WO1997033160A1 - Procede et dispositif de controle radioscopique automatique de la qualite de denrees alimentaires - Google Patents
Procede et dispositif de controle radioscopique automatique de la qualite de denrees alimentaires Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO1997033160A1 WO1997033160A1 PCT/EP1997/000513 EP9700513W WO9733160A1 WO 1997033160 A1 WO1997033160 A1 WO 1997033160A1 EP 9700513 W EP9700513 W EP 9700513W WO 9733160 A1 WO9733160 A1 WO 9733160A1
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- food
- sensor
- checked
- ray
- charge image
- Prior art date
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Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H05G—X-RAY TECHNIQUE
- H05G1/00—X-ray apparatus involving X-ray tubes; Circuits therefor
- H05G1/08—Electrical details
- H05G1/60—Circuit arrangements for obtaining a series of X-ray photographs or for X-ray cinematography
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
- G01N23/00—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of wave or particle radiation, e.g. X-rays or neutrons, not covered by groups G01N3/00 – G01N17/00, G01N21/00 or G01N22/00
- G01N23/02—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of wave or particle radiation, e.g. X-rays or neutrons, not covered by groups G01N3/00 – G01N17/00, G01N21/00 or G01N22/00 by transmitting the radiation through the material
- G01N23/04—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of wave or particle radiation, e.g. X-rays or neutrons, not covered by groups G01N3/00 – G01N17/00, G01N21/00 or G01N22/00 by transmitting the radiation through the material and forming images of the material
Definitions
- the present invention relates to a method and a device for automatic radioscopic quality control of foods, in particular to the automatic X-ray inspection for foreign bodies and other incorrect fillings of industrially produced foods at high object speeds by means of line or surface X-ray cameras and fast automatic image processing.
- the packaging unit is illuminated with the food by radiation, for example an X-ray or gamma radiation, then the resulting image is imaged by means of suitable detectors or by means of a suitable detector and converted into an electronic gray-scale image, which in turn is converted is visually evaluated by human examiners or by a computer-aided automatic evaluation unit with regard to the relevant error criteria.
- the packaging units identified as defective on the basis of the specified quality regulations are discarded accordingly.
- Typical material flow velocities realized in the production lines are in the order of approx. 10 to 20 packaging units per second, i.e. converted in the range of conveyor belt speeds of approx. 1 m / sec to 2 m / sec with an assumed packaging extension of approx. 10 cm in the longitudinal direction of the belt. Since the production facilities are generally in operation around the clock, it is expedient to carry out the quality inspection with the same cycle times in which a foodstuff to be inspected is guided past the inspection station. It has been found that these high clock rates are no longer manageable by human auditors.
- line cameras are used for data acquisition, the pixel information of which is read out, digitized and processed in an evaluation system in a specific line cycle.
- a disadvantage of X-ray inspection systems used hitherto is the relatively low test speed that can be achieved, which is about 10 times lower than the production clock lies. For a 100% check, it is therefore necessary to branch the material flow and have it checked by several inspection systems. This increases the costs for quality assurance considerably, so that only a few manufacturers can operate this relatively large cost.
- the test speed is essentially determined by the detection sensitivity of the camera system and the maximum possible line clock rate, i.e. on the readout and processing speed.
- maximum line clock rates of approx. 200 lines / sec can be realized at approx. 1000 pixels / line and 250 mm line length.
- a line cycle of at least 2 kHz with a line resolution of 0.5 mm is necessary. In other words, a line frequency which is a factor of 10 higher than is required by the conventional technology is required.
- the X-ray detection sensitivity of the sensor ie the quantum yield
- the x-ray detection sensitivity essentially depends on the active input area per pixel, ie on the pixel length and width, and on the thickness and effectiveness of the scintillator material.
- the geometry is determined by the required image resolution parallel and perpendicular to the scanning direction. A widening of the line area would lead to a loss of spatial resolution in the vertical line direction, ie in the direction of movement.
- the present invention is based on the object of creating a method and a device for automatic radioscopic quality control of foodstuffs which can achieve test speeds of more than 1 m / sec with a spatial resolution of approximately 0. 5 mm allows.
- the present invention provides a method for the automatic radioscopic quality control of foodstuffs, with the following steps:
- the present invention provides a device for carrying out the method for automatic radioscopic quality control of foods
- a transport device that moves a food to be checked into a transport device
- an X-ray radiation detection device by means of which a charge image can be generated from the detected X-ray radiation, which penetrates the food to be checked, by means of a sensor having a plurality of sensor elements;
- an assessment device which assesses the quality of the food to be checked on the basis of the charge image
- control device which, depending on the assessment of the quality of the food to be checked, generates a signal which causes the food to be separated.
- FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the acquisition of a charge image of a food to be checked according to the present invention
- FIG. 2 shows a basic diagram of a device for radiological quality control of foods by means of a TDI X-ray line camera
- FIG 3 shows a preferred exemplary embodiment of the device according to the invention for automatic quality control of foods.
- FIG. 1b shows an X-ray radiation source (RQ) 100 and an X-ray camera (RK) 102.
- the x-ray source 100 emits x-rays, which is schematically represented by the arrow 100a in FIG. 1b). It is Obviously, the X-ray source 100 emits a large number of X-rays, however, in order to maintain clarity, no further X-rays have been shown, since these are not necessary for the following explanation of the functional principle of the present invention.
- the x-ray camera 102 has a plurality of sensor elements (A, B, C) 102a-102c.
- a foodstuff 104 to be checked which is arranged, for example, within a metallic can, is moved between the x-ray source 100 and the x-ray camera 102 in a direction of movement, which is indicated by the arrow 106.
- the food 104 is penetrated by the X-ray beam 100a and the sensor element (A) 102a generates a charge from the X-ray beam incident on the sensor element.
- FIG. 1 a shows the sensor 108 of the X-ray camera 102 in more detail, which comprises a plurality of lines, in the illustrated case three lines.
- the sensor element (A) which is illuminated by the X-ray beam 100a, stores a partial charge 110, which is represented by the black area in the sensor element (A).
- FIG. 1 d the situation results, which is shown in FIG. 1 d), in which the food 104 is penetrated by a first X-ray beam 100a and a second X-ray beam 100b .
- two sensor elements (A, B) 102a, 102b receive the rays 100a, 100b which penetrate the food 104.
- the designation of the individual sensor elements 102a-102c with (A) or (B) serve to clarify the method according to the invention.
- FIG. 1 c the partial charge 110 shown in FIG.
- sensor element (A) 102a in the sensor element (A) 102a is now shifted into the sensor element 102b, but for clarification is still referred to as sensor element (A).
- Sensor element • 102a which is now referred to as sensor element (B), in turn converts a received X-ray beam 100a into a partial charge 110, as shown in FIG. 1 c).
- FIGS. 1 e) and 1 f) show a further situation in which the food 104 is completely between the X-ray source 100 and the X-ray camera 102.
- the partial charges 110, 112 located in FIGS. 1 c) and 1 d) of the sensor element 102b and 102a are shifted into the sensor elements 102c and 102b, and the partial charges generated by the respective sensor elements 102b and 102c already become those Partial loads located in the sensor elements are added, so that the situation arises as shown in FIG. 1e).
- the sensor element (A) now contains an added partial charge 114, which results from the partial charges 110 and 112 and from the newly generated charge due to the incidence of the X-ray beam 100c on the sensor element 102c.
- the partial charges 110 and 112 are generated in the sensor elements (B) and (C) in the manner described above.
- the rows I-III shown in FIG. 1 a), c), f) thus result.
- line I is read out from the sensor and the information represented by the charge 114 is made available to an image processing system.
- the basis of the method according to the invention for the radioscopic quality control of foods at high belt speeds is the use of X-ray line cameras which are based on CCD area sensors and work in the so-called TDI mode.
- the electrical charges generated by the radiation are in the individual pixels (pixels, which are represented in FIG. 1 by sensor elements (A), (B) and (C) ), which represent the image information, on the surface sensor 108 during the irradiation in synchronism with the object 104, ie with the corresponding direction 106 and speed, perpendicular to the line direction, also moved over all the image lines I, II, III and added up.
- the image information is then read out line by line and made available to an image processing system.
- the active input area of the sensor 108 increases from a single line, as is present in a conventional line sensor, to almost any number of lines, depending on the sensor type selected. Accordingly, the input sensitivity of the signal-to-noise ratio also increases with otherwise identical exposure conditions.
- An x-ray source 100 emits an x-ray radiation 100a, 100b which penetrates an object 104.
- the x-ray camera 102 comprises an input window which is defined by an aperture 116, behind which a scintillator layer 118 is arranged, which contains the x-ray radiation impinging on it changes into visible light.
- the light emitted by the scintillator layer 118 is imaged onto an optical input window 122 by means of a fiber optic 120.
- the generated light reaches the CCD sensor 124 from the optical input window 122.
- Control electronics 126 are provided in the X-ray camera 102, which controls the readout method from the CCD sensors 124 described above with reference to FIG. 1.
- the light-sensitive CCD sensor surface 124 can be coupled to the scintillator-coated X-ray-sensitive input screen 118 by means of a conventional X-ray image intensifier technology or by other light-transmitting imaging components.
- the geometry of the coupling element 120 any uni- or biaxial enlargement or reduction of the active input surface can be achieved within certain limits without the CCD sensor surface itself having to be changed to this size. This enables the high readout speed of CCD sensors of approximately 10 MHz to be used, so that the required feed and line read cycles can be realized in this way.
- TDI-CCD sensors thus enables simultaneously high line feed and read speeds with high input sensitivity and a correspondingly adapted input area.
- the data material obtained by the TDI-CCD X-ray camera in the manner described above can, after an analog-to-digital conversion, directly from a correspondingly powerful computer system either line by line (one-dimensional or two-dimensional) by means of suitable algorithms corresponding error criteria are checked.
- the computer takes over both the image evaluation and the control of the corresponding hardware components, the removal and communication with a computer network. Factory of the quality system for permanent error feedback. For extremely computing-intensive evaluation algorithms, the system can also be expanded by additional image processing hardware.
- the performance and reliability of the algorithms for error detection are essential for the evaluation of a method and a device for automatic quality control of foods.
- error criteria such as Foreign bodies, water filling or underfilling
- the most important type of error is the presence of foreign bodies in the food.
- Foreign bodies usually cause due to the higher radiation attenuation coefficients of the materials, e.g. Metal, glass, ceramic, stone, compared to the food, which generally consists of over 90% water, reduced radiation intensities at the detector and can be determined by the difference in contrast generated, i.e. through darker areas in the image, recognize and classify.
- FIG. 3 shows a device for the automatic radio-scopic quality control of animal feed cans 104, which have a diameter of 100 mm and a height of 170 mm.
- the test cycle to be implemented is 10 cans / sec, which leads to a belt speed of the transport device 128 of 1 m / sec when the cans 104 are guided individually.
- foreign bodies made of metal, glass, stone or ceramic with a minimum expansion of 1 mm, as well as an insufficient filling, ie incorrect filling, and a water filling can be detected.
- the cans 104 stand vertically on the conveyor belt 128 and are occasionally guided by a pressure radiation arrangement.
- the x-ray line camera 102 is arranged such that its longitudinal orientation is perpendicular to the direction of movement and parallel to the can axis.
- the beam entry window is parallel to the direction of movement next to the band 128.
- the x-ray source 100 is directly opposite the line camera 102 on the other side of the band 128.
- the x-ray beam is oriented perpendicular to the band movement, the beam focal point being just above the band plane, see above that the can base is irradiated almost in parallel in order to make it possible to image foreign bodies that have sunk onto the base without being switched off by the can base.
- approximate parallel beam geometry i.e.
- the cans 104 are guided as close as possible, preferably about 6 cm, past the line camera 102 on the belt 128, so that there is a magnification value of about 1.1 results.
- the resolution is almost independent of the focal spot size of the X-ray source 102 and is essentially determined by the pixel size of the X-ray camera 102.
- a suitable light coupling component between the X-ray-sensitive input screen (118, FIG. 2) of 200 mm in length and the actual sensor surface which in a preferred exemplary embodiment is 1024 x 256 pixels with a pixel area of 26 ⁇ m x 26 ⁇ m and a length of 27 mm and a width of 6.7 mm
- an obliquely cut fiber optic is used, as is shown for example in FIG.
- a grouping of groups, which is also referred to as binning, of three successive pixels each when reading out the line leads to an effective pixel size of 885 ⁇ m on the input screen and of approximately 530 ⁇ m on the object.
- the line feed speed on the sensor 108 is determined from the object speed multiplied by the magnification factor. Since the pixels cannot be enlarged in the direction perpendicular to the line, the direction of movement of the cans 104, 20 lines on the TDI sensor can be combined into an effective line by simple addition before reading, which is also called 16 - is called line binning.
- the effective line width in this case is 520 ⁇ m or 470 ⁇ m on the object, i.e. on the can 104.
- the TDI sensor described above has 256 lines, with a line width of 26 ⁇ m resulting in a total width of approximately 6.7 mm. Compared to a standard line width of 0.5 mm, this means an enlargement of the active input area and thereby an increase in sensitivity and a factor of approx. 13.3 without impairing the spatial resolution.
- an evaluation device 130 which executes an evaluation algorithm which enables a qualitative evaluation of the three-dimensional extent and the absorption properties of a foreign body, regardless of its relative position and orientation.
- the recorded data are first corrected for the mean, so that the shape-related thickness variation has no influence on the intensity values.
- all pixels of a line with an intensity value smaller than a certain lower bound are added up, namely both the number of pixels and the amount of the intensity difference from the mean.
- the evaluation result of a line is the expansion of a potential tial foreign body along the line and the strength of the intensity attenuation, which depends on the depth and the beam attenuation coefficient of the material. If this evaluation is repeated for all successive lines, an integral value results over the entire error. If there are several foreign bodies, they can be selected accordingly and evaluated separately.
- a can that is only filled with water, for example, can be detected within the rows by the absence of the intensity modulation that normally occurs due to the inhomogeneity of the can content.
- A can, for example, which is only partially filled, can be detected by the resulting jump in intensity to high values within the lines in a defined range, within which no such jump is normally to be expected.
- FIG. 3 also shows a control device 132 which, depending on the result of the evaluation, outputs a signal in the evaluation device 130, which causes a processing stage following the quality control to reject the can 104 classified as defective.
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- Analytical Chemistry (AREA)
- Biochemistry (AREA)
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- Analysing Materials By The Use Of Radiation (AREA)
Abstract
Selon le procédé décrit de contrôle radioscopique automatique de la qualité de denrées alimentaires (104), on fait passer des denrées alimentaires à contrôler (104) devant une source de rayons X (100) et on détecte les rayons X qui traversent des denrées alimentaires à contrôler (104). Un capteur (108) présentant plusieurs éléments capteurs (102a-102c) génère une image de potentiel à partir des rayons X détectés (100a-100c) en décalant les charges générées (110, 112, 114) sur plusieurs éléments capteurs (102a-102c) en synchronie avec le sens (106) et la vitesse de déplacement des denrées alimentaires à contrôler (104) reproduites sur le capteur (107) et en transférant les charges partielles générées par les éléments capteurs (102a-102c) sur l'image de potentiel. Les denrées alimentaires à contrôler sont finalement évaluées sur la base de l'image de potentiel.
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
AU16009/97A AU1600997A (en) | 1996-03-08 | 1997-02-05 | Process and device for the automatic radioscopic quality control of foodstuffs |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
DE19609096 | 1996-03-08 | ||
DE19609096.2 | 1996-03-08 |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
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WO1997033160A1 true WO1997033160A1 (fr) | 1997-09-12 |
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PCT/EP1997/000513 WO1997033160A1 (fr) | 1996-03-08 | 1997-02-05 | Procede et dispositif de controle radioscopique automatique de la qualite de denrees alimentaires |
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AU (1) | AU1600997A (fr) |
WO (1) | WO1997033160A1 (fr) |
Cited By (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
DE102006029450A1 (de) * | 2006-06-27 | 2008-01-03 | Delipetkos, Elias, Dipl.-Inform. (FH) | Verfahren und Vorrichtung zur Analyse von Objekten im freien Fall mittels Röntgenstrahlen und einer Zeitverzögerungs- und Integrationskamera |
DE102009051643A1 (de) * | 2009-11-02 | 2011-05-05 | Delipetkos, Elias, Dipl.-Inform. (FH) | Röntgen-Analysegerät und Verfahren zur Röntgenanalyse |
DE102011053971A1 (de) * | 2011-09-27 | 2013-03-28 | Wipotec Wiege- Und Positioniersysteme Gmbh | Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Erfassen der Struktur von bewegten Stückgütern, insbesondere zur Erfassung von Störpartikeln in flüssigen oder pastösen Produkten |
CN111837028A (zh) * | 2018-03-09 | 2020-10-27 | 浜松光子学株式会社 | 图像取得系统和图像取得方法 |
Citations (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4383327A (en) * | 1980-12-01 | 1983-05-10 | University Of Utah | Radiographic systems employing multi-linear arrays of electronic radiation detectors |
EP0138625A2 (fr) * | 1983-10-17 | 1985-04-24 | Picker International, Inc. | Système de radiographie |
US5097494A (en) * | 1985-12-09 | 1992-03-17 | X-Ray Industries, Inc. | X-ray automatic synchronous inspection system |
-
1997
- 1997-02-05 AU AU16009/97A patent/AU1600997A/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1997-02-05 WO PCT/EP1997/000513 patent/WO1997033160A1/fr active Application Filing
Patent Citations (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4383327A (en) * | 1980-12-01 | 1983-05-10 | University Of Utah | Radiographic systems employing multi-linear arrays of electronic radiation detectors |
EP0138625A2 (fr) * | 1983-10-17 | 1985-04-24 | Picker International, Inc. | Système de radiographie |
US5097494A (en) * | 1985-12-09 | 1992-03-17 | X-Ray Industries, Inc. | X-ray automatic synchronous inspection system |
Cited By (9)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
DE102006029450A1 (de) * | 2006-06-27 | 2008-01-03 | Delipetkos, Elias, Dipl.-Inform. (FH) | Verfahren und Vorrichtung zur Analyse von Objekten im freien Fall mittels Röntgenstrahlen und einer Zeitverzögerungs- und Integrationskamera |
DE102006029450B4 (de) * | 2006-06-27 | 2009-08-27 | Delipetkos, Elias, Dipl.-Inform. (FH) | Verfahren und Vorrichtung zur Analyse von Objekten im freien Fall mittels Röntgenstrahlen und einer Zeitverzögerungs- und Integrationskamera |
DE102009051643A1 (de) * | 2009-11-02 | 2011-05-05 | Delipetkos, Elias, Dipl.-Inform. (FH) | Röntgen-Analysegerät und Verfahren zur Röntgenanalyse |
DE102009051643B4 (de) * | 2009-11-02 | 2013-10-10 | Elias Delipetkos | Röntgen-Analysegerät und Verfahren zur Röntgenanalyse |
DE102011053971A1 (de) * | 2011-09-27 | 2013-03-28 | Wipotec Wiege- Und Positioniersysteme Gmbh | Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Erfassen der Struktur von bewegten Stückgütern, insbesondere zur Erfassung von Störpartikeln in flüssigen oder pastösen Produkten |
US9528948B2 (en) | 2011-09-27 | 2016-12-27 | Wipotec Wiege- Und Positioniersysteme Gmbh | Method and device for detecting the structure of moving single items, in particular for detecting foreign particles in liquid or paste-like products |
CN111837028A (zh) * | 2018-03-09 | 2020-10-27 | 浜松光子学株式会社 | 图像取得系统和图像取得方法 |
CN111837028B (zh) * | 2018-03-09 | 2023-07-04 | 浜松光子学株式会社 | 图像取得系统和图像取得方法 |
US11698350B2 (en) | 2018-03-09 | 2023-07-11 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Image acquisition system and image acquisition method |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
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AU1600997A (en) | 1997-09-22 |
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