Patent ID: 8530839

Claim:
An apparatus for measuring pungency of red pepper powder comprising: a near infrared measuring unit for measuring a spectrum of a reference material or a near infrared spectrum of red pepper powder that is an object of measurement according to a control signal using a near infrared sensor; a reference spectrum measuring unit for enabling the near infrared measuring unit to measure the spectrum of the reference material; a red pepper powder injecting unit for injecting a sample of the red pepper powder that is the object of measurement; a red pepper powder height equalizing unit for equalizing heights of the red pepper powder injected through the red pepper powder injecting unit in order to increase the accuracy of measurement; a red pepper powder transferring unit for transferring the red pepper powder that is the object of measurement via a transfer belt; a red pepper powder ejecting unit for ejecting the completely measured sample of the red pepper powder; a display unit for displaying an operation state or a degree of pungency of measurement result; a button unit; and a measurement controller for, if a reference spectrum measurement opening signal is detected, operating a reference spectrum measurement opening and closing unit, injecting the reference material, measuring the spectrum of the reference material using the near infrared measuring unit, if the reference spectrum measurement closing signal is detected, operating the reference spectrum measurement opening and closing unit, removing the reference material, closing the reference spectrum measurement opening and closing unit, injecting the red pepper powder, and measuring the near infrared spectrum of red pepper powder using the near infrared measuring unit, correcting near infrared spectrum data of the red pepper powder input from the near infrared measuring unit to the spectrum of the reference material, calculating a degree of pungency according to a capsaicinoids content measurement recurrence model, and displaying the degree of pungency on the display unit.