Patent ID: 7280198

Claim:
Apparatus for optically analyzing products that are substantially rotationally symmetrical—in particular substantially spheroidal—such as fruit, so that they can be sorted automatically, comprising: at least one conveying line for transporting the products in a continuous line in a longitudinal direction with respect to a fixed structure and comprising a plurality of individual supports of the products aligned one behind the other in the longitudinal direction; a plurality of P stations for optically analyzing the external surface of the products, said analysis stations being disposed successively at a distance from one another in the longitudinal direction and each comprising at least one imaging device fixed to the structure and having an optical axis oriented towards a conveying line so as to be able to produce images of the products being transported in line past said imaging device by said conveying line; a device for driving in rotation each product carried by a conveying line during its transportation past the different successive analysis stations in such a way that different faces of each product are seen by the different successive imaging devices, wherein each imaging device is arranged above the conveying line towards which it is oriented and is offset laterally with respect to a longitudinal vertical plane containing the longitudinal direction; the different imaging devices of the different analysis stations are arranged in two lateral series of imaging devices, a first lateral series located on one side of the longitudinal vertical plane and comprising N1 imaging devices belonging to P1 different analysis stations, and a second lateral series located on the other side of the longitudinal vertical plane and comprising N2 imaging devices belonging to P2 different analysis stations, N1, N2, P1and P2 being whole numbers other than zero.