KR20150107301A

KR20150107301A - Food dryer using image processing

Info

Publication number: KR20150107301A
Application number: KR1020140029988A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 최영범; 현명택
Original assignee: 농업회사법인 주식회사 오제주; 제주대학교 산학협력단
Priority date: 2014-03-14
Filing date: 2014-03-14
Publication date: 2015-09-23

Abstract

The present invention provides a food dryer for controlling dying operation by image processing an object to be dried and measuring a change in weight, which comprises a heater, an air circulation fan, and a ventilator, installed inside a drying room. Specifically, the food dryer comprises: an image processing unit for scanning an image of an object to be dried; a digital weighing machine for measuring the weight of the object to be dried in a drying process; and a drying control unit for controlling drying operation by receiving image information and weight information from the image processing unit and the digital weighing machine. High quality dried food can be manufactured by controlling drying operation by using dryness data obtained from image processing.

Description

[0001] Food dryer using image processing [0002]

The present invention relates to a food drier, and more particularly to a food drier that recognizes the amount of a standard dried object through image processing, accurately grasps the drying state of the dried object during drying process using the weight data through a digital weighing machine, We can offer you a new food dryer.

Drying is an old technology used to dry raw materials and components in high-tech industries such as dry processing of agricultural and marine products, drying of laundry, medicines or microbial or electronics industries. Despite the fact that the drying process is a key area of industrial processes where energy consumption is high, energy efficiency is low, resulting in enormous energy loss. If the efficiency of the initial system design is not improved, operating costs are high. The drying quality of the object may be deteriorated.

On the other hand, in the case of dry food, the color, flavor, shape, and texture change depending on the drying process, and there is a problem that it is difficult to precisely control the drying operation due to changes in the external environment such as weather and season around the dryer.

In the case of the hot air dryer, which is mainly used for food drying, various technologies have been developed in order to improve the drying efficiency such as uniform drying and quick drying and energy saving. However, the technology development has been progressed by element technology in a fragmentary manner, Has been inadequate in the past.

Development of active intelligent drying control technology considering difference of humidity and temperature difference between outside air and drying room due to seasonal change or weather change so that drying process can be controlled in detail considering the characteristics of external environment and drying object for high quality of dry food Is required.

In order to control the drying operation of the dryer, it is very important to accurately grasp the drying state of the drying object in the drying process. The drying condition of the object to be dried can be predicted by the humidity change or the temperature change inside the drying chamber or the humidity of the dry air discharged from the drying room. However, the drying degree may vary depending on the kind and condition of the object to be dried or the environment around the dryer Therefore, it is very difficult to accurately grasp the degree of drying of the object to be dried.

Accordingly, it is urgently required to develop a new dryer capable of precisely grasping the change in drying degree during the drying process according to the type and characteristics of the drying subject and controlling the drying operation based on the change.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new food dryer capable of precisely grasping a drying degree of a drying object during a drying process and actively controlling a drying operation according to a drying phase .

It is also an object of the present invention to provide an optimum drying system which takes into consideration the characteristics of the object to be dried and the quality of the final dried material.

Other objects and technical features of the present invention will be more specifically described in the following detailed description.

In order to attain the above object, the present invention provides a drying apparatus comprising: a drying chamber having an internal drying space into which a car loaded with a drying object can be charged; a heater installed inside the drying chamber; A dryer including an air circulation fan disposed at another position and an exhaust blower installed inside the drying chamber for discharging dry air to the outside; An image processing unit for scanning an image of the object to be dried; A digital weighing machine for measuring the weight of the object to be dried in a drying process; And a drying controller for receiving the image information and the weight information from the image processor and the digital weighing machine and controlling the drying operation.

In the present invention, the image processing unit and the digital weighing machine may further include a sample sorter for loading a part of the object to be dried. In this case, the image sorter and the digital weighing machine can image the object to be dried, have.

The drying control unit may monitor the temperature, humidity, pressure in the drying chamber, or remotely control operations of the heater, the fan, and the blower.

Preferably, the air circulating fan has a plurality of mutually opposed fans arranged crosswise on both sides of the inside of the drying chamber. By controlling the driving direction of each fan, air can be circulated in an S-shape in the drying chamber.

The outer wall of the drying chamber may be provided with a heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the air discharged from the drying chamber to the outside and the air flowing from the outside to the drying chamber. The apparatus may further include a heat pump for dehumidifying the air flowing into the drying chamber.

According to the present invention, it is easy to control the drying operation or the drying step of the food drier, and the drying state of the object to be dried can be precisely measured and predicted in the drying process. Especially, it is possible to accurately grasp the change in drying degree of a drying object which is complicated in shape or has a different drying mechanism.

More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of controlling the temperature of a drying object, such as a heater output in a drying chamber, an air circulation , The heat exchange / dehumidification of the outside air can be intermittently controlled or actively controlled to improve the drying quality of the drying object and to maximize the energy efficiency.

Accordingly, it is possible to provide a high-performance, high-efficiency, high-performance dryer including a drying system and a process capable of achieving high quality and high added value of dried food, maximizing energy efficiency consumed in drying process, actively coping with changes in external environment . As a result, it can contribute to the enhancement of industrial competitiveness of related primary industries and the development of related industries as well as to increase the industrial utilization of dryer itself.

1 is an internal configuration diagram of a food drier according to the present invention
Fig. 2 is a view showing a bogie drawing to be loaded into the food drier of the present invention
Fig. 3 is a side view of the food dryer of the present invention
Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the drying system of the present invention
5 is a flowchart showing the drying process of the food drier of the present invention
FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a harvested sample harvester installed on a truck;
7 is a schematic diagram for measuring a change in weight of a sample harvester
Figure 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating image processing of various drying objects
9 is a schematic diagram showing an S-shaped air circulation in a food dryer

The present invention relates to a facility for circulating hot air and drying agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables at a low temperature, and a drying apparatus for drying a dried object by controlling the pressure, temperature, and internal air circulation inside the drying chamber .

Since the relative humidity varies depending on the temperature of the dryer, it is difficult to estimate the absolute dryness in the dryer. If the drying is not uniformly performed in the drying chamber, the drying degree may vary depending on the drying position.

In order to precisely measure the degree of drying according to the dried object in the drying process, the drying degree is measured according to the type of the object to be dried, and the standard value is measured, and the drying operation is controlled based on the standard value. Specifically, the drying degree according to the drying process is measured using a digital weighing machine (load cell or electronic balance), and the drying degree based on the weight of the drying object is accurately predicted by image processing of a part of the dried material. Also, the predicted drying degree is used as data for controlling the drying operation such as air flow rate, wind speed, air inflow, dehumidification, heater operation, and dryer stop in the dryer.

Hereinafter, technical features and effects of the food drier according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings through preferred embodiments.

1 is a schematic plan view showing major components and an interior of a food drier 100 according to the present invention.

The dryer includes a heater 110, a plurality of fans 120 for internal air circulation, and at least one blower 130 for exhaust and desiccant decompression in a drying chamber sealed by a wall bracket 104 and an openable door 102 Respectively. The drying object is actually dried in the drying chamber inner space 105 and a bogie (see 150 in FIG. 2) loaded with the multi-stage drying bodys can be installed in the drying chamber so that a large amount of the drying object can be effectively dried in a short time .

For example, one or more heaters 110 in the dryer may be disposed on one side of the inner wall of the drying chamber, preferably, a plurality of the heaters 110 may be spaced apart from each other. In addition, a large number of air circulation fans 120 are mounted on the inner wall of the drying chamber so that heat generated in the heater can be uniformly and quickly supplied to the inside of the drying chamber. As shown in FIG. 1, the air circulation fan is preferably arranged such that a plurality of fans are alternately arranged on two opposing walls of the drying chamber. By arranging such a fan, it is possible to control the high-temperature air in the drying chamber to be three-dimensionally circulated as described later.

In the dryer of the present invention, in addition to the heater, a means for generating far-infrared rays may be further included in the drying chamber.

The hot air used for drying in the drying process contains moisture from the object to be dried, which is discharged to the outside of the dryer through the blower 130. A blower disposed on one side of the inner wall of the drying chamber discharges the humidifier in the drying chamber to the outside while generating turbulence in the air circulation in the drying chamber to enable uniform drying. In addition, when the suction of the outside air is cut off, the blower can be dried in a state where the drying chamber is decompressed.

On the other hand, the high-temperature humidifier discharged by the blower can recycle energy through heat exchange before being thrown out of the dryer. To this end, the food dryer of the present invention is provided with a heat exchanger 140 on the side wall of the dryer as shown in FIG. In the course of the drying process, the indoor air having the raised humidity and temperature is heated to the outside by the heat exchanger through the duct 142 in the process of being discharged to the outside through the blower, and the heat- And then exits to the discharge port 146. [ The outside air heated and dehumidified through the heat exchange flows into the drying chamber, thereby improving drying efficiency and energy efficiency.

Thus, the operation of the components installed in the drying chamber can be controlled to maintain the low pressure, the proper temperature, and the internal air circulation precisely, thereby drying the dried object with low power consumption.

Even if the temperature or humidity in the drying chamber is precisely controlled, it is difficult to accurately grasp or estimate the drying degree in the drying machine because the relative humidity varies depending on the temperature in the drying chamber. In the present invention, the drying degree is measured on the basis of the weight of the laundry, the standard value is measured, and the drying operation is controlled on the basis of the standard value.

To this end, the food drier of the present invention includes a drying degree measuring unit and a drying controlling unit installed inside or outside the dryer, including an image processing unit for scanning an image of an object to be dried, a digital weighing machine for measuring the weight of the object to be dried in the drying process, And a drying control unit for receiving the image information and the weight information from the image processing unit and the digital weighing machine and controlling the drying operation.

4, the image processing unit IP may scan the image of the object to be dried in the dryer DR and transmit the image information to the drying control unit DC, Can directly or remotely control each operation in the drying chamber. The image information generated by the image processing unit or the weight information of the drying object generated in the digital weighing scale may be transferred to the drying control unit through data conversion in the data processing unit DP or data processing. The image processing unit may include an image pickup unit including an image pickup device such as a CCD or an optical lens, and a driving unit such as a servo motor for image scanning.

A detailed procedure of drying degree measurement and control by image processing will be described with reference to FIG.

First, an image of the dry sample DS is scanned (step S1) before (or after) the drying operation is started. The image of the dried sample can be scanned not only before drying, but also during drying and after drying, so that the image information according to the shape change of each drying step can be used as data for drying degree. After the drying is started (step S2), the weight of the object to be dried is measured (step S3). For this purpose, a digital weighing machine such as a load cell or an electronic balance can be used. In order to grasp the real-time drying, it is preferable in the present invention to carry out basic sampling on the weight of the dried object. That is, for the first specific drying object, the weight change is collected in advance as the basic data, the weight before drying, the weight after completion of the final drying, and the weight change in each drying process are prepared in advance, It can be used as a comparison data or a standard value for grasping the degree of drying of the object to be dried.

After the weight change according to each drying step is measured or compared with the standard value prepared in advance during the measurement, the drying degree of the drying subject can be estimated, thereby confirming the drying phase of the drying subject (Step S4). If the drying degree is estimated, the drying control unit controls the operation of the heater in the drying chamber, the operation of the blower or the air circulation fan based on the drying degree (step S5).

It is also possible to measure the weight change of a teabag (individual shelf in a car) when performing a basic sampling of the weight of the dried object using a digital weighing scale, or when measuring the weight change of the dried object in real time during the actual drying process However, it is also possible to measure the weight change of some samples of the dried object for measurement convenience and accurate weight change measurement.

To this end, the present invention may further comprise a sample sorter for loading a part of the object to be dried. Referring to Figs. 6 and 7, it can be seen that a sample tray 162 for measuring the change in the weight of some of the samples to be dried is placed in the tray 160. Fig. A weight meter such as a small load cell 170 may be disposed at the bottom of the sample tray to accurately grasp the change in weight of the object 300 during the drying process. Also, before the weighing, the image of the dried object of the sample tray is scanned to confirm the area, and the actual weight change degree can be confirmed by comparing with the standard size of the dried object.

In the case of image scanning and weighing using a sampler, it is possible to solve the problem of exceeding the measuring range of a small weighing machine due to excessive weight of the sampler compared to the case of measuring the weight of the sampler, It is possible to measure the weight of the sample more precisely. If necessary, the sample tray can be placed at a plurality of positions in the tray and the weight can be measured to obtain accurate drying degree data or to determine whether the drying is uniform.

In the case where a sample harvester is included, the image processing unit and the digital weighing system described above can scan an object to be dried of the sample harvester, measure the weight, and transmit the result to the drying control unit.

In this way, the drying degree of the drying process is measured using the digital weighing scale, and the image of some samples of the dried material is processed to accurately predict the drying degree based on the weight of the drying object, thereby controlling the air flow rate, It can be used as operation data such as heater operation and dryer stop. The control point of the drying control can be checked according to the weight change data in the drying process thus obtained to determine the operation and stoppage times of the drying heater. In the latter stage of the drying process, the drying operation is performed only by the far- .

The food drier of the present invention can perform overall operation control including image processing and the like in the drying control unit, and the drying control unit can monitor the temperature, humidity, pressure in the drying chamber, and control the operation of the heater, fan, have. It is preferable that the drying control unit is installed on the outer wall of the dryer or is capable of communicating wirelessly or wiredly so that remote control of the drying operation can be performed from the outside. In case of remote control, it is possible to solve the unexpected situation that may occur during the drying process in real time by controlling the operation of the dryer through an app in a smart phone or the like or via Internet communication from a remote terminal.

As described above, the food dryer of the present invention not only predicts the degree of drying by measuring the size (area) of the object to be dried by measuring the image of the object to be dried and measuring the change in weight, There is an advantage that the weight change (ratio) can be predicted based on the area ratio after the scan.

Referring to FIG. 8, when the shape of the dry sample of the drying object 300a is complicated (RS), basic information is obtained by image processing the entire area of each dry sample, and this information is stored in the comparative sample to the standard sample 300b Weight change or dryness can be predicted in comparison with the information on the weight. That is, the weight change can be indirectly measured on the basis of the area ratio with respect to the standard sample after image scanning with respect to the shape or shape of the actual sample to be dried.

For example, if image processing shows that the total area of the actual dry sample is 3 times larger than the standard sample, if the weight change after drying of the standard sample is reduced from 10g to 2g, the actual dry sample will have a final weight of 6g It can be predicted that it will change, and it is possible to grasp the completion time of drying by measuring the weight of the dried sample.

In addition to the dryness measurement, it is necessary to optimize the drying efficiency by actively controlling the drying operation conditions of the dryer according to the external environmental factors such as the drying time of the food, the season and the weather. It is also necessary to establish an optimum drying condition capable of achieving drying of a desired quality according to the characteristics of the object to be dried.

To this end, in the present invention, besides the measurement of the drying degree by the image processing, the circulation of the high-temperature dry air is three-dimensionally controlled to achieve uniform drying and quick drying, while achieving optimum drying specific to the object to be dried. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 9, a heater is disposed on one wall of the dryer, and a plurality of fans 120a, 120b, 120c, and 120d for internal circulation are disposed on both sides of the inner wall of the dryer. Since the air circulation fans are alternately disposed on both sides of the inner wall of the drying chamber, the drying air can be circulated in three dimensions on both sides of the drying object (not shown) .

For example, when each fan is driven in the forward direction, the air flow path in the dryer is circulated in an 'S' shape (SF1) and conversely, when the fan is operated in the reverse direction, it is circulated in an inverted 'S' shape (SF2). Air circulation of the fan The wind amount and the wind direction can be controlled by the inverter. Thus, when the fan is periodically changed, the dry air is periodically circulated by the S-shaped curve, so that heat concentration is not concentrated at a specific position, and the heat is uniformly distributed in the drying chamber, so that the drying efficiency can be further improved. In addition, it is possible to effectively control the discharge of the humidifier in the drying chamber according to the drying step so as to be suitable to the characteristics of the object to be dried.

The food drier of the present invention can be used with various assistive technologies in addition to the drying degree measurement through the above-described image processing.

For example, when the pressure in the drying chamber is lowered, the evaporation temperature of the moisture contained in the drying object is lowered and the drying speed is improved. Therefore, the reduced-pressure drying can be supplementarily used for the hot-air drying, In conjunction with the drying step, the inside of the drying chamber may be decompressed intermittently or periodically.

In addition, in order to reduce enormous energy loss consumed in the drying process, the drying efficiency can be improved by increasing the temperature of the outside air and the humidity by lowering the energy efficiency by exchanging the high temperature air that has been dried and the low temperature air that flows from the outside have. The drying efficiency and the energy efficiency can be optimized at the same time by controlling the number of the arrays or the heat exchange timing in conjunction with the drying step.

In particular, the food drier of the present invention is effective for controlling the drying operation individually according to the characteristics of the object to be dried, by collectively controlling the operation of each device or components constituting the dryer in order to improve the quality of the individual object to be dried.

For example, depending on the type of the dried material, a large amount of outside air is introduced at the initial stage of drying, and the humidifier contained in the drying object is rapidly discharged to the outside in the drying chamber. In the drying period, It will be possible to effectively control drying, spin drying, heat exchange, and dehumidifying air into the drying chamber.

In the case of dehumidifying air, the outside air may be introduced in a dry state through the heat exchanger as described above, or the heat pump may be installed in the outside air inlet to generate dehumidified air more aggressively.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, Modified, modified, or improved.

100: Food dryer 102: Door
104: inner wall 110: heater
120: air circulation fan 130: blower
140: heat exchanger 142, 144: duct
146: Outlet 150: Truck
160: Tissue 162: Sample Tissue
170: load cell 300: object to be dried

Claims

An air circulation fan installed inside the drying chamber and disposed at a different position from the heater; and an air circulation fan arranged inside the drying chamber, A dryer installed in the drying chamber and including an exhaust blower for discharging dry air to the outside;
An image processing unit for scanning an image of the object to be dried;
A digital weighing machine for measuring the weight of the object to be dried in a drying process;
And a drying control unit for receiving the image information and the weight information from the image processing unit and the digital weighing machine and controlling the drying operation
Food dryer with image processing.

The method according to claim 1,
Characterized in that the image processing unit and the digital weighing machine image-scan the dried object of the sample tray, measure the weight, and transfer the measured object to the drying control unit. dryer.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the drying control unit monitors temperature, humidity, and pressure in the drying chamber, and remotely controls operations of the heater, the fan, and the blower.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the air circulation fan has a plurality of mutually opposing fans arranged on both sides of the inside of the drying chamber so as to control the driving direction of each fan to circulate the air in an S- Used food dryer.

The method according to claim 1,
And a heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the air discharged from the drying chamber to the outside and the air flowing from the outside to the drying chamber is disposed on the outer wall of the drying chamber.

The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising a heat pump for dehumidifying air flowing into the drying chamber.