Pepper uncapping device based on machine vision identification and laser cutting

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a hot pepper uncapping device based on machine vision recognition and laser cutting. The hot pepper uncapping device comprises a hot pepper sorting procedure, a hot pepper separating procedure, a machine vision recognition procedure, a laser cutting procedure and a filtering procedure. Pepper is poured into the hopper, and the pepper is moved and sequenced in the hopper through vibration and gravity. The sorted hot peppers are output from the discharging port and fall onto the roller, and the head and the tail of the hot peppers are separated by utilizing different rotating speeds of the roller. A cutting process is carried out through transportation and movement of the conveying belt, green pepper caps are recognized through machine vision, the main controller controls the cutting device to cut, then the pepper caps are filtered out through the filtering device, and finished peppers without the pepper caps are obtained. By means of the method, the chili caps in various shapes can be accurately removed, and the removal rate of the chili caps is increased.

Description

Technical Field

[0003] The invention belongs to the technical field of pepper processing, and in particular relates to a method for removing the caps of long strip peppers. Background Art

[0005] The cap of a pepper is a green or yellow cap that develops from the calyx when the plant is ripe and is attached to one end of the pepper body. It has a bad taste and usually needs to be removed when the pepper is processed and eaten. The traditional manual removal method requires the workers to pull out the caps one by one with their fingernails, which causes great damage to the workers' hands, and the work efficiency is low for a large number of peppers. Existing machine removal methods, such as rotating the drum mesh to allow the internal pepper pedicels to extend out of the mesh for cutting, have a good effect on partial removal of the pedicels, but are relatively poor at removing the calyx, and the curved pedicels are difficult to extend out of the mesh for removal. Therefore, a more efficient and accurate method for removing pepper caps is needed.

[0006] Machine vision applied to laser cutting can guide the laser to perform precise cutting, making the product cutting line precise, the edge smooth, and easily cutting out any desired shape and size. Through the application of machine vision technology, using its automation, objectivity, high precision and super high perception ability, a more efficient technical method can be provided for pepper cap removal. Summary of the invention

[0008] Aiming at the shortcomings of the existing pepper cap removal method, the present invention provides a novel pepper cap removal method, which can efficiently and accurately remove various irregular pepper caps.

[0009] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present invention provides the following technical solutions: a pepper decapping device based on machine vision recognition and laser cutting, characterized in that: the device includes a pepper sorting device, a pepper separation device, a conveyor belt, a machine vision recognition device, a main controller, a laser cutting device, a collecting hopper, and a pepper filtering device; the pepper sorting device is composed of a material hopper, a sorting plate, a vibration motor, a spring and a sorting device base; the pepper separation device is composed of a roller, a roller bracket, a belt and a first reduction motor; the conveyor belt is composed of a conveyor belt, a roller, and a second reduction motor; the conveyor belt is composed of a roller and a crawler; the machine vision recognition device is composed of an industrial camera, an LED lamp, a glass cover, a shading baffle, and a machine vision processor; the laser cutting device is composed of a laser, a laser cutting head and a laser guide rail; the pepper filtering device is composed of a filter cartridge, a support wheel, a driving gear, a third reduction motor and a filtering device base; the machine vision recognition device and the laser cutting device are installed above the conveyor belt, the main controller is connected to the machine vision recognition device and the laser cutting device, and the collecting hopper is installed between the conveyor belt and the pepper filtering device.

[0010] Furthermore, the upper end of the pepper sorting device is a material hopper, a sorting plate is installed inside it, a vibration motor is installed below it, and its legs are connected to the base of the pepper sorting device through springs; the sorting plate is characterized in that the sorting plate is tilted and staggered inside the pepper sorting device to form a circuitous passage, and its cross-section is a toothed wave structure, and the tooth size is equivalent to the diameter of the pepper, and the sorting plate is designed as a detachable structure, which can be replaced according to the size of the pepper to be screened. The spring is characterized in that it connects the legs of the pepper sorting device and the base of the pepper sorting device to avoid direct contact between the legs of the pepper sorting device and the base of the pepper sorting device; the vibration motor is characterized in that the vibration motor is fixed below the pepper sorting device to drive the pepper sorting device to vibrate, and its vibration frequency is adjustable;

[0011] The pepper separation device is characterized in that the rollers are installed side by side on the roller bracket, one end of the roller shaft extends out of the roller bracket, and all the rollers are driven to rotate through the belt transmission device, and the output shaft of the first reduction motor is connected to the rightmost roller shaft to drive the roller shaft to rotate;

[0012] The right end roller shaft of the conveyor belt is connected to the output shaft of the second reduction motor;

[0013] The machine vision recognition device is characterized in that the industrial camera is arranged below the shading baffle to obtain a shooting picture across the entire conveyor belt; the LED lamp is installed on both sides of the industrial camera; the glass cover is located below the shading baffle and covers the industrial camera and the LED lamp;

[0014] The laser cutting device is characterized in that the laser reciprocates on the laser guide rail, and the laser cutting head emits laser to cut the pepper caps, thereby avoiding the problem that the pepper caps cannot be removed due to inconsistent orientation after the peppers are sorted; the cutting power of the laser is adjustable, and the appropriate cutting power can be used for cutting according to the type of peppers, such as dry peppers or wet peppers;

[0015] The collecting hopper is installed at the output end of the conveyor belt and the upper end of the filter cylinder inlet, and the peppers are collected through the collecting hopper and input into the filter cylinder;

[0016] The chili filtering device is characterized in that the axis of the filter cylinder is inclined to the horizontal plane, and its side walls are surrounded by filter rods, with gaps left between the filter rods; the filter cylinder is supported by four supporting wheels at the bottom, and an external gear is provided on the outer wall; the third reduction motor is installed on the base of the chili filtering device; the driving gear is installed on the output shaft of the third reduction motor, and is meshed with the external gear on the side wall of the filter cylinder, driving the filter cylinder to rotate.

[0017] The method for using the pepper capping device based on machine vision recognition and laser cutting comprises the following steps:

[0018] (1) The pepper sorting device vibrates to make the peppers fall vertically and side by side onto the pepper separation device;

[0019] (2) The pepper separation device is used to separate the front and back of the peppers by a certain distance to reduce the overlap of the head and tail of the peppers;

[0020] (3) Use an industrial camera to shoot peppers on the conveyor belt and transmit the captured image information to the machine vision processor in real time;

[0021] (4) The machine vision processor processes and recognizes the image information through machine vision algorithms, including image preprocessing, feature extraction, and target recognition, captures the orientation and position of the pepper cap, and transmits the recognition information to the main controller;

[0022] (5) The main controller calibrates the coordinate axes of the position information of the pepper cap and the position information of the laser in the identification information, and calculates the time and position of the pepper cap arriving at the laser cutting line according to the conveyor belt transportation speed and the position of the pepper. Then, according to the time and position of the pepper cap arriving at the laser cutting line, the motion trajectory of the laser on the laser guide rail is planned through the motion control algorithm;

[0023] (6) When the pepper cap reaches the laser cutting line, the main controller controls the laser to move to the predetermined position, and the laser cutting head emits laser to accurately cut the pepper cap;

[0024] (7) The conveyor belt transports the cut peppers to the pepper filtering device, and the pepper caps are filtered out by the rotation of the filter cylinder.

[0025] Compared with the prior art, the pepper decapping method provided by the present invention has the following advantages:

[0026] Through machine vision and laser cutting, the pepper caps can be accurately removed, avoiding the omission of bent pedicels and various irregular pepper caps.

[0027] Laser cutting can achieve rapid cutting of peppers, and different laser powers are used for different types of peppers, thereby improving work efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] In order to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art, the present invention is further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0030] Figure 1 This is a working diagram of a pepper cap removal device based on machine vision recognition and laser cutting.

[0031] FIG2 is a schematic structural diagram of a pepper capping device based on machine vision recognition and laser cutting;

[0032] Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a pepper sorting device;

[0033] Figure 4 It is a structural schematic diagram of a pepper separation device;

[0034] Figure 5 It is a cross-sectional view of a conveyor belt, a machine vision recognition device, and a laser cutting device;

[0035] Figure 6 It is a structural schematic diagram of a pepper filtering device.

[0036] In the figure: pepper sorting device 1, material bucket 101, sorting plate 102, vibration motor 103, material bucket support foot 104, spring 105, base support rod 106, sorting device base 107, support foot 108, pepper separation device 2, roller 201, roller bracket 202, belt 203, first reduction motor 204, machine vision recognition device and laser cutting device 3, conveyor belt 3, shading baffle 301, industrial camera 302, LED light 303, glass cover 304, crawler 305, roller 306, laser cutting head 307, laser 308, laser guide rail 309, second reduction motor 4, collecting hopper 5, pepper filtering device 6, filter cylinder 601, filter rod 602, external gear 603, feed inlet 604, drive gear 605, third reduction motor 606, support wheel 607, main controller and machine vision processor 7, DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0038] In the detailed description of the present invention, we will illustrate the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention through drawings and embodiments. It should be noted that the embodiments described here are only used to explain the present invention and do not constitute a limitation of the present invention.

[0039] The present invention relates to directional descriptions, such as up, down, front, back, left, right, etc., and these directional or positional relationships are based on the directional or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings. These descriptions are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not mean that the devices or elements referred to must have a specific orientation or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, these descriptions should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

[0040] Unless otherwise clearly defined, the terms such as setting, installing, connecting, etc. in the description of the present invention should be understood in a broad sense, and technicians in the technical field can reasonably determine the specific meanings of these terms in the present invention based on the specific content of the technical solution.

[0041] In order to make the purpose, technical scheme and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not used to limit the present invention, that is, the embodiments described are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all of the embodiments.

[0042] Therefore, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention provided in the accompanying drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the invention claimed for protection, but only represents selected embodiments of the present invention. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without making creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0043] See also Figure 1 -2, in the embodiment of the present invention, a pepper decapping device based on machine vision recognition and laser cutting, a pepper sorting device 1, includes a sorting device base 107, the bottom of the sorting device base 107 is in contact with and supported by four supporting feet 108, and there is a cylindrical base support rod above the supporting foot 108, and the lower end of the spring 105 passes through the base support rod 106, and is in contact with and fixed to the cross bar above the base. A vibration motor 103 is installed below the material hopper 101 to drive the material hopper 101 to vibrate. There are four material hopper support feet 104 below the material hopper 101, which are respectively inserted into the top of the four springs 105. The material hopper 101 and the sorting plate base 11 are connected by springs 105 to avoid direct contact to improve the vibration effect of the material hopper 101 and reduce the vibration of the sorting device base 107. The sorting plate 102 is staggered and tilted inside the material hopper 101 to form a reciprocating channel. The sorting plate 102 is a toothed plate, and its tooth groove width is equivalent to the diameter of the pepper.

[0044] At the exit of the sorting plate, a pepper separation device 2 is installed, including a roller 201 and a roller bracket 202. 15 rollers 201 are installed side by side on the roller bracket 202, one end of the shaft extends out of the bracket and is connected to two pulleys of different sizes, and 14 belts 203 are used to connect the large and small pulleys and drive them to rotate. The first reduction motor 204 is installed on one side of the roller bracket 202, and its output shaft is connected to the roller shaft at the far right end, driving the roller to rotate, and then driving the 15 rollers to rotate through 14 belts. Its multi-stage belt transmission is a reduction transmission, and the transmission ratio of each stage is 31:30. After 14 belt transmission reductions, the rotation speed of the leftmost roller is 0.63 times that of the rightmost roller.

[0045] The conveyor belt is composed of a crawler 305 and a roller 306. The shaft of the right end roller 306 is connected to the output shaft of the second reduction motor 4. The second reduction motor 4 drives the roller 306 to rotate, thereby driving the conveyor belt 3 to move. A light shielding baffle 301 is installed above the crawler 305. A glass cover 304 is installed between the light shielding baffle 301 and the crawler 305. An industrial camera 302 and an LED light 303 are installed side by side inside the glass cover 304 to prevent the pepper from touching the industrial camera 302 and the LED light 303. A laser guide 309 is installed on the right side above the crawler 305. The laser 308 is on the laser guide 309. The laser cutting head 307 is installed below the laser 308. The laser 308 drives the laser cutting head 307 to reciprocate along the laser guide 309 and emits laser for cutting. The laser 308 and the industrial camera 302 are respectively connected to the main controller 7 through data cables.

[0046] The end of the crawler 305 is connected to the collecting hopper 5, and the collecting hopper 5 transfers the material to the inlet 604 of the filter cartridge 601. The side wall of the filter cartridge 601 is surrounded by the filter rod 602. The bottom of the filter cartridge 601 is supported by four supporting wheels 607. The end of the filter cartridge 601 close to the material receiving port is provided with a circle of outer gear 603 meshing with the driving gear 605. The shaft of the driving gear 605 is connected to the output shaft of the third reduction motor 606, and the driving gear 605 is driven to rotate by the third reduction motor 606, thereby driving the filter cartridge 601 to rotate.

[0047] The following is an embodiment of using the above-mentioned pepper decapping device.

[0048] When the peppers are poured into the material hopper 101, the vibration motor 103 drives the material hopper 101 and the sorting plate 102 to vibrate through vibration. The peppers fall along the rectangular notch at the end of the sorting plate 102 under the vibration, and are sorted under the action of the toothed grooves, and finally output from the outlet of the sorting plate 102 parallel to the toothed grooves.

[0049] After being output from the sorting plate 102, the peppers fall onto the roller 201. Driven by the multi-stage reduction belt, the speed of the roller 201 increases from left to right. The adjacent peppers in front and behind gradually increase the distance at the gradually increasing speed of the roller 21, reducing the overlap between the tip of the pepper fruit and the pedicel, which is convenient for laser cutting.

[0050] The pepper is transported to the conveyor belt 3 by the roller 201, and its crawler 305 has the same rotational linear speed as the rightmost roller 201 to avoid a large sudden change in the movement speed of the pepper. The crawler 305 transports the pepper to the shade baffle 301, and the LED lights 303 arranged side by side on both sides are illuminated. The pepper on the crawler 305 is photographed by the industrial camera 302, and the photographed image information is transmitted to the machine vision processor 7 in real time. The machine vision processor 7 processes and recognizes the image information through the machine vision algorithm, including image preprocessing (such as denoising, enhancement), feature extraction and target recognition, captures the direction and position of the pepper cap of the pepper, and transmits the recognition information to the main controller 7. The main controller 7 performs coordinate axis calibration on the position information of the pepper cap in the recognition information and the position information of the laser 308, and calculates the time and position of the pepper cap arriving at the laser cutting line according to the conveyor belt transportation speed and the position of the pepper, and then plans the motion trajectory of the laser 308 on the laser guide rail according to the time and position of the pepper cap arriving at the laser cutting line through the motion control algorithm. When the pepper caps reach the laser cutting line, the main controller 7 controls the laser 308 to move to the predetermined position, and the laser cutting head 307 emits laser to accurately cut the pepper caps; the conveyor belt transports the cut peppers to the feed port 604 of the filter cylinder 601, and the rotation of the filter cylinder 601 drives the peppers to roll, and the pepper caps are filtered out in the gaps between the filter rods 602, and finally the finished decapped peppers are output at the right end of the filter cylinder 601.

[0051] Through the application of the above-mentioned scheme, compared with the existing technology, the removal rate and removal accuracy of pepper caps are greatly improved, the omission of various irregular pepper caps is reduced, and the labor intensity of workers is reduced.

[0052] The above content is only an exemplary and illustrative description of the present invention, which is intended to explain the concepts and principles of the invention. In the technical field, professionals may make various modifications, supplements or replace the described embodiments with equivalent methods. As long as these changes do not deviate from the core structure of the invention and do not exceed the scope defined by the claims of this patent, they should all fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A pepper capping device based on machine vision recognition and laser cutting, characterized in that: The device includes a pepper sorting device, a pepper separation device, a conveyor belt, a machine vision recognition device, a main controller, a laser cutting device, a collection hopper, and a pepper filtering device; The pepper sorting device is composed of a material hopper, a sorting plate, a vibration motor, a spring and a sorting device base; The pepper separation device is composed of a roller, a roller support, a belt and a first reduction motor; the conveyor belt is composed of a conveyor belt, a roller and a second reduction motor; The conveyor belt is composed of a roller and a crawler belt; The machine vision recognition device is composed of an industrial camera, an LED light, a glass cover, a light shielding plate, and a machine vision processor; The laser cutting device is composed of a laser, a laser cutting head and a laser guide rail; The chili filtering device is composed of a filtering cylinder, a supporting wheel, a driving gear, a third reduction motor and a filtering device base; The machine vision recognition device and the laser cutting device are installed above the conveyor belt, the main controller is connected to the machine vision recognition device and the laser cutting device, and the collecting hopper is installed between the conveyor belt and the pepper filtering device.

2. The pepper capping device based on machine vision recognition and laser cutting according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The upper end of the pepper sorting device is a material hopper, a sorting plate is installed inside it, a vibration motor is installed below it, and its support feet are connected to the base of the pepper sorting device through springs; the sorting plate is characterized in that the sorting plate is tilted and staggeredly installed inside the pepper sorting device to form a circuitous passage, and its cross-section is a toothed wave structure, and the tooth size is equivalent to the diameter of the pepper, and the sorting plate is designed as a detachable structure, which can be replaced according to the size of the pepper to be screened; the spring is characterized in that it connects the support feet of the pepper sorting device and the base of the pepper sorting device to avoid direct contact between the support feet of the pepper sorting device and the base of the pepper sorting device; the vibration motor is characterized in that the vibration motor is fixed below the pepper sorting device to drive the pepper sorting device to vibrate, and its vibration frequency is adjustable.

3. The pepper capping device based on machine vision recognition and laser cutting according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The pepper separation device is characterized in that the rollers are installed side by side on the roller bracket, one end of the roller shaft extends out of the roller bracket, and all the rollers are driven to rotate through a belt transmission device. The output shaft of the first reduction motor is connected to the rightmost roller shaft to drive the roller shaft to rotate.

4. The pepper capping device based on machine vision recognition and laser cutting according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The right end roller shaft of the conveyor belt is connected to the output shaft of the second reduction motor.

5. The pepper capping device based on machine vision recognition and laser cutting according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The machine vision recognition device is characterized in that the industrial camera is arranged below the shading baffle to obtain a shooting picture across the entire conveyor belt; the LED lights are installed on both sides of the industrial camera; and the glass cover is located below the shading baffle and covers the industrial camera and the LED lights.

6. The pepper capping device based on machine vision recognition and laser cutting according to claim 1, characterized in that: The laser cutting device is characterized in that the laser reciprocates on the laser guide rail, and the laser cutting head emits laser to cut the pepper caps, thereby avoiding the problem that the pepper caps cannot be removed due to inconsistent orientations after the peppers are sorted; the cutting power of the laser is adjustable, and suitable cutting power can be used for cutting according to the type of peppers, such as dry peppers or wet peppers.

7. The pepper capping device based on machine vision recognition and laser cutting according to claim 1 is characterized by: The collecting hopper is installed at the output end of the conveyor belt and the upper end of the filter cylinder inlet, and the peppers are collected and input into the filter cylinder through the collecting hopper.

8. The pepper capping device based on machine vision recognition and laser cutting according to claim 1 is characterized by: The chili filtering device is characterized in that the axis of the filter cylinder is inclined to the horizontal plane, and its side walls are surrounded by filter rods, with gaps left between the filter rods; the filter cylinder is supported by four supporting wheels at the bottom, and an external gear is provided on the outer wall; the third reduction motor is installed on the base of the chili filtering device; the driving gear is installed on the output shaft of the third reduction motor, and is meshed with the external gear on the side wall of the filter cylinder, driving the filter cylinder to rotate.

9. A method for using a pepper capping device based on machine vision recognition and laser cutting as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: (1) The pepper sorting device vibrates to make the peppers fall vertically and side by side onto the pepper separation device; (2) The pepper separation device is used to separate the front and back of the peppers by a certain distance to reduce the overlap of the head and tail of the peppers; (3) Use an industrial camera to shoot peppers on the conveyor belt and transmit the captured image information to the machine vision processor in real time; (4) The machine vision processor processes and recognizes the image information through machine vision algorithms, including image preprocessing, feature extraction, and target recognition, captures the orientation and position of the pepper cap, and transmits the recognition information to the main controller; (5) The main controller calibrates the coordinate axes of the position information of the pepper cap and the position information of the laser in the identification information, and calculates the time and position of the pepper cap arriving at the laser cutting line according to the conveyor belt transportation speed and the position of the pepper. Then, according to the time and position of the pepper cap arriving at the laser cutting line, the motion trajectory of the laser on the laser guide rail is planned through the motion control algorithm; (6) When the pepper cap reaches the laser cutting line, the main controller controls the laser to move to the predetermined position, and the laser cutting head emits laser to accurately cut the pepper cap; (7) The conveyor belt transports the cut peppers to the pepper filtering device, and the pepper caps are filtered out by the rotation of the filter cylinder.

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