Optical grain discriminating apparatus

An optical grain discriminating apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of light sources and a plurality of cameras for performing an optical inspection on a grain to be transferred;
• and
• at least one processor for discriminating between a good product and a defective product for the grain, based on the optical inspection by the at least one light source and the at least one camera,
• wherein the plurality of light sources includes at least:
• a visible light source for irradiating the grain with visible light;
• and a near-infrared light source for irradiating the grain with near-infrared light;
• and the plurality of cameras includes at least:
• a visible light camera for detecting visible light transmitted through the grain or visible light reflected from the grain;
• and a near-infrared light camera for detecting near-infrared light transmitted through the grain or near-infrared light reflected from the grain, and
• the at least one processor is configured to:
• plot wavelength components of red (R), green (G), and blue (B), and a near-infrared light component in a three-dimensional space, to create a three-dimensional optical correlation diagram, for a plurality of good product samples and a plurality of defective product samples, and thereby sets a threshold value, the wavelength components being detected by the visible light camera, and the near-infrared light component being detected by the near-infrared light camera;
• plot one of wavelength components of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) light, and a plurality of near-infrared light components in a three-dimensional space, to create a three-dimensional optical correlation diagram, for a plurality of good product samples and a plurality of defective product samples, and thereby sets a threshold value, the wavelength components being detected by the visible light camera, and the near-infrared light components being detected by the near-infrared light camera;
• and
• plot one of wavelength components of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) light, and a plurality of combinations of two near-infrared light components in a three-dimensional space, to create a plurality of types of three-dimensional optical correlation diagrams, for a plurality of good product samples and a plurality of defective product samples, the wavelength components being detected by the visible light camera, each of the combinations of two near-infrared light components including any two of the near-infrared light components, and the near-infrared light components being detected by the near-infrared light camera.