JP2769823B2 - Rice Grain Classifier - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a rice grain quality determination device for determining the quality of brown rice, white rice, or paddy rice.

[Conventional technology]

Grains such as rice grains are inspected in accordance with agricultural product standards based on the agricultural products inspection method, and grades are determined in comparison with standard products. This inspection is performed by an agricultural inspector. Inspectors are dedicated to those who are familiar with grain inspections,
Trained to always make the right grades,
Not perfect due to visual inspection.

Therefore, as an apparatus for determining the grain quality of brown rice, for example,
There is JP-A-125664 and JP-A-57-153249 discloses the same method.
Or JP-A-62-150141.

That is, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 56-125664 discloses a method of irradiating brown light for each grain with visible light and measuring the amount of reflected light and transmitted light of the light, thereby regulating the grain size of brown rice. Milky grains,
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-153249 discloses a device for determining the grain quality of brown rice that attempts to distinguish between brown rice, brown rice, and dead rice. Is measured, and the transmittance is compared with a predetermined threshold to determine whether or not the grains are defective. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho 62-150141 discloses a method of irradiating light to each brown rice grain, the amount of diffuse transmission and the amount of diffuse reflection, and the amount of light of any two wavelengths in diffuse reflection light.
The amount of transmitted light at two positions per brown rice grain is detected, respectively, and the ratio of the amount of diffuse transmitted light to the amount of diffuse reflected light, the ratio of the amount of light at any two wavelengths in diffuse reflected light, and the transmission at two positions per brown rice grain Calculate the ratio of light amount and determine the ratio of each light amount to determine the quality of brown rice, sizing, belly white, milky white grain, blue immature grain, body split grain,
This is a method for discriminating damaged grains, colored grains, blue dead and white dead grains.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in these conventional apparatuses and methods, a detection item serving as a criterion for quality determination is a single data element consisting only of the amount of reflected light and the amount of transmitted light, and accurate determination cannot be made. In other words, even if the grains are sized (normal grains), there is a difference in the amount of reflected light and the amount of transmitted light depending on the cultivar, the production area, or the growth conditions. There was nothing. For example, the frequency distribution of brown rice of each grade, such as foreign matter, colored grains, and powdery substances, is shown in FIG. 8, and each brown rice overlaps in the X-axis direction (brightness = reflected light amount). However, it is not possible to make an accurate determination for each quality.

In addition, it is necessary to measure the transmitted light and the reflected light in the determination of the quality of the rice grains at the same position in the apparatus where the rice grains flow down or flow, and when measuring the transmission and reflection of the rice grains at different positions, This cannot cope with a change in the grain quality related to the quality determination of the rice grain between the transmitted light quantity measuring point and the reflected light quantity measuring point.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the foregoing, it is a technical object of the present invention to provide a rice grain quality discriminating apparatus that can more accurately perform rice grain quality discrimination.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to solve the above problems, in the rice grain quality determination device of the present invention, the vibrating grain trough which flows the rice grains supplied from the grain grain supply hopper, and the progress of the bottom surface of the grain feeding groove provided in the grain grain trough. The rice grains align and flow due to the step inclined in the direction, and when the rice grains pass through the inclined gutter, the reflected light amount measurement unit using visible light and the transmitted light amount measurement unit using infrared light measure the reflection and transmission of the rice grains at the same position Then, the measurement value is digitally processed by the arithmetic and control unit, and the quality is determined by combining the digitally processed values of the reflected light and the transmitted light obtained in the above-described processing into a plurality of grades.

In addition, since the light amount measurement unit is a mixture of visible light and infrared light, an infrared light cut filter is provided in the reflected light amount measurement unit, a visible light cut filter is provided in the transmitted light amount measurement unit, or a dichroic mirror is provided in the light amount measurement unit. A solution to the problem is provided by providing either one of separating the visible light and the infrared light.

(Operation)

By providing a step in the feed groove of the vibrating feed trough, rice grains can be aligned without using a complicated structure, and can be flowed down to the reflection / transmission light quantity measuring unit with a gap for each grain. .

Digitally processing the value of the measured values of the reflected light amount measuring unit and the transmitted light amount measuring unit that changes with time, that is, the waveform measured by the measuring unit when the rice grain passes through the measuring unit, by the arithmetic and control unit is used to detect the change of the waveform in minute units. Although a plurality of pieces of information can be used as characteristics of the waveform, one waveform can be regarded as only one piece of information in analog.

In addition, there are two types of information obtained by the above digital processing: reflected light and transmitted light. By performing discrimination based on a combination of these two types of information, skin misalignment grains, immature grains, damage, Accuracy can be improved when discriminating grains, dead rice, colored grains, foreign matter, and the like and determining the ratio.

Further, by using two light sources having different wavelength ranges, it is possible to capture the signals of the reflected light amount and the transmitted light amount of rice grains at the same position.

Further, the light quantity measuring unit can be formed as an integral structure in which a light condensing lens is provided for light sources in two wavelength ranges by using a half mirror and a cut filter or a dichroic mirror.

〔The invention's effect〕

Thus, according to the present invention, a light source having a different wavelength range,
By using mirrors or filters that correspond to the wavelength range,
The measurement signal of the transmitted light amount or the reflected light amount of the rice grain can be worked at the same position on the inclined gutter. In other words, even if a change in rice grain related to rice grain quality occurs before and after the measurement position on the inclined gutter of the measurement unit, it does not affect the measured value at all,
It can be determined accurately. Also, the signal of the measuring unit, which can be called the heart of the rice grain quality discriminating apparatus, is multiplied by a plurality of information by digital processing and further by two kinds of information by reflection and transmission, so that the conventional rice grain has a single data. It becomes very accurate as compared with the discrimination, and it becomes possible to quickly perform accurate classification discrimination instead of the inspection by the rice inspector.

〔Example〕

The configuration of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 and FIG. First, the first embodiment will be described.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a rice grain quality determination device of the present invention. A sample supply hopper 21 supported on the support frame 11 at the upper left end of the machine frame 10 and a valve 22 for discharging an appropriate amount of the sample below the hopper.
And a pulley 24 axially mounted on the rotary shaft 23 of the valve,
A pulley 27 mounted on a rotation shaft 26 of a drive motor 25 supported by the support frame 11, and a timing belt 28 wound around the pulley
And the valve 22 drives the drive motor 25
And the valve unit with the supply hopper 21
Form 20. Further, a scattering prevention cover 29 is provided so as to be in contact with the outer periphery of the valve 22 from below the supply hopper 21 inside the valve unit 20. The valve 22 has grooves at arbitrary intervals in the direction of the rotation axis on the circumference of the valve so as to intermittently discharge the sample.
Form 30.

The sample discharged from the valve unit 20 is
An inclined gutter which flows to the supply side of a vibrating grain feed gutter (hereinafter referred to as "feed feeder") 40 having a plurality of grain feed grooves 41 provided thereon and is connected to the discharge side of the feed feeder 40.
The sample 50 is provided on the machine frame 10, and the sample flows down the inclined gutter 50. At this time, the feeder
Downflow grooves 54 having the same number as that of the grain feeding grooves 41 on 40 and having a width relatively larger than the width of each of the grain feeding grooves 41 are provided. Inclined gutter
The sample that has passed through 50 flows down to a vibrating feeder trough (hereinafter referred to as “sorting feeder”) 60 that is connected to the inclined gutter 50 different from the feeder 40. At an arbitrary position of the sorting feeder 60, a sorting device 80 for sorting low quality, for example, skin shift grains, body split grains, colored grains, dead rice, etc., is suspended.

The sample flowing through the sorting feeder 60 is discharged out of the machine from a discharge port 86 on the discharge side of the sorting feeder 60. The low-quality sample among the samples is sorted by the sorting device 80, and is discharged to the outside of the machine from a discharge port (not shown) different from the discharge side of the feeder 60 through the transport pipe 83.

The feed feeder 40 and the sorting feeder 60 are respectively fixed to the bases 43 and 63 and the machine frame 10 with vibration-insulating rubbers 42 and 62 interposed therebetween, and are further inclined forward in the traveling direction to the feed feeder 40 and the sorting feeder 60. One or several steps 45, 65 to be bridged are formed. (FIG. 2) Next, the light quantity measuring device 120 will be described in detail. Above the inclined gutter 50, a slit 93 provided in the inclined gutter 50 is provided as a center, and a light source 91 made of visible light is provided at a position before and after the slit 53, and a cover 93 having a slit 92 provided around the upper outer periphery of the light source 91 is provided, A light source 101 made of infrared light is provided below the inclined gutter 50 and below a slit 53 provided in the inclined gutter 50. Further, the condenser lens 94 on an arbitrary extension on a perpendicular line passing through the center of the slit 53 and the slit 92 with respect to the inclined gutter surface 52, a reflected light amount detection element 96,
In the direction perpendicular to the perpendicular, the transmitted light quantity detecting element 106, the reflected light quantity detecting element 96, the infrared light cut filter 97, and the transmitted light quantity detecting element 106, the visible light cut filter 107, and a coarse 45 ° There is provided a light amount measuring unit 90 having a tilt and a half mirror 102 whose center is located at the intersection of the optical axis of the transmitted light amount detecting element 106 and the optical axis of the reflected light amount detecting element 96.

The light source 91, the light source 101, and the light amount measuring unit 90 form the light amount measuring device 120.

Here, the condensing lens 94 is provided with the flow groove 54 of the inclined gutter 50.
The number of the light amount detecting elements 96 and 106 may be the same as the number of the flow grooves 54, or the number of the light amount detecting elements 96 and 106 may be one at a time.

Next, the sorting device 80 will be described in detail (see FIG. 3).
The sorting device 80 makes the suction port 82 of the suction pipe 81 face each groove of the sorting feeder 60. The suction pipe 81 is provided so as to hang at a right angle to the transport surface of the sorting feeder 60. Each suction tube 81
The upper end of the is connected to the transport pipe 83 which is laid substantially horizontally,
Both the suction pipe 81 and the transport pipe 83 have an inner diameter through which rice grains can pass. In addition, one end of each transport pipe 83 is connected to an air compressor (not shown), and the other end faces a rice grain receiving box placed in an appropriate space inside and outside the machine frame 10. Each transfer pipe 83 is provided with an electromagnetic valve 84 on the air compressor side of the suction pipe 81, and each electromagnetic valve 84 is formed so as to be operated by an output signal from the arithmetic and control unit 113. In each transfer pipe 83, there is a solenoid valve
A nozzle portion 85 is provided immediately before the compressed air blown by the operation of 84 to reach the mounting portion of the suction pipe 81, and an ejector (ejec) is provided.
tor). Accordingly, the arithmetic control unit 113 analyzes the measurement value of the light amount measuring device 120, and when a certain rice grain is determined to be a low-grade grain, the solenoid valve 84 is operated by a signal from the arithmetic control unit 113, and compressed air is discharged. It passes through the nozzle 85.
At this time, the pressure in the suction pipe 81 becomes low, and the rice grains are sucked into the suction port.
It sucks in from 82 and conveys it to a rice grain receiving box by a conveying pipe 83. A large number of ventilation holes 51 may be provided at the bottom of each groove of the sorting feeder 60, and air may be sucked from below the groove so that rice grains other than the split kernels are not sucked.

Next, the configuration of the arithmetic and control unit will be described with reference to FIG.
The reflected light amount measuring element 96 and the transmitted light amount measuring element 106 are A
It is connected to the arithmetic and control unit 113 via the / D conversion 111 and the differentiation circuit 112. The arithmetic and control unit 113, the A / D converter 111 and the differentiating circuit 112 constitute an arithmetic and control unit 110. Also an arithmetic and control unit
The selection device 80, the drive motor 25 of the supply valve 22, the feed feeder 40 and the selection feeder 60 are connected to 113.

The operation in the above configuration will be described. Supply hopper 21
And the arithmetic and control unit 113 activates the valve 22, the feeder 40 and the sorting feeder 60.

The rice grains of the sample are discharged to the input section of the feeder 40 by the rotation of the valve 22, and the light amount measuring device 12 is
At 0, throw rice grains into the inclined gutter 50. At this time, the rice grains pass on the slit 53 of the inclined gutter 50 in the longitudinal direction. The time required at this time is 10 ms. When the light quantity measuring section 100 starts the measurement, the light quantity measuring section measures the transmission and reflection light quantity of the slit 92 provided in the light quantity measuring section in each of the grooves in a predetermined order. Here, although it depends on the number of grooves provided in each of the inclined gutter 50, the feed feeder 40, and the sorting feeder 60, the time required to measure the light amount of each groove from the slit 92 once is 0.5 ms. In other words, each light amount measurement unit is in 10 ms when one rice grain passes through the slit 92.
20 measurement signals can be obtained. These 20 measurement signals are used as a measurement signal for one rice grain, which is significantly different from a known rice grain quality determination device.

Now, the mixed light amount of reflection and transmission obtained through the slit 92 is divided by the half mirror 102 into the optical axis direction and the direction perpendicular to the optical axis. The light amount divided in the optical axis direction passes only visible light by the infrared light cut filter 97 and is measured by the reflected light amount detecting element 96 as the reflected light amount of rice grains.
On the other hand, the light amount divided in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis passes only infrared light by the visible light cut filter 107 and is measured by the transmitted light amount detecting element 106 as the transmitted light amount of rice grains.

As described above, each light amount measuring element digitally processes a measurement signal obtained by measuring the transmitted light amount of one rice grain 20 times out of the 20 measurement signals obtained from the slit 92, and the horizontal axis represents time t, and the vertical axis represents the measurement signal signal. FIG. 5 shows a level V. The time T is obtained by the length of the rice grain in the longitudinal direction and the flow rate, and is 10 ms as described above.

Vd o'clock display T ₀ in the figure is shown that the amount of transmitted light only the portion that is decreasing, this alone is determine by what whether split or coloring due to skin displacement is impossible. FIG. 6 shows the reflected light amount measurement signals simultaneously obtained from the same rice grain. Ve at T _{0 in the} figure
Shows that the amount of reflected light is increased only in that part, so it can be understood that the rice grain surface in that part looks whiter than other rice grain surfaces, and in combination with FIG. It can be determined that there is. Further, when the signal of the same reflected light amount measuring unit is to be had been Figure 6, part of the time in the drawing T ₀ can understand that the same Vf only reflected light and transmitted light quantity measurement signal is reduced, the fifth transmitted light quantity In combination with the figure, it can be determined that the rice grains are colored grains.

As described above, while one rice grain passes through the slit, the signals obtained from the reflected light quantity measurement signal and the transmitted light quantity measurement signal are each digitally processed, the waveform is analyzed, and the rice grain is determined by the combination of the two light quantity measurement signals. Is easy and accurate.

FIG. 6 shows one of the measurement signals of the amount of reflected light and transmitted light when each of the sizing, the skin misalignment, the body splitting, and the coloring particles have passed.
An example is shown.

The signal obtained by the light quantity measurement is processed by the arithmetic and control unit 113 as described above to determine the quality of rice grains.
Next, since the order and average time of rice grains passing when the rice grains determined to be of low quality pass under the sorting device 80 based on the result are stored, the corresponding rice grains are accurately determined by the arithmetic and control unit 113. The low-quality rice grains are sucked into the suction port 82 by the operation of the electromagnetic valve 84 in response to the signal from the controller and conveyed to the rice grain receiving box by the conveying pipe 83.

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. However, the parts common to the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the different parts from the first embodiment, that is, the light amount measuring device 120
The configuration and operation of the device will be described.

First, a slit 53 provided on the inclined gutter 50 is provided above the inclined gutter 50.
A light source 91 made of visible light and a light source
Cover 93 with slit 92 surrounding the upper periphery of 91
A light source 101 made of infrared light is provided below the inclined gutter 50 and below the slit 53 provided in the inclined gutter 50. Further, the condenser lens 94, the reflected light amount detecting element 96, and the transmitted light amount detecting element 106 in a direction perpendicular to the perpendicular line passing through the slit 53 and the center of the slit 92 on an arbitrary perpendicular line to the inclined surface 52. And has a coarse inclination of 45 ° with respect to the perpendicular,
A light quantity measuring unit 100 including a dichroic mirror 103 whose center is located at the intersection of the optical axis of the transmitted light quantity detecting element 106 and the optical axis of the reflected light quantity detecting element 96 is provided.

The light source 91, the light source 101, and the light amount measuring unit 100 form a light amount measuring device 120.

Next, the operation of the light quantity measuring device 120 in the second embodiment will be described.

The mixed light amount of reflection and transmission obtained through the slit 92 is divided by the dichroic mirror 103 into an optical axis direction and a direction perpendicular to the optical axis.
400nm ~ 700nm light, while 1000nm ~ perpendicular to the optical axis
The light of 1500 nm is split respectively. The light amount divided in the optical axis direction is visible light, and is measured by the reflected light amount detecting element 96 as the reflected light amount of the rice grain. On the other hand, the light amount divided in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis is infrared light, and is measured by the transmitted light amount detecting element 106 as the transmitted light amount of rice grains. The respective amounts of reflected and transmitted light measured in this way are subjected to arithmetic processing by the arithmetic processing unit in the same manner as in the first embodiment to determine the quality.

In the embodiment according to the present invention, the light amount measuring unit is shown as an integral structure with one condensing lens using a half mirror or a dichroic mirror. Needless to say, it is also possible to measure from two places using a condenser lens.

The rice grain quality discriminating apparatus of the above configuration and operation can provide a large number of discrimination criteria by incorporating a large number of data for rice grain quality discrimination at the same position on the inclined gutter,
The method of discriminating by taking in one signal from one rice grain as in a known device is a method in which the discrimination accuracy is greatly improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of a feed and sorting feeder, FIG. 3 is a perspective partial view of a sorting device, FIG. 4 is a block diagram, and FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a pattern diagram based on a combination of reflected light and transmitted light, FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of the feeder and sorting feeder, FIG. 8 is a frequency distribution diagram, and FIG. 9 is a diagram of the second embodiment. Diagram. 1 ... rice grain quality discriminating device, 10 ... machine frame, 11 ... support frame,
20 ... valve unit, 21 ... supply hopper, 22 ... valve, 23, 26 ... rotating shaft, 24, 27 ... pulley, 25 ... drive motor, 28 ... timing belt, 29 ... scattering prevention cover , 30 ... groove, 40 ... feed feeder, 41, 61 ... grain feeding groove, 41, 62 ... anti-vibration rubber part, 43, 63 ... base, 45, 65
... step, 50 ... inclined gutter, 51 ... vent hole, 52 ... inclined gutter surface, 53 ... slit, 54 ... falling groove, 60 ... sorting feeder, 80 ... sorting device, 81 ... ... Suction tube, 82 ... Suction port, 83 ... Conveyance tube, 84 ... Solenoid valve, 85 ... Nozzle part, 86
…… Discharge port, 90 …… Light intensity measurement section, 91,101 …… Light source, 92…
... Slit, 93 ... Cover, 94 ... Condensing lens, 96 ...
Reflected light amount detection element, 97 ... Infrared light cut filter, 10
0: Light amount measuring unit, 102: Half mirror, 103: Dichroic mirror, 106: Transmitted light amount detecting element, 107:
Visible light cut filter, 110 ... Calculation control unit, 111 ...
A / D conversion, 112 ... differentiation circuit, 113 ... arithmetic and control unit, 120
…… a light amount measurement device.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G01N 21/85

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vibrating grain feed gutter provided with a grain feeding groove for vertically flowing rice grains is installed in a horizontal manner, a rice grain supply section is provided on a supply side of the vibratory grain feed gutter, and a rice grain supply section is provided on a discharge side. The inclined gutters that flow down the rice grains are connected in an inclined manner in relation to each other, and the inclined gutters are provided with slits. Light source,
A light source comprising infrared light that irradiates rice grains below the inclined gutter through a slit from below the inclined gutter, and a light amount including a reflected light amount measuring unit and a transmitted light amount measuring unit above the inclined gutter in relation to the slit of the inclined gutter. Among the signals of the transmitted light amount and the reflected light amount which are obtained by digitally processing the signals of the reflected light amount measuring unit and the transmitted light amount measuring unit of a single rice grain, the signals are relatively different from each other. A rice grain quality discriminating apparatus, comprising: an arithmetic control unit for discriminating a plurality of rice grain qualities in accordance with a combination of a transmitted light quantity and a reflected light quantity at the same position of a signal indicating a signal level. An infrared light cut filter for the reflected light amount measuring unit, a visible light cut filter for the transmitted light amount measuring unit,
The rice grain quality discriminating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is provided. 3. The rice grain quality discriminating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the reflected light amount measuring unit and the transmitted light amount measuring unit are provided with a half mirror. 4. The rice grain quality discriminating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reflected light amount measuring unit and the transmitted light amount measuring unit are provided with a dichroic mirror. 5. A low surface of a grain feeding groove provided in a vibrating grain feeding gutter,
2. The rice grain quality discriminating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one step having a lower surface lowering in the traveling direction is provided. 6. A vibration-feeding gutter separate from the vibration-feeding gutter is laid on the inclined discharge side in a related manner, and sorting is performed based on a determination result obtained by the arithmetic and control unit in determining a plurality of grades. The rice grain discriminating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sorting device that performs the sorting.