A fluorescence detecting apparatus includes an excitation light applying section that applies excitation light to a protective film containing an absorbing agent. A photomultiplier tube detects fluorescence emitted from the absorbing agent due to absorption of the excitation light. A fluorescence passing filter removes light having wavelengths other than the wavelength of the fluorescence emitted from the absorbing agent, and a reflecting mirror having a reflecting surface reflects the fluorescence emitted from the protective film toward the photomultiplier tube. This reflecting surface is formed by a part of a curved surface forming a spheroid having first and second foci. The first focus is positioned at a target area of the protective film where the excitation light is applied, and the second focus is positioned at a light detecting element included in the photomultiplier tube.

A method of inspecting a component includes the steps of identifying a component having an outer surface of a first hardness, and mounted with a holding member of a second hardness which is greater than the first hardness. A protective coating is provided about the first component, and the protective coating having a dye which absorbs a particular range of electromagnetic wavelengths. The amount of the dye remaining in the coating is inspected to identify an amount of wear of the coating.

The present invention aims to provide a technique for easily and rapidly sorting printed materials suitable as raw materials of recycled paper.

Printed materials that are hard to recycle as waste paper can be identified by irradiating the surface of the printed materials with light and measuring the reflected light. Specifically, good quality recycled paper can be made efficiently from printed materials by removing printed materials having an absorption band around 1720 cm.sup.−1, around 1260 cm.sup.−1, around 1160 cm.sup.−1, or around 700 cm.sup.−1 from waste paper raw materials when the printed materials are irradiated with light on their surface.

Apparatuses and methods for on-line internal siliconing of glass bottles including a baking station for baking the siliconed bottles; wherein a siliconing station includes a support designed to selectively receive one bottle at a time, an injection device facing towards an inlet opening of the bottle, a mobile device for selectively blocking the injector against the inlet opening, a selective feeding device for feeding filtered compressed air and liquid silicone to the injector, the injector provided at the front, towards the support, with a drainage channel communicating with the inlet opening; an emitter to send towards a sensor and through the bottle on the support a beam of electromagnetic radiation; and a control unit to selectively inject into the bottle a mixture of silicone and compressed air and to process a signal emitted by the sensor to control the feeding device and/or a manipulator to discard defective bottles.

A method for inspecting a preservation layer of a motor vehicle component during the manufacture of a motor vehicles. A preservation medium is applied having fluorescent additives to a component of the motor vehicle in a coating region. An inspection head having at least one camera and a UV light source is then caused to move adjacent to an inspection region that is a partial region of the coating region. The UV light source is the caused to emit radiating light onto the inspection region and the at least one camera is concurrently caused to record at least one image of the inspection region. An examination of the at least one recorded image is then conducted for a faulty coating with the preservation medium.

A computer implemented methods for estimating at least one quality function of a given layered coating on a transparent substrate allows to predict at least one non in-process measured quality function of a given layered coating on a transparent substrate from an in-process measured quality function which can be acquired on the coated substrate as deposited at any location, preferably at the end of a coating process. The method allows to get rid of in-process real-time continuous measurements of quality functions of the coated transparent substrate and real-time monitoring of coating process parameters.

A system for measuring a thickness of a coating arranged on an anode substrate includes an optical measurement system configured to transmit a light signal having a known first polarization toward the anode substrate through the coating such that the light signal is reflected from the surface of the anode substrate, a detection module positioned to receive the reflected light signal and configured to determine a second polarization of the reflected light signal that is different from the first polarization and measure a polarization difference between the first polarization and the second polarization, and a measurement module configured to receive the measured polarization difference, calculate the thickness of the coating based on the measured polarization difference, and generate an output based on the calculated thickness.

A defect inspection apparatus includes a first slit light source together with a machine base in which a through hole is formed. A second slit light source and a half mirror are provided inside the through hole. First slit light from the first slit light source is directly incident on an object to be photographed (for example, an automobile body). On the other hand, second slit light from the second slit light source proceeds in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the first slit light proceeds, and thereafter, is refracted by the half mirror, led out from the through hole, and made incident on the object to be photographed.

A method for characterizing the uniformity of a material includes selecting a set of size scales at which to measure uniformity within an area of interest in an image of the material; suppressing features in the image smaller than a selected size scale of interest within the set of size scales; dividing the image into patches equal to the size scale of interest; and calculating a uniformity value within each patch.

A handheld device for making 3D topography measurements of surface discontinuities in high performance structures, such as aerostructures (e.g., aluminum fuselages). Lights illuminate the discontinuity from multiple angles, and a camera captures images of the discontinuity. A thickness sensor generates thickness data regarding a thickness of the base material and the top protective coating. A position sensor generates position data regarding a location of the discontinuity on the structure. A processor generates geometry data regarding a geometry of the discontinuity based on the images, performs an analysis of the geometry, thickness, and position data, and communicates a result of the analysis on a display. A conforming membrane and/or a gel and an opaque lubricant may be applied over and conform to the discontinuity in order to make more uniform a reflectivity difference and a color difference between the discontinuity and an adjacent portion of the structure.