JPH0136574B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a rice grain polishing level measuring device.

[Conventional technology]

Rice polishing is an action that sequentially removes the structure of rice grains from the periphery to the inside, exposing the internal structure of the rice grains. When raw brown rice is milled into white rice, the ratio of white rice production is determined by the milling yield ( It is expressed simply as yield (also simply called yield) and is generally expressed by the following formula.

Yield (%) = Total weight of white rice / Total weight of brown rice x 100 The quality of this yield depends on the properties of raw brown rice and rice milling technology, but normally the bran layer accounts for 6% of the total brown rice, and the embryo accounts for about 2%. If the raw materials are ideal, the yield will be around 90%. Factors that affect the yield include the thickness and hardness of the bran layer, the size of the embryo, the contamination rate of detached damaged grains and immature grains, the stiffness of the rice, and the moisture content.

In this way, yield refers to the yield of the product (white rice) relative to the raw material brown rice, and does not directly determine the quality (commercial value) of the rice after milling, for example, by uneven pounding. .

On the other hand, the term milling degree (milling rate) is used to judge the extent to which the bran layer and embryo are removed during rice polishing, or in other words, the degree of rice quality (commercial value). It is being

Brown rice grains consist of a starch layer that forms the core, that is, the endosperm, and a bran layer surrounding the outer periphery, and the bran layer consists of an outer bran layer (42-48μ) and an inner bran layer (25-40μ). Become. Furthermore, the outer bran layer consists of the pericarp forming the outer wall and the seed coat on the inner wall surface, and the inner bran layer consists of the ectosperm and the aleurone layer. By the way, the powder from which the outer bran layer has been removed is called black bran because of its color, and the powder that has been ground down to the inner bran layer is called white bran, and the state where all the inner bran layer has been removed, including the aleurone layer, is called black bran, and when the inner bran layer has been completely removed, it has a polishing level of 100.
%, and brown rice is 0%. However, the aleurone layer contains proteins and fats and oils, which are one of the flavor components, so the aleurone layer is an important component for polished rice for consumption, and the aleurone layer is completely removed. The polished rice becomes so-called starch white rice, which is suitable for sake brewing but not for eating. Therefore, an appropriate level of polishing means polished rice that has been polished with some aleurone layer remaining.

As mentioned above, as the rice polishing process progresses from the outer bran layer to the inner bran layer, the whiteness of the rice grain gradually increases, and this rate of increase is almost proportional. is measured and called whiteness,
This value was interpreted to have the same meaning as the degree of fineness.

A whiteness meter that measures the degree of whiteness uses an integrating sphere to receive the amount of light reflected from the sample with a phototube relative to the amount of light irradiated on the sample rice, and calculates the reflectance, and the measured value is expressed as a percentage when the whiteness of ultrafine magnesium oxide powder is 100 and the pure blackness is 0.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, the degree of whiteness determined by a whiteness meter is only the amount of light reflected from the surface of the rice grain, and does not take into account the amount of light that passes through the rice grain and the amount of light that is absorbed within the rice grain, and has nothing to do with the degree of whiteness. is the value of For example, white rice with a slight amount of white bran attached to it immediately after milling has a much higher whiteness value than white rice that has been sufficiently removed and polished. This is because when the rice grain surface becomes glossy and dense, the amount of diffusely reflected light decreases due to the tendency of surface reflection, and the amount of transmitted light increases, which is the opposite value to the progressing whiteness. This proves that this value is unrelated to the degree of polishing. In other words, the whiteness that was conventionally measured was only the amount of light reflected from the surface of the rice grain, and depending on the surface condition of the rice grain, that is, rice grains with bran attached or grains with a rough surface may display high whiteness due to diffuse reflection. If the surface is smooth, there will be less diffused reflection and the whiteness will be lower. For this reason, it is an unreasonable idea to equate whiteness with refinement.

Therefore, the technical object of the present invention is to provide a rice grain polishing degree measuring device that can determine the polishing degree based on the amount of light that passes through the polished rice grains and the amount of light that is reflected from the surface of the polished rice.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a light source device on one side of an integrating sphere, a sample flow path for receiving light from the light source device on the other side, and a reflection light source provided from the light source device side toward the sample flow path. A light receiving element and a transmitted light receiving element provided toward the sample flow path from the opposite side of the light source device are provided, and the amount of reflected light from the reflected light receiving element multiplied by a coefficient, and the transmitted light A technical measure was taken to provide an arithmetic unit that outputs the degree of brightness based on the sum of the amount of transmitted light from the light-receiving element multiplied by a coefficient.

[Effect]

The amount of transmitted light and the amount of reflected light from the sample rice grain are received by the transmitted light receiving element and the reflected light receiving element provided in the measuring section, and the transmitted light amount is input to the transmittance detection circuit, and the reflected light amount is input to the reflectance detection circuit. be done. Then, the reflectance detection circuit determines the reflectance (reflectance), which is the ratio of the amount of reflected light to the amount of irradiated light, and multiplies the reflectance by a coefficient value for converting the brightness to determine the brightness.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. Figure 1 is a schematic sectional view of this embodiment, Figure 2
The figure is its electrical circuit diagram.

A condenser lens 4 is placed on the left side of the integrating sphere 2 of the precision meter 1.
A monochromatic light filter 7, a heat ray absorption filter 6, and a light source lamp 5 are provided, and a sample channel 3 is provided on the right side of the integrating sphere 2, with an input shutter 9 at the top and a discharge shutter 10 at the bottom. A marker post 8 equipped with a reference color plate is provided. A discharge channel 14 is connected to the lower end of the sample flow channel 3, and a vibrating grain feeding trough 12 equipped with a vibration device 11 is connected to the upper end of the discharge channel 14, and the grains in the sample tank 13 are connected to a flow channel resistance increasing/reducing device (not shown). Quantitatively and continuously by adjusting the sample flow path 3
Flows down and supplies it. A transmitted light receiving element 15A is located on the opposite side of the light source device via the sample flow path 3.
There is a reflected light receiving element 15B on the lower side of the integrating sphere 2.
are provided respectively.

Next, the arithmetic circuit A forming the arithmetic device will be explained based on FIG. The reflected light receiving element 15B provided on the integrating sphere 2 is connected to the amplifier 18 of the reflected whiteness detection circuit 17, and the subtracter 19, A/
A D converter 20 and a comparator 21 are connected in series,
The comparator 21 is connected to a marker value setter 22 and its output side is connected to the amplifier 18 via an amplification adjuster 23. Further, the output side of the amplifier 18 is branched and connected to the subtracter 1 via the dark current storage circuit 24.
9, and the output side of the subtracter 19 is branched and connected to an adder 27 via a multiplier 25 and an A/D converter 26. On the other hand, the transmitted light receiving element 15A is connected from the amplifier 28 of the transmittance detection circuit 16 to the adder 27 via a multiplier 29 and an A/D converter 30. Further, a product type correction circuit 31 is connected to the adding device 27, and its output side is connected to a precision display 32.

Note that the subtracter 19 of the reflection whiteness detection circuit 17
Then, the output of the dark current storage circuit 24 that stores the dark current of the integrating sphere 2 is input to the subtracter 19, and the dark current value is subtracted from the amount of light received by the light receiving element. The set value of is compared with the amount of light received from the light receiving element, and based on the comparison difference, the amplification degree of the amplifier 18 is changed via the amplification degree adjuster 23 to adjust it to match the marker value.

In the above configuration, the calculated value of the adding device 27 is calculated based on the reflectance based on the amount of reflected light from the amplifier 18, the transmittance based on the amount of transmitted light from the amplifier 28, and the output from the product type correction circuit 31;
That is, when the amount of irradiated light is taken as a reference value, the degree of brightness is expressed by the following formula.

Polishing degree = α × (reflected light amount) + β × (transmitted light amount) + H Note that α and β are coefficients (values determined experimentally) for converting to polishing degree, and H is a correction value for each type of rice grain.

The specific operation will be explained below. Sample grains flow into the sample flow path 3 from the sample tank 13, and the light beam from the light source lamp 5 is irradiated onto the rice grains in the sample flow path 3, and the amount of reflected light reflected from the sample into the integrating sphere 2 is reflected. The light is received by the light receiving element 15B. This light reception signal is amplified by an amplifier 18 and the dark current is subtracted by a subtracter 19, and then input to a multiplier 25. This signal is branched and sent to an A/D converter 20. is input to the comparator 21 via the comparator 21 and compared with the set value of the marker value setter 22, and the comparison difference is inputted to the amplification degree adjuster 23.
The amplification factor of the amplifier 18 is changed so that it matches the reference color plate provided on the marker post 8. Note that this amplifier 1
The correction circuit No. 8 is also provided in the amplifier 28 in the transmittance detection circuit 16 (not shown). Subtractor 1
The signal input from 9 to the multiplier 25 is multiplied by a coefficient α, A/D converted, and input to the adder 27 .

On the other hand, the light beam incident from the integrating sphere 2 passes through the rice grains in the sample channel 3 and is received by the transmitted light receiving element 15A, and this signal is input to the multiplier 29 by the amplifier 28.

Transmitted light receiving element 1 multiplied by coefficient β by multiplier 29
The 5A signal is added to the A/
Reflected light receiving element 15 input from the D converter 30
This signal is added to the signal B, and the coefficient H from the product type correction circuit 31 is added thereto and output to the whiteness display 32, where it is displayed as whiteness (%).

The above-mentioned correction values for each type of rice were established because there are varieties with a thick aleurone layer (common in cold regions) and varieties with a thin aleurone layer (common in warm regions) compared to standard rice. However, varieties with a thick aleurone layer do not have higher whiteness than those with a thinner aleurone layer, and varieties and crops with many milky white grains have a low amount of transmitted light.
This is because it is known that the amount of reflected light is large, and it is necessary to make corrections depending on the differences in product types.

FIG. 3 is an arithmetic circuit diagram B showing another embodiment. In this embodiment, instead of the product type correction circuit 31 in the previous embodiment, a reflection whiteness detection circuit 1
7A and the transmission whiteness detection circuit 16A are provided with a brown rice reflectivity storage device 33 and a brown rice transmittance storage device 35, with subtractors 34 and 36 interposed therebetween, respectively. The degree of polishing in this case is expressed by the following formula.

Polishing degree = α ₁ × (Amount of reflected light of polished rice - Amount of reflected light of brown rice) + β ₁ × (Amount of transmitted light of polished rice - Amount of transmitted light of brown rice) Note that α ₁ and β ₁ are coefficients determined experimentally as in the previous example. be.

In this embodiment, as in the previous embodiment, the amount of light received by the transmitted light receiving element 15A and the reflected light receiving element 15B is taken into the transmittance detection circuit 16A and the reflectance detection circuit 17A, respectively. Then, each of the received light amounts is subtracted by the measured values of the amount of transmitted light and the amount of reflected light in the brown rice of the rice grains stored in the brown rice transmittance storage device 35 and the brown rice reflectance storage device 33, and each is input to the adding device 27A. Then, the degree of whiteness is calculated using the above formula and displayed on the degree of whiteness display 32A. In this case as well, as in the case where a variety-specific correction circuit is provided, accurate whiteness can be determined regardless of differences in variety or crop. The rest of the structure and operation are the same as those of the previous embodiment, so their explanation will be omitted.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the following remarkable effects are achieved. In other words, the amount of transmitted light and the amount of reflected light are detected, each detected value is multiplied by a coefficient for converting whiteness, the transmitted light detected value and the reflected light detected value are added, and the properties such as variety or crop are calculated. By making corrections according to the whiteness, it is easier to obtain accurate whiteness compared to complicated judgments using a whiteness meter or various reagents that only use diffusely reflected light, and this can be used to evaluate the quality of the actual product. It is something that can be done.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an electrical circuit diagram thereof, and FIG. 3 is an electrical circuit diagram of another embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Whiteness meter, 2... Integrating sphere, 3... Sample channel, 4... Condensing lens, 5... Light source lamp, 6...
... Heat ray absorption filter, 7 ... Monochromatic light filter, 8 ... Signpost, 9 ... Insertion shutter, 10 ...
...Ejection shutter, 11...Vibration device, 12...
Vibrating grain feeder, 13...Sample tank, 14...Discharge path, 15A...Transmitted light receiving element, 15B...Reflected light receiving element, 16, 16A...Transmitted whiteness detection circuit, 17, 17A...Reflection Whiteness detection circuit, 18...
... Amplifier, 19 ... Subtractor, 20 ... A/D converter, 21 ... Comparator, 22 ... Marker value setter, 2
3...Amplification adjuster, 24...Dark current memory circuit,
25... Multiplier, 26... A/D converter, 27,
27A...Addition device, 28...Amplifier, 29...
Multiplier, 30... A/D converter, 31... Product type correction circuit, 32, 32A... Sharpness indicator, 33
...Brown rice reflectance storage device, 34...Subtractor, 35
...Brown rice transparency storage device, 36...Subtractor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A light source device is provided on one side of an integrating sphere, a sample channel for receiving light from the light source device is provided on the other side, and a reflected light receiving element and a reflected light receiving element are provided from the light source device side toward the sample channel. , and a transmitted light receiving element provided toward the sample flow path from the opposite side of the light source device, and the amount of reflected light from the reflected light receiving element multiplied by a coefficient, and the amount of reflected light from the transmitted light receiving element multiplied by a coefficient. 1. A rice grain milling degree measuring device characterized by being provided with an arithmetic device configured to output milling degree by the sum of the amount of transmitted light multiplied by a coefficient. 2. The rice grain polishing according to claim 1, wherein the calculation device outputs the polishing degree by adding a correction value determined by the variety of rice grains to the sum of the amount of reflected light and the amount of transmitted light. Degree measuring device. 3. Rice grain polishing degree according to claim 1, wherein the arithmetic unit is configured to output the polishing degree by subtracting the sum calculated using the sample as brown rice from the sum calculated using the sample as white rice. measuring device.