JP2005043315A - Nondestructive quality determination apparatus for agricultural product - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve highly accurate quality determination in an agricultural product nondestructive quality determination apparatus for nondestructively determining an internal quality such as a sugar content contained in an agricultural product such as strawberry, tomato, and orange. <P>SOLUTION: The agricultural product nondestructive quality determination apparatus comprises a measuring part 3 having light transmitting means 17 and light receiving means 18, arranged respectively on the underside and on the upper side of the conveyor 14 of a transportation device 2, and opposing each other. Vertical through hole parts 51a, 52a are provided at the center in plane view of a pan 50. Light is applied to the agricultural product 15 from the underside to allow the quality of the product 15 to be determined based on the light transmitted through the product 15. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for nondestructively determining internal quality such as sugar content contained in agricultural products such as strawberries, tomatoes and mandarin oranges.

As a non-destructive quality judgment device for judging the internal quality of agricultural products such as sugar and acidity without destroying agricultural products, infrared light, laser light, etc. Is configured to determine the internal quality such as sugar content (sweetness) and acidity (acidity) of agricultural products by analyzing the light transmitted through the agricultural products (see, for example, Patent Document 1) .)
In such an agricultural product nondestructive quality judgment device, for example, the agricultural product is placed on a tray or a bread which is a mounting table for the agricultural product set (placed) on the upper surface of the conveyor constituting the conveying means, and the agricultural product is measured. Transport to. In the measurement unit, the light projecting means for irradiating the produce with light is arranged on one side of the transport means, and the light receiving means for receiving the light transmitted through the produce is provided on the other side of the transport means. Had been placed in.
Then, by irradiating the agricultural products with light from the light projecting means in the lateral direction, detecting the transmitted light with the light receiving means, and measuring and analyzing the absorbance, the internal components such as sugar content of the agricultural products are destroyed. Was estimating quickly without. Here, the absorbance is a value representing the degree of light absorption by the object when the light is incident on and transmitted through the target object, and is calculated by measuring the intensity of the incident light and transmitted light. Is done.

However, from the viewpoint of space saving, in the measuring section, the light projecting means and the light receiving means are arranged facing each other in the vertical direction across the conveyor of the transport means, and the optical path of the light irradiating the agricultural products is moved in the vertical direction. It is preferable.
For this reason, the light irradiated from the light projecting means is prevented from being blocked by the carrying means and the mounting table on which the agricultural products are placed. Specifically, the conveyor or the like of the transport means is configured not to be disposed in the light path, and a hole penetrating in the vertical direction is provided in the mounting table so that light passes through the hole.

JP 2001-228087 A

However, in the case where the light projecting means and the light receiving means are arranged facing each other in the vertical direction across the conveyor as described above, when the light projecting means is arranged above and the light receiving means is arranged below, There were the following problems.
When agricultural products having a complicated shape (for example, strawberries) are placed on the mounting table, the holes provided in the mounting table may not be completely blocked by the agricultural products, resulting in a gap. For this reason, there is a problem in that the leakage light inserted from the gap does not spread outward but leaks inward, and as a result, the light receiving means is likely to receive the light. And there was a problem that a measurement error was caused by receiving this leaked light. In particular, when performing quality judgment on agricultural products with high permeability such as strawberries, it is desirable to avoid receiving such leaked light as much as possible.
In addition, since the light receiving means is located below and the light receiving surface faces upward, dirt such as dust adheres to the light receiving surface, and accurate quality determination is hindered. .
Therefore, in the present invention, the light projecting means and the light receiving means are respectively arranged below the conveyor constituting the conveying means, and a hole penetrating in the vertical direction is formed in the produce mounting table, thereby accurately determining the quality. It is an object of the present invention to provide an agricultural product non-destructive quality judging device capable of performing the above.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is as described above. Next, means for solving the problem will be described.
That is, in Claim 1, it has the conveyance means for conveying agricultural products, and the measurement part by which a light projection means and a light-receiving means are arrange | positioned facing, It is mounted on the upper surface of the conveyor which comprises a conveyance means. Agricultural products are placed on the mounting table, the presence of the mounting table is detected by the detecting means, the agricultural products are transported to the measuring unit, and the quality of the agricultural product is determined based on the light transmitted through the agricultural products in the measuring unit. In the agricultural product nondestructive quality judging device, a light projecting means and a light receiving means are respectively arranged below the conveyor, and a hole penetrating in the vertical direction is formed in the center in plan view of the mounting table. It measures by irradiating light from the direction.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, a conveying belt stretched on the conveyor is divided into left and right with respect to the conveying direction, and a space formed between the divided conveying belts is changed from the light projecting unit to the light receiving unit. The optical path to

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the hole formed in the mounting table is formed such that the area on the bottom surface on the light projecting means side is larger than the area on the mounting surface on the light receiving means side.

As effects of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.
That is, as shown in claim 1, since the agricultural product nondestructive quality judgment device is configured, even when agricultural products having a complicated shape (for example, strawberries) are placed on the mounting table, the agricultural products and the holes Since the light leaking from the gap spreads outside, the possibility of receiving this leaked light by the light receiving means is reduced. Thereby, it is possible to suppress a measurement error associated with the reception of leaked light, and to perform quality determination with high accuracy. Further, it is possible to suppress the adhesion of dust or the like to the light receiving means, it is possible to reduce measurement errors due to dust or the like, and it is possible to perform quality determination with high accuracy.

  Since the agricultural product non-destructive quality determination device is configured as described in claim 2, it is possible to determine the quality of the agricultural product by the measuring unit using the vertical direction as the optical path.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the agricultural product non-destructive quality determination device is configured, so that a larger amount of light received by the light receiving means can be secured and the quality determination can be performed with high accuracy.

Next, the best mode for carrying out the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the agricultural product nondestructive quality judging device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view showing a conveying means and a measuring unit, FIG. 3 is a plan view, and FIG. FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a side view showing another embodiment of the conveyor, FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing bread, FIG. 7 is a diagram showing strawberries as an example of agricultural products, and FIG. It is a figure which shows a mode that it spreads to.

First, the configuration of an agricultural product nondestructive quality determination apparatus (hereinafter referred to as “quality determination apparatus”) 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3.
The quality determination apparatus 1 includes a transport device 2, which is a transport means, a measurement unit 3, a control unit 4, a supply unit, a selection unit, and the like. And the agricultural products 15 (for example, strawberries, tomatoes, mandarin oranges) to be subjected to quality determination are placed on a bread 50 which is a placing table set (placed) on the conveying surface of the conveying device 2 in the supply unit, The transport device 2 transports the transport path from the upstream side (supply unit side) toward the downstream side (selection unit side).
In addition, although the present Example demonstrates the case where internal quality, such as sugar content and acidity of agricultural products, is determined using near-infrared spectroscopy, you may apply another determination method. Here, “near-infrared spectroscopy” refers to an object such as an agricultural product that is irradiated with near-infrared light (also simply referred to as “light”), and the transmitted light or reflected light is measured. This is a method for determining internal components such as acidity. Moreover, below, the conveyance direction of the agricultural products 15 is made into the front-back direction (downstream side is the front), and the direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction in a horizontal surface is made into the left-right (horizontal) direction for convenience.

  In the measurement unit 3 arranged in the middle of the conveyance path, transmitted light with respect to the individual agricultural products 15 is detected by the light projecting unit 17 and the light receiving unit 18. Data based on the detected light is transmitted to the control unit 4 including a light source and a control device via the communication cable 19, and the data is analyzed by the control unit 4 to calculate the sugar content and acidity of each agricultural product 15. The internal quality is determined.

Further, upstream of the measurement unit 3 in the conveyance path of the agricultural product 15, detection means 12 including a detection switch such as a photoelectric sensor or an electrostatic sensor is provided for confirming the position of the pan 50. By means 12, the presence or absence of the bread 50 on which the agricultural product to be conveyed is placed is detected.
That is, the presence of the pan 50 detected by the detecting means 12 is input to the control unit 4 via the cable 12 a, and when the pan 50 reaches the measuring unit 3, the communication cable 20 is connected from the control unit 4 to the light projecting means 17. An output signal is transmitted through the light projecting means 17, and light is projected from the light projecting means 17. This light is applied to the agricultural product 15 placed on the pan 50, and the light transmitted through the farm product 15 is received by the light receiving means 18. Is configured to receive light.

Next, the measurement unit 3 will be described.
The measuring unit 3 includes a light emitting means 17 such as a lamp or LED that emits light having a wavelength in the near infrared region below, and a photodiode or a photo for receiving light emitted from the light projecting means 17 upward. A light receiving means 18 such as a transistor or a CCD is provided.
The light projecting means 17 is supported and fixed to the left and right end sides of the support plate 21 disposed horizontally below the conveyor 14, and the light receiving means 18 is disposed to the left and right end sides of the support plate 22 disposed horizontally above the conveyor 14. Each of the support plates 21 and 22 is fixed to a support pillar 23 standing on one side of the conveyor 14, and the light projecting means 17 and the light receiving means 18 are arranged with their vertical positions aligned with each other. Yes.

As described above, in this embodiment, the light projecting means 17 and the light receiving means 18 are arranged so as to face each other in the vertical direction across the conveyance surface of the agricultural product 15, and the path of the light irradiated to the agricultural product 15 is set up and down. The direction.
In order to block the entry of light from the outside, it is desirable to perform measurement in a state where the measurement unit 3 is placed in a dark room or in a state where the measurement unit 3 is covered with a light shielding member such as a cover.

  In the measurement unit 3 having such a configuration, a signal of the control unit 4 including a light source supplied with power from the power source 5 is sent to the light projecting unit 17, and the agricultural product 15 placed on the pan 50 from the light projecting unit 17. Is irradiated with light of a predetermined wavelength among the light, and is absorbed by an internal component included in the agricultural product 15, and other light passes through the agricultural product 15. The light transmitted through the agricultural product 15 is detected by the light receiving means 18. The transmitted light detected by the light receiving means 18 is output to the control unit 4 via the communication cable 19, and the control unit 4 calculates the absorbance of the agricultural product 15, so that the internal quality such as sugar content and acidity of the agricultural product 15 is calculated. Is going to be judged. Note that “measurement” in the measurement unit 3 means that the measurement unit 3 irradiates the agricultural product 15 with light by the light projecting unit 17 and detects light transmitted through the agricultural product 15 with the light receiving unit 18. .

As described above, in the measurement unit 3, the light projecting unit 17 is disposed below and the light receiving unit 18 is disposed above, and the light projecting unit 17 and the light receiving unit 18 are arranged in the vertical direction with the conveyor 14 interposed therebetween. It arrange | positions so that it may oppose, and it is set as the structure which irradiates light with respect to the agricultural product 15 from the downward direction. That is, the light path is such that light from the light projecting means 17 to the light receiving means 18 passes through the conveyor 14 from below the conveyor 14.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, in order to prevent the light irradiated from the light projecting means 17 from being blocked by the bread 50 which is a mounting table for the conveyor 14 and the agricultural product 15, the conveyor 14 and the bread 50 are as follows. It has a simple structure.

The conveyor 14 of the conveying apparatus 2 is demonstrated using FIG.2, FIG.3, FIG.4.
The transport device 2 serving as a transport means is a belt conveyor system using transport belts 11 and 11. In this transport device 2, a drive case 24 is provided on the side opposite to the transport surface of the conveyor 14 in the vicinity of the start or end of the conveyor 14, that is, on the bottom surface (downward) side of the support frame 16 such as the transport belts 11 and 11. In the drive case 24, a drive device 25 such as a transmission motor, a drive pulley 26 and a transmission pulley 27 fixed to a drive shaft protruding from the drive device 25 are housed, and above the transmission pulley 27. Tension pulleys 28 and 29 are arranged on the front and rear sides.
Driven pulleys 30 and 31 are supported at the start and end portions of the conveyor 14, and the conveyor belts 11 and 11 are stretched around the driven pulleys 30 and 31 and the transmission pulley 27. Further, on the side where the drive case 24 is not provided (on the downstream side in the present embodiment) at the start and end portions of the conveyor 14, leg portions 32 are provided on the left and right sides of the bottom surface of the support frame 16. On the provided side, leg portions 33 are respectively provided on support portions 34, 34 protruding from the drive case 24 on both the left and right sides, and the conveyor 14 is supported by these leg portions 32, 33.

In the conveyor 14 having such a configuration, the driving force of the driving device 25 is transmitted from the driving pulley 26 fixed to the driving shaft protruding from the driving device 25 to the transmission pulley 27 supported in the driving case 24. The rotation of the transmission pulley 27 drives the conveyor belts 11 and 11 stretched around the transmission pulley 27 and the driven pulleys 30 and 31. The tension of the conveyor belts 11 and 11 is adjusted by the tension pulleys 28 and 29.
In addition, the conveyance speed, movement amount, and the like of the conveyor 14 are adjusted by a controller (not shown) connected to the encoder 37 attached to the driving device 25.

The conveyor 14 is configured to have a space for securing an optical path between the light projecting unit 17 and the light receiving unit 18 at a substantially central portion on the left and right with respect to the conveying direction of the conveyor 14. That is, the conveyor belt stretched on the conveyor 14 is configured as the conveyor belts 11 and 11 that are divided and arranged on the left and right sides with respect to the conveyance direction, and an optical path for measurement is provided between the left and right conveyor belts 11 and 11. A gap that is large enough to pass is provided. This gap is set to an interval at which the bread 50 on which the agricultural product 15 is placed does not fall and a sufficient amount of light can pass from the light projecting means 17 for quality determination of the agricultural product 15.
Further, a notch 16 a (FIG. 4) for securing a path of light emitted from the light projecting means 17 is also formed on the bottom surface of the support frame 16 of the conveyor 14 in the measurement unit 3. That is, the support frame 16 may be configured in a frame shape, and the horizontal frame connecting the left and right support frames 16 and 16 may be disposed at a position that avoids the measurement optical path. Moreover, when covering the lower front part (bottom part) between the support frames 16 and 16, the notch 16a is opened.

  In this way, the conveying belts 11 and 11 of the conveyor 14 are stretched with a gap between the left and right sides, and the notch 16a is provided in the support frame 16, thereby forming a path space for the light emitted from the light projecting means 17. Thus, the quality of the agricultural product 15 can be determined by the measuring unit 3 having the optical path in the vertical direction as described above. Note that the distance between the conveyor belts 11 and 11 and the size of the notches 16 a provided in the support frame 16 are projected from the light projecting lens 17 a of the light projecting means 17 and irradiated to the produce 15 on the bread 50. Each is set not to block light.

Further, as another embodiment of the conveyor 14 in the measurement unit 3, the following configuration may be adopted.
As shown in FIG. 5, in this embodiment, the intervals in the vertical direction in the vicinity of the measuring unit 3 of the conveyor belts 11 and 11 stretched on the conveyor 14 are widened. That is, of the conveyor belts 11 and 11 stretched on the conveyor 14, a portion located on the conveyance surface side is defined as an outward path, and a belt positioned on the outward path side is defined as an outward belt 11a. When the belt moving in the opposite direction, that is, the belt located on the return path side is the return belt 11b, the return belt 11b is positioned below the light projecting lens 17a of the light projecting means 17 in the vicinity of the measurement unit 3. The return belt 11b is bypassed.

  Specifically, the guide roller for diverting the return belt 11b of the conveyor belts 11 and 11 downwardly before and after the light projecting means 17 with respect to the conveyance direction to widen the distance between the forward belt 11a and the return belt 11b. 38 and 39 are disposed, and the return belt 11b is positioned below the light projecting lens 17a of the light projecting means 17 by placing the return belt 11b along the guide rollers 38 and 39. Above the guide rollers 38 and 39, tension rollers 40 and 41 for restricting the path of the return belt 11b and maintaining the tension are arranged. The guide rollers 38 and 39 and the tension rollers 40 and 41 are supported by a casing 42 provided on the bottom surface of the support frame 16 of the conveyor 14.

  As described above, in the vicinity of the measurement unit 3, the return belt 11 b of the conveyor belts 11 and 11 is detoured downward and is positioned below the light projecting lens 17 a of the light projecting unit 17, thereby the light projecting lens 17 a and the light receiving unit. 18, the forward belt 11a is the only conveyor belt located between the optical belt 18 and the optical belt 11a, which prevents the light shielding due to the displacement of the conveyor belts 11 and 11, and causes an error in the amount of light emitted from the light projecting means 17 that causes measurement errors. It can be reduced, and more stable quality judgment becomes possible. In addition, since the part of the conveyor belts 11 and 11 that bypasses the return belt 11b is only in the vicinity of the measuring unit 3, the entire conveyor 14 is not enlarged, and the casing is provided to block the measuring unit 3 from outside light. It is also suitable when covered with the like.

Then, the structure of the bread | pan 50 which is the mounting base of the agricultural product 15 is demonstrated.
As shown in FIG. 6, the pan 50 is made of an elastic body such as rubber, a synthetic resin, or the like, and has a dish part 51 having a placement surface 51 b on which the agricultural product 15 is placed, and a lower part of the dish part 51. A cylindrical portion 52 that is a substantially cylindrical hollow member that forms a space is integrally formed. The pan 50 is made of a light-shielding material in order to prevent transmission of light not directly related to measurement.
The mounting surface 51b of the dish portion 51 has a bowl shape that is recessed toward the center, and a hole portion 51a and a hole portion 52a are formed at the center portions of the mounting surface 51b and the bottom surface 52b of the cylindrical portion 52, respectively. The path of the light irradiated from the light projecting means 17 is ensured. That is, a hole penetrating in the vertical direction is formed in the center of the pan 50 in plan view. A plurality of breads 50 having holes 51a and 52a having a size corresponding to the type of the agricultural product 15 to be measured are prepared. However, it is possible to eliminate the need to provide the hole 52a in the bottom surface 52b by making the cylindrical portion 52 into a pipe shape and fixing the dish portion 51 on the cylindrical portion 52. In addition, the cylindrical portion 52 can be a polygonal cylindrical body as long as the plate portion 51 is circular or polygonal in plan view and the central portion is recessed downward and has a hole 51a in the center thereof.

  In this way, the pan 50 secures a path of light emitted from the light projecting means 17 together with the conveyor 14 of the transport device 2, so that the light projecting means 17 and the light receiving means 18 are connected to the conveyor in the measuring unit 3. This is suitable for the quality determination apparatus 1 that forms an optical path that passes through the upper and lower portions 14. Therefore, in the measurement unit 3, the light projecting unit 17 is disposed below and the light receiving unit 18 is disposed above, and the light projecting unit 17 and the light receiving unit 18 are opposed to each other in the vertical direction with the conveyor 14 interposed therebetween. Space-saving compared to the case where light projecting means and light receiving means are arranged opposite to both sides of the transport means (conveyor) and light is irradiated to the agricultural products from the lateral direction. Can be planned. And by setting an optical path in the up and down direction, the present invention can be applied to the case where the quality of each agricultural product 15 is determined while conveying the agricultural products 15 to the conveyor 14 over a plurality of rows, and the versatility is further increased.

And in this case, since it is set as the structure which irradiates light from the downward direction with respect to the agricultural product 15 mounted in the mounting surface 51b of the plate | pan part 51 of the bread | pan 50, bread (for example, strawberries) with a complicated shape is bread. 8, the light leaking from the gap between the agricultural product and the hole 51a spreads outward as shown in FIG. 8, so that the possibility of receiving the leaked light by the light receiving means 18 is reduced. . Thereby, it is possible to suppress a measurement error associated with the reception of leaked light, and to perform quality determination with high accuracy. Moreover, the distance from the light projection means 17 to the agricultural product 15 can be made substantially constant.
In addition, when placing agricultural products (eg, strawberries, tomatoes, etc.) on which the stickers are placed on the bread 50, the stickers are often placed face down (see FIG. 8). For this reason, when such agricultural products are irradiated with light from the bottom, the attenuation of light due to the spatter can be reduced as compared with the case of irradiation from above. In other words, since the distance between the spatula and the light projecting means can be shortened by projecting from below rather than from above, the amount of information required for quality judgment can be acquired by reducing the attenuation of light due to spatula. This makes it possible to accurately determine quality.

  In addition, since the light receiving means 18 is disposed on the upper side and the light receiving surface faces downward, the light receiving means 18 is less likely to be contaminated with dust or the like. In particular, by suppressing the adhesion of dust or the like to the light receiving surface 18a, measurement errors due to dust or the like can be reduced, and quality determination can be performed with high accuracy. Further, since the light receiving means 18 has a more compact configuration than the light projecting means 17, the upper part of the quality judgment device 1 (measurement unit 3) can be made compact.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6, in the pan 50, the diameter φD of the hole 52a is larger than the diameter φC of the hole 51a (φC <φD). That is, the diameter of the hole 52a on the bottom surface 52b on the side in contact with the transport belts 11 and 11 is made larger than the diameter of the hole 51a on the mounting surface 51b on the side on which the agricultural product 15 is placed. In this way, the amount of light received by the light receiving means 18 is increased by making the area of the hole 52a in the bottom surface 52b on the light projecting means 17 side larger than the area of the hole 51a on the mounting surface 51b on the light receiving means 18 side. It is possible to ensure more and perform quality determination with high accuracy.

By the way, the agricultural products to be subjected to quality judgment by the quality judging device 1 vary in size even if they are the same varieties, and the individual quality of each agricultural product also varies depending on the site, such as sugar content and acidity. There is something that is. In view of this, the bread 50 is configured to reduce the determination error due to the variation in the size of agricultural products and the difference in internal quality depending on the part.
Hereinafter, the strawberry 45 is mentioned as an example of the agricultural product 15, and sugar content is demonstrated to an example as internal quality.

The size of the strawberry 45 ranges from 3 L to S (or 2S) (about 60 to 20 mm in length and about 50 to 5 g in weight). There are variations.
Moreover, as shown in FIG. 7, when the part other than the strawberry 45 is the fruit part 47, the sugar content of the fruit part 47 generally increases gradually from the upper part to the lower part. Specifically, when the fruit portion 47 is divided into approximately three equal parts in the up and down direction with the head 46 facing upward, and the upper portion 47a, the intermediate portion 47b, and the lower portion 47c are formed from above, the sugar content of each portion is set to Brix (% ), The approximate values are 4 to 9 (%) for the upper portion 47a, 6 to 11 (%) for the intermediate portion 47b, and 8 to 13 (%) for the lower portion 47c.

In order to reduce the influence of the difference in sugar content due to the part of the fruit part 47 in the strawberry 45 on the measurement value of the quality determination, the light transmission range is widened by irradiating light over the wide part of the fruit part 47 as much as possible. It is preferable to do. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, when the diameter of the hole 51a of the pan 51 constituting the pan 50 is φC, it is necessary to make the diameter φC as large as possible. However, when the diameter φC is increased, problems such as a small strawberry falling from the hole 51a or leakage of light irradiated from the light projecting means 17 can be considered.
In consideration of such inconvenience, the hole 51a of the dish portion 51 can secure the light amount necessary for quality determination even in a large strawberry without having a diameter φC falling of a small strawberry. It is formed in size. The diameter φC is set to about 20 mm, which is slightly shorter than the length of a size 2S strawberry that is minimized within the size range that is normally shipped.

Thus, by setting the value of the diameter φC of the hole portion 51a formed in the dish portion 51, when performing quality determination of agricultural products with variations in size, within the size range that is normally shipped, The determination work is performed regardless of the size, and the work efficiency can be improved. In addition, a stable determination result can be obtained even when it is determined that the internal quality varies depending on the part of each agricultural product 15. Furthermore, since the center part of the dish part 51 is depressed, when the agricultural products such as strawberries are placed on the dish part 51, they are naturally placed at the center. Therefore, the intermediate portion 47b is positioned above the hole 51a, so that variations in quality measurement are small and a substantially accurate value can be obtained.
In addition, the pan portion 51 can be attached to and detached from the pan 50, and depending on the type of produce for which quality is judged, a plurality of plate portions 51 having sizes and shapes corresponding to the types are prepared, and attached according to the produce for which quality is judged. It can also be set as a structure.

In addition, it is preferable that the hole portion 52a formed in the bottom surface 52b of the cylindrical portion 52 constituting the pan 50 has a diameter φD that is as large as possible in order to secure a light amount necessary for quality determination. That is, as shown in FIG. 4 and the like, the light projecting lens 17a of the light projecting means 17 is formed so that the light emitted from the light projecting means 17 is condensed because it passes through the hole 51a of the pan 50. Therefore, the diameter φD is increased because the amount of light transmitted through the pan 50 is determined by the size of the hole 52a formed in the bottom surface 52b of the cylindrical portion 52, which is positioned at the lowest position of the pan 50. Is preferred.
Therefore, the hole portion 52a provided in the cylindrical portion 52 has a diameter φD in consideration of the size of the space provided in the conveyor 14 as described above, the strength of the bread 50, and the like. Specifically, assuming that the outer diameter of the pan portion 51 of the pan 50 is φA and the outer diameter of the cylindrical portion 52 is φB, φD≈ (1/3) φA or (1/3) φB. As a numerical value, φD≈35 mm.

On the other hand, the pan 50 on which the agricultural product 15 is placed is confirmed by the detecting means 12 before being supplied to the measuring unit 3, and light is projected from the light projecting means 17 based on the signal. It has a configuration. In the case where the detection means 12 is, for example, a photoelectric sensor, the object (pan 50) is irradiated with light, and the presence or absence of the object is confirmed by reflecting or blocking light. Therefore, when confirming the presence by the detection means 12, if the breads 50 continuous in the transport direction are in contact with each other on the conveyor 14, the individual breads 50 may not be accurately identified.
For this reason, in the present embodiment, a constricted portion 52 c for detection by the detecting means 12 is provided around the side surface of the cylindrical portion 52 of the pan 50. That is, the constricted portion 52c is provided by forming a small diameter portion with respect to the outer diameter φB of the cylindrical portion 52 described above. The constricted portion 52c is formed at an arbitrary height position (upper portion of the tubular portion 52 in this embodiment) on the side surface of the tubular portion 52, and a concave portion is provided over the entire circumference so that the tubular portion 52 has a constricted portion.

In this way, by forming the constricted portion 52c for detecting the detection means 12 in the pan 50, as shown in FIG. 2, the pans 50 that are continuous in the transport direction on the transport surface of the conveyor 14 are in contact with each other. However, a gap 43 is formed by the constricted portion 52c of the pan 50 before and after contact. Therefore, by arranging the detection means 12 so that the light from the detection means 12 is emitted toward the gap 43 from the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction, the detection means 12 identifies each pan 50. It becomes possible to do. Therefore, conveyance and measurement are possible in a state where the interval between the breads 50 is narrowed or brought into contact on the conveyor 14, and the number of measurement units per unit time is increased, that is, the work efficiency is improved and stable detection is performed. Work becomes possible.
In addition, instead of providing the constricted portion 52c, the cylindrical portion 52 may have a substantially conical shape with a small diameter on the upper side or a convex shape in a side view so long as the same effect can be obtained. The shape of the cylinder part 52 is not limited.

The perspective view which shows the structure of the agricultural-product nondestructive quality determination apparatus of this invention. The side view which shows a conveyance means and a measurement part. FIG. The partial back sectional view which shows a measurement part. The side view which shows another Example of a conveyor. Side surface sectional drawing which shows a bread. The figure which shows the strawberry which is an example of agricultural products. The figure which shows a mode that the light which leaks from the hole of a bread spreads outside.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Agricultural product nondestructive quality judgment apparatus 2 Conveyance apparatus 3 Measurement part 11 Conveyance belt 12 Detection means 14 Conveyor 15 Agricultural product 17 Light projection means 18 Light reception means 50 Pan 51a Hole 52a Hole

Claims (3)

It has a transport means for transporting agricultural products, and a measuring section in which the light projecting means and the light receiving means are arranged to face each other, and the agricultural products are placed on a mounting table placed on the upper surface of the conveyor constituting the transport means. In the agricultural product non-destructive quality determination device that detects the presence of the mounting table by the detection means, conveys the agricultural product to the measuring unit, and determines the quality of the agricultural product based on the light transmitted through the agricultural product in the measuring unit.
A light projecting means and a light receiving means are arranged below the conveyor, respectively, and a hole penetrating in the vertical direction is formed in the center of the mounting table in plan view, and the agricultural products are irradiated with light from below and measured. A nondestructive quality judging device for agricultural products.   The conveyance belt stretched on the conveyor is divided into right and left in the conveyance direction, and the space formed between the divided conveyance belts is used as an optical path from the light projecting means to the light receiving means. The agricultural product nondestructive quality judging device according to claim 1 characterized by.   The hole portion formed in the mounting table is formed by making the area on the bottom surface on the light projecting means side larger than the area on the mounting surface on the light receiving means side. Agricultural product nondestructive quality judgment device.

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