Deere + Company

Timothy Schaefer

Karl-Heinz Otto Mertins

William Flavis Cooper

An optoelectronic apparatus having a measurement region ( ) for detecting the presence of damaged or cracked grain kernels in a population of grain kernels which are either in a stationary or moving state at the measurement region. The apparatus comprises a short-wave ultraviolet excitation light source ( ) that emits a spectral line of a wavelength shorter than 300 nm, a non-imaging photon detector ( ), and wavelength selector such as a dichroic beam-splitter ( ) which serves to isolate the fluorescent light emitted in a certain spectral region by the endosperm of grain from the excitation light of the light source, as well as from other sources of light. The apparatus may be mounted in a combine harvester for the purpose of detecting the presence of damaged grain kernels that have endosperm exposed while harvesting.

Growing community of inventors

Los Alamos, NM, United States of America

Timothy Schaefer