An on-line tobacco length measuring device

Abstract

The application discloses a kind of tobacco length online measurement device, wherein the device includes: tobacco measurement control module, tobacco release module, tobacco scattering module and tobacco length measurement module;Wherein, tobacco measurement control module is used to release tobacco accumulation material when receiving tobacco length measurement instruction, control tobacco release module;Tobacco scattering module is used to scatter processing to tobacco accumulation material, obtain the tobacco material to be detected;Tobacco length measurement module is used to determine the image to be detected corresponding to the tobacco material to be detected, and at least one tobacco to be detected in the image to be detected is measured, and the actual tobacco length corresponding to tobacco length measurement is obtained.Solve the problem that tobacco length is measured based on artificial mode, time-consuming and labor-consuming, inaccurate, and unable to measure tobacco length online, by the tobacco length of tobacco in image online measurement, obtain the tobacco length to be corrected, and the error correction is carried out to the tobacco length to be corrected, to achieve the effect that more accurate tobacco length is obtained based on online measurement in tobacco processing process.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of tobacco processing technology, and in particular to an online measuring device for tobacco shred length. Background Technology

[0002] In the tobacco processing industry, the length structure of tobacco shreds is one of the main factors affecting the physical properties of cigarettes.

[0003] Currently, determining the length of tobacco shreds typically requires extracting tobacco samples and having quality inspectors manually measure the length. The measurement results are then used to determine if the length meets standards. This method is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also prone to inaccuracies due to variations in tobacco structure and moisture content during measurement. Furthermore, it lacks the capability for online measurement of tobacco shred length.

[0004] To solve the above problems, there is an urgent need for a device that can measure the length of tobacco shreds online. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This invention provides an online tobacco shred length measuring device to solve the problem of not being able to measure the length of tobacco shreds online during the tobacco shred processing process.

[0006] In a first aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide an online tobacco shred length measuring device, comprising: a tobacco shred measurement control module, a tobacco shred release module, a tobacco shred dispersion module, and a tobacco shred length measuring module; wherein...

[0007] The tobacco shred measurement and control module is used to control the tobacco shred release module to release the accumulated tobacco shred material when it receives a tobacco shred length measurement command;

[0008] The tobacco shred dispersing module is used to disperse the accumulated tobacco shreds to obtain tobacco shreds material to be tested; wherein, the tobacco shreds material to be tested includes at least one tobacco shred to be tested, and each tobacco shred to be tested is in a dispersed state;

[0009] The tobacco length measurement module is used to determine the image to be detected corresponding to the tobacco material to be detected, and to measure the length of at least one tobacco shred in the image to obtain the corresponding actual tobacco length.

[0010] The technical solution of this embodiment includes a tobacco shred measurement and control module, a tobacco shred release module, a tobacco shred dispersing module, and a tobacco shred length measurement module. The tobacco shred measurement and control module, upon receiving a tobacco shred length measurement command, controls the tobacco shred release module to release the accumulated tobacco material. The tobacco shred dispersing module disperses the accumulated tobacco material to obtain tobacco shred material to be tested. The tobacco shred material to be tested includes at least one tobacco shred, and each shred is in a dispersed state. That is, to achieve online measurement of the tobacco shred length in the tobacco shred material, the tobacco shred material being processed needs to be initially dispersed by a feeding hub. Further, the initially dispersed tobacco shred material is transferred to the inlet of the tobacco shred falling pipe to fall from the target falling height to the outlet. During the falling process, high-pressure gas is released to further disperse the tobacco shred material, making it even looser. In other words, the dispersed tobacco shred material is in a dispersed state. The advantage of this setup is that when photographing falling tobacco material, each tobacco shred is presented in a dispersed state in the image to be detected. The tobacco shred length measurement module is used to determine the image to be detected corresponding to the tobacco material, and to measure the length of at least one tobacco shred in the image to obtain the corresponding actual tobacco shred length. By using the number of pixels occupied by each tobacco shred in the image and the corresponding scale bar, the actual tobacco area corresponding to each tobacco shred can be obtained. Further, based on the actual tobacco area and actual tobacco width of each tobacco shred, the corresponding corrected tobacco shred length can be obtained. Further, based on the product of the corrected tobacco shred length and the corresponding correction coefficient, the corresponding actual tobacco shred length can be obtained. This method solves the problems of time-consuming, labor-intensive, and inaccurate manual measurement of tobacco length, as well as the inability to measure tobacco length online. By measuring the length of tobacco in an image online, the method obtains the length of tobacco to be corrected and performs error correction on the length of tobacco to be corrected. This achieves the effect of obtaining a more accurate tobacco length based on online measurement during the tobacco processing.

[0011] It should be understood that the description in this section is not intended to identify key or essential features of the embodiments of the present invention, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the invention. Other features of the invention will become readily apparent from the following description. Attached Figure Description

[0012] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the accompanying drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0013] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of an online tobacco length measuring device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0014] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of an online tobacco length measuring device provided according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0015] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the present invention, the technical solutions of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings of the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort should fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0016] It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," etc., in the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings of this invention are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such data can be interchanged where appropriate so that the embodiments of the invention described herein can be implemented in sequences other than those illustrated or described herein.

[0017] Example 1

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of an online tobacco length measuring device provided in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. This embodiment is applicable to situations where the length of each tobacco shred in the tobacco material is measured online during the processing of tobacco material.

[0019] In practical applications, the length of tobacco shreds is a crucial indicator for determining the quality of tobacco processing. This technical solution proposes an online tobacco shred length measurement device to enable the detection of tobacco shred length during processing.

[0020] Specifically, such as Figure 1 As shown, the device includes: a tobacco measurement and control module A, a tobacco release module B, a tobacco dispersing module C, and a tobacco length measurement module D. Among them,

[0021] The tobacco shred measurement and control module A is used to control the tobacco shred release module B to release the accumulated tobacco shred material when it receives a tobacco shred length measurement command.

[0022] The tobacco shred length command can be understood as an instruction to activate the online tobacco shred length measurement device to measure the length of each tobacco shred in the tobacco material online. The tobacco shred accumulation material can be understood as tobacco material composed of a large number of aggregated tobacco shreds.

[0023] In practical applications, tobacco processing equipment can be used to process tobacco materials, such as rehydration, drying, or flavoring. To determine whether the processing requirements are met during the processing of tobacco materials, the length of the tobacco shreds can be measured. When the length of most tobacco shreds meets the requirements, the processing result of the tobacco materials can be considered as qualified.

[0024] Understandably, to detect the length of tobacco shreds in the tobacco processing equipment, an online tobacco length measuring device can be installed. This device can be activated to measure the length of the tobacco shreds when needed. Specifically, the online tobacco length measuring device includes a tobacco measurement control module A, which receives tobacco length measurement commands and, upon receiving such commands, controls the tobacco release module B to release the accumulated tobacco material.

[0025] Optionally, the tobacco length measurement control module includes: an instruction receiving unit and a cylinder contraction control unit; wherein, the instruction receiving unit is used to receive a tobacco length measurement instruction; the cylinder contraction control unit is used to send a cylinder contraction signal to the tobacco release module when the tobacco length measurement instruction is received, so that the tobacco release module controls the contraction cylinder to contract according to the cylinder contraction signal.

[0026] Specifically, a touch panel can be installed in the online tobacco length measurement device, with a tobacco length measurement control on the touch panel. When the length of the tobacco material being processed in the tobacco processing equipment needs to be detected, the tobacco length measurement control can be triggered to send a tobacco length measurement command to the tobacco length measurement control module A in the online tobacco length measurement device. Specifically, the tobacco length measurement control module A is equipped with a command receiving unit to receive tobacco length measurement commands. Furthermore, the tobacco length measurement control module A also includes a cylinder retraction control unit, which, upon receiving the tobacco length measurement command, sends a cylinder retraction signal to the tobacco release module B, so that the tobacco release module controls the retraction cylinder to retract according to the cylinder retraction signal.

[0027] The tobacco release module B includes: a shrink cylinder, a discharge plate, and a discharge port; wherein, the shrink cylinder is connected to the discharge plate and is used to trigger the discharge plate to tilt based on a preset tilt angle after the shrink cylinder shrinks; the discharge plate is connected to a trigger switch of the discharge port and is used to open the discharge port based on the trigger switch after tilting based on the preset tilt angle, so as to release the accumulated tobacco material from the discharge port.

[0028] Specifically, during the processing of tobacco materials in the tobacco processing equipment, the tobacco materials are conveyed via a conveyor belt. When it is necessary to measure the length of the tobacco materials, the cylinder contraction control unit controls the contraction cylinder in the tobacco release module B to contract according to the cylinder contraction signal. Since the contraction cylinder is connected to the discharge plate, when the contraction cylinder contracts, the discharge plate is tilted downward by the contraction cylinder, and at the same time, the trigger switch of the discharge port is activated, opening the discharge port. At this time, the accumulated tobacco materials being transported on the conveyor belt will be released from the discharge port of the tilted discharge plate.

[0029] It should be noted that the discharge plate can usually be set on the conveyor belt that transports tobacco materials, and the discharge port can be set at the lower end of the discharge plate after it is tilted. Alternatively, discharge ports can be set at both ends of the discharge plate so that the release of the accumulated tobacco materials is not affected when the tilting direction is different.

[0030] In practical applications, the online tobacco length measurement device includes a tobacco shredding module C, which is used to break up the piled tobacco material to obtain the tobacco material to be tested.

[0031] The tobacco material to be tested includes at least one tobacco shred, and each tobacco shred is in a dispersed state.

[0032] Understandably, when measuring the length of individual tobacco shreds in a piled-up material, length measurement is impossible if the material is aggregated. Since the tobacco shreds released from the discharge port of tobacco release module B are in a piled-up state, it is necessary to break up the piled-up material to obtain the tobacco shreds to be tested, and to distribute the individual tobacco shreds as dispersedly as possible, so that the length of each shred can be measured online separately.

[0033] Optionally, the tobacco shredding module C includes a tobacco shredding conveyor belt, a tobacco shredding submodule, and a tobacco shredding bin; wherein, the tobacco shredding conveyor belt is used to transport the accumulated tobacco shredding material to the inlet of the tobacco shredding submodule when it is received; the tobacco shredding submodule is used to shred the accumulated tobacco shredding material input from the inlet; the tobacco shredding bin is connected to the outlet of the tobacco shredding submodule and is used to receive the shredded tobacco shredding material.

[0034] The tobacco conveyor belt is used to receive the accumulated tobacco material released by the tobacco release module B. The tobacco dispersing submodule includes a vertically arranged tobacco falling pipe with an inlet and an outlet at both ends. The inlet is connected to the end of the tobacco climbing conveyor belt, and the outlet is connected to the tobacco dropping hopper. It should be noted that, in order to disperse the accumulated tobacco material, the inlet needs to be set at a preset height to facilitate the dispersal of the accumulated tobacco material as it falls from a height.

[0035] The tobacco conveyor belt includes a horizontal tobacco conveyor belt and a climbing tobacco conveyor belt. The advantage of this design is that the discharge plate of the tobacco release module B typically has a certain width. Therefore, after receiving the accumulated tobacco material from the discharge port of the discharge plate, the accumulated tobacco material needs to be transported to a position outside the width range of the discharge plate via the horizontal tobacco conveyor belt. Then, the accumulated tobacco material is transported via the climbing tobacco conveyor belt to the inlet of the tobacco dispersing submodule, where it falls from the inlet at a certain height and is dispersed during the descent.

[0036] Specifically, after receiving the tobacco shreds from the tobacco shred release module B, the tobacco shreds need to be broken up in order to measure the length of each tobacco shred to be tested within the shreds. During this process, the tobacco shreds are first transported to the inlet of the tobacco shred breaking submodule via a conveyor belt, and then dropped from the inlet until they reach the outlet, where they are released into the tobacco shred discharge bin.

[0037] It should be noted that the process of breaking up the piled-up tobacco shreds involves two breaking-up processes. Specifically, a material-dispersing hub is installed on the tobacco shreds climbing conveyor belt, which is used to initially break up the piled-up tobacco shreds being transported on the tobacco shreds climbing conveyor belt.

[0038] In other words, the first dispersal of the tobacco shreds is done on the tobacco shreds conveyor belt. By setting up a material-dispersing hub on the tobacco shreds climbing conveyor belt, the tobacco shreds can be initially dispersed. For example, larger clumps or more clusters of tobacco shreds can be dispersed, making the tobacco shreds more loose.

[0039] Secondly, the tobacco shred dispersing submodule includes: a tobacco shred falling pipe and a tobacco shred dispersing unit; wherein, the tobacco shred falling pipe is used to drop the tobacco shreds piled up at the inlet from the target dropping height to the outlet; the tobacco shred dispersing unit is used to perform secondary dispersing treatment on the tobacco shreds during the falling process.

[0040] In other words, during the second dispersing process of the accumulated tobacco material, the material is dispersed during its descent after falling from the inlet of the tobacco drop pipe by a tobacco dispersing unit. Optionally, the tobacco dispersing unit includes a gas flow controller and a gas flow valve; wherein, the gas flow controller is connected to the tobacco measurement and control module, and is used to receive valve opening and closing commands sent by the tobacco measurement and control module, and control the valve opening and closing degree of the gas flow valve based on the valve opening and closing degree commands.

[0041] Specifically, to loosen the accumulated tobacco material and facilitate length detection of each piece of tobacco, a gas flow controller is installed in the tobacco dispersing unit. This controller controls the opening and closing of the gas flow valve when the accumulated tobacco material is detected falling from the inlet of the tobacco drop pipe, releasing the compressed gas from the high-pressure cylinder. Furthermore, to ensure the compressed gas effectively disperses the accumulated tobacco material, it can be compressed, resulting in a more forceful release that further disperses the material.

[0042] The online tobacco length measurement device includes a tobacco length measurement module D, which is used to determine the image to be detected corresponding to the tobacco material to be detected, and to measure the tobacco length of at least one tobacco shred in the image to be detected, so as to obtain the corresponding actual tobacco length.

[0043] In practical applications, after the piled-up tobacco material is broken up, the tobacco material to be tested is obtained. At this point, the tobacco material to be tested is photographed to determine the corresponding image to be tested. Furthermore, the actual length of each tobacco shred to be tested can be determined from the image to be tested.

[0044] Optionally, the tobacco length measurement module includes an image determination unit, a tobacco length determination unit to be corrected, a correction coefficient determination unit, an actual tobacco length determination unit, and a tobacco length display unit.

[0045] The image determination unit is used to acquire the image to be detected corresponding to the tobacco material to be detected.

[0046] Specifically, a camera device, such as a CCD high-speed camera, can be installed in the tobacco length measurement module to capture images of the tobacco material during its descent, obtaining an image to be processed. To more conveniently and accurately measure the length of the tobacco to be tested, the image to be processed needs to be binarized to obtain the image to be tested.

[0047] The unit for determining the length of tobacco shreds to be corrected is used to determine the length of tobacco shreds to be corrected corresponding to at least one tobacco shred in the image to be detected.

[0048] Specifically, the scale to be used corresponding to the image to be detected is determined. Based on the scale to be used and the area of ​​the tobacco to be determined, the actual area of ​​the tobacco to be detected is determined. Based on the ratio of the actual area of ​​the tobacco to the preset width of the tobacco, the length of the tobacco to be corrected corresponding to the tobacco to be detected is obtained.

[0049] For example, the scale to be used can be understood as the ratio of the actual tobacco area to the tobacco area to be determined. For example, if the scale to be used is 5:1 and the tobacco area to be determined is 2, then the actual tobacco area is 10mm. 2 It is understandable that, given the actual tobacco area and the preset tobacco width corresponding to the tobacco to be detected, the length of the tobacco to be corrected corresponding to the tobacco to be detected can be obtained based on the ratio of the actual tobacco area to the preset tobacco width.

[0050] The correction coefficient determination unit is used to determine the corresponding correction coefficient for each length of tobacco to be corrected based on the tobacco length range corresponding to each length of tobacco to be corrected.

[0051] The tobacco length range is a length range set based on the length of the tobacco shreds to be corrected. The correction coefficient to be used can be understood as a coefficient for error compensation of the length of the tobacco shreds to be corrected.

[0052] It should be noted that in this technical solution, different correction coefficients need to be set for different tobacco length ranges. This is because the longer the tobacco shreds are to be tested, the greater the error between the corrected tobacco length and the actual tobacco length. If a uniform correction coefficient is applied to all tobacco lengths to be corrected, the resulting actual tobacco length will have a larger error. To ensure that the corrected tobacco length, after error compensation based on the correction coefficients, is closer to the actual tobacco length, different correction coefficients need to be set for different tobacco length ranges.

[0053] Optionally, determining the correction coefficient to be used corresponding to the length of the tobacco shreds to be corrected includes: determining the correction coefficient to be used corresponding to the tobacco shred length range based on the target mapping table.

[0054] The target mapping table can be understood as an information table that records the correspondence between tobacco length intervals and correction coefficients to be used. The target mapping table includes at least one tobacco length interval and the correction coefficient corresponding to each tobacco length interval.

[0055] Exemplarily, let the length of the tobacco strand to be corrected be L. Different tobacco strand length intervals are set according to the length of the tobacco strand to be corrected. Among them, the tobacco strand length interval 1 is: L ≤ 4 mm, the tobacco strand length interval 2 is: 4 mm < L ≤ 10 mm, and the tobacco strand length interval 3 is: L > 10 mm. Correction coefficients to be used corresponding to each tobacco strand length interval are preset. Among them, the correction coefficient to be used corresponding to the tobacco strand length interval 1 is α, the correction coefficient to be used corresponding to the tobacco strand length interval 1 is β, and the correction coefficient to be used corresponding to the tobacco strand length interval 1 is γ. A target mapping table can be obtained according to each tobacco strand length interval and the corresponding correction coefficient to be used, so as to determine the corresponding correction coefficient to be used based on the target mapping table after obtaining the tobacco strand length interval corresponding to the tobacco strand to be detected.

[0056] An actual tobacco strand length determination unit, configured to obtain the corresponding actual tobacco strand length based on the product of the length of the tobacco strand to be corrected corresponding to each tobacco strand to be detected and the correction coefficient to be used.

[0057] Among them, the actual tobacco strand length can be understood as the tobacco strand length closest to the true tobacco strand length of the tobacco strand to be detected.

[0058] Exemplarily, if the actual tobacco strand length corresponding to the tobacco strand to be detected is H, the length of the tobacco strand to be corrected corresponding to it is L, and the tobacco strand length interval corresponding to it is the tobacco strand length interval 1, then the correction coefficient to be used corresponding to the length of the tobacco strand to be corrected is α. Based on the product of the length of the tobacco strand to be corrected and the correction coefficient to be used, the actual tobacco strand length corresponding to the tobacco strand to be detected can be obtained, that is, H = L * α.

[0059] The advantage of such a setting is that a more accurate actual tobacco strand length can be obtained by compensating for the error of the length of the tobacco strand to be corrected.

[0060] A tobacco strand length display unit, configured to display the actual tobacco strand length corresponding to each tobacco strand to be detected. Specifically, after obtaining the actual tobacco strand length corresponding to each tobacco strand to be detected, it can be displayed based on the tobacco strand length display unit, so as to further process according to the actual tobacco strand length of each tobacco strand to be detected. For example, determining the proportion of different tobacco strand lengths in the tobacco strand material to determine whether the processing of the tobacco strand material is qualified, etc.

[0061] The technical solution of this embodiment includes a tobacco shred measurement and control module, a tobacco shred release module, a tobacco shred dispersing module, and a tobacco shred length measurement module. The tobacco shred measurement and control module, upon receiving a tobacco shred length measurement command, controls the tobacco shred release module to release the accumulated tobacco material. The tobacco shred dispersing module disperses the accumulated tobacco material to obtain the tobacco shred material to be tested. The tobacco shred material to be tested includes at least one tobacco shred, and each shred is in a dispersed state. That is, to achieve online measurement of the tobacco shred length in the tobacco shred material, the tobacco shred material being processed needs to be initially dispersed by a feeding hub. Further, the initially dispersed tobacco shred material is transferred to the inlet of the tobacco shred falling pipe to fall from the target falling height to the outlet. During the falling process, high-pressure gas is released to further disperse the tobacco shred material, making it even looser. In other words, the dispersed tobacco shred material is in a dispersed state. The advantage of this setup is that when photographing falling tobacco material, each tobacco shred is presented in a dispersed state in the image to be detected. The tobacco shred length measurement module is used to determine the image to be detected corresponding to the tobacco material, and to measure the length of at least one tobacco shred in the image to obtain the corresponding actual tobacco shred length. By using the number of pixels occupied by each tobacco shred in the image and the corresponding scale bar, the actual tobacco area corresponding to each tobacco shred can be obtained. Furthermore, based on the actual tobacco area and actual tobacco width of each tobacco shred, the corresponding corrected tobacco shred length can be obtained. Finally, based on the product of the corrected tobacco shred length and the corresponding correction coefficient, the corresponding actual tobacco shred length can be obtained. This method solves the problems of time-consuming, labor-intensive, and inaccurate manual measurement of tobacco length, as well as the inability to measure tobacco length online. By measuring the length of tobacco in an image online, the method obtains the length of tobacco to be corrected and performs error correction on the length of tobacco to be corrected. This achieves the effect of obtaining a more accurate tobacco length based on online measurement during the tobacco processing.

[0062] Example 2

[0063] To gain a clearer understanding of the online tobacco length measurement device proposed in this technical solution, this embodiment provides a further introduction to each module of the device and its corresponding functions.

[0064] This technical solution provides an online tobacco shred length measurement device, including a tobacco shred measurement and control module A, a tobacco shred release module B, a tobacco shred dispersing module C, and a tobacco shred length measurement module D. Specifically, as shown... Figure 2As shown, the tobacco shred measurement and control module A includes a data acquisition and processing integrated unit 2. The tobacco shred release module B includes a pneumatic actuator 4 (i.e., a retractable cylinder), a material drop plate 5, a material drop port 6, and a material drop conveyor belt 7. The tobacco shred dispersing module C includes a horizontal material distribution mechanism 3 (i.e., a horizontal tobacco shred conveyor belt), a gas-material separation mechanism 8, a material hood 9, a downcomer 10 (i.e., a tobacco shred falling pipe), a feeding roller 11, a material climbing mechanism 12 (i.e., a tobacco shred climbing conveyor belt), a turbulence exciter 14 (i.e., a gas compressor), a calibration plate 15, an image acquisition base plate 16, a flow balance valve 17 (i.e., a gas flow controller), a material drop hopper 18, and a high-pressure gas cylinder 19. The tobacco shred length measurement module D includes a high-speed CCD camera 13, a display unit 1, and a data acquisition and processing integrated unit 2.

[0065] Specifically, the material feeding conveyor belt 7 is installed in the material feeding section between the main yarn-making processes; a material feeding port 6 is provided on the material feeding conveyor belt 7, and a material feeding plate 5 is installed directly below the material feeding port 6; one side of the material feeding plate 5 is connected to the material feeding conveyor belt 7, and the other side is rotated by the contraction or expansion of a cylinder of a pneumatic actuator; a horizontal material distribution mechanism 3 is arranged below the material feeding plate 5, and a material climbing mechanism 12 is arranged to the right of the horizontal material distribution mechanism 3. The left end of the material climbing mechanism 12 is located directly below the right end of the horizontal material distribution mechanism 3 to ensure continuous and stable material transportation; a material feeding roller 11 is arranged above the material climbing mechanism 12, and the right end of the material climbing mechanism 12 is connected to the upper end of the downcomer 10; the upper end of the downcomer 10 is also connected to the material cover 9; the lower... Below the downcomer 10 is a material drop hopper 18, which is connected to the gas-material separation mechanism 8. The gas-material separation mechanism 8 is positioned above the material drop conveyor belt 7 and above and in front of the material drop port 6 in the forward direction of the conveyor belt. A turbulence exciter 14 is provided on the side of the downcomer 10, and the turbulence exciter 14 is connected to the high-pressure gas cylinder 19 through a flow balance valve 17. A high-speed CCD camera 13 is located on one side of the downcomer 10. The high-speed CCD camera 13, the flow balance valve 17, the pneumatic actuator and the display unit 1 are connected to the data acquisition and processing integrated unit 2 through connecting lines. The calibration plate 15 and the image acquisition base plate 16 are within the field of view of the high-speed CCD camera 13 and are located on one side of the riser.

[0066] In practical applications, during production in the cigarette manufacturing workshop, the tobacco material (i.e., the accumulated tobacco material) is continuously conveyed forward on the feeding conveyor belt 7, allowing the tobacco material to move from the previous manufacturing process to the next. When the length structure of the tobacco is measured online, the data acquisition and processing unit 2 controls the pneumatic actuator 4 to retract, causing the cylinder of the pneumatic actuator to rotate, which in turn causes one side of the feeding plate 5 to rotate and the feeding port 6 on the feeding conveyor belt to open. The tobacco material being transported falls from the feeding port 6 and slides along the feeding plate 5 onto the horizontal feeding mechanism 3. The rotation of the rollers on the horizontal feeding mechanism 3 horizontally transports the fallen tobacco to the material climbing mechanism 12. The rotation of the rollers on the material climbing mechanism 12 lifts the material and allows it to enter the downcomer 10 through the material cover 9. During the material lifting process, the material-pulling roller 11 rotates to loosen and disperse the material.

[0067] Furthermore, the data acquisition and processing unit 2 controls the opening of the flow balance valve 17 to adjust the flow rate of compressed gas introduced into the turbulence exciter 14 from the high-pressure gas cylinder 19; the tobacco material falls from the downcomer 10, passing through the turbulence exciter 14, which injects high-pressure gas into the downcomer 10, causing a certain disturbance to the gas-solid two-phase flow of the tobacco. Under a suitable injection pressure, the tobacco material is further loosened; the data acquisition and processing unit 2 controls the high-speed CCD camera 13 to acquire images of the loosened tobacco; the data acquisition and processing unit 2 identifies and processes the acquired images, and the measurement results are output through the display unit 1; the tobacco flowing out of the downcomer 10 falls into the feed hopper 18 and is further conveyed to the gas-material separator by airflow. After gas-solid separation, the tobacco falls onto the feed conveyor belt and is transported to the next process.

[0068] Optionally, the discharge port 6 is a rectangular structure, and the width of the discharge port 6 is equal to the width of the discharge conveyor belt 7, so as to ensure that the tobacco material in the cross section in the vertical conveying direction is collected, and to achieve the integrity of random sampling of tobacco.

[0069] Optionally, the stroke of the cylinder piston in the pneumatic actuator allows the material discharge plate 5 to rotate by no less than 60°, effectively preventing material blockage.

[0070] Optionally, the discharge plate 5 has a rectangular structure with geometric dimensions slightly larger than those of the discharge port 6, enabling complete closure of the discharge port 6 and smooth material transport during offline measurement.

[0071] Optionally, the horizontal feeding mechanism 3 and the material climbing mechanism 12 can transport continuously, and the transport speed can be adjusted. The transport speed of the material climbing mechanism 12 is greater than that of the horizontal feeding mechanism 3, so that the tobacco shreds are loose to a certain extent during the climbing stage.

[0072] Optionally, the feeding roller 11 has a row of star-shaped wheels, with ≥1 star-shaped wheel and ≥1 tooth on each star-shaped wheel; by adjusting the displacement mechanism on the feeding roller 11, the feeding roller 11 can move up and down to adjust the distance between the feeding roller 11 and the material climbing mechanism 12.

[0073] Optionally, the material hood 9 has the function of filtering dust. In the tobacco production process, a small amount of tobacco dust is inevitable. The material hood 9 captures the dust falling from the downcomer 10 and prevents it from escaping from the top of the downcomer 10.

[0074] Optionally, the downcomer 10 has a cuboid structure; to ensure that the tobacco material is further loosened during the feeding process, the height of the downcomer 10 is greater than 2 meters; the side of the downcomer 10 facing the high-speed CCD camera 13 has a side length that is more than twice the side length of the other side of the horizontal cross-section, so that it is a quasi-two-dimensional downcomer, such as... Figure 2 As shown, a≥2b; the downcomer 10 is made of a highly transparent material to ensure that the high-speed CCD camera 13 can capture the shape of the tobacco inside the downcomer 10.

[0075] Optionally, the input end of the turbulence generator 14 is connected to a gas delivery pipe, the output end is high-pressure gas, the output end has ≥1 outlet channel, and the equivalent diameter of the output end outlet channel cross section is ≥8 mm to ensure that the turbulence scale meets the requirements of loose tobacco; the structural design of the turbulence generator 14 fully considers local throttling losses to reduce airflow entropy increase; the turbulence generator 14 sprays airflow into the downcomer 10 in a continuous or pulsed state.

[0076] Optionally, the turbulence exciter 14 is located above the field of view of the high-speed CCD camera 13, so that the tobacco is subjected to turbulent disturbance before the image is acquired by the high-speed CCD camera 13.

[0077] Optionally, the feeding bin 18 has a frustum structure; the upper and lower bottom surfaces are polygonal, and the inner side of the feeding bin 18 is equipped with a guide plate to prevent the tobacco material from clogging; the feeding bin 18 can be adjusted in height by a lifting adjustment structure to facilitate maintenance after occasional clogging, and the adjustment range of the lifting adjustment structure is greater than 15 cm.

[0078] Optionally, the inlet end of the gas-material separation mechanism 8 is a gas-material mixture. The gas-material mixture is separated by the cyclone or impact separation mechanism 8. The tobacco slows down and the airflow cannot provide sufficient lifting force, so the tobacco falls from the bottom and leaves the gas-material separation mechanism 8, while the airflow is discharged from the other side.

[0079] Optionally, the flow balancing valve 17 can achieve continuous control of the compressed gas flow rate; the flow balancing valve 17 adopts a pneumatic regulating valve to ensure the food safety requirements of tobacco used as a food product; the flow accuracy of the flow balancing valve 17 is within 5%.

[0080] Optionally, the high-pressure gas cylinder 19 can provide a pressure of not less than 1 MPa. The image acquisition base plate 16 is white with high contrast and has a detachable white LED fill light and a soft light cloth; when the ambient light is poor, the image acquisition base plate 16 can use a white LED plate for fill light and a soft light cloth for softening light. The data acquisition and processing integrated unit is connected to the high-speed CCD camera, the flow balance valve, the pneumatic actuator and the display unit respectively, and is used to (1) control the high-speed CCD camera to implement dynamic image acquisition, control the process of transmitting the acquired image to the data acquisition and processing integrated unit and image processing; (2) control the opening of the flow balance valve to adjust the high-pressure gas flow; (3) control the pneumatic actuator to make the cylinder of the pneumatic actuator contract or expand; (4) control the display unit to display the online measurement results of the high-speed CCD camera parameters, the opening of the flow balance valve, the opening and closing of the pneumatic actuator, the conveying speed of each conveying device and the length of the tobacco in real time.

[0081] As a preferred option, the data acquisition and processing unit is equipped with an emergency stop switch, which can close the material inlet and cut off the high-pressure gas at any time, enabling flexible control of various risks caused by unknown factors during measurement and ensuring measurement safety.

[0082] Based on the above-mentioned online tobacco length measurement device, the length of the tobacco shreds to be tested in the tobacco material can be measured online.

[0083] Before measurement, the relevant parameters of the online tobacco length measuring device are set. The specific process is as follows:

[0084] Step 1. Preparations before measurement:

[0085] During production, the tobacco shreds are continuously conveyed forward on the feed conveyor belt, and the tobacco shreds are stably transferred from the previous tobacco processing step to the next. Before online measurement of the length of the tobacco shreds to be tested in the tobacco shreds, preparatory work is carried out, including: (1) opening the high-pressure gas cylinder valve; (2) starting the horizontal feeding mechanism, material climbing mechanism and feeding roller; (3) determining whether to add a white LED board and a soft light cloth according to the actual situation, such as adding a white LED board and a soft light cloth when the ambient light intensity is less than 50 lx; ​​(4) turning on and debugging the display unit, data acquisition and processing integrated unit to ensure that all functions are stable and normal.

[0086] Step 2. Set various parameters: Set the sampling time, device geometric parameters, device operating parameters, and target number of measurements; set the sampling time interval for tobacco material based on the tobacco flow rate on the feed conveyor belt, and calculate the amount of tobacco sampled based on the sampling time interval; set the conveying speed of the horizontal feeding mechanism and the material climbing mechanism, and adjust the distance between the feeding roller and the material climbing mechanism; target number of measurements ≥ 1. For example, the sampling time interval is inversely proportional to the amount of tobacco on the feed conveyor belt, and the sampling time interval is less than 3 seconds.

[0087] Understandably, under the premise of ensuring continuous and stable transport of tobacco materials, the amount of tobacco measured should be less than 2kg; the transport speed of the horizontal feeding mechanism should be as small as possible, and the transport speed of the material climbing mechanism should be as large as possible. In the same amount of time, the same mass of tobacco materials will travel a longer distance, which is beneficial to the loosening of the materials.

[0088] Preferably, in Step 2, while ensuring continuous and stable transport of tobacco materials, the distance between the feeding roller and the material climbing mechanism should be minimized to improve the looseness of the material.

[0089] Step 3. Setting up the high-speed CCD camera and optical parameters: Set up the high-speed CCD camera, adjust its level, height, and orientation so that the lens is directly facing the downcomer and image acquisition plate; adjust the focal length and focus to center the field of view; select the depth of field and circle of confusion based on the geometric relationship between the lens, downcomer, and image acquisition plate, as well as the aperture value, to ensure sharp imaging, and set the shooting frame rate. Preferably, the exposure time of the high-speed CCD camera is less than 200 nanoseconds to ensure that moving tobacco filaments in the acquired image do not exhibit trailing; the shooting frame rate is ≥10 frames per second.

[0090] Step 4. Open the feeding port and close it immediately after the sampling interval. The data acquisition and processing unit controls the pneumatic actuator to retract the cylinder of the pneumatic actuator structure, rotate one side of the feeding plate, and open the feeding port on the feeding conveyor belt, allowing the transported tobacco material to fall from the feeding port. After the sampling interval, the data acquisition and processing unit controls the pneumatic actuator to expand the cylinder of the pneumatic actuator structure, rotate one side of the feeding plate in the opposite direction, and close the feeding port on the feeding conveyor belt. During this period, the tobacco falling from the feeding port will pass through each device mechanism in sequence.

[0091] Step 5. Determine if the flow balance valve opening is set. If not, set the flow balance valve opening: Adjust the flow balance valve opening sequentially from small to large using the data acquisition and processing unit to control the airflow into the turbulence exciter. Simultaneously, during the tobacco shreds' descent, a high-speed CCD camera captures real-time images, observing the loose state of the tobacco shreds in the captured images. When the loose state meets the measurement requirements, stop adjusting the flow balance valve opening. The flow balance valve opening setting only needs to be performed once under the same operating conditions. Preferably, image acquisition is performed simultaneously with adjusting the flow balance valve opening, and statistical analysis is conducted on the captured images. When the percentage of clumps is less than 8%, the loose state is considered to meet the requirements, and the flow balance valve opening at this point is the target value set for this online measurement of tobacco shred length structure.

[0092] It should be noted that the clumping of tobacco varies depending on the brand, moisture content, and tobacco flow rate. The opening of the flow balancing valve needs to be re-set for different conditions and operating circumstances.

[0093] Step 6. Image recognition and processing, measurement result output: The data acquisition and processing unit recognizes and processes the acquired images, and the measurement results are output through the display unit. Specifically, the process of determining the length of the tobacco shreds to be detected in the tobacco material based on the image to be detected is as follows:

[0094] When measuring the length of each tobacco shred in a tobacco processing material online, a high-speed camera installed in the tobacco processing equipment can capture real-time images of the material to be processed. It is understood that the tobacco processing material includes at least one tobacco shred to be detected; that is, the image to be processed includes at least one tobacco shred to be detected. Furthermore, to more accurately measure the length of the tobacco shred to be detected, the image to be processed needs to be binarized. Specifically, the grayscale value of each pixel corresponding to the tobacco shred to be detected in the image to be processed can be set to 255, and the pixels in other areas of the image besides the tobacco shred to be detected can be set to 0. The resulting binarized image is then used as the image to be detected.

[0095] The advantage of this setup is that when determining the length of the tobacco shreds to be detected based on the image to be detected, the amount of data that needs to be processed is smaller, and the length of each tobacco shred to be detected can be obtained more quickly.

[0096] Based on this, a scale (i.e., the scale to be used) is determined between the number of pixels in the image to be detected and its actual size. For example, a calibration plate is used to determine the scale between pixels and actual size. Specifically, by identifying the number of pixels representing a quantitative length of the tobacco shreds to be detected on the calibration plate, the ratio between the number of image pixels and the actual length is obtained. For instance, 1 mm in the actual size corresponds to 4.876 pixels in the image to be detected. Simultaneously, in the image to be detected, the tobacco shreds to be detected can be displayed as connected components. Taking one tobacco shred as an example, the area of ​​the tobacco shred to be detected corresponding to it can be determined by the number of pixels it occupies in the connected components of the image to be detected. Further, based on the area of ​​each tobacco shred to be detected in the image to be detected and the scale to be used in the image to be detected, the actual area of ​​the corresponding tobacco shred can be determined.

[0097] Furthermore, in practical applications, the cutting width of the tobacco shreds to be tested is preset, for example, it can be preset to 1.0 mm. That is to say, the preset tobacco shred width is the actual width of the tobacco shreds to be tested. After knowing the actual tobacco shred area and actual tobacco shred width, the corrected tobacco shred length corresponding to the tobacco shreds to be tested can be obtained based on the actual tobacco shred area and actual tobacco shred width.

[0098] Therefore, in order to obtain a more accurate actual tobacco length, after obtaining the corrected tobacco length, it is necessary to adjust the corrected tobacco length based on the correction coefficient to be used in order to obtain the actual tobacco length.

[0099] For example, in this technical solution, a tobacco length correction formula can be pre-set, which includes correction coefficients corresponding to different tobacco length ranges to be corrected. For instance, the tobacco length correction formula can be a piecewise function, as shown below:

[0100]

[0101] Where α is 1.32, β is 1.21, and γ is 1.05.

[0102] It should be noted that the above formula for correcting tobacco length is only an example and does not represent the correction coefficient to be used in actual applications. In actual use, the correction coefficient to be used needs to be set according to the specific circumstances.

[0103] In other words, after obtaining the length of the tobacco shreds to be corrected corresponding to each tobacco shred to be detected based on the image to be detected, the correction coefficient to be used corresponding to each length of the tobacco shreds to be corrected is determined, and the actual length of the tobacco shreds is obtained based on the length of the tobacco shreds to be corrected corresponding to each tobacco shred to be detected and the corresponding correction coefficient to be used.

[0104] The technical solution of this embodiment includes a tobacco shred measurement control module, a tobacco shred release module, a tobacco shred dispersing module, and a tobacco shred length measurement module. The tobacco shred measurement control module controls the tobacco shred release module to release the accumulated tobacco material upon receiving a tobacco shred length measurement command. The tobacco shred dispersing module disperses the accumulated tobacco material to obtain tobacco shred material to be tested. This tobacco shred material includes at least one tobacco shred to be tested, and all tobacco shreds are in a dispersed state. The tobacco shred length measurement module determines the image to be tested corresponding to the tobacco shred material and measures the length of at least one tobacco shred in the image to obtain the corresponding actual tobacco shred length. This solves the problems of time-consuming, labor-intensive, and inaccurate manual measurement of tobacco shred length, and the inability to measure tobacco shred length online. By measuring the length of tobacco shreds in the image online, the corrected tobacco shred length is obtained, and error correction is performed on the corrected length, achieving a more accurate tobacco shred length through online measurement during the tobacco processing.

[0105] It should be understood that the various forms of processes shown above can be used, with steps reordered, added, or deleted. For example, the steps described in this invention can be executed in parallel, sequentially, or in different orders, as long as the desired result of the technical solution of this invention can be achieved, and this is not limited herein.

[0106] The specific embodiments described above do not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of this invention. Those skilled in the art should understand that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations, and substitutions can be made according to design requirements and other factors. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, and improvements made within the spirit and principles of this invention should be included within the scope of protection of this invention.

Claims

1. An online tobacco shred length measuring device, characterized in that, include: The module includes a tobacco shred measurement and control module, a tobacco shred release module, a tobacco shred dispersion module, and a tobacco shred length measurement module; among which, The tobacco shred measurement and control module is used to control the tobacco shred release module to release the accumulated tobacco shred material when it receives a tobacco shred length measurement command; The tobacco shred dispersing module is used to disperse the accumulated tobacco shreds to obtain tobacco shreds material to be tested; wherein, the tobacco shreds material to be tested includes at least one tobacco shred to be tested, and each tobacco shred to be tested is in a dispersed state; The tobacco shred length measurement module is used to determine the image to be detected corresponding to the tobacco shred material to be detected, and to measure the length of at least one tobacco shred in the image to be detected, so as to obtain the corresponding actual tobacco shred length. The tobacco measurement and control module includes: a command receiving unit and a cylinder contraction control unit; wherein, The instruction receiving unit is used to receive tobacco length measurement instructions; The cylinder retraction control unit is used to send a cylinder retraction signal to the tobacco release module when it receives the tobacco length measurement command, so that the tobacco release module controls the retraction cylinder to retract according to the cylinder retraction signal; The tobacco release module includes: a shrink cylinder, a discharge plate, and a discharge port; wherein, The retraction cylinder is connected to the material dropping plate and is used to trigger the material dropping plate to tilt based on a preset tilt angle after the retraction cylinder retracts. The material discharge plate is connected to the trigger switch of the material discharge port, and is used to open the material discharge port based on the trigger switch after tilting based on the preset tilt angle, so as to release the tobacco shreds accumulated material from the material discharge port.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, The tobacco shred dispersing module includes: a tobacco shred conveyor belt, a tobacco shred dispersing submodule, and a tobacco shred discharge bin; wherein, The tobacco conveyor belt is used to transport the accumulated tobacco material to the feed inlet of the tobacco dispersing submodule when the accumulated tobacco material is received; wherein, the tobacco conveyor belt includes a horizontal tobacco conveyor belt and a vertical tobacco conveyor belt; The tobacco shred dispersing submodule is used to disperse the accumulated tobacco shreds input from the feed inlet. The tobacco shreds feeding bin is connected to the discharge port of the tobacco shreds dispersing submodule and is used to receive the dispersed tobacco shreds.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that, The tobacco shred climbing conveyor belt is equipped with a material-dispersing hub, which is used to initially break up the accumulated tobacco shreds being conveyed on the tobacco shred climbing conveyor belt.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that, The tobacco shred dispersing submodule includes: a tobacco shred falling pipe and a tobacco shred dispersing unit; wherein, The tobacco shreds falling pipe is used to drop the tobacco shreds piled up at the inlet from the target dropping height to the outlet. The tobacco shred dispersing unit is used to perform secondary dispersing of the tobacco shreds during the falling process.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that, The tobacco shred dispersing unit includes a gas flow controller and a gas flow valve; wherein, The gas flow controller is connected to the tobacco measurement and control module and is used to receive valve opening and closing instructions sent by the tobacco measurement and control module, and control the valve opening and closing degree of the gas flow valve based on the valve opening and closing degree instructions.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that, The tobacco shredding unit includes a gas release device, which is used to release the gas to be compressed according to the opening degree of the valve.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that, The tobacco shred dispersing unit includes a gas compressor, which is used to compress the gas to be compressed to obtain high-pressure gas to be used, so as to perform secondary dispersing of tobacco material falling in the tobacco shred falling pipe based on the high-pressure gas to be used.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, The tobacco length measurement module includes an image determination unit, a tobacco length determination unit to be corrected unit, a correction coefficient determination unit, an actual tobacco length determination unit, and a tobacco length display unit; wherein... The image determination unit is used to acquire an image to be detected corresponding to the tobacco material to be detected; The unit for determining the length of tobacco strand to be corrected is used to determine the length of tobacco strand to be corrected corresponding to at least one tobacco strand to be detected in the image to be detected. The correction coefficient determination unit is used to determine the corresponding correction coefficient to be used for the length of the tobacco to be corrected based on the tobacco length range corresponding to each length of tobacco to be corrected. The actual tobacco length determination unit is used to obtain the corresponding actual tobacco length based on the product of the length of the tobacco to be corrected and the correction coefficient to be used for each tobacco to be detected. The tobacco length display unit is used to display the actual tobacco length corresponding to each of the tobacco strands to be detected.

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