Product scanning system and method
AssigneeAEW International Limited
InventorJohn Arthur Whitehouse
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system in which a succession of products (12) to (16) traverse a gap between two conveyors (10, 18), comprises a ring (32) carrying an array of one or more equi-spaced laser displacement transducers (36-42) connected to a computer (48). The ring is disposed perpendicular to the direction of product movement, such that each product (e.g. a log of food) passes through its central region, the ring being rotatable in a continuous or oscillatory manner. Signals received by the computer from the transducers are stored and computed to determine the shape and/or size of the product to enable the product to be cut into an optimum number of pieces. A method is described for determining volume and thereby weight using mean density values for the products, of irregularly shaped bulk product, particularly fresh meat.
Claims8
A method of determining the volume of a length of floppy bulk product having a varying cross-section, comprising the steps of:
- (1) placing the product on a supporting surface provided by a motor-driven conveyor,
- (2) linearly moving the product through an inspection plane which extends generally perpendicular to the linear movement of the product by the motor-driven conveyor,
- (3) moving at least one distance measuring transducer in the inspection plane along an arcuate scanning path which extends in the inspection plane only around a part of the product cross-section which included an unsupported surface region of the product,
- (4) computing the length of the product by reference to its linear speed or position past a detector,
- (5) computing distance from the transducer to each of a succession of points around the unsupported surface region of the product in the inspection plane,
- (6) storing data as to shape of the supported surface region of the product,
- (7) computing from said distances and said data the area of the cross-section of the bulk product in the inspection plane,
- (8) determining the increments of volume of bulk product attributable to a succession of transducer scans by reference to the distances moved by the product between successive scans, and
- (9) summing the increments of volume over the whole of the length of the bulk product as it progresses through the inspection plane.
Apparatus for determining the volume of a length of floppy bulk product having a varying cross-section comprising:
- (1) a product-supporting surface provided by a motor-driven conveyor,
- (2) means for driving the conveyor linearly to move the product through an inspection plane which extends generally perpendicular to the linear movement of the product by the motor-driven conveyor,
- (3) means for moving at least one distance measuring transducer in the inspection plane along an arcuate scanning path which extends in the inspection plane only around a part of the product cross-section which included an unsupported surface region of the product,
- (4) a detector,
- (5) means for computing the length of the product by reference to its linear speed or position past the detector,
- (6) means for computing the distance from the transducer to each of a succession of points around the unsupported surface region of the product in the inspection plane,
- (7) means for storing data as to shape of the supporting surface,
- (8) means computing from said distances and said data the area of the cross-section of the bulk product in the inspection plane,
- (9) means for determining the increments of volume of bulk product attributable to a succession of transducer scans by reference to the distances moved by the product between successive scans, and
- (10) means for summing the increments of volume over the whole of the length of the bulk product as it progresses through the inspection plane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.