JPH0957213A - Quality deciding device and assorting device for mushrooms - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device for deciding the quality of shiitake mushrooms (Lentinus edodes). SOLUTION: The stipe 1b of the shiitake mushroom 1 is faced downward and the rear surface of its pileus 1a is placed on a pair of horizontal supporting pins 12b disposed at a transporting finger 12, by which the shiitake mushroom 1 is held in a stable posture. This transporting finger 12 is moved to an inspection position where the rear surface of the shiitake mushroom 1 is photographed by a camera from below. The rear surface image of the shiitake mushroom is processed and the size of the pileus 1a is measured and decided. The ratio of the area of the annular pileus part on outer periphery to the total area of the pileus 1a is measured and the grade is decided. The shiitake mushroom subjected to the quality decision is transported downstream by the transporting finger 12 and is discharged after assorting by every quality.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mushroom quality determination device used to determine the quality of shiitake mushrooms and other mushrooms (total size, umbrella opening, umbrella height, etc.), The present invention relates to a sorting device for sorting mushrooms using the determination result.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 13, a shiitake mushroom 1 has an umbrella 1a.
And has a handle 1b extending from the center of the back surface, and the umbrella 1a has a brown surface, and the brown portion extends to the back side, so that a ring-shaped portion (hereinafter referred to as a ring-shaped umbrella portion) is formed on the outer periphery. ) 1c is formed, and a white portion (hereinafter, referred to as an umbrella back surface portion) 1d having a large number of folds is present inside thereof. Generally, the quality of the shiitake mushroom 1 is the diameter D of the umbrella 1a,
It is evaluated based on the ratio of the area s of the ring-shaped umbrella portion 1c to the total area (projected area) S of a, the thickness H of the umbrella 1a, etc., and it is considered that those values are large. In addition, there are some shiitake mushrooms that are covered with a white mesh, and the ones that are covered with a white mesh are evaluated to have particularly good quality.

Conventionally, shiitake mushrooms have been manually selected.
That is, the operator visually judges the quality with the shiitake mushroom in his hand and sorts the quality according to each quality (grade). However, in such visual judgment, there are problems that labor is required for selection, there are individual differences in the selection criteria, stable selection cannot be expected, and the selection takes time and a large amount cannot be processed.

[0004]

Therefore, it is desired to automate the quality judgment of shiitake mushrooms. The way to do this is:
The shiitake mushrooms are carried on a conveyor and conveyed, the shiitake mushrooms are photographed from above in the middle of the process, the images obtained are processed, and the overall area and the area of the ring-shaped umbrella portion are measured to determine the quality. Can be considered. However, since the shiitake mushroom has an unstable shape with an umbrella and a handle, when this shiitake mushroom is placed on a conveyor and conveyed, the posture is not stable and there is a problem that a correct quality judgment cannot be made. there were.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is possible to convey mushrooms such as shiitake mushrooms in a stable posture, and by processing an image of the mushrooms, the mushrooms are processed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a quality determination device for mushrooms capable of satisfactorily determining the quality of mushrooms. Another object of the present invention is to provide a mushroom sorter capable of sorting mushrooms using the results.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention, which has been made to achieve the above object, is arranged horizontally with a space larger than the handle of mushrooms so that the lower surface of the umbrella of mushrooms can be supported. A transport finger having a pair of support pins, a transport device that intermittently moves the transport finger through an inspection position, an illumination device that illuminates the mushrooms held by the transport finger at the inspection position from below, and the inspection A gist of a quality determination device for mushrooms having a camera for photographing mushrooms held by a transport finger at a position from below and an image processing device for processing the image obtained by this camera to determine the quality of the mushrooms To do.

Here, the camera is a color camera,
The image processing device is configured to extract a brown area corresponding to an umbrella of a mushroom from a color image of the mushroom and determine the quality from the ratio of the brown area to the total area of the mushroom. It is preferable. Further, it is preferable that the lighting device has a ring-shaped light emitting portion arranged so as to surround the camera.

Further, the lighting device includes a lower surface of the mushrooms 12
The image processing device extracts the brown area and the white area from the color image of the mushroom, and the quality is calculated from the ratio of the sum area of the two to the total area of the mushroom. It is also preferable to adopt a configuration for determining.

Further, the transport device is configured to intermittently move the transport finger through the second detection position, and at the second detection position, the mushrooms held by the transport finger are photographed from the horizontal direction. It is preferable that a second camera is provided and the image processing apparatus is provided with a function of processing the image obtained by the second camera to determine the quality regarding the height of the mushroom umbrella.

The sorting apparatus of the present invention corresponds to the quality of the mushrooms held by the transport fingers downstream of the above-described quality determining apparatus for mushrooms, based on the quality determination result by the image processing apparatus. The configuration is such that a sorting and discharging device that selects and discharges a position is arranged.

Since the quality determination device for mushrooms of the present invention has the above-described structure, the mushroom handle is passed between the pair of support pins of the transport finger, and the mushroom is placed on the support pin to transport the mushroom. With fingers, you can always hold mushrooms in the same posture,
The transport finger sends the mushrooms to a predetermined detection position, illuminates the mushrooms from below at that position, photographs the lower surface of the mushrooms with a camera, processes the image, and detects the entire area. The quality can be determined by detecting the area of the ring-shaped umbrella portion. At this time, the posture of the mushrooms held by the transport fingers is stable, and the measurement surface is always at the same position, so the image identification by the camera is stable. Since the pair of support pins for holding mushrooms can be made thin, they have a minimal effect on image recognition by the camera. Since the mushrooms are transported while being placed on the support pins, there is almost no part that causes friction with the mushrooms during transportation, and therefore the mushrooms are not damaged.

Here, the camera is a color camera,
To the image processing device, from the color image of the mushroom, extract the brown area corresponding to the umbrella of the mushroom, and give a function to determine the quality from the ratio of the brown area to the total area of the mushroom. The ring-shaped umbrella portion can be satisfactorily detected, and the quality evaluation accuracy is improved.

Further, if the illumination device has a ring-shaped light emitting portion arranged so as to surround the camera, the illumination of the mushrooms can be made uniform, the influence of the shadow of the support pin can be reduced, and the quality can be judged. Accuracy is improved. Further, when the lower surface of the mushroom is illuminated at 1200 to 2400 lux, the amount of illumination light is small, and thus the back surface portion 1d of the umbrella of the mushroom is small.
The light radiated (see FIG. 13) is absorbed by the folds in that portion, and becomes black in the image captured by the camera. For this reason, if you take a picture of a white mesh on the entire surface of a mushroom, only the white mesh turns white in the image, and therefore the area of the white part in the image will be detected. The size of the white mesh on the surface of mushrooms can be detected, the area of this white mesh and the brown color of the umbrella is calculated, and the result is added to the quality evaluation standard to obtain a more accurate measurement. It is possible to judge the quality.

Further, if a structure is provided in which a second detection position is provided and the mushrooms held by the transport fingers are photographed in the horizontal direction at that position, the thickness of the umbrella of the mushrooms can be detected from the image. By adding the thickness of the umbrella to the quality evaluation standard, the quality evaluation accuracy is further improved.

In the sorting apparatus of the present invention, after the quality determination is performed by the quality determination apparatus described above, the transport finger holding the shiitake moves to the downstream side, and the sorting and discharging device provided at that position causes the transport finger to move. Based on the quality judgment result by the image processing device, the mushrooms held by can be selected and discharged at a position corresponding to the quality. Therefore, the quality judgment and sorting of the shiitake mushrooms are automatically performed. be able to.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments in which the present invention is applied to the selection of shiitake mushrooms will be described below. FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an entire shiitake sorting device equipped with a quality determining device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a main part of the sorting device, and FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the part shown in FIG. It is a side view. Reference numeral 10 is a quality determination device for determining the quality of shiitake mushrooms, 12 is a transport finger for holding and transporting the shiitake mushroom 1 (details will be described later), 1
3 is an endless chain that holds a large number of transport fingers 12 at a fixed pitch, and 14 and 14 are a pair of chain wheels on which the chain 13 is hung. A drive motor (not shown) for intermittently rotating and driving the chain wheel 14 is connected to the one chain wheel 14, and the transport finger 12 is intermittently moved by one pitch by intermittent rotation of the drive motor. Has become. Transport finger 1
During the movement of 2, the supply position P1 including the stop positions of the plurality of transport fingers 12, the first inspection position P2, the second inspection position P3, the sorting discharge position P4 including the stop positions of the plurality of transport fingers 12, and the like. Is provided. Therefore, the chain 13, chain wheel 14, drive motor, etc.
A transfer device for intermittently moving the transfer finger through the inspection position is configured.

As shown in FIG. 4, the transport finger 12 includes a support plate 12a for attaching to the chain 13,
It has a pair of support pins 12b, 12b provided so as to extend horizontally from the upper end of the support plate 12a. The pair of support pins 12b, 12b are parallel to each other and the handle 1b of the shiitake 1 so that the lower surface of the umbrella 1a of the shiitake 1 can be supported.
The shiitake 1 has a handle 1b which is horizontally provided at a larger interval than the pair of support pins 12b, 12b.
The lower surface of the umbrella 1a can be held in a stable and constant posture by passing the space between the two. As will be described later, since the quality is judged by looking at the lower surface of the umbrella 1a of the shiitake mushroom 1 held by the support pin 12b from below with a camera, the support pin 12b is prevented from adversely affecting it at that time.
It is desirable that the width of b is as small as possible, usually 1 to 5 mm
To about 2 mm, preferably about 2 mm. The tips of the pair of support pins 12b and 12b are arranged such that the shiitake mushrooms 1
It is open so that you can slide it in and out. A roller 12c is rotatably held at the lower end of the support plate 12a, and travels on a rail 16 provided below along the travel position of the transport finger 12. Thereby, the transport finger 12
The position of is regulated accurately.

1 to 3, at the supply position P1,
A shiitake supplying device 18 is provided so as to be located in front of the transport finger 12. The shiitake supplying device 18 includes a plurality of sets of support pins 19 arranged so as to correspond to the support pins 12b of the plurality of transport fingers 12 stopped at the supply position P1 and to support the shiitake 1.
And the plurality of shiitake mushrooms 1 held by the plurality of sets of support pins 19 at the same time, the support pins 1 of the corresponding transport fingers 12.
Pusher plate 20 pushed out on 2b and pusher plate 2
An air cylinder 21 for reciprocating 0 is provided. Therefore, the operator manually puts the shiitake mushroom 1 on the support pins 19 of each set.
When the empty transfer finger 12 is stopped before the load is placed, the air cylinder 21 is operated so that the pusher plate 20 simultaneously transfers the plurality of shiitake mushrooms 1 on the plurality of sets of the support pins 19 to the corresponding carrier. Support pin 12b of finger 12
It can be extruded and fed to a predetermined position above. In this way, the shiitake mushroom 1 is once supported by the support pin 1 on the side of the shiitake supplying device 18.
9 and then the support pin 1 of the transport finger 12
If it is configured to be transferred onto the support pin 2b, the work is extremely easy as compared with the case where it is directly placed on the support pin 12b of the transfer finger 12 that moves intermittently, and furthermore, the shiitake mushroom 1 can be placed at a rough position on the support pin 19. Also, it can be sent to an accurate position with respect to the transport finger 12, and there is an advantage that the burden on the operator is extremely reduced.

Above the endless chain 13, there is provided a roller conveyor 24 for carrying the cardboard box 3 containing the shiitake mushrooms 1 to be selected. This roller conveyor 2
4 is formed to have a downward slope toward the supply position P1, and if the cardboard box 3 is placed at an appropriate position on the roller conveyor 24, the cardboard box 3 will automatically move to a position corresponding to the supply position P1. It will move. Further, at this position, there is provided a tilting plate (not shown) and a drive mechanism for tilting the cardboard box 3 so that the shiitake supplying device 18 side of the cardboard box 3 can be lowered. Therefore, the operator can easily take out the shiitake mushroom 1 from the cardboard box 3 and place it on the support pin 19.

At the first inspection position P2, as shown in FIG. 5, an illuminating device 26 for illuminating the shiitake mushroom 1 held by the transport finger 12 from below and a first camera 28 for photographing the shiitake mushroom 1 from below. And a light-shielding plate 30 for erasing the background of the shiitake mushroom 1 is provided above. Lighting device 26
Is arbitrary as long as it can illuminate the lower surface of the shiitake mushroom 1, but in the present embodiment, a lamp box 26a having a halogen lamp and a ring-shaped light emitting portion 26c connected to the lamp box 26a via an optical fiber 26b are provided. I am using Here, the halogen lamp is adopted because the light amount can be easily adjusted. In addition, the ring-shaped light emitting portion 26c
This is because the influence of the shadow of the support pin 12b that supports the shiitake mushroom 1 is minimized, and the ring-shaped light emitting portion 26c is located under the shiitake mushroom 1 held by the support pin 12b. It is arranged so as to surround. The camera 28 is for capturing a color image. Light shield plate 30
Is a background that has a color different from that of the shiitake mushroom 1 when the shiitake mushroom 1 is photographed by the camera 28, such as a surface with a light absorbing film, a reflective film, or a shiitake mushroom. Can be applied in different colors.

At the second inspection position P3, as shown in FIG. 6, there is provided a second camera 32 for photographing the shiitake mushroom 1 held by the transport finger 12 from the front, that is, from the horizontal direction.
A surface emitting illumination plate 33 is arranged behind the shiitake mushroom 1. The camera 32 used here is a monochrome camera.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the overall structure of a quality judgment system for judging the quality of the shiitake mushroom 1. The camera 28 arranged at the first inspection position P2 includes a camera amplifier 35,
Image processing device 3 via color eye (color extraction device) 36
8 is connected. Further, the camera 32 arranged at the second inspection position P3 is connected to the image processing device 38 via the camera amplifier 39. A color monitor 41 and a monochrome monitor 42 are also provided to display the images of the cameras 28 and 32, respectively.

Next, the quality determining operation of the shiitake mushroom by the quality determining system having the above configuration will be described with reference to the process chart shown in FIG. This quality determination system can perform both quality determination that considers the white mesh attached to the surface of the shiitake mushroom 1 and quality determination that does not consider it. First, the case where it is not considered will be described.

When the transport finger 12 holding the shiitake mushroom 1 moves to the inspection position P2 and stops, the camera 28 photographs it while illuminating it with the light from the ring-shaped light emitting part 26c, and an image of the lower surface of the shiitake mushroom. Are taken into the image processing device 38. At this time, since the lower surface of the shiitake mushroom 1a is supported by the pair of parallel and horizontal support pins 12b, the posture is always stable, and the image of the lower surface of the shiitake mushroom 1 can be accurately captured. FIG. 9 shows an image at this time,
Image 1A of shiitake mushroom is captured in color. Although the support pin that supports the shiitake mushroom is also actually shown, this effect is small and is not shown. The amount of light that illuminates the shiitake mushroom 1 when the shiitake mushroom 1 is photographed is not particularly limited, and among the images 1A shown in FIG. 9, an image 1C corresponding to the ring-shaped umbrella portion 1c on the lower surface of the shiitake mushroom 1 and the inside thereof. It is sufficient that the light amount is such that the image 1D corresponding to the umbrella back surface portion 1d of FIG. Normally, in the image 1A shown in FIG. 9, the image 1C corresponding to the ring-shaped umbrella portion 1c and the handle 1b,
1B (both hatched areas) are both brown and difficult to identify, but the image 1D corresponding to the umbrella back surface 1d is white and easy to identify.

Next, the image processing device 38 measures the area of the image 1A showing the entire shiitake mushroom 1 by extracting the background color from the obtained image shown in FIG. This area value is used to identify the grade for the diameter of the umbrella according to a predetermined selection criteria table. Table 1 shows an example of the selection standard table. In Table 1, the diameter of the umbrella is calculated on the assumption that the shiitake mushroom 1 has a perfect circular shape. In the present embodiment, the grade is not determined from the diameter of the umbrella, but the grade is determined from the measured area, because the shape of the shiitake mushroom 1 is often considerably deformed, and in the diameter measurement, a large error may occur depending on the measurement position. Because there is. Judging by the area in this way, stable evaluation is possible even with deformed shiitake mushrooms.

[0026]

[Table 1]

Next, quality judgment regarding the area ratio of the ring-shaped umbrella portion 1c to the entire area of the umbrella 1a is performed in the following procedure. That is, first, the size of the image 1A of the shiitake mushroom 1 is measured. That is, the top and bottom and left and right vertices are detected, and the centers of the upper and lower window lines are obtained. Next, the center of the image of the shiitake mushroom 1 is set, and the upper and lower windows 45A and 45B are set as shown in FIG. 10A and the left and right windows 46A and 46B are set as shown in FIG. 10B. Then
From the image 1A (see FIG. 9), the ring-shaped umbrella portion 1c and the handle 1
In order to obtain the areas of the images 1C and 1B (both areas indicated by hatching) corresponding to b, brown extraction is performed. This brown extraction may be performed by setting a slice level corresponding to brown for each of the R, G, and B color images and utilizing the slice level. When setting the slice level, the measured data and the visual judgment may be compared with each other and set so as to approach the visual result as much as possible. As an example of the slice level, R: 69 (+27, -27), G: 63.
(+25, -25) and B: 55 (+25, -24).

Upper, lower, left and right windows 45A, 45
The brown areas of B, 46A, and 46B are measured, and the one having the smallest brown area (the window 46B in this embodiment) is selected from the brown areas. This is done in order to minimize the error due to the handle 1b. That is, since the brown area portion in the image 1A includes not only the ring-shaped umbrella portion 1c of the shiitake mushroom 1 but also the handle portion 1b, when the window 46B having the smallest brown area is selected, it is shown in FIG. 11 (a). Thus, the brown portion in the window 46B is the smallest in the image 1B corresponding to the handle 1b, and the brown area a in the window 46B is the smallest in the area of the image 1C corresponding to the ring-shaped umbrella portion 1c. It is a close value.

Next, the total area b (area of the hatched area) of the image 1A in the window 46B is measured, and the area ratio to the brown area a is obtained. This area ratio (a /
Since b) shows the degree of opening of the umbrella, and therefore the quality of the shiitake mushroom, according to the predetermined selection standard table,
Used to identify the grade of umbrella opening. Table 2 shows an example of the selection standard table. In addition, L size, M size, and S size in Table 2 are shown in Table 1.
It corresponds to L, M, and S in.

[0030]

[Table 2]

The image processing device 38 processes the image 1A captured from the camera 28 as described above, obtains the total area and the area ratio (a / b), and compares the values with Tables 1 and 2. , The quality of Shiitake mushroom 1, for example, L size,
Discriminate like class A.

When the shiitake mushroom 1 photographed at the examination position P2 is further conveyed by the conveying finger 12 and then moved to the second examination position P3 and stopped, the camera 32 causes the shiitake mushroom 1 to move.
Is photographed and the image is sent to the image processing device 38. At this time, since the shiitake mushroom 1 is placed in front of the surface emitting illumination plate 33 and is photographed from the front, the obtained image becomes an image 1E like the shadow of the shiitake mushroom, as shown in FIG. ing. The image processing device 38 measures the height H of the umbrella of the image 1E and determines the quality of the height of the umbrella from the height. And
The image processing device 38 outputs a final determination of the quality of the shiitake mushroom 1 by considering all these conditions. It should be noted that this step may be omitted if the quality determination based on the height of the umbrella is not necessary.

Next, there will be described a case where a white net-like thing is attached to the surface of the shiitake mushroom (it is a high-quality product as a shiitake mushroom), and the presence or absence thereof is taken into consideration in the quality judgment. Camera 2
Image 1A obtained by photographing the lower surface of shiitake mushroom 1 in 8 (see FIG. 9)
In, if the surface of the shiitake mushroom has a white mesh, the portion corresponding to it appears as a white area on the screen. Therefore, it is considered that the area of the white region in the image 1A should be measured. However, since the image 1D corresponding to the umbrella back surface 1d of the shiitake mushroom 1 is also a white region, it is not possible to distinguish between the two simply by measuring the area of the white region, and it is not possible to detect a white mesh.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the amount of light by the illumination device 26 for illuminating the lower surface of the shiitake mushroom 1 is made extremely small, for example, 1200 to 2400 lux, preferably 1600.
Approximately 2000 lux, and an image captured at that illuminance is taken into the image processing device 38 and processed. When illuminated with such a low illuminance, light is absorbed by a large number of folds on the back surface 1d of the center of the lower surface of the shiitake mushroom 1, and in the obtained image 1A, if the central area 1D is white. Instead, it turned out to turn black. Therefore,
Using this image, the determination step shown in FIG. 8 is performed, and white extraction is performed subsequent to the brown pouring. By this white extraction, it is possible to detect the area of the shiitake mushroom that has a white net-like shape.

After performing the white extraction, the sum of the areas extracted by the brown extraction and the areas extracted by the white extraction is used to select the window having the minimum sum, and the brown area a in the window is selected.
And the white area a '(= a + a') is calculated, and the total area b
The quality grade is determined from the area ratio [= (a + a ') / b] with respect to. As a result, it is possible to make a quality judgment in consideration of the white net-like object that is applied to the surface of the shiitake mushroom.

1 to 3, a sorting and discharging position P4, which is a stop position of a plurality of transport fingers 12, is provided downstream of the inspection position P3, and the sorting and discharging device 5 is located at that position.
0 is provided. This sorting and discharging device 50 includes a plurality of pushers (not shown) provided to push forward the shiitake mushrooms 1 held by the transport fingers 12 at the respective stop positions of the transport fingers 12, and the pushed shiitake mushrooms 1.
It has a plurality of hoppers 52 and 54 which are respectively provided in two stages at a position for receiving a grade, an extragrade receiver 55 for receiving a non-grade shiitake mushroom, and the like. The plurality of pushers described above are configured to push the shiitake mushroom of a predetermined grade to a predetermined position according to the determination result by the image processing device 38 described above.
The bottoms of the plurality of hoppers 52 and 54 are designed to be opened and closed independently. Further, a first belt conveyor 56 is arranged below the lower hopper 54 so that the shiitake mushroom discharged from any hopper 54 can be received and conveyed.

At the downstream end of the first belt conveyor 56, a second belt conveyor 58 is arranged at a position where the shiitake mushrooms discharged from the first belt conveyor 56 can be received, and in the vicinity thereof, the shiitake mushrooms in individual packaging units are arranged. Tray supply device 6 for supplying the tray 60 for storing the tray onto the second conveyor 58
2 are provided. The tray supply device 62 includes means (not shown) for separating the trays 60 set in a stacked state one by one and sending them to the supply position S, and one tray 60 sent to the supply position S. The pusher 63 that is sent to the second conveyor 58, the tray 60 that is sent from the supply position S to the second conveyor 58, and the inkjet recording device 64 that records information about the grade of the shiitake to be placed inside are provided.

Next, the operation of the apparatus described above will be described. The transport finger 12 holding the shiitake mushroom 1 moves intermittently by the endless chain 13, is inspected at detection positions P2 and P3 in the middle thereof, and the quality of the shiitake mushroom 1 is determined by the image processing device 38. After that, the shiitake mushroom 1 is sent to the sorting and discharging position P4 by the transport finger 12, and when it stops at the stop position corresponding to the determined grade, it is thrown into the hopper 52 in front of it by the pusher at that position. At this time, the bottom of the hopper 52 is closed, and therefore, the shiitake mushroom 1 of the same grade is put into the hopper 52. This operation is performed one after another, and shiitake mushrooms are thrown into each hopper 52 one after another.

Now, when the number of the introduced shiitake mushrooms 1 reaches the individual packaging unit (for example, 6 pieces) in any one of the hoppers 52, the bottom of the hopper 52 is opened and the inside shiitake mushrooms are placed below the hopper. After discharging to 54, the hopper 52 closes the bottom and waits to receive the next shiitake. On the other hand, the hopper 5 that received the shiitake mushroom 1 in individual packaging units
In 4, the bottom part is opened and the shiitake mushrooms in individual packaging units are discharged onto the first belt conveyor 56 at the timing when the first belt conveyor 56 below is not used. Then, the first belt conveyor 56 starts operation and conveys the shiitake mushroom toward the second belt conveyor 58. In parallel with this operation, in the tray supply device 62, the pusher 63 sends out the tray 60 waiting at the supply position S onto the second belt conveyor 58, and at that time, the inkjet type recording device 6
4 is information regarding the grade of the shiitake mushroom that is being conveyed on the first belt conveyor 56 (for example, "L size, A class").
Etc.) on the tray 60. The arrangement of the recording device 64 may be changed and the recording operation for the tray 60 may be performed when the tray 60 is supplied to the supply position S.
Alternatively, the configuration may be performed while the tray 60 is waiting at the supply position S. After that, the shiitake mushroom 1 sent by the first belt conveyor 56 is dropped from the end portion of the first belt conveyor 56 and put into the tray 60 waiting on the second belt conveyor 58. Thus, the shiitake mushroom of that grade is placed in the tray 60 in which the information regarding the grade is recorded.

After that, the second belt conveyor 58 moves by one tray 60 placed on the second belt conveyor 58, sends the tray 60 containing the shiitake mushroom 1 in advance, and waits for the next operation. On the other hand, the first belt conveyor 56 stops and waits for the next loading. Here, since the hoppers 52 and 54 are provided in two stages at the position where the shiitake mushroom 1 from the transport finger 12 is received, the lower hopper 54 serves as a buffer, and the one first belt conveyor 5
Even though the shiitake mushroom 1 is only put into the tray 60 by using 6, the operation of the transport finger 12 does not need to be stopped, and the operation rate can be increased. If only one-stage hopper 52 is used, when a predetermined number of shiitake mushrooms are put into one hopper 52 and it is necessary to discharge it to the first belt conveyor 56, the first When the belt conveyor 56 is in use, it is necessary to wait until the use is finished, but when the transfer fingers 12 carry shiitake mushrooms of the same grade during the waiting, it is not possible to put in more shiitake mushrooms. , Unavoidably, transport finger 1
Therefore, it is necessary to stop the movement of No. 2 and therefore to interrupt the quality discrimination operation and the like upstream thereof. Therefore, the operating rate is reduced. If the two-stage hopper is installed as described above,
Such a situation does not occur, and the shiitake mushroom 1 can be loaded into the tray 60 by using the single first belt conveyor 56 without lowering the operating rate. In addition,
The out-of-grade product is discharged to the out-of-grade receiver 55 and processed by an operator at an appropriate timing.

While the tray 60 containing the shiitake mushrooms on the second belt conveyor 58 is sent on the second belt conveyor 58, the operator inserts the shiitake mushrooms 1 into the tray 60.
Rearrange the appearance. A stretch film packaging machine 66, a weight checker 68, a mark detector 70, and a grade-based distribution conveyor 7 are provided downstream of the second belt conveyor 58.
Packing the tray 60 containing the shiitake mushrooms in which 2 etc. are arranged, checking the weight, reading the information on the grade recorded in the tray 60, and distributing it to predetermined positions You can As can be seen from FIG. 1, in this embodiment, two lines for inspecting shiitake mushrooms and putting them in the tray are provided in parallel and connected to a common stretch film packaging machine 66. The number can be increased or decreased as appropriate.

As described above, in the shiitake mushroom sorting device of the present embodiment, after the operator manually places the shiitake mushroom 1 on the support pin 19 of the shiitake mushroom feeding device 18 provided at the feeding position P1. The shiitake mushroom 1 is automatically transferred to the carrying finger 12, and then the carrying finger 12 carries the shiitake mushroom 1 through a predetermined route, and on the way, the quality of the shiitake mushroom 1 is judged, and the judgment is made. Based on the result, the shiitake mushrooms are classified and sent to the corresponding hoppers 52, and when the shiitake mushrooms in the number of individual packaging units are collected, the shiitake mushrooms are once sent to the hopper 54 below the shiitake mushrooms, and then the shiitake mushrooms are first belt conveyor 56
And is conveyed by the first belt conveyor 56,
A tray 60 on which information indicating the quality of the shiitake mushroom 1 is recorded is supplied onto the second belt conveyor 58, a predetermined number of shiitake mushrooms 1 are loaded into the tray 60, and then the tray 60 containing the shiitake mushroom is placed. After packaging, checking the weight, sorting by class and discharging.

In the above embodiment, the shiitake mushroom 1 is placed in the tray 6
Although the method of putting in 0 and packaging is adopted, it is also possible to pack in a bag instead of this. That is, it is also possible to adopt a system in which a bag feeding type packaging machine or a bag making type packaging machine is arranged downstream of the first belt conveyor 56 and the shiitake mushroom is packaged in the bag by the packaging machine. Also in this case, before the shiitake mushroom is placed in the bag, information indicating the grade of the shiitake mushroom may be printed on the bag or the film before the bag is made.

Further, in the above embodiment, the transport finger 12 for holding and transporting the shiitake mushroom 1 has the linear support pins 12b and 12b arranged in parallel with each other. The shape of the fingers 12 can be changed in various ways. For example, the tip of one or both of the pair of support pins 12b, 12b arranged in parallel can be shaped so that the distance between the two is widened. This shape has the advantage of facilitating the operation of inserting the handle 1b of the shiitake mushroom 1 from the distal end side between the support pins 12b, 12b. Further, the pair of support pins 12b, 12b are arranged so that the distance between the pair of support pins 12b, 12b becomes narrower in the central portion.
One or both of b may be curved. Further, in addition to the pair of support pins, auxiliary support pins can be used together.

FIG. 14 shows the transport finger 1 having this structure.
2'is shown. That is, in the transport finger 12 'shown in FIG. 14, one support pin 12b is linear, while the other support pin 12b' is curved, and the spacing between the support pins 12b, 12b 'is in the central portion. Form a narrowed region. Further, an auxiliary support pin 12e is provided outside the one support pin 12b.
With this configuration, by holding the shiitake mushrooms 1 in a region having a narrow interval, there is an advantage that the shiitake mushrooms are reliably held.
That is, since the transport finger 12 ′ transports the shiitake mushroom while intermittently moving, the shiitake mushroom 1 is caused by the impact at the time of its movement and stop.
Moves horizontally or tilts with respect to the support pins 12b, 12b '.
The larger the gap between 2b 'and the handle 1b of the shiitake mushroom 1, the larger it becomes. Therefore, when the shiitake mushrooms 1 with a small handle 1b are held at a wide interval, the shiitake mushroom 1 may fall, but as in this embodiment. By forming a region with a narrow interval between the support pins 12b and 12b 'and locating the handle 1b of the shiitake mushroom 1 in that region, the movement of the shiitake mushroom 1 can be suppressed and the fallout can be prevented.
In addition, as a result of forming the region with a narrow interval in the support pins 12b and 12b ', when holding a large shiitake, the handle 1
The dimension of b may be larger than the space between the narrowest regions of the support pins 12b and 12b ', but in that case, when the handle 1b is pushed in, the support pins 12b and 12b' are deformed to the outside, so there is no problem. . Also, the support pins 12b, 12b '
Since the space on the rear end side (mounting portion) is wide, a width necessary for mechanical strength or mounting on the chain 13 (see FIG. 4) can be secured to the support plate 12a for mounting it, and there is no hindrance. . The auxiliary support pin 12e provided on the outer side of the support pin 12b prevents the shiitake mushroom 1 from inclining due to the impact of the movement and stop of the transport finger 12 'to try to get over the support pin 12b. Can be prevented from falling off. The auxiliary support pins 12e are not limited to being provided on one side as shown in the drawing, but may be provided on both sides.

Although the case where the present invention is applied to shiitake mushrooms has been described above as an example, the present invention is not necessarily limited to shiitake mushrooms and can be applied to other mushrooms such as oyster mushrooms. Further, the processes after the sorting and discharging device 50 can be used not only for mushrooms such as shiitake mushrooms and oyster mushrooms but also for sorting other articles such as vegetables and fruits.

[0047]

As described above, according to the quality judging apparatus of the present invention, the shiitake mushroom umbrella is supported by a pair of horizontally arranged support pins provided on the conveying finger, and in that state,
By sending the shiitake mushroom to the inspection position, illuminating the shiitake mushroom from below with a lighting device, shooting from the bottom with a camera, and processing the obtained image with an image processing device to determine the quality of the shiitake mushroom, the camera On the other hand, the mushrooms can always be held in the same posture, and there is no discernment error due to variations in postures. Therefore, it is possible to automatically identify the mushrooms with high accuracy, and the visual judgment by the operator as in the past. It is possible to improve the workability and the identification accuracy without the need for, and since the shiitake mushrooms are transported while being simply placed on the support pins, there is almost no part that causes friction against the shiitake mushrooms during transportation. It has excellent effects such as not damaging shiitake mushrooms.

Here, the image processing apparatus extracts a brown area corresponding to the umbrella of mushrooms from the color image of mushrooms,
When the function of judging the quality from the ratio of the brown area to the total area of the mushrooms is added, the ring-shaped umbrella portion can be satisfactorily detected, and the quality evaluation accuracy is improved.

Further, when the illumination device has a ring-shaped light emitting portion arranged so as to surround the camera, the illumination to the mushrooms is made uniform, the influence of the shadow of the support pin can be reduced, and the quality judgment can be made. The effect of improving accuracy is obtained.

Further, when the lower surface of the mushroom is illuminated at 1200 to 2400 lux, the amount of illumination light is small,
The light that illuminates the back side of the shiitake mushroom is absorbed by the folds in that part, and it becomes black in the image captured by the camera.Therefore, we photographed the entire surface of the mushroom with a white mesh. In this case, in the image, only that white mesh becomes white, and therefore the size of the white mesh on the surface of the mushroom can be detected by detecting the area of the white part in the image. Presence or absence can be added to the quality evaluation standard, and the effect of further improving the quality evaluation accuracy can be obtained.

Furthermore, if a second detection position is provided and the mushrooms held by the transport fingers are photographed from the horizontal direction at that position, the thickness of the umbrella of the mushrooms can be detected from the image. Therefore, by adding the thickness of the umbrella to the quality evaluation standard, it is possible to further improve the quality evaluation accuracy.

In the sorting apparatus of the present invention, after the quality judgment by the above-mentioned quality judgment apparatus is carried out, the carrying finger holding the shiitake moves to the downstream side, and the sorting and discharging device provided at that position moves the carrying finger. Based on the quality judgment result by the image processing device, the mushrooms held by can be selected and discharged at a position corresponding to the quality. Therefore, the quality judgment and sorting of the shiitake mushrooms are automatically performed. It has the effect of being able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an entire shiitake sorting device including a quality determination device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing a main part of the sorting apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the portion shown in FIG.

4A and 4B show a transport finger used in the above-described quality determination device, in which FIG. 4A is a schematic bottom view thereof, FIG. 4B is a schematic side view thereof, and FIG. 4C is a schematic front view thereof.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of a first inspection position in the quality determination device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view of a second inspection position in the quality determination device.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a quality judgment system of the quality judgment device.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a determination operation by the quality determination system.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an image taken by a camera 28.

10A and 10B are explanatory views showing a state in which a window is set in the image shown in FIG. 9, respectively.

11A is a diagram for explaining a state in which a window is set in the image shown in FIG. 9 and the area of the brown portion therein is measured. FIG. 11B is a diagram in which the window is set in the image shown in FIG. Figure explaining the state of measuring the area of shiitake mushrooms inside

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an image taken by a camera 32.

FIG. 13A is a bottom view of a normal shiitake mushroom, and FIG. 13B is a cross-sectional view of the shiitake mushroom.

FIG. 14 shows a modified example of the transport finger,
(A) is the schematic side view, (b) is the schematic plan view,
(C) is its schematic front view, (d) is its schematic rear view

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Shiitake Mushroom 1a Umbrella 1b Pattern 1c Ring-shaped Umbrella 1d Umbrella backside 1A Image of Shiitake 1C Image of ring-shaped Umbrella 1D Image of backside of umbrella 1D Quality determination device 12 Conveying fingers 12a Support plate 12b Support pin 13 Chain 18 Shiitake supply Device 26 Illumination device 26c Ring-shaped light emitting unit 28 Camera 30 Light-shielding plate 32 Camera 33 Surface emitting illumination plate 38 Image processing device 50 Sorting and discharging device 52 Hopper 54 Hopper 56 First belt conveyor 58 Second belt conveyor 60 Tray 62 Tray supply device 63 Pusher 64 Recording device P1 Supply position P2 First inspection position P3 Second inspection position P4 Sorting and discharging position

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A conveyance finger having a pair of support pins horizontally arranged with a space larger than a handle of a mushroom and capable of supporting the lower surface of the umbrella of the mushroom, and the conveyance finger is inspected. A transport device that intermittently moves through a position,
An illumination device that illuminates the mushrooms held by the transport finger at the inspection position from below, and a camera that shoots the mushrooms held by the transport finger at the inspection position from below.
An image processing device for processing the image obtained by this camera to determine the quality of the mushrooms. 2. The camera is a color camera, and the image processing apparatus extracts a brown area corresponding to an umbrella of a mushroom from a color image of the mushroom, and calculates a brown area of the entire area of the mushroom. The quality determination device for mushrooms according to claim 1, wherein the quality is determined from the ratio. 3. The quality determination device for mushrooms according to claim 1, wherein the lighting device has a ring-shaped light emitting portion arranged so as to surround the camera. 4. The lighting device includes a lower surface of a mushroom 1200
The image processing apparatus extracts the brown area and the white area from the color image of the mushroom, and determines the quality from the ratio of the total area of the two to the total area of the mushroom. The quality determination device for mushrooms according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the determination is made. 5. The transport device is configured to intermittently move the transport finger through a second detection position, and at the second detection position, the mushrooms held by the transport finger are horizontally moved. A second camera for shooting is provided,
5. The image processing apparatus has a function of processing an image obtained by the second camera to determine quality relating to the height of an umbrella of mushrooms.
The mushroom quality determination device described in the item. 6. The quality judgment device according to claim 1 and the quality judgment device by the image processing device for the mushrooms arranged downstream of the quality judgment device for mushrooms and held by conveyance fingers. A sorting device for mushrooms, comprising a sorting and discharging device that selects and discharges a position corresponding to the quality based on the result.