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:
Feb. 14, 2006
Filed:
May. 28, 2001
Josse DE Baerdemaeker, Heverlee, BE;
Peter Coucke, Heverlee, BE;
Leonardus Paulus Crezee, Snelrewaard, NL;
Josse De Baerdemaeker, Heverlee, BE;
Peter Coucke, Heverlee, BE;
Leonardus Paulus Crezee, Snelrewaard, NL;
Abstract
The present invention relates to a system for determining characteristics of products of generally unequal size, e.g. apples, which are conveyed on product carriers, such as rollers of a conveying apparatus, and pass the system, the system comprising a detection device, arranged at some distance from the products, having a transmitter section and a receiver section, as well as a signal processing unit for processing signals to and from the system, including the signals of the receiver section for determining the characteristics, the system further comprising: a sensor which, prior to the passage of a product, scans the size of each passing product and produces a corresponding scanning signal, and a displacement device, for positioning, in accordance with each scanning signal, at least the receiver section of the detection device at a well-defined distance during the passage of each product. With such a system, in an advantageous manner, on-line, characteristics such as firmness and sugar content of fruits can be determined. These characteristics can be used real-time as a selection criterion during sorting of large amounts of fruits.