Key Technology Corporation

Src Vision, Inc.

Other

Simco/ramic Corporation

Duncan B Campbell

H Parks Squyres

Cliff J Leidecker

James Ewan

Henry P Squyres

Todd Hoffman

Carl D Christy

Hooshmand M Kalayeh

Park Squyres

Cliff Leidecker

Steven D Lancaster

An article sorting apparatus and method is disclosed and which conveys a mixture of articles on a conveyor belt and through an inspection zone, and which includes at least one illumination source emitting red, green, and infrared radiation for illuminating the articles in the inspection zone; a detector system for sensing the red, green, and infrared radiation reflected from the articles in the inspection zone, and which generates red data, green data, and infrared data; a processor receiving the red data, green data, and infrared data and which generates article sorting data; and a sorter responsive to the sorting data for separating the articles into acceptable articles and unacceptable articles.

Multi-band spectral sorting system for light-weight articles

A sorting system ( ) conveys articles, such as peaches ( ) on a conveyor belt ( ) past an inspection zone ( ) that is lighted by an illumination source ( ) radiating a number of emission peaks over visible and infrared portions of the spectrum. The illumination source generates the radiation from an Indium Iodide lamp ( ) that is reflected off a parabolic reflector ( ) and through a &ldquo;soda straw&rdquo; collimator ( ) to illuminated the peaches. A detector system ( ) employs line scanning visible and infrared cameras ( ) to sense visible and IR wavelength reflectance values for the peach meat ( ) and peach pit or pit fragments ( ). Various image processing and analysis methologies, such as subtraction, ratio, logarithmic, regression, combination, angle, distance, and shape may be employed to enhance the image contrast and classify the resulting data for sorting the peaches. Employing subtraction also cancels &ldquo;glint&rdquo; caused by specular reflections of the illumination source off the peaches and into the cameras.

Agricultural article inspection apparatus and method employing spectral manipulation to enhance detection contrast ratio

A system and method of operation performing automated optical inspection to remove peel-bearing defective potato pieces from a random mixture of peel-bearing defective and acceptable potato pieces use near infrared light as a source of illumination. The system implements a method of illuminating the mixture with near infrared light, detecting light reflected by the potato pieces under inspection, identifying defective potato piece surface regions based on the detected reflections, and removing the defective items from the mixture. The system and method the system implements permit the inspection of peel-bearing potato pieces for the presence of peel covered and exposed defects.

Detecting defective peel-bearing potatoes in a random mixture of defective and acceptable peel-bearing potatoes

A peach sorting system (,) conveys peaches (,) on a conveyor belt (,) past an inspection zone (,) that is lighted by an illumination source (,) radiating a number of emission peaks over visible and infrared portions of the spectrum. The illumination source generates the radiation from an Indium Iodide lamp (,) that is reflected off a parabolic reflector (,) and through a &ldquo;soda straw&rdquo; collimator (,) to illuminated the peaches. A detector system (,) employs line scanning visible and infrared cameras (,) to sense visible and IR wavelength reflectance value differences existing between peach meat (,) and peach pit or pit fragments (,). Because there is a reversal in the reflectance values between the visible and infrared wavelengths, a data subtraction technique (,) is employed to enhance the detection contrast ratio. The data subtraction technique also cancels &ldquo;glint&rdquo; caused by specular reflections of the illumination source off the peaches and into the cameras.

Peach pit detection apparatus and method

A system and method of operation performing automated optical inspection to remove peel-bearing defective potato pieces from a random mixture of peel-bearing defective and acceptable potato pieces use near infrared light as a source of illumination. The system implements a method of illuminating the mixture with near infrared light, detecting light reflected by the potato pieces under inspection, identifying defective potato piece surface regions based on the detected reflections, and removing the defective items from the mixture. The system and method the system implements permit the inspection of peel bearing potato pieces for the presence of peel covered defects.

System and method of inspecting peel-bearing potato pieces for defects

Fruit defects of interest in the production of prunes are identified based on characteristics of illumination reflected by the fruit. Various reflection characteristics can be used in this regard including near infrared reflectivity and polarization state of the reflected illumination. In one embodiment, the apparatus (10) of the present invention includes a transport system (12) for transporting fruit (14) through an inspection zone (16), an illumination system (18) for illuminating the fruit (14), a detector system (20) for detecting reflected illumination (21), a sorting system (22) for separating defective fruit from good fruit, and a control system (24) for controlling operation of the sorting system (22) based on signals from the detector system (20) and transport system (12). The signals from the detector system can be improved by treating the fruit inorder to diminish the chlorophyll response.

Method and apparatus for sorting fruit in the production of prunes

A method of separating selected fruit from a volume of fruit is based on the reflectivity of the selected fruit. The method utilizes an automated optical inspection and sorting system to illuminate a volume of fruit including cranberries characterized by a spectral power distribution in the infrared spectral region. The system detects reflections of wavelengths of the illumination in the infrared spectral region, identifies the selected fruit based on the detected reflectivity, and sorts the selected fruit from the volume of fruit.

Method of separating fruit or vegetable products

A sorting system (10) propels a stream of randomly arranged PET and PVC articles (12, 14) through an inspection zone (20) including a first light polarizer/analyzer combination (24, 26), an article-detecting gap (G), and a second light polarizer/analyzer combination (28, 30). The first and second polarizer/analyzer combinations are oriented to extinguish normally incident light in the absence of articles in the inspection zone and are offset 45 degrees relative to each other such that at least one polarizer/analyzer combination detects a principal axis of birefringence of PET articles. The gap is employed to detect the presence of an article in the inspection zone. A video camera (22) includes first, second, and third CCD arrays (58, 60, 62) positioned to receive respective light rays (48, 64, 50) from the first light polarizer/analyzer combination, the gap, and the second light polarizer/analyzer combination and to generate first, second, and third video signals representative of the light each receives. A video signal processor (68) processes the second video signal to identify the presence of multiple articles in the inspection zone, processes the first and third video signals to determine whether each of the multiple articles is made from PET, and selectively activates air ejectors (70) to separate the PET articles from the other articles.

Apparatus and method for detecting and sorting plastic articles having a

Methods of operating an automated optical inspection system to separate selected items, e.g., grape stems (124, 126, 128), grape leaves (122), or rocks from a mixture (16) of those items and raisins (120) include illuminating the mixture with illumination (37', 37') characterized by a spectral power distribution (86, 98) in the near infrared (88, 90, 100, 102), detecting reflections of wavelengths of the illumination in the near infrared, identifying the selected items based on the detected reflections, and sorting the selected items from the mixture.

Methods of separating selected items from a mixture including raisins

A free space communication receiver including a lens and a photodetector spaced along the optical axis of the lens is provided with a drive for changing the distance between the lens and photodetector to thereby shift the focal point of radiation passing through the lens relative to the photodetector. A signal level detector provides an output signal level in response to the signal from the photodetector. A logic control such as a microprocessor is connected between the signal level detector and the drive for the lens. Provided that the output signal level is below a given high threshold signal level, an automatic self-focus operation takes effect, wherein as the drive moves the focal point of the lens closer to the photodetector, the resulting increase in the output signal level maintains the operation of the drive through the logic control or microprocessor until such time as the focal point coincides with the photodetector. Further movement by the drive results in defocusing and a decrease in the signal. This decrease in the signal is detected and automatically reverses the direction of the drive so that an automatic sensing of the peak signal results. This basic automatic self-focus control works in conjunction with attenuation networks to provide a very wide range automatic gain control for the entire system. Moreover, the self-focus feature compensates for changes in the lens focal length as a result of variations in ambient temperature.

Growing community of inventors

Central Point, OR, United States of America

Duncan B Campbell