JP7563092B2 - Rice milling mechanism control system and control method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a control system and control method for a rice milling mechanism.

In recent years, automation at manufacturing sites has progressed with the aim of reducing labor at manufacturing sites. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an invention for a safety shutdown system for the rice milling process that uses an FA (Factory Automation) system, and describes an invention that makes it possible to safely shut down machinery and equipment at food factories, agricultural facilities, etc., at a level that corresponds to the scale and urgency of a disaster.

JP 2019-028607 A

However, there is currently little automation in the rice milling process, and many of the steps in the process, such as starting up the rice milling machine, operating it, shutting it down, checking the quality of the grains during the rice milling process, and fine-tuning the rice milling machine, are still performed separately by the workers themselves. In this situation, there was a need to minimize lost time and human bias at each step of the process and reduce the labor required for rice milling.

The problem that this invention aims to solve is to provide a control system and method for a rice milling mechanism that can reduce the labor required for the rice milling process.

The invention according to claim 1 of the present application is a control system for an automatically controlled rice milling mechanism, comprising: a quality data storage unit in which a plurality of quality data are stored; a rice milling unit capable of milling grains based on one or more quality data selected from the plurality of quality data; a reference value calculation unit that calculates a judgment criterion for ending rice milling in the rice milling unit; and a server unit that controls the quality data storage unit, the rice milling unit, and the reference value calculation unit , wherein the server unit extracts the plurality of past quality data stored in the quality data storage unit and also extracts the quality data necessary for rice milling processing, selects necessary data related to operational control of the rice milling mechanism, and transmits the necessary data to the reference value calculation unit, and the reference value calculation unit performs test rice milling based on the necessary data related to operational control of the rice milling mechanism transmitted by the server unit, and outputs a reference value related to quality that is a termination condition for the rice milling processing in the rice milling unit based on the result of the test rice milling .

The invention according to claim 2 of the present application is a control system for the rice milling mechanism according to claim 1, in which the rice milling unit has a check unit that checks the quality of the grains after the rice milling process one or more times.

The invention according to claim 3 of the present application is a control system for the rice milling mechanism according to claim 2, in which the rice milling unit has an instruction unit for further milling the grains after the rice milling process checked by the check unit.

The invention according to claim 4 of the present application is a control system for a rice milling mechanism as described in claim 3, wherein the instruction unit is capable of outputting instructions to cause the grain after the rice milling process to reach a state that satisfies the reference value that is a condition for ending the rice milling process output by the reference value calculation unit.

The invention according to claim 5 of the present application is a control system for a rice milling mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the reference value output by the reference value calculation unit includes a whiteness of the grain.

The invention according to claim 6 of the present application is a control system for a rice milling mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 5, in which the rice milling section has a judgment section that judges when rice milling in the rice milling section has ended.

The invention according to claim 7 of the present application is a control system for a rice milling mechanism according to any one of claims 2 to 6, in which the rice milling unit has a transmission unit capable of transmitting to the server unit one or more types of data selected from the group consisting of data acquired by the check unit and data reported by the judgment unit on the completion of rice milling.

The invention according to claim 8 of the present application is a control system for a rice milling mechanism according to any one of claims 2 to 7, in which the quality data includes one or more types of data selected from the group consisting of production year data, grain data, taste data, post-harvest temperature data, post-harvest humidity data, variety data, production area data, moisture data, temperature data, hardness data, the reference value data, milling date data, data acquired by the checking unit, data acquired by further milling in response to an instruction from the instruction unit, and data reporting completion of the rice milling process by the judgment unit.

The invention of claim 9 of the present application is a control system for a rice milling mechanism described in any one of claims 1 to 8 , wherein the server unit controls the operation of the rice milling mechanism by executing an estimation process using a multilayer neural network that has learned the correlation between the quality data stored in the quality data storage unit and the reference value.

The invention according to claim 10 of the present application is a control method for a rice milling mechanism for automatic control, comprising the steps of storing a plurality of quality data, selecting one or more of the quality data from the plurality of quality data, instructing a rice milling section to start rice milling processing of grains based on the selected quality data, and judging the end of the rice milling processing in the rice milling section, and further comprising the steps of extracting the plurality of stored past quality data and extracting the quality data necessary for the rice milling processing, selecting and transmitting necessary data related to operation control of the rice milling mechanism , and performing test rice milling based on the transmitted necessary data related to operation control of the rice milling mechanism, and outputting a reference value related to quality that becomes a termination condition for the rice milling processing in the rice milling section based on the result of the test rice milling .

According to the invention of claims 1 and 10 , there is provided a quality data storage unit in which multiple quality data are stored, a rice milling unit capable of milling grains based on one or multiple quality data selected from the multiple quality data, a reference value calculation unit that calculates a criterion for judging the end of rice milling in the rice milling unit, and a server unit that controls the quality data storage unit, the rice milling unit, and the reference value calculation unit . With this configuration, it is possible to provide a control system and a control method for a rice milling mechanism that can reduce labor by utilizing the stored quality data and calculating a reference value for appropriately judging the end of rice milling.

According to the invention of claim 2, the rice polishing section has a checking section that checks the quality of the grains after the rice polishing process one or more times, and it is possible to check the quality condition that changes from moment to moment during the rice polishing process and perform appropriate rice polishing.

According to the invention of claim 3, the rice polishing unit has an instruction unit for further polishing the polished grains checked by the checking unit, and by checking the quality of the grains during the polishing process and further polishing the grains as necessary, it is possible to ensure the necessary quality for the polished grains.

According to the invention of claim 4, the instruction unit can output instructions to bring the grain after the rice polishing process to a state that satisfies the judgment criteria for the end of rice polishing calculated by the reference value calculation unit, so that the grain can be polished according to the clear judgment criteria calculated by the reference value calculation unit.

According to the invention of claim 5, by using the whiteness of the grain as the judgment criterion calculated by the reference value calculation unit, it is possible to avoid excessive polishing of the grain, thereby improving the yield as well as the quality.

According to the invention of claim 6, the rice polishing section has a judgment section that judges the end of rice polishing in the rice polishing section, and it becomes possible to judge whether the grains being polished have reached a state that satisfies the judgment criteria for the end of rice polishing.

According to the invention of claim 7, the rice polishing unit has a transmission unit capable of transmitting to the server unit one or more types of data selected from the group consisting of the data acquired by the check unit and the data reported by the judgment unit on the completion of rice polishing. Therefore, even in a situation where there are multiple rice polishing units, for example, the server unit can collectively manage the rice polishing mechanisms.

According to the invention of claim 8, the quality data is configured to include one or more types of data selected from the group consisting of production year data, grain data, taste data, post-harvest temperature data, post-harvest humidity data, variety data, origin data, moisture data, temperature data, hardness data, reference value data, polishing date data, data acquired by the check unit, data acquired by further polishing at the instruction of the instruction unit, and polishing completion report data by the judgment unit, so that polishing can be performed on the grain to be polished based on the quality data of the grain.

According to the invention of claim 9, the server unit can execute estimation processing using a multi-layer neural network and have the rice milling unit perform rice milling processing of grains, so that the learning function enables more efficient rice milling processing.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the device configuration of a control system for a rice milling mechanism in one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a quality data storage unit in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of control processing of the entire system in one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of a reference value calculation process in a rice polishing unit in one embodiment of the present invention. An explanatory diagram showing the flow of control processing of a server unit and a rice polishing unit in one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram of a system configuration of a control system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

The control system and control method for the rice milling mechanism of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the control system 100 for the rice milling mechanism of this embodiment is capable of automatically controlling the rice milling mechanism and is composed of at least a server unit 1 capable of controlling the entire control system, a quality data storage unit 2 in which multiple quality data related to quality, including mechanical status data of the rice milling machine in the rice milling process of grains, and a rice milling unit 4 capable of executing the rice milling process of grains.

The server unit 1 also includes at least a feedback unit 10 that can feed back quality data to the quality data storage unit 2, and a data suitability judgment unit 11 that judges the suitability of various selection data related to the rice milling process selected by the server unit 1 when performing the rice milling process in the rice milling unit 4.

The quality data storage unit 2 has at least a recording means 20 for recording the quality data received from the server unit 1. The above-mentioned quality data includes, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, grain data acquired from a grain discriminator (not shown) or the like, taste data acquired from a taste meter (registered trademark) or the like, outside temperature and humidity data of the rice milling facility, production year data, variety data, production area data, post-harvest temperature data, post-harvest humidity data, rice milling lot number data including the rice milling date, machine status data including operation control information of the rice milling machine, as well as grain moisture data, temperature data, hardness data, grain particle size distribution, etc.

In addition, the quality data storage unit 2 can record and store the standard whiteness clear value that serves as the criterion for determining the end of the rice polishing process, which will be described later, quality check data acquired by the check unit 42 of the rice polishing unit 4, and end report data for the rice polishing process by the judgment unit 43. The quality data storage unit 2 can be installed within the rice polishing facility, but it may also be installed outside the rice polishing facility and connected to the server unit 1 so as to be able to communicate with it using an internet line or the like.

The rice polishing unit 4 includes a rice polishing machine (not shown) and has the function of controlling the execution of the rice polishing process by the rice polishing machine. The rice polishing unit 4 also includes a reference value calculation unit 40, which controls the execution of test rice polishing by the rice polishing machine and is capable of calculating a grain quality reference value for determining the end of the rice polishing process. The grain quality that serves as the criterion for determining the end of the rice polishing process can be, for example, the grain whiteness, and in this case, the reference value calculation unit 40 calculates and determines a reference whiteness clear value.

In other words, when the grain is rice, the whiteness increases by repeating the rice polishing process, but excessive rice polishing will result in more rice grains than necessary being polished, which not only leads to a decrease in quality but also a decrease in yield. Therefore, by using the above-mentioned reference value calculation unit 40 to calculate and determine the reference whiteness clear value, which is the end condition for the rice polishing process, it is possible to improve the quality and yield of the grain.

In addition, the rice polishing unit 4 includes at least an instruction unit 41 capable of issuing instructions to the rice polishing machine for operation in the rice polishing process based on operation control information from the server unit 1 and the reference value calculation unit 40, a check unit 42 capable of checking the quality state of the grains after the rice polishing process one or more times for each rice polishing cycle in the rice polishing process, a judgment unit 43 that judges whether the quality reference value that is the end condition for the rice polishing process has been cleared based on the check result of the check unit 42, and a transmission unit 44 that can transmit various data from the rice polishing unit 4 to the server unit 1.

In this embodiment, the quality reference value for determining the end of the rice polishing process is the whiteness of the grain, and the reference value calculation unit 40 calculates and determines the reference whiteness clear value. The rice polishing unit 4 also includes a whiteness meter 45 as a quality measurement device to check the whiteness of the grain. Of course, the quality reference value for determining the end of the rice polishing process can be something other than whiteness, and it is also possible to include other appropriate measurement devices depending on the quality item.

Next, FIG. 3 illustrates the overall control configuration of the control system 100 of the rice milling mechanism of this embodiment, while FIG. 4 illustrates the control configuration of the server unit 1 and the rice milling unit 4, and FIG. 5 illustrates the control configuration for the rice milling process after the test rice milling. Below, the processing flow of this embodiment will be explained based on these FIGS. 3 to 5.

As shown in Figures 3 and 4, first, when performing the rice polishing process of grains, the server unit 1 extracts the quality data necessary for the rice polishing process from multiple past quality data stored in the quality data storage unit 2 (shown as "S1") and selects the necessary data related to the operation control of the rice polishing machine. After that, the grain sorting unit 3 sorts the grain thickness according to the instructions of the server unit 1, and the server unit 1 transmits the selected data related to the operation control of the rice polishing machine to the reference value calculation unit 40 (shown as "S2").

Next, the reference value calculation unit 40 of the rice polishing unit 4 performs test rice polishing using the grains sorted by thickness based on the above selection data transmitted from the server unit 1. Then, as shown in Fig. 4, the reference value calculation unit 40 calculates and determines a reference whiteness clear value that is the end condition for the rice polishing process, and outputs the reference whiteness clear value according to the quality data.

During the test rice polishing, the whiteness of the grains after the rice polishing process is measured once or multiple times for each rice polishing cycle by the whiteness meter 45, and the whiteness is checked by the check unit 42 each time. The whiteness check results and information related to the operation control of the rice polishing machine to clear the standard whiteness clear value obtained in the test rice polishing are transmitted to the server unit 1 via the transmission unit 44 (shown as "S3"). The test rice polishing may be performed using the rice polishing machine used in the actual rice polishing process, or may be performed using a separately prepared small test rice polishing machine.

Next, in the server unit 1, the data suitability judgment unit 11 judges the suitability of the selected data described above based on the whiteness check results sent from the transmission unit 44 of the rice polishing unit 4 and information related to the operation control of the rice polishing machine to clear the standard whiteness clear value obtained in the test rice polishing. Furthermore, the judgment results of the data suitability judgment unit 11, various quality data obtained in the test rice polishing, information related to operation control, etc. are sent to the quality data storage unit 2 via the feedback unit 10 (shown as "S4").

Next, the server unit 1 extracts and selects appropriate data from the quality data storage unit 2 based on the results of the test rice polishing described above ("S5" in the figure), and transmits the appropriate selected data to the rice polishing unit 4 ("S6" in the figure). The appropriate selected data transmitted from the server unit 1 includes information related to the operation control of the rice polishing machine and an appropriate standard whiteness clear value according to the quality data of the grain, and based on this information, the rice polishing machine is set and fine-tuned, and the grain polishing process is carried out.

Next, the rice polishing process after the completion of the above-mentioned test rice polishing will be explained in more detail based on the block diagram shown in Figure 5. After the test rice polishing, the standard whiteness clear value is set and settings related to the operation control of the rice polishing machine are made, and the server unit 1 instructs the grain sorting unit 3 to sort the grain thickness and/or the rice polishing unit 4 to start polishing. After the test rice polishing is completed, the processing in the reference value calculation unit 40 is not executed, and the instruction unit 41 of the rice polishing unit 4 controls the rice polishing machine to instruct it to execute the rice polishing process.

The instruction unit 41 sets the number of cycles of the rice polishing process as n (a natural number) based on the aforementioned appropriate selection data transmitted from the server unit 1, and further sets a reference whiteness clear value that is the criterion for determining the end of the rice polishing process. When the rice polishing process starts, the check unit 42 executes a cycle check, and each time the whiteness of the grain is measured by the whiteness meter 45, and the check result is transmitted to the server unit 1 via the transmission unit 44.

Furthermore, if the result of the cycle check by the check unit 42 indicates that the standard whiteness clear value, which is the criterion for determining the end of the rice polishing process, has been cleared by the judgment unit 43, a report of the end of the rice polishing process is sent to the server unit 1 via the transmission unit 44. As a result, the server unit 1 sends an instruction to end the rice polishing process to the instruction unit 41 of the rice polishing unit 4. On the other hand, if the result of the cycle check by the check unit 42 indicates that the standard whiteness clear value has not been cleared, the instruction unit 41 further polishes the grains after the rice polishing process.

The feedback unit 10 of the server unit 1 also transmits the check results and the completion report of the rice polishing process transmitted from the rice polishing unit 4, together with the operational control information of the rice polishing unit 4, as quality data to the quality data storage unit 2. The quality data storage unit 2 records and stores each piece of quality data transmitted from the feedback unit 10 using the recording means 20.

Other Embodiments
While one embodiment of the control system for a rice milling mechanism of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the above-described embodiment, and also includes modified examples such as those shown below.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, multiple rice milling facilities (Facility A, Facility B, Facility C, etc.) located in different regions can be connected to the FTP server 5 using an internet line network or the like to upload and download the quality data described above. In addition, text data received by the FTP server 5 can be converted into a database and stored in the data server 6. Then, the application server 7 can distribute information required in response to requests from the control system 100 of each rice milling facility (e.g., various quality data) to the server of each rice milling facility.

With the above-mentioned configuration, for example, it becomes possible to store and manage the results of the test rice polishing performed at facility A in one place in data server 6, and by distributing the appropriate data obtained from this test rice polishing to facilities B and C, it becomes possible to omit the test rice polishing at facilities B and C.

The control system for the rice milling mechanism of the present invention can also be configured to execute estimation processing using a multi-layer neural network created using deep learning technology. That is, by adding a neural network model that has learned the correlation between the many types of collected and accumulated quality data and the quality standard values (e.g., the standard whiteness clear value, etc.) for determining the end of rice milling to, for example, the server unit 1 of the rice milling facility or the application server 7 in FIG. 6, it becomes possible to optimize the parameters related to the operation control of the rice milling machine in the rice milling unit 4.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the server unit 1 is directly connected to the quality data storage unit 2, the rice polishing unit 4, the grain sorting unit 3, and the reference value calculation unit 40, and controls each of them. However, this is not necessarily limited to such a configuration, and the server unit 1 may control at least one of the configurations including the quality data storage unit 2, the rice polishing unit 4, the grain sorting unit 3, and the reference value calculation unit 40.

Although the above describes the embodiment of the present invention and some variations, the above-mentioned embodiment of the invention is intended to facilitate understanding of the present invention and does not limit the present invention. The present invention may be modified or improved without departing from its spirit, and the present invention includes equivalents. Furthermore, the components described in the claims and specification may be combined or omitted to the extent that at least part of the above-mentioned problems can be solved or at least part of the effects can be achieved.

Reference Signs List 1 Server section 2 Quality data storage section 3 Grain sorting section 4 Rice polishing section 5 FTP server 6 Data server 7 Application server 10 Feedback section 11 Data suitability judgment section 20 Recording means 40 Reference value calculation section 41 Instruction section 42 Check section 43 Judgment section 44 Transmission section 45 Whiteness meter 100 Control system

Claims (10)

A control system for an automatically controlled rice milling mechanism, comprising:
a quality data storage unit in which a plurality of quality data are stored;
A rice polishing unit capable of polishing grains based on one or more of the quality data selected from the plurality of quality data;
A reference value calculation unit that calculates a judgment criterion for ending the rice polishing process in the rice polishing unit;
a server unit that controls the quality data storage unit, the rice polishing unit, and the reference value calculation unit ,
The server unit extracts the multiple pieces of past quality data stored in the quality data storage unit, extracts the quality data necessary for the rice milling process, selects necessary data related to operation control of the rice milling mechanism, and transmits the data to the reference value calculation unit;
The reference value calculation unit executes test rice polishing based on necessary data related to operation control of the rice polishing mechanism transmitted by the server unit, and outputs a reference value related to quality that is a termination condition for the rice polishing process in the rice polishing unit based on the result of the test rice polishing.
Control system for rice milling mechanism. The rice polishing unit has a checking unit that checks the quality of the grains after the rice polishing process one or more times.
A control system for a rice milling mechanism according to claim 1. The rice polishing unit has an instruction unit for further polishing the grain after the rice polishing process checked by the checking unit.
A control system for a rice milling mechanism according to claim 2. The instruction unit is capable of outputting an instruction to cause the grain after the rice milling process to reach a state that satisfies the reference value that is a condition for ending the rice milling process outputted by the reference value calculation unit.
A control system for a rice milling mechanism according to claim 3. The reference value output by the reference value calculation unit includes the whiteness of the grain.
A control system for a rice milling mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The rice polishing unit has a judgment unit that judges the end of the rice polishing process in the rice polishing unit.
A control system for a rice milling mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 5. The rice polishing unit has a transmission unit capable of transmitting to the server unit one or more types of data selected from the group consisting of check result data output from the check unit and rice polishing process completion report data output from the judgment unit.
A control system for a rice milling mechanism according to any one of claims 2 to 6. The quality data includes one or more types of data selected from the group consisting of production year data, grain data, taste data, post-harvest temperature data, post-harvest humidity data, variety data, production area data, moisture data, temperature data, hardness data, the reference value data, rice-polishing date data, data acquired by the checking unit, data acquired by further polishing in accordance with an instruction from the instruction unit, and data reporting completion of the rice-polishing process by the judgment unit.
A control system for a rice milling mechanism according to any one of claims 2 to 7. The server unit executes an estimation process using a multi-layer neural network that has learned the correlation between the quality data stored in the quality data storage unit and the reference value , and controls the operation of the rice milling mechanism .
A control system for a rice milling mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 8. A method for automatically controlling a rice milling mechanism, comprising the steps of:
storing a plurality of quality data;
selecting one or more of the quality data from a plurality of the quality data;
instructing a rice milling unit to start a rice milling process on the grain based on the selected quality data;
and determining completion of the rice polishing process in the rice polishing unit,
moreover,
A step of extracting the plurality of stored past quality data and extracting the quality data necessary for rice milling processing, and selecting and transmitting necessary data related to operation control of the rice milling mechanism ;
and performing a test rice polishing based on the necessary data related to the operation control of the rice polishing mechanism transmitted, and outputting a reference value related to quality that is a termination condition for the rice polishing process in the rice polishing unit based on the result of the test rice polishing.
A method for controlling the rice milling mechanism.

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