Inspecting apparatus and inspecting method of absorbent sheet-like member related to absorbent article

Abstract

An inspecting apparatus is provided which inspects whether or not a liquid absorbent particulate is deposited with a predetermined deposition pattern on an absorbent sheet-like member, the absorbent sheet-like member having a continuous web and a plurality of absorbent bodies, the continuous web being transported along a transport direction, the absorbent bodies being formed on one surface of the continuous web in a spaced apart manner in the transport direction, each absorbent body including the liquid absorbent particulate as a main material. The inspecting apparatus includes: an imaging process section which is adapted to image, from one side of a surface of the absorbent sheet-like member, a region on the absorbent sheet-like member where the absorbent body is expected to exist, and that is adapted to produce data relating to a planar image of the region as planar image data of the absorbent body; an extracting process section which is adapted to extract a proper quantity region from the planar image by performing a binarization process on the produced planar image data based on a threshold value, the proper quantity region being an imaged region in which the liquid absorbent particulate is of a specified amount or more; and a pass/fail determination process section that is adapted to perform a pass/fail determination process based on a value indicating a size of the proper quantity region.