JPH04140647A - Method for determining quality of vegetable or the like - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To totally determine quality of the inside non-destructively by applying a light beam from one side of a single object such as an vegetable and capturing the transmitted light beam by a light receiving device on the other side of the object. CONSTITUTION:A vegetable A is placed, and light shielding is performed so that a light beam applied from a transmitting light source 1 will not leak from an outer periphery of the vegetable A to a dark room 4. With the light beam applied from the light source 1, the light beam transmitted through the vegetable A is captured by a highly sensitive camera 5 and a spectroanalyzing sensor 5 to be displayed on a monitor 7 and also subjected to image processing 8. This image is displayed as a transparent image as little light is focused when the vegetable is normal, wherein degree of maturity of an immature vegetable and an overmature vegetable is determined only by the intensity of the transmitted light. If the vegetable A is bad with its inside infected by disease, it can be determined by a drop in the light beam transmission amount as well as the sensor 6 captures wavelength characteristics of the light beam to obtain inner information of the vegetable so that quality of inside can be totally determined non-destructively.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention uses light to pass through fruits and vegetables such as pineapples to determine the internal quality of fruits and vegetables, where the internal quality cannot be determined from the external appearance alone. This invention relates to a method for determining the quality of fruits and vegetables.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, it has not been possible to determine the internal quality of harvested fruits and vegetables such as pineapples, kiwifruit, persimmons, watermelons, and melons just from their appearance. For example, in the case of pineapple, if it is for processing, there is no problem because it is only necessary to peel or cut it and check the internal quality before processing. However, if it is for raw consumption,
The quality of the inside can only be determined by peeling or cutting the fruit when it is ready for consumption by the consumer.
Poorly ripened fruits such as overripe fruits, and thinning of flowers.

Problems such as brown spots and fruit thinning, etc., have led to complaints from buyers and a drop in the producer's reputation.

For this reason, various methods have been tried to non-destructively determine the internal quality of fruits and vegetables, but there is no method that can comprehensively determine the above-mentioned underripe fruits, damaged fruits, etc. is the current situation.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As mentioned above, there is currently no method that can comprehensively determine the internal quality of fruits and vegetables in a non-destructive state, so it is strongly desired to implement such a method.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention aims to transmit a light beam of a predetermined intensity and a predetermined amount from one side of a single fruit or vegetable, etc. through the fruit or vegetable to the other side from the outer periphery of the fruit or vegetable. Fruits and vegetables are arranged and irradiated, and the light that passes through the fruits and vegetables is captured by a light receiving device on the other side of the fruit and vegetables.
This apparatus is characterized in that the quality of fruits and vegetables, etc., is judged from the transmitted light beam.

[For production]

According to the above method, the present invention irradiates a light beam from one side of a fruit or vegetable, captures the light that has passed through the fruit or the like with a light receiving device on the other side of the fruit, and determines the quality of the fruit or vegetable from the transmitted light. Therefore, the internal quality of fruits and vegetables can be comprehensively determined in a non-destructive manner.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a light source for transmission, which is made of, for example, a halogen lamp or a xenon lamp, and has a predetermined intensity and amount to transmit through Pine Apple A, which will be described later, and is harmless to the human body. housed in a case,
A light-shielding part 2 is provided at the front to face one side of the darkroom 4,
A bandpass filter 3 is attached to the front side of the transmission light source 1. For example, a harvested pineapple A is irradiated from one side with the light beam from the light source 1 for transmission, and the light beam from the light source 1 for transmission is applied to the light shielding part 2.
It is arranged so as not to leak from the outer periphery to the other side, that is, the dark room 4 side. On the other side of the dark room 4, a high-sensitivity camera 5 that captures the light beam that has passed through the pineapple A and a sensor 6 for spectroscopic analysis are provided.

The high-sensitivity camera 5 includes a monitor 7 and an image processing section 8.
are connected to each other, and a spectroscopic analysis section 9 is connected to the spectroscopic analysis sensor 6. Further, the image processing section 8 and the spectroscopic analysis section 9 are connected to a general control section IO. This comprehensive control section 10 is connected to the transmission light source 1 to control the light intensity, is connected to the high-sensitivity camera 5 to control the sensitivity, and is also connected to the high-sensitivity camera 5 to control the sensitivity.
It displays comprehensive judgment results and is connected to a sorting device, etc.

In the apparatus for determining the quality of fruits and vegetables, etc., configured as described above,
The harvested pineapple A is arranged so that the light beam irradiated from a transmission light source 1 is shielded by a light shielding part 2 so that the light beam irradiated from the periphery of the pineapple A does not leak to the other side, that is, to the dark room 4 side. Then, while irradiating the transmission light source I, the high-sensitivity camera 5, the spectroscopic analysis sensor 6, the monitor 7, the image processing section 8, the spectroscopic analysis section 9, the general control section lθ, etc. are put into operation. Then, the light beam that has passed through the pineapple A is captured by the high-sensitivity camera 5 and the spectroscopic analysis sensor 6 in the dark room 4.

The transmitted light rays captured by the high-sensitivity camera 5 are displayed on a monitor 7 and processed by an image processing section 8. Here, the light intensity of the transmission light source l is controlled as necessary, the sensitivity of the high-sensitivity camera 5 is controlled, and
It is output to external output 11. The image displayed on the monitor 7 and processed by the image processing unit 8 will be transparent if the pineapple A is a normal chestnut, with almost no image forming due to the light passing through it, but the image will be visible if the pineapple A is not an immature fruit depending only on the strength of the transmitted light. , it is possible to judge the ripeness of overripe fruits. However, if the inside of pineapple A is a damaged fruit affected by flowering disease or brown spot disease, the amount of light transmitted through that area will be reduced, making it easy to distinguish between normal fruit and damaged fruit. Can be distinguished.

Furthermore, the light beam captured by the spectroscopic analysis sensor 6 is brought to the integrated control section IO via the spectroscopic analysis section 9, and is outputted to the external output 11 as necessary. Furthermore, the light beam captured by the spectroscopic analysis sensor 6 has the wavelength characteristics of the light beam that passes through the pineapple A through the bandpass filter 3 etc.
Internal information is obtained, and this information is analyzed to determine the ripeness of pineapple A, such as immature fruit or overripe fruit, and to determine normal fruit.

The quality of the results, etc., is judged.

In the above example, a pineapple was used as a fruit or vegetable for determining (measuring) its internal quality, but it is not limited to pineapples; for example, kiwifruit, persimmons, watermelon, melons, etc., and the internal quality cannot be determined solely from its appearance. It can be widely applied to unknown fruits and vegetables. In addition, measurement 2 can be performed not only on harvested fruits and vegetables, but also on fruits that have set on the crop.
Judgment is possible.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the method for determining the quality of fruits and vegetables of the present invention, the following effects can be achieved.

■ The quality of fruits and vegetables is judged by shining a light beam on fruits and vegetables, transmitting the inside of the fruit, and capturing the transmitted light with a light receiving device. This method uses light that is not harmful to the human body and is optically non-destructive. The internal quality can be measured and judged.

■ Even if the transmitted light is weak and cannot be determined with the naked eye,
This can be measured by receiving the light through a light receiving device such as a high-sensitivity camera.

(2) By providing a bandpass filter to the irradiating light beam and providing a spectroscopic analysis unit to the light receiving device, it is possible to capture the wavelength characteristics of the light beam that passes through the fruits and vegetables and obtain internal information about the fruits and vegetables.

■ If the fruit or vegetable to be measured is, for example, a pineapple, it is possible to judge the ripeness of unripe fruit or overripe fruit just by the intensity of transmitted light, as well as to determine the quality of normal fruit and fruit with problems such as flowering disease or brown spot lesions. Judgment is possible.

■ Therefore, the ripeness of fruits and vegetables, the internal quality of damaged fruits, etc.
Comprehensive judgment can be made in a non-destructive state.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for determining the quality of fruits and vegetables for carrying out the method of the present invention. ■... Transmission light source, 2... Light blocking section, 3... Band pass filter, 4... Dark room, 5... High sensitivity camera,
6...Sensor for spectroscopic analysis, 7...Monitor, 8...
Image processing unit, 9... Spectroscopic analysis unit, lO... General control unit, 11... External output, A... Pineapple.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A light beam of a predetermined intensity and a predetermined amount that passes through the fruit or vegetable is irradiated from one side of the fruit or vegetable by arranging the fruit or vegetable so as not to leak from the outer periphery of the fruit or the like to the other side. A method for determining the quality of fruits and vegetables, characterized in that the transmitted light is captured by a light receiving device on the other side of the fruit, etc., and the quality of the fruits and vegetables is determined from the transmitted light.