CAMERA SYSTEM FOR A SELF-PROPELLED FIELD CHOPPER
Patent Information
- Application Number
- AT2024168654T
- Authority / Receiving Office
- AT · AT
- Patent Type
- Patents
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Priority Date
- 2023-06-22
- Filing Date
- 2024-04-05
- Publication Date
- 2026-06-15
- Estimated Expiration
- 2044-04-05
AI Technical Summary
Existing camera systems for self-propelled forage harvesters are not cost-effective in accurately distinguishing between grain and non-grain components in the crop flow, particularly in high-speed environments, which affects the efficiency of grain processing and energy consumption.
A camera system comprising an RGB camera with specific parameters such as a frame rate of 20-40 images/second, exposure time of 5-25 microseconds, and a lens with a focal length of 7-10 mm, positioned on the discharge chute with a translucent viewing window and adjustable light source, enables accurate differentiation between whole and crushed grains through optical sieving and image analysis.
The system achieves accurate detection and differentiation of grain components, optimizing grain processing by determining the degree of grain digestion, thereby enhancing processing efficiency and reducing energy consumption.
Abstract
Description
[0001] The present invention relates to a camera system for a self-propelled forage harvester according to the preamble of claim 1. Furthermore, a self-propelled forage harvester according to the preamble of claim 15 is the subject of the present invention.
[0002] From DE 10 2020 122 202 A1, a camera system for a forage harvester according to the preamble of claim 1 is known. The camera system described therein includes, as options for at least one camera used, a multispectral camera capturing visible light and infrared light, a hyperspectral camera, or an RGB camera in combination with an IR camera, each of which transmits image data to an image analysis device for evaluation. Grain components and non-grain components in the crop stream are detected using an image recognition algorithm. According to DE 10 2020 122 202 A1, it is essential that the camera system additionally provide image data in the infrared range in order to be able to distinguish between grain components and non-grain components.
[0003] Based on the above-mentioned prior art, the object of the invention is to further develop a camera system of the type mentioned at the outset, which is characterized by a more cost-effective construction, wherein the quality of the accuracy of the detection of grain components and non-grain components in the crop stream by an image analysis device is at least comparable.
[0004] This object is achieved according to the invention by a camera system having the features of claim 1. Advantageous further developments are the subject of the dependent claims.
[0005] According to claim 1, a camera system for a self-propelled forage harvester is proposed, wherein the camera system is designed and configured to detect and evaluate a crop stream processed by working units of the forage harvester, which stream comprises whole grains and crushed grains as grain components as well as non-grain components.The camera system comprises an RGB camera which is designed to detect the crop flow flowing through a discharge spout of the forage harvester, wherein the RGB camera is arranged in a housing arranged on the discharge spout, in which housing a translucent viewing window is arranged, past which the crop flow to be detected flows, as well as a light source arranged opposite the viewing window, the light rays of which are directed onto the crop flow, at least one mirror which deflects light reflected from the crop flow into a lens arranged on the RGB camera, and an image analysis device to which the RGB camera transmits images recorded from the crop flow for evaluation.According to the invention, the RGB camera captures images of the crop flow at a frame rate in the range of 20 frames / second to 40 frames / second, the exposure time is between 5 microseconds and 25 microseconds, and the lens of the RGB camera has a focal length between 7 mm and 10 mm.
[0006] Particularly preferably, the RGB camera can capture images of the crop flow, in particular with a frame rate in the range of 25 frames / second to 35 frames / second.
[0007] More preferably, the exposure time may be between 9 microseconds and 21 microseconds.
[0008] It is essential to consider optimally adapting the design of the RGB camera of the camera system as well as the parameters essential for capturing images with the RGB camera to the conditions prevailing in the discharge spout, in particular the flow velocity of the crop stream after exiting a secondary shredding device, which lies in the range of 15 m / s to 20 m / s. With the inventive design and proposed parameterization of the RGB camera, an image analysis method for the computer-implemented determination of the degree of grain disruption of grains within the crop stream processed by the working units of the forage harvester can be carried out using the image analysis device of the camera system. This method enables the differentiation of grain components and non-grain components with the required accuracy and, based on this, the differentiation between whole grains and shredded grains by optical sieving.The required accuracy of distinguishing between grain components and non-grain components as well as the differentiation between whole grains and crushed grains by the image analysis method is based on a given coefficient of determination.
[0009] Preferably, the lens can have an angle of view in the range of 32° to 37°. Particularly preferably, the lens can have an angle of view in the range of 34° to 35°. The resulting selection for the RGB camera lens serves to comply with the maximum permissible total height of the forage harvester for road traffic of 4 m.
[0010] More preferably, the round, oval, or polygonal viewing window can have a visible diameter detectable by the lens that is greater than 7 cm and less than 13 cm. Particularly preferably, the viewing window can have a diameter that is greater than or equal to 9 cm and less than or equal to 12 cm. The proposed range for the diameter of the viewing window is relevant with regard to the frame rate requirement in order to guarantee the accuracy requirement for the evaluation by the image analysis device. Although the frame rate could be reduced with increasing diameter, the enlargement of the surface area of the viewing window leads to increasing demands on the load-bearing capacity of the viewing window. Due to the arrangement of the viewing window in the discharge spout of the forage harvester, it is permanently exposed to the crop flow and is subjected to stress by the contact pressure exerted by the crop flow.
[0011] In particular, the at least one mirror can result in an object distance in the range of 175 mm to 195 mm. Particularly preferably, the object distance can be in the range of 180 mm to 190 mm. The object distance has a significant influence on the dimensions of the housing. Due to its arrangement on the discharge spout, the dimensions of the housing are subject to the aforementioned height restriction regarding the overall height of the forage harvester during road travel. In particular, the dimensions of the mirror are selected such that the field of view of the lens is taken into account and the entire viewing window can be visualized.
[0012] According to a preferred embodiment, the viewing window can be made of sapphire glass. Sapphire glass, due to its strength, wear resistance, and high light transmission, is particularly suitable for use in the discharge spout.
[0013] In particular, the housing can be arranged on top of the discharge spout, whereby the housing can be arranged in the second half of the discharge spout with respect to its longitudinal extent. This position of the housing ensures that the transverse distribution of the chopped material covers the entire width of the discharge spout. A position close to the post-processing device would lead to less strict framework conditions with regard to the height of the camera system housing, but since the lower part of the discharge spout is approximately orthogonal to the direction of travel in the raised position during harvesting, the inside of the discharge spout is initially only partially covered with chopped material. A position in the rear segment of the discharge spout therefore leads to maximum transverse distribution and lower material speeds of the chopped material.
[0014] In particular, the camera system can have a control unit for controlling the light source. Preferably, at least one matrix LED spotlight is used as the light source.
[0015] The control unit for controlling the at least one light source can be arranged in the housing.
[0016] It may be advantageous if the at least one light source is arranged in the housing. A joint arrangement of the components of the camera system—the RGB camera, the lens, the at least one mirror, and the at least one light source—in the housing enables a particularly compact design.
[0017] Preferably, the position of the light source in the housing relative to the viewing window and the mirror can be adjusted vertically and / or horizontally. The adjustability of the light source position enables fine adjustment and calibration of the camera system.
[0018] According to a further development, the position of the RGB camera can be adjustable in the vertical direction and / or in the horizontal direction.
[0019] In particular, the viewing window extending into the discharge spout can be arranged on the inside of the discharge spout so that it is essentially flush with its surface. For example, the viewing window can be glued into a substantially annular holder so that it is flush with the inside surface of the discharge spout, thereby minimizing any interference with the crop flow. The annular holder can have a round, oval, or polygonal contour. When the viewing window is glued into a ring-shaped holder, the necessary edge-side support surface is taken into account in the visible diameter of the viewing window, which is effective when recording the crop flow.
[0020] Preferably, the thickness of the viewing window can be in the range between 2 mm and 4 mm.
[0021] According to a further development, the distance of the light source from the center of the viewing window can be between 120 mm and 130 mm, and the light source can be inclined at an angle of between 31° and 34° to the surface of the viewing window. This can create indirect lighting to prevent reflections.
[0022] The object posed at the outset is further achieved by a self-propelled forage harvester having the features of claim 15.
[0023] According to claim 15, a self-propelled forage harvester is proposed, comprising an attachment as a working unit for picking up crop material, working units for processing a crop flow generated from the picked up crop material, a driver assistance system which is designed and configured to control the working units, and an image analysis device, wherein the image analysis device comprises a camera system which cyclically records images of the crop flow and transmits them to the image analysis device for image analysis using an image analysis method in order to determine the degree of grain disruption of grains in the crop flow, wherein the camera system is designed according to one of claims 1 to 14.
[0024] Reference may be made to all statements relating to the camera system according to the invention.
[0025] The present invention is explained in more detail below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings.
[0026] They show: Fig. 1 shows a schematic and exemplary view of a forage harvester; Fig. 2 shows a schematic and exemplary perspective partial view of a discharge spout of the forage harvester with a camera system arranged thereon; and Fig. 3 shows a schematic and exemplary simplified representation of the camera system.
[0027] Fig. 1 shows schematically and by way of example a forage harvester 1 according to the invention harvesting a crop of plants, in particular corn plants 2, in a field. A receiving device 3 of the forage harvester 1 comprises, in a conventional manner, an interchangeable attachment 4 adapted to the plant material to be harvested, and an intake device 5 with several pairs of rollers 6, 7, which receives the crop from the attachment 4 to feed it to a chopping device 8.
[0028] The chopping device 8 comprises a rotationally driven chopping drum 9 and a counter-blade 10, over which the corn plants 2 are pushed by the adjacent pair of rollers 7 of the intake device 5 to be shredded by the interaction of the counter-blade 10 with the chopping drum 9. Downstream of the chopping device 8 is a secondary shredding device 13, also referred to as a corn cracker, with a pair of conditioning or cracker rollers 11 that define a gap 12 of adjustable width, hereinafter also referred to as the cracker gap, and rotate at different speeds to shred corn kernels contained in the material flow passing through the gap 12.A post-accelerator 14 imparts the shredded crop, here the corn plants 2, conditioned in the post-shredding device 13, the necessary speed to pass through a discharge spout 15 and be transferred into an accompanying vehicle (not shown). The discharge spout 15 has a substantially rectangular cross-section along its longitudinal extent. The discharge spout 15 has a continuously closed upper side 35 and a partially open lower side. Side walls are arranged orthogonally to the upper side 35 of the discharge spout 15, which laterally delimit and guide a crop flow 21 (illustrated by arrows) conveyed through the discharge spout 15.
[0029] At least one camera system 16 is arranged on the discharge spout 15 to generate images of the crop flow 21 conveyed through the discharge spout 15. Furthermore, an NIR sensor 22 can be arranged on the discharge spout 15. Crop properties can be determined using the NIR sensor 22. Here, the NIR sensor 22 is preferably positioned upstream of the camera system 16 on the top side of the discharge spout 16.
[0030] The front attachment 4, the intake device 5, the chopping device 8, the secondary shredding device 13 as well as the secondary accelerator 14 and their respective components are working units 20 of the forage harvester 1, which serve to harvest the maize plants 2 of a field and / or to process the maize plants 2 of the field as part of the harvesting process.
[0031] Within the crop stream 21 processed by the working units 20 of the forage harvester 1 there are whole grains 23 and crushed grains 24 as grain components 25 as well as non-grain components 26, such as stems, leaves and the like.
[0032] The camera system 16 has an RGB camera 32 for recording image data of the crop contained in the crop stream 21. The RGB camera 32 records spatially resolved image data. The term "spatially resolved" here means that it is possible to distinguish details of the crop in the image data. The RGB camera 32 therefore has at least enough pixels to enable the proposed image analysis, which will be explained later. In a measurement routine, the camera system 16 uses the RGB camera 32 to capture image data of the crop in the crop stream 21, here the chopped corn plants 2. This measurement routine is carried out accordingly during operation of the forage harvester 1.
[0033] The images generated by the camera system 16 are transmitted to an image analysis device 27 and evaluated by it.
[0034] The image analysis device 27 is connected to a driver assistance system 17 or can be implemented as a component of the driver assistance system 17. The driver assistance system 17 can be connected to an input / output unit 18 in a driver's cab 19 of the forage harvester 1 in order to output evaluation results thereto. The driver assistance system 17 controls at least one actuator for adjusting the gap width of the cracker gap 12 and / or the differential speed and / or the speed levels of the rollers 11 of the secondary shredding device 13.
[0035] During operation, the rollers 11 of the secondary crushing device 13 each rotate at a speed that can be set as a parameter, with the gap 12 remaining between the rollers with a gap width that can be set as a parameter. Furthermore, the rollers 11 have a speed difference that can be set as a parameter, by which the speeds of the rollers 11 differ. The driver assistance system 17 controls at least one of the parameters depending on a grain disruption degree to be determined.
[0036] The reason for controlling the post-shredding device 13 depending on the degree of grain disruption is that, particularly when the harvested material is used as animal feed and in biogas plants, it is important that the grain components 25 of the harvested material are disrupted, i.e., disrupted. Disruption of the grain components 25 is important so that the starch contained therein becomes accessible and is not protected by the shell of the grain component 25. Disruption of the grain components 25 occurs, on the one hand, by chopping the harvested material and, on the other hand, essentially by the post-shredding device 13. The post-shredding device 13 can be adjusted to ensure that all grain components 25 contained in the harvested material stream 21 are disrupted, but this entails increased energy and fuel consumption.For example, to achieve maximum comminution and thus a high processing quality of the grain components, the gap width could be set to a minimum. This unnecessarily high energy consumption cannot be converted into an increase in travel speed, resulting in a correspondingly reduced area performance inherent in the system.
[0037] The proposed method for computer-implemented determination of the degree of grain disintegration of the grains 23 is explained below. For this purpose, cyclically recorded images 28 of the crop stream 21 are transmitted by the optical detection device 16 to the image analysis device 27 for evaluation using an image analysis method.
[0038] The schematically illustrated camera system 16 has an optical system in addition to the RGB camera 32. The optical system comprises a mirror 30, a lens 31 arranged on the RGB camera 32, and at least one light source 33. The RGB camera 32 has a field of view 34 in which it can detect light reflected from the crop stream 21. The RGB camera 32 and the optical system are arranged in a housing 28 of the camera system 16, which is attached to the top of the discharge spout 15. A translucent viewing window 29 is arranged on the side of the housing 28 facing the discharge spout 15. The viewing window 29 is preferably made of sapphire glass. The viewing window 29 can be round, oval, or polygonal.
[0039] The housing 28 of the camera system 16 arranged on the upper side of the discharge spout 15 is arranged in the second half of the discharge spout 15 with respect to its longitudinal extent.
[0040] Fig. 2shows schematically and exemplarily a perspective partial view of the upper side 35 of the discharge spout 15 with the NIR sensor 22 arranged thereon and the camera system 16 arranged downstream thereof. The housing 28 is detachably fastened to the upper side 35 of the discharge spout 15 by means of two mounting devices 36.
[0041] Fig. 3shows a schematic and exemplary simplified representation of the camera system 16. In the upper side 35 of the discharge spout 15, an opening is provided, into which the viewing window 29 is recessed, flush with the surface of the upper side 35 facing the crop stream 21. Here and preferably, the viewing window 29 and the opening are essentially circular. Alternatively, the viewing window 29 and the opening can be polygonal. The viewing window 29 can be glued into an essentially annular holder 38. The holder 38 is fastened in the housing 28. The holder 38 can be detachably fastened to the housing 28.
[0042] The viewing window 29 has a visible diameter D 29 that can be detected by the lens 31 and is greater than 7 cm and less than 13 cm. Particularly preferably, the viewing window 29 can have a detectable visible diameter D 29 that is greater than or equal to 9 cm and less than or equal to 12 cm. D denotes an overall diameter of the viewing window 29, which is round in the illustrated embodiment and includes an edge region between 2 mm and 4 mm, which serves to support the holder 38.
[0043] In the case of a polygonal design of the viewing window 29, an at least square design, the visible diameter D 29 detectable by the lens 31 is taken into account by the respective edge length.
[0044] When the viewing window 29 is glued into the holder 38, the necessary edge-side support surface is taken into account in the visible diameter D 29 of the viewing window 29, which can be detected by the lens 31 and is effective when recording the crop flow. The visible diameter D 29 of the viewing window 29, which can be detected by the lens 31, limits the field of view 34.
[0045] Preferably, the thickness of the viewing window 29 can be in the range between 2 mm and 4 mm. The thickness of the viewing window 29 depends essentially on the overall diameter D or, in the case of a polygonal design, the edge lengths of the viewing window 29.
[0046] The RGB camera 32 records images of the crop stream 21 at a frame rate in the range of 20 frames / second to 40 frames / second. Particularly preferably, the frame rate is in the range of 25 frames / second to 35 frames / second. The exposure time here is preferably between 5 microseconds and 25 microseconds. Particularly preferably, the exposure time is in the range between 9 microseconds and 20 microseconds. The lens 31 of the RGB camera 32 has a focal length between 7 mm and 10 mm. Furthermore, the lens 31 here and preferably has an angle of view in the range of 32° to 37°. Particularly preferably, the lens 31 can have an angle of view in the range of 34° to 35°.
[0047] The at least one mirror 30 in the housing 28 results in an object distance in the range of 175 mm to 195 mm. In particular, the dimensions of the mirror 30 are selected such that the angle of view of the lens 31 is taken into account and the entire viewing window of the viewing pane 29, which corresponds to the light-transmitting diameter D 29, can be visualized. The object distance in the range of 175 mm to 195 mm is realized by means of the at least one mirror 30, so that exceeding the maximum permissible height due to the height of the housing on the discharge spout 15 in road traffic is avoided. By selecting a focal length between 7 mm and 10 mm for an object distance in the range of 175 mm to 195 mm, undesirable artifacts such as image curvatures can be avoided, which are to be expected with shorter focal lengths and simultaneously shorter object distances.Particularly preferably, the object width can be in the range of 180 mm to 190 mm.
[0048] The camera system may include a control unit 37 for controlling the at least one light source 33. The control unit 37 for controlling the at least one light source 33 may preferably be arranged in the housing 28. At least one matrix LED spotlight is preferably used as the light source 33.
[0049] The position of the at least one light source 33 in the housing 28 can be vertically and / or horizontally adjustable relative to the viewing window 29 and the mirror 30. For this purpose, the light source 33 can be arranged in the housing 28 by means of a holding device 39, which has components that are movable relative to the housing 28. This enables calibration and fine adjustment.
[0050] In the illustrated embodiment, the holding device 39 comprises essentially L-shaped metal sheets 40, 41 as relatively movable components, which are arranged in pairs. One pair of the essentially L-shaped holding elements 40, 41 is arranged on each side of the light source 33. The holding elements 40, which extend in sections in the longitudinal direction of the housing 28, have horizontally extending, parallel elongated holes 42, within which the holding elements 40 can be displaced relative to the housing 28. The holding elements 41 have vertically extending, parallel elongated holes 43, within which the holding elements 41 can be displaced relative to the holding elements 40 and the housing 28, respectively.
[0051] The distance of the at least one light source 33 from the center of the viewing window 29 is preferably between 120 mm and 130 mm. The at least one light source 33 is preferably arranged at an angle of between 31° and 34° to the surface of the viewing window 29.
[0052] In addition, the RGB camera 32 with the lens 31 arranged thereon can also be adjustable in the vertical direction and / or in the horizontal direction and / or its inclination.
[0053] The images provided by the RGB camera 32 are transmitted to the image analysis device 27 for evaluation. Using the image analysis device 27, an image analysis method is carried out for the computer-implemented determination of the degree of grain disruption of grains within the crop stream 21 processed by the working units 20, in particular the post-shredding device 13 of the forage harvester 1. At least one working unit 20, here and preferably the post-shredding device 13, is controlled depending on the degree of grain disruption. The image analysis method is characterized in that in a first stage, image pixels contained in the images are classified into grain components 25 and non-grain components 26 by means of digital image processing, and in a second stage of the image analysis method, a length determination of a long main axis and a short main axis of each classified grain component 25 is carried out by means of a length-width comparison, wherein the execution of the first stage and the second stage of the image analysis method is carried out by at least one neural network.
[0054] The at least one neural network can be a component of the image analysis device 27 or the driver assistance system 17. In particular, the neural network can be implemented in the form of a U-Net architecture of a convolutional neural network or as a recurrent neural network. List of reference symbols 1 forage harvester 34 Field of view 2 corn plant 35 Top of 15 3 Recording device 36 Mounting device 4 Attachment 37 Control unit 5 Feeding device 38 bracket 6 pair of rollers 39 Holding device 7 pair of rollers 40 Holding element 8 Chopping device 41 Holding element 9 chopping drum 42 slot 10 Counter blade 43 slot 11 Conditioning or cracker roller 12 gap D Total diameter of 29 13 Post-shredding device D 29 diameter 14 Post-accelerator 15 discharge spout 16 Recording device 17 Driver assistance system 18 Input-output unit 19 Driver's cab 20 Working unit 21 Crop flow 22 NIR sensor 23 Whole grains 24 Crushed grains 25 Grain component 26 Non-grain component 27 Image analysis device 28 Housing 29 Viewing window 30 Mirror 31 lens 32 RGB camera 33 light source
Claims
1. A camera system (16) for a self-propelled forage harvester (1), which is designed and configured to detect and evaluate a crop stream (21) processed by working units (20) of the forage harvester (1), which includes whole grains (23) and crushed grains (24) as grain components (25) as well as non-grain components (26), comprising an RGB camera (32) configured to detect the crop stream (21) flowing through a discharge chute (15) of the forage harvester (1), wherein the RGB camera (32) is arranged in a housing (28) arranged on the discharge chute (15), in which a translucent viewing window (29) is arranged, past which the crop stream (21) to be detected flows, and at least one light source (33) arranged opposite the viewing window (29), the light beams of which are directed onto the crop stream (21), at least one mirror (30),which deflects light reflected from the crop stream (21) into a lens (31) arranged on the RGB camera (32), and an image analysis device (27) to which the RGB camera (32) transmits images taken from the crop stream (21) for evaluation, , characterized in that the RGB camera (32) captures the images at a frame rate in the range of 20 frames / second to 40 frames / second, the exposure time is between 5 microseconds and 25 microseconds, and the lens (31) of the RGB camera (32) has a focal length between 7 mm and 10 mm.
2. Camera system (16) according to claim 1, characterized in that the lens (31) has an angle of view in the range of 32° to 37°.
3. Camera system (16) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the round, oval or polygonal viewing window (29) has a visible diameter (D 29 ) which is greater than 7 cm and less than 13 cm.
4. Camera system (16) according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the at least one mirror (30) results in an object distance in the range of 175 mm to 195 mm.
5. Camera system (16) according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the viewing window (29) is made of sapphire glass.
6. Camera system (16) according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the housing (28) is arranged on the upper side (35) of the discharge chute (15), wherein the housing (28) is arranged in the second half of the discharge chute (15) with respect to the longitudinal extent thereof.
7. Camera system (16) according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the camera system (16) has a control unit (37) for controlling the at least one light source (33).
8. Camera system (16) according to claim 7, characterized in that the control unit (37) for controlling the at least one light source (33) is arranged in the housing (28).
9. Camera system (16) according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the at least one light source (33) is arranged in the housing (28).
10. Camera system (16) according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the position of the at least one light source (33) in the housing (28) relative to the viewing window (29) and the mirror (30) is adjustable in the vertical direction and / or in the horizontal direction.
11. Camera system (16) according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the position of the RGB camera (32) is adjustable in the vertical direction and / or in the horizontal direction.
12. Camera system (16) according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the viewing window (29) projecting into the discharge chute (15) is arranged on the inside of the discharge chute (15) so as to be substantially flush with its surface.
13. Camera system (16) according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in thatthe thickness of the viewing window (29) is between 2 mm and 4 mm.
14. Camera system (16) according to one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that the distance of the light source (33) to the center of the viewing window (29) is between 120 mm and 130 mm and that the light source (33) is arranged inclined at an angle of between 31° and 34° to the surface of the viewing window (29).
15. A forage harvester (1), comprising an attachment (4) as a working unit (20) for picking up crop material, working units (20) for processing a crop flow (21) generated from the picked up crop material, a driver assistance system (17) designed and configured to control the working units (20), an image analysis device (27), wherein the image analysis device (17) comprises a camera system (16) which cyclically records images of the crop flow (21) and transmits them to the image analysis device (27) for image analysis using an image analysis method in order to determine the degree of grain disruption of grains (23) in the crop flow (21), characterized in that the camera system (16) is designed according to one of claims 1 to 14.