JPH0875657A - Discriminating equipment of grain of rice - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To enable measurement and selection of a grain length without lowering the performance of selecting a grain of a cracked body and others, by casting light to a grain of rice obliquely from both above and below and by detecting a reflected light therefrom. CONSTITUTION: A rotary plate 1 provided with a large number of cavities each of which holds one grain of rice is driven 3 to rotate. The grain of rice in each cavity 2 is irradiated obliquely from above and below the rotary plate 1 from light-casting parts 7 and 8 of an optical system block 4 by the light of a light source 5. The cast light is reflected diffusedly inside the grain of rice and reflected on the surface thereof and imaged on a line image sensor 10. The sensor 10 detects an intensity distribution in the direction of the axis of the length of the grain of rice from each reflected light over the whole line. Besides, an optical system block 24 casts 27, 28 the light of the light source 5 to the grain G of rice and a detector 29 detects the light reflected diffusedly inside the grain G of rice. The respective detection signals 10 and 29 of the sensor and the detector are subjected to a signal processing by a microcomputer 13 and states of a body crack of the grain, a crushed grain and the length of the grain are detected from the intensity distribution of the light by computation of a change rate, comparison with a prescribed intensity level, etc. When a detected value 29 is extremely small, the grain is determined as a powdery one.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rice grain discriminating apparatus, and more particularly, to a rice grain discriminating apparatus for detecting defects in rice grains such as split grains and length of rice grains.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Trunk cracks in rice grains are cracks that occur in rice grains, and almost always occur in a direction orthogonal to the long axis direction of the rice grains.

Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 14, this barrel crack is made by placing rice grains in an oval-shaped depression, and irradiating the lower portion of the grain with light through a thin optical path from an oblique direction. There is a method to visually determine the presence or absence of cracks in the body. Further, as shown in FIG. 15, there is a method in which two photodiodes are arranged in parallel with the long axis direction of the rice grain and the barrel crack of the rice grain is automatically detected from the difference in the amount of received light.
However, with these conventional methods of detecting illumination from below at the top, the amount of transmitted light is extremely small because the amount of light transmitted through rice and colored particles, which have the characteristics of hardened powder such as powdery grains, are extremely small. However, it was difficult to measure the grain length.

Nowadays, liberalization of rice has become a problem, and as imported rice actually circulates in the market, the handling of rice called long grain seeds is highlighted and interest in the length (grain length) of rice grains increases. ing. In such a situation, it was difficult to say that the grain length was sufficiently measured by the illumination device designed for the purpose of mainly detecting the barrel split grains, and the length was measured. Therefore, if the light emitting portion is provided on the same side as the light receiving portion, it becomes difficult to measure the split grains.

It is said that rice millers are very interested in the characteristics of rice, and that they have a great influence on the grain splitting that influences the yield at the time of rice polishing before rice polishing, and on the rice cooking characteristics of rice after rice polishing, especially the taste. There are crushed particles.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to measure and select the grain length of a sample having a small amount of light transmission, such as powdery grains, without deteriorating the sorting performance of split crushed grains and crushed grains. It is to provide a rice grain discrimination device capable of

[0007]

The rice grain determination device according to the present invention has an elliptical recess for accommodating rice grains on the upper surface, and the lower portion of the recess is made of a material that transmits light. The body, a means for irradiating the whole rice grain with light from above and below the rice grain holder from the direction inclined with respect to the long axis direction of the rice grain, and the light diffusely reflected inside the rice grain and the light reflected on the rice grain surface. A means for detecting the light intensity distribution along the long-axis direction of the rice grain by sensing along the long-axis direction of the rice grain, and a rate of change of the light-intensity distribution detected by the light-intensity distribution detection means being a predetermined value or more. A depression detecting unit that detects the presence of a portion that drops in a depression shape and then rises, and a unit that determines the rice grain as split rice when the presence of the depression is detected by the depression detecting unit.

[0008]

According to the present invention, since the rice grain is irradiated with light from both upper and lower directions, the light intensity distribution detecting means detects the light diffusely reflected in the rice grain with respect to normal rice. For rice grains that can detect the presence or absence of body splitting and grain length, and that have very little light transmission such as powdery grains and colored grains, measure the grain length by detecting the light reflected from the surface of the grain. You can

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall structure of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 4 are explanatory diagrams showing the essential parts of the present invention. 1 to 4, a large number of oval recesses 2 are provided in the vicinity of the periphery of the rotary plate 1 on the circumference centered on the rotation axis of the rotary plate. Rice grains are accommodated in the depressions 2 one by one, and a transparent member is used below the depressions. The rotary plate 1 is rotationally driven by the motor 3.

An optical system holding block 4 is installed so as to sandwich a part of the rotary plate 1. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a light source 5 passes through an optical fiber 6 to indent the rotary plate vertically and obliquely. The light is guided to the light irradiation units 7 and 8 which irradiate the rice grains in 2 with light. The light emitted from the light irradiation units 7 and 8 is diffusely reflected inside the rice grain or reflected on the surface of the rice grain, and is imaged on the line image sensor 10 through the imaging optical system 9. The detection signal from the sensor 10 is amplified by the amplifier 12 and sent to the microcomputer 13 for signal processing.

The result of signal processing by the microcomputer 13 is displayed on the display unit 14. If necessary, the printer 15 may be provided and the data may be output to this. The microcomputer 13 can also be connected to the external computer 16 or the like.

The keyboard 17 is for inputting required data and commands.

The good rice grains and the bad rice grains, which are discriminated by the optical system holding block section 4 by the optical method, are sent to different containers by the sorter 19. This sorter has a structure in which compressed air sent from the compressor 20 is blown away in different directions according to the above-mentioned optical discrimination result.

When the rotating plate 1 is rotated and the rice grains come to a predetermined measurement position, the light reflectors 8A, 8B and 8C are provided corresponding to the respective depressions 2 as shown in FIG. The detection sensor 22 detects and sends this detection signal to the microcomputer 13. The timing of taking in the detection signal from the line image sensor 10 is determined by this detection signal.

The other optical system block 24 is
The rice grains G are irradiated with light from the light source 5 through the optical fibers 25 and 26 and have light irradiation units 27 and 28, and the light scattered in the rice grains G is detected by the detector 29 and is transmitted via the amplifier 30 to the microcomputer. Sent to 13. This detector 29
When the detection value of is extremely small, it can be determined that the particles are powdery particles.

Further, the positions of the light irradiators 27 and 28 can be moved as needed.

As described above, the rice grain G placed in the recess of the rotary plate 1 is irradiated with light through the light-transmitting material from the downward direction inclined with respect to the long axis direction of the rice grain, and the rice grain is exposed to the light. Light is radiated from above, which is inclined with respect to the long axis direction of the rice grain, without passing through the transparent material. The line image sensor 10 simultaneously detects and holds the intensity distribution of the light scattered and transmitted in the rice grain and the light diffusely reflected on the surface and inside of the rice grain in the long axis direction of the rice grain, and the detection signal is stored in the microprocessor. It is taken into 13, and A / D converted and stored in RAM. As will be described later, the rate of change of this intensity distribution is calculated, or compared with a predetermined intensity level to detect the presence or absence of barrel cracks in the rice grain, and the state of the rice grain such as whether it is a length or a crushed grain.

The rotary plate 1 may be transparent only on the lower side of the recess 2, and as shown in FIG. 5, it has a structure in which an opaque plate 1b having an oval through hole 2 is superposed on a transparent plate 1a. May be. As shown in the figure, the rice grains placed in each of the depressions 2 are irradiated with light through the rotating plate 1 from the lower side which is inclined with respect to the long axis direction of the rice grain, and the upper side which is inclined with respect to the long axis direction of the rice grain. From the direction, the rice grains are directly irradiated with light without passing through the rotary plate 1. The light applied to the rice grain is diffused and transmitted inside the rice grain, diffusely reflected on the surface and inside, and the upper surface of the rice grain seems to shine brightly. The light and darkness of the rice grain surface due to the diffused light is imaged on the line image sensor 10 by the optical system 9. This line image sensor has 12
It consists of an array of eight light receiving elements. An area sensor may be used instead of the line image sensor. In the area where there are no rice grains, the light does not diffuse in the holder 1 and goes straight, so that it does not enter the optical system 9. Therefore, it is detected by the light receiving element as a dark portion.

As shown in FIG. 6, each depression 2A, 2B,
2C corresponding to position detection light reflectors 8A, 8B, 8C
Is attached to the position detecting sensor 15
The detection timing of each rice grain is determined by detecting with a position detection hole instead of this light reflector, and each rice grain is detected by a position detection sensor such as a photocoupler. The detection timing may be determined. The light reflector 8 may be replaced with a magnetic substance.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a circuit for processing an electric signal from the line image sensor 10. The electric signal from the line image sensor 10 is supplied to the video amplifier 12
And is A / D converted by the A / D converter 32 and R
It is stored in AM33. The CPU 34 operates according to the program stored in the ROM 35. The drive circuit 36 periodically generates a start pulse 5 as shown in FIG. 8B and transmits it to the line image sensor 10. Upon receiving this start pulse, the line image sensor 10 sequentially scans each light receiving element of the line image sensor in accordance with the clock pulse φ ₁ from the drive circuit 36 shown in FIG. 8A to detect a signal. The detection signal is shown in FIG.
The signal waveform V ₀₁ is as follows and is sent to the video amplifier 12. The detection signal amplified by the video amplifier 12 is sampled by the peak hold circuit 37 at the maximum value of the detection signal as a signal V ₀₂ shown in FIG.
A / D conversion is performed at the timing of the pulse φ ₂ shown in FIG. The hold signal of the peak hold circuit is released by the pulse φ ₃ shown in FIG. As a result, the obtained digital signal is stored in the RAM 32.

In this embodiment, the line image sensor 10 is composed of 128 detection elements (pixels), and the charge storage time is about 1 ms. Therefore, all pixels can be scanned in a minute period of about 1 ms. . Therefore, the influence of the movement of the position due to the fluctuation of the rice grain can be almost ignored.

When the CPU 34 receives a signal from the position detecting sensor 22, the driving circuit 36 stops the generation of pulses. At this time, the image signal stored in the RAM 33 is read out, and the image signal is calculated in accordance with the program stored in the ROM 35 as will be described later to obtain the crack in the barrel and the length.

FIG. 9 shows an example of the image signal stored in the RAM. FIG. 9 (a) is a detection signal for rice grains without cracks in the barrel, FIG. 9 (b) is a detection signal for rice grains with one strip of barrel cracks, and FIG. 9 (c) is a detection signal for broken grain rice.
(D) is a detection signal in the case of powdery rice. FIG. 9 (e)
Is a detection signal when the powdery particles are irradiated with light from only the lower side by the conventional device. As can be understood by comparing FIG. 6 (e) with FIG. 6 (d), the apparatus of the present invention can obtain a detection value about three times higher at the peak portion.

Next, FIG. 1 shows an operation for discriminating a cracked rice grain.
A description will be given based on 0. When the operation of this program is started, first, in step 101, the counter i in the RAM 33 is set to 1. Then, in step 102,
The value of the counter C in the RAM 33 is reset to 0.
Then, in step 103, the value of the counter i is 12
Determine if equal to 8. Since it is the first time now, it is determined to be NO here and the routine proceeds to step 104, where i
The th pixel signal V _i is the (i + 1) th pixel signal V _{i + 1}
It is determined whether or not it is larger than + ΔV. This is shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), when there is a crack in the rice grain, the recessed portion appearing in the pixel signal distribution that falls to the right is detected. In addition, adding ΔV is
It is designed so that small dents due to scratches on the surface of rice grains and slight changes in output due to changes in amplifier gain can be ignored. In particular, if there is no cleft, it is determined to be NO here, the counter i is incremented by 1 in step 105, and the process returns to step 103. If there is a cleft, YES is determined in step 104 and the process proceeds to step 106. Here, the counter i is counted by 1, and in step 107,
It is determined whether the content of the counter i is equal to 128 pixels. Here, when it is determined NO, and it is determined whether or not smaller than the value obtained by adding ΔV to the i-th pixel signal V _i in step 108 (i + 1) th pixel signal V _{i + 1.} This is to determine whether or not the concave portion of the distribution of pixel signals has risen to the right. When the pixel signal distribution is sloping down to the right or at the bottom of the depression, NO is determined and the process returns to step 106. If YES in step 108, step 109
Gives 1 count to the counter C, and further, step 10
At 5, the counter i is incremented by 1 and the process returns to step 103.

When it is determined in step 103 or 107 that the content of the counter i is equal to 128, the process proceeds to step 111, where it is determined whether the content of the counter C is 0 or not. If YES, step 112
The display shows that there is no crack in the body and the program is terminated. If NO, it is determined in step 113 whether the counter C is 1 or not. Here, if YES is determined, it is displayed in step 114 that there is one strip of the body, and the program ends. If it is judged NO in step 113, it is displayed in step 115 that there are two or more cracks in the body, and this program ends.

Next, a program for detecting the presence or absence of crushed rice will be described with reference to FIG. Referring to FIG. 11, in step 120, the counter i is set to 1 and then in step 121, the register C in the RAM 33 is set.
1 and C2 are reset to 0. Next, at step 122, it is judged if the value of the counter i is larger than the number of pixels 128. Now that it's first, NO here
Then, in the next step 123, it is determined whether or not the magnitude of the i-th pixel signal is larger than the threshold level Vth. This threshold level uses the fact that the rice grain looks bright by the lighting device, but the light around the rice grain does not enter the optical system, so it looks dark. This is a level for determination, and is shown as Vth in FIG.
Step 12 if the rice grain position has not yet been reached
It is determined to be NO in 3 and the counter i is set to 1 in step 124.
The count is added and the process returns to step 122. Step 123
If the answer is YES, the pixel signal is at the end of the rice grain, so in step 126 the contents of the counter at that time are set in the register C1 and the position of one end of the rice grain is stored.

Next, at step 127, the counter i is incremented by one.
In addition to the count, it is determined in step 128 whether or not the count value becomes larger than 128. Right now, I'm just approaching one end of the rice grain, so NO here
Then, in step 129, it is determined whether the i-th pixel signal Vi is larger than the threshold level Vth, that is, whether the pixel signal due to the light from above the rice grain continues. If it is still on the rice grain, YES here
Then, the process returns to step 127. When the other end of the rice grain has passed, it is determined as NO in step 129, and step 130
Then, the content of the counter i indicating the position of the other end of the rice grain at this time is set in the register C2. Then, in step 132, the value of C1 is subtracted from the value of the register C2 to calculate the length L of the rice grain. This calculation may be performed by multiplying the value obtained by the subtraction by the value obtained by dividing the arrangement interval of the detection elements by the imaging magnification. Then, in step 133, it is judged whether or not the length L of the rice grain is smaller than a predetermined value Lr shorter than the length of the normal rice grain. If NO is determined here, since it is a normal rice grain, it is displayed as normal in 134 and this program ends, but if YES is determined, this program is displayed with crushed rice in step 135. finish.

If YES is determined in step 122 or 128, it means that there is no rice grain or there is some error. Therefore, an error is displayed in steps 36 and 36 ', and this program is terminated.

9 (d) and 9 (e) show the detection signals of the same powdery rice, but if the threshold level Vth of the detection signals is made the same due to the difference in lighting method, the grain length can be calculated by the above program. In FIG. 9 (e), the rice is erroneously determined as crushed rice.

In FIG. 4, instead of the rice grains G, a standard plate 38 (for example, a milky white glass plate) that scatters and transmits and diffusely reflects light is placed, or the standard plate 38 is placed.
Is replaced with the fixed rice grain holder 1 to measure and obtain a detection signal.

The obtained detection signal is the ROM 35 of FIG. 12 or the RAM 33 designed not to volatilize the data.
To memorize it. When the detection signal of the line image sensor 10 changes due to the change in the light amount of the light source 5, the standard plate 38 described above is measured and compared with the data stored in the ROM 35 or the RAM 33, and necessary correction processing is performed.

An embodiment of this correction process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13A shows the detected waveform and the area S1 of the standard plate at the time of product shipment, which is stored in the ROM 35. FIG. 13B shows the detected waveform and the area S2 of the standard plate at the actual rice grain measurement site. The change rate K = S1 / S2 is calculated, and the line image sensor 1 is used in the subsequent measurement.
The detection signal Vi of 0 is multiplied by K, and its value (Vi ′ = K × V
The crack and grain length are calculated using i) as a detection signal. This multiplication processing is performed by the CPU 34 shown in FIG.
There is a method of processing by placing a multiplier or conversion circuit 40 between the A / D converter 32 and the RAM 33.

It should be noted that the measurement at the time of product shipment shown in FIG.
The constant area S1 is the number of pixels in the line image sensor 10,
That is, there are 128 samples, and the detection signal of each sample
To V _1ngiven that,

[Equation 1] Can be expressed as Similarly, the measurement surface S2 at the measurement site shown in FIG.

[Equation 2] Can be expressed as

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a main part of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration concept of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a rotating plate according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view showing another embodiment of the rotary plate according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of position detection of a rotary plate according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a circuit unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a waveform chart of a main part in the circuit shown in FIG.

9A to 9D are waveform diagrams of detection signals detected by the circuit unit shown in FIG. 7 and stored in RAM, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a waveform diagram of a detection signal of powdery particles detected by a conventional detection system.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing an embodiment for detecting the splitting of rice grains according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example for measuring the length of rice grains according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing another embodiment having a correction function of the electric circuit unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the circuit shown in FIG.

FIG. 14 is a schematic view of a conventional device.

FIG. 15 is a schematic view showing another example of the conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Rotating Plate 2 Indentation 5 Light Source 6 Optical Fiber 7, 8 Light Irradiation Section 9 Imaging Optical System 10 Line Image Sensor 13 Microcomputer 17 Keyboard 22 Position Detection Sensor G Rice Grain

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A rice grain holder having at least one elliptical recess for accommodating rice grains formed on an upper surface thereof, and at least a lower portion of the recess is made of a material that transmits light, and a rice grain holder in a longitudinal direction of the rice grain. A means for irradiating the whole of the rice grain with light from above and below the rice grain holder respectively from the inclined direction, the light diffusely reflected in the rice grain and the light reflected on the surface of the rice grain are the long axis of the rice grain. Means for detecting the light intensity distribution along the long axis direction of the rice grain by sensing along the direction, and the light intensity distribution detected by the light intensity distribution detecting means has a depression shape with a rate of change of a predetermined value or more. A depression detecting means for detecting the presence of a portion that rises and then rises, and a means for judging the rice grain as a shattered rice when the presence of the depression is detected by the depression detecting means. Rice grain discrimination device. 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the light irradiating means guides one light source and light emitted from the light source to above and below the rice grain holder from above and below to the rice grain. A rice grain discriminating apparatus having an optical fiber for irradiation. 3. The rice grain discriminating device according to claim 1, wherein the rice grain holder is a disc-shaped member having a large number of elliptical depressions for accommodating rice grains in a circumferential shape in the vicinity of the periphery. 4. The rice grain discriminating apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: a unit that rotationally drives the disc-shaped member; and a unit that detects the position of the elliptical depression. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for generating a threshold level signal indicating the presence of the rice grains, and light intensity distribution detected by the light intensity distribution detecting means,
A unit for calculating a length of a portion exceeding the threshold level, comprising: 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light intensity distribution is measured by using a standard member having a grain size of rice instead of the rice grain so that a detection signal representing the light intensity distribution has an appropriate value. A rice grain discrimination device having means for correcting the detection means.