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US 6,334,092 B1Granted
Measurement device and measurement method for measuring internal quality of fruit or vegetable
AssigneeMitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd.
InventorsHirotsugu Hashimoto, Toyohiko Aoki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A measurement device for measuring an internal quality of a fruit or vegetable with light is intended to be able to obtain the internal quality at higher speed and with accuracy. In the measurement device of the internal quality, transmitted light through the fruit or vegetable is split into a plurality of frequency regions and the measurement device is provided with a plurality of processing circuits for carrying out intensity data calculating operations simultaneously and in parallel for the respective frequency regions.
Claims39
A measurement device for measuring an internal quality of a fruit or vegetable, which includes:
- conveying means for conveying the fruit or vegetable in a predetermined direction;
- light projecting means for projecting light having a predetermined frequency region toward the fruit or vegetable under conveyance;
- and
- light receiving means for receiving said light having the predetermined frequency region, having been transmitted by the fruit or vegetable;
- said measurement device comprising:
- frequency region splitting means for splitting the light having the predetermined frequency region, having been transmitted by the fruit or vegetable continuously conveyed on said conveying means, into a predetermined number of frequency regions to guide the light to said light receiving means;
- and
- a signal processing circuit for converting the transmitted light split into said predetermined number of frequency regions to electric signals at intervals of a predetermined time, integrating the electric signals to convert the signals to intensity data, and converting the intensity data obtained at the intervals of the predetermined time to signals for evaluating the internal quality of the fruit or vegetable,
- wherein said signal processing circuit converts the transmitted light split into the predetermined number of frequency regions to the electric signals substantially simultaneously.
6 more elements
A measurement device for measuring an internal quality of a fruit or vegetable, which includes:
- conveying means for conveying the fruit or vegetable in a predetermined direction;
- light projecting means for projecting light having a predetermined frequency region toward the fruit or vegetable under conveyance;
- and
- light receiving means for receiving said light having the predetermined frequency region, having been transmitted by the fruit or vegetable;
- said measurement device comprising:
- a signal processing circuit for converting the transmitted light received to electric signals at intervals of a predetermined time, integrating the electric signals to convert the electric signals to intensity data, and converting the intensity data obtained at the intervals of the predetermined time to signals for evaluating the internal quality of the fruit or vegetable;
- a first memory circuit for storing the predetermined number of intensity data obtained continuously at the intervals of the predetermined time;
- a determination circuit for successively comparing the intensity data stored in said first memory circuit to determine whether the intensity data is to be used as a signal for evaluation;
- and
- a correction circuit for correcting the intensity data determined as a signal not used for evaluation by said determination circuit, using another intensity data stored in said first memory circuit,
- wherein said signal processing circuit uses the intensity data stored in said first memory circuit and determined as a signal for evaluation by said determination circuit and the intensity data corrected by said correction circuit, as signals for evaluating the internal quality of the fruit or vegetable.
8 more elements
A measurement device for measuring an internal quality of a fruit or vegetable, which includes:
- conveying means for conveying the fruit or vegetable in a predetermined direction;
- light projecting means for projecting light having a predetermined frequency region toward the fruit or vegetable under conveyance;
- and
- light receiving means for receiving said light having the predetermined frequency region, having been transmitted by the fruit or vegetable;
- wherein with the light having said predetermined frequency region, which has been transmitted by the fruit or vegetable conveyed continuously on said conveying means, a signal processing circuit converts the transmitted light received to electric signals at intervals of a predetermined time, integrates the electric signals to convert the electric signals to intensity data, and converts the intensity data obtained at the intervals of the predetermined time to signals for evaluating the internal quality of the fruit or vegetable,
- said signal processing circuit comprising:
- a plurality of amplifying circuits having different amplification factors according to each electric signal, said amplifying circuits being used for converting the electric signal to the intensity data;
- and
- a selection circuit for selecting intensity data amplified within a predetermined range out of a plurality of intensity data obtained using said plurality of amplifying circuits.
6 more elements
A measurement device for measuring an internal quality of a fruit or vegetable, which includes:
- conveying means for conveying the fruit or vegetable in a predetermined direction;
- light projecting means for projecting light having a predetermined frequency region toward the fruit or vegetable under conveyance;
- and
- light receiving means for receiving said light having the predetermined frequency region, having been transmitted by the fruit or vegetable;
- said measurement device comprising:
- a signal processing circuit for converting the light having the predetermined frequency region, which has been transmitted by the fruit or vegetable conveyed continuously on said conveying means, to electric signals at intervals of a predetermined time, integrating the electric signals to convert the electric signals to intensity data, and converting the intensity data at the intervals of the predetermined time to signals for evaluating the internal quality of the fruit or vegetable,
- wherein said signal processing circuit comprises a comparing circuit for determining whether the electric signal is greater than a predetermined voltage value, and an electric signal switching circuit for applying the electric signal to conversion to the intensity data when the electric signal is smaller than the predetermined voltage value and for applying a predetermined reference voltage to the conversion to the intensity data when the electric signal is greater than the predetermined voltage value.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.