is stably conveyed. Between the downstream end of the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 and the upstream end of the 2 nd suction conveying unit 2, the conveyed objects are delivered from the upstream side to the downstream side by the sagging prevention members 16 and 42, and the leading end of the conveyed objects does not sag. Therefore, the leading end portion of the object to be conveyed is reliably sucked and held on the conveying surface of the 2 nd suction-conveying portion 2 and is stably conveyed toward the downstream in this state. In this way, the object can be continuously and stably conveyed from the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 to the 2 nd suction conveying unit 2.

The image inspection apparatus 200, 200a to 200f according to claim 2 includes: a 1 st suction conveying unit 1 disposed so that a conveying surface for sucking and conveying a sheet-like object to be inspected is an upper surface side; a 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2 disposed adjacent to the conveying surface of the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 along the conveying direction of the test object so that the conveying surface on which the sheet-like test object is sucked and conveyed is a lower surface side; a 1 st inspection unit 11 that inspects the front surface of the inspection object conveyed by the 1 st suction conveying unit 1; and a 2 nd inspection unit 12 for inspecting the back surface of the object to be inspected conveyed by the 2 nd suction-conveyance unit 2, the image inspection apparatus being characterized in that,

anti-sagging members 16, 42 are provided between the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 and the 2 nd suction conveying unit 2, and the anti-sagging members 16, 42 deliver the object to be inspected from the upstream side to the downstream side in the conveying direction so as to prevent the leading end portion of the object from sagging.

The 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 may be a conveying path on which suction and adhesion by rollers are not performed. Further, the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2 may be arranged so that the conveying surface of the test object is on the upper surface side, similarly to the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1.

According to the image inspection apparatuses 200, 200a to 200f of claim 2,

the object to be inspected is sucked and held on the upper surface side of the 1 st suction-conveying part 1 and is stably conveyed. Between the downstream end of the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 and the upstream end of the 2 nd suction conveying unit 2, the object to be inspected is transferred from the upstream side to the downstream side by the sagging prevention members 16 and 42, and the leading end of the object to be inspected does not sag. Therefore, the leading end portion of the test object is reliably sucked and held on the conveying surface of the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2 and stably conveyed toward the downstream in this state. In this way, since the inspection object is continuously and stably conveyed from the 1 st suction-conveyance unit 1 to the 2 nd suction-conveyance unit 2, the desired accuracy can be ensured in the inspection by the 1 st inspection unit 11 and the inspection by the 2 nd inspection unit 12.

The image inspection apparatus 200, 200a to 200c, 200e, 200f according to claim 3 is the image inspection apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that,

the anti-sagging member is an anti-sagging roller 16, and the anti-sagging roller 16 has a roller portion divided into comb teeth in an axial direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the test object.

According to the image inspection apparatuses 200, 200a to 200c, 200e, and 200f of claim 3,

when an object to be inspected is fed from the 1 st suction-conveying unit 1 to the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2, before the front end of the object to be inspected sags due to its own weight or downward curl, the front end abuts against the sag-preventing roller 16, climbs up the sag-preventing roller 16, and is sandwiched between the sag-preventing roller 16 and the 2 nd suction-conveying unit 2, and stable suction-conveying is started without delay. Further, since the sag prevention roller 16 sandwiches the object to be inspected between the object and the 2 nd suction conveyor 2 by the comb-teeth-shaped roller portion, when the object to be inspected has a wavy deformation (wrinkle), the shape of the wrinkle of the object to be inspected is corrected in a direction in which the peak is crushed and the depth of the valley is reduced, and as a result, the deformation becomes a wave having a smaller cycle, and an effect of preventing erroneous detection by the inspection portion can be obtained by correcting the wrinkle.

The image inspection apparatus 200, 200a to 200f according to claim 4 is the image inspection apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that,

the image inspection apparatuses 200, 200a to 200f include:

a 1 st support portion 21 to which the 1 st inspection unit 11 is attached and which is positioned with respect to the 1 st suction conveying unit 1;

1 st conveying direction adjusting means (35-40) provided in the 1 st support portion 21 for adjusting a conveying direction in which the 1 st suction conveying portion 1 conveys the object to be inspected with respect to the 1 st inspection portion 11;

a 2 nd support part 22 to which the 2 nd inspection part 12 is attached and which is positioned with respect to the 2 nd suction conveying part 2; and

and 2 nd conveying direction adjusting means (35-40) provided in the 2 nd support portion 22 for adjusting a conveying direction in which the 2 nd suction conveying portion 2 conveys the object to be inspected with respect to the 2 nd inspection portion 12.

According to the image inspection apparatuses 200, 200a to 200f of claim 4,

when the 1 st suction conveying part 1 is moved relative to the 1 st supporting part 21 by the 1 st conveying direction adjusting means (35-40), the conveying direction of the object to be inspected relative to the 1 st inspection part 11 can be adjusted. Further, when the 2 nd suction conveying part 2 is moved relative to the 2 nd support part 22 by the 2 nd conveying direction adjusting means (35 to 40), the conveying direction of the object to be inspected relative to the 2 nd inspection part 12 can be adjusted. Therefore, when the positional relationship between the 1 st inspection unit 11 and the conveyance direction of the inspection object and the positional relationship between the 2 nd inspection unit 12 and the conveyance direction of the inspection object have a problem due to some cause, the positional relationship is corrected by the operation of the 1 st conveyance direction adjusting means (35 to 40) and the operation of the 2 nd conveyance direction adjusting means (35 to 40), and the occurrence of erroneous detection by the 1 st inspection unit 11 and erroneous detection by the 2 nd inspection unit 12 can be prevented.

The image inspection apparatus 200e according to claim 5 is the image inspection apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that,

the image inspection apparatus 200e is provided with a skew correction roller 43, the skew correction roller 43 being adjacent to an upstream end of the suction conveying unit located upstream in the conveying direction of the object, out of the 1 st suction conveying unit 1 and the 2 nd suction conveying unit 2, for correcting skew of the object conveyed from a previous stage.

According to the image inspection apparatus 200e of claim 5,

even if the object to be inspected fed from upstream is skewed, the object to be inspected can be fed to the 1 st inspection unit 11 in an appropriate posture with the direction thereof corrected by the skew correcting roller 43.

The image inspection apparatus 200g according to claim 6 is the image inspection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein,

at least one of the 1 st inspection unit disposed on a relatively downstream side in the 1 st suction-conveying unit and the 2 nd inspection unit disposed on a relatively upstream side in the 2 nd suction-conveying unit is movable in a width direction of the object to be inspected parallel to the conveying surface.

According to the image inspection apparatus 200g of claim 6,

even if the object is jammed between the 1 st suction-conveying unit and the 2 nd suction-conveying unit, at least one of the 1 st inspection unit on the downstream side of the 1 st suction-conveying unit and the 2 nd inspection unit on the upstream side of the 2 nd suction-conveying unit is movable in the width direction of the object, and therefore, when the jam is generated in the vicinity of the inspection unit, the inspection unit is moved in the width direction of the object, and the jam releasing operation by the manual operation is more easily performed.