Simco/ramic Corporation

Henry P Squyres

Duncan B Campbell

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

An illumination system (12) for an optical inspection and sorting apparatus (10) includes a rare gas discharge lamp (36) for emitting select wavelengths of radiation. Rare gas discharge lamp (36) includes a light transmissive outer envelope (58) and contains one or more rare gases, and in particular neon, argon, or xenon. A hemi-elliptical reflector (48) having reflecting surface (38) directs the select wavelengths of radiation toward target specimens (16) in optical scanning area (24) in illumination area (20).

Method and apparatus for illuminating target specimens in inspection

A shadowless illumination system (10) according to the present invention includes a spherical chamber (14) having a chamber entrance opening (18) and a chamber exit opening (20). The inside surface (32) of the spherical chamber is coated with highly reflective flat white paint. A clear rigid plastic cylindrical tube (22) is positioned in the spherical chamber between the chamber entrance and exit openings. A circular fluorescent ring lamp (36) is positioned inside the spherical chamber to form an annulus around the tube. The lamp and the white inside surface of the spherical chamber provide shadowless illumination for articles (30) that are dropped or otherwise projected through the tube. The articles are inspected as they pass through the tube by at least two video inspection cameras (52 and 62) that view opposite sides of the articles through respective viewing openings (44 and 48). Whenever no articles are present in the image plane of a camera, the lamp provides a saturated background for the camera. A ballast (140) controls the voltage to the lamp to provide constant light intensity.

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Medford, OR, United States of America

Henry P Squyres