Method for shelling of nuts with a laser beam
OwnerChandra K. N. Patelinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The removal of shells from hard shelled nuts, particularly macadamia nuts, is accomplished by rotating the nut in the path of a high power cw laser beam, such as a CO.sub.2 laser beam, so as to burn a path around the shell which separates the shell into parts which can readily be removed from the nut. A low power laser beam of a wavelength for which the nut shell and underlying nut meat have substantially different reflectivities, such as a helium-neon laser beam, is arranged to strike the nut collinearly with the high power beam. When the nut meat is exposed as the path in the shell is burned away, the intensity of the low power beam light which is reflected by the nut increases, and this increase is detected to give an indication of the completion of the shell burning operation.
Claims10
The method of removing a shell from a hard shell nut comprising directing at a region on the surface of the shell a first laser beam of sufficient power to cause disintegration of the shell at the point of contact of the laser beam, causing relative motion between the shell and said point of contact so as to establish a closed path of disintegration around the shell, thus dividing the shell into at least two segments in such manner as to enable the shell to be parted away from the nut meat, directing, at a point on said path around the shell, a second laser beam, of a wavelength at which the shell and the meat of said nut have a significantly different reflectivity and of a power insufficient to cause significant disintegration of said shell, detecting the intensity of light of said wavelength reflected from said point during said disintegration by said first laser beam, and discontinuing the application of said first laser beam to said shell when the change in said intensity of reflected light thus detected indicates that the nut meat at said point has become exposed by the disintegration of said shell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.