JP2815633B2 - Rice Grain Classifier - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a rice grain quality determination device for determining the quality of brown rice, white rice or paddy rice.

[Conventional technology]

Grains such as rice grains are inspected in accordance with agricultural product standards based on the Agricultural Products Inspection Law, and grades are determined in comparison with standard products. It seems that a decision has been made, but it is not complete due to human visual inspection.

Therefore, as a grain quality determination device for brown rice, etc., the reflected light and transmitted light are detected by irradiating visible light or infrared light with a linear image sensor or the like, and the signal quality is digitally processed to determine the quality of the rice grain. Various things to do and the like are disclosed.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

Such a rice grain quality discriminating apparatus requires a device for supplying the rice in a line or a plurality of lines in order to obtain a detection signal for each rice grain.

For example, in the case of a feeder type provided with a grain feeding groove, the rice grains entering the groove are gradually aligned by the vibration action of the feeder. However, due to this vibration, the signal detected by the sensor is adversely affected and accurate determination cannot be made. In addition, in the case of rotating a disk with a hole formed in the circumference by tilting it, the rice grains that do not enter the hole are dropped and aligned at a high position by rotation, but the holes provided in the circumference of the disk are naturally smaller than the rice grains. However, it is impossible to detect the transmitted light of the whole rice grain by detecting the transmitted light of the light from the small hole. Further, even when a sensor or the like is provided, the disk is inclined, so that the mounting method also needs to be devised.

In view of the above problems, the present invention does not adversely affect the detection signal of the sensor when aligning rice grains, and enables detection of transmitted light of the whole rice grain, thereby ensuring more accurate signal detection and reliable rice grain quality. It is a technical object to provide a discrimination device.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a rice grain supply means for conveying rice grains one by one, a light source for irradiating the rice grains supplied by the supply means, and a measuring unit for measuring the light quantity of each rice grain. In a rice grain quality determining device comprising a measuring means and an arithmetic control means for performing arithmetic processing on a measurement value measured by the light quantity measuring means to determine the quality of the rice grain, the rice grain supplying means includes a grain feeding strip on its conveying surface. A conveyor comprising a vibrating grain feeding section having a groove, a transparent section for reciprocatingly moving between the vibrating grain feeding section and the light amount measuring means, and for receiving rice grains irradiated by the light source. It is formed from the body.

And it is good to form the step part which descends according to a conveyance direction in the groove for grain feeding of the above-mentioned vibration grain feeding part,
It is effective to provide a supply hopper above the conveyance start end side of the vibrating grain feeding unit and to provide a rotary valve at a discharge part of the supply hopper.

(Operation)

The rice grains transported from the transport start end of the vibrating grain feed section to the transport end section along the grain feeding groove are transported onto the transparent portion of the reciprocable transport body, and the light is measured by the transport body toward the light amount measuring unit. It is transported horizontally. The light quantity measuring means receives light from the light source through the transparent part, measures the light quantity of each grain, and performs the quality judgment (properties measurement) by the arithmetic control means.

Then, when the rice grains are conveyed along the groove for feeding grains of the vibrating grain feeding section, the rice grains pass through the step, thereby eliminating the polymerization state of the rice grains.

The rice grains in the supply hopper are supplied to the vibrating grain feeding unit by a rotary valve in an appropriate amount.

〔Example〕

The structure of a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a rice grain quality determination device of the present invention. Fixed machine frame
A sample supply hopper 21 supported by a support frame 11 on the left side in FIG. 10 and a valve 22 for discharging an appropriate amount of a sample are provided below the hopper, and a pulley 2 on which a rotary shaft 23 of the valve is mounted is mounted on the support frame 11. Rotary shaft 26 of drive motor 25 supported on
The valve 22 is linked and connected by a pulley 27 mounted on the shaft and a timing belt 28 wound on the pulley.
Is rotated by the drive motor 25. These form a valve unit 20 together with the supply hopper 21. Also,
A scattering prevention cover 29 is provided so as to be in contact with the outer periphery of the valve 22 from below the supply hopper 21 inside the valve unit 20. The valve 22 is formed with grooves 30 at arbitrary intervals in the direction of the rotation axis on the circumference of the valve so as to intermittently discharge the sample.

Below the valve unit 20, a plurality of grain feeding grooves are provided.
Feed feeder 40 as a vibratory feed unit formed with 41
And the rice grain transport unit 60 is placed horizontally at a slightly lower position on the discharge side of the feeder 40.

Further, a sorting device 80 for sorting the low-quality samples among the samples is provided following the rice grain transport unit 60. A plurality of suction pipes 81 are erected on the sorting device 80, and are formed so as to suck and discharge low-quality rice from the suction pipes 81.

The feeder 40 has a base 43 fixed to the machine frame 10 via an anti-vibration rubber 42. In the feeder 40, one or several steps 45 are formed which descend in the transport direction (FIG. 2).

Next, the rice grain transport unit 60 will be described. A transport body 61 as a rice grain transport unit 60 is provided so as to be horizontally transportable in parallel to the grain feeding direction of the feed feeder 40, and the transport body 61 includes a groove corresponding to the feed feeder 40 on its transport surface,
The rail 63 provided on the machine frame 10 and the rail support provided on the carrier 61
It can be moved with 62. One side of the carrier 61 has a rack
A pinion 51 is provided, which is engaged with the rack 64 and is pivotally mounted on the drive shaft 50 of the drive device 52. The pinion 51 slides on the rail 63 and moves in the lateral direction by the drive device 52. It is formed so as to be able to reciprocate. The reciprocating range is such that one end and the other end in the moving direction of the transport body 61 are alternately positioned at the discharge end 46 of the feeder 40 during the reciprocating movement.

A transport body 61 is provided on the lower surface of the discharge end 46 of the feeder 40.
Ejector with smaller gap between rice grain thickness and
47 are provided. The discharge device 47 may form a resilient plate.

Next, the light quantity measuring device 120 will be described in detail. Carrier 61
Above an arbitrary point 66 in the reciprocating range, a light source 91 made of visible light is provided in front and rear of the arbitrary point 66, while the carrier 61 at the arbitrary point 66
A light source 101 made of infrared light is provided below. Optional point 6
A condensing lens 92 is provided on an arbitrary extension on the perpendicular line of 6, and a half mirror 93 is provided above the condensing lens 92 to face an infrared light amount detecting element 95 formed of a linear image sensor via a cut filter 94. With the half mirror 93
Further above, is disposed a half mirror 98 that faces a red light amount detecting element 98 formed of a linear image sensor via a cut filter 97. Further, above the half mirror 96, a cut light filter 99 and a green light amount detection element 100 including a linear image sensor are provided. The light quantity measuring unit 102 is formed as described above. Further, the light source 91, the light source 101 and the light amount measuring unit 102 form a light amount measuring device 120.

Next, the sorting device 80 will be described in detail. The sorting device 80
When the transport body 61 moves further to the transport end side than the light amount measuring device 120, the suction port 82 of the suction pipe lower end 81 is placed on the transport body 61.
Face. A plurality of suction pipes 81 are arranged side by side and have an inner diameter through which rice grains can pass.Each suction pipe 81 is connected to an air compressor (not shown) and rice grains placed in appropriate spaces inside and outside the fixed machine frame 10. Face the receiving box. These suction pipes 81 are formed so as to be operated by an output signal from the arithmetic and control unit 113. Thereby, the arithmetic and control unit 113 analyzes the measurement value of the light quantity measuring device 120, and when a certain rice grain is determined to be a low-quality grain, it operates by a signal from the arithmetic and control unit 113 to suck the rice grain from the suction port 82 and to remove the rice grain. It is to be transported to a receiving box.

Next, the configuration of the arithmetic and control unit will be described with reference to FIG. The infrared light quantity measuring element 95, the red light quantity measuring element 98, and the green light quantity measuring element 100 are connected to the arithmetic and control unit 113 via the A / D converter 111 and the differentiating circuit 112, respectively. The arithmetic and control unit 1
13 and the A / D converter 111 and the differentiating circuit 112, the operation control unit 110
Make Further, to the arithmetic and control unit 113, the sorting device 80, the driving motor 25 of the supply valve 22, the feeder 40, and the rice grain transport unit 60 are connected.

The operation in the above configuration will be described. Supply hopper 21
The valve 22, the feeder 40, and the rice grain transport unit 60 are activated by a command signal from the arithmetic and control unit 113. The rice grains of the sample are discharged to the feeding section of the feeder 40 by the rotation of the valve 22 and flow to the rice grain transporting section 60 by the feeder 40.

With the activation of the feeder 40 and the driving of the driving device 52, the carrier 61 moves from the initial position A at a constant speed to the measurement position B. The rice grains aligned from the feeder 40 while being directed to the measurement position B are supplied onto the carrier 40. The supplied rice grain is supplied to a light quantity measuring device 120 provided at an arbitrary point of the measurement position B.
Thus, the transmitted light and the reflected light of the rice grain obtained from the infrared light irradiated from below and the visible light irradiated from above are analyzed into infrared light, red light and green light. As described above, the signal obtained by the light quantity measuring device 120 is
The data is sent to the arithmetic and control unit 113 via the A / D converter 111 and the differentiating circuit 112 and subjected to arithmetic processing.

Next, when the transport body 61 moves from the measurement position B to the sorting position C, the low-grade rice grains separated into a plurality of pieces by the result of the arithmetic and control unit 111 are sucked by the respective suction pipes 81 of the sorting device. Emitted outside the machine. At this time, not only low-grade rice grains but also fine grains can be simultaneously sucked.

When the carrier 61 reaches the sorting position C, the driving device 55 rotates in reverse by the detection of the sensor 56 provided at the limit position, and
61 goes to the initial position A again. When heading to the initial position A,
When one end of the transport body 61 reaches the discharge end 46 of the feeder 40, the fine particles remaining on the transport body 61 are scraped out by the discharge device 47, and are placed in a fine box 57 provided below the discharge end 46. Be scraped off. Further, at this time, when the transport body 61 reaches the initial position A, the drive device 52 is further rotated in the reverse direction to the measurement position B by the detection of the sensor 55 provided at the limit position, and thereafter, this operation is repeated.

By the way, the valve unit 20 and the feeder 40
Starts from the time when the carrier 16 starts to move from the initial position A toward the measurement position B via a delay circuit, and stops after a certain time elapses by a timer circuit or the like. And
Rice grains are supplied from the transport end side of the transport body 61, and if the supply is terminated between the transport start end side and the transport end side,
The rice grains do not fall from the carrier 61.

With the above-described configuration, the rice grains are orderly arranged by the feeder 40, and the arranged rice grains are sequentially supplied onto a carrier that moves at a constant speed.
Data for each grain can be obtained. Further, since the transport body moves at a constant speed without vibrating, the measured data is not affected by disturbance due to vibration. Since the carrier 61 is a transparent body through which light is transmitted, the rice grains on the carrier 61 transmit light through the whole rice grain by irradiation from a lower light source, and the transmitted light can be treated as data of the whole rice grain. Now you can.

Further, rice grains can be supplied / measured / discharged by reciprocating movement of the transport body 61, and since the transport body is transported in the horizontal direction, attachment and holding of sensors, light sources, and the like become easy.

(Effect)

As described above, according to the present invention, a carrier that reciprocates in a horizontal direction between the vibrating grain feeding unit and the light quantity measuring means is provided. There is no adverse effect due to the vibration of the grain part, and the rice grain is received from the light source through the transparent part provided in the carrier, so that the light quantity of the whole rice grain, particularly, the transmitted light of the whole rice grain can be detected, and accurate The quality can be determined.

Then, the stepped portion provided in the grain feeding groove of the vibration feeding unit eliminates the polymerization state of the rice grains, and the rice grains are supplied to the carrier at intervals and conveyed to the light amount measuring means, The amount of light for each grain can be measured accurately.

In addition, since the rice grains discharged from the supply hopper are supplied to the vibrating grain feeding section by the rotating bag in appropriate amounts, the polymerization state of the rice grains hardly occurs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of a vibrating grain feeding unit, FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a grain feeding groove of the vibrating grain feeding unit, and FIG. FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the vibrating grain feeding unit and the transporting body viewed from a sight D, and FIG. 1 ... rice grain quality discriminating device, 10 ... fixed machine frame, 11 ... support frame, 20 ... valve unit, 21 ... supply hopper, 22 ...
... Valve, 23,26 ... Rotary shaft, 24,27 ... Pulley, 25 ...
… Drive motor, 28… timing belt, 29… scatter prevention cover, 30… groove, 40… feed feeder, 41…
Groove feed groove, 42: Vibration rubber part, 43: Base part, 45: Step part, 46: Discharge end, 47: Discharge device, 50: Drive shaft,
51 ... pinion, 52 ... drive, 55 ... sensor, 56
…… Sensor, 57… Rice box, 60… Rice transport unit, 61…
... Conveyor, 64 ... Rack, 80 ... Sorting device, 81 ... Suction tube, 82 ... Suction port, 91 ... Light source, 92 ... Condenser lens, 93
…… Half mirror, 94… Cut filter, 95 …… Infrared light quantity detection element, 96 …… Half mirror, 97 …… Cut filter, 98 …… Red light quantity detection element, 99 …… Cut filter, 100… Green Light amount detecting element, 101, light source, 102
... Light quantity measurement unit, 110, arithmetic control unit, 111, A / D conversion, 112, differentiation circuit, 113, arithmetic control unit, 120,
Light intensity measurement device.

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-2-49146 (JP, A) JP-A-2-179452 (JP, A) JP-A-2-147844 (JP, A) JP-A-3-134545 (JP) JP-A-2-236150 (JP, A) JP-A-59-145951 (JP, A) JP-B-39-14733 (JP, B1) JP-B-41-18720 (JP, Y1) (58) Surveyed field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G01N 21/00-21/01 G01N 21/17-21/61 G01N 21/84-21/90

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. Rice grain supply means for conveying rice grains one by one;
A light quantity measuring means comprising a light source for irradiating the rice grains supplied by the supply means and a measuring unit for measuring the quantity of light of each rice grain, and processing the measured values measured by the quantity measuring means to calculate the quality of the rice grains. Rice grain quality discriminating apparatus, comprising: a rice grain supply means, a vibrating grain feeding unit having a grain feeding groove on a conveying surface thereof; and a vibration grain feeding unit and the light quantity measuring means. It is installed horizontally so that it can reciprocate between
A rice grain quality discriminating device, comprising: a carrier having a transparent portion for receiving rice grains from the light source. 2. The rice grain quality discriminating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a stepped portion descending in the conveying direction is formed in the grain feeding groove of the vibrating grain feeding section. 3. A rice grain quality discriminating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a supply hopper provided above the transport start end of said vibrating grain feeding section, and a rotary valve provided at a discharge section of said supply hopper.