System for the automatic selective separation of rotten citrus fruits
US9174245B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 26, 2008 |
| Grant date | Nov 3, 2015 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 3, 2030 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01N2021/8466
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
The invention relates to system conceived and designed to identify pieces of fruit, especially citrus fruits, affected by any amount of rot and to determine the automatic expulsion of these pieces from the conveyor moving them through the installation. The system comprises illuminating the fruits with UV-A band light in a computer vision unit, and capturing images of the illuminated fruits by means of a camera to send them to a general control member in order to detect fluorescences associated to the rot effect. The identified fruit is automatically expelled from the conveyor in an expulsion unit, the position of the defective fruit being determined with the aid of an encoder associated to the conveyor. The general control member is a PC type computer, equipped with specific application software.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.