JPH0716653B2 - Grain sorter - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a grain sorting device for sorting mixed grain after hulling, for example, mixed rice into brown rice and paddy.

2. Description of the Related Art A sorting device of this type is constructed as disclosed in JP-A-59-104681. Figures 13 and 14 show the outline. Sorting plate 1
Are supported via the tilt drive means 3 and the vibration device 2. When the mixed rice 5 is supplied to the upper end portion 4 of the sorting plate 1, the mixed rice 5 is transferred toward the lower end portion 6 of the sorting plate 1 due to the inclination and vibration of the sorting plate 1. At the time of this transfer, as shown in FIG. 14, the paddy layer A1 and the mixed rice layer A2 are placed on the upper surface of the sorting plate 1.
And the flow distribution of brown rice layer A3 occurs. B1 is the boundary line between the paddy layer A1 and the mixed rice layer A2, and B2 is the boundary line between the mixed rice layer A2 and the brown rice layer A3. First and second partition plates 7 and 8 are provided at a lower end portion 6 of the sorting plate 1, and the first partition plate 7 is a boundary line B.
The first and second partition plates 8 are positioned so as to correspond to the boundary line B2. A photoelectric sensor 9 is attached to the second partition plate 8, and the position of the boundary line B2 is detected by utilizing the fact that the mixed rice layer A2 and the brown rice layer A3 have different light reflectances.
The position of the partition plate 8 is changed by controlling the partition plate driving means 10 so that the position of the partition line coincides with the position of the boundary line B2.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In such a conventional configuration, the position of the partition plate 8 is changed based on the signal from the photoelectric sensor 9, and only brown rice is selected and taken out from the section C partitioned by the partition plate 8. However, since the photoelectric sensor 9 detects the brightness level of the entire field of view of the sensor, it does not recognize individual grains, and the layer thickness of grains changes or dead rice is detected. If there is, the brightness is different and the control accuracy is poor. Therefore, the partition plate 8
Is set on the safe side so that it is located inside the brown rice layer A3 with respect to the actual position of the boundary line B2, so that the mixed rice does not mix into the selected brown rice. Since it is necessary to set it on the safe side as described above, the amount of brown rice that can be taken out by the selection is reduced, and the processing capacity is low.

An object of the present invention is to provide a grain sorting device capable of improving the control accuracy as compared with the conventional one and enhancing the processing capacity.

Means for Solving the Problems The grain sorting apparatus of the present invention captures a standby position on one side of a sorting plate with a vision sensor, recognizes an image of the vision sensor at the standby position, and a paddy layer reaches the standby position. When it is detected that the vision sensor is deployed, the vision sensor is moved laterally to a standard position defined in advance in the direction of approaching the boundary between the mixed layer and the grain layer, and the image of the vision sensor at the standard position is recognized, Based on the inclination angle of the selection plate or the partition plate being moved based on the memory, the memory is electrically rewritable and the standard position on the selection plate is written, and the memory is set separately before the writing operation to the memory. Data read from the memory in the state after performing the position control of the vision sensor by using the data of the reference position as the data of the standard position and performing the write operation. Is provided as the standard position data, and a control unit for performing position control of the vision sensor is provided.

Function According to this configuration, not only one point on the selection plate but also the surface of the area with the selection plate is monitored by the vision sensor,
The control accuracy is improved by recognizing the grain of the paddy from the image picked up by the vision sensor and controlling the inclination of the sorting plate or the position of the partition plate based on the amount of the paddy mixed.

The vision sensor is automatically moved from the standby position to the standard position to monitor the upper surface of the sorting plate.A single vision sensor also detects the abnormal development of mixed grains on the upper surface of the sorting plate immediately after the start of operation. Can be detected.

The control unit performs the position control of the vision sensor by using the separately set reference position data as the standard position data until detecting the rewriting operation to the memory. In order to perform the position control of the vision sensor using the read data as the standard position data, it corresponds to the boundary position between the mixed layer and the grain layer that changes according to the type of grain to be processed, the moisture value, etc. The partition board can be controlled quickly.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 12. It should be noted that components having the same functions as those of FIGS. 13 to 14 showing a conventional example are designated by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the grain sorting apparatus of the present invention. In the sorting device shown in FIG. 1, a television camera 11 and an image processing device 12 as vision sensors are used instead of the photoelectric sensor 9 shown in FIG.
Is provided. Here, the TV camera 11 is attached to an electrically driven lateral movement table 13. Image processing means 12
In addition to the image signal a as an input signal, limit switches LS4 and LS5 for detecting that the television camera 11 has reached the left end and the right end as shown in FIG. 2, an encoder EC1 for detecting the position of the television camera 11, Limit switches LS6 and LS7 that detect when the sorting plate 1 has reached the upper and lower angles,
Encoder EC3 that detects the angle of the sorting plate 1, limit switch that detects when the partition plate 8 has reached the left and right ends
The signals of LS8, LS9 and the encoder EC2 for detecting the position of the partition plate 8 are input, and as output devices, the drive motor M7 of the lateral movement table 13, the drive motor 9 of the partition plate drive means 10, and the tilt drive means. A brown rice switching shutter 14 is connected to switch the delivery route of the brown rice that has passed through the drive motor M10 of No. 3 and the partition plate 8 to be sorted and passed through the brown rice elevator (see FIG. 10) between circulation and discharge. FIG. 11 shows the configuration of the peripheral portion of the television camera 11. The image processing means 12, as shown in FIG. 4, has a first step a for moving the television camera 11 from the standby position to the standard position, a second step b for controlling the angle of the sorting plate 1, and the television camera 11 It comprises a third step c for finely adjusting the position of 4 and a fourth step d for finely adjusting the position of the partition plate 8, which will be described in detail in the order of each step.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the first step a. In the initial state, the television camera 11 is in the standby position I at the right end of the selection plate 1 as shown by the solid line in FIG. 3, and images the upper surface of the selection plate 1 to start image processing [a-1]. Vibration device 2
When the mixed rice 5 is supplied to the upper end portion 4 of the sorting plate 1 from the paddy hulling machine [not shown] in the preceding stage while the mixed rice is flowing down the sorting plate 1, the mixed rice layer A1 and the mixed rice layer A2 and Brown rice layer
Deployed to A3. In [a-2], the ratio of the exposed portion of the selection plate 1 in the entire visual field is calculated from the captured image, and this ratio is determined in [a-3]. [A-3] is repeated until the paddy layer A1 enters the visual field and the exposed portion of the selection plate 1 becomes less than 10%.
When the number of repetitions of [a-2] reaches the first predetermined number, this is detected in [a-4], the vibration device 2 is stopped [a-5], and an abnormal buzzer sounds [ a-6] is carried out to execute the stop operation [a-7] for stopping all the operations.

When it is determined in [a-3] that it has been sufficiently developed,
The drive motor M7 is driven [a-8], and it is checked with [a-9] whether the position information of the encoder EC1 has reached the preset standard position data Y, and repeated [a-
8] is executed. FIG. 3 shows the standard position II of the TV camera 11 by a virtual line. When a match is detected in [a-9] and the television camera 11 reaches the standard plate II, the process proceeds to the next second step b. At this time, the partition plate 8 is in the standard position II.

When the step [a-8] of the first step a is reached, the standard position data used for control is determined by the processing device shown in FIG. When the control unit 20 detects the data request instruction S, the flag bit of a predetermined register 21 is checked.
This register 21 is an electrically rewritable memory
22 is configured so that a flag is set when there is a write instruction from the setting switch 23 in such a memory (generally called EEP-ROM), and the flag is set in the register 21. When the control unit 20 does not detect the state, the control unit 20 sets the contents preset in the read-only memory 24 (such a memory is generally called a ROM) to the standard position data Y. Output as.
In [a-8], the television camera 11 is laterally moved based on the standard position output from the control unit 20 in this manner. If the above standard position is no longer appropriate due to the type of grain to be sorted, the moisture content, etc., a new standard position is set in the EEP-ROM 22 via the setting switch 23, and a flag is registered in the register 21. Is set, and in the operation thereafter, when the control unit 20 detects the data request instruction S, the data read from the EEP-ROM 22 is output as the standard position data Y.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the second step b. [A-
In [b-1] and [b-2] subsequent to 9], the image is captured a predetermined number of times a predetermined number of times, and then the grain is recognized, and the following processing is performed on each image. First, as shown in FIG. 7, the field of view of one image is subdivided into blocks BL1 to BL8 in the width direction of the selection plate 1, and in [b-3], the paddy in each block BL1 to BL8 of the read image of each time is divided. The average value of the number of grains is calculated, and in [b-4], the sum total of the average values in [b-3] is calculated and used as the average value of the grain in the visual field of the television camera 11 at the standard position II. If it is detected in [b-5] that the number of paddy grains detected in [b-4] is larger than N5, it is determined that the inclination of the sorting plate 1 is insufficient and the brown rice switching shutter 14 is set to the circulation side. [B-6] is performed. When the brown rice switching shutter 14 is in the circulating state, the rice that has been sorted as brown rice is re-supplied to the upper end portion 4 of the sorting plate 1. The mixed rice and the sorted rice are re-supplied to the upper end portion 4 of the sorting plate 1 regardless of the state of the brown rice switching shutter 14, and the rice and sorted rice are fed to the huller regardless of the state of the brown rice switching shutter 14. It is thrown in.

In [b-7] subsequent to [b-6], the drive motor M10 is driven to raise the selection angle by a predetermined angle. Then, the limit switch LS6 is checked [b-8], and when the sorting plate 1 has not reached the upper limit position, the specified time is measured [b-9].
After that, return to [b-1]. Repeat [b-7] until the number of paddy grains in the field of view becomes smaller than N5 in [b-5]. When the number of paddy grains in the field of view becomes smaller than N5, the inclination of the selection plate 1 Brown rice switching shutter as approaching appropriate value
14 is set to the delivery state to the latter stage [b-10], then it is checked whether the number of paddy grains in [b-4] is smaller than N5 and smaller than N1 [b-11]. For example, the drive motor M10 is driven to lower the selection angle by a predetermined angle. Then check the limit switch LS7 [b-13]
If the sorting plate 1 has not reached the lower limit position, [b
-9] is executed. When it is determined in [b-11] that N1 or more, the process proceeds to the next third step c.

FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of the third step. [B-1
In [c-1] [c-2] following 1], [b-1] [b
-2], read the image again, [c-3]
[C-4] is executed to obtain the number of rice grains in the visual field of the television camera 11 after the angle control of the selection plate 1 is completed. Then, [c
-4] N3, N2 [where N is between N5 and N1]
Compared to 3> N2], it is checked whether the paddy is in the final stage of hulling with less paddy remaining in the hulling machine or whether the paddy has increased abnormally for some reason [c-5] [c-6]. . If it is not the final stage of hulling, or if the paddy is stationary, [c
In [7], it is checked whether the number of rice grains obtained in [c-4] is larger than N1.5 which is smaller than N5, and if it is larger, the drive motors M7 and M9 are driven and the television camera 11 and The partition plate 8 is moved to the left, here first by a specified distance from the standard position II [c-8]. Then limit switch LS4,
LS8 is checked [c-9], and if the TV camera 11 or the partition plate 8 has reached the left end, [c-10] to [c-
12) The abnormal process is executed. If [c-9] is normal, the process returns to [c-1].

When it is determined in [c-7] that it is smaller than N1.5, the brown rice switching shutter 14 is set to the discharging state [c-13], and then the number of paddy grains obtained in [c-4] is N1. N smaller than .5
It is checked whether it is smaller than 0.5 [c-14]. If it is smaller than 0.5, the drive motors M7 and M9 are driven to move the television camera 11 and the partition plate 8 to the right by a predetermined distance [c-15]. Then, check the limit switches LS5 and LS9 [c-16]
If the television camera 11 or the partition plate 8 has reached the right end, the process returns to [b-1]. If the limit is not detected in [c-16], the process returns to [c-1]. When the number of paddy grains is determined to be N0.5 or more in [c-14], the following fourth step d
Move on to. When it is determined in [c-5] that it is larger than N3, the brown rice switching shutter 14 is set to the circulation state [c-1.
7] Then, the drive motors M7 and M9 are driven to move the television camera 11 and the partition plate 8 to the left by a predetermined distance [c-18], and then [c-9] is executed.

When it is determined in [c-6] that it is larger than N2, the brown rice switching shutter 14 is set to the circulating state [c-19], and the drive motors M7 and M9 are driven to drive the television camera 11 and the partition plate 8. To the left by a predetermined distance [c-20], then [c-9]
To execute.

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of the fourth step d. Here, the partition plate 8 is a television camera as shown in FIG.
It is located at the central position III, which is indicated by a triangle in the view of 11.
If the boundary positions of the blocks BL1 to BL8 are SB1 to SB7, the left limit position of the visual field is SB0, and the right limit position of the visual field is SB8, the partition plate 8 is at the position SB4. In [d-1], [c
-3] The number of paddy grains in each block BL1 to BL8 obtained in step AB1 to AB8
It is checked whether AB1 is larger than N1 which is smaller than N5. If it is larger, the process returns to [c-8] and the television camera 11 and the partition plate 8 are moved to the left. If [d-1] is determined to be below, it is checked whether the sum of (AB1 + AB2) is larger than N1 [d-2], and if it is larger, the process returns to [c-8] and the TV camera 11 is again partitioned. Move the plate 8 to the left.
If [d-2] is determined to be as follows, (AB1 + AB2 +
Check if the sum of AB3) is greater than N1 [d-3],
If it is larger, drive the drive motor M9 to move the partition plate 8 to position SB2.
To [d-4]. And limit switch LS8
[D-5] is checked, and if the partition plate 8 has reached the left end, the abnormal processing of [c-10] to [c-12] is executed.
If the result is normal in [d-5], the process returns to [c-1] through [d-6]. If [d-3] is determined to be below, it is checked whether the sum of (AB1 + AB2 + AB3 + AB4) is larger than N1 [d-7]. If it is larger, the drive motor M9 is driven to move the partition plate 8 to the position SB3. Move [d-8]. Then, the limit switch LS9 is checked [d-6] via [d-5], and if the partition plate 8 reaches the right side [b-
Return to 1]. [D-6] When it is determined that the right end has not been reached, the process returns to [c-1]. If [d-7] is determined to be below, it is checked whether the sum of (AB1 + AB2 + AB3 + AB4 + AB5) is larger than N1 [d-9]. If it is larger, the drive motor M9 is driven to move the partition plate 8 to the position SB4. Move [d-10]. Then, [d-5] is executed. If [d-9] is determined to be as follows, the sum of (AB1 + AB2 + AB3 + AB4 + AB5 + AB6) is
It is checked whether it is larger than N1 [d-11], and if it is larger, the drive motor M9 is driven to move the partition plate 8 to the position SB5 [d-12]. Then, [d-5] is executed. [D-11]
If the following is determined in, (AB1 + AB2 + AB3 + AB4 +
Check if the sum of (AB5 + AB6 + AB7) is greater than N1 [d
-13], and if it is larger, drive the drive motor M9 to drive the partition plate 8
Is moved to position SB6 [d-14]. And [d-5]
To execute. Thus, [d-1,2,3,7,9,11,1
Repeating each step of 3], the position of the partition plate 8
It is finely adjusted to a position near the paddy mixing position in the visual field of the television camera 11. When it is determined in [d-13] that the following is true, the procedure returns to [c-15].

In this way, the partition plate 8 can be controlled to an optimum position with high accuracy, and only brown rice can be sorted very efficiently.

Finally, Fig. 10 shows the details of the discharge and circulation route of the brown rice sorted by the sorting plate 1. The selected brown rice is lifted by the brown rice elevator 15 and then the discharge and the circulation are switched by the brown rice switching shutter 14 arranged in the vicinity of the discharge port of the brown rice elevator 15, near the selection plate 1. The following effects are obtained as compared with the case where the brown rice switching shutter 14 is provided.

That is, when the brown rice switching shutter 14 is provided near the sorting plate 1, an abnormal increase in paddy is detected and the brown rice switching shutter 14 is detected.
Before switching to circulation, brown rice with a lot of paddy is discharged. Therefore, in this case, it is necessary to make the time from the abnormality detection to the completion of shutter switching extremely short. On the other hand, this method uses the brown rice switching shutter 14
Is installed at a position raised through the brown rice lifter 15, so it is possible to secure a time for the brown rice to move from the exit of the selection plate 1 to the shutter 14, and as described above, there is a problem that paddy is mixed into the brown rice. Does not happen.

In the above embodiment, the television camera is used in the third step c.
Although 11 and the partition plate 8 are moved at the same time by [c-8] or [c-15], it is the same if the partition plate 8 is moved following the completion of the movement of the television camera 11.

In the above embodiment, the case where the target substance to be selected and extracted is brown rice has been described as an example, but the same applies to the case where a grain such as wheat is selected and extracted.

As described above, according to the present invention, the position of the partition plate is controlled by recognizing the image of the television camera positioned so as to capture the standard position of the upper surface of the selection plate. The monitoring range is wider than when controlling the spot detection of the difference in reflectance by the sensor, and moreover, the grain of the paddy is recognized from the image captured by the vision sensor, and the inclination of the sorting plate is based on the amount of paddy mixed. Since the control of the position of the partition plate is performed, it is possible to realize the position control with a control accuracy that is unprecedented compared to the conventional control, and only the target grain can be obtained without setting the partition plate on the safe side. It can be selected and extracted very efficiently.

Furthermore, since the vision sensor is moved from the standby position to the standard position to monitor the upper surface of the selection plate, it is possible to detect the deployment abnormality, control the partition plate, and the selection angle with one vision sensor.

As the standard position, a preset reference position is adopted until the setting is changed, but when new position information is set in the electrically rewritable memory, a new reference position is set thereafter. Since a control unit that uses position information as a standard position is provided, the vision sensor is moved to a standard position suitable for the type and moisture of the grain to be processed, and the partition plate and sorting angle are controlled. Can be implemented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of the grain sorting apparatus of the present invention, FIG.
FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory view of an input / output device around the image processing means in the device, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main part of the device, FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the image processing device in the device, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the first step in FIG.
FIG. 7 is a flow chart of the second step in FIG. 4, FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of the field of view of the television camera and image processing, and FIG. 8 is a flow chart of the third step in FIG.
The figure is a flow chart of the fourth step in FIG.
FIG. 10 is an explanatory view of the brown rice circulation / discharge route of the device, FIG. 11 is a detailed view of the main part shown in FIG. 2, FIG. Front view of the sorting device,
FIG. 14 is a plan view of an essential part of the device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Sorting plate, 2 ... Excitation device, 3 ... Tilt drive device, 8 ... Partition plate, 11 ... Television camera, 12 ... Image processing device, 13 ... Horizontal movement table, 14 ... Brown rice switching shutter, I ... Standby position, II
… Standard position, BL1 to BL8… Blocks that divide the field of view of the TV camera in the width direction of the selection plate, AB1 to AB8… Each block BL1
~ BL8 average number of paddy grains, 20 ... control unit, 22 ... memory.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-2-111487 (JP, A) JP-A-59-196788 (JP, A) JP-A-58-146479 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vision sensor picks up an image of a standby position on one side of a sorting plate, recognizes an image of the vision sensor at the standby position, and detects that the paddy layer has spread to the standby position, the vision sensor is activated. It moves laterally to a standard position defined in advance in the direction approaching the boundary between the mixed layer and the grain layer, recognizes the image of the vision sensor at the standard position, and based on the detected content, the tilt angle of the sorting plate or the partition plate. The data of the standard position, which is separately set in the state before the writing operation to the memory and the memory in which the standard position in the selection plate is written, can be electrically rewritten. As a result, the position control of the vision sensor is performed, and after the write operation is performed, the data read from the memory is used as the standard position data. Grain sorting apparatus provided with a control section for performing the position control of the capacitor.