JPS6332131B2 - - 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%. (See Figure 4), so 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

The degree of polishing will be explained with reference to cross-sectional views of brown rice shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Brown rice grains consist of a starch layer that forms the core, that is, the endosperm, and a bran layer surrounding the outer periphery of the starch layer.
48μ) and an inner bran layer (25-40μ). moreover,
The outer bran layer consists of the outer pericarp and the seed coat on the inner wall, and the inner bran layer consists of the ectosperm and 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 considered to have a polishing level of 100%. , 0 brown rice
%. 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 present invention provides a correction value based on the rice grain density (volumetric weight) and a correction value based on the variety of rice grains, which affect the amount of light transmitted through polished rice grains and the amount of reflected light from the surface of polished rice. A technical problem is to provide a rice grain polishing degree measuring device that can calculate the true polishing degree by taking into account.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a volumetric weight detection device for detecting the volumetric weight of a sample, a light source device,
A sample channel that receives light from the light source device, a reflected light receiving element provided from the light source device side toward the sample channel, and a transmitted light receiver provided toward the sample channel from the opposite side of the light source device. The amount of reflected light from the reflective light receiving element is multiplied by a coefficient, and the amount of transmitted light from the transmitted light receiving element is multiplied by a value determined by the volumetric weight from the volumetric weight detection device. Furthermore, a technical measure was taken to provide a calculation device that outputs the milling degree by adding a predetermined correction value depending on the type of rice grain to the sum of the product multiplied by a coefficient.

[Effect]

As a result, the sample rice grains, which have been placed in the weighing tank of the supply section and whose volumetric weight has been measured by the load cell, are able to detect the amount of transmitted light and the amount of reflected light by the transmitted light receiving element and the reflected light receiving element provided in the measuring section. The amount of transmitted light is input to a transmittance detection circuit, and the amount of reflected light is input to a reflectance detection circuit. 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 obtained reflectance by a coefficient value for converting the brightness. On the other hand, the signal from the load cell that measures the volumetric weight of the rice grain is input to the volumetric weight detection circuit and multiplied by a coefficient value, and this signal is used to determine the amount of transmitted light relative to the amount of irradiation light determined by the transmittance detection circuit. The transmittance (transmittance), which is the ratio, is corrected for the density. Then, the density-corrected transmittance is multiplied by a coefficient for converting brightness. This value is added to the calculated value in the reflectance detection circuit, and a correction value corresponding to the characteristics of the variety or crop is added to determine the degree of fineness.

[Embodiments of the invention]

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 is a schematic sectional view of this embodiment.
The figure is its electrical circuit diagram.

The rice grain polishing measurement device 1 includes a measurement section 1A and a supply section 1.
It consists of B. First, the measuring section 1A will be explained. The integrating sphere 2 has a lighting window 2a and a measurement window 2 facing each other.
b, and a light source device 50 consisting of a condensing lens 4, a monochromatic light filter 7, a heat ray absorption filter 6, and a light source lamp 5 is provided in the daylight window 2a, while the measurement window 2b is formed of a transparent wall. At the same time, a sample flow path 3 equipped with an input shutter 9 at the top and a discharge shutter 10 at the bottom is provided.
A marker post 8 equipped with a reference color plate is provided inside. A discharge channel 14 is connected to the lower end of the sample flow channel 3 . and,
A transmitted light receiving element 15A is provided on the opposite side of the light source device 50 via the sample channel 3, and a reflected light receiving element 15B is provided on the side of the light source device 50.

Next, in the supply section 1B, a vibrating grain feeder 12 connected to the upper end of the sample channel 3 and equipped with a vibrating device 11 is provided.
In order to continuously and quantitatively supply the rice grains flowing out from the measuring tank 13 installed above the vibrating grain feeder 12 into the sample flow path 3, a flow path resistance increase/decrease device (not shown) vibrates the grains. The device 11 is configured to be adjustable. A supply tank 19 equipped with a discharge shutter 18 is suspended above the metering tank 13, and the metering tank 13 is surrounded by the metering tank 13.
An outer tank 20 is provided to receive rice grains overflowing from the tank. The outer tank 20 has an electrostatic capacitor that detects a state in which the rice grains put into the measuring tank 13 are deposited in a mountain shape at the upper end of the tank 13 to form an angle of repose (that a predetermined volume of rice grains has been supplied). A capacitive proximity switch 21 is installed. The detection signal of the proximity switch 21 is transmitted to the regulator 2 provided in the volume/weight detection circuit 22.
3 is input. Further, a discharge shutter 24 is provided at the lower end of the weighing tank 13, and the weighing tank 13 is supported on load cells 25, 25.
The measurement signal is input to the volumetric weight detection circuit 22 via the regulator 23. The actuating devices for the discharge shutters 18 and 24 are connected to the regulator 23, and these shutters 18 and 24 are operated by the proximity switch 21 to supply a predetermined volume of rice grains to the measuring tank 13 and calculate its volumetric weight. formed to measure. In this way, the measuring tank 13, the load cell 25, the volumetric weight detection circuit 22, etc. form a volumetric weight detection device that detects the volumetric weight of rice grains.

Next, the arithmetic circuit X 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 26 of the reflectance detection circuit 1, and the subtracter 27, A/D converter 28, and comparator 29 are connected in series. It is connected to a marker value setter 30, and its output side is connected to the amplifier 26 via an amplification adjuster 31. Further, the output side of the amplifier 26 is branched and connected to the subtracter 27 via the dark current storage circuit 32, and the output side of the subtracter 27 is branched and connected via the multiplier 33 and the A/D converter 34. It is connected to an adder 35. On the other hand, the transmitted light receiving element 15A is connected to the adding device 35 via the amplifier 36 of the transmittance detection circuit 16, the multiplier 37, the multiplier 38, and the A/D converter 39. In addition, a suspension type correction circuit 40 is connected to the adding device, and
Its output side is connected to a precision indicator 41. The regulator 23 of the volumetric weight detection circuit 22 passes through an amplifier 42 and a multiplier 43, and then is connected to the multiplier 3 of the transparency detection circuit 16.
It is connected to 7.

Note that the subtracter 27 of the reflectance detection circuit 17 inputs the output of the dark current storage circuit 32 that stores the dark current of the integrating sphere 2 to the subtracter 27, and subtracts the dark current value from the amount of light received by the light receiving element. The comparator 29 compares the setting value of the marker value setter 30 with the amount of light received from the light receiving element, and changes the amplification degree of the amplifier 26 via the amplification adjuster 31 based on the comparison difference, thereby adjusting the marker value. Adjust to match.

In the above configuration, the addition is calculated based on the reflectivity based on the amount of reflected light from the amplifier 26, the transmittance (density corrected) based on the amount of transmitted light from the amplifier 36, and the output from the product type correction circuit 40. When the calculated value of the device 35, that is, the amount of irradiated light is used as a reference value, the degree of brightness is expressed by the following formula.

Fineness = α × (reflected light amount) + β × (transmitted light amount) × (volume weight) ^K + H Note that α, β, and index K are coefficients (experimentally determined values) for converting to fineness degree, and H is This is the corrected value for each type of rice grain.

The specific operation will be explained below. The discharge shutter 18 of the supply tank 19 is opened in response to a signal from the regulator 23 and closed after a predetermined time;
The sample rice grains (polished rice) in the tank 19 flow down into the lower measuring tank 13 and fill it, and are deposited in a mountain shape at the upper end of the tank 13 to form an angle of repose, and rice grains exceeding a predetermined capacity are transferred to the outer tank. 20 and is discharged outside the machine. When the electrostatic capacitance type proximity switch 21 detects the upper end portion of the mountain-shaped grain layer (meaning rice grains of a predetermined capacity) in the weighing tank 13, the tank weight is immediately transferred to the load cells 25, 25 based on the detection signal. The measurement signal is input to the controller 23 to calculate the volumetric weight.
Then, the shutter 24 is opened by a signal from the regulator 23, the vibrating grain feeding trough 12 vibrates, and the rice grains flow into the sample channel 3.

The light from the light source lamp 5 of the photoelectric device is irradiated onto the rice grains in the sample channel 3 through the lighting window 2a, and the amount of reflected light reflected from the sample into the integrating sphere 2 is received by the reflected light receiving element 15B. Ru. This light reception signal is amplified by the amplifier 26 and the dark current is subtracted by the subtracter 27, and then input to the multiplier 33. This signal is branched and sent to the A/D converter 28. is input to the comparator 29 via the , and compared with the setting value of the marker value setting device 30,
The comparison difference is sent to the amplifier 2 via the amplification degree adjuster 31.
6 and changes the amplification factor of the amplifier 26 to correct it so that it matches the reference color plate provided on the marker pole 8. Note that the correction circuit of this amplifier 26 is
The amplifier 36 in the transmittance detection circuit 16 is also provided (not shown). From the subtracter 27 to the multiplier 33
The input signal is multiplied by a coefficient α, A/D converted, and input to the adder 35 .

On the other hand, the light beam incident from the light window 2a of the integrating sphere 2 passes through the rice grain in the sample channel 3 and is received by the transmitted light receiving element 15A, and this signal is transmitted to the amplifier 3.
6 is input to the multiplier 37,
This signal and the signal from the load cells 25, 25 that measure the volumetric weight of the weighing tank 13 are amplified and multiplied to the K power by the multiplier 43, and then processed by the multiplier 37 and input to the multiplier 38. Ru. This corrects the difference in the amount of transmitted light due to the difference in volumetric weight (density) between large rice grains and small rice grains (Large grains = low density rice grains have a large amount of transmitted light, and small grains = high density rice grains have a large amount of transmitted light. few). Volumetric weight is expressed in kilograms per liter, for white rice
It is 0.8-0.9. Then, after being multiplied by a coefficient β in a multiplier 38, the signal is A/D converted and input to an adding device 35.

In this manner, the signal of the transmitted light receiving element 15A corrected by the volume weight and the coefficient β is added to the signal of the reflected light receiving element 15B inputted from the A/D converter 34 in the adding device 35. In addition, the coefficient H from the product type correction circuit 40
is added and output to the whiteness level display 41, and displayed as whiteness level (%).

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 Y showing another embodiment. In this embodiment, the reflectance detection circuit 17 is replaced with the product type correction circuit 40 in the previous embodiment.
A and the transmittance detection circuit 16A are provided with a brown rice reflectivity storage device 44 and a brown rice transmittance storage device 46, and subtractors 45 and 47 are 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) × (Volume weight of polished rice) ^K1 - (Amount of transmitted light of brown rice) × (Volume weight of brown rice) ^K1 ] = α ₁ × ( Reflected light amount of polished rice) + β ₁ (Amount of transmitted light of polished rice) × (Volume weight of polished rice) ^K1 − [α ₁ × (Amount of reflected light of brown rice) + β ₁ × (Amount of transmitted light of brown rice) × (Volume weight of brown rice) ^K1 ] In addition, α ₁ , β ₁ and the index K ₁ are coefficients determined experimentally, as in the previous embodiment. In addition, as is clear from the above calculation formula, -[α ₁ × (Brown rice reflected light amount) + β ₁ × (Brown rice reflected light amount) × (Brown rice volumetric weight) ^K1 ] in the above formula is This corresponds to the rice grain type correction value H in the calculation formula for calculating the degree of rice grain.

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 determined by the transmittance detection circuit 1, respectively.
6A and the reflectance detection circuit 17A.
Then, each amount of received light is stored in the brown rice transmittance storage device 4.
6 and the measured values of the amount of transmitted light and the amount of reflected light of the brown rice of the rice grains stored in the brown rice reflectance storage device 44, and input them into the adding device 35A to determine the degree of whitening by the above formula, It is displayed on the precision display 41A. 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, amount of reflected light, and volumetric weight are detected, each detected value is multiplied by a coefficient for converting the degree of polishing, and the transmitted light detected value is subjected to density correction based on volumetric weight, and then the transmitted light detected value and reflected light are combined. By adding the light detection value and making corrections according to the characteristics of the variety or crop, it is possible to easily and accurately determine the whiteness level compared to the complicated judgment using a whiteness meter that only uses diffusely reflected light or various test chemicals. is required, and it is from this that the quality of the actual product can be evaluated.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an electric circuit diagram thereof, Fig. 3 is an electric circuit diagram of another embodiment, Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of brown rice, and Fig. 5 is a schematic sectional view of brown rice. This is a partially enlarged view of Figure 4. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Rice grain polishing measuring device, 2... Integrating sphere, 3... Sample channel, 4... Condensing lens, 5... Light source lamp, 6...
Heat ray absorption filter, 7... Monochromatic light filter, 8
... Marker pole, 9 ... Input shutter, 10 ... Discharge shutter, 11 ... Vibration device, 12 ... Vibrating grain feeder, 13
...Measuring tank, 14...Discharge path, 15A...Transmitted light receiving element, 15B...Reflected light receiving element, 16, 16A
...Transmittance detection circuit, 17, 17A...Reflectance detection circuit, 18...Discharge shutter, 19...Supply tank,
20...Outer tank, 21...Proximity switch, 22...
Volumetric weight detection circuit, 23...Adjuster, 24...Ejection shutter, 25...Load cell, 26...Amplifier, 27
...subtractor, 29...comparator, 30...marker value setter,
31... Amplification adjuster, 32... Dark current storage circuit, 3
3... Multiplier, 34... A/D converter, 35, 35A
... Adding device, 36... Amplifier, 37, 38... Multiplier, 39... A/D converter, 40... Product type correction circuit, 41, 41A... Sharpness display, 42... Amplifier, 43... Multiplier, 44... brown rice reflectance storage device,
45...Subtractor, 46...Brown rice transparency storage device, 47
...Subtractor, 50...Light source device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A volumetric weight detection device for detecting volumetric weight of a sample;
A light source device, a sample flow path receiving light from the light source device, a reflected light receiving element provided from the light source device side toward the sample flow path, and a reflected light receiving element provided toward the sample flow path from the opposite side of the light source device. a transmitted light receiving element, and the amount of reflected light from the reflected light receiving element multiplied by a coefficient, and the amount of transmitted light from the transmitted light receiving element multiplied by the volumetric weight from the volumetric weight detection device. The present invention is characterized by being equipped with an arithmetic device that outputs the milling degree by adding a correction value determined depending on the variety of rice grains to the sum of products multiplied by a determined value and further multiplied by a coefficient. Rice grain polishing measurement device. 2. Rice grain polishing degree according to claim 1, wherein the calculation device outputs the polishing degree by subtracting the sum calculated by assuming the sample as brown rice from the sum calculated by assuming the sample is brown rice. measuring device.