A METHOD AND A DEVICE FOR ASSORTMENT OF A PRODUCT FLOW

Abstract: In a method and a device for assortment of objects a broadbanded light is emitted from a light source, which light is reflected via a rotary mirror against the objects falling freely immediately after they have left a conveyor belt. The reflected light is led via the other part ot the same surface on the rotary mirror to an optical unit and is reflected against a double detector dividing the light flow into two wide ranges about 1 µm. The detector signals are compared to one another and after processing the resulting signal is caused to actuate means separating the objects mechanically.

Description: This invention relates to a device for sorting of objects, comprising a light source emitting broadband light via a mirror device of the scanning rotary type for detecting the objects after they have left a conveyor belt. In for example agriculture and horticulture there is a great need of separating contaminations such as stones and clods e.g. in potatoes and onions. Today there are manual sortings and mechanical systems with spike mats and brushes. Stones in potatoes and onions have always been a great problem. In the last two decades a lot of various mechanical stone separating devices have been developed. The two main problems of these are that mechanical separation, e.g. by means of brushes, will cause a great damage to the potatoes and it is difficult to get a mechanical system functioning satisfactorily under varying soil conditions. In eletronic stone and soil separation the contaminations are removed when falling freely which eliminates the damage to the potatoes completely. Manual assortment is expensive and not quite satisfactory in view of working environment. In another method used today all stones are screened off and put between the rows of potatoes. The disadvantage of this is that the stone retains the soil moisture and the heat in the soil. In wet weather the soil will dry more slowly without stone content which delays the harvest. In indoor sorting of potatoes there is also a need of an efficient sorting. Potatoes having green stains are today sorted quite manually at roller tables, a method that does not give a perfectly satisfactory result. Internationally there are many agrigultural products that can be sorted according to color. US-A 3 747 755 discloses an apparatus for determining diffuse specular reflections of infrared radiation from a sample. This apparatus has a fixed mirror device which includes two separate mirror sections for reflecting the radiation to and from the samples, respectively, said mirror sections forming an angle. GB-A- 1 604 745 discloses an apparatus defining two backgrounds for av viewer for use in sorting. The new device is mainly based on the teaching disclosed in US-A 3 545 610 and includes the features mentioned in the above preamble paragraph. However, said known device gives rise to errors in measurements since a precise adjusting of the angle between the two reflecting mirrors is hard to obtain and since rotating of the mirror device will easily change such adjusting, due to shakings. According to the invention these drawbacks are now eliminated by the fact that said mirror device includes on one and the same mirror side a first and a second section arranged side by side in parallel to the rotary axis of the scanning rotary device, said first section reflecting light coming form the light source and directed towards the scanning area and said second section reflecting light reflected by the objects in a free fall within said scanning area, an optical unit receiving the light flow reflected from said second section of said mirror side in order to refract the same against at least one detector in which two light bands, obtained in any known manner, e.g. by use of a prism located between the optical unit and the detector/detectors, are detected at the same time. Preferably there is one or more light filters in the range from 0.4 to 0.7 µm located between the optical unit and said detector/detectors. By the new device the capacity of the machine can now also be increased and the staff of workmen be reduced from three to four persons to only one person when lifting potatoes. The invention is described below in greater detail with reference to the enclosed drawings, wherein Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of the function of the device, Fig. 2 shows schematically an application of the invention and Fig. 3 shows the reflection spectrum of stones and potatoes. The device of the invention for sorting of objects is based on differences in absorption, i.e. the reflected light gets different spectrum contents depending on the nature of the object. In case of stone/potato the absorption of light having wavelengths exceeding 1 µm is great for potatoes but not for stones. This difference is used as a criterion of the presence of stones. As schematically shown in Fig. 1 the detecting device generally designated by 1 is enclosed in a dust- and moisture-proof casing 2. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 the detecting device has a light source 3 emitting a broadbanded light which is reflected on the surface 4 of a rotary mirror 5. The light sweeps the surface 6 to be detected. The light reflected from the objects 7 is collected via the surface 8 by an optical unit 9 towards a detector unit 10. The detector unit 10 converts different wavelengths of light to electric signals which are amplified 11 and compared 12 to one another. A microprocessor 13 controls means 14 for separation of nondesired objects 15 and controls the light source 3 and a motor 16, on the shaft of which the rotary mirror 5 is placed. In Fig. 2 one of many applications of the invention is shown. In that case the device is used for separating stones 15 and clods 15 from potatoes 17. The flow of objects (potatoes, stones and clods) arrives on a conveyor belt 18. The detector device 1 scans the objects 15, 17 in a free fall immediately after they have left the conveyor belt 18. The detector device 1 has divided the scanning range via a computer into different fields which have each their separation means 14. After processing of the detector signal, potato/not potato, a compressed-air valve 19 is activated and actuates a cylinder 20 which, in turn, controls a rubber-covered finger 21. At a potato signal the finger 21 remains closed and the potato 17 rebounds on the finger 21 and lands on a conveyor belt 22. At an output signal of soil or stone the finger 21 opens to a position 23 and stones and clods fall down onto a conveyor belt 24. The advantage of this is that the strains on the separation means 14 caused by big stones 15 are quite eliminated.

Claims: A device for sorting of objects, comprising a light source (3) emitting broadband light via a mirror device (5) of the scanning rotary type for detecting the objects (15, 17) after they have left a conveyor belt (18), charactecized in that said mirror device includes on one and the same mirror side a first and a second section (4, 8, resp.) arranged side by side in parallel to the rotaty axis of the scanning rotary device, said first section (4) reflecting light coming from the light source (3) and directed towards the scanning area, and said second section (8) reflecting light reflected by the objects in a free fall within said scanning area, an optical unit (9) receiving the light flow reflected from said second section (8) of said mirror side in order to refract the same against at least one detector (10) in which two light bands, obtained in any known manner, e.g. by use of a prism located between the optical unit (9) and the detector/detectors (10), are detected at the same time. The device of claim 1, characterized in that there is one or more light filters (25) in the range of from 0.4 to 0.7 µm located between the optical unit (9) and said detector/detectors (10).

Inventors: ANDERSSON, TOMMY, HAKANSSON, REINHOLD, LARSSON, BERTIL
Applicants: AGEC AB
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B07C5
IPC codes: B07C5