Optics: measuring and testing – By shade or color – With color transmitting filter
Patent
1998-09-24
2000-01-11
Evans, F. L.
Optics: measuring and testing
By shade or color
With color transmitting filter
356 51, 25033911, 2503418, 250910, G01J 351, G01N 2125, G01N 3312
Patent
active
060142227
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a reflection measuring device for determining quality properties of items, particularly fat-containing items, said device comprising a measuring head with a housing which is optically open in one side, the housing being designed to be placed on the item of which the reflection factor is to be measured, with the open side turned towards the surface of the item; one or more light emitters arranged to illuminate the surface of the item adjacent to the open side of the housing; a plurality of optical fibres, one end of which lead to the interior of the housing and has a distance from the housing's open side to receive light reflected from the surface of the item adjacent to the housing's open side and to conduct it to a detection system. The device is suitable for on-line determination of the contents of unsaturated fats in fatty tissue in carcasses or meat cuts conveyed on a slaughter or production line.
In certain productions various optical measuring devices are used at slaughterhouses or meat processing companies for determining the meat colour. For example, the colour may be measured with an insertion probe with a window in the side of the probe in which are located a light diode and a photodetector which measure the reflection factor of the meat outside the window. Another type of known device determines the meat colour from the visible surface of the item. This device includes a illumination arrangement for illuminating a part of the meat surface and a detector system for measuring the reflected light's strength and composition. There are also image-forming devices which measure the reflection factor at many points on the surface of the meat in order to obtain an image.
The contents of substances naturally occurring in meat, e.g. proteins or pigments, may also be a quality parameter. The substances contained may according to a known method be determined by spectrophotometric reflection measurement in the visible or infra-red region. An insertion probe may be used which has a fibre bundle for illuminating the meat adjacent to the probe window and a further fibre bundle for relaying the reflected light back to a spectrophotometer for measurement and analysis of the reflection spectrum. An analytical device is also known which measures the light transmission factor of a homogenised meat sample at various wavelengths. This device is able to determine the sample's contents of substances such as proteins, fat and water.
Cuts of meat, especially of pork and beef, often have a layer of fat as part of the product. The fat layer may have a varying consistency, which is unfortunate in cases where the consumer or user expect a firm consistency with clean and sharp cut edges, but instead is sometimes faced with uneven and irregular cut edges due to a soft consistency. A soft consistency is mainly due to the content of unsaturated fats in the fat layer (in the following called the fatty tissue).
Currently two different methods are known for detecting whether the fatty tissue is sufficiently firm. The first is to carry out a chemical analysis on a sample of the fatty tissue in order to determine the fat's iodine number. This will indicate how many unsaturated bonds the fat contains and is thus a measure of consistency. The analysis must be carried out in a chemical laboratory and is extremely time-consuming and labour intensive. The second method, which has found a certain application, consists of a trained operator marking the carcass or meat cut and carrying out a subjective assessment of the consistency of the fatty tissue. The material is thereby graded into three types: firm, normal and soft fatty tissue. The method can be carried out on-line on a company's slaughter or processing line. The method is unreliable owing to operator fatigue. In addition the meat is often not fully cooled at the time of assessment and this may lead to faulty grading, as consistency varies with the temperature of the material.
Generally, measuring devices are known which measure the surface colour of it
REFERENCES:
patent: 4583858 (1986-04-01), Lebling et al.
patent: 5745229 (1998-04-01), Jung et al.
Borggaard Claus
Rasmussen Allan J.
Evans F. L.
Slagteriernes Forskningsinstitut
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