ELECTRO-OPTICAL INSPECTION SYSTEM AND METHOD

摘要

A system and method for inspecting metal beverage containers (10) includes an ellipsoidal mirror (32) above the container (10). Above the ellipsoidal mirror (32) is an image splitting mirror (52) which presents two images to a first camera (42) and a second camera (62). The first camera (42) views the upper interior portion (15) of the container (10) and the second camera (62) views the flange (14) of the container (10). An image combiner (70) electro-optically combines the two images to produce a composite image of substantially the entire upper interior portion of the container (10) which is analyzed for defects. A third camera (142) is located at a separate location for viewing lower interior portion (12) of the container (10) with a computer (170) receiving the image from the third camera (142) and analyzing the image for defects.