JP2002131243A - Electromagnetic wave type apparatus for inspecting egg - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable simple estimation of an abnormality of eggs in a state, while the eggs are packed and improve reliability by utilizing the fact that dielectric constants of the white and the yolk of eggs are high. SOLUTION: Electromagnetic waves, including microwaves, are irradiated to the egg 4 from a klystron 1 via a wave guide 2, a directional coupler 5 and a horn antenna 3. Reflected waves are received in route opposite to the above. Transmission waves and reception waves are respectively measured by vector volt meters 7 and 6 set to the directional coupler 5. A total quantity of the white and the yolk of the egg is estimated for each egg, by utilizing a ratio of an irradiation level and a reception level of the waves, or the like, so that whether the egg is hollow can be readily detected, and the reliability is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an egg inspection apparatus using electromagnetic waves such as microwaves, and more particularly to an egg inspection apparatus capable of measuring the total amount of albumen and yolk in an eggshell in a non-contact manner during packing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Packing eggs usually comprises the following three steps. 1) Egg washing Egg washing is first performed to wash off dirt and various bacteria on the egg surface. In an egg washing apparatus, for example, while rotating the egg, dirt and various germs are removed using water diluted with sodium hypochlorite and dried. 2) Egg inspection Light is applied from below in a dark room to remove those that are normally cracked by human eyes and abnormal eggs such as blood eggs. Then the egg 6
Hitting the spot with a machine and automatically sorting based on sound judgment. 3) Packing The eggs are adsorbed, packed one by one, a sticker such as date is attached, and the pack is sealed with heat.

[0003]

As described above, the conventional method relies on a method of inspecting an egg by visual inspection and sound.
Abnormality monitoring is not particularly performed in the steps after egg inspection.
Therefore, since cracks and the like cannot be completely detected,
In some cases, only egg shells from which egg whites and yolks have been removed are packed and shipped, causing great inconvenience to retail stores and supermarkets. Has occurred. Therefore, it is desired to inspect for abnormalities after packing. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to detect omission of egg white and yolk mainly after packing and improve reliability.

[0004]

In order to solve such a problem, according to the first aspect of the present invention, an egg is irradiated with an electromagnetic wave, a reflected electromagnetic wave from the egg is received, and the yolk in the eggshell is detected from the received level. It is characterized by estimating the total amount of egg white. According to a second aspect of the present invention, the eggs are irradiated with electromagnetic waves, the reflected electromagnetic waves from the eggs are received, and the total amount of yolk and albumen in the eggshell is estimated from the ratio between the reception level and the irradiation level. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the egg is irradiated with an electromagnetic wave, the transmitted electromagnetic wave from the egg is received, and the total amount of the yolk and the albumen in the eggshell is estimated from the reception level. The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that an egg is irradiated with an electromagnetic wave, a transmitted electromagnetic wave from the egg is received, and the total amount of yolk and egg white in the eggshell is estimated from a ratio between the reception level and the irradiation level. .

[0006]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a klystron that oscillates microwaves as electromagnetic waves, 2 is a waveguide for guiding microwaves, 3 is a horn antenna, 4 is an egg to be inspected, 5 is a directional coupler, 6 is a reflected wave Vector voltmeter, 7
Indicates a transmission wave vector voltmeter.

[0007] The microwave emitted from the klystron 1 is guided to the horn antenna 3 through the waveguide 2 and the directional coupler 5, propagates in the air from the horn antenna 3, and irradiates the egg 4 to be inspected. Is reflected. The microwave reflected by the egg 4 is received by the horn antenna 3,
The light propagates through the horn antenna 3, the directional coupler 5, and the waveguide 2 in a direction opposite to the propagation direction at the time of transmission. Directional coupler 5
From one end of the directional coupler 5, a part of the transmission signal is taken out and measured by the transmission wave vector voltmeter 7, and from the other end of the directional coupler 5,
A part of the reflection signal from the egg 4 is taken out and measured by the reflection vector voltmeter 6.

When a coaxial line is used for propagation from the klystron 1 to the horn antenna 3, when the frequency becomes high, the amount of attenuation increases and a sufficient signal level cannot be obtained. A waveguide 2 is used as a wave feed line as shown in FIG. As the waveguide, there are a rectangular waveguide as shown in FIG. 3 and a circular waveguide as shown in FIG. When the frequency band is set to 22 to 33 GHz in order to make the beam width of the microwave slightly smaller than that of the egg, the inner size (width × length) of the rectangular waveguide is 8.6 × 4.3 mm.
Becomes 3 (a) is a perspective view of a rectangular waveguide, FIG. 3 (b) is an electric field (solid line) and magnetic field (dotted line) distribution in the opening, and FIG. 3 (c) is an electric field distribution in the longitudinal direction. 4D shows the magnetic field distribution in the longitudinal direction, respectively. FIG. 4A shows the electric field (solid line) and magnetic field (dotted line) distributions at the opening of the circular waveguide, and FIG. 4B shows the magnetic field distribution in the longitudinal direction. Are respectively shown.

As shown in FIG. 5, the horn antenna includes (a) a sector horn, (b) a square horn, and (c) a cone horn. For example, in order to set the beam width for irradiating an egg to 25 degrees, the E-plane opening of the cone horn: 27.
5 mm, H-plane opening: 37.5 mm. Further, as shown in FIG. 6A, the directional coupler has λg /
Four sub-waveguides 9 are formed outside the coupling hole, and a sub-waveguide 9 is provided outside the coupling hole. When a right-direction wave is traveling in the main waveguide, a wave of the same amplitude is transmitted from each hole to the sub-waveguide. Incoming, these waves travel in the sub-waveguide in two directions, left and right. Of these, those going to the right have the same phase and therefore have twice the amplitude, but those going to the left have passed through the right hole as seen by the dotted line in the figure. When summed with the waves, they cancel each other out and the amplitude becomes zero. Therefore, if a rightward wave flows through the main waveguide, a rightward wave also flows through the sub-waveguide. Conversely, for a wave traveling to the left of the main waveguide, a wave traveling to the left will occur in the sub-waveguide,
Its amplitude is proportional to the amplitude of the wave flowing through the main waveguide.
By utilizing this, the traveling wave and the reflected wave can be separated and extracted.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the egg can be regarded as a load of the distributed constant circuit, which will be described below. Microwaves have the concept of characteristic impedance, similar to the propagation of waves on a distributed constant circuit. If impedance matching is not performed, electromagnetic waves are reflected on the transmitting side without traveling to the object side. Now, assuming a transmission line as shown in FIG. 7 and applying a sine wave voltage to its power supply terminal, a sine wave is applied to the load terminal. When the current is observed, it also changes in a sinusoidal manner.

Therefore, the complex representation of the voltage at a distance of Z from the power supply terminal is √2V [•] exp (jωt), and the complex representation of the current is √2I [•] exp (jωt). A dot [.] Is attached to the top or side of the code to indicate a vector. Next, the complex representation of the voltage and current at the distance of z + dz is {2} V [•] + dV, respectively.
[•] $ exp (jωt), {2} I [•] + dI
[・]｝ Exp (jωt), the voltage drop at the minute distance dz is due to the resistance R and the inductance L at that part, and the decrease in current is due to the distribution capacitance C and the distribution conductance G entering the part in parallel. Therefore, the differential equation of -dV [•] / dz = (R + jωL) I [•] -dI [•] / dz = (G + jωC) V [•] (1) is established. When these are differentiated once again by z and each expression is summarized by voltage and current, Expression (1) becomes Expression (2) below. −d ² V [•] / dz ² = γ ² V [•] −d ² I [•] / dz ² = γ ² I [•] where γ ² = (R + jωL) (G + jωC) (2)

The general solution of equation (2) is as follows. V [•] = V _i [•] exp (−γz) + V _r [•] exp (γz) I [•] = I _i [•] exp (−γz) + I _r [•• exp (γz) ... ( 3) (3) of the first term traveling wave Vi, I _i (waves) from the power supply side to the load terminal, the second term reflected wave Vr, the wave from the I _r (load terminal side to the power supply terminal) Is represented. Here, when the current is deformed in consideration of the flowing direction, the following equation (4) is obtained. I [•] = V _i [•] exp (−γz) / Z ₀ −V _r [•] exp (γz) / Z ₀ (4) where Z ₀ (= √ ｛(R + jωL) / (G + jω)
C)｝) is an impedance peculiar to the line and is called a characteristic impedance.

Next, assuming that the impedance looking at the load side at an arbitrary point z on the line is Z, Z [•] = ｛V _i [•] exp (−γz) + V _r [•] exp (γz) {Z ₀ / {V _i [•] exp (−γz) −V _r [•] exp (γz)} = {1 + Γ [•]} Z ₀ / {1-{[•]} (5) , {[•] = {V _r [•] exp (−γZ)} / {V _i [•] exp (−γZ)} (6), and the ratio between the traveling wave and the reflected wave at the position z. And is called a voltage reflection coefficient. From this, if the voltage reflection coefficient is measured, it is possible to measure the impedance Z looking at the load side. If the level of the transmission wave (traveling wave) is known, it goes without saying that the measurement can be performed only from the level of the reception wave (reflected wave).

When measuring the impedance of a packed egg, the eggshell is inorganic and the pack does not contain moisture, so the dielectric constant is low. However, the egg white and yolk have a high dielectric constant, so that the main component of impedance is substantially. Means egg white and egg yolk. Therefore, by previously clarifying the relationship between the amount of egg white and yolk and the impedance, it is possible to obtain the total of egg white and yolk from the impedance of the measured object. In addition, in order to inspect all the eggs enclosed in the pack, for example, the eggs in the pack may be examined one by one in X and Y directions.
It becomes possible by scanning with a scanner or the like.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention. This is based on the fact that the electromagnetic wave emitted from the horn antenna is reflected by the reflection coefficient of egg white and yolk in the eggshell, but is transmitted otherwise, and the microwave oscillated by the klystron 1 is used for transmission. Wave tube 1
The light is propagated in the air by the transmission horn antenna 11 and is radiated to the egg 4 which is the measured object. Since a part of the microwave is reflected by the egg 4 and the other part is transmitted, the microwave is received by the receiving horn antenna 12 and guided to the transmitted wave vector voltmeter 14 through the receiving waveguide 13, thereby obtaining a transmission level. Is measured. Further, a splitter 15 is provided in the middle of the transmission waveguide 10 so that a part of the transmission wave is measured by the transmission wave vector voltmeter 7.

Assuming that the transmitted wave is V _t [•], V _t
[•] = V _i [•] −V _r [•]. When the amplitude and phase of the traveling wave and the transmitted wave are measured, the amplitude and phase of the reflected wave can be obtained. When the amplitude and phase of the traveling wave and the reflected wave are determined, the voltage reflection coefficient represented by the above equation (6) is determined, and the impedance Z represented by the equation (5) is obtained. Subsequent steps are exactly the same as those in FIG.

Since electromagnetic waves such as microwaves are used, the irradiation time of the electromagnetic waves to the eggs is reduced to a necessary minimum time so that the quality is not deteriorated by heating the eggs, and the above-mentioned problems do not occur. It goes without saying that this is the case. In addition, it is desirable to use a material that hardly reflects and absorbs electromagnetic waves (for example, rubber or the like) on the transfer table for transferring the egg pack.

[0018]

According to the present invention, not only the total amount of egg white and yolk in the eggshell can be reliably measured without contacting the packed eggs by using electromagnetic waves, but also the eggs can be measured with an X, Y scanner, for example. By scanning the pack, it is easy to detect the leakage of egg white and yolk at a position other than the regular insertion position of the egg, and there is an advantage that the reliability can be significantly improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an electromagnetic field distribution of a rectangular waveguide.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an electromagnetic field distribution of a circular waveguide.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing various horn antennas.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a directional coupler.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a distributed constant line.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... klystron, 2, 10, 13 ... waveguide, 3, 1
1, 12 horn antenna, 4 eggs, 5 directional coupler, 6 reflected vector voltmeter, 7 transmitted vector voltmeter, 8 main waveguide, 9 auxiliary waveguide, 14 transmission Wave vector voltmeter, 15 ... branch device.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An electromagnetic wave type egg inspection apparatus which irradiates an egg with electromagnetic waves, receives reflected electromagnetic waves from the eggs, and estimates the total amount of yolk and albumen in the eggshell from the received level. 2. An electromagnetic wave method comprising irradiating an egg with electromagnetic waves, receiving reflected electromagnetic waves from the eggs, and estimating the total amount of yolk and egg white in the eggshell from a ratio between the received level and the irradiation level. Egg testing device. 3. An electromagnetic wave type egg inspection apparatus, which irradiates an electromagnetic wave to an egg, receives a transmitted electromagnetic wave from the egg, and estimates the total amount of yolk and egg white in the eggshell from the received level. 4. An electromagnetic wave method comprising irradiating an electromagnetic wave to an egg, receiving a transmitted electromagnetic wave from the egg, and estimating the total amount of yolk and albumen in the eggshell from a ratio between the received level and the irradiation level. Egg testing device.