Meinan Machinery Works, Inc.

Noriyuki Hiraoka

An apparatus and a method for measuring three-dimensional shape of a wood block are disclosed. A planar light beam is projected by a light emitting device against a wood block rotatably supported on its tentative spin axis in such a way that two continuous lines extending parallel to the tentative spin axis for the entire block length are illuminated on the outer peripheral surface of the block. The block with the illuminated lines is photographed at a plurality of its angular positions by a imaging device. Based on data of the photographed line images, distances between the tentative spin axis and each of the illuminated lines on the outer peripheral surface of the block are computed at a plurality of cross-sections of the block along the tentative spin axis. Distances from the tentative spin axis to the outer peripheral surface of the block, including shapes of various irregularities on the surface of the block, are measured.

Apparatus and method for measuring three-dimensional shape of wood block

An apparatus and a method for determining the annual ring center of a wood block are disclosed. A plurality of lines of path is figured out and generated. Each line of path is composed of a plurality of lines each extending normal to a line that is tangential to an annual ring in an image of the wood block end. The normal line may be figured out, for example, by calculating the variance of values of pixels lying on each of a plurality of straight lines of a filter and the sum of the variances for the plurality of straight lines at a plurality of different angular positions of the filter. The annual ring center in the image of the wood block end is determined through calculation based on the points of intersection of the generated lines of path.

Apparatus and method for determining the center of annual rings of a wood block

An imaging means captures a color image of lumber. An image processing means obtains the color distribution of the color image captured by the imaging means, compares the obtained color distribution with a predetermined color distribution of normal lumber, judges the obtained color distribution as an abnormal one when it is deviated from the color distribution of normal lumber by a predetermined value or more, and detects a defect of the lumber having the abnormal color distribution deviated by a value larger than the predetermined value in an area on the surface of the lumber captured by the imaging means.

Lumber inspection method, device and program

The photographing means of the present apparatus photographs a piece of wood, while the image processing means calculates degrees of circularity from the photographed images of the piece of wood, and detects images with significant degrees of circularity as knots. In addition, the image processing meansclips a portion including a knot from the photographed image of the piece of wood, deems a portion clipped at a predetermined threshold among the color spaces of each pixel of the clipped portions to be a blackened portion, and determines black portions with a high proportion of a number of pixels of the blackened portion to the number of pixels of the clipped portion of the knot as dead knots.

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Obu, Japan

Noriyuki Hiraoka