JPH0786922B2 - Threshing processing grain inspection device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention extracts an area corresponding to a grain based on image capturing means for capturing an image of the grain after threshing processing and image capturing information of the image capturing means. The present invention relates to a threshing-processed grain inspection apparatus including image processing means and twig-decker extraction means for extracting a twig-cord region corresponding to only twigs from the extracted region.

[Conventional technology]

In the inspection of threshing-treated grains, it is desired to discriminate a twig with a length larger than a set value as a defective product.

Therefore, for example, the image information corresponding to the surroundings in the area is obtained from the image information of the extracted area, the image information corresponding to the surroundings is subtracted from the image information of the extracted area, and as a result, the remaining area is labeled and It is conceivable to extract a region having a large area in the labeled region, delete the extracted region and the region corresponding to the surrounding region, and obtain the region corresponding to the twig.
By the way, in order to obtain the length of the twig, it is better to discriminate the length of the twig without being affected by the thickness of the twig by thinning the region corresponding to the twig.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

However, the above-described means has a disadvantage that the processing time becomes long because the image processing becomes complicated and the number of grains that can be inspected per unit time cannot be increased. Therefore, it is desired to speed up the twig extract processing.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to make it possible to speed up the extraction of image information corresponding to a twig infarction without degrading accuracy.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

An inspection device for threshing-treated grains according to the present invention, an image pickup unit for picking up an image of the grain after threshing, an image processing unit for extracting a region corresponding to the grain based on image pickup information of the image pickup unit, and A twig infarct extracting means for extracting a twig infarct region corresponding to only a twig infarct from the extracted region is provided, and its characteristic configuration is as follows.

That is, the twig infarct extraction means is configured to extract the twig infarct region based on distribution information of pixels belonging to the region in each of two directions orthogonal to each other on a captured image.

[Work]

As shown in FIG. 2, paying attention to the distribution of pixels belonging to the region (X) corresponding to the extracted grain, the width of the twig branch region portion (Xb) corresponding to the twig is corresponding only to the grain. It is much narrower than the width of the grain area (Xa).

Therefore, as shown in the figure, two directions orthogonal to each other on the captured image of the pixels belonging to the extracted region (X), for example,
When the frequency distribution of pixels having the same coordinate value on each of the x-axis and the y-axis is taken, the maximum frequency is obtained at a location corresponding to the substantial center of gravity of the grain area portion (Xa), and the area is centered on the location corresponding to the center of gravity Since the distribution decreases toward the outer end portion of (X), if the twig branch region portion (Xb) and the grain region portion (Xa) are separated based on the information of this frequency distribution. , Only the twig infarct region part (Xb) can be easily and accurately extracted.

〔The invention's effect〕

Therefore, without performing complicated image processing as in the past,
Since it is possible to accurately extract only the twig branch region corresponding to the twig, it is possible to speed up the extraction of the image information corresponding to the twig without reducing the accuracy.

〔Example〕

 Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the inspection device for threshing-treated grains includes a vibrating grain feeding device (1) as grain feeding means, and a transport end of the grain feeding device (1). Belt-type conveyor (2) as grain transporting means for transporting grain fed from the lower part, and two-dimensional image as image capturing means for repeatedly capturing the grain transported by the conveyor (2) from above. A control device (4) using a microcomputer for controlling the operation of the sensor (3), the supply device (1) and the conveyor (2) and discriminating a defective product based on the image pickup information of the image sensor (3). ) And is composed of.

As will be described later in detail, as shown in FIG. 1, the control device (4) is used to binarize the grain (A) based on the brightness of the imaging information of the image sensor (3). Image processing means (100) for extracting a region (X) (see FIG. 2) corresponding to the region (X), and a twig infarct region portion (Xb) corresponding to only the twig branch based on the information of the extracted region (X). Twig extract means (101) for extracting, and those means (100),
Discriminating means (1) for discriminating defective products based on the information of (101)
02), and by using the control device (4), both the feed speed of the grain by the grain supply device (1) and the transport speed of the conveyor (2) The automatic speed adjustment means for automatically adjusting

By the way, the conveying surface of the conveyor (2) is painted black in order to prevent the influence of reflected light, and the image pickup range of the image sensor (3) is adjusted by the lighting device (5) so as to have a set brightness. It is supposed to be illuminated. Further, the image sensor (3), in order to capture the state where the grain (A) is located in the imaging visual field (B),
The control device (4) is configured to be repeatedly image-captured at a cycle faster than the convey speed of the conveyor (2).
Is configured to convert into binary image information of 32 × 32 pixels per screen based on the brightness for each imaging cycle of the image sensor (3). Then, as shown in FIG. 2, a region (X) corresponding to the grain (A) is extracted from the image-processed binarized image information, and the region (X) is extracted.
Is it a defective product by judging that the whole grain (A) is located in the imaging visual field (B) when the edge of the is not in contact with the outer edge of the imaging visual field (B)? It is designed to determine whether or not. It should be noted that the determination of defective products will be described later.

Therefore, it is necessary that the grains conveyed by the conveyor (2) are arranged in a row along the conveying direction and are spaced from each other along the conveying direction. is there.

Therefore, the vibrating feeder (1) uses a structure similar to that of a so-called vibrating parts feeder to arrange the fed grain groups in a line until reaching the transportation end portion. The conveyor (2) is configured to drop and feed from the transport end portion to the transport start end portion of the conveyor (2), and the transport speed of the conveyor (2) is set to separate the grain to be dropped and fed for each grain. The difference between the supply speed of the supply device (1) and the transfer speed of the conveyor (2) is kept within a set range in a state of being higher than the supply speed of the supply device (1). That is, the interval between the grains conveyed by the conveyor (2) is determined by the supply device (1).
The intervals are set so as to correspond to the difference between the feeding speed of the above and the conveying speed of the conveyor (2).

However, the supply speed of the supply device (1) and the transfer speed of the conveyor (2) are determined by the control device (4) by the presence or absence of grains at the transfer end portion of the supply device (1) as described later. It is designed to be automatically adjusted in conjunction with.

As shown in FIGS. 5 to 8, the vibrating type feeding device (1) has a main body (6) formed in a substantially cylindrical shape as a whole.
And a drive section (7) for driving the main body section (6) along the circumferential direction in a state of slight vibration.

The main body portion (6) is formed into a cylindrical container whose bottom surface is inclined downward from the central portion toward the inner peripheral wall portion and whose upper end portion is open.

On the inner peripheral wall of the main body (6), there is formed a spiral shelf (8) rising from the lower bottom surface toward the upper opening, and from the upper end of the spiral shelf (8). A V-shaped guide groove (9) is formed in a portion extending to a portion above the conveyance start end of the conveyor (2) and extending to the conveyance end.
The V-shaped guide groove (9) is formed so that the width gradually changes from the large side to the small side and the depth changes from the large side to the small side toward the conveying end portion.

That is, the main body part (6) is subjected to a slight vibration by the driving part (7), so that the grain (A) put therein is provided with the spiral shelf along the inner peripheral wall part. The part (8) is lifted from the lower part to the upper part, and the part (8) is conveyed along the V-shaped guide groove (9) following the spiral-shaped shelf part (8). The V-shaped guide groove (9) whose width becomes narrow and its depth becomes shallow.
By utilizing the change in shape and the vibration of the main body portion (6), the supplied grain groups are aligned in a single line before reaching the conveying end portion.

The grain (A) overflowing from the guide groove (9) of the V embodiment is provided with an opening (10) for grain collection formed below the conveying end of the V-shaped guide groove (9). ) To the inner bottom surface of the main body (6) for re-transportation.

As shown in FIG. 9, at the end of the V-shaped guide groove (9) which serves as the conveyance end of the supply device (1), the V
As a guide body having a V-shaped guide groove (11) for receiving the grain (A) falling from the V-shaped guide groove (9) and guiding it to the starting end portion of the conveying surface of the conveyor (2). The relay member (12) serves as a guide surface for the V-shaped guide groove (11).
Is inclined toward the transfer surface of the conveyor (2).

That is, the supply rate of the grain (A) from the supply device (1) is increased stepwise so that a plurality of grains (A) are supplied.
Are not simultaneously supplied to the conveyor (2). Then, by setting the conveying speed of the conveyor (2) to be higher than the supply speed of the supply device (1), the grains (A) arranged in a line.
However, the particles are conveyed along the conveying direction of the conveyor (2) at intervals of each grain.

Explaining the drive part (7), although not described in detail, the main body part (6) is vibrated with a frequency proportional to the drive frequency and an amplitude proportional to the drive power. ing. That is, the grain supply speed of the supply device (1) is configured to increase as the drive frequency or drive power increases.

In FIG. 5, (13) is a drive electric motor of the conveyor (2), and (14) is the grain (A) supplied to the conveyor start end of the conveyor (2) of the conveyor (2). A guide member for guiding laterally outwardly so as not to fall, and is provided at both left and right sides of the conveyor start end portion of the conveyor (2).

By the way, the said feeder (1) is comprised so that the grain thrown into the inside may be conveyed along an inner wall, and may be aligned in a line along the said V-shaped guide groove (9). Therefore, when the amount of supplied grains decreases, the aligned grains may be interrupted in the transport direction.
If the grain supply is interrupted, the inspection cannot be performed during that period, resulting in a decrease in work efficiency.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the presence or absence of the grains to be supplied is at a position on the conveyance better side than the end of the V-shaped guide groove (9) of the supply device (1). A light reflection type proximity sensor (S) is provided as a grain presence / absence detection unit for detecting the presence of the grain, and the drive unit (7) is provided by the control device (4).
By controlling the driving power to the motor, the supply speed of the supply device (1) is automatically increased in the absence of the grain than in the presence of the grain.

However, in order to make the intervals of the grains (A) conveyed by the conveyor (2) substantially constant even if the supply speed of the supply device (1) is changed, that is, the supply device (1). The supply speed of the supply device (1) is increased based on the information of the proximity sensor (S) so that the difference between the supply speed of the conveyor and the transfer speed of the conveyor (2) is maintained within a set range. At times, the electric power supplied to the electric motor (13) for the conveyor is increased so that the conveying speed of the conveyor (2) is automatically increased.

To explain the speed adjustment, as shown in FIG. 1, a supply speed controller (15) for setting a target supply speed of the supply device (1) and a target transfer speed of the conveyor (2) are set. A transport speed controller (16) is provided, and the control device (4) controls the drive unit (7) of the supply device (1) based on the information of the speed controllers (15) and (16). And the target drive power of the electric motor (13) for driving the conveyor (2).

Then, as the proximity sensor (S) detects the absence of grain, the drive power of the drive unit (7) is increased by a set amount so that the supply speed of the supply device (1) is increased by a set amount. And based on the speed information set by both of the setting devices (15) and (16), for the conveyor such that the difference between the supply speed and the transfer speed is maintained within a set range. The drive power of the electric motor (13) is automatically increased.

However, when the proximity sensor (S) detects the presence of grain,
The supply speed and the conveyance speed are set by the both setting devices (1
The target speed set by 5) and (16) will be restored.

Next, a process for discriminating a defective product based on the information of the extracted area (X) will be described.

When the twig is attached due to insufficient threshing, the extracted region (X) is larger than the case where the twig is not attached by the area corresponding to the region (Xb) corresponding to the twig. On the contrary, when the threshing treatment is excessive, the grain (A) is depleted and becomes smaller than that not undone.

Therefore, basically, when the size of the region (X) is out of the set range corresponding to the size of the grain (A) that has been threshed properly, it is determined as a defective product. . The size of the region (X) is the size of the region (X).
Since it is proportional to the number of pixels belonging to, the larger the number of pixels, the larger the size.

By the way, in the inspection of threshing-treated grains, in general,
In the case of a twig with a twig, a case where the length of the twig is larger than a set value is treated as a defective product. Therefore, even if the size of the region (X) is appropriate, the length of the twig is determined from the region part (Xb) corresponding to the twig, and the one whose length is larger than the set value is defective. Will be determined as.

By the way, since the width of the twig is much narrower than that of the grain (A), if the grain (A) is imaged in the in-focus state as shown in FIG. Since the image is relatively coarsely quantized with × 32 pixels, the extracted region (X) becomes a grain part (Xa) corresponding to the grain (A) and a twig branch due to a quantization error in image processing. There is a risk of being divided into the corresponding twig branch (Xb).

Therefore, by intentionally imaging the image sensor (3) in an out-of-focus state, as shown in FIG. 4, the image signal component corresponding to a grain or a twig is expanded, and a quantization error hardly occurs. It is designed to be.

That is, by intentionally capturing the image sensor (3) in an out-of-focus state and performing image processing, the extracted region (X) becomes a grain region portion (Xa) corresponding to the grain (A) and a twig. It is designed so that it is not divided into the corresponding twig infarct region (Xb).

A process for obtaining a region portion (Xb) corresponding to the twig and a process for obtaining the length from the region portion (Xb) in order to obtain the length of the twig are as shown in FIG. Since the number of pixels belonging to the twig branch region portion (Xb) is smaller than the number of pixels belonging to the grain region portion (Xa), as shown in the figure, in the extracted region (X) When the frequency distribution of the pixels having the same coordinate values on the x-axis and the y-axis of the imaging field of view (B) is determined for the pixels to which the pixel belongs, the pixels on the centroid of the grain region portion (Xa) on the x-axis and the y-axis, respectively. The number is almost maximum, and
The number of pixels is gradually reduced toward the outer edge of the region (X).

Therefore, the frequency distribution of pixels having the same coordinate value on each of the x-axis and the y-axis is obtained, and on the side where the distribution width is the next larger, the decreasing tendency that decreases outward with the coordinate value having the maximum frequency as the center. From this, the position of the boundary (Xc) between the grain region (Xa) and the twig branch region (Xb) is obtained. Then, by deleting the pixels belonging to the grain area portion (Xa) from the extracted area (X) based on the position information of the boundary (Xc), only the pixels belonging to the twig branch area portion (Xb) Then, in order to remove the error due to the thickness of the twig infarct, thinning processing is performed so that the re-extracted twig infarct area (Xb) has a width of approximately one pixel, and the number of pixels Based on the above, the length of the twig is determined, and when the calculated length is larger than a set value, it is discriminated as a defective product.

That is, the process of extracting the twig branch region (Xb) based on the frequency distribution of pixels having the same coordinate value on each of the x axis and the y axis corresponds to the twig branch extraction means (101).

[Another embodiment]

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the region (X) corresponding to the grain (A) is extracted based on the brightness of the imaged information is illustrated, but the region (X) may be extracted based on color, for example. The specific configuration of each unit can be changed in various ways.

Further, in order to obtain the length from the twig branch region portion (Xb), the length may be obtained based on the number of pixels corresponding to the change point by differentiating along the X-axis direction or the Y-axis direction. .

It should be noted that reference numerals are added to the claims for convenience of comparison with the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the structures of the accompanying drawings by the entry.

[Brief description of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of a threshing-processed grain inspection device according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control configuration, and FIGS.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of image processing, FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view of the entire apparatus, FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of the entire apparatus, and FIG.
VII-VII arrow view, FIG. 8 is a VIII-VIII arrow view of FIG.
FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective view of the transportation end portion of the grain supply means. (3) ... Imaging unit, (X) ... Region, (Xb) ... Twig branch region, (100) ... Image processing unit, (101) ... Twig branch extraction unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup means (3) for picking up an image of a grain after threshing processing, and an image processing means (3) for extracting a region (X) corresponding to the grain based on image pickup information of the image pickup means (3). A threshing-processed grain inspecting device comprising: 100) and a twig stem extracting means (101) for extracting a twig stem region (Xb) corresponding to only a twig stem from the extracted region (X),
The twig infarct extraction means (101) is configured to extract the twig infarct region (Xb) based on distribution information of pixels belonging to the region (X) in two directions orthogonal to each other on a captured image. Inspection equipment for threshing processed grain.