Optics: measuring and testing – By dispersed light spectroscopy – Utilizing a spectrometer
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-10
2004-09-14
Evans, F. L. (Department: 2877)
Optics: measuring and testing
By dispersed light spectroscopy
Utilizing a spectrometer
C356S328000, C356S244000, C250S339070, C209S577000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06791683
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for segregating qualities of an agricultural product during processing of the product. The invention also relates to a measuring instrument for analyzing the quality of an agricultural product. The measuring instrument is arranged on an implement for treatment of the product.
TECHNICAL BACKGROUND
In agricultural industry, it is today common knowledge that the price of an agricultural product is decided by the percentage of the constituents of the product. When a transaction is to be agreed upon, a sample of the product is analyzed to decide the quality.
Today, several methods exist for deciding the constituents in an agricultural product. The product could be analyzed by wet-chemical methods or by spectroscopy. The latter is more easily performed and considerably faster and is therefore often preferred. A grain marketer, to whom the farmer sells his products, usually performs the analysis when the transaction is made and different loads of the product are then segregated by quality. The farmer will therefore not know the quality of his product until he sells it.
Naturally, the farmer would like to produce products of the finest quality, so that he can charge the highest possible price for his products. The farmer would therefore like to have some kind of control of the quality of his products.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,025 an apparatus is disclosed for analyzing grain as it is being harvested by a combine. Thus, the combine carries a reflectance spectrometer for analyzing the major constituents of the grain in real time as it is being harvested. A similar apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,100,526. These apparatuses give the farmer an opportunity to easily get a map of the quality of his product in different places of his field. Thus, the field could be divided into different parts that give different qualities of the product. It is intended that the farmer should use the information of the quality differences in order to treat different parts of the field differently. The field does not have homogeneous external conditions, e.g. the received sunlight and the moisture of the soil could vary in the field, and therefore different parts of the field should be treated differently in order to give the same quality. These apparatuses can help the farmer to map a field and to cultivate each part optimally in order for the product to be equally good in different parts of the field under different external conditions.
However, it takes a long time until the farmer gets a better quality of his grain. Using these apparatuses he can learn how his field should be cultivated and it will take years of experience until he knows how to produce the best possible quality.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,025 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,100,526 disclose apparatuses that use reflectance measurements on product samples as the products flow past a measurement position. Thus, the product samples are irradiated and reflected light is detected. This implies that light that has been reflected from the surface of the individual particles gives the largest contribution to the detected light. The measurements might then give an incorrect result of the determined amounts of the constituents in the sample. For example, the harvested product could be covered by dew, which would lead to a determined value of the water content in the product that is higher than the actual value. In the case of e.g. barley or oats, the product is covered by a hull, which will lead to problems in correctly determining the protein content of the product, since the hull and the core of the particles are not equally composed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to enable a process operator to control the quality of an agricultural product that is delivered from the process. It is another object of the invention to enable a farmer to control the quality of a product that is harvested. It is another object of the invention to enable a farmer to charge the highest possible price for his products.
The object of the invention are achieved by a method as described below.
Thus, the invention provides a method for segregating qualities of an agricultural product during processing of the product. The method comprises the step of setting a desired range of a measurement value, which represents a property of the product. The measurement value defines a first quality of the product for which the measurement value is inside the range and a second quality of the product for which the measurement value is outside the range. The method further comprises the step of analyzing the quality of the product that is being processed. The step of analyzing comprises the steps of continuously extracting samples of the product, irradiating each sample by electromagnetic radiation, spatially separating electromagnetic radiation of different wavelengths, and detecting electromagnetic radiation emitted from the sample. The step of detecting produces intensity signals indicative of detected electromagnetic radiation of different wavelengths. The step of analyzing further comprises the steps of determining a sample value of said property of the product from the intensity signals and determining a measurement value from at least one sample value. The method further comprises the step of separating the product of said first quality from the product of said second quality.
Thanks to the invention, a process operator can set a desired quality of the agricultural product. By analyzing the quality of the product as it is being processed, the method can ensure that different qualities of the product are not mixed. In this way, if a farmer has different qualities in different parts of his field, the different qualities will not be mixed during harvesting. When the product has been harvested from the field, the farmer could have two or more loads of products of different qualities. He will then be able to charge a high price for the product of fine quality, instead of charging a common, lower price for the product of both qualities.
In the context of this application, an agricultural product is a cultivated product, such as grain, soya beans, or corn. The measurement value, which represents a property of the product, could represent any property that is directly measurable or derivable from a measurement by a spectrometric method. For example, the measurement value could represent a percentage of a constituent, such as protein or moisture, in the product.
The continuous extracting of samples of the product implies that samples are extracted during the whole process. The extracting of samples could be made at varying intervals and need not be made in immediate succession to each other.
The detection of electromagnetic radiation emitted from the sample implies that the radiation, which enters the product sample, could be e.g. reflected, transmitted or scattered in the sample before it is detected.
According to a preferred embodiment, the measurement value is an integrated value of several successively determined sample values. Thus, a mean value of the sample values, representing a property of the product, could be measured and continuously updated. Then, the mean value could be controlled for the product that has passed the measurement. If the mean value is changing and becoming close to a boundary of the desired range, the product that have passed the measurement could be separated from the product being measured upon, in order to keep different qualities segregated.
According to another embodiment, only the latest sample value is considered for determining the measurement value. Thus, the quality of the product presently being processed could be controlled. The desired range could be set for controlling that no product with a sample value outside the range is mixed with the product with a sample value inside the range. This could be used for controlling the standard deviation of the property of the product within a load.
A preferred method further comprises the step of returning the product sa
Evans F. L.
Foss Analytical AB
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