JPH0443616B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a detection device that optically detects a partially mixed state of egg yolk and egg white (disturbed egg) after breaking the egg.

In the food manufacturing industry, such as confectionery and mayonnaise, many foods are made from eggs. Eggs used as raw materials for these foods are categorized into three types depending on how they are used: those that use only the egg yolk, those that use only the egg white, and those that use both egg yolk and egg white. being classified.

Here, when using in the former two usage forms, it is necessary to separate the egg yolk and egg white after breaking the egg. Currently, this separation process is mechanized;
A separate type egg breaking machine automatically breaks eggs and at the same time automatically separates egg yolks and egg whites. At this time, the egg yolk and egg white may not be completely separated, and the yolk may be partially mixed into the egg white, and this situation is conventionally called a ``messy egg.'' This disturbed egg is a defective product for raw materials consisting only of egg whites, and must be removed before it is mixed into raw materials consisting only of egg whites. Conventionally, this removal was visually monitored by humans and removed each time a disturbed egg appeared. Therefore, the egg breaking speed by the machine is below the limit speed that humans can judge, resulting in a decrease in work efficiency. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and its purpose is to speed up the breaking of eggs by optically detecting disordered eggs.

Therefore, in the present invention, the egg white is irradiated with ultraviolet rays, the resulting light other than the fluorescent light emitted by the egg yolk is removed by an optical filter, only the light that has passed through the optical filter is detected by a light receiving element, and the intensity of the signal is determined in advance. The system is configured to compare the comparison value with a set comparison value to determine whether the egg is a disordered egg or not.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 shows the fluorescence spectrum of egg yolk; when the yolk is irradiated with ultraviolet rays, it emits fluorescence. This fluorescence spectrum is as shown in the same figure.
Ranges from 490 to 600nm, its peak wavelength is 520nm
It's nearby. This is mainly caused by riboflavin in the egg yolk, which is unique to egg yolk, and the measurement principle is to electrically measure the amount of this fluorescence.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the measuring device. Reference numeral 1 denotes a light source for ultraviolet irradiation, which is composed of, for example, a high-pressure mercury lamp and an optical filter that selectively transmits only ultraviolet rays, and uses a black light that irradiates ultraviolet rays with a maximum peak wavelength of 365 nm. 2 is the egg white to be measured, 3 is a detection section, and 4 is a circuit section, and these detection section 3 and circuit section 4 are constructed as shown in FIG. That is, the detecting section 3 consists of a condensing lens 3a for condensing the fluorescent light, an optical filter 3b through which only the fluorescent light of the egg yolk is selectively transmitted, and a light receiving element 3c for receiving the transmitted fluorescent light. Further, the circuit section 4 consists of an amplification circuit 4a, a comparison circuit 4b, a comparison value setting section 4c, and an output section 4d.

In the structure as described above, when the egg white 2 to be measured is irradiated with ultraviolet rays from the black light 1 which is the light source, if the egg yolk is mixed in the egg white 2, the egg yolk as shown in FIG. It emits a characteristic fluorescent light. After this fluorescent light is focused by a condensing lens 3a, only the fluorescent light of the egg yolk is selectively transmitted through an optical filter 3b, and converted into an electric signal by a light receiving element 3c. There is a correlation between the amount of egg yolk mixed into the egg white and the magnitude of the electrical signal, and after this electrical signal is amplified by the amplification circuit 4a, the comparison circuit 4
Output to b. The comparison circuit 4b is applied with a lower limit value which is set in advance in the comparison value setting section 4c and which should be judged as a disordered egg, and this set value and the output value from the width amplification circuit 4a are compared in the comparison circuit 4b. When it is determined that the egg is a disordered egg, a determination signal is output to the output section 4d.

FIG. 4 shows the optical wavelength characteristics of the detection section 3 when measured as described above. Characteristic A indicated by a dotted line indicates the relative sensitivity of the light receiving element 3a, and characteristic B indicated by a solid line indicates the relative transmittance of the optical filter 3b. As is clear from the figure, the wavelength peak value of the output characteristic B of the optical filter 3b matches the fluorescence spectrum of the egg yolk shown in FIG. 1 very well, and the value is about 520 nm. In addition to the peak wavelength, the transmission band of the optical filter is a wavelength of approximately 490 to 570 nm, which selectively transmits the high-intensity portion of the egg yolk's fluorescence spectrum and reduces the influence of surrounding light. This means that when the fluorescent substance detected by using the optical filter 3b has a wavelength peak in a portion other than the transmission band, the influence thereof is reduced.

Next, an actual measurement example will be explained. As the light source 1, a black light having a maximum peak wavelength of 365 nm and consisting of a high-pressure mercury lamp and an optical filter that selectively transmits only ultraviolet rays was used. In addition, the optical filter 3b has a main wavelength of 520 nm and a half width of 13 nm.
Hereinafter, an interference filter with a transmittance of about 40% was used, and the light receiving element 3a was a CaAsP silicon diode with a sensitivity wavelength range of 300 to 680 nm and a peak wavelength of 620±30 nm.

FIG. 5 shows the actual measurement results. In this figure, the vertical axis shows the output ratio to normal egg white, and the horizontal axis shows the amount of mixed egg yolk. As is clear from the figure, there is a correlation between the amount of egg yolk mixed into the egg white and the output ratio of it to the normal egg white in the comparison circuit 4b. Therefore, by setting the output value at the output ratio Y corresponding to the mixed egg yolk amount X that should be determined to be a disheveled egg in the comparison value setting section 4c, the comparison circuit 4b determines the disheveled egg with the mixed egg yolk amount X or more. can do.

As described above, according to the present invention, the detection of disordered eggs, which conventionally relied on human vision, can now be detected automatically, and therefore the detection speed is greatly improved. It is.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a spectrum diagram of egg yolk, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 3 is a specific block diagram of the detection section and circuit section used in the present invention, and Fig. 4 is a detection diagram. FIG. 5 shows the measurement results. 1... Light source, 2... Egg white as the object to be measured, 3...
Detection section, 4...Circuit section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A light source for irradiating ultraviolet rays to irradiate ultraviolet rays to egg white, which is an object to be measured, and a condensing lens to condense the fluorescent light emitted from the egg yolk mixed into the albumen due to the ultraviolet irradiation from this light source. , a detection section that selectively transmits the fluorescent light of the egg yolk through an optical filter and converts it into an electrical signal with a light receiving element, and compares the output value from this detection section with a preset setting value to detect disturbed eggs. A disordered egg detection device comprising: a circuit unit that outputs an output when it is determined that 2. The disturbed egg detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the ultraviolet irradiation light source comprises a high-pressure mercury lamp having a maximum peak wavelength of 365 nm and an optical filter that transmits only ultraviolet rays. 3 The transmission band of the optical filter in the detection section is 490~
The disturbed egg detection device according to claim 1 or 2, having a wavelength width of 570 nm.