The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 17, 2002
Filed:
Apr. 02, 2001
William F. Cooper, Hawley, MN (US);
Karl-Heinz O. Mertins, Fargo, ND (US);
Timothy Schaefer, Los Alamos, NM (US);
Deere & Company, Moline, IL (US);
Abstract
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.