Quality assessment of product in bulk flow

A machine for sorting product in a stream of product in order to remove unacceptable product pieces from the stream, comprising:

• a monitoring station that provides inspection data of the stream of product when flowing therethrough,
• a processor that receives the inspection data;
• a sorting station responsive to an output of the processor to sort the product stream according to at least a first criterion to separate unacceptable and acceptable product pieces therein;
• and
• wherein the processor additionally processes the inspection data at intervals while the stream of product including touching or overlapping product pieces is flowing through the monitoring station, identifies individual product pieces from the touching or overlapping product pieces of the stream;
• examines the identified individual pieces to provide an indication while the stream of product is flowing through the monitoring station of the quality of the stream of product pieces with respect to at least a second defined criterion, and
• analyzes the quality indication of the product pieces in the bulk stream.

A method of monitoring a stream of solid product pieces passing through a monitoring station, comprising:

• at intervals while the stream of product pieces is flowing, inspecting at least a portion of the product within the stream, which portion includes touching or overlapping product pieces;
• identifying individual product pieces in said portion;
• examining the identified individual pieces to generate inspection data;
• analyzing the inspection data to provide an indication while the stream of product is flowing through the monitoring station of the quality of the stream of product pieces with respect to at least a first defined criterion;
• and
• sorting product pieces in the product stream according to at least a second defined criterion to separate unacceptable and acceptable product pieces therein.

A method of monitoring a stream of solid product pieces passing through a monitoring station, comprising:

• at intervals while the stream of product pieces is flowing, inspecting at least a portion of the product within the stream, which portion includes touching or overlapping product pieces;
• identifying individual product pieces in said portion;
• examining the identified individual pieces to generate inspection data;
• analyzing the inspection data to provide an indication of the quality of the stream of product pieces with respect to at least a first defined criterion;
• and
• sorting product pieces in the product stream according to at least a second defined criterion to separate unacceptable and acceptable product pieces therein;
• wherein the first and second criterion are different.

A method of assessing the quality of solid product pieces passing through a monitoring station as a stream of product pieces, comprising:

• moving the stream of product pieces through the monitoring station at a given flow rate;
• sorting product pieces in the product stream to remove unacceptable product pieces therefrom at least while the stream is moving at the given flow rate;
• intermittently reducing the flow rate of the product pieces through the monitoring station to less than the given flow rate;
• examining individual pieces of product while at the reduced flow rate to generate inspection data;
• and
• analyzing the inspection data to establish a measure of the quality of the stream of individual product pieces.

Method of assessing the quality of solid product pieces passing through a monitoring station as a stream of product pieces, comprising:

• moving the stream of product pieces through the monitoring station at a given flow rate;
• sorting product pieces in the product stream to remove unacceptable product pieces therefrom at least while the stream is moving at the given flow rate;
• intermittently reducing the flow rate of the product pieces through the monitoring station to less than the given flow rate;
• examining individual pieces of product while at the reduced flow rate to generate inspection data;
• and
• analyzing the inspection data to establish a measure of the quality of the stream of individual product pieces;
• wherein sorting product pieces includes sorting the product pieces according to at least one defined criterion, and wherein analyzing the inspection data includes analyzing the inspection data according to at least another defined criterion that is different than the one defined criterion.