Back to results
US 11,304,368 B2Granted
Apparatus for assessing and harvesting peas
AssigneeWisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
InventorMatthew Digman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Measurements of pea tenderness comparable to those provided by mechanical tenderometers are provided through analysis of an infrared spectrum of shelled peas. These measurements may be output directly or used to control real time harvesting of peas to prevent mixing of peas with different tenderness values.
Claims17
A pea tenderometer comprising:
- an infrared spectrometer providing an illumination source and a spectrally sensitive detector providing reflectance measurements in a near infrared range extending above and below 1100 nm;
- a stage positioned with respect to the infrared spectrometer for receiving shelled peas for reflectance measurements of the peas by the infrared spectrometer;
- and
- an analyzer receiving signals from the spectrally sensitive detector at multiple frequency bands above and below 1100 nm and applying a weighting to those multiple frequency bands according to a predefined weighting system to produce an output indicating pea tenderness.
1 more element
A pea-harvesting machine comprising:
- a chassis adapted to traverse an agricultural field growing peas;
- a harvester mechanism supported by the chassis for removing peapods from the field and separating the peas from the peapods to provide a flow of peas isolated from pods;
- an infrared spectrometer positioned along the flow of peas to provide measurements of the flow of peas in a near infrared range extending above and below 1100 nm;
- an analyzer receiving signals from the measurements at multiple frequency bands and applying a weighting to those multiple frequency bands according to a predefined weighting system to produce an output indicating pea tenderness;
- and
- a diverter controlled by the analyzer to control the flow of peas into a predetermined bin only when the analyzer indicates a predetermined desired range of pea tenderness.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.