JP2002162356A - Apparatus for identifying quality of cereal grain - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for identifying the quality of a cereal grain, making it easy to do the maintenance of a scanning tray thereof, to remove the background during the scanning thereof, and making it possible to readily detect a 'possible kernel-crack' such as that in unpolished rice or the like and also to eliminate a scanning error to be likely induced by the location of a scanner's scanning stand. SOLUTION: The apparatus for identifying the quality of a cereal grain scans a grain of unpolished rice 4 being equally spaced and evenly aligned on the scanning tray 30, from the direction thereunder using the scanner 1 and identifies the quality of the unpolished rice 4 according to an image of the scanned object. At the bottom of the above tray 30, it is composed of a cereal grain alignment plate 31 having holes 31a made thereon corresponding to the number of the unpolished rice to be sampled and a bottom plate 32 disposed closely just under the alignment plate 31, and a scanning cover 2 of the above scanner 1 is characterized by having a reflection plate 21 to reflect an illuminating light for the scanning purpose.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a parquet grain, which is obtained by taking grains as samples arranged at regular intervals on an imaging tray with a scanner from the lower surface of the tray and using the image to judge the quality of the grains. A quality judgment device.

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional method of imaging kernels using a scanner will be described below with reference to FIGS. First,
Grain 5 as a sample for determination on imaging tray 51
Line up 0. At this time, when the kernel 50 is imaged, it is desirable for the image analysis that the kernel 50 is located at a predetermined position. Therefore, the bottom of the imaging tray 51 is fitted with grains 50, and an alignment plate 53 provided with a plurality of holes 54 for fixing the position thereof, and an alignment plate 53.
And a bottom plate 52 located on the lower side. Also,
The kernel 50 is, as shown in FIG.
The bottom plate 52 of the imaging tray 51 is made of a transparent member because it is scanned and imaged by the light source of the scanner from the lower surface direction, and is imaged by receiving light by the light receiving sensor 60. Next, the imaging tray 51 is placed on the imaging stand of the scanner, the imaging cover is put on, the imaging by the scanner is started, and the image of the kernel 50 is obtained.

However, the above-described conventional imaging method has the following problems. (1) When the imaging is repeated many times, the holes 54 and the bottom plate 52 of the alignment plate 53 of the imaging tray 51 gradually become dirty, which adversely affects the quality judgment.
Is difficult to remove by cleaning because it is integrated or has a structure that is difficult to disassemble. (2) When imaging the grain 50, the surrounding background, that is,
The image is taken together with the hole 54 of the alignment plate 53 of the imaging tray 51 and a part of the imaging cover of the scanner, and these extra background parts are removed by software processing during image processing of the grain. Must. However,
The conventional arrangement plate 53 of the imaging tray 51 and the imaging cover of the scanner are not specially designed to perform background removal at the time of effect, so that software processing becomes complicated during image processing, Incomplete removal may adversely affect quality judgment. (3) In the quality judgment items of the grain 50, not only the color and the shape are determined, but also, for example, in the case of brown rice, whether or not the grain contains cracks such as "crack" is taken. Items to be identified are also included as one of the important items. In order to detect this "body cracking", it has been found that when transmitted light is applied obliquely along the longitudinal direction of the grain, the crack surface becomes clear and the detection work becomes easy. However, the conventional imaging method using a scanner is an imaging method using only reflected light and does not have a structure for irradiating transmitted light, so that a crack surface is unclear and it is difficult to detect a “body crack”. . (4) Further, in the conventional imaging method using a scanner, the imaging state differs between the left and right ends and the center of the imaging table of the scanner in the scanning direction. That is,
The image picked up at the center of the image pick-up table of the scanner is an image from directly below the image pick-up tray 51, and as shown in FIG.
The image is an image taken obliquely. This is because the light receiving sensor 60 of the scanner is located at the central portion directly below the imaging table of the scanner, and the left and right objects to be imaged on the imaging table are imaged obliquely. This is not a problem if the imaged object is a planar object such as a photograph, for example. However, when imaging a three-dimensional object such as a grain 50 using the alignment plate 53, the following is performed. Problems arise. That is, FIG.
As shown in the figure, the image of the grain 50 is taken obliquely as it approaches the left and right end portions of the alignment plate 53. At this time, the hole 5 for the kernel 50 opened in the alignment plate 53
4 is perpendicular to the alignment plate 53, a part of the image of the grain 50 to be imaged becomes a shadow of the outer peripheral wall surface of the hole 54, and the image in this case is shown in FIG. 1
As shown at 3a 50a, the image of the outer peripheral side wall surface portion 54a of the hole 54 is missing from the whole grain image. Needless to say, in the captured image in such a state, the present invention has a large adverse effect on the quality determination of the grain 50, and the present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional circumstances, and facilitates the maintenance of the imaging tray. , It is easy to remove the background at the time of imaging, and it is possible to easily detect "body cracks" such as brown rice,
Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a grain quality judging device capable of eliminating an imaging error due to a position of an imaging stand of a scanner.

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In a grain quality determination device, the kernels arranged at equal intervals on the imaging tray are imaged by imaging means from below the imaging tray in the direction of the lower surface of the imaging tray, and the quality of the kernel is determined based on the captured image. Is composed of an alignment plate having holes as many as the number of kernels to be collected, and a bottom plate that is disposed in close contact with the alignment plate directly below the alignment plate. It is characterized by including a reflector for reflecting light. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the grain quality judging apparatus according to the first aspect, the bottom plate at the bottom of the imaging tray has a structure separable from the alignment plate. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the grain quality judging apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the alignment plate at the bottom of the imaging tray is formed of a transparent member with a blue color, and The bottom plate at the bottom is made of a transparent member, and the reflection plate is made of a blue-based opaque member whose surface has gloss suitable for reflection. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the grain quality judging device according to any one of the first to third aspects, an outer peripheral side wall surface of a plurality of sizing holes opened in the alignment plate at the bottom of the imaging tray. Are characterized in that they are opened in a state of being parallel to the optical axis of the light receiving sensor of the imaging means. ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention which concerns on said structure, maintenance, such as cleaning of an imaging tray, is facilitated, the reliability of quality judgment is improved by facilitating removal of the background at the time of imaging, and it is difficult in the prior art. It is possible to detect "cracked" brown rice and the like, and to improve the reliability of quality judgment by eliminating imaging errors due to the position of the scanner imaging table.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, taking as an example a case where a grain as a sample is brown rice. 1 and 3 are schematic cross-sectional views of a grain quality determination device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In the quality determination apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, for example, the bottom of the imaging tray 30 arranged on the imaging table 13 of the box-shaped scanner 1 is, as shown in FIGS. 2, 4, and 5, An alignment plate 31 having holes 31a for brown rice, the number of which is a grain as a sample to be collected, for example, brown rice 4, and the alignment plate 3
1 and a bottom plate 32 which is disposed in close contact with immediately below. This quality judging device captures, for example, brown rice 4 which is a grain as a sample arranged at equal intervals on the imaging tray 30 from the lower surface direction of the imaging tray 30 by an imaging unit, and uses the captured image to image the grain. The quality of the grains is determined. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a plurality of fixing brackets 33 are fixed to the alignment plate 31, and the fixing brackets 33 are fitted into the bottom plate 32 of the imaging tray 30. Gourd-shaped holes 34 are opened by the same number. The bottom plate 32 can be easily attached to and detached from the imaging tray 30 by fitting the holes 34 and the fixing fittings 33. Accordingly, when the alignment plate 31 or the bottom plate 32 having the holes 34 is dirty, the cleaning can be easily performed. In the present embodiment, the detaching mechanism using the hole 34 and the fixing bracket 33 is used. However, it is of course possible to perform the same operation by other known detaching mechanisms. In this embodiment, the alignment plate 31 at the bottom of the imaging tray 30 is made of a blue-colored transparent member, and the bottom plate 32 at the bottom of the imaging tray 30 is made of a transparent member. Further, a reflecting plate 21 described later is formed of a blue-based opaque member having a surface with gloss suitable for reflection. In this configuration, the brown rice 4 is put in the alignment plate 31 at the bottom of the imaging tray 30, and light is emitted from the light source 11 of the scanner 1 shown in FIG. 1 toward the imaging tray 30, and shown in FIGS. When the image is picked up by the light receiving element 12, all the background portions other than the brown rice 4 become blue-based images. Since this blue color is a color component which is not originally present in brown rice 4, it is possible to easily remove the background from the captured image simply by removing the blue component. Become. In the scanner 1, the reflection plate 21 fixed to a lower portion of the imaging cover 2 and located above the imaging tray 30 is attached so as to cover the upper portion of the imaging tray 30 when the imaging cover 2 is closed. Is done. Further, a step 35 for fitting the reflection plate 21 is provided on a side wall of the imaging tray 30, and the step 35 holds the distance between the imaging tray 30 and the reflection plate 21 to be constant. It is supposed to. The surface of the reflection plate 21 has gloss suitable for reflection and is made of a blue opaque member, so that part of the irradiation light emitted from the light source 11 of the scanner 1 passes through the alignment plate 31. , Reflected by the reflector 21, and further brown rice 4
The light passes through the inside and reaches the light receiving element 12. That is, in detecting cracks in, for example, brown rice 4, which is a grain as a sample, applying transmitted light obliquely along the longitudinal direction of the brown rice 4 makes the crack surface clear, which facilitates detection. According to the configuration of the present embodiment described above, the reflection plate 21 is provided on the imaging tray 30 so as to extend along the longitudinal direction of the brown rice 4 as shown in FIG. It is possible to apply transmitted light from an oblique direction. Since this transmitted light utilizes the reflection of the reflection plate 21, a dedicated light source is not required, and as a result, the structure of the apparatus itself can be simplified, the cost can be reduced, and the economic effect is greatly improved. It is. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the outer peripheral side wall surface 31b of the plurality of holes 31a for the brown rice 4 opened in the alignment plate 31 at the bottom of the imaging tray 30 has an optical axis of the light receiving element 12 for imaging. Are opened in parallel with each other. As a result, the image 4a of the brown rice 4 photographed at any part of the image pickup table 13 of the scanner 1 has a wall image 3
It is possible to obtain a normal image with no chipped portion 1c, and eliminate an imaging error due to the position of the scanner 1 on the imaging table 13.

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects. That is, maintenance of the imaging tray for grain is facilitated,
Easier background removal during grain imaging improves reliability of grain quality determination, and enables detection of "body cracks" such as brown rice, which was difficult in the past. By eliminating the imaging error due to the position on the imaging table, the reliability of grain quality determination can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a grain quality determination device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of the grain quality determination device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the imaging tray according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the imaging tray according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of a bottom plate attaching portion of the imaging tray according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged plan view of a bottom plate attaching portion of the imaging tray according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing a light receiving method in the scanner of the embodiment.

9 is a partially enlarged view of a left end portion in FIG.

FIG. 10 is an imaging diagram in the state of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a front view of a light receiving method in a conventional scanner.

FIG. 12 is a partially enlarged view of a left end portion of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is an imaging diagram in the state of FIG. 12;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 scanner 2 imaging cover 4 brown rice 4a image 11 light source 12 light receiving element 13 imaging table 21 reflecting plate 30 imaging tray 31 alignment plate 31a hole for brown rice 31b outer peripheral side wall surface 31c wall image 32 bottom plate 33 fixing bracket 34 gourd-shaped hole 35 steps

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2F065 AA49 AA51 AA61 BB05 CC00 DD12 FF02 FF42 GG16 HH12 HH15 JJ03 JJ09 JJ19 JJ26 LL11 MM07 PP02 PP11 2G051 AA04 AB02 BB01 BB11 CA04 CA17 CB03 CA17 CB17 CB29 CB37

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A grain quality judging device, wherein grains arranged at equal intervals on an imaging tray are imaged by an imaging means from the lower surface direction of the imaging tray, and the quality of the kernel is determined based on the imaged image. The bottom of the imaging tray is composed of an alignment plate having holes as many as the number of grains to be collected, and a bottom plate that is disposed in close contact with directly below the alignment plate. A grain quality judging device comprising a reflector for reflecting illumination light for imaging. 2. The grain quality judging device according to claim 1, wherein the bottom plate at the bottom of the imaging tray has a structure separable from the alignment plate. 3. An alignment plate at the bottom of the imaging tray is made of a transparent member with a blue color, and a bottom plate at the bottom of the imaging tray is made of a transparent member, and the reflection plate is provided on the surface. 3. A blue opaque member having a gloss suitable for reflection.
A grain quality determination device according to the above. 4. An outer peripheral side wall surface of a plurality of sizing holes opened in an alignment plate at a bottom portion of the imaging tray, each of which is opened in a state parallel to an optical axis of a light receiving sensor of the imaging means. The grain quality judging device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: