JP3331662B2 - Brown rice sorting equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a brown rice sorting apparatus for sorting brown rice, which has been degreased, into sized and immature grains according to the size of the grains.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this kind of brown rice sorting apparatus,
For example, one disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 3-15079 is known. That is, this conventional apparatus detects the amount of immature grains in brown rice and controls the rotary sorting cylinder in accordance with the detected value to maintain the amount of immature grains in brown rice within an allowable value. .

[0003]

By the way, brown rice (brown rice, a part of the colored grains) in brown rice is treated as damaged grains and is greatly involved in the grade of brown rice. However, in conventional brown rice sorting, no consideration is given to reducing brown rice contained in brown rice, and reduction of brown rice at the brown rice level has been desired.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for sorting brown rice,
The purpose of the present invention is to reduce the amount of brown rice in brown rice to below an allowable value and to improve the quality of brown rice after sorting.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is configured as follows. That is, the present invention provides a first grain thickness sorting means for sorting dehulled brown rice into immature grains and other grains based on a difference in grain thickness, and removes immature grains by the first grain thickness sorting means. The second step is to sort the brown rice into those containing a large amount of brown rice and sizing according to the difference in grain thickness.
And TsubuAtsu sorting means, unsorted already in the first TsubuAtsu sorting means
And brown rice content detecting means for detecting a content of brown rice occupied in brown rice ripe grain is removed, and comparing the brown rice content that 該褐color rice content detection means detects a predetermined reference value, brown when US content and comparing output means for outputting to that effect when above its reference value, there is an output from the comparator output means,
A brown rice sorting apparatus characterized by comprising a control means for controlling said second TsubuAtsu sorting means so as to reduce a brown rice content in the sizing.

[0006]

The present invention focuses on the fact that brown rice has a slightly smaller grain thickness than sized rice, and uses this difference in grain thickness to separate the grain size between those containing a large amount of brown rice and sized rice. And when the brown rice content in brown rice exceeds the allowable value,
It is to reduce the brown rice content in brown rice to below the allowable value.

That is, according to the present invention, the first grain thickness sorting means sorts the dehulled brown rice into immature grains and other grains based on the difference in grain thickness. The second grain thickness sorting means includes the first grain thickness sorting means.
The brown rice from which the immature grains have been removed by the grain thickness sorting means is sorted into grains containing a large amount of brown rice and sized grains due to differences in grain thickness.

On the other hand, the brown rice content detecting means detects the brown rice content in the brown rice from which the immature rice selected by the first grain size sorting means is removed . The comparison output means compares the brown rice content detected by the brown rice content detection means with a predetermined reference value, and outputs a notification when the brown rice content exceeds the reference value. The control means is that the brown rice content is
When there is an output of exceeds the reference value, contact the sizing
The above-mentioned second grain thickness sorting means is controlled so that the brown rice content to be reduced is reduced.

[0009]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a receiving hopper for receiving brown rice produced by a farmer or a grain drying and preparing facility, and the brown rice put into the receiving hopper 1 passes through a receiving elevator 2 and a temporary storage tank 3. It is configured to be inserted into the grain thickness sorter 4 for receiving brown rice. 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.

The immature grains selected by the grain thickness sorter 4 are supplied to a meter 5 for immature grains that weighs 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, white light is applied to brown rice, and transmitted light or reflected light is detected by a sensor, and R, G,
It detects whether brown rice is brown rice, immature grains, or the like based on the B 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 of the outlets is arranged. 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. Below the outlets of the sorting tanks 17A to 17F, a conveyor 18 for transporting brown rice discharged from each of the outlets is arranged.

Next, an example of the control system of the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above 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 processor 20 is connected to the appearance detector 7 and the internal quality detector 15 and the like, and controls the grain thickness sorters 4, 9, 10 and the sorting conveyor 1 as control targets.
6 and so on.

Next, an example of the operation of the embodiment of the present invention having such a configuration will be described below.

Now, when the receiving brown rice is put into the receiving hopper 1, it is temporarily stored in the temporary storage tank 3 by the receiving elevator 2 and then supplied to the grain thickness sorter 4, where it is sized and immature. Be sorted out. The selected immature grains are
After its weight is measured by the measuring machine 5 for immature grains, it is 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 and brown rice which is a part of colored grains. 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 has a part of the brown rice extracted as a sample, and the sample is led 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 way, 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 sorter 10 performs the 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, another example of the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

In this operation example, in addition to calculating the above-described brown rice content, the appearance detecting device 7 also calculates the content of immature grains. 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 is less than 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 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, an improved device of the internal quality detecting device 15 shown in FIG. 1 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 spectroscopy. 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, a block diagram of this device is shown in FIG. 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, as shown in FIG. 5, a calibration curve for measuring the amylose content to be used as an index of taste evaluation by the near-infrared spectroscopy analyzer 31 was previously determined for each sample of new rice, intermediate rice, and old rice. Create it. 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, a spectrum measurement using a reference plate is performed in the near-infrared spectrometer 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).

[0041]

As described above, the present invention focuses on the fact that brown rice has a slightly smaller grain thickness than sized rice, and uses this grain thickness difference to remove brown rice from which immature grains have been removed. , performs TsubuAtsu sorting as a sizing containing a large amount of brown rice, when the content of brown rice occupied in the <br/> brown rice exceeds the allowable value, in sizing after the particle thickness sorting Was reduced to below acceptable values. Therefore, according to the present invention, brown rice can be reduced as much as possible from the sieving after the grain size selection at the brown rice sorting stage, thereby improving the quality of the brown rice.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control system of the embodiment.

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]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Receiving hopper 3,8 Temporary storage tank 4,9,10 Grain thickness sorter 7 Appearance detection device 11A-11C Temporary storage tank 15 Internal quality detection device 16 Sorting conveyor 20 Central control processing device

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A first grain thickness sorting means for sorting unpolished brown rice into immature grains and other grains based on a difference in grain thickness, and the immature grains are removed by the first grain thickness sorting means. A second grain thickness sorting means for sorting brown rice into grains containing a large amount of brown rice and a sized grain due to a difference in grain thickness, and a grain from which immature grains which have been sorted by the first grain thickness sorting means are removed. > compares the brown rice content detecting means for detecting a content of brown rice occupied in rice, brown rice content that 該褐color rice content detection means detects a predetermined reference value, brown rice content thereof a comparison output unit that outputs to that effect when above the reference value, when there is output from the comparator output means, put on the sizing
Brown rice sorting apparatus and control means brown rice content to control the second TsubuAtsu sorting means so as to reduce, comprising the that.