JP6749686B2 - Internal quality judgment device, selection system, and density measurement device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a technique for determining the quality of fruits and vegetables inside.

The fruits and vegetables that have arrived at the collection and shipping facility are sorted according to their size and mass according to their rank, and according to their appearance quality and internal quality, according to their grade, and then shipped. One of the evaluation items of the internal quality is the presence or absence of cavities inside the fruits and vegetables, and these are judged based on the density inside the fruits and vegetables.

The density inside a fruit or vegetable is generally calculated by measuring its mass and volume. For example, Patent Document 1 describes that a strain gauge that outputs a signal corresponding to the strain caused by the load of a watermelon is used, and the signal is analyzed by a computer to measure the mass. Patent Document 1 also describes a method of measuring the volume of a watermelon based on a change in capacitance. Specifically, a watermelon to be measured is placed on the main electrode, and the watermelon is covered with a conductive cover body to form an earth electrode, and a high frequency wave is placed between the main electrode and the earth electrode. A voltage is applied, the electric capacity of the gap between the watermelon and the cover body is measured, and the volume of the watermelon is calculated. According to such a volume measuring method, it is possible to reduce the minute measurement difference of the volume due to the unevenness of the surface of the fruits and vegetables.

By multiplying the mass thus measured by the reciprocal of the measured volume, the apparent density of the watermelon is calculated. If the calculated density is relatively lower than that of the other watermelons, the watermelon is determined as a hollow fruit that has cracks in its interior. Watermelons that are judged to be hollow fruits are given a low grade because when they are sold out at stores, cracks and cavities appear on the cut surface, which makes them unattractive and reduces their commercial value.

JP-A-4-27863

According to the measurement technique described in Patent Document 1, the mass and volume of the watermelon can be measured with high accuracy, so that it is possible to obtain a highly accurate value for the apparent density calculated based on the mass and volume. However, on rare occasions, some watermelons have cracks on the cut surface of the sellout, even though they were judged as normal fruits because the calculated density was higher than the density of other watermelons. It is desired to detect such watermelons at the sorting stage.

Such a request can be applied not only to watermelons but also to other fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an internal quality determination device that improves the determination accuracy of the internal quality of fruits and vegetables.

The internal quality judging device according to the present invention is an internal quality judging device for judging the internal quality of fruits and vegetables, wherein the measuring means for measuring the mass, volume, and internal components of the fruits and vegetables, and the internal components of the fruits and vegetables or the inside thereof. A correction information storage unit that stores correction information for obtaining a correction value corresponding to the scale of components and homogeneous components, and a threshold storage unit that stores a threshold value for determining the presence or absence of cavities inside the fruits and vegetables, The mass measured by the measuring means, the volume, and obtain the measurement value of the internal component, calculate the apparent density of the fruits and vegetables based on the measurement value of the mass and the measurement value of the volume, the internal component A calculation unit that calculates the correction value from the correction information based on the measured value, calculates a density index value that indicates the density of the fruit and vegetables by correcting the calculated apparent density based on the correction value, and A determining unit that compares the density index value calculated by the calculating unit with the threshold value and determines the presence or absence of the cavity.

The internal component of the fruits and vegetables is the sugar content of the fruits and vegetables, the homogeneous component is the sugar content of the sucrose aqueous solution, and the correction value is the density of the sucrose aqueous solution.

The fruit selection system of the present invention is characterized by including the above-mentioned internal quality judging device.

The density measuring device of the present invention is a density measuring device for measuring the density of fruits and vegetables, the measuring means for measuring the mass, volume, and internal components of the fruits and vegetables, and the internal components of the fruits and vegetables or the same components as the internal components. The correction information storage unit stores the correction information for obtaining the correction value corresponding to the scale of, the mass measured by the measuring means, the volume, and the measurement value of the internal component are acquired, and the mass The apparent density of the fruits and vegetables is calculated based on the measured value and the measured value of the volume, the correction value is obtained from the correction information based on the measured value of the internal component, and the calculated apparent density is based on the correction value. And a correction unit for calculating a density index value for indexing the density of the fruits and vegetables.

According to the present invention, not only to calculate the apparent density of fruits and vegetables based on the mass and volume measured by the measuring means, by correcting the apparent density using the correction information corresponding to the internal components of the fruits and vegetables, the internal It is possible to calculate the density index value in which the components are added. By determining the normal fruit or hollow fruit based on this density index value, compared to the conventional determination device that does not add the internal component to the value of the density, to improve the accuracy of determination of internal quality such as the presence or absence of cavities be able to.

Schematic of a watermelon sorting system according to an embodiment Schematic diagram of the measuring instruments used in the above-mentioned sorting system Schematic diagram of sugar content meter used in the above-mentioned selection system Block diagram of the above selection system Correction information stored in the main computer used in the above-mentioned sorting system Flow diagram of the density calculation process executed by the main computer

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the same reference numerals shown throughout the drawings indicate the same or similar configurations.

The fruit selection system 1 of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is a system for selecting harvested watermelons W by equal rank, and mainly collects watermelons W brought in from a plurality of farmers and packs them in a box. It is used by being installed in a collection and shipping facility for shipping.

The watermelon W carried in from the farmer is transferred to the plurality of pool conveyors 3 for each farmer. At the tip of the pool conveyor 3, a part of the watermelon transport conveyor 79 that transports the watermelon W is installed so as to cross the pool conveyor 3. The tip of the watermelon transport conveyor 79 is connected to the tip of a return conveyor 9 that returns the tray 7 that has been emptied through the packaging device 5. The worker placed at this connection place the watermelon W transported by the watermelon transport conveyor 79 on the empty tray 7 transported by the return conveyor 9.

The tray 7 is a so-called free tray that is not connected to the endless conveyors (not shown) of the conveyors 9, 15, 57, 63, and 73 used in the fruit selection system 1, and is a mounting portion on which the watermelon W is placed. 11 (FIGS. 2 and 3) and an RFID tag (not shown) that stores identification information uniquely assigned to each tray 7. The mounting portion 11 is recessed in a mortar shape, and a through hole 13 is opened in the vertical direction at the center thereof.

The tray 7 on which the watermelon W is placed is moved to the chain conveyor 15. The chain conveyor 15 has two chains 23 (FIGS. 2 and 3) arranged in parallel at intervals slightly narrower than the width of the tray 7, and in the middle of its transport path, a measuring instrument 17, a sugar content meter. 19, an appearance quality determination device 21, and the like (hereinafter, these are collectively referred to as “devices 17, 19, 21”) are provided. Each time the tray 7 enters each of the devices 17, 19 and 21, the chain conveyor 15 temporarily stops the conveyance, and when the processing by the devices 17, 19 and 21 is finished, the conveyance of the tray 7 is restarted.

The measuring device 17 is a device that measures the mass and volume of the watermelon W using the principle disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above, and as shown in FIG. 2, for example, the plate 35, the cylinders 26, 34, and the pad 25. A cover body 27, a mass meter 30, a capacitance meter 29, and a computer 39. The plate 35 is attached to the tip of the piston rod 33 of the cylinder 34, and moves the tray 7 up and down as the piston rod 33 expands and contracts. The conductive pad 25 is attached to the tip of the piston rod 28 of the cylinder 26, and contacts the lower portion of the watermelon W through the through hole 37 of the plate 35 and the through hole 13 of the tray 7 when the piston rod 28 extends. A unit 36 including the plate 35, the cylinders 26 and 34, and the pad 25 is mounted on the mass meter 30. The weight of the unit 36, the tray 7 and the watermelon W lifted by the plate 35 of the unit 36 is applied to the mass meter 30, and the mass corresponding to this load is output to the computer 39. The computer 39 calculates the mass of the watermelon W by subtracting the mass of the unit 36 and the mass of the tray 7 stored in advance from the mass input from the mass meter 30. The pad 25 is electrically connected to the capacitance meter 29. The ground of the capacitance meter 29 is electrically connected to the conductive cover body 27 that covers the watermelon W. The capacitance meter 29 applies a high frequency voltage between the pad 25 and the cover body 27 to measure the capacitance between the watermelon W and the cover body 27, and the measured capacitance is measured by the computer 39. Is output. The computer 39 calculates the volume of the watermelon W based on the capacitance input from the capacitance meter 29.

The sugar content meter 19 measures the sugar content based on the spectrum of the light transmitted through the watermelon W. This sugar content meter 19 includes, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of halogen lamps 41 that irradiate watermelon W on the tray 7 with light from the side, and a light receiving end 43 through the through hole 13 of the tray 7 to the watermelon W. The sugar content (Brix value) of the watermelon W is calculated based on the optical fiber 45 arranged opposite to the optical fiber 45, the spectrophotometer 49 arranged at the tip of the light emitting end 47 of the optical fiber 45, and the spectrum measured by the spectrophotometer 49 It is composed of a computer 51.

The appearance quality determination device 21 (FIG. 1) is a device that determines the appearance quality of the watermelon W such as the shape, the pattern, and the presence or absence of scratches. For example, based on an arm (not shown) that lifts the watermelon W on the tray 7 from below through the through hole 13, a camera (not shown) that takes an image of the appearance of the lifted watermelon W, and an image output from the camera. And a computer (not shown) that determines the appearance quality of the watermelon W.

Each of the devices 17, 19 and 21 has an RFID reader (not shown) that reads the identification information of the tray 7 on which the watermelon W that is the target of the processing (measurement or imaging) is placed. The processing information is associated and transmitted to the main computer 53 shown in FIG. Upon receiving the identification information and the processing information, the main computer 53 determines the equal class of the watermelon W based on the processing information and stores the determined equal class in the memory 55 in association with the identification information.

Returning to FIG. 1, the tray 7 on which the watermelon W is placed is sent to the line type sorting conveyor 57 connected to the end of the chain conveyor 15 after passing through the devices 17, 19 and 21. To the sorting conveyor 57, branch chutes 63 provided for equal ranks are connected via a plurality of sorting branch portions 61 having slide shoes 59 (FIG. 4). A sorting RFID reader 67 (FIG. 4) that reads the identification information of the trays 7 to be sorted is installed in the induction section 65 of the sorting conveyor 57, and the sorting RFID reader 67 sorts the read identification information into the sorting computer 56 ( 4). The sorting computer 56 requests the main computer 53 to transmit an equal class corresponding to the received identification information. Upon receiving the request, the CPU 77 of the main computer 53 extracts the equal class corresponding to the identification information from the memory 55 and sends it to the sorting computer 56. The sorting computer 56 drives the slide shoe 59 of the branch chute 63 corresponding to the received equal rank.

At the tip of each branch chute 63, a stopper 69 (FIG. 4) which is controlled to be opened and closed by the sorting computer 56 (FIG. 4) is provided, and the tray 7 sent to the branch chute 63 is closed by the stopper 69. Stopped. In the middle of the branch chute 63, a photoelectric sensor 71 (FIG. 4) that detects that the number of stopped trays 7 has reached a predetermined number is provided. When the sorting computer 56 receives the detection signal from the photoelectric sensor 71, the sorting computer 56 opens the stopper 69. As a result, the tray 7 is discharged from the branch chute 63 to the conveyor 73 that continues to the packing device 5. The boxing device 5 lifts the watermelon W on the tray 7 with a suction cup and stores it in a box. The tray 7 thus emptied is returned by the return conveyor 9.

In the fruit selection system 1, the grade indicating the internal quality of the watermelon W is determined by the main computer 53 based on the measurement values by the measuring instrument 17 and the sugar content meter 19. At the time of this determination, the mass of the watermelon W, A value that indexes the density of the watermelon W (hereinafter referred to as "density index value") is calculated based on the volume and sugar content, and the presence or absence of cavities is determined based on this density index value. That is, the measuring instrument 17 and the sugar content meter 19 function as a measuring means for measuring the mass, volume, and sugar content of the watermelon W. Further, the CPU 77 of the main computer 53 functions as a calculation unit that calculates the density index value of the watermelon W and a determination unit that determines the presence or absence of cavities. An internal quality determination device is realized by the measuring unit, the calculation unit, the determination unit, and the correction information storage unit and the threshold storage unit described later.

As the density index value of the watermelon W, the apparent density of the watermelon W is calculated based on the mass and volume measured by the measuring device 17, and the sugar content (hereinafter referred to as “measured sugar content”) measured by the sugar meter 19 is used. It is calculated by correcting the apparent density. Here, in the correction, the table 75 which is the correction information shown in FIG. 5 is used. In this table 75, the concentration of the sucrose aqueous solution, which is a measure of the sugar and the same component of watermelon, and the density of the sucrose aqueous solution, which is the correction value, are associated with each other. The correspondence between the concentration and the density of the sucrose aqueous solution is generally known. It can be said that the sucrose aqueous solution and the flesh of watermelon W are of the same quality in that most of them consist of water containing sugar. Therefore, the pulp sugar content and pulp density of the watermelon W also have the correspondence shown in the above table 75, and if the apparent density is corrected according to the correspondence, more precise density information can be obtained. As described above, the storage area of the table 75 in the memory 55 of the main computer 53 functions as a correction information storage unit in which the correction information is stored. Further, the memory 55 stores a threshold value for determining the presence or absence of a cavity inside the watermelon, and the region in which this threshold value is stored functions as a threshold value storage unit.

The density index value of the watermelon W is specifically calculated by the flow shown in FIG. The CPU 77 (FIG. 4) of the main computer 53 starts the calculation processing of the density index value every time the processing information and the identification information are received from the devices 17, 19, and 21.
(1) If the received processing information is the determination result of mass, volume, or appearance (s01: No), the CPU 77 stores the information in the memory 55 in association with the identification information, and ends the calculation processing ( s06).
(2) On the other hand, if the received processing information is the measured sugar content (s01: Yes), the mass and volume corresponding to the received identification information are extracted from the memory 55 (s02).
(3) Next, the CPU 77 calculates the apparent density of the watermelon W by multiplying the extracted mass by the reciprocal of the extracted volume (s03).
(4) Next, the CPU 77 searches the table 75 for a record containing the concentration of the sucrose aqueous solution that is close to the received measured sugar content, and extracts the density of the sucrose aqueous solution contained in the retrieved record (s04).
(5) Then, the CPU 77 calculates the density index value of the watermelon W by multiplying the apparent density by the reciprocal of the density of the extracted sucrose aqueous solution (s05).

The CPU 77 of the main computer 53 compares the density index value calculated as described above with a threshold value stored in the memory 55 in advance, and if the density index value is higher than the threshold value, it is determined as a normal fruit, and the density index value is determined. If is lower than the threshold value, it is determined as a hollow fruit. When it is determined that the fruit is hollow, the grade of the watermelon W is set lower.

According to the present embodiment, since it is possible to obtain more accurate density information than in the conventional case, it is possible to improve the accuracy of determining the internal quality such as the presence or absence of a cavity. Hereinafter, a difference in calculation accuracy of the density information between the conventional internal quality judging device and the internal quality judging device of the present embodiment will be described.

According to the conventional internal quality determination device, the same density (apparent density) is calculated for the watermelon W having the same mass and volume even if the sugar content is different. In other words, the mass is at 7000 g, for a watermelon W volume is 7500Cm ^3, for example, sugar content 6% and 12%, or even 0%, the same apparent density 0.933 g / cm ³ calculated It had been. Therefore, the minute difference in density caused by the high and low sugar content as shown in FIG. 5 was not considered.

According to the internal quality determination device of the present embodiment, first, the apparent density of 0.933 g/cm ³ is calculated as in the conventional case (s02, s03). Then, the density corresponding to the measured sugar content of watermelons W (measured sugar content 6% 1.024g / cm ³ when the, 1.049 g / cm ³ when measured sugar content 12%) is extracted from the table 75 (s04), the reciprocal Is multiplied by the apparent density (s05). As a result, the density index value for watermelon W having a measured sugar content of 6% is calculated as 0.933×(1/1.024)=0.911 g/cm ³ . The density index value for watermelon W having a measured sugar content of 12% is calculated as 0.933×(1/1.049)=0.889 g/cm ³ . Thus, by multiplying the apparent density by the reciprocal of the density corresponding to the measured sugar content of the watermelon W, a value (density index value) indicating the density when the sugar content of the watermelon W is uniformly corrected to 0% is obtained. be able to. As a result, it is possible to reduce the minute difference in the density caused by the high or low sugar content of the watermelon W, and to calculate the density with higher accuracy.

The present embodiment is not limited to the above aspect. Hereinafter, modified examples of this embodiment will be described.

[Modification 1]
In the embodiment, as the correction information, the concentration of the sucrose aqueous solution is used as the scale of the same component as the internal component (sugar content) of the watermelon W, but the sugar content of the fruit juice which is the internal component of the watermelon W itself may be used as the scale. .. In this case, the pulp juice prepared by crushing the pulp of watermelon W into a liquid state is prepared in advance for each sugar content, and the density of each pulp juice with respect to the sugar content is measured in advance to establish the correspondence.

[Modification 2]
In the embodiment, as the correction information, the table 75 that defines the correspondence relationship between the concentration and density of the sucrose aqueous solution is used, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the approximation obtained based on the correspondence relationship between each concentration and the density of the sucrose aqueous solution is used. It may be an expression. As an example of this approximate expression, when the concentration of the sucrose aqueous solution is x and the concentration of the sucrose aqueous solution is y, y=0.0042x+0.9994. In this case, the CPU 77 of the main computer 53 executes a process of obtaining the density of the sucrose aqueous solution by substituting the obtained measured sugar content in the approximate expression, instead of the process of s04 described above.

[Modification 3]
In the embodiment, the reciprocal of the density of the sucrose aqueous solution is multiplied by the apparent density to uniformly correct the sugar content of the watermelon W to be measured to 0% to calculate the density index value. The index value is used to determine the cavity. However, the density index value is calculated by multiplying the above-mentioned density index value based on 0% sugar content by the average sugar content of other watermelons W measured in the fruit selection system 1, that is, Alternatively, a density index value based on the average sugar content may be used.

[Modification 4]
The selection target of the present embodiment is not limited to the watermelon W, and other fruits and vegetables such as vegetables and fruits may be selected.

[Modification 5]
The internal component of fruits and vegetables used to correct the apparent density is not limited to the sugar content, and may be another internal component used for grade determination, and an internal component measurement for measuring the other internal component as a measuring means. Can be used. For example, in a lemon that uses acidity as a grade determination factor, an acidity meter that measures acidity may be used as an internal component measuring device, and correction may be performed using the acidity measured by this acidity meter. In this case, the memory 55 of the main computer 53 stores a table that defines the correspondence relationship between the acidity of lemon and the concentration and density of the citric acid aqueous solution that is the same component. Then, the CPU 77 of the main computer 53 searches the table for a record having a citric acid concentration close to the acidity received from the acidimeter, and extracts the density corresponding to the concentration. Then, the density index value can be obtained by multiplying the apparent density by the reciprocal of the extracted density.

[Modification 6]
The internal components of fruits and vegetables used to correct the apparent density are components included in the spectrum of light transmitted through the fruits and vegetables, for example, calculated from the absorbance at a plurality of wavelengths, a value indicating the internal state of fruits and vegetables (hereinafter, “Internal state index value”). In this case, the memory 55 of the main computer 53 stores a table or an approximate expression that defines the correspondence between the internal state index value and the density. The correspondence between the internal state index value and the density is determined by, for example, measuring the transmitted light spectrum of a plurality of fruits and vegetables and the pulp density thereof in advance. Specifically, after measuring the spectrum of the transmitted light of a plurality of fruits and vegetables, the pulp of each fruits and vegetables is cut out and the density of the pulp is measured. Then, the correspondence between the internal state index value and the pulp density can be determined by comparing the internal state index value calculated based on the absorbance for each wavelength included in the actually measured spectrum with the pulp density.

[Modification 7]
In the embodiment, the measuring device 17 that measures the mass and volume of the watermelon W is used as the measuring means. The measuring device 17 includes a mass meter that measures the mass of the watermelon W and a volume meter that measures the volume of the watermelon W. May be arranged on the transfer path of the chain conveyor 15 as separate devices.

[Modification 8]
In the embodiment, the volume of the watermelon W is obtained by using the capacitance, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a volume meter that calculates the volume of the watermelon W based on an image obtained by imaging the appearance of the watermelon W. For example, a known volume meter can be used.

[Modification 9]
The arrangement of the conveyors 9, 15, 57, 63, 73 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 1, and can be appropriately arranged according to the internal space of the collection/shipment facility.

The present invention can be implemented in variously modified, modified, and modified modes based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit thereof, and all of these modes are included in the scope of the present invention. is there. The present invention can be variously modified without departing from the spirit thereof.

For example, you may implement|achieve the density measuring device which measures the density inside the fruit and vegetables using the measuring means, correction information storage part, and calculation part demonstrated in the said embodiment and the modification.

1… Selection system 17… Measuring instrument 19… Sugar content 53… Main computer 55… Memory 77… CPU

Claims (6)

An internal quality determination device for determining the internal quality of fruits and vegetables,
Measuring means for measuring the mass, volume, and internal components of the fruits and vegetables,
A correction information storage unit which correction information for obtaining a correction value corresponding to a measure of the internal Ingredients of the fruits or vegetables are stored,
A threshold storage unit that stores a threshold for determining the presence or absence of a cavity inside the fruit and vegetables,
The mass measured by the measuring means, the volume, and obtain the measurement value of the internal component, calculate the apparent density of the fruits and vegetables based on the measurement value of the mass and the measurement value of the volume, the internal component Obtaining the correction value from the correction information based on the measurement value of, a calculation unit that calculates a density index value that is an index of the density of the fruits and vegetables by correcting the calculated apparent density based on the correction value,
By comparing the density index value and the threshold value calculated by the calculation unit, a determination unit for determining the presence or absence of the cavity,
An internal quality judging device provided with. An internal quality determination device for determining the internal quality of fruits and vegetables,
Measuring means for measuring the mass, volume, and internal components of the fruits and vegetables,
A correction information storage unit that stores correction information for obtaining a correction value corresponding to the scale of the same quality component as the pulp of the fruit and vegetables,
A threshold storage unit that stores a threshold for determining the presence or absence of a cavity inside the fruit and vegetables,
The mass measured by the measuring means, the volume, and obtain the measurement value of the internal component, calculate the apparent density of the fruits and vegetables based on the measurement value of the mass and the measurement value of the volume, the internal component The correction value is obtained from the correction information based on the scale of the homogeneity component that is close to the scale of, and the density index value that is an index of the density of the fruits and vegetables by correcting the calculated apparent density based on the correction value. A calculation unit that calculates
By comparing the density index value and the threshold value calculated by the calculation unit, a determination unit for determining the presence or absence of the cavity,
An internal quality judging device provided with. The internal component of the fruits and vegetables is the sugar content of the fruits and vegetables,
The same component is the sugar content of the sucrose aqueous solution,
The internal quality determination device according to claim 2 , wherein the correction value is a density of the sucrose aqueous solution. Fruit systems with internal quality determination apparatus according to any one of claims 1-3. A density measuring device for measuring the density of fruits and vegetables,
Measuring means for measuring the mass, volume, and internal components of the fruits and vegetables,
A correction information storage unit which correction information for obtaining a correction value corresponding to the scale of the internal components of the fruits or vegetables are stored,
The mass measured by the measuring means, the volume, and obtain the measurement value of the internal component, calculate the apparent density of the fruits and vegetables based on the measurement value of the mass and the measurement value of the volume, the internal component Obtaining the correction value from the correction information based on the measurement value of, a calculation unit that calculates a density index value that is an index of the density of the fruits and vegetables by correcting the calculated apparent density based on the correction value,
A density measuring device provided with. A density measuring device for measuring the density of fruits and vegetables,
Measuring means for measuring the mass, volume, and internal components of the fruits and vegetables,
A correction information storage unit that stores correction information for obtaining a correction value corresponding to the scale of the same quality component as the pulp of the fruit and vegetables,
The mass measured by the measuring means, the volume, and obtain the measurement value of the internal component, calculate the apparent density of the fruits and vegetables based on the measurement value of the mass and the measurement value of the volume, the internal component The correction value is obtained from the correction information based on the scale of the homogeneity component that is close to the scale of, and the density index value that is an index of the density of the fruits and vegetables by correcting the calculated apparent density based on the correction value. A calculation unit that calculates
A density measuring device provided with.

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