JP2017026624A - Grain quality measuring apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a grain quality measuring apparatus that can acquire an optimal image by effectively using one camera and can accurately measure the quality of grain, and can reduce the size and cost of the measuring apparatus itself.SOLUTION: The grain quality measuring apparatus supplies the grain having been input through an input port to a chute 13 via a grain supply device 9, supplies it to an imaging device 16 by making the chute 13 flow down, and determines the quality of the grain with a control device on the basis of the imaging data. The imaging device 16 alternately makes an LED 19 for reflection and an LED 20 for transmission emit light synchronously with a camera 17, acquires an image formed of lines different from each other, and measures the quality of the grain on the basis of the image.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a grain quality measuring instrument for optically measuring various qualities of grains such as brown rice and white rice.

  Conventionally, for example, an apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 has been proposed as an apparatus that optically detects, for example, the appearance of grain quality and determines and sorts the grain quality. This device is connected to a hopper at the bottom of the casing and lifts the grains in the hopper to an upper tank disposed at the top of the casing, and is disposed at the bottom of the upper tank to remove the grains. A feeder to be supplied to the upper portion, a chute connected to the discharge port of the feeder, and an imaging device disposed below the chute are provided.

  And the grain thrown into the hopper as the grain inlet is supplied to the upper part of the chute via the elevator, the upper tank and the feeder, and this grain is in a plurality of inclined downflow grooves formed on the chute surface. Grains that are stored one by one and flow down, fallen and released from the chute are imaged by an imaging device having two cameras, and the quality of the grains is determined or determined based on the imaging data. ing.

Japanese Patent No. 5590861

  However, in such a device, two cameras are arranged in the imaging device, and the image data captured by each camera is processed by the control device to determine the quality of the grain. An arrangement space for two cameras is required or a dustproof mechanism is required, and the mechanism of the device itself tends to increase in size. In addition, since the captured image of each camera is processed by the control device, the amount of processing data handled by the control device is increased and the control becomes complicated. It is difficult to cope with small measuring instruments.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to effectively use a single camera to obtain an optimal image and to accurately measure the quality of a grain, and to measure the instrument itself. It is in providing the grain quality measuring device which can aim at size reduction and cost reduction.

  In order to achieve this object, the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is characterized in that the grain input from the insertion port is supplied to the chute via the grain supply device and the chute is allowed to flow down to take the imaging device. A grain quality measuring device for measuring the quality of the grain with a control device based on the imaging data, the imaging device comprising a light source for reflection and a light source for transmission, and reflection obtained by each light source An image pickup means for picking up an image and a transmission image is provided, and the control device processes each image picked up by the image pickup means and measures the quality of the grain.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the control device acquires the reflection image and the transmission image alternately with one camera by cutting out and combining the images captured by the imaging unit line by line. Control is performed. According to a third aspect of the present invention, the image pickup means of the image pickup device is disposed on the back side of the inclined chute and is arranged from the lower end of the chute via a reflecting mirror disposed in front of the shooting direction. An image of the released grain is taken.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the imaging device includes a reflection light source and a transmission light source, and an imaging unit that captures a reflection image and a transmission image obtained by each light source, and the control device includes: Since each image captured by the imaging means is processed to measure the quality of the grain, an optimum image can be obtained by effectively using one camera, and the quality of the grain can be accurately measured, and the measuring instrument itself Can be reduced in size and cost.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the invention, the control device cuts out the images picked up by the image pickup means line by line and combines them with one camera. Because it controls to acquire multiple images (reflected image and transmitted image) alternately, it uses the reflected image and transmitted image without increasing the processing amount of the image, and efficiently captures and processes the image of the grain can do.

  According to the invention described in claim 3, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1 or 2, the imaging means is arranged on the back side of the inclined chute and arranged in front of the photographing direction. In order to capture the image of the grain emitted from the lower end of the chute via the reflector, the imaging means can be made dustproof by the chute, or the imaging device itself can be made small by using the reflector, The housing can be effectively housed and arranged.

The top view which shows one Embodiment of the grain quality measuring device concerning this invention Top view with the top cover removed Same side view Side view showing the assembled state of the alignment plate Front view of Fig. 2 Top view showing the assembled state of the chute Same side view Block diagram of the control system of the grain measuring device Flow chart showing an example of the operation Timing chart showing an example of operation of the imaging apparatus

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
1-10 has shown one Embodiment of the grain quality measuring device concerning this invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the grain quality measuring device 1 has a vertically long box-shaped casing 2, and a cover is disposed on each side of the casing 2, and an input port is provided at a substantially central position on the upper surface. A hopper 3 is provided, and an LCD 4 and a measurement button 5 as a display are provided on the front surface. In addition, a sample tray 6 is arranged at the lower part of the front face so that it can be pulled out with its handle 6a protruding outward by a predetermined dimension. Further, a printer 7 capable of printing the measurement result is disposed on the right side surface of the housing 2.

  The hopper 3 is formed in a square shape in plan view, and a shutter 8 is disposed in a rectangular bottom opening so as to be opened and closed as will be described later. And the grain supply apparatus 9 is arrange | positioned under the shutter 8 of this hopper 3 as shown in FIGS. This grain supply device 9 has four plate-shaped alignment plates 10a to 10d having the same shape, and each of the alignment plates 10a to 10d has an angle of 90 ° alternately two in the vertical direction. It is arranged to intersect.

  At this time, the lower end of the alignment plate 10a is connected to the lower portion of the alignment plate 10b in the vertical direction (flowing direction under the grain flow) with a predetermined gap 11a, and the lower end of the alignment plate 10b intersects the alignment plate 10c. The lower portion is continuously provided with a gap 11b. Similarly, the alignment plate 10c is continuously provided with a gap 11b below the alignment plate 10d where the lower ends of the alignment plates 10c intersect. The dimensions shown in FIG. 4 of the three gaps 11a and 11b formed by the four alignment plates 10a to 10d are set to t1 ≧ t2 ≧ t3. Thereby, the flow path of the grain like the arrow a of FIG. 3 is formed in the upper space formed by a pair of alignment board 10a-10d which mutually cross | intersects.

  Below the grain supply device 9, a chute 13 is disposed in a state inclined at a predetermined angle. This chute 13 is formed in a rectangular shape in plan view, and as shown in FIG. 6, guides 13a are integrally formed on both sides in the width direction, and on the front surface (back surface), the longitudinal direction (up and down of the casing) is formed. A plurality of flow-down grooves 13b having a predetermined width and a predetermined depth are formed along the direction. The upper end of the chute 13 is located below the lower end of the alignment plate 10 d of the grain supply device 9, and the grain is discharged from the grain supply device 9. The lower end is the lower part of the housing 2. It is extended to.

  Further, on the surface side of the chute 13, a holding lid (holding cover) 14 is provided. The holding lid 14 is formed of a flat plate having a size that substantially covers the entire lower portion of the chute 13, and a solenoid 15 is disposed at the upper center position on the surface side. The solenoid 15 is actuated by an operation signal of the control device 23 as will be described later, so that the gap between the holding lid 14 and the surface of the chute 13 is set to an approach position and a separation position. The gap size at the approach position is set to a size that does not hinder smooth movement (flow) when one grain flows down on the chute 13, and the gap size at the separated position is When grains are clogged between the holding lids 14, the dimensions are set such that they can be removed or the surface of the chute 13 can be cleaned.

  An imaging device 16 is disposed below the chute 13. The imaging device 16 includes a camera 17, a reflection mirror 18, a reflection LED 19 as a light source, a transmission LED 20, and a background LED 21. And these are arrange | positioned as shown in FIG.3 and FIG.7. At this time, the LED 19 for reflection and the LED 20 for transmission irradiate the grains emitted (discharged) from the lower end of the chute 13, and the reflected light or transmitted light is reflected by the mirror 18 and enters the camera 17. It is supposed to be. The camera 17 is disposed in a space on the back side below the chute 13.

  FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of the grain quality measuring device 1. As shown in FIG. 8, the main board constituting the control device 23 is disposed, for example, inside the front cover of the housing 2, and the CPU 24 is connected to the measurement button 5, the LCD 4, the printer 7, and the like. A buzzer 25, an FPGA (field programmable gate array) 26, and the like are connected. The FPGA 26 is connected to the camera 17, the LEDs 19 to 21, the shutter 8, the solenoid 15, and the like.

  And the grain quality measuring device 1 comprised in this way operate | moves as shown in FIG. That is, when the measurement button 5 is turned ON (S101), the shutter 8 of the hopper 3 is turned ON (S102), and when a predetermined ON time has elapsed (S103), the shutter 8 is turned OFF (S104). As a result, a predetermined amount of sample is supplied from the hopper 3 to the grain supply device 9.

  When the shutter 8 is turned off, it is determined whether or not the measurement delay time has passed (S105), and when the delay time has passed, camera capture is started (S106). The captured image data is calculated (S107), the calculation result is displayed on the LCD 4 (S107), the clogging prevention solenoid 27 is turned on, and it is determined whether the ON time has elapsed (S110). When the clogging prevention solenoid 27 is turned on for a predetermined time, it is turned off (S111), and a series of measurement operations is finished (S112).

  That is, the shutter 8 is opened for a predetermined time, a predetermined amount of sample is supplied into the grain supply device 9, the sample discharged from the chute 13 is photographed by the imaging device 16, and the image data is processed by the control device 23 or the like. The measurement result obtained in this way is displayed on the LCD 4. Further, for example, when the measurement result is displayed, the clogging prevention solenoid 27 is activated, the holding lid 14 is separated, and the sample clogged between the chute 13 and the holding lid 14 is automatically removed. The time required for the steps S101 to S108 is about 5 seconds, and it has been confirmed that the time is significantly shortened compared with the conventional measuring device of the same type.

  FIG. 10 is a timing chart showing the operation of the imaging device 16. As shown in FIG. 10, according to the imaging device 16, the reflection LED 19 and the transmission LED 20 are alternately emitted in synchronization with the camera 17 to capture the camera clock into the FPGA 26, and in synchronization with this, the camera 17 By starting reading and outputting the light emission signals of the LEDs 19 and 20, different images are obtained line by line. And the quality of a grain is measured based on this image.

  As described above, according to the grain quality measuring instrument 1, the imaging device 16 includes the reflection LED 19 and the transmission LED 20, and the camera 17 that captures the reflection image and the transmission image obtained by the LEDs 19 and 20, and is controlled. Since the device 23 processes each image picked up by the image pickup device 16 and measures the quality of the grain, it can effectively use the single camera 17 to obtain an optimum image and accurately measure the quality of the grain. At the same time, the quality measuring device 1 itself can be reduced in size and cost.

  In addition, the control device 23 performs control to acquire two images of the reflected image and the transmitted image in one scan by cutting out and combining the images captured by the imaging device 16 line by line, thereby increasing the image processing amount. It is possible to efficiently capture the image of the grain by using the reflection image and the transmission image without doing so.

  The imaging device 16 is disposed in a space on the back side of the inclined chute 13 and captures an image of the grain emitted from the lower end of the chute 13 via a mirror 18 disposed in front of the shooting direction. Therefore, the dust of the camera 17 and the like can be achieved by the chute 13, or the imaging device 16 itself can be reduced in size by using the mirror 18 and can be effectively housed and disposed in the housing 2 of the quality measuring instrument 1. .

  In addition, since this kind of quality measuring device originally requires reading from two directions, a camera and a light source are required twice. In the case of the grain quality measuring device 1 of the present invention, reflected light and transmitted light are required. By effectively using light, both the number of cameras and light sources can be reduced, realizing low cost, space saving, miniaturization, and high-speed measurement, and is suitable for the desktop grain quality measuring instrument 1 It becomes possible to do.

  Moreover, in the case of the grain quality measuring instrument 1, since it is provided with the grain supply device 9 composed of four alignment plates 10a to 10d, the flow of the grain is utilized for its own weight and the inclination angle of the alignment plates 10a to 10d. While simplifying the configuration of the grain supply device 9 and the quality measuring instrument 1 itself, the inclination angle of the alignment plates 10a to 10d and the dimensions of the gaps 11a and 11b are set to predetermined values. The flow rate can be made uniform, and the grain quality measurement accuracy can be sufficiently increased.

  In addition, a plurality of downflow grooves 13b are formed on the surface of the chute 13 that supplies the grains to the imaging device 16, and the chute 13 is provided with a holding lid 14 that can contact and separate from the downflow grooves 13b at predetermined positions. The holding lid 14 covering the surface side of the slab prevents the grains from overlapping and coming off (jumping) out of the downflow grooves 13b, and the grains are surely flowed down into the downflow grooves 13b one by one. It is possible to sufficiently improve the quality measurement accuracy of the grain.

  In the above-described embodiment, the camera and the LED light source are provided in the imaging device. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an appropriate light receiving element may be employed instead of the camera, or another appropriate light source may be used as the light source. May be used. Further, the imaging device itself, the arrangement position of each component, and the like are examples, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist of each invention according to the present invention.

  The present invention can be used for quality measurement of all grains, not limited to grains such as white rice and brown rice, and its use can also measure the quality of a sample of the grain population to improve the quality of the population. The present invention is not limited to use for a quality measuring device for inspection and the like, and can also be used for a quality measuring device that measures the quality of each grain of the population.

1 ..... Grain quality measuring instrument 2 ... ... Body 3 ... ... Hopper 4 ... LCD
5 .... Measure button 6 .... Sample pan 7 .... Printer 8 .... Shutter 9 .... ······························································································ 10a to 10d ··· alignment plates 11a and 11b ··· gap 13 ········ chute 13b ······································ ···· Pressure lid 15 ······ Solenoid 16 ······ Imaging device 17 ········· Camera 18 ············ Mirror 19 ··· .... LED for reflection
20 ... LED for transmission
21 ... ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Background LED
23 ... Control device 24 ... CPU
26 ... FPGA

Claims (3)

The grain input from the inlet is supplied to the chute via the grain supply device, and the chute is flowed down and supplied to the imaging device, and the quality of the kernel is measured by the control device based on the imaging data. A grain quality measuring instrument,
The imaging device includes a light source for reflection and a light source for transmission, and an imaging unit that captures a reflected image and a transmission image obtained by each light source, and the control device processes each image captured by the imaging unit. And measuring the quality of the grain.   2. The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit performs control for alternately acquiring the reflection image and the transmission image by one camera by cutting out and combining the images captured by the imaging unit line by line. The grain quality measuring instrument described in 1.   The imaging device is arranged on the back side of the chute where the imaging means is inclined, and takes an image of a grain emitted from the lower end of the chute via a reflecting mirror arranged in front of the shooting direction. The grain quality measuring device according to claim 1 or 2 characterized by things.

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