Multi-Channel Vision System for On-Line Quantification of Appearance Quality Factors of Apple

  • Lee, Soo Hee (Department of Bio-Mechatronic Engineering, Research Institute of Life Science & Technology, Sungkyunkwan University) ;
  • Noh, Sang Ha (School of Biological Resources & Materials Engineering, Seoul National University)
  • Published : 2000.12.01

Abstract

An integrated on-line inspection system was constructed with seven cameras, half mirrors to split images. 720 nm and 970 nm band pass filters, illumination chamber having several tungsten-halogen lamps, one main computer, one color frame grabber, two 4-channel multiplexors, and flat plate conveyer, etc. A total of seven images, that is, one color image form the top of an apple and two B/W images from each side (top, right and left) could be captured and displayed on a computer monitor through the multiplexor. One of the two B/W images captured from each side is 720nm filtered image and the other is 970 nm. With this system an on-line grading software was developed to evaluate appearance quality. On-line test results with Fuji apples that were manually fed on the conveyer showed that grading accuracies of the color, defect and shape were 95.3%, 86% and 88.6%, respectively. Grading time was 0.35 second per apple on an average. Therefore, this on-line grading system could be used for inspection of the final products produced from an apple sorting system.

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