JP3269499B2 - Rice internal quality detector - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting the internal quality of rice, which measures the content of amylose, which is one of the indices of taste evaluation, indicating the degree of stickiness of cooked rice by near infrared analysis.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the amylose content has been regarded as important as an index for evaluating the taste of rice, particularly as an indicator of stickiness, but due to the deterioration of lipids in rice. There is a drawback that accurate results cannot be obtained from new rice to old rice.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, the present invention is configured as follows. That is, calculation of a plurality of amylose contents according to the deterioration state of the sample
A calibration curve is prepared in advance, the state of deterioration is estimated at the time of measuring the amylose content, and the above calibration curve is selected based on the deteriorated state to measure the amylose content, which is one of the taste evaluations. Internal quality detection device. Also,
In the above description, when the deterioration state is excessive, the amylose content is not displayed and the excessive deterioration is displayed.

[0004]

For example, a calibration curve for measuring amylose content is prepared in advance for each sample of new rice, intermediate rice, and old rice, and the degree of deterioration such as fatty acid content of the sample rice is measured. The corresponding calibration curve is selected based on the degree of deterioration, and amylose is measured.

Therefore, the amylose content can be accurately calculated regardless of the degree of deterioration of rice. Also, the deterioration state is excessive
In some cases, the amylose content is not displayed and
If the effect of deterioration is large,
The calculation accuracy is not impaired because the content of
No.

[0006]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a receiving hopper for receiving brown rice produced by a farmer or a grain drying preparation facility, and the brown rice put into the receiving hopper 1 receives the brown rice via a receiving elevator 2 and a temporary storage tank 3. To be attached to the grain size sorter 4 for use. This grain thickness sorter 4 sorts the unpacked brown rice into sized and unripe grains (waste rice) according to the size of the grain thickness. The slit width of the rotary sorting cylinder in the grain thickness sorter 4 is, for example, 1.8 mm.

[0007] The immature grains selected by the grain thickness sorter 4 are supplied to an immature grain weighing machine 5 for weighing the immature grains. Brown rice from which immature grains have been removed by the grain thickness sorter 4
In addition to guiding to the elevator 6 for embedding, a part of the sized particles is extracted as a sample for measurement, and the sample is guided to the appearance detecting device 7.

The appearance detecting device 7 detects the appearance of the remaining brown rice from which the immature grains have been removed by the grain thickness sorter 4. That is, for example, when white light is applied to brown rice, transmitted light or reflected light is detected by a sensor, and R, G, B
It detects whether brown rice is brown rice, immature grains or the like based on the signal. Further, the appearance detection device 7 calculates the brown rice content and the immature grain content based on the detection result as described later.

The outlet of the elevator 6 is connected to a temporary storage tank 8. The outlet of the temporary storage tank 8 is connected to the inlet of a grain thickness sorter 9 for sorting brown rice according to grain thickness. Brown rice with a lot of immature grains sorted by the grain thickness sorter 9 is supplied to the temporary storage tank 11C, and the remaining brown rice is
It is configured to be supplied to a grain thickness sorter 10 that sorts according to a difference in grain thickness. Further, the brown rice having a large amount of brown rice sorted by the grain size sorter 10 is supplied to the temporary storage tank 11B, and the remaining brown rice is supplied to the temporary storage tank 11A. The slit width of the rotary sorting cylinder in the grain thickness sorter 9 is, for example, 1.9 mm, and the slit width of the rotary sorting cylinder in the grain thickness sorter 10 is, for example, 2.0 mm.

Below the outlets of the temporary storage tanks 11A to 11C, a conveyor 12 for transporting brown rice discharged from each outlet is disposed. A weighing machine 13 is connected to the end of the conveyor 12, and the brown rice weighed by the weighing machine 13 is supplied to an assorting tank filling elevator 14,
A part of the brown rice is extracted as a sample for measurement, and the sample is guided to the internal quality detection device 15.

The internal quality detecting device 15 detects moisture, amylose, protein, fatty acid content, etc., using near infrared analysis (near infrared absorption spectroscopy), and obtains, for example, taste based on the detection results. Things.
The outlet of the sorting tank filling elevator 14 is connected to a sorting conveyor 16 for sorting into any one of the sorting tanks 17A to 17F. Sorting tank 17A-17
Below the outlets of F, a conveyor 18 for transporting brown rice discharged from each outlet is arranged.

Next, an example of the control system of the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 20 denotes a central control processing unit which is constituted by a computer and controls each unit as described later. The central control processing device 20 is connected to the appearance detecting device 7, the internal quality detecting device 15, and the like, and is connected to the grain thickness sorters 4, 9, 10 and the sorting conveyor 16 as control objects.

Next, an example of the operation of such a configuration will be described below. Now, when the receiving brown rice is put into the receiving hopper 1, it is once stored in the temporary storage tank 3 by the receiving elevator 2 and then supplied to the grain thickness sorter 4, where it is sorted into sized and immature grains. . The weight of the selected immature grains is measured by the immature grain weighing machine 5 and then put into a waste rice tank (not shown).

The remaining brown rice from which immature grains have been removed by the grain size sorter 4 is stored in a temporary storage tank 8 by an elevator 6 for embedding. Brown rice discharged from the tank 8 is fed to a grain size sorter 9
The brown rice having a grain thickness of 1.8 to 1.9 mm is taken out to the temporary storage tank 11C by the sorting, and the brown rice having a grain thickness of 1.9 mm or more is again sorted by the grain thickness sorter 10. Therefore, brown rice having many immature grains is stored in the temporary storage tank 11C.

It is considered that brown rice having a grain thickness of 1.9 mm or more, which is re-sorted by the grain thickness sorter 10, includes brown rice, which is a part of colored grains, and brown rice. That is,
This is because brown rice is considered to have a slightly smaller grain thickness than normal rice (sized). Therefore, brown rice with a grain thickness of 1.9 to 2.0 mm containing a large amount of brown rice is taken out from the grain thickness sorter 10, and the brown rice with a lot of brown rice taken out is stored in the temporary storage tank 11B, and the remaining brown rice is taken out. Normal rice having a grain thickness of 2.0 mm or more is stored in the temporary storage tank 11A.

On the other hand, brown rice from which immature grains have been removed by the grain thickness sorter 4 is extracted as a sample of a portion of the brown rice, and the sample is guided to the appearance detecting device 7. Appearance detection device 7
Then, whether or not the sample is brown rice (a part of brown rice and colored grains) is detected, and the brown rice content is calculated based on the detection result.

When the brown rice content is calculated in this manner, the central control processor 20 compares the calculated brown rice content with a predetermined reference value. As a result, when the calculated brown rice content exceeds a predetermined reference value, the following control is performed to reduce the brown rice content.

That is, in this case, the grain size sorter 10
The rotation speed of the rotation selection cylinder is slightly faster than usual. As a result, the sorting capacity of the grain thickness sorter 10 is higher than usual, so that the brown rice content ratio of brown rice discharged from the grain thickness sorter 10 and stored in the temporary storage tank 11A is reduced to an allowable value or less. . In addition, as described above, the grain size sorter 10
Instead of making the rotation speed of the rotary selection tube slightly higher than usual, the supply amount to the rotation selection tube may be reduced than usual, or the inclination angle of the rotation selection tube may be made larger (sudden) than usual. You may make it.

The temporary storage tank 11 thus sorted out
The brown rice temporarily stored in A to 11C is weighed by the weighing machine 13 by the conveyor 12 for each tank, and the weighed brown rice is supplied to the sorting tank filling elevator 14 and a part of the brown rice is also stored. Is extracted as a sample for measurement, and the sample is guided to the internal quality detection device 15.

The internal quality detecting device 15 detects moisture, amylose, protein, fatty acid content and the like by using a near-infrared analysis method (near-infrared absorption spectrum method), and obtains, for example, taste based on the detection results. . In consideration of the calculated taste, brown rice currently being conveyed by the elevator for embedding 14 is sorted by the sorting conveyor 16 into one of the sorting tanks 17A to 17F.

In the embodiment of the operation example described above, the grain size sorting machine 10 performs grain size sorting for extracting brown rice containing a large amount of brown rice, and the brown rice content rate detected by the appearance detection device 7 is reduced. When the value exceeds the allowable value, the grain thickness sorter 10 is controlled so as to reduce brown rice in the brown rice to the allowable value or less. Therefore, at the stage of brown rice sorting, brown rice can be reduced from brown rice as much as possible, thereby improving the quality of brown rice. Further, in this operation example, a lot of immature rice is stored in the tank 11C, a lot of brown rice is stored in the tank 11B, and normal rice is stored in the tank 11A. Appropriate processing can be performed depending on the situation.

Next, an example of another operation of the embodiment will be described.
This will be described below. In this operation example, the appearance detection device 7 calculates the content of immature grains in addition to calculating the content of brown rice described above. The immature grain content is calculated based on the result of detection of immature grains from a sample. The sum of the brown rice content and the immature grain content is defined as α, and the sum α is compared to obtain any of the following results (1) to (3). α <αo (1) αo ≦ α ≦ α1 (2) α1 <α (3) Here, αo and α1 are constants, and αo <α1.

As a result of the comparison, when the sum α falls below the constant αo in accordance with the equation (1), the content of brown rice and immature grains is less than the allowable amount. The sorting machine 10 stops the sorting operation. When the sum α exceeds the constant αo but falls below the constant α1 according to the equation (2), it is considered that the content of the immature grains exceeds the allowable amount. Therefore, only the grain thickness sorter 9 performs the sorting operation. So that the immature grains are efficiently extracted. Further, when the sum α exceeds the constant α1 according to the expression (3), the brown rice content is considered to exceed the allowable amount.
The sorting operation is performed only for 0, so that brown rice is efficiently extracted.

In the above-described operation example, the immature grain content is considered in addition to the brown rice content, and the sorting operation of the grain thickness sorters 9 and 10 is controlled according to the magnitude of the sum of the two. , Brown rice and immature grains can be efficiently removed. Next, the internal quality detecting device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.
5 will be described below.

To explain the outline of this apparatus, the content of amylose, which is one of the indices of taste evaluation, indicating the degree of stickiness of cooked rice is measured by near-infrared analysis. However, as for the analytical value of the amylose content, accurate results from fresh rice to old rice cannot be obtained due to deterioration of the lipids of rice, and the analytical value of rice with advanced deterioration may be better. Therefore, in this apparatus, in order to eliminate these adverse effects, a calibration curve corresponding to the deterioration state of the sample is prepared in advance, the deterioration state is estimated when the amylose content is measured, and the calibration is performed based on the deterioration state. A line is selected to measure the amylose content which is one of the taste evaluations.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of this apparatus. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 31 denotes a near-infrared spectrometer, and 32 denotes a CPU which performs a control process as described later based on a signal from the near-infrared spectrometer 31. In the CPU 32,
The input unit 33, the display unit 34, the RAM 35, and the ROM 36 are connected respectively.

Next, an example of the operation of the apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, a calibration curve for measuring the amylose content to be used as an index of taste evaluation by the near-infrared spectrometer 31 is prepared in advance for each sample of new rice, intermediate rice, and old rice as shown in FIG. deep. Then, the created calibration curves are stored in the RAM 35 in advance.

Next, when an unknown sample is measured using the above-mentioned calibration curve, the spectrum is measured by a reference plate in the near-infrared spectroscopic analyzer 31 as shown in FIG. 4 (S1). Thereafter, the spectrum of the sampled rice is measured (S2), and its absorbance spectrum is determined (S2).
3). Subsequently, a derivative spectrum is obtained by differentiating the absorbance spectrum (S4), and the fatty acid degree (FA) is measured based on the derivative spectrum (S5). The following processing is performed according to the measured fatty acid degree (FA) (S6).
To S12).

That is, when the fatty acid degree (FA) is 20% or less, ya = fa (x) is selected as a calibration curve, and the amylose content is calculated from the calibration curve (S).
9). In addition, fatty acid degree (FA) is 20% or more and 3
When it is 0% or less, yb = fb (x) is selected as a calibration curve, and the amylose content is calculated based on the calibration curve (S10). Next, when the fatty acid degree (FA) is 30% or more and 40% or less, yc = fc as a calibration curve.
(X) is selected, and the amylose content is calculated from the calibration curve (S11). Furthermore, fatty acid degree (FA) is 4
If it is 0% or more, a display indicating that the deterioration is excessive is made (S12). Then, the data obtained by the above calculation is displayed on the display unit 34 (S13).

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an internal quality detection device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a calibration curve corresponding to new rice, intermediate rice, and old rice.

[Explanation of symbols]

 15 Internal quality detection device 20 Central control processing device

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01N 21/00-21/01 G01N 21/17-21/61 Practical file (PATOLIS) Patent file (PATOLIS) JICST File (JOIS)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of Ami corresponding to sample a degraded
Prepare a calibration curve for calculating the loin content in advance,
A rice internal quality detection device for estimating the deterioration state when measuring the amylose content, selecting the above calibration curve based on the deterioration state, and measuring the amylose content as one of the taste evaluations. 2. The rice internal quality detecting device according to claim 1, wherein when the deterioration state is excessive, the amylose content is not displayed, and the deterioration is excessively displayed.