JP2007232742A - Object internal quality measuring device and measuring method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device capable of measuring accurately internal quality of produce by removing fluctuation of a base line by calibrating the device without discontinuing measurement, concerning the device for measuring the internal quality of produce by light transmitted through an inspection object. <P>SOLUTION: This device has a conveyance means for conveying the object continuously, a detection means for detecting the position of the object placed on the conveyance means, a floodlighting means for floodlighting measuring light to the object, a light receiving means for receiving light transmitted through the object, an analysis means for analyzing the internal quality of the object by the light received by the light receiving means, and a reference body insertion means for inserting a reference body having a prescribed optical characteristic in an optical path between the floodlighting means and the light receiving means based on a signal from the detection means. The analysis means compares light received when the reference body is inserted with reference data retained beforehand, to thereby correct an analysis result. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for nondestructively measuring the internal quality of an object such as fruit or vegetable.

Conventionally, as an apparatus for measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables in a non-destructive manner, for example, there is an apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1. A conventional apparatus will be described below with reference to FIGS.
JP-A-6-213804

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 36, light 854 is projected from a lamp 853 onto a test object (subject) 852 such as a mandarin orange or apple placed on a belt conveyor 850, and the light 856 transmitted through the test object 852 is spectrally separated. Light is received by the detector 858. The spectroscope 858 measures the absorption spectrum of the transmitted light 824, and the internal quality of the test object can be known from the absorption spectrum.
In this apparatus, the measurement values varied as the plurality of test objects 852 on the conveyor 850 were continuously measured. This is considered to be caused by a change in the baseline of the measurement value of the spectrometer (a value serving as a reference for measurement) as the measurement time elapses. This change is largely due to changes in the spectroscope and the device itself and the surrounding environment.

Conventionally, as an apparatus for measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables such as melons in a non-destructive manner, there has been an apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2, for example. A conventional apparatus will be described below with reference to FIG.
In this apparatus, near-infrared light is projected from a lamp 876 onto a test object 874 such as a melon placed on a light-shielding bucket 872 on a belt conveyor 870, and light emitted through the test object 874 passes through an optical fiber 878. The spectroscope 880 receives light. The spectroscope 880 measures the absorption spectrum of the transmitted light, and the internal quality of the test object 880 can be known from this absorption spectrum.
In this apparatus, as the plurality of test objects 874 mounted on the plurality of light shielding buckets 872 one by one are continuously measured, the measurement values vary. This is considered to be caused by the change in the baseline of the measurement value of the spectroscope 880 (value serving as a reference for measurement) as the measurement time elapses. This change is largely due to changes in the spectroscope 880 and the surrounding environment.
JP-A-6-288903

  On the other hand, in such internal quality measurement by spectroscopic analysis, light from a light source such as a halogen lamp is usually projected onto fruits and vegetables, and the transmitted light is split into a plurality of channels having different wavelengths by a spectroscope and transmitted through each channel. The absorption spectrum of fruits and vegetables is detected by measuring the light intensity converted into current, and the sugar content and the like of the fruits and vegetables are measured based on the detected absorption spectrum. In such a measurement, on the other hand, fluctuations of the light source lamp, specifically fluctuations and deteriorations in spectral characteristics (color temperature) due to environmental changes such as ambient temperature, etc. Variations due to environmental or environmental changes are unavoidable, resulting in errors in measurement.

In order to avoid this, in such a measurement, the apparatus is calibrated at a certain time interval. The calibration is performed by measuring the amount of light transmitted through a predetermined calibration body in place of the original fruit and vegetables. In a typical calibration method, in each wavelength channel, the transmitted light intensity (converted current intensity) with respect to the calibration body is Ir, and the transmitted light intensity (converted current intensity) of the subject fruit and vegetables is Is. T = Is / Ir
Calibration is performed by calculating as follows. In other words, the transmittance value of the subject is calibrated by taking a ratio with the transmittance of the calibration body, and the change in the transmitted light due to the fluctuation of the light source or the measuring meter is cancelled.

For more accuracy, let D be the dark current of the measurement system when the input to the spectrometer is zero.
T = (Is-D) / (Ir-D)
May be calculated by

  As a calibration body used for such calibration, an object having a flat absorption characteristic such as an ND filter (neutral density filter) is usually used. The reason for passing the ND filter without directly monitoring the light of the light source at the time of calibration is that it is necessary to set the light intensity level close to the actual transmitted light intensity of the subject in order to make the calibration accurate. is there. Therefore, the transmittance of the normal calibration ND filter is selected so that the transmitted light amount is within a predetermined range with respect to the actual transmitted light amount of the subject.

In addition, the sugar content, acidity, ripeness, and other internal qualities of fruits and vegetables vary depending on the location within the fruits and vegetables. Therefore, in an apparatus that measures the internal quality by projecting light on the fruits and vegetables and transmitting the fruits and vegetables. It is desirable to project light toward the center of fruits and vegetables.
However, in the conventional example, since the height of the light projecting light source is constant, the irradiation position is different between the large subject and the small subject when the sizes of the fruits and vegetables as the subject are different. In other words, a small subject is projected at the center of the subject, while a large subject is projected at the bottom of the subject, and measurement is performed for each subject under the same conditions. I couldn't say I was doing it.

On the other hand, in such a measuring apparatus, the internal quality of fruits and vegetables is measured by the absorption spectrum of light transmitted through the fruits and vegetables. However, it is desirable that the absorption spectrum has sufficient intensity for accurate measurement.
However, the amount of light transmitted through the fruits and vegetables irradiated with a certain amount of light may be very small depending on the types of fruits and vegetables, and in this case, measurement becomes difficult. In other words, in general, when measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables with a small amount of transmitted light, such as melons and watermelons, and the amount of transmitted light of mandarin orange, etc., the difference in the intensity of the absorption spectrum of each subject is unlikely to appear. Measurement with an absorption spectrum becomes difficult.

In many cases, the non-destructive measuring apparatus for fruits and vegetables measures the internal quality such as sugar content and acidity of the fruits and vegetables by irradiating the fruits and vegetables with light such as near infrared rays and measures the absorption spectrum of the transmitted light. A plurality of fruits and vegetables as a subject are placed on a transporting device such as a subject, and measurements are sequentially performed on the plurality of subjects while being moved.
Specifically, a measurement device consisting of a light projecting device that projects light onto the subject and a sensor that receives the transmitted light from the subject and measures the absorption spectrum is placed at a position in the conveyor path. Measurement is performed when each subject passes the measurement position. And based on the obtained absorption spectrum, the sugar content, acidity, etc. of the fruit and vegetables which are subjects are calculated.

  Further, this type of apparatus is generally provided at a predetermined position in the transport path by a moving means such as a belt conveyor for continuously moving a plurality of fruits and vegetables along the transport path, and to the fruits and vegetables on the transport means. A light source that emits light and a light receiving sensor that receives light via fruits and vegetables are included as main components.

Conventionally known devices are roughly classified as follows:
1) A type in which a light receiving sensor is provided in the same position as the direction of irradiating light from the light source to the subject fruit and vegetables, and measurement is performed by receiving scattered / reflected light penetrating several millimeters from the fruit and fruit surface (here, reflective type) Called)
2) A type in which light from a light source (usually one light) is projected from the side to the subject fruit and vegetables, and a light receiving sensor is disposed at a position facing the light source with the fruit and vegetables interposed therebetween (here) Will be referred to as the counter light receiving type)
3) A light source (in many cases, multiple lights) is provided on the side of the subject fruit and vegetables placed on the light-shielding carrier (or bucket), and light is projected from the side, and the light is scattered inside the fruit and transmitted downward. A type in which light is taken out from below through a hole provided in the carrier and received by making a light receiving / receiving direction orthogonal to each other by a light receiving sensor provided below the fruits and vegetables (herein referred to as a lower light receiving type),
There is.

  Of these, the reflection-type apparatus can only obtain internal quality information from the surface of the subject fruit to a depth of several millimeters, so the types of fruits and vegetables suitable for measurement are limited. In order to extract the internal quality information of the deep part of fruits and vegetables, it is necessary to use an apparatus using the transmission method of 2) or 3) above.

  However, in the conventional apparatus, the baseline adjustment (that is, calibration) that changes as the measurement time elapses is only performed at the start of measurement. It was.

  On the other hand, in order to perform calibration in the middle of measurement, it is necessary to stop the line each time and stop the measurement, and the measurement time is long to perform calibration. In the apparatus shown in FIG. 37, the light 862 reflected by the half mirror 860 is projected onto the test object 852 placed on the belt conveyor 850, and the light 864 reflected from the test object 852 and passed through the half mirror 860 is spectroscope. By receiving light at 858, the internal quality of the test object 852 can be known as in the apparatus of FIG. In this apparatus, the spectroscope 858 and the calibration reference reflecting plate 866 are opposed to each other with the belt conveyor 850 interposed therebetween, and calibration is performed at a place where there is no test object on the conveyor 850 by the reflected light from the reflecting plate 866. Can be performed.

However, the calibration by this method cannot be applied to the apparatus of FIG. 36 that measures the light transmitted through the test object.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to eliminate baseline fluctuations by calibrating the apparatus without interrupting measurement in an apparatus for measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables using light transmitted through the object to be examined. An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus capable of accurately measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables.

  Further, as described above, various variations of the measuring apparatus are calibrated using a calibration body such as an ND filter. However, the fruits and vegetables that are actual specimens have water absorption as a main component and thus have a specific light absorption characteristic, whereas the ND filter has a flat absorption characteristic. That is, since the absorption characteristics are greatly different, the flat absorption characteristics of the ND filter cannot follow the absorption characteristics with a large change in fruits and vegetables, and depending on the wavelength, the transmitted light intensity of the calibration body and the transmitted light intensity of the subject are different from each other. As a result, there is a problem that high-precision calibration cannot be performed.

In addition, fluctuations that cause problems during measurement by infrared spectroscopy are not only on the apparatus side but also on the subject side. That is, the principle of internal quality measurement such as sugar content and acidity of fruits and vegetables by infrared spectroscopic analysis is based on the transmitted light by various groups (for example, functional groups such as OH and C-H) of the component substances of the fruits and vegetables that are the specimen. Although it is based on the fact that absorption at a specific wavelength occurs in the spectrum, the absorption spectrum of fruits and vegetables varies due to environmental changes such as temperature, and the peak wavelength of absorption due to the group also varies. For this reason, an error occurs in measurement of internal quality by spectroscopic analysis. This is particularly a problem in the measurement of acidity with a low content. The ND filter does not have the variability of the absorption characteristic with respect to such an environmental change, and the ND filter as the calibration body is insufficient in this respect as well. Furthermore, in the conventional fruit and vegetables internal quality measuring apparatus by spectroscopic analysis, the position where the calibration body is measured in the apparatus is different from the position where the object is measured, and this is one of the causes that the fluctuations in the measured absorption spectrum are not synchronized. It has become.
The present invention provides a correction method for solving such problems.

  Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to provide a measuring apparatus for projecting light onto fruits and vegetables to measure the internal quality of the fruits and vegetables in a non-destructive manner, regardless of the size of the subject. Irradiating light near the surface where the surface of the earth, the horizontal surface and the surface of the subject intersect), and the amount of light emitted to the fruits and vegetables can be changed according to the type of fruits and vegetables It is in.

  Further, in such a measuring apparatus, in order to perform measurement with little error, it is desirable to perform measurement at the center position of the fruit or vegetable that is the subject. Among these types of devices, in a device configured to provide a bucket for receiving each subject on a conveyor and place the subject on the bucket, the position of the subject on the conveyor is set to a predetermined position in advance. Since it is positioned, it is easy to determine the correct measurement timing, that is, the timing at which the subject passes the measurement position. On the other hand, in the case of fruits and vegetables that need to measure a large amount of specimens such as tangerine, it is better to place and measure those fruits and vegetables that are randomly placed on a flat belt conveyor by an automatic supply means, etc. This is beneficial in terms of measurement efficiency. However, when the subject is randomly placed on the conveyor, some device is required to perform measurement at the correct measurement position, that is, when the center of the subject passes the measurement position. The present invention provides a method and apparatus that enables such measurements.

  In addition, when fruits and vegetables such as tangerine are randomly placed on a flat conveyor in this way, the subject may move due to rolling on the conveyor due to the shape of the fruits and vegetables close to a spherical shape. In that case, there is a problem that it is unclear whether or not the subject exiting the conveyor has been measured at a normal position. The present invention provides a solution to such problems.

Moreover, the apparatus using the conventional transmission method described above has the following problems.
In the case of the counter light receiving type device, the measurement light passes through the horizontal diameter of the fruit and vegetables, so that the optical path length becomes considerably long. For this reason, when the test object is difficult to transmit light such as apples and peaches, there is a problem that the light transmitted through the test object is very weak and a signal cannot be obtained. In particular, it is a problem that a longer wavelength region having spectral absorption which is important for measuring the quality of fruits and vegetables is difficult to pass. In order to increase the amount of transmitted light, it is conceivable to increase the amount of projected light. However, in the case of this counter light receiving type, the light projection system is usually limited to one lamp, and it is difficult to increase the amount of projected light.

  On the other hand, in the case of a lower light receiving type device, since light can be emitted from a plurality of directions on the side of the subject fruit and vegetables, by using a multi-light type of a plurality of light sources, the amount of light emitted can be increased, Further, since the transmitted light is extracted downward, the optical path length inside the fruit and vegetables can be shortened as compared with the counter light receiving type. For this reason, there is no problem in terms of the amount of transmitted light, and it is possible to effectively measure fruits and vegetables that are not suitable for the counter light receiving type.

However, in the case of the lower light receiving type, in order to extract detection light from below, a carrier with a hole must be used or a hole must be made in a conveyor, which causes a problem that the configuration of the transport system becomes complicated. In addition, since the test fruit and vegetables must be placed in the position of the conveyor hole or on the carrier, a supply mechanism is provided for this purpose, or the operator manually places the fruits and vegetables one by one at the time of measurement. There is a problem of having to. In any case, the measurement efficiency of the apparatus is lowered, and this is a big problem for an internal quality evaluation apparatus for fruits and vegetables, which often requires continuous measurement of a large amount of subjects.
Furthermore, since the light receiving sensor must be provided below the conveyor belt, that is, in the loop of the belt conveyor, there is a problem that the assembly and maintenance work of the apparatus becomes complicated.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention is an object internal quality measurement apparatus, which detects a position of an object placed on a conveyance means that conveys the object continuously and a conveyance means. Detecting means for projecting, measuring means for projecting measurement light onto the object, light receiving means for receiving light transmitted through the object, analysis means for analyzing the internal quality of the object by the light received by the light receiving means, and detection A reference body inserting means for inserting a reference body having a predetermined optical characteristic in an optical path between the light projecting means and the light receiving means based on a signal from the means, and the analyzing means includes the reference body inserted It is an object of the present invention to provide a device that corrects the analysis result by comparing the received light with reference data held in advance.
Further objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following examples with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  According to the present invention, when measuring the test object arranged in the longitudinal direction of the belt of the belt conveyor, it is possible to detect a location in the longitudinal direction where there is no test object. It can be performed. Therefore, calibration can be performed at any time not only before the start of measurement but also after the start of measurement, and the measurement is not interrupted for calibration. Therefore, the internal quality of fruits and vegetables can be accurately measured by calibrating the apparatus without interrupting the measurement.

In addition, according to the correction method of the present invention, it is possible to correct an error due to an environmental change in measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables using a reference body having variability in an absorption spectrum corresponding to an environmental change similar to an actual subject fruit and vegetables. This is particularly effective against environmental temperature changes.
This eliminates the need to adjust (manage) the temperature of the device or the surrounding environment, thereby reducing their costs.

  Further, as described with reference to FIG. 7, the artificial fruit and vegetable reference body and the correction method using the same according to the present invention have sufficient followability with respect to the difference in the state of the light source. It is also possible to start measurement immediately after the light source is turned on, and the measurement efficiency can be improved.

When a temperature measuring means for monitoring the temperature of the artificial fruit-and-fruit transmitting body such as a thermistor is provided, even when the temperature of the artificial fruit and the subject fruit and vegetable is different, correction can be performed in consideration thereof.
Further, more accurate correction can be performed by correcting using artificial fruit and vegetables having a plurality of concentrations.

In the artificial fruit and vegetable reference material of the present invention, the light transmittance can be set to an appropriate value by mixing the light dispersion into the aqueous solution. Further, the transmittance can be easily adjusted by adjusting the concentration of the light dispersion.
In addition, by adding a gelling agent to an aqueous solution and gelling with the artificial fruit body of the present invention, it is possible to obtain a stable artificial fruit and vegetables in which the light dispersion does not settle.

By providing the artificial fruit and vegetable reference body, the fruit and vegetables internal quality measuring device of the present invention can measure the internal quality by correcting fluctuations in the absorption spectrum of the fruit and vegetables due to environmental changes.
In addition, an apparatus in which a plurality of artificial fruit and vegetable reference bodies are provided and the concentrations of the respective reference bodies are made different enables more accurate correction according to the concentration of the subject fruit and vegetables.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, light can be irradiated near the equator of the subject regardless of the size of the subject. Therefore, the internal quality of each subject can be measured under the same conditions, and the reliability of measurement data is improved. Further, the amount of light projected onto the fruits and vegetables can be changed according to the type of the fruits and vegetables as the subject. Therefore, since the absorption spectrum of a subject that is difficult to transmit light can be measured, the internal quality of fruits and vegetables can be measured more accurately regardless of the type of the subject.

In the present invention, the object position on the moving means is detected on the upstream side of the main measurement position on the moving path of the object, and the amount of movement of the moving means is monitored, so that the object is correctly at the measurement position. Since measurement can be performed, measurement accuracy is improved.
In addition, the object position on the moving means is detected both upstream and downstream of the main measurement position in the movement path of the object, and if there is a difference between the two, it is determined as a measurement error, so the measurement accuracy is questionable. Processing such as recognizing the subject and turning the problematic subject to re-measurement is also possible, and more reliable measurement is guaranteed.

  Further, according to the present invention, when measuring the test objects arranged in the longitudinal direction of the belt conveyor, it is possible to detect a portion in the longitudinal direction where there is no test object. It can be performed. Therefore, calibration can be performed at any time not only before the start of measurement but also after the start of measurement, and the measurement is not interrupted for calibration. Therefore, the internal quality of fruits and vegetables can be accurately measured by calibrating the apparatus at an arbitrary time without interrupting the measurement.

  Furthermore, in the apparatus of the present invention, light is projected onto the subject from the side and the transmitted light is received at the upper side, so that the transmitted light amount can be secured as in the conventional apparatus of the lower light receiving type, while the lower light receiving type. There are no restrictions on the transport system. Accordingly, it is possible to perform random measurement in which a subject is randomly supplied onto the conveyor, and continuous measurement can be performed efficiently. Further, since the light receiving means can be installed in the space above the apparatus without interference, assembly and maintenance are facilitated.

Stray light is effectively shielded by providing a light-shielding plate on the side of the subject at the measurement position, below the height of the subject and higher than the light projection position on the subject by the light projecting means. it can.
In addition, when the light projecting means is provided on both sides of the moving means, a pair of light shielding plates are provided on both sides, and if the distance between both light shielding plates can be adjusted, the distance between the light shielding plates interferes with the subject according to the measurement target. It can be effectively shielded without Further, a horizontal diameter measuring unit that is installed upstream of the position in the moving path where the measurement is performed and that measures the horizontal diameter of the subject, and an adjusting unit that adjusts the interval between the light shielding plates based on the output of the horizontal diameter measuring unit. The light shielding plate can be adjusted according to the size of each subject.

  In the apparatus of the present invention, stray light can be effectively shielded by providing a light shielding plate above the height of the subject at the measurement position. Furthermore, a height measuring unit that is installed upstream of the predetermined position in the movement path and measures the height of the subject, and an adjusting unit that adjusts the height of the light shielding plate based on the output of the height measuring unit , The light shielding plate can be set at a position where effective light shielding can be performed without interfering with the subject according to the height of each subject.

  Further, in the apparatus of the present invention, it is installed upstream of the measurement position in the movement path, and is directly projected from the light projecting means and the size measuring means for measuring at least one of the height or the lateral diameter of the subject. A light-shielding plate for shielding the reflected light and the light reflected from the surface of the subject from entering the light-receiving means, which is provided in the vicinity of the subject at the measurement position and can be pivoted around a predetermined horizontal axis And adjusting means for adjusting the angular position of the light shielding plate around the horizontal axis based on the output of the size measuring means so that the gap between the light shielding plate and the subject at the predetermined position is reduced. Effective light shielding can be performed according to the size of the subject.

  Further, in the apparatus of the present invention, a light shielding plate for shielding light directly projected from the light projecting means and light reflected from the surface of the subject so as not to enter the light receiving means, and the subject at the position where the measurement is performed , And can be pivoted about a predetermined horizontal axis. When the subject is moved by the moving means and approaches the predetermined position, the subject is pushed up and pivoted about the horizontal axis. By providing a light-shielding plate that shields the specimen in contact with the subject when the specimen is in the predetermined position, it is possible to effectively shield light with a simple configuration. In this case, by providing an upward curling to allow the light shielding plate to escape upward when contacting the subject at the corner on the upstream side of the movement path of the light shielding plate and in contact with the subject, The light shielding plate is smoothly pushed up by the subject without being caught by the light shielding plate.

  In the apparatus of the present invention, a tray for receiving a subject fixed on the moving means is used, the tray covers at least a part of the received subject, and the light from the light projecting means is used. Is configured to have an opening opened so as to reach the subject, stray light can be effectively blocked.

A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus 1 of this embodiment includes a belt conveyor 2, a sensor 4, a measuring unit 6, and the like.

  On the belt conveyor 2, test objects 8 such as mandarin oranges are arranged in the longitudinal direction A of the belt 3, and the test objects 8 are moved in the longitudinal direction A. A sensor 4 and a measuring unit 6 are provided in the moving direction A of the belt 3. The sensor 4 is a photoelectric sensor, and the presence / absence, interval, and position information of the test object 8 on the belt conveyor 2 can be obtained by irradiating the infrared light 10 onto the belt conveyor 2 and observing the reflected light. it can. The measuring unit 6 is located downstream of the sensor 4 in the moving direction of the belt conveyor 2, irradiates the test object with light, and measures the internal quality of the test object from the light emitted from the test object. .

As shown in FIG. 2, the measurement unit 6 includes a lamp 12, a filter unit 14, a spectroscope 16, a control unit 18, a calculation unit 20, and the like.
The lamp 12 is arranged so that light can be projected onto almost the entire object 8 from its side surface. The light 22 projected from the lamp 12 onto the test object 8 has, for example, a near-infrared wavelength (650 to 950 nm), and part of the light is projected inside the test object 8 on which the light is projected. After that, transmitted light 24 is emitted from the test object 8.

  A filter unit 14 is provided between the lamp 12 and the test object 8. The filter unit 14 includes a filter 30 including an ND filter 26 and a diffusion plate 28 as shown in FIG. 3 and a calibration drive mechanism 32. The calibration drive mechanism 32 uses a solenoid, and can move the filter 30 in the vertical direction B in accordance with the presence or absence of the test object 8 in the measurement unit 6.

  The filter 30 is, for example, a laminate of three ND filters 26a, 26b, 26c and a diffuser plate 28, and the plane is perpendicular to the irradiation direction C of the light 22 from the lamp 12 to the object 8 to be examined. . The ND filter 26 is a neutral density (achromatic) filter that uniformly absorbs any wavelength light of the incident light 22, and has a function of reducing the amount of transmitted light without changing the wavelength component of the incident light. In the present embodiment, three types of ND filters 26a, 26b, and 26c having transmittances of 0.1%, 5%, and 20% are laminated from the lamp 12 side to the object 8 side. Of the three ND filters 26a, 26b, and 26c, the ND filter 26c having the transmittance of 20% disposed on the side closest to the test object 8 has a diffusion plate 28 laminated on the test object 8 side. Yes. The diffuser plate 28 can diffusely reflect or diffusely transmit incident light from the ND filter 26, and emits a uniform amount of light over the entire surface. With the filter 30 having such a configuration, the light from the light source can be attenuated at a predetermined rate, and the baseline of the apparatus 1 can be corrected by measuring the amount of the attenuated light.

  A spectroscope 16 is provided on the extended line of the light path from the lamp 12 to the test object 8 and receives light from the test object 8 or the filter 30. The spectroscope 16 measures the absorption spectrum of the outgoing light 24 from the test object 8, and the internal quality such as sugar content of the test object 8 can be measured from this absorption spectrum.

The sensor 4 described above is connected to the control unit 18, and the control unit 18 converts the amount of light incident on the photoelectric sensor 4 into a current by photoelectric conversion, and whether or not the current is larger than a predetermined value. The presence / absence of the test object 8 in the measurement unit 6 can be determined, whereby the interval between the test objects 8 on the conveyor 3 can be detected.
Further, the control unit 18 is connected to the calibration drive mechanism 32, and outputs a signal for driving it to control the drive of the filter 30.

  The calibration drive mechanism 32 detects that the interval between the test objects 8 is greater than or equal to a predetermined value by the photoelectric sensor 4, and when a portion corresponding to the interval between the test objects 8 enters the measurement unit 6, the calibration drive mechanism 32 , And drive so as to be arranged in the middle of the optical path from the lamp 12 to the test object 8. Then, the apparatus 1 is calibrated with the filter 30 arranged in this way. In other cases, that is, while the interval between the test objects 8 is less than the predetermined value, the calibration drive mechanism 32 is driven so that the filter 30 is retracted from the optical path from the lamp 12 to the test object 8. . In this way, the light passing through the filter 30 can be used to calibrate the apparatus 1 at any time during the measurement as well as at the start of the measurement. It is possible to measure internal quality. The predetermined value is a value determined by the type, size, measurement speed, and the like of the test object 8, and is set by the user of the apparatus before or during the start of measurement.

  The calculation unit 20 is connected to the spectroscope 16 and receives the current value of the frequency spectrum by the transmitted light 24 from the test object 8 and the current value by calibration. Based on these values, the fluctuation of the baseline is input. It is possible to measure the internal quality of the test object 8 excluding the influence of noise and the like of the spectroscope 16.

  With the above configuration, when measuring the test object 8 arranged in the longitudinal direction A of the belt 3 of the belt conveyor 2, the interval of the test object 8 can be detected, and this interval is a predetermined value. When the above is true, the apparatus 1 can be calibrated. Therefore, the calibration can be performed at any time not only before the measurement is started but also at the place where the test object 8 is not present after the measurement is started, and the measurement is not interrupted for the calibration. Therefore, the internal quality of the fruits and vegetables can be accurately measured by calibrating the apparatus 1 for each test object 8 without interrupting the measurement.

The process of measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables according to this example will be described below.
First, before starting the measurement, calibration of the apparatus 1 and measurement of the dark current are performed. In the calibration, in the state where the test object 8 is not present in the measurement unit 6, the filter 30 is disposed in front of the lamp 12 by the calibration drive mechanism 32, and the light emitted from the lamp 12 to the spectroscope 16 through the filter 30. This is done by measuring the amount of light. The amount of this light is converted into a current value by the spectroscope 16, and this becomes a baseline (or reference value) for measurement of the test object 8. On the other hand, the measurement of the dark current is performed in a state where any external light entering the spectroscope 16 is blocked. In this state, the light to the spectroscope 16 may be shielded while the lamp 12 is turned on, or the lamp 12 may be turned off. The dark current is the device 1 itself in a state where no light enters the spectroscope 16, and the dark current value is subtracted from the measurement (current value obtained by photoelectric conversion) by the spectroscope 16 after that. It is possible to calculate a current value from which the influence of noise or the like is removed.

  The measurement of the internal quality of the test object 8 is performed when the test objects 8 placed side by side in the longitudinal direction of the belt 3 of the belt conveyor 2 reach the measuring unit 6 by the movement of the belt 3. That is, when the test object 8 reaches the measuring unit 6, the test object 8 is directly irradiated with light from the lamp 12, and the outgoing light partially absorbed in the test object 8 enters the spectroscope 16. The internal quality of the test object 8 can be measured from the frequency spectrum of the light. This is because the frequency spectrum has a different shape because there is a frequency at which the amount of light is large depending on the component included in the test object 8.

  As measurements continue, the baseline will change. This is due to environmental changes such as the temperature of the spectroscope 16, the measuring unit 6 or the surroundings, and the baseline must always be constant in order to obtain a correct measurement value. In this embodiment, the baseline is measured at a place where a predetermined interval is left between the test objects 8. This value is stored in the calculation unit 20 connected to the spectrometer 16.

  When calibration at the start of measurement and measurement of dark current are completed, the filter 30 is retracted from the optical path from the lamp 12 to the spectroscope 16, and the light from the lamp 12 directly enters the spectroscope 16. When the test object 8 moving on the belt reaches the measuring unit 6 in this state, the near-infrared light emitted from the lamp 12 is directly irradiated on the test object 8, and a part of the light is detected. The light is absorbed by the object 8, exits from the test object 8, and enters the spectroscope 16. The spectroscope 16 measures the internal quality of the test object 8.

  In this way, every time the test object 8 reaches the measuring unit 6, the internal quality is sequentially measured. During this measurement, if the photoelectric sensor 4 detects that the interval between the test objects 8 is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the control unit 18 determines that there is no test object 8 in the measurement unit 6 and drives the calibration drive mechanism 32. Output a signal for. In response to this signal, the solenoid of the calibration drive mechanism 32 operates to move and place the filter in the optical path from the lamp 12 to the spectrometer 16.

For example, the filter 30 is formed by laminating three ND filters and a diffusion plate. The ND filter 26 includes three types of ND filters 26a, 26b, and 26c having transmittances of 0.1%, 5%, and 20%. They are stacked from the ramp side to the object 8 to be examined. The light incident on the filter 30 is attenuated to about 0.001% by the three ND filters 26a, 26b, and 26c. On the other hand, the diffusion plate 28 is laminated on the object 8 side of the ND filter 26c having a transmittance of 20%, and the light incident on the diffusion plate 28 is emitted in a diffused form. With the filter 30 having such a configuration, light from the light source can be attenuated at a predetermined rate. The amount of the attenuated light is adjusted to be within a predetermined range with respect to the amount of light transmitted through the test object 8 such as a mandarin orange. That is, the ND filter 26 and the diffusion plate 28 to be used are changed depending on the type, size, lot, and the like of the test object 8.
The baseline of the apparatus 1 can be measured by measuring the amount of attenuated light by this filter. The baseline can follow the changes at any time. Baseline measurement values are stored in the calculation unit 20.

Here, in the evaluation of the internal quality of the test object 8, the transmittance shown below is used. That is, the transmittance T of each test object 8 (i-th of the total number n) is the measured value Si of the frequency spectrum by the emitted light partially absorbed in the test object 8 and the average of the current values by calibration. The value R and the dark current value D (dark current value) are expressed by the following formula.
Ti = (Si-D) / (RD) (1)
That is, the ratio of the light emitted from the test object 8 to the light output from the lamp 12 through the filter 30 is taken as the transmittance of the test object 8. Here, in each of the numerator and the denominator, the dark current value D is subtracted from the measured value Si of the frequency spectrum by the emitted light or the average value R of the current values by calibration. As a result, noise inherent to the spectroscope 16 is eliminated.

Modifications of the present embodiment are shown below.
In this embodiment, the filter 30 is composed of three ND filters 26a, 26b, and 26c and the diffusion plate 28. However, the number of ND filters may be one or more.
The light transmittance of each ND filter may be a value different from that of the present embodiment.
Instead of the ND filter, other types of filters whose light transmittance is known can be used.
The filter 30 may be composed of only a diffusion plate.

The calibration drive mechanism 32 moves the filter 30 in the vertical direction B to place the filter 30 in the optical path from the lamp 12 to the test object 8, but the moving direction of the filter 30 is horizontal or the like. It can be in any direction.
The detection of the test object 8 is performed by the incidence of light on the separately provided photoelectric sensor 4, but it may be determined by the amount of incident light on the spectroscope 16.
The presence or absence of the test object 8 may be determined by a weight sensor provided on the belt 3.

The projection of light from the lamp 12 onto the test object 8 may be performed not from the side but from the upper surface as long as the light can be projected onto almost the entire test object 8.
The light emitted from the photoelectric sensor 4 may be light having a wavelength other than infrared light.
The light emitted from the lamp 12 may be light having a wavelength other than near infrared light.
The lamp 12 may be an optical fiber, and the number thereof may be one or two or more.

  Next, the second calibration method in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an artificial fruit and vegetable reference body (artificial fruit and vegetable body) 40 according to the present embodiment, where (a) is a perspective view, (b) is a cross-sectional view, and (c) is a top view. This artificial fruit and vegetable reference body 40 is a rectangular parallelepiped having a height of 80 mm and a bottom surface of 65 mm on one side, and a resin container 46 provided with glass 44 on two of its side surfaces 42, and a light transmission contained therein. It consists of a body 48. The upper surface of the container is covered and sealed with a resin lid 50 made of the same material as the resin container 46.

  The resin container 46 and the lid 50 are made of polyethylene (PE) containing graphite as a filler, and have a property of transmitting light. As shown in FIG. 4C, there are two types of thicknesses d1 and d2 of the side surface 42 of the container 46, which are different on adjacent surfaces and the same on opposite surfaces. A heat-resistant glass 44 is provided on two adjacent sides 42 of the resin container 46 in parallel with the side 42. The two glasses 44 have the same shape and are provided on the side surface 42 of the resin container 46 without being in close contact with the air layer 52 having a substantially uniform thickness therebetween. A first flange portion 54 and a second flange portion 56 are provided along the ridgeline at the upper end and the lower end of the side surface 42 of the resin container 46, respectively. The lower surface 54a of the first flange portion and the second flange portion The upper surface 56a is provided with recesses 54b and 56b over its entire length. The glass 44 is installed on the side surface 42 of the resin container 46 by sliding in the horizontal direction and being accommodated in the concave portions 54b and 56b.

For the light transmitting body 48, an acid aqueous solution and a sugar aqueous solution are appropriately selected according to the type of fruit and vegetable to be examined. For example, a 1% aqueous citric acid solution is used as the aqueous acid solution.
The artificial fruit body 40 includes a temperature measuring body (temperature measuring means) 58 using a thermistor or the like for measuring the temperature of the light transmitting body 48 inside the light transmitting body 48.

  Next, a method for correcting the measurement value of the internal quality measuring apparatus for fruits and vegetables using the artificial fruit and vegetable body 40 will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration near the measurement position 62 of the fruit and vegetable measuring apparatus. The measuring apparatus has a belt conveyor 60, and the subject fruits and vegetables (for example, mandarin oranges) placed on the belt conveyor 60 are sequentially sent to the measurement position 62. At the measurement position 62, light is projected onto the subject by a light projecting device 70 including a light source 64, a diaphragm 66, and a lens system 68. The light that has passed through the subject enters the light receiving sensor 72. The light incident on the light receiving sensor 72 is split into a plurality of wavelength band channels, and spectral analysis is performed by a well-known method for examining the absorbance of each channel to calculate the internal quality of the subject fruit and vegetables, for example, the acidity. Since this method itself is well-known, description is abbreviate | omitted.

  The apparatus includes an artificial fruit body 40. The artificial fruit body 40 is moved up and down at a measurement position 62 as shown by an arrow D in FIG. It is possible to move between the calibration position 74 placed at the position and the normal position 76 retracted therefrom. The artificial fruit body 40 is rotatable about a vertical axis 78 passing through the center of the bottom surface thereof, and one of the side surfaces 42 provided with the glass 44 is projected from the light projecting device 70. Are arranged so as to be substantially perpendicular to the optical axis 80 of the light 57 and the light 59 emitted from the artificial fruit and vegetable reference.

  The result of having measured the acidity of the artificial fruit body 40 and fruit of a present Example with time progress in FIG. 6 is shown. As can be seen from this figure, the acidity (value calculated from the absorbance) of the artificial fruit body 40 measured in the same environment as the acidity measurement of the fruit changes with time almost in synchrony with the acidity of the fruit. It can be seen that there is a certain correspondence.

Spectral absorption of fruits and vegetables in the near-infrared region is derived from functional groups such as OH and CH, and internal quality measurement such as acidity of fruits and vegetables by spectroscopic analysis is performed based on absorption spectra by these functional groups. . This absorption characteristic varies depending on environmental changes such as temperature and humidity. In the artificial fruit and vegetable body 40 of the present embodiment, the permeate is composed of an acid (citric acid) aqueous solution as a base and contains the same functional group. Therefore, the absorption characteristic of the artificial fruit and vegetable body 40 is also the same as that of the actual subject. Fluctuate synchronously. As a result, fluctuations in spectral absorption due to environmental changes can be corrected.
An example of a correction method for measuring the quality of fruits and vegetables using this reference body will be described below by taking the measurement of acidity as an example.

First, the relationship of the variation of the acidity measurement value between the artificial fruit and vegetable reference body 40 and the actual fruit and vegetables accompanying the environmental change (that is, the slope S of a straight line that approximately connects the six points in FIG. 7) is obtained in advance. On the other hand, the acidity measurement value DR of the artificial fruit and vegetables in a state where the acidity of the actual fruit and vegetables is measured (calculated) without error (that is, a state (environment) where a correct measurement value is obtained) is obtained as a reference acidity value. In other words, if the acidity value obtained by measuring the acidity of the artificial fruit and vegetables in a certain environmental state is DR, the measured acidity value of the actual fruit and vegetables obtained in that state is not corrected ( This is the value that gives the correct acidity value (with zero correction value). Here, the “correct acidity value” means a value obtained by chemical analysis rather than spectroscopic analysis of the acid concentration of the fruit or vegetable. Therefore, the value of DR is determined using real fruits and vegetables having a known acidity determined by chemical analysis.
The relationship of the above fluctuations (straight line slope S) and the reference acidity value DR are obtained in advance and stored in the processing system of the measuring apparatus as data.

The correction operation during actual measurement is performed every predetermined time, for example, every two hours. At the time of the correction operation, first, the artificial fruit body 40 of FIG. 5 is lowered to the calibration position between the light projecting system and the light receiving sensor 72, and the acidity value is calculated by performing the same measurement on the artificial fruit body 40 as a normal real fruit and vegetables. If the measured acidity value is D, a correction value C is obtained by the following equation.
C = (DR−D) × S
The correction value obtained in this way is added to the measurement value of each fruit and vegetable that is the actual subject, so that the measurement value is corrected and approaches the correct acidity value that is not affected by the environmental conditions.

For example, it is assumed that the DR value is 1.0% and the slope S of a straight line that approximately connects the points in FIG. Assume that the acidity of the artificial fruit measured during the correction operation is 1.2%. In this case, there is an error on the plus side due to environmental changes (that is, the measured value is higher than the actual value). In this case, the correction value C is C = (1.0−1.2) × 0.9 = −0.18.
Is required. This correction value “−0.18” is corrected by adding it to the measurement value obtained for the subject fruit or vegetable (that is, subtracting 0.18).

  Since the environmental conditions change from moment to moment, the correction operation is performed at predetermined time intervals during the measurement period as described above. For example, when the correction operation is performed every two hours, the application range of the correction value is 1) the obtained correction The value is applied to the measurement data obtained in the past 2 hours, 2) the obtained correction value is applied to the measurement data obtained in the next 2 hours, and 3) the obtained correction value is applied every hour before and after that. It can be applied to the obtained measurement data. As the effectiveness of the correction, the method of 3) is most preferable, but it is not limited to this. In addition, the shorter the interval between correction operations, the greater the follow-up to environmental changes, so the correction accuracy increases, but the original measurement is interrupted when measuring artificial fruit and vegetables for correction, so the measurement throughput decreases. Set them at the appropriate time, taking them into account. In addition, since the stability is low for a while after the light source 64 is turned on, it is conceivable that the correction operation is performed at a short time interval and the interval is increased when it is stabilized.

  The artificial fruit and vegetable reference body 40 of the present embodiment includes a temperature measuring body 58 for measuring the temperature of the light transmitting body 48 inside the light transmitting body 48. This is for correcting the temperature difference between the artificial fruit body 40 and the fruit or fruit that is the actual subject. That is, the artificial fruit and vegetable body 40 is often attached to the apparatus as in the apparatus example shown in FIG. 5, whereas the fruit and vegetables such as mandarin oranges to be measured are supplied from a predetermined storage. If both are in a common environment, there is no problem, but if there is a temperature difference between them, it is preferable to correct the temperature. Therefore, the artificial fruit body 40 of the embodiment includes a temperature measuring body 58 and monitors the temperature of the transmissive body, and further performs a correction in consideration of the temperature condition when obtaining the correction value based on the monitoring result.

In the present embodiment, the resin container 46 constituting the artificial fruit body 40 can transmit light, and the amount of transmission varies depending on its thickness. In the artificial fruit body 40 configured in this manner, the amount of light emitted from the container side face 42 that is projected almost perpendicularly to the container side face 42 and is opposed to the container side face 42 varies depending on the thickness of the side face 42. That is, when the same amount of light is projected onto two side surfaces having different thicknesses, the amount of light transmitted through the thick side surface is less than the amount of light transmitted through the thin side surface, and the light transmittance is greater on the thick side surface. Low. In the present embodiment, by utilizing this property, the surface to be projected is made to have different transmittance by rotating the artificial fruit body 40 in accordance with the type of the subject, the lot change or the environment change. Can be changed to a surface having
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to select the artificial fruit body 40 according to the change of the subject without changing the light projecting system and the light receiving system.

Further, among the side surfaces 42 of the resin container 46, the side surfaces 42 on which the artificial fruit and vegetable reference body 40 is projected are provided with a heat-resistant glass 44. The reference body 40 has high durability against heating by light projection.
Furthermore, since an air layer exists between the glass 44 and the side surface 42, the artificial fruit and vegetable reference body 40 is easily dissipated even when heated by light projection, and durability is further improved.
Further, since the glass 44 can be slid and removed in the horizontal direction, if the heat resistance of the glass 44 is lowered, sufficient heat resistance can always be ensured by replacing the glass 44.

This example is illustrative and the present invention is not limited to this.
That is, the container of the artificial fruit body 40 may be polyfluorinated ethylene (PFE) or glass 44 instead of polyethylene (PE).
Instead of the glass 44 provided on the side surface 42 of the resin container 46, a heat resistant ND filter may be used.

In this embodiment, the glass 44 is provided on two of the side surfaces 424 of the resin container 46, but the surface on which the glass 44 is provided may be one surface, three surfaces, or four surfaces (entire surface).
The thickness of the side surface 42 of the resin container 46 is the same on the opposing surface, but the combination of the thicknesses of the four side surfaces 42 may be arbitrary.
The air layer 52 between the side surface 42 of the resin container 46 and the glass 44 may or may not have an arbitrary thickness.

The shape of the artificial fruit and vegetable reference body 40 may not be a rectangular parallelepiped with a square bottom, but may be a polygonal column or a cylinder.
The light transmitting body 48 is a gel substance, for example, a 1% citric acid aqueous solution mixed with cerium oxide having a diameter of about 0.3 μm as a light scatterer and uniformly diffused, and gelled with polyacrylamide gel. There may be.

In this embodiment, the artificial fruit body 40 is moved up and down at the measurement position 62. However, the artificial fruit body 40 is fixed above or below the measurement position 62, and the light projecting device 70 and the light receiving sensor are calibrated. 72 may be integrally raised or lowered.
The rotation of the artificial fruit body 40 may be counterclockwise.
The artificial fruit body 40 is substantially perpendicular to the optical axis of the light projected from the light projecting device 70 instead of the vertical axis 78 passing through the center of the bottom surface, and is a horizontal axis passing through the center of the side surface 42. It is good also as rotating around. In this case, it is desirable that the thickness of the side surface is different from that of the upper surface or the bottom surface, and the heat-resistant glass is provided for each by the above-described method.
The rotation of the artificial fruit 40 may not pass through the center of the bottom surface of the container 46 as long as it is a vertical axis.

On the other hand, in the present invention, the internal quality can be measured under the same conditions regardless of the size of the subject. Details will be described below.
FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of an apparatus according to the present embodiment. The description of the calibration part already described is omitted. The light projecting optical system 70 and the spectroscope 72 can be moved up and down in the vertical directions indicated by arrows F and G, respectively, and when measuring the subject 88, the optical axis 80 of the light projecting optical system 70 and the light receiving lens 92 of the spectroscope 72 are measured. By aligning the optical axes 94 and moving them up and down, the equator portion 90 of the subject 88 is positioned on these optical axes.

  The light projecting optical system 70 includes a lamp 64, an aperture 66, and a lens 68. Light 96 is projected from the lamp 64 toward the subject 88, and the light 96 is provided between the lamp 64 and the belt conveyor 60 so as to be perpendicular to the optical axis 80 of the light projecting optical system and a lens 68. The object 88 is irradiated via the. The aperture 66 has a structure in which the aperture diameter of the opening 100 continuously changes concentrically, and the light 96 emitted from the lamp 64 is opened to a predetermined size depending on the type of the subject 88. 100 passes through 100, and is appropriately condensed by the lens 68, and irradiates the subject 88 around the equator 90. Further, the light projecting optical system 70 can be moved up and down integrally. With this configuration, the height of the entire apparatus can be changed according to the size of the subject 88, and the equator portion 90 of the subject 88 is always the light receiving lens 92 of the spectroscope 72 regardless of the size of the subject 88. Therefore, the light 96 can always be emitted toward the equator of the subject 88.

  That is, even when measuring a large subject 88b, the projection optical system 70 and the spectroscope 72 are raised as shown by the dotted line, so that the equator portion 90b of the subject 88b is always obtained regardless of the size of the subject. Is emitted and light emitted from a portion centered on the equator portion 90b is received, so that the internal quality of each subject can be measured under the same conditions.

Next, the aperture 66 of the light projecting optical system 70 will be described. FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the light projecting optical system 70.
In this embodiment, the aperture 66 has an opening 100 that continuously changes concentrically. When a certain amount of light is emitted from the lamp 64 disposed on the back surface of the aperture 66, light having a light amount proportional to the aperture is emitted from the front surface of the aperture 66 from the opening 100.

  The diameter of the opening 100 is set based on the type of fruits and vegetables that are the subject 88. That is, when measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables that easily transmit light, the aperture of the opening 100 is reduced to reduce the amount of light emitted to the subject 88. On the other hand, in the case of fruits and vegetables that do not easily transmit light, the aperture of the opening 100 is increased to increase the amount of light projected onto the subject 88. In this way, by setting the aperture according to the type of the subject 88 and changing the amount of light irradiated to the subject 88, the amount of light emitted from the subject 8 regardless of the type of the subject 88 is set to a constant value. Thus, the internal quality of the fruits and vegetables can be measured more accurately regardless of the type of the test object 8.

A measurement example of this example is shown below. Here, the description of the calibration and calibration already described is omitted.
First, the internal quality of the mandarin orange that easily transmits light is measured. The opening 100 of the squeezing 66 is set to the minimum diameter. In this case, although the amount of light projected onto the subject 88 is small, the amount of light emitted from the subject 88 is sufficiently large, so the internal quality of the subject 88 can be measured by this absorption spectrum.

First, the subject 88 is mounted on the measurement belt conveyor 60. Then, the projection optical system 70 and the spectroscope 72 are moved up and down in accordance with the size of the subject 88 so that the optical axes 80 and 94 coincide with each other, and the subject 88 is placed on the optical axes 80 and 94. The equator portion 90 is positioned.
In this state, light is projected from the lamp 64 toward the subject 88. Light 96 emitted from the lamp 64 enters the lens 68 through the opening 100 of the aperture 66. The light appropriately collected by the lens 68 is irradiated to the subject 88 with the equator portion 90 as the center. The light irradiated on the subject 88 is partially reflected and absorbed on the surface and inside of the subject 88 and then emitted and received by the spectroscope 72.

The absorption spectrum of the light received by the spectroscope 72 is measured. The absorption spectrum differs depending on each subject 88, whereby the internal quality of each subject 88 can be measured. Next, the internal quality of the apple that is difficult to transmit light is measured. The opening part 100 of the squeezing 66 is set to the maximum aperture. In this case, since the amount of light projected onto the subject 88 is large, the amount of light emitted from the subject 88 is sufficiently large, and the internal quality of the subject 88 can be measured from this absorption spectrum.
The other measurement conditions are the same as when the subject is a mandarin orange, and the internal quality of the subject 88 can be measured by the absorption spectrum of the light emitted from the subject 88.

Below, the modification of a present Example is shown.
In the present embodiment, the light projecting optical system 70 and the spectroscope 72 are moved up and down to match the optical axis 80 of the light projecting optical system 70, the optical axis 94 of the light receiving lens 92, and the equator portion 90 of the subject. However, the position of the belt conveyor 60 on which the subject 88 is mounted may be raised and lowered. Further, a light projection position on the subject 88 may be changed by providing a mirror in the light projection optical system 70 and changing the angle of the mirror. Further, a mirror is provided between the light receiving lens 92 of the spectroscope 72 and the subject 88, and by changing the angle of this mirror, light emitted from the equator portion 90 of the subject 88 is always received. Also good.

  The opening 100 changes concentrically. However, the aperture 100 may have another shape as long as the amount of light passing through the aperture 66 can be controlled. Further, the opening time may be controlled with the shape of the opening being constant. Moreover, you may carry out by a filter.

In the present invention, the position of the subject on the moving means can be detected, and measurement can be performed when the subject is correctly at the measurement position. Details will be described below.
FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 are diagrams for conceptually explaining the outline of the sugar acidity measuring apparatus of the present embodiment, FIG. 10 is a top view, and FIG. 11 is a side view.

In FIG. 10, the belt conveyor 60 is moving in the arrow direction J in the drawing, that is, in the right direction in the drawing. On the belt conveyor 60, the mandarin orange m, which is the subject, is placed at random. In FIG. 10, six tangerines m are placed on the conveyor 60.
A first photoelectric sensor 102 composed of a pair of a light projecting element 102a such as a photodiode and a light receiving element 102b is disposed across the conveyor on the most upstream side of the belt conveyor 60. The light projecting element 102a emits detection light toward the light receiving element 102b. The light receiving element 102b receives this light, converts it into an electrical signal, and outputs it to a CPU 120 (central processing unit: FIG. 12) described later.

  Similarly, on the most downstream side of the belt conveyor, a second photoelectric sensor 103 configured by a pair of a light projecting element 103a such as a photodiode and a light receiving element 103b is disposed across the conveyor. As in the case of the first photoelectric sensor 102, in the second photoelectric sensor 103, the light projecting element 103a emits detection light toward the light receiving element 103b, and the light receiving element 103b receives the light and converts it into an electrical signal. And output to the CPU 120.

  Near the middle of the belt conveyor, a measurement system for actually performing the actual measurement of the sugar and acidity of the subject is disposed. The measurement system includes a light source 110a that emits light including a near-infrared region and a spectrometer 110b that receives light transmitted through the subject m. The spectroscope 110b splits the received light into a plurality of frequency components and outputs a signal corresponding to the intensity of each component light to the CPU 120. Since the details of the measurement are known, the description is omitted here.

  In the above configuration, the dimensions of each part are arbitrarily determined according to the situation and conditions. In this embodiment, as a preferred example, the distance between the first and second photoelectric sensors along the moving direction of the belt conveyor is 800 mm. And the center of the measurement system (the position indicated by the one-dot chain line X0 in the figure) is set at a position 350 mm from the first photoelectric sensor. The moving speed of the belt conveyor 60 is about 300 to 1000 mm / sec. The above numerical values are shown as examples, and the present invention is not limited to these.

  Next, referring to FIG. 11, the conveyor belt 60 is wound around two rollers 111 and 112. The roller 112 on the downstream side is connected to a power source (not shown), and rotates in the direction of the arrow (clockwise) in the drawing to drive the belt 60. A rotating shaft 112 a of the downstream roller 112 is connected to a rotating shaft 113 a of an encoder 113 provided adjacent to the roller 112 via a belt 114. As a result, the encoder 113 rotates in conjunction with the movement of the belt conveyor 60. The encoder 113 outputs a pulse signal corresponding to the amount of rotation. In this embodiment, the encoder 113 is set so that the encoder output is 1 pulse with respect to the moving distance of the belt conveyor of 0.1 mm. Thereby, the movement amount of the belt conveyor 60 can be monitored by counting the number of output pulses of the encoder 113.

  Next, the operation of the apparatus of this embodiment will be described. First, FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the control system of this apparatus. As described above, the outputs of the first photoelectric sensor 102, the second photoelectric sensor 103, the main measurement sensor 110, and the encoder 113 are connected to the apparatus CPU 120 that controls the operation of the entire apparatus. The CPU 120 converts the input signal into digital as necessary and uses it as information for controlling the operation of the apparatus. In addition, an object collection and classification apparatus 115 is connected to the CPU 120. The collection and classification device 115 is a device that is disposed downstream of the belt conveyor 60, collects the subject that has exited the belt conveyor 60, and classifies it as necessary. As will be described later, the subject is classified according to the measurement result in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 120.

  Actual measurement is performed as follows. While driving the belt conveyor 60 at a constant speed, the specimen m (here, mandarin orange) is supplied one after another by the specimen supply means (not shown) at the upstream end of the conveyor 60 and placed on the belt conveyor 60 at random. To go. Here, “randomly” means that the sheets are randomly placed without positioning or adjusting the distance between the objects or providing a partition on the conveyor.

  The light emitting element 102a of the first photoelectric sensor always emits light of constant intensity toward the light receiving element 102b during the measurement operation of the apparatus. If there is nothing to block between the two elements, the light receiving element 102b always receives light of a constant intensity, and therefore the output signal of the first photoelectric sensor is at a constant level (high level H). When the subject is supplied onto the conveyor 60 from the upstream end of the belt conveyor and moved to the downstream side as the conveyor 60 is driven to reach the first photoelectric sensor position, the subject m travels from the light emitting element 102a to the light receiving element 102b. It will block the rays. While the subject m passes through the first photoelectric sensor position, no light enters the light receiving element 102b. Therefore, the output signal of the first photoelectric sensor has a low level lower than the high level H for a period corresponding to the width of the subject m. Level L. Thus, the output signal of the first photoelectric sensor becomes a rectangular signal waveform including information indicating the time when the subject m has passed the position of the sensor. An example of this photoelectric sensor output signal waveform is shown in FIG. The three low level portions shown as m1 to m3 in FIG. 13 indicate that three objects have passed through the first photoelectric sensor position.

As described above, the CPU 120 also receives a pulse signal indicating the amount of movement of the belt conveyor 60 output from the encoder 113. By using this pulse signal, the passage data of the subject m obtained based on the first photoelectric sensor output signal can be converted into the size and position information of the subject. That is, for example, both ends T1 and T2 of the low level portion m3 of the signal in FIG. 13 correspond to the passage start and end times when the subject m3 passes the first photoelectric sensor position, respectively, but the encoders at both times T1 and T2 By subtracting the pulse count, the horizontal diameter of the subject m3 can be obtained. For example, if the pulse count number at T1 is 61400 and the pulse count number at T2 is 62000, the number of pulses while the subject m3 passes through the photoelectric sensor position is 62000−61400 = 600.
It is. Further, as described above, the encoder 113 is set to have one pulse for every movement of 0.1 mm (that is, 0.1 [mm / pulse]), so that the lateral diameter of the subject m3 is
600 [pulse] × 0.1 [mm / pulse] = 60 mm
Can be recognized.
Further, by counting the number of encoder pulses after the subject leaves the first photoelectric sensor position, the CPU can always obtain the position information of the subject.

  The CPU 120 calculates the center of the horizontal diameter, that is, the center position of the subject in the moving direction, from the size (lateral diameter) information of each subject m obtained as described above. The CPU 120 further obtains the timing at which the center of the subject m passes the main measurement position X0 based on the calculated center position and the movement amount information obtained from the encoder pulse signal, and in accordance with this, the main measurement of sugar content and / or acidity is performed. Control to do.

  The apparatus further includes a second photoelectric sensor near the most downstream end of the belt conveyor. The second photoelectric sensor measures the lateral diameter and position of the subject in the same manner as the first photoelectric sensor, and compares it with the data obtained by the first photoelectric sensor for the same subject, so that it is moving on the belt conveyor. Is provided for detecting whether or not a positional deviation has occurred. Specifically, the horizontal diameter information and the center position information are obtained by the same process as the first photoelectric sensor signal, and the horizontal diameter and the center position for the same subject obtained from the first photoelectric sensor signal are respectively compared. If there is a deviation, there is no guarantee that this measurement was performed at the correct position, so the CPU 120 sends an error signal to the collection and classification device 115 provided on the downstream side of the belt conveyor. The corresponding subject is classified as a remeasurement subject.

The operation of the CPU 120 in the process described above is shown in the flowchart of FIG.
In the operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. 14, when measurement is started, first, in step S1, it is detected whether or not the subject has passed the first photoelectric sensor. Here, the process waits until passage is detected, and if detected, the process proceeds to step S2.
In step S2, the passage data (pulse data) of the subject based on the signal obtained from the first photoelectric sensor and the pulse signal of the encoder is read.

Subsequently, in step S3, the passage data of the subject is converted into lateral diameter data (mm unit) based on the pulse data.
Next, in step S4, it is determined whether or not the lateral diameter is within a normal range. When the horizontal diameter is larger than the normal range, it is considered that two or more subjects are close together, and in that case, the center position of each subject cannot be specified. Since measurement is impossible, the process proceeds to step 22 and an error occurs.
If it is determined in step S4 that the measurable range is reached, the process proceeds to step S5, and processing for a normal lateral diameter is started.

In step S6, the main measurement position as the center position of the horizontal diameter is calculated.
In step S7, the main measurement position obtained in step 6 is temporarily stored as the array information of the subject in the measurement waiting state.
In step S8, it is determined whether there is an unmeasured subject in which the measurement waiting sequence information is stored. In other words, the process waits until the measurement waiting array information is obtained.
If it is determined in step S8 that there is a subject waiting for measurement, measurement wait array information is read in S9.

Subsequently, in step S10, the process waits until the main measurement of the transmitted light amount of the subject for measuring the sugar content / acidity is completed.
When the measurement is completed, the sugar content / acidity is calculated based on the measurement result obtained in step S10 in step S11, and stored in association with the position data.

In step S12, the process waits for the subject to pass through the second photoelectric sensor at the downstream end.
When passage is detected in step S12, the passage data of the subject based on the signal obtained from the second photoelectric sensor is read in step S13.

Subsequently, in step S14, the position and lateral diameter data of the subject when sequentially passing through the first photoelectric sensor of the next data are read from the data for which the sugar acidity calculation has been completed.
In step S15, the position when the subject corresponding to the data passes through the first photoelectric sensor based on the distance between the first and second photoelectric sensors from the position data at the second photoelectric sensor read in S13. Calculate the data. In other words, the distance between the two sensors is subtracted from the position data obtained by the second photoelectric sensor to determine what position the subject should have been when it passed through the first photoelectric sensor. is there.

  Subsequently, in step S16, the position (II) in the first photoelectric sensor obtained from the position in the second photoelectric sensor obtained in S15 is compared with the actual position (I) in the first photoelectric sensor read in S14. When the position (II) obtained in S15 is shifted by a predetermined amount or more to the upstream side from the position (I) read in S14 (when it is too late), the subject reaches the second photoelectric sensor from the first photoelectric sensor. Since it is considered that it has dropped from the conveyor along the route, the process proceeds to step S20 as an abnormality, the read data in the corresponding step S14 is deleted, an error signal is subsequently generated in S21, and the process returns to S14 again to return to the next first photoelectric Read the sensor data.

  In the position comparison in step S16, if the shift of the position (II) to the upstream side with respect to the position (I) is equal to or less than a predetermined amount (not too late), the process proceeds to step S17 as normal and this time to the position (I). On the other hand, it is determined whether or not the position (II) is shifted by a predetermined amount or more downstream. If it is shifted to the downstream side by more than a predetermined amount (too early), it is considered that the subject has been displaced on the conveyor, and there is no guarantee that the actual measurement was performed at the correct measurement position. The process proceeds to S22 and an error is assumed.

  If the shift to the downstream side is equal to or smaller than the predetermined amount in step S17, the process proceeds to step S18 as normal. In step S18, it is determined whether or not the lateral diameter of the subject obtained from the passage data of the second photoelectric sensor matches the lateral diameter obtained from the data of the first photoelectric sensor before the main measurement read in S14. If it is abnormal, that is, if it does not match, the displacement of the subject's mounting direction in the middle of the process (ie, the posture change such as the mandarin orange being the subject moving from the state of sleeping on the conveyor and standing up) Or an identification error of the subject, the process proceeds to step S22 to determine an error.

If the determination in step S18 is normal, the process proceeds to step S19, and it is determined whether or not the measurement of sugar content / acidity for the subject has been completed. If no measurement is performed, the process proceeds to step S22 and an error is assumed.
If it is determined in step 19 that the measurement has been completed, it is determined that there is no problem in the measurement process and correct measurement has been performed, and the measurement process is terminated.

  Steps S21 and S22 are steps when various abnormalities are determined in the determination steps, and the CPU outputs an error signal to the collection and classification device, and the collection and classification device remeasures the subject. Order to fall into this category.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, the embodiments are for illustrative purposes, and the present invention is not limited to the elements of the embodiments, and various modifications are possible.
For example, in the present embodiment, the object supply means is provided on the upstream side of the belt conveyor and the object is automatically supplied. However, the objects may be individually placed on the conveyor manually. In fact, when the subject is a fruit or vegetable that is easily damaged by a collision with a peach or the like, it is often placed by hand.

Moreover, although the apparatus of the present embodiment is intended for mandarin oranges, it is not limited to other fruits and vegetables or fruits and vegetables, but to various devices that perform measurement during movement on any subject placed on the moving means. The present invention can be applied.
Moreover, although the sugar content and the acidity are measured in the apparatus of this embodiment, it can be applied to the measurement of other internal qualities of fruits and vegetables.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the description of the same configuration as that of the first embodiment is omitted, and only different portions will be described.
That is, the light receiving lens of the spectroscope 16 is provided with an openable / closable shutter 34, and the opening / closing is controlled by a shutter drive mechanism 36 using a solenoid, and the shutter moves in the vertical direction K.

The control unit 18 is connected to the calibration drive mechanism 32 and the shutter drive mechanism 36 and outputs signals for driving them to control the drive of the calibration drive mechanism 32 and the shutter drive mechanism 36.
The shutter drive mechanism 36 is driven by the drive signal from the control unit 18 immediately after the calibration is completed. The shutter 34 is moved and arranged on the entire surface of the light receiving lens so that external light does not enter the light receiving lens of the spectroscope 16. In this state, the current (dark current) that appears in the photoelectric conversion of the control unit 18 is very small. This is caused by noise inherent in the apparatus, and by subtracting this value from the measured value, a more accurate measured value can be obtained.

The process of measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables according to this embodiment will be described. Here, only the parts different from the first embodiment will be described.
When the measurement of the baseline is completed, an end signal is output from the spectroscope 16 to the control unit 18. Upon receiving this signal, the control unit 18 outputs a drive signal to the solenoid of the shutter drive mechanism 36. The shutter drive mechanism 36 moves the shutter 34 to the entire surface of the light receiving lens of the spectroscope 16 by this drive signal so that external light does not enter the spectroscope 16. In this state, the spectroscope 16 measures a dark current. The dark current is caused by noise inherent in the apparatus and is a very small value. By subtracting this value from the measured value of the baseline or each object 8 in the calculation unit 20, it is possible to obtain a more accurate measured value for each.

Here, the transmittance T of each test object 8 (i-th of the total number n) used in the evaluation of the internal quality of the test object 8 is the frequency of the emitted light partially absorbed in the test object 8. The measured value Si of the spectrum, the average value R of the current value by calibration, and the average value D of the dark current value are expressed by the following formula.
Ti = (Si-D) / (RD) (1)
That is, the ratio of the light emitted from the test object 8 to the light emitted from the lamp 12 through the filter is taken as the transmittance of the test object 8. Here, in each of the numerator and the denominator, the average value D of the dark current value is subtracted from the measured value Si of the frequency spectrum by the emitted light or the average value R of the current value by calibration. As a result, noise inherent to the spectroscope 16 is eliminated.
In this embodiment, the dark current is measured immediately after the calibration, but the calibration may be performed immediately after the dark current is measured.
Other configurations, processes, and effects are the same as those in the first embodiment.

A third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, the description of the same configuration as that of the first embodiment will be omitted, and different parts will be described.
As shown in FIG. 16, the apparatus 1 of this embodiment includes a light shielding bucket 5, a sensor 4, a measuring unit 6, and the like.

  A test object 8 such as melon is mounted on the light-shielding bucket 5 mounted on the belt conveyor 2, and the belt conveyor 2 moves the test object 8 in the longitudinal direction A thereof. A sensor 4 and a measuring unit 6 are provided in the moving direction A of the belt conveyor 2. The sensor 4 is an optical sensor, and the presence, interval, and position information of the test object 8 on the belt conveyor 2 can be obtained by irradiating the infrared light 10 on the belt conveyor 2 and observing the reflected light. it can. The measuring unit 6 is located downstream of the sensor 4 in the moving direction of the belt conveyor 2, irradiates the test object 8 with light, and the internal quality of the test object 8 from the emitted light from the test object 8. Measure.

  As shown in FIG. 17, the measurement unit 6 includes a lamp 215, a first optical fiber 217, a second optical fiber 219, a filter unit 221, a first shutter 223, a second shutter 225, a spectroscope 227, an optical sensor 4, and a control. Part 229, a calculation part 231 and the like.

The lamps 215 are arranged on the left and right sides of the test object 8 so that three to five lamps can project light from substantially the entire side of the test object 8. The light projected from the lamp 215 onto the test object 8 has, for example, a near-infrared wavelength (650 to 950 nm), and a part of the light is absorbed inside the test object 8 on which the light is projected. Later, transmitted light is emitted from the test object 8.
The same number of first optical fibers 217 as the number of lamps 215 are provided between the lamps 215 and the test object 8. The light receiving portion of each optical fiber 217 is directed to each lamp 215 and can directly receive light from the lamp 215.

  A first shutter 223 and a filter unit 221 are provided in the middle of the optical path of the first optical fiber 217. The filter unit 221 is composed of an ND filter and a diffusion plate, like the filter 30 of FIG. The first shutter 223 is opened and closed by a solenoid based on the presence or absence of the test object 8 of the measurement unit 6, and light from the first optical fiber 217 enters the filter unit 221 when the first shutter 223 is opened. . Since the configuration and effects of the filter unit 221 are the same as those of the filter 30 of the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  A second optical fiber 219 having a second shutter 225 is connected to the opening 240 below the light shielding bucket 5. The second shutter 225 is opened and closed by a solenoid (not shown) based on the presence or absence of the test object 8 of the measurement unit 6. When the second shutter 225 is open, the light transmitted through the test object 8 is blocked by the light shielding bucket 5. The light enters the second optical fiber 219 through the lower opening 240.

  The first and second optical fibers 217 and 219 merge to form a third optical fiber 233 and are connected to the spectroscope 227. The spectroscope 227 passes through the filter portion 221 of the first optical fiber 217. Light from 215 or transmitted light from the test object 8 via the second optical fiber 219 can be received. The spectroscope 227 can measure the absorption spectrum of received light or the amount of light. Thereby, it is possible to measure internal quality, such as sugar content, of the test object 8.

  The sensor 4 described above is connected to the control unit 229. The control unit 229 converts the amount of light incident on the optical sensor 4 into current by photoelectric conversion, and whether or not the current is larger than a predetermined value. The presence or absence of the test object 8 in the measurement unit 6 can be determined, and thereby the interval between the test objects 8 on the conveyor 2 can be detected. The predetermined value is a value determined by the type, size, measurement speed, and the like of the test object 8, and is set by the user of the apparatus before or during the start of measurement.

  Further, the control unit 229 is connected to the first shutter 223 and the second shutter 225, and outputs a signal for driving them. When the interval between the test objects 8 is less than a predetermined value, the second shutter 225 is opened, and the first shutter 223 is disposed so as to block light from entering the filter unit 221. In this case, the spectroscope 227 receives light from the light shielding bucket 5 through the second optical fiber 219 and does not receive light from the first optical fiber 217. On the other hand, when the interval between the test objects 8 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the first shutter 223 is opened, and the second shutter 225 is disposed so as to block light from entering the second optical fiber 219. The In this case, the spectroscope 227 does not receive the light from the second optical fiber 219, but receives the light from the lamp 215 via the filter unit 221. Calibration of the spectroscope 227 is performed based on the light from the filter unit 221 in this state. That is, the light that has passed through the filter unit 221 can be used to calibrate the apparatus at any time during measurement as well as at the start of measurement. It is possible to measure internal quality.

  The calculation unit 231 is connected to the spectroscope 227, and based on the current value of the frequency spectrum due to the transmitted light from the object 8 to be measured and the current value by the calibration, the fluctuation of the baseline, the noise of the spectroscope 227, etc. It becomes possible to measure the internal quality of the test object 8 excluding the influence. With the above configuration, when measuring the test objects 8 arranged in the longitudinal direction of the belt conveyor 2, the interval between the test objects 8 can be detected, and the interval between the test objects 8 is a predetermined value. The apparatus can be calibrated and the dark current can be measured each time the above location reaches the measuring unit 6. Therefore, calibration can be performed at any time not only before the start of measurement but also after the start of measurement, and the measurement is not interrupted for calibration. Therefore, the internal quality of fruits and vegetables can be accurately measured by calibrating the apparatus without interrupting the measurement.

The process of measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables according to this example will be described below.
First, before starting the measurement, the apparatus is calibrated and the dark current is measured. In the calibration, the first shutter 223 is opened in a state where the second shutter 225 is closed, and the amount of light emitted from the first optical fiber 217 to the spectroscope 227 via the filter unit 221 is measured. Do. The amount of this light is converted into a current value by the spectroscope 227, and this becomes the baseline (or reference value) of the measurement of the test object 8. On the other hand, the measurement of the dark current is performed in a state where both the first and second shutters 223 and 225 are closed and any external light entering the spectroscope 227 is blocked. The dark current is what the spectroscope 227 itself has in a state where light does not enter the spectroscope 227. By subtracting the dark current value from the measured value (photoelectrically converted current value) obtained by the spectroscope 227 after that, It is possible to calculate a current value excluding the influence of the spectroscope 227 itself.

  The internal quality of the test object 8 is measured when the test objects 8 placed side by side in the longitudinal direction of the belt conveyor 2 reach the measuring unit 6 by the movement of the conveyor 2. That is, when the test object 8 mounted on the light-shielding bucket 5 reaches the measuring unit 6, the test object 8 is directly irradiated with light from the lamp 215, and the emitted light partially absorbed in the test object 8 is emitted. The light enters the spectroscope 227 through the second optical fiber 219 from the opening 240 provided in the lower part of the light shielding bucket 5. The internal quality of the test object 8 can be measured from the frequency spectrum of the light. This is because the frequency spectrum has a different shape because there is a frequency at which the amount of light is strong depending on the component contained in the test object 8.

  As measurements continue, the baseline will change. This is due to an environmental change such as the temperature of the spectroscope 227, the measurement unit 6, or the surroundings, and in order to obtain a correct measurement value, the influence due to the fluctuation of the baseline must be excluded. In this embodiment, the baseline is measured at a place where a predetermined interval is left between the test objects 8. This value is stored in the calculation unit 231 connected to the spectroscope 227.

  When calibration at the start of measurement and measurement of dark current are completed, the first shutter 223 is closed, the second shutter 225 is opened, and the light from the lamp 215 passes through the second optical fiber 219 from the opening of the light shielding bucket 5. Then, the light enters the spectroscope 227. When the test object 8 moving on the belt reaches the measurement unit 6 in this state, the near-infrared light emitted from the lamp 215 is irradiated to the test object 8, and a part of the light is irradiated to the test object. 8 is absorbed by 8 and exits from the test object 8, and enters the spectroscope 227 through the second optical fiber 219. The spectroscope 227 measures the internal quality of the test object 8.

In this way, every time the test object 8 reaches the measuring unit 6, the internal quality is sequentially measured. During this measurement, when the photoelectric sensor 4 detects that the interval between the test objects 8 is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the control unit 229 determines that there is no test object 8 in the measurement unit 6, and moves the second shutter 225. Outputs a signal for closing. Upon receiving this signal, the solenoid (not shown) of the second shutter 225 is driven, and the optical path from the light shielding bucket 5 to the spectroscope 227 is blocked. In addition, the control unit 229 outputs a drive signal to a solenoid (not shown) of the first shutter 223. The first shutter 223 opens the blocked optical path of the first optical fiber 217 by this drive signal so that the light passing through the filter unit 221 enters the spectroscope 227.
By measuring the amount of attenuated light by the filter unit 221, the baseline of the apparatus can be measured. The baseline can follow the fluctuation at any time, and the measured value of the baseline is stored in the calculation unit 231.

Here, in the evaluation of the internal quality of the test object 8, the transmittance shown below is used. That is, the transmittance T of each test object 8 (i-th of the total number n) is the measured value Si of the frequency spectrum by the emitted light partially absorbed in the test object 8 and the average of the current values by calibration. The value R and the dark current value D are expressed by the following formula.
Ti = (Si-D) / (RD) (1)
That is, the ratio of the light emitted from the test object 8 to the light emitted from the lamp 215 via the filter unit 221 is taken as the transmittance of the test object 8. Here, in each of the numerator and the denominator, the dark current value D is subtracted from the measured value Si of the frequency spectrum by the emitted light or the average value R of the current values by calibration. As a result, noise inherent to the spectroscope 227 is eliminated.

Modifications of the present embodiment are shown below.
The first shutter 223 may be provided in the middle or end of the optical path of the first optical fiber 217.
The second shutter 225 may be provided in the middle of the optical path of the second optical fiber 219 or at the end portion. When the second shutter 225 is provided at the end portion on the belt conveyor 2 side, the second shutter 225 is preferably provided in contact with the belt conveyor 2. It does not have to be.
The detection of the test object 8 is performed by the incidence of light on the separately provided photoelectric sensor 4, but it may be determined by the amount of incident light on the second optical fiber 219.

In the present embodiment, the test object 8 is mounted on the light-shielding bucket 5 on the belt conveyor 2 and the emitted light from the lower part of the light-shielding bucket 5 is observed, but the conveyor belt is emitted from the test object 8. A mesh belt that can observe light from below may be used.
The projection of light from the lamp 215 onto the test object 8 may be performed not from the side but from the upper surface as long as the light can be projected onto almost the entire test object 8.
The light emitted from the photoelectric sensor 4 may be light having a wavelength other than infrared light.
The light emitted from the lamp 215 may be light having a wavelength other than near infrared light.
The lamps 215 may be optical fibers, and the number thereof is not limited to three, and may be one, two, or more.

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. Here, the description of the same configuration as that of the third embodiment is omitted, and only different portions will be described.
In this embodiment, the calibration can be performed at any time. In other words, regardless of whether or not the test object 8 is present in the measurement unit 6, calibration can be performed when desired by the user of the apparatus or as necessary.

The process of measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables according to this embodiment will be described. Here, only the parts different from the third embodiment will be described.
In this embodiment, after the start of measurement of the internal quality of fruits and vegetables, the user of this apparatus gives an instruction to start calibration by a mechanical or electrical operation, or the measurement base in the calculation unit 231 or the control unit 229 is used. When it is determined that the line has exceeded a certain range, the second shutter 225 is automatically closed and the first shutter 223 is opened regardless of the presence or absence of the test object 8 in the measurement unit 6. Is going to do.

Thereby, since calibration can be performed at an arbitrary time, it becomes possible to measure the internal quality of fruits and vegetables more accurately while keeping the baseline constant.
Other configurations, processes, and effects are the same as those of the third embodiment.

Next, a fifth embodiment will be described. Here, the description of the same configuration as that of the third embodiment is omitted, and only different portions will be described.
In the present embodiment, the dark current is measured following the calibration after the start of the measurement of the internal quality of the fruits and vegetables.
The process of measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables according to this embodiment will be described. Here, only the parts different from the third embodiment will be described.

  When the measurement of the baseline is completed, the first shutter 223 is closed while the second shutter 225 is closed. The opening / closing of the shutter is controlled by a signal from the control unit 229. In this state, the spectroscope 227 measures the dark current. The dark current is caused by noise inherent in the apparatus and is a very small value. By subtracting this value from the measured value of the baseline or each object 8 in the calculation unit 231, it becomes possible to obtain a more accurate measured value for each.

Here, the transmittance T of each test object 8 (i-th of the total number n) used in the evaluation of the internal quality of the test object 8 is the frequency of the emitted light partially absorbed in the test object 8. The measured value Si of the spectrum, the average value R of the current value by calibration, and the average value D of the dark current value are expressed by the following formula.
Ti = (Si-D) / (RD) (1)
That is, the ratio of the light emitted from the test object 8 to the light emitted from the lamp 215 via the filter is taken as the transmittance of the test object 8. Here, in each of the numerator and the denominator, the average value D of the dark current value is subtracted from the measured value Si of the frequency spectrum by the emitted light or the average value R of the current value by calibration. As a result, noise inherent to the spectroscope 227 is eliminated.
In this embodiment, the dark current is measured immediately after the calibration, but the calibration may be performed immediately after the dark current is measured.
Other configurations, processes, and effects are the same as those of the third embodiment.

Hereinafter, further embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, the description of the same configuration as that of the first embodiment is omitted, and different portions will be described.
18 and 19 are diagrams schematically showing a fruit and vegetable internal quality evaluation apparatus according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 18 is a top view thereof, and FIG. 19 is a view taken along arrow 19-19 in FIG. .

The apparatus of the present embodiment has a belt conveyor 2 on which a plurality of subject fruits and vegetables 8 are placed at random. The belt conveyor 2 is driven in the direction of the arrow P in the figure by a drive shaft (not shown), and accordingly, the fruits and vegetables 8 thereabove also move along a predetermined conveyance path. Further, an encoder (not shown in FIG. 18) is attached to the belt conveyor 2 in FIG. 2, and the moving amount of the conveyor is monitored in units of 0.1 mm.
A halogen lamp light source 12 for projecting light to the subject fruit 8 is installed on both sides of the belt conveyor 2 at a predetermined position in the conveyance path by the belt conveyor 2. The light source 12 is configured to irradiate fruits and vegetables with spot light having a diameter of about 2 cm.

At the same position as the light source 12 in the conveyance path, a light receiving sensor 303 for receiving light from the subject fruit 8 is provided directly above the belt conveyor 2 as shown in FIG. The light received by the light receiving sensor is split into a plurality of wavelength band channels, and a spectral analysis is performed by a well-known method for examining the absorbance of each channel, and various internal qualities such as sugar content, acidity, maturity, etc. Measure and evaluate. Since this method itself is well-known, description is abbreviate | omitted.
In addition, the light source 12, the light receiving sensor 303, and a part of the conveyor 2 in the vicinity thereof are integrally surrounded by a box (not shown) and shielded from external light.

  A position sensor 4 comprising a pair of light projecting element 4a and light receiving element 4b is provided at an upstream position of the belt conveyor 2. The position of the fruit and vegetables 8 on the belt conveyor can be detected by the change in the output signal of the light receiving element caused by blocking the light when the subject fruit and vegetables 8 pass between the light projecting element and the light receiving element. Based on the position information detected here and the movement amount information obtained by the encoder provided on the belt conveyor 2, the measurement is performed at the moment when the subject fruit 8 passes the measurement position by the light source 12 and the light receiving sensor 303. Control measurement timing.

Further, the lateral diameter of the subject fruit and vegetables 8 can be known from the movement amount information obtained by the encoder and the time during which the position sensor 4 blocks light. That is, the position sensors 4a and 4b can also be used as lateral sensors.
In the above, the position sensor, the encoder of the belt conveyor, and the light receiving sensor are all connected to the apparatus CPU, and the control of all apparatuses such as the above-described measurement timing control and lateral diameter calculation is performed by the CPU.

  Next, a seventh embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, there is provided a light shielding plate for shielding stray light such as light directly incident on the light receiving sensor 303 from the light source 12, light reflected on the surface of the subject fruit and vegetables, and light reflected by some element of the apparatus. It is provided. Since the overall configuration of the apparatus is the same as that of the sixth embodiment shown in FIG. 18, the description is omitted, and only the portion of the light shielding plate will be described.

20A and 20B are diagrams showing a configuration around the measurement position of the apparatus of the seventh embodiment, wherein FIG. 20A is a side view corresponding to FIG. 19 of the sixth embodiment, FIG. 20B is a top view of the portion, and FIG. ) Is a side view from the direction of 90 degrees with (a).
As shown in FIGS. 20 (a) and 20 (b), in this embodiment, two light shielding plates 310 are provided so as to sandwich the fruits and vegetables, and the light reflected by the surface of the fruits and vegetables 8 and the reflected light are further reflected by the device elements. Light or stray light such as light coming directly from the light source 12 is shielded from entering the light receiving sensor 303. As best shown in FIG. 20C, the light shielding plate is provided substantially horizontally at a position above the irradiation spot Q where the light from the light source 12 irradiates the fruits and vegetables 8 and lower than the height of the fruits and vegetables 8. It has been.

The interval between the two light-shielding plates 310 is 1) a fixed size larger than the maximum value that can be expected of the horizontal diameter of the fruit or vegetable as the subject, or 2) for each type of measurement object (ie, apple, peach, etc.) Each time the measurement object is changed) the interval can be changed in consideration of the expected maximum value of the horizontal diameter of that type of fruit or vegetable, or 3) it is automatically variable according to the horizontal diameter of each test object. There can be a configuration.
FIG. 21 shows a block diagram of the apparatus control system in the case of 3). The CPU 320 calculates the horizontal diameter of the subject based on the output of the position / horizontal diameter sensor 4 and sends a command to the light shielding plate driving device 306 so that the light shielding plate spacing is in accordance with the calculated horizontal diameter. In response to this, the light shielding plate driving device 306 moves the light shielding plate 310 by motor power to set the light shielding plate interval. Preferably, in order to increase the effectiveness of light shielding, the interval is set so that the gap between the light shielding plate and the subject fruit or vegetable becomes minute.

  Next, an eighth embodiment of the present invention will be described. The apparatus of the eighth embodiment is provided with a light blocking plate that blocks stray light as in the seventh embodiment, but the installation position of the light blocking plate is different from the apparatus of the seventh embodiment. Since the configuration of the entire apparatus in this embodiment is the same as that of the sixth embodiment, only the light shielding plate portion will be described.

FIG. 22 is a view showing the configuration near the measurement position of the apparatus of the eighth embodiment, (a) is a side view corresponding to FIG. 19 of the sixth embodiment, and (b) is a top view of the portion.
As shown in FIGS. 22A and 22B, in this embodiment, two light shielding plates 311 are provided above the subject fruit and vegetables 8, and the light reflected from the surface of the fruit and vegetables 8 or directly from the light source 12. Stray light such as light is shielded from entering the light receiving sensor 303.

The height of the two light-shielding plates 311 is 1) a fixed size larger than the maximum possible height of the fruit or vegetable as the subject, or 2) for each type of measurement object (ie, apple, peach, for example) Each time the object to be measured is changed) and the height can be changed in consideration of the expected maximum height of that kind of fruit or vegetable, or 3) it is automatically variable according to the height of each test object There can be a configuration of
A block diagram of the apparatus control system in the case of 3) is shown in FIG. The CPU 320 calculates the height of the subject based on the output of the height sensor 307 and sends a command for setting the light shielding plate height according to the calculated height to the light shielding plate driving device 306. Accordingly, the light shielding plate driving device 306 drives a motor that moves the light shielding plate 311 so that the height of the light shielding plate 311 is slightly higher than the calculated height of the subject.

  FIG. 24 shows the configuration of the height sensor. The height sensor is disposed upstream of the subject conveyance path by the belt conveyor 2. The height sensor is composed of a light projector 307a and a light receiver 307b arranged to face each other with the belt conveyor 2 interposed therebetween. The light projector 307a of the height sensor 307 has a plurality of light projecting elements 307a1 arranged at equal intervals in the vertical direction, and the light receiver 307b is arranged at a height equal to each of the light projecting elements 307a1 of the light projector 307a. A light receiving element 307b1 that receives a light beam from the light projecting element 307a1 is provided. When the object fruit 8 passes between the projector 307a and the light receiver 307b, the beam directed from the light projecting elements 307a1 located at a position lower than the fruit and vegetables toward the light receiving element 307b1 is blocked. That is, the height of the object fruit 8 can be detected discretely by detecting up to which height the beam is blocked.

Next, a ninth embodiment of the present invention will be described. The apparatus of the ninth embodiment is different from the seventh and eighth embodiments in the configuration of the light shielding plate.
FIG. 25 is a side view showing the configuration of the light shielding plate of the apparatus of the ninth embodiment. Each light shielding plate 312 is supported so as to be pivotable about an axis O. The configuration of the control system of the apparatus of this embodiment is the same as that of the eighth embodiment shown in FIG. In the apparatus of the present embodiment, the light-shielding plate is based on information on either or both of the horizontal diameter of the subject fruit and vegetable detected by the position / width sensor 304 and the height of the subject fruit and vegetable detected by the height sensor 307. The angular position of the 312 around the axis O is adjusted so that the gap between the light shielding plate and the fruits and vegetables becomes small. FIG. 25 shows a light-shielding plate position for the subject 8 having a size drawn by a solid line and a light-shielding plate position for the subject 8 'that is slightly smaller than that drawn by a broken line. The control system of this embodiment can be configured similarly to the eighth embodiment shown in FIG. 23 and described above.

  As a modification of the ninth embodiment, the position of the light shielding plate is not automatically adjusted, and the light shielding plate can be pushed up by the fruits and vegetables moving by the conveyor. Such an example is shown in FIG. In this example, upward curling (curvature) C0 is provided at the opposite corners on the upstream side of each light shielding plate 312 so that the light shielding plate 312 is pushed up by the subject itself as the subject moves by the conveyor. In the case of this modification, a mechanism for detecting the size of the subject and a mechanism for adjusting the position of the light shielding plate in accordance with the mechanism are not required, and the configuration can be simplified.

  Next, a tenth embodiment of the present invention will be described. The apparatus of the tenth embodiment is characterized by shielding stray light using a tray fixed on a belt conveyor. Since the configuration of the entire apparatus of the tenth embodiment is the same as that of the sixth embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted, and only the portion related to the tray will be described.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an outline of a tray in the apparatus of the tenth embodiment. FIG. 27A is a side view thereof, and the tray itself is shown in cross section. FIG. 27B is a side view from the direction of 90 degrees with respect to FIG. As shown in the figure, in the apparatus of the present embodiment, a tray 314 is placed on the belt conveyor 2, and the subject fruit 8 is placed on the tray 314. A hole 314a is formed on each side surface of the tray 314 facing the conveyor belt. As can be seen from FIG. 27A, the light from the light source 12 is applied to the subject fruit 8 through the hole 314a. The light reflected from the surface of the fruits and vegetables is effectively shielded by the tray 314 and therefore hardly enters the light receiving element 303. A plurality of trays 314 are placed on the belt conveyor.
Although several embodiments have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the details of these embodiments. For example, although a belt conveyor is used in the embodiments, various other conveying devices can be used.

In the sixth to tenth embodiments, two light sources arranged on both sides of the conveyance path are used. However, one or three or more light sources may be used. Further, in the seventh to ninth embodiments, when the light source is provided only on one side of the belt conveyor, the light shielding plate on the opposite side can be omitted.
In the sixth to tenth embodiments, the light from the light source is projected from the horizontal direction, but it may be irradiated obliquely from above or obliquely below. Further, in the embodiment, the light is projected from a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction by the belt conveyor as viewed from above, but it is also possible to irradiate it with an inclination.

Furthermore, although the halogen lamp is used as the light source in the apparatus of the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and other light sources that emit light in the wavelength region used for measurement can also be used.
The fruits and vegetables to be measured by the apparatus of the present invention are not limited in kind and size, and can be applied to various fruits and vegetables by appropriately arranging the size of the apparatus, the number of light sources, and the amount of light.
Further, the internal quality measured by the apparatus of the present invention also includes measurement of the internal quality of all fruits and vegetables that can be measured by spectroscopic analysis, with sugar and acidity as representative examples.

Next, an eleventh embodiment of the present invention will be described. Here, the description of the same configuration as that of the first embodiment will be omitted, and different portions will be mainly described.
FIG. 28 is a view showing an artificial fruit and vegetable reference body 410 as an embodiment of the present invention, in which (A) is a perspective view and (B) is a cross-sectional view. This artificial fruit body is composed of a cylindrical glass container 401 having a diameter of 65 mm and a height of 80 mm and a light transmitting body 402 accommodated therein. The upper surface of the container is also covered with a glass lid 404 and sealed. The light transmissive body is obtained by mixing cerium oxide having a diameter of about 0.3 μm as a light scatterer in a 1% citric acid aqueous solution and uniformly diffusing it, and gelling it with polyacrylamide gel. The amount of cerium oxide to be mixed is appropriately set according to the type of fruits and vegetables to be tested.
The artificial fruit body 410 of this embodiment includes a temperature measuring body (temperature measuring means) 403 using a thermistor or the like for measuring the temperature of the light transmitting body inside the light transmitting body 402.

  Next, a method for correcting the measurement value of the internal quality measuring apparatus for fruits and vegetables using the artificial fruit and vegetable body 410 will be described. FIG. 29 is a diagram showing a configuration near the measurement position of the fruit and vegetable measuring apparatus. The measuring apparatus has a belt conveyor 422, and the subject fruits and vegetables (for example, mandarin oranges) placed on the belt conveyor 422 are sequentially sent to the measurement position. At the measurement position, light is projected onto the subject by a light projecting device 420 including a light source 411, a diaphragm 412, and a lens system 413. The light that has passed through the subject enters the light receiving sensor 414. The light incident on the light receiving sensor is spectrally divided into a plurality of wavelength band channels, and spectral analysis is performed by a well-known method for examining the absorbance of each channel to calculate the internal quality of the object fruit S, for example, acidity. Since this method itself is well-known, description is abbreviate | omitted.

The apparatus includes an artificial fruit body 410. The artificial fruit body 410 is moved up and down at a measurement position by a mechanism (not shown), and a calibration position between the light projecting system and the light receiving sensor and a normal position retracted therefrom. It can move between positions.
FIG. 31 shows the result of measuring the transmitted light spectrum of the artificial fruit body of this example. In the same figure, the transmitted light spectra of the actual fruits of mandarin orange, pear and apple are also drawn. In particular, the spectrum characteristics of the artificial fruit body 410 in the near infrared region having a wavelength of 810 nm or more are the spectrum of the actual fruit. It can be seen that the characteristics follow the characteristics well.

  In the correction method and apparatus for measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables described above, the measured values of fruits and vegetables are corrected by the correction values obtained using a single artificial fruit and vegetable reference. A method and apparatus for performing correction using a body will be described.

  An example of an apparatus for performing calibration using a plurality of artificial fruits and vegetables is shown in FIG. The apparatus shown in FIG. 30 includes a light projecting system 420 and a light receiving sensor 414 including a halogen lamp light source 411, a diaphragm 412, and a lens system 413, as in the apparatus of FIG. 29. The device further includes a revolver 430 with four holes. Artificial fruit bodies 410a, 410b and 410c are fitted in three of the four holes of the revolver, respectively. There is nothing in the remaining hole. The three artificial fruit bodies are prepared based on three types of solutions having different concentrations. That is, they are citric acid solutions having concentrations of 1%, 2%, and 3%, respectively. Except for the citric acid concentration, all three artificial fruit bodies are made equal to each other. The revolver is driven by a stepping motor 415, and during the correction operation, each artificial fruit and vegetable body is sequentially set at a measurement position, and each transmitted light amount is measured. During normal fruit and vegetables measurement other than during the correction operation, light from the light projecting system is projected onto the subject fruit and vegetables S through the through hole 431.

In the apparatus of the embodiment shown in FIG. 29 described above, correction is performed by a single artificial fruit and vegetable body. Therefore, a constant correction value is given in the measurement of all the subject fruits and vegetables regardless of the acid concentration. On the other hand, in the apparatus of the present embodiment, measurement is performed on three types of reference bodies having different citric acid concentrations. This is because the variation in the acidity measurement value due to environmental changes such as temperature may differ depending on the acid concentration of the subject, so that more accurate correction is performed in consideration of the concentration of the subject. .
In this embodiment, correction values are obtained using artificial fruit and vegetable reference bodies having respective citric acid concentrations of 1%, 2%, and 3%, and corrections corresponding to the acid concentration of the subject are performed using the plurality of correction values. Therefore, the correction accuracy is further improved. Specifically, a density-correction value straight line that approximately linearly connects each correction value is obtained, and correction according to the concentration of the subject is performed based on the straight line.

Note that the configuration of the artificial fruit and vegetables arranged in a revolver type in the apparatus shown in FIG. 30 uses a light scatterer as in the present invention to adjust the light transmittance and to make it small (that is, the length in the light transmission direction). This is only possible because of the creation of an artificial fruit and vegetable composition.
Although the present invention has been described above based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the details.

For example, in all of the above-described embodiments, the artificial fruit body is mainly composed of an aqueous solution of citric acid, but not only citric acid but other acids / sugars or other aqueous solutions may be used.
In addition, in an artificial fruit body, a light dispersion is mixed in an aqueous solution in order to attenuate transmitted light. It is also conceivable to adjust the transmittance by lowering the transmittance of the container instead of adding the light dispersion.
Further, in the above example, glass is used as the container for the artificial fruit and vegetable body, but other materials having optical transparency such as resin may be used.
Configurations, operations, and effects other than those described above are the same as in the first embodiment.

Next, a twelfth embodiment of the present embodiment will be described. Here, the description of the same configuration as that of the first embodiment will be omitted, and different portions will be mainly described.
FIG. 32 is a diagram showing an artificial fruit and vegetable reference body (artificial fruit and vegetable body) 540 of the present embodiment, FIG. 32A is a perspective view, and 32B is a cross-sectional view. In this embodiment, an artificial fruit body 540 is used instead of the artificial fruit body 40 of the first embodiment. This artificial fruit and vegetable reference body 540 is a rectangular parallelepiped having a height of 80 mm and a bottom surface of 65 mm on one side, and a resin container 546 provided with glass 544 on one of its side surfaces 542, and a light transmission housed therein. It consists of a body 548. The upper surface of the container is covered and sealed with a resin lid 550 made of the same material as the resin container 546. A heat-resistant glass 544 is provided on the side surface 542 of the resin container 546 in parallel with the side surface 542.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 32B, the inner surface 500 of the container 546 is inclined in the vertical direction. As a result, the interval between the side surfaces 542 becomes narrower from the top to the bottom of the container 546, and the thickness of the side 542 increases from the top to the bottom of the container 546. When light is projected from the Q direction and emitted in the R direction, when light is projected onto the upper portion of the resin container 546, the light is emitted through a thin portion of the side surface 542 and a long portion of the light transmitting body 548, while the lower portion of the resin container 546 is emitted. Is emitted through a thick portion of the side surface 542 and a short portion of the light transmitting body 548. That is, the light projected on the upper part of the resin container 546 is less affected by the side surface 542 than the light projected on the lower part, and thus is emitted with a higher transmittance.

  A method for correcting the measurement value of the internal quality measuring device for fruits and vegetables using the artificial fruit and vegetable body 540 will be described. In the present embodiment, the artificial fruit body 540 can be moved up and down slightly up and down within a range in which light can be projected onto any part of the side surface 542 of the resin container 546 at the calibration position 74 in FIG.

  In the present embodiment, the resin container 546 constituting the artificial fruit body 540 can transmit light, and the amount of transmission varies depending on its thickness. In the artificial fruit body 540 configured in this manner, the amount of light emitted from the container side surface 542 facing the container side surface 542 almost perpendicularly differs depending on the thickness of the side surface 542. That is, when the same amount of light is projected to two portions of the side surface 542 having different thicknesses, the amount of light transmitted through the thick side portion is less than the amount of light transmitted through the thin side portion, and the thick side portion The light transmittance is lower. In the present embodiment, by utilizing this property, the projected portion of the side surface 542 is raised or lowered by raising or lowering the artificial fruit body 540 in accordance with a change in the type of subject, lot, or environment. Can be changed to parts having different transmittances.

As described above, according to the present invention, the artificial fruit body 540 corresponding to the change of the subject is selected without changing the light projecting system and the light receiving system, and further without rotating the artificial fruit body 540. It becomes possible.
This example is illustrative and the present invention is not limited to this.

The shape of the inner surface 500 of the artificial fruit and vegetable reference body 540 is only required to change the thickness of the side surface 542 in the vertical direction of the container 546, and may be, for example, a square pyramid or a conical shape. Moreover, as long as it inclines, it does not need to be left-right object with respect to the axis | shaft of the vertical direction of the container 546. FIG. Further, the inclination may be such that the thickness of the side surface 542 decreases from the lid 550 side to the bottom surface side of the container 546.
Configurations, operations, and effects other than those described above are the same as in the first embodiment.

Subsequently, a thirteenth embodiment of the present embodiment will be described. Here, the description of the same configuration as that of the first embodiment or the twelfth embodiment is omitted, and different portions will be mainly described.
FIG. 33 is a cross-sectional view of an artificial fruit and vegetable reference body (artificial fruit and vegetable body) 640 as the present embodiment. In this embodiment, an artificial fruit body 640 is used instead of the artificial fruit body 40 of the first embodiment or the artificial fruit body 540 of the twelfth embodiment. As shown in FIG. It is formed in a step shape in the vertical direction. As a result, the interval between the side surfaces 642 decreases stepwise from the upper part of the container 646 toward the bottom surface, and the thickness of the side surface 642 increases stepwise from the upper part of the container 646 toward the bottom surface. When light is projected from the T direction and emitted in the U direction, when light is projected onto the upper portion of the resin container 646, the light is emitted through a thin portion of the side surface 642 and a long portion of the light transmitting body 648, while the lower portion of the resin container 646 is emitted. Is emitted through a thick portion of the side surface 642 and a short portion of the light transmitting body 648. That is, the light projected on the upper portion of the resin container 646 is less affected by the side surface 642 than the light projected on the lower portion, and thus is emitted with higher transmittance.
Configurations, operations, and effects other than those described above are the same as those in the first or twelfth embodiment.

Next, a fourteenth embodiment of the present invention will be described. Here, the description of the same configuration as that of the first embodiment will be omitted, and different portions will be mainly described.
In this embodiment, a light shielding plate 712 is used instead of the aperture 66 of the first embodiment. FIG. 34 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the light projecting optical system 702.
In this embodiment, the light shielding plate 712 has a plurality of, for example, two circular small holes 720. These small holes 720 have different diameters, and when the same amount of light is projected from the lamp 710 disposed on the back surface of the light shielding plate 712 to each small hole 720, the opening area from each small hole 720 is the same. Is emitted from the front of the light shielding plate 712. The light shielding plate 712 can be moved in the vertical direction V by a motor 730, and a plurality of small holes 720 are provided along the moving direction V. Therefore, by moving the light shielding plate 712 in the vertical direction V by the motor 730, a desired small hole 720 can be disposed on the optical axis of the lamp 710 and the lens 714.

  The selection of the small hole 720 is performed based on the type of fruit or vegetable that is the subject. That is, when measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables that easily transmit light, a small hole with a small diameter is used to reduce the amount of light emitted to the subject. On the other hand, in the case of fruits and vegetables that are difficult to transmit light, a small hole having a large diameter is used to increase the amount of light projected onto the subject. In this way, by selecting the small hole 720 according to the type of the subject and changing the amount of light irradiated to the subject, the amount of light emitted from the subject object regardless of the type of subject is set to a certain value or more. Accordingly, the internal quality of the fruits and vegetables can be measured more accurately regardless of the type of the test object.

A measurement example of this example is shown below.
As a first example, the internal quality of a mandarin orange that easily transmits light is measured. The small hole of the light shielding plate 712 is selected to have a smaller diameter. In this case, although the amount of light emitted to the subject is small, the amount of light emitted from the subject is sufficiently large, so the internal quality of the subject can be measured by this absorption spectrum.

Next, as a second example, the internal quality of an apple that is difficult to transmit light is measured. The small hole 720 of the light shielding plate 712 is selected to have a larger diameter. In this case, since the amount of light emitted to the subject is large, the amount of light emitted from the subject is sufficiently large, and the internal quality of the subject can be measured by this absorption spectrum.
The other measurement conditions are the same as when the subject is a mandarin orange, and the internal quality of the subject can be measured from the absorption spectrum of the light emitted from the subject.

Below, the modification of a present Example is shown.
The number of small holes 720 provided in the light shielding plate 712 may be any number as long as it is plural.
In this embodiment, the light shielding plate 712 is moved up and down in one direction V, and the small holes 720 are provided along the lifting direction V. However, the moving direction of the light shielding plate 712 is limited to the vertical direction V only. Instead, for example, movement in two directions that are perpendicular to the vertical direction V within the plane including the vertical direction V and the light shielding plate 712 may be possible. In this case, the small hole 720 can be provided at an arbitrary position in the light shielding plate 712. By moving the light shielding plate 712 in the above two directions, the desired small hole 720 is placed on the optical axis 18 of the lamp 710. Can be arranged.
The shape of the small holes may not be circular.
Control of the amount of light projected to the subject may be performed by a filter, not by a small hole provided in the light shielding plate as in this embodiment.
The configuration, operation, and effects other than those described above are the same as in the first embodiment.

The fifteenth embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 35 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the light projecting optical system 702 of the fifteenth embodiment.
In this embodiment, a circular light shielding plate 740 is provided in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis 718 of the light projecting optical system 702. The light shielding plate 740 is rotated about the shaft 741 by a motor 742 connected to a shaft 741 provided in a direction perpendicular to the light shielding plate 740 from the center thereof. A plurality of, for example, two small circular holes 744 having different diameters are provided in the light shielding plate 740 at positions equidistant from the center of the light shielding plate 740. With this configuration, the small hole 744 can be selected according to the type of the subject.

When measuring the internal quality of fruits and vegetables that easily transmit light, the smaller hole 744 of the light shielding plate 740 is selected to have the smaller diameter. In this case, although the amount of light emitted to the subject is small, the amount of light emitted from the subject is sufficiently large, so the internal quality of the subject can be measured by this absorption spectrum. On the other hand, when measuring fruits and vegetables that do not easily transmit light, the small hole of the light shielding plate 712 is selected to have the larger diameter. In this case, since the amount of light emitted to the subject is large, the amount of light emitted from the subject is sufficiently large, and the subject can be measured by this absorption spectrum.
Other configurations and operations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

Subsequently, a sixteenth embodiment will be described.
In the sixteenth embodiment, there are one or more fruits and vegetables, which are conveyed on a conveyor. In the middle of the conveyor, there is provided a measuring unit having a light projection optical system and a spectroscope similar to those in the fourteenth embodiment with the conveyor interposed therebetween. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, a photoelectric sensor is provided in the middle of the conveyor in the conveying direction and upstream of the measuring unit or in the measuring unit, thereby measuring the size of each fruit and vegetable on the conveyor. Is possible.

In the configuration of the present embodiment, the size of the fruits and vegetables can be detected by the photoelectric sensor. Therefore, the size of the subject is automatically changed by raising and lowering the projection optical system and the spectroscope according to the detection result to change the height. Regardless, it is possible to project light from the lamp to the equator.
For this reason, it is possible to measure the internal quality of each subject continuously conveyed at high speed under the same conditions.
Other configurations and operations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

Next, a seventeenth embodiment of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the description of the same configuration as that of the first embodiment will be omitted, and different portions will be mainly described.
FIG. 36 is a cross-sectional view showing an artificial fruit and vegetable reference body (artificial fruit and vegetable body) 760 as an embodiment of the present invention. The artificial fruit and vegetable reference body 760 is a cylindrical vinyl chloride container 751 having a diameter of 65 mm and a height of 80 mm, a light transmitting body 752 accommodated therein, and a light scattering layer attached to the side of the vinyl chloride container. And adhesive tape 770. The upper surface of the container is covered and sealed with a lid 754 made of vinyl chloride made of the same material as the container 751.

In this embodiment, the adhesive tape 770 is a resinous tape, and the light irradiated toward the artificial fruit body 760 is scattered by the adhesive tape 770. The spectrum characteristics of the artificial fruit body 760 configured in this way closely follows the spectrum characteristics of the actual fruit.
Further, a heat resistant glass 780 is provided on the side surface of the container 751 so as to surround the periphery of the adhesive tape 770 in parallel with the side surface of the container. The heat-resistant glass 780 is provided with two heat-resistant glass layers parallel to the side of the container with a gap 782 of about 10 mm, and this gap is filled with a 1% aqueous citric acid solution. By comprising in this way, heat resistance improves further rather than using only heat-resistant glass.

As the light transmitting body 752 accommodated in the container 751, a 1% citric acid aqueous solution is used as an acid aqueous solution. Further, the artificial fruit body 760 of this embodiment includes a temperature measuring body (temperature measuring means) 753 using a thermistor or the like for measuring the temperature of the light transmitting body inside the light transmitting body 752.
This embodiment is an exemplification, and the following modifications are possible.

The container 751 may be made of glass, polyethylene, or polyfluorinated ethylene. Moreover, the shape of the container 751 may be an arbitrary shape such as a rectangular parallelepiped.
The pressure-sensitive adhesive tape may contain cellulose, for example, a paper tape, or may be non-sticky. Moreover, what consists of polymeric substances other than resin may be sufficient. Instead of the adhesive tape, a light scattering layer may be provided on the surface of the container 751 by painting, spraying, dipping or the like. The adhesive tape may be attached only to the optical path portion of the irradiation light to the container 751.

  The heat-resistant glass 780 may be composed of only one layer, and the space between the container side surfaces may be filled with an aqueous solution. The heat resistant glass 780 may be composed of three or more layers. The gap 782 may be formed in one layer of heat-resistant glass. The heat resistant glass may be provided only in the optical path portion of the light irradiated to the container 751. Instead of the heat-resistant glass 780, a heat-resistant substance that transmits light may be used.

The gap 782 may be an aqueous acid solution other than a 1% aqueous citric acid solution, or an aqueous sugar solution or water. Moreover, when these aqueous solutions are made to flow, heat resistance improves. Further, a light scatterer may be put in the aqueous solution in the gap 782, and in this case, the adhesive tape 770 may be omitted.
Structures, operations, and effects other than those described above are the same as in the first embodiment.

It is the schematic which shows the whole structure of 1st Example concerning this invention. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the measurement part of 1st Example concerning this invention. It is an enlarged view which shows the structure of the filter part of 1st Example concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the artificial fruit body as 1st Example of this invention, (a) is a perspective view, (b) is sectional drawing, (c) is a top view. It is a figure which shows the structure of the measurement position vicinity of the fruit and vegetables internal quality measuring apparatus of 1st Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the time change of the acidity measurement value of the artificial fruit body of 1st Example, and an actual fruit. It is a figure which shows the synchronism of the fluctuation | variation of the acid concentration measured value with respect to the environmental fluctuation | variation of the artificial fruit body of 1st Example, and an actual tangerine. It is a schematic block diagram of 1st Example of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the outline of the light projection optical system of 1st Example of this invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top view schematically showing a tangerine sour acidity measuring apparatus as a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a side view of the measuring apparatus of FIG. It is a block diagram of the control system of the measuring apparatus of an Example. It is a figure which shows an example of the output signal waveform of the photoelectric sensor of the measuring apparatus of an Example. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of CPU of the measuring apparatus of an Example. It is the schematic which shows the whole structure of 2nd Example concerning this invention. It is the schematic which shows the whole structure of 3rd Example concerning this invention. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the measurement part of 3rd Example concerning this invention. It is a top view of the fruit and vegetables internal quality measuring apparatus of 6th Example of this invention. It is a 19-19 arrow line view of FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of the measurement position periphery of the fruit and vegetables internal quality measuring apparatus of 7th Example of this invention, (a) is a side view, (b) is a top view, (c) is 90 degrees with (a). It is a side view from the direction made. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the control system of the apparatus of 7th Example. It is a figure which shows the structure of the measurement position periphery of the fruit and vegetables internal quality measuring apparatus of 8th Example, (a) is a side view, (b) is a top view. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the control system of the apparatus of 8th Example. It is a figure which shows an example of the height sensor which can be used for the apparatus of 8th Example. It is a side view which shows the structure of the measurement position periphery of the fruit and vegetables internal quality measuring apparatus of 9th Example of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the light-shielding plate by the modification of the apparatus of 9th Example. It is a figure which shows the outline of the tray of the fruit and vegetables internal quality measuring apparatus of 10th Example of this invention, (a) is a side view which shows a part in cross section, (b) is from the direction which makes 90 degrees with (a). FIG. It is a figure which shows the artificial fruit and fruit reference body as 11th Example of this invention, (a) is a perspective view, (b) is sectional drawing. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the measurement position vicinity of the fruit and vegetables internal quality measuring apparatus of 11th Example of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the measurement position vicinity of the fruit and vegetables internal quality measuring apparatus using the some artificial fruit body. It is a figure which shows the transmitted light spectrum of the artificial fruit body of 11th Example by contrast with the transmitted light spectrum of an actual fruit and vegetables. It is a figure which shows the artificial fruit and vegetables body as 12th Example of this invention, (a) is a perspective view, (b) is sectional drawing. It is sectional drawing which shows the artificial fruit body as a 13th Example of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the outline of the light projection optical system of 14th Example of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the outline of the light projection optical system of 15th Example of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the artificial fruit and vegetables body of 17th Example concerning this invention. It is the schematic which shows the structure of a prior art example. It is the schematic which shows the structure of a prior art example. It is the schematic which shows the structure of another prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

2 Belt conveyor 4 Sensor 6 Measuring unit 8 Test object 12 Lamp 14 Filter unit 16 Spectrometer 18 Control unit 20 Calculation unit 40 Artificial fruit and vegetable body

Claims (6)

An internal object quality measuring device,
Moving means for moving a randomly placed object;
An observation unit that is provided in a moving path of the object by the moving unit and that projects light onto the moving object and observes the light that has passed through the object, and is based on the output of the observation unit In an object measuring device that measures the internal quality of an object,
An upstream side detection unit that is provided upstream of the observation unit of the movement path and detects a position of an object on the movement unit;
Monitoring means for monitoring the amount of movement of the moving means;
Control means for controlling the object on the moving means to perform observation by the observation means when passing through the observation position of the observation means based on the outputs of the upstream detection means and the monitoring means;
A device for measuring the internal quality of an object.   The upstream detection means detects a lateral diameter in the movement direction of the object, and the control means calculates a center position in the movement direction of the object based on the detected lateral diameter, and the center of the object is observed. 2. The internal quality measuring device for an object according to claim 1, wherein control is performed so that observation by the observation means is performed when passing through the observation position of the means. Furthermore, a downstream detection unit that is provided on the downstream side of the observation unit of the movement path and detects the position of the object on the movement unit;
When the position on the moving means of a certain object detected by the upstream detecting means is compared with the position on the moving means of the same object detected by the downstream detecting means, and there is a deviation between both positions The apparatus for measuring internal quality of an object according to claim 1, further comprising error determination means for determining a measurement error. Furthermore, a downstream detection unit that is provided on the downstream side of the observation unit of the movement path and detects a lateral diameter in the movement direction of the object;
The horizontal direction diameter of the object detected by the upstream side detection means is compared with the horizontal direction of the target object detected by the downstream side detection means. The object internal quality measuring apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: an error determination unit that determines   5. The internal quality measuring apparatus for an object according to claim 4, further comprising a classifying unit that classifies the object determined as an error by the error determining unit for remeasurement. Moving means for moving a randomly placed object;
An observation unit that is provided in a moving path of the object by the moving unit and that projects light onto the moving object and observes the light that has passed through the object, and based on the output of the observation unit A method for measuring the internal quality of an object by an internal object quality measuring device for measuring the internal quality of the object,
Detecting the position of the object on the moving means on the upstream side of the object observation position of the moving means by the observation means;
Monitoring the amount of movement of the moving means;
A step of observing by the observation means when the object on the moving means passes through the observation position of the observation means based on the result of the detection and the monitoring. Quality measurement method.

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