Vegetable dehydrating equipment with infrared light and vision fused and foreign matter removing method

Abstract

The invention discloses infrared light and vision fused vegetable dehydrating equipment and a foreign matter removing method, and relates to the technical field of food processing, sorting and detection. The device is composed of a feeding and conveying assembly, a vertical plate arranged on the side of a transmission belt, an electric control box arranged on the vertical plate, an infrared light source assembly, a visible light source assembly, corresponding lenses, a limiting baffle, a slidable nozzle assembly, a waste tank and the like. An image processing unit in the electric control box is used for registering and fusing to identify the foreign matters, the time and the transverse position of the foreign matters reaching the nozzle position are calculated by combining the running speed of the transmission belt, and the nozzle assembly is driven to transversely align along the limiting baffle and spray at a fixed point to blow the foreign matters into the waste tank, so that the foreign matters in the dehydrated vegetables are efficiently, accurately and automatically removed; missing detection and mistaken elimination are reduced, and the product quality and the production automation level are improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of food processing, sorting and testing technology, specifically to an infrared vision fusion dehydrated vegetable equipment and a method for removing foreign objects. Background Technology

[0002] With the development of the convenience food, condiment, and frozen food industries, dehydrated vegetables are widely used as an important raw material in various compound seasonings, instant noodle side dish packets, and frozen pre-prepared dishes. Even after processes such as washing, cutting, drying, and sieving, dehydrated vegetables may still contain foreign matter such as small stones, plastic fragments, metal shavings, and insect remains. If these cannot be effectively removed before leaving the factory, it will not only affect the sensory quality and market reputation of the product but may also pose a potential safety hazard to end consumers. Therefore, efficient and reliable online detection and removal of foreign matter on dehydrated vegetable production lines has become a crucial aspect of enterprise quality control.

[0003] Dehydrated vegetable production lines mostly rely on manual visual sorting or traditional color sorters for sorting. Manual sorting depends on operators visually inspecting the dehydrated vegetables on both sides of the conveyor belt and removing foreign objects manually or with tools. This method is labor-intensive, prone to fatigue from long-term operation, and easily affected by subjective judgment, ambient light, and operator skill level, resulting in low detection efficiency, high false negative rate, and poor stability. Traditional color sorters use a single visible light camera in conjunction with white or colored light sources to distinguish materials based on color differences. When the difference between foreign objects and dehydrated vegetables is small in color or brightness, or when the dehydrated vegetables themselves have color differences, uneven drying, or surface stains, misjudgment or failure to identify them is likely to occur. Furthermore, the ability to identify foreign objects such as transparent plastics and light-colored stones is limited.

[0004] Some equipment has attempted to incorporate infrared imaging or simple multispectral detection, but most of these rely solely on infrared signals for threshold judgment, failing to effectively integrate with visible light images. This results in the fragmented use of visible light detail information and infrared material information, failing to fully leverage the advantages of multispectral joint recognition. Furthermore, existing equipment often employs fixed nozzle arrays for its blowing mechanisms, blowing only within preset areas. This makes it difficult to accurately align foreign objects based on their specific positions along the conveyor belt width. The lack of precise temporal and spatial correspondence between the detection and rejection processes leads to inaccurate blowing, mis-blowing of good products, or missed spraying of foreign objects when conveyor speed changes, material stacking occurs, or product specifications are adjusted. This makes it difficult to simultaneously meet the requirements of high detection accuracy and high rejection efficiency. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides a technical solution as follows: an infrared light vision fusion dehydrated vegetable device, wherein the feeding hopper is disposed above the device, one end of the guide trough is connected to the discharge port of the feeding hopper, and the other end is located above the feeding end of the transmission belt, for guiding the dehydrated vegetables onto the transmission belt; The transmission belt is wound around several rollers mounted on the frame, and the motor is connected to the shaft of one of the rollers through the transmission belt to drive the transmission belt to run in a cycle, so that the dehydrated vegetables move along the conveying direction. The upright plate is fixed to the side of the transmission belt, the electrical control box is installed on the upper part of the upright plate, and the infrared light source assembly and the visible light source assembly are respectively fixed on the upright plate and electrically connected to the electrical control box, for providing infrared illumination and visible light illumination to the detection area located on the transmission belt; The infrared light source lens is positioned below the infrared light source assembly and facing the detection area, and is used to acquire infrared images of dehydrated vegetables after infrared illumination. The visible light source lens is positioned below the visible light source assembly and facing the detection area, and is used to acquire visible light images of dehydrated vegetables after visible light illumination. Both the infrared light source lens and the visible light source lens are electrically connected to the electrical control box. The electrical control box is configured to perform fusion processing on images from the infrared light source lens and the visible light source lens, identify foreign objects in the fused image and determine the position of the foreign objects on the transmission belt, and generate a jet control signal based on the position. The limiting baffle is disposed on the side of the transmission belt and extends along the width direction of the transmission belt. The nozzle assembly is slidably mounted on the limiting baffle and electrically connected to the electrical control box. Under the control of the electrical control box, the nozzle assembly moves along the length direction of the limiting baffle to align with the target foreign object position. When the spray control signal is received, the spray airflow blows the foreign object away from the transmission belt. The waste trough is arranged below the limiting baffle and the transmission belt to collect the blown-away foreign object and waste.

[0006] Furthermore, the limiting baffle is configured as a strip structure along the width direction of the transmission belt, and the nozzle assembly slides with the limiting baffle through a slider or guide rail mechanism. The nozzle assembly can reciprocate on the limiting baffle and stop at any lateral position so that the spray direction corresponds to any lateral area on the transmission belt. The lower part of the limiting baffle extends downward to cover the side of the transmission belt, guiding the foreign objects blown out by the jet airflow into the waste trough.

[0007] Furthermore, the electrical control box is equipped with an image processing unit and a control unit. The image processing unit is electrically connected to the infrared light source lens and the visible light source lens. It is used to preprocess the infrared image and the visible light image respectively, and perform registration and feature fusion to obtain a fused image. The control unit identifies foreign objects based on the fused image and determines the lateral position of the foreign object on the conveyor belt and the passage time parameters along the conveying direction. Based on this, it generates control signals for the nozzle target position and injection time, and controls the nozzle assembly to move along the limiting baffle and inject airflow at a predetermined time.

[0008] Furthermore, the infrared light source assembly and its lower infrared light source lens, as well as the visible light source assembly and its lower visible light source lens, are all mounted on the upright plate or a support beam fixedly connected to the upright plate. The field of view of the infrared light source lens and the field of view of the visible light source lens overlap on the transmission belt to form a common detection area. The illumination range of the infrared light source assembly and the visible light source assembly covers the common detection area, thereby ensuring that the same batch of dehydrated vegetables simultaneously obtains infrared and visible light images within the same detection area for fusion identification.

[0009] The present invention also provides a technical solution: A method for removing foreign objects from dehydrated vegetables using infrared light and visual fusion; S1: Feeding and conveying: The dehydrated vegetables to be tested are fed into the feed hopper and guided onto the transmission belt through the guide chute. The motor is started to drive the transmission belt to run in a cycle, so that the dehydrated vegetables are conveyed forward with the transmission belt. S2: Multi-source illumination and image acquisition. When the dehydrated vegetables enter the detection area corresponding to the field of view of the infrared light source lens and the visible light source lens, the control box controls the infrared light source component and the visible light source component to light up, providing infrared and visible light illumination to the detection area. The infrared light source lens acquires the infrared image of the dehydrated vegetables, and the visible light source lens acquires the visible light image of the dehydrated vegetables. S3: Image preprocessing and fusion recognition. The control box preprocesses and registers the acquired infrared and visible light images, and performs feature fusion of infrared and visible light to obtain a fused image containing foreign object features. S4: Foreign object positioning and nozzle target determination. The control box identifies foreign objects in the fused image, determines the position of the foreign object in the width direction and conveying direction of the transmission belt, and calculates the spraying time when the foreign object reaches the nozzle assembly directly below it in combination with the running speed of the transmission belt. S5: Lateral positioning of the nozzle assembly. Before the foreign object approaches the nozzle assembly with the conveyor belt, the electrical control box controls the nozzle assembly to move along the length of the limit baffle to a position corresponding to the width of the foreign object and maintain the state of ready to spray. S6: Foreign object ejection and waste collection. When the calculated ejection time is reached, the electrical control box controls the nozzle assembly to eject compressed air to blow the foreign object away from the conveyor belt. The foreign object is blocked by the limit baffle and falls into the waste trough. The dehydrated vegetables that are not ejected continue to be conveyed and output with the conveyor belt.

[0010] Furthermore, when the nozzle assembly sprays compressed air, the electrical control box adjusts the spray pressure and spray duration according to the size of the foreign object and the running speed of the transmission belt. High-pressure short pulse or multi-pulse spray is used to purge the target location at a fixed point, so as to ensure that the foreign object is reliably blown away from the transmission belt while minimizing the impact on the surrounding normally dehydrated vegetables.

[0011] Furthermore, when the control box performs feature fusion on infrared and visible light images, it first registers the infrared and visible light images through feature point detection and matching or geometric calibration to align them to a unified coordinate system. Then, it uses weighted fusion, multi-scale fusion, or deep learning-based multimodal feature fusion algorithms to generate a fused image, so as to simultaneously retain the features reflecting material differences in the infrared image and the features reflecting shape and texture in the visible light image, thereby improving the accuracy of foreign object identification in dehydrated vegetables.

[0012] Furthermore, when calculating the spraying time when the foreign object reaches the nozzle assembly directly below, the control box establishes a time mapping relationship between the detection area and the nozzle assembly based on the rotational speed parameter of the motor-driven transmission belt or the displacement detection signal linked to the transmission belt. It then triggers the nozzle assembly to spray with a predetermined time accuracy through an internal timer or synchronous trigger module, so that the spraying action is synchronized with the time when the foreign object passes through the spraying position.

[0013] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: By installing an infrared light source assembly, a visible light source assembly, an infrared light source lens, and a visible light source lens above the conveyor belt, and sending both images to the image processing unit in the control box for registration and feature fusion, the synchronous acquisition and fusion recognition of infrared and visible light images of dehydrated vegetables is achieved. Compared with traditional color sorters that rely on manual visual inspection and are based solely on visible light color differences, this invention can simultaneously use material differences and texture color information to identify foreign objects. It has a higher recognition rate for foreign objects such as small stones, plastic fragments, and insect remains that are similar in color to dehydrated vegetables. It has significant advantages in reducing labor intensity, lowering the rate of missed detection and false judgment, improving detection stability and continuous working capability, thereby significantly improving the quality and safety of dehydrated vegetable products and the automation level of the production line.

[0014] This invention achieves precise alignment and timely ejection of the nozzle assembly along the width of the conveyor belt by slidably mounting the nozzle assembly on a limiting baffle and calculating the ejection time and position based on the lateral position of the foreign object in the fused image and the speed of the conveyor belt using an electrical control box. Compared to existing equipment that simply uses infrared signal thresholds for judgment and keeps the nozzle stationary, this invention can effectively fuse infrared and visible light within the same detection area, fully leveraging the advantages of multispectral joint recognition. By accurately mapping the temporal and spatial relationship between the detection area and the ejection area, the ejection action is highly synchronized with the position of the foreign object. Even under conditions of varying conveyor speed or uneven material distribution, it can reduce the mis-ejection of good products and the missed ejection of foreign objects, significantly improving the ejection accuracy and efficiency. Attached Figure Description

[0015] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of a dehydrated vegetable equipment based on infrared vision fusion according to the present invention; Figure 2 This is an enlarged view of part A of an infrared light vision fusion dehydrated vegetable device according to the present invention; Figure 3 This is an enlarged view of part B of an infrared light vision fusion dehydrated vegetable device according to the present invention; Figure 4 This is a flowchart illustrating a method for removing foreign objects from dehydrated vegetables using infrared visual fusion according to the present invention.

[0016] In the diagram: 1. Feed hopper; 2. Guide chute; 3. Transmission belt; 4. Transmission belt; 5. Vertical plate; 6. Electrical control box; 7. Infrared light source assembly; 8. Visible light source assembly; 9. Infrared light source lens; 10. Visible light source lens; 11. Waste chute; 12. Motor; 13. Limiting baffle; 14. Nozzle assembly. Detailed Implementation

[0017] The subject matter described herein will now be discussed with reference to exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are discussed merely to enable those skilled in the art to better understand and implement the subject matter described herein, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or examples set forth in the claims. The function and arrangement of the elements discussed may be changed without departing from the scope of this specification. Various processes or components may be omitted, substituted, or added as needed in the various examples. For example, the described methods may be performed in a different order than described, and steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Furthermore, features described in some examples may be combined in other examples.

[0018] As used herein, the term "comprising" and its variations are open terms meaning "including but not limited to". The term "based on" means "at least partially based on". The terms "one embodiment" and "an embodiment" mean "at least one embodiment". The term "another embodiment" means "at least one other embodiment". The terms "first", "second", etc., may refer to different or the same objects. Other definitions, whether explicit or implicit, may be included below. Unless explicitly indicated by the context, the definition of a term shall remain consistent throughout the specification.

[0019] Example Please see Figure 1-3 The present invention provides a technical solution: An infrared vision fusion dehydrated vegetable device, wherein the feeding hopper is located above the device, one end of the guide trough is connected to the discharge port of the feeding hopper, and the other end is located above the feed end of the transmission belt, for guiding the dehydrated vegetables onto the transmission belt; The transmission belt is wound around several rollers mounted on the frame, and the motor is connected to the shaft of one of the rollers through the transmission belt to drive the transmission belt to run in a cycle, so that the dehydrated vegetables move along the conveying direction. The upright plate is fixed to the side of the transmission belt, the electrical control box is installed on the upper part of the upright plate, and the infrared light source assembly and the visible light source assembly are respectively fixed on the upright plate and electrically connected to the electrical control box, for providing infrared illumination and visible light illumination to the detection area located on the transmission belt; The infrared light source lens is positioned below the infrared light source assembly and facing the detection area, and is used to acquire infrared images of dehydrated vegetables after infrared illumination. The visible light source lens is positioned below the visible light source assembly and facing the detection area, and is used to acquire visible light images of dehydrated vegetables after visible light illumination. Both the infrared light source lens and the visible light source lens are electrically connected to the electrical control box. The electrical control box is configured to perform fusion processing on images from the infrared light source lens and the visible light source lens, identify foreign objects in the fused image and determine the position of the foreign objects on the transmission belt, and generate a jet control signal based on the position. The limiting baffle is disposed on the side of the transmission belt and extends along the width direction of the transmission belt. The nozzle assembly is slidably mounted on the limiting baffle and electrically connected to the electrical control box. Under the control of the electrical control box, the nozzle assembly moves along the length direction of the limiting baffle to align with the target foreign object position. When the spray control signal is received, the spray airflow blows the foreign object away from the transmission belt. The waste trough is arranged below the limiting baffle and the transmission belt to collect the blown-away foreign object and waste.

[0020] Furthermore, the limiting baffle is configured as a strip structure along the width direction of the transmission belt, and the nozzle assembly slides with the limiting baffle through a slider or guide rail mechanism. The nozzle assembly can reciprocate on the limiting baffle and stop at any lateral position so that the spray direction corresponds to any lateral area on the transmission belt. The lower part of the limiting baffle extends downward to cover the side of the transmission belt, guiding the foreign objects blown out by the jet airflow into the waste trough.

[0021] Furthermore, the electrical control box is equipped with an image processing unit and a control unit. The image processing unit is electrically connected to the infrared light source lens and the visible light source lens. It is used to preprocess the infrared image and the visible light image respectively, and perform registration and feature fusion to obtain a fused image. The control unit identifies foreign objects based on the fused image and determines the lateral position of the foreign object on the conveyor belt and the passage time parameters along the conveying direction. Based on this, it generates control signals for the nozzle target position and injection time, and controls the nozzle assembly to move along the limiting baffle and inject airflow at a predetermined time.

[0022] Furthermore, the infrared light source assembly and its lower infrared light source lens, as well as the visible light source assembly and its lower visible light source lens, are all mounted on the upright plate or a support beam fixedly connected to the upright plate. The field of view of the infrared light source lens and the field of view of the visible light source lens overlap on the transmission belt to form a common detection area. The illumination range of the infrared light source assembly and the visible light source assembly covers the common detection area, thereby ensuring that the same batch of dehydrated vegetables simultaneously obtains infrared and visible light images within the same detection area for fusion identification.

[0023] In this embodiment, an infrared light vision fusion dehydrated vegetable foreign object removal device includes components such as a feeding hopper, a guide trough, a transmission belt, a motor, a limiting baffle, a nozzle assembly, an infrared light source assembly, a visible light source assembly, and an electrical control box.

[0024] A feeding hopper is located above the equipment to hold the dehydrated vegetables to be tested. A guide chute connects the discharge port of the feeding hopper to the feed end of the conveyor belt, smoothly transporting the vegetables onto the conveyor belt. The conveyor belt winds around multiple rollers on the frame, and a motor is connected to the roller shaft at one end of the conveyor belt via the conveyor belt, thereby driving the conveyor belt to circulate and continuously move the dehydrated vegetables along the conveying direction to the subsequent testing area. An electrical control box, an infrared light source assembly, and a visible light source assembly are respectively fixed on the upright plates on both sides of the device.

[0025] An infrared light source lens is installed below the infrared light source assembly, facing the detection area of ​​the conveyor belt, to acquire infrared images of the vegetables after infrared illumination. Similarly, a visible light source lens is installed below the visible light source assembly, also facing the detection area, to acquire visible light images of the vegetables after visible light illumination. The electrical control box integrates an image processing unit and a control unit, electrically connected to the infrared and visible light lenses respectively, for fusing the acquired images and generating control signals. A limiting baffle extends along the width of the conveyor belt, with its lower part extending inward and blocking the upper side of the conveyor belt, guiding blown-off foreign objects into the waste trough below. The nozzle assembly is mounted on the limiting baffle using a slider mechanism, allowing it to slide along its length for lateral nozzle positioning.

[0026] Please see Figure 4 The present invention also provides a technical solution: A method for removing foreign objects from dehydrated vegetables using infrared light and visual fusion; S1: Feeding and conveying: The dehydrated vegetables to be tested are fed into the feed hopper and guided onto the transmission belt through the guide chute. The motor is started to drive the transmission belt to run in a cycle, so that the dehydrated vegetables are conveyed forward with the transmission belt. S2: Multi-source illumination and image acquisition. When the dehydrated vegetables enter the detection area corresponding to the field of view of the infrared light source lens and the visible light source lens, the control box controls the infrared light source component and the visible light source component to light up, providing infrared and visible light illumination to the detection area. The infrared light source lens acquires the infrared image of the dehydrated vegetables, and the visible light source lens acquires the visible light image of the dehydrated vegetables. S3: Image preprocessing and fusion recognition. The control box preprocesses and registers the acquired infrared and visible light images, and performs feature fusion of infrared and visible light to obtain a fused image containing foreign object features. S4: Foreign object positioning and nozzle target determination. The control box identifies foreign objects in the fused image, determines the position of the foreign object in the width direction and conveying direction of the transmission belt, and calculates the spraying time when the foreign object reaches the nozzle assembly directly below it in combination with the running speed of the transmission belt. S5: Lateral positioning of the nozzle assembly. Before the foreign object approaches the nozzle assembly with the conveyor belt, the electrical control box controls the nozzle assembly to move along the length of the limit baffle to a position corresponding to the width of the foreign object and maintain the state of ready to spray. S6: Foreign object ejection and waste collection. When the calculated ejection time is reached, the electrical control box controls the nozzle assembly to eject compressed air to blow the foreign object away from the conveyor belt. The foreign object is blocked by the limit baffle and falls into the waste trough. The dehydrated vegetables that are not ejected continue to be conveyed and output with the conveyor belt.

[0027] Furthermore, when the nozzle assembly sprays compressed air, the electrical control box adjusts the spray pressure and spray duration according to the size of the foreign object and the running speed of the transmission belt. High-pressure short pulse or multi-pulse spray is used to purge the target location at a fixed point, so as to ensure that the foreign object is reliably blown away from the transmission belt while minimizing the impact on the surrounding normally dehydrated vegetables.

[0028] Furthermore, when the control box performs feature fusion on infrared and visible light images, it first registers the infrared and visible light images through feature point detection and matching or geometric calibration to align them to a unified coordinate system. Then, it uses weighted fusion, multi-scale fusion, or deep learning-based multimodal feature fusion algorithms to generate a fused image, so as to simultaneously retain the features reflecting material differences in the infrared image and the features reflecting shape and texture in the visible light image, thereby improving the accuracy of foreign object identification in dehydrated vegetables.

[0029] Furthermore, when calculating the spraying time when the foreign object reaches the nozzle assembly directly below, the control box establishes a time mapping relationship between the detection area and the nozzle assembly based on the rotational speed parameter of the motor-driven transmission belt or the displacement detection signal linked to the transmission belt. It then triggers the nozzle assembly to spray with a predetermined time accuracy through an internal timer or synchronous trigger module, so that the spraying action is synchronized with the time when the foreign object passes through the spraying position.

[0030] S1: Feeding and Conveying: The operator adds the dehydrated vegetables to be tested into the feed hopper, and the vegetables enter the conveyor belt through the guide chute. After the motor is started, the drive belt drives the conveyor belt to run in a cycle, causing the dehydrated vegetables to move continuously along the conveying direction.

[0031] S2: Multi-source illumination and image acquisition: When vegetables pass through the detection area on the conveyor belt, the control box simultaneously controls the infrared and visible light source components to illuminate the detection area with both infrared and visible light. The infrared light source lens synchronously acquires infrared images of the vegetables after infrared illumination, while the visible light source lens acquires visible light images of the vegetables after visible light illumination.

[0032] S3: Image Preprocessing and Fusion Recognition: The image processing unit preprocesses the acquired infrared and visible light images, such as denoising and contrast enhancement. Then, the two images are registered and aligned using feature point matching or geometric correction, and fused in a unified coordinate system to generate a fused image containing the features of the foreign object. The fused image retains both the material differences reflected in the infrared image and the shape and texture features reflected in the visible light image, which helps to distinguish the foreign object from the vegetables.

[0033] S4: Foreign Object Location and Nozzle Control: The control unit identifies foreign objects in the fused image, determines their horizontal coordinate position along the width of the conveyor belt, and the time it takes for them to reach the nozzle assembly. Based on the actual running speed of the conveyor belt and the distance between the detection area and the nozzle position, the control box calculates the precise moment the foreign object reaches the nozzle and generates corresponding injection signals and nozzle movement commands.

[0034] S5: Nozzle Lateral Positioning: Before the foreign object approaches the nozzle assembly as the conveyor belt advances, the nozzle assembly, under the control of the electrical control box, slides along the length of the limit baffle until it aligns with the lateral position of the target foreign object. At this time, the nozzle assembly stops at the corresponding position, ready to perform the spraying action.

[0035] S6: Foreign Object Spraying and Waste Collection: When a foreign object reaches the calculated spray position and passes below the nozzle assembly, the control box controls the nozzle assembly to spray airflow at a set compressed air pressure, blowing the foreign object off the conveyor belt. During the spraying process, the airflow pressure and spraying duration can be adjusted according to the size and shape of the foreign object and the speed of the conveyor belt. High-pressure short pulse or multi-pulse methods are used for targeted purging to improve removal efficiency and reduce the impact on surrounding normally dehydrated vegetables. The blown-off foreign object falls into the waste trough below under the guidance of the limit baffle, completing the foreign object removal; vegetables that are not removed continue to be conveyed and output with the conveyor belt.

[0036] Those skilled in the art will understand that the various embodiments disclosed above can be modified and altered in various ways without departing from the spirit of the invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of this invention should be defined by the appended claims.

[0037] It should be noted that not all steps and units in the above processes are necessary; some steps or units can be omitted as needed. The execution order of each step is not fixed and can be determined as required. The device structure described in the above embodiments can be a physical structure or a logical structure. That is, some units may be implemented by the same physical entity, or some units may be implemented by multiple physical entities, or they may be jointly implemented by certain components in multiple independent devices.

[0038] The specific embodiments described above are exemplary embodiments, but do not represent all embodiments that can be implemented or fall within the scope of the claims. The term "exemplary" as used throughout this specification means "serving as an example, instance, or illustration" and does not imply that it is "preferred" or "advantageous" compared to other embodiments. Specific details are included to provide an understanding of the described techniques. However, these techniques can be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and apparatuses are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring the concepts of the described embodiments.

[0039] The foregoing description of this disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to implement or use this disclosure. Various modifications to this disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be applied to other variations without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Therefore, this disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein, but is consistent with the widest scope of the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. An infrared light vision fusion dehydrated vegetable device, comprising a feeding hopper (1), a guide chute (2), a vertical plate (5), an electrical control box (6), an infrared light source lens (9), a visible light source lens (10), a motor (12), a limiting baffle (13), and a nozzle assembly (14), characterized in that: The feeding hopper (1) is located above the equipment. One end of the guide trough (2) is connected to the outlet of the feeding hopper (1), and the other end is located above the feed end of the transmission belt (3), which is used to guide the dehydrated vegetables onto the transmission belt (3). The transmission belt (3) is wound around several rollers mounted on the frame. The motor (12) is connected to the shaft of one of the rollers through the transmission belt (4) to drive the transmission belt (3) to run in a cycle, so that the dehydrated vegetables move along the conveying direction. The upright plate (5) is fixed to the side of the transmission belt (3), the electrical control box (6) is installed on the upper part of the upright plate (5), the infrared light source assembly (7) and the visible light source assembly (8) are respectively fixed on the upright plate (5) and electrically connected to the electrical control box (6) to provide infrared illumination and visible light illumination to the detection area located on the transmission belt (3); The infrared light source lens (9) is located below the infrared light source assembly (7) and facing the detection area, and is used to collect infrared images of dehydrated vegetables after infrared illumination. The visible light source lens (10) is located below the visible light source assembly (8) and facing the detection area, and is used to collect visible light images of dehydrated vegetables after visible light illumination. Both the infrared light source lens (9) and the visible light source lens (10) are electrically connected to the electrical control box (6). The electrical control box (6) is configured to perform fusion processing on images from the infrared light source lens (9) and the visible light source lens (10), identify foreign objects in the fused image and determine the position of the foreign objects on the transmission belt (3), and generate a jet control signal based on the position. The limiting baffle (13) is disposed on the side of the transmission belt (3) and extends along the width direction of the transmission belt (3). The nozzle assembly (14) is slidably mounted on the limiting baffle (13) and electrically connected to the electrical control box (6). Under the control of the electrical control box (6), the nozzle assembly (14) moves along the length direction of the limiting baffle (13) to align with the target foreign object position. When the jet control signal is received, the jet airflow blows the foreign object away from the transmission belt (3). The waste trough (11) is arranged below the limiting baffle (13) and the transmission belt (3) for collecting the blown-away foreign object and waste.

2. The infrared light vision fusion dehydrated vegetable equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The limiting baffle (13) is set as a strip structure along the width direction of the transmission belt (3). The nozzle assembly (14) is slidably engaged with the limiting baffle (13) through a slider or guide rail mechanism. The nozzle assembly (14) can reciprocate on the limiting baffle (13) and stay at any lateral position so that the spray direction corresponds to any lateral area on the transmission belt (3). The lower part of the limiting baffle (13) extends downward to cover the side of the transmission belt (3) and guides the foreign objects blown out by the jet airflow into the waste trough (11).

3. The infrared vision fusion dehydrated vegetable equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The electrical control box (6) is equipped with an image processing unit and a control unit. The image processing unit is electrically connected to the infrared light source lens (9) and the visible light source lens (10). It is used to preprocess the infrared image and the visible light image respectively, and perform registration and feature fusion to obtain a fused image. The control unit identifies foreign objects based on the fused image and determines the lateral position of the foreign object on the transmission belt (3) and the passage time parameter along the conveying direction. Based on this, it generates a control signal for the nozzle target position and the injection time, and controls the nozzle assembly (14) to move along the limit baffle (13) and inject airflow at a predetermined time.

4. The infrared vision fusion dehydrated vegetable equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The infrared light source assembly (7) and its lower infrared light source lens (9) and the visible light source assembly (8) and its lower visible light source lens (10) are all mounted on the upright plate (5) or the support beam fixedly connected to the upright plate (5). The field of view of the infrared light source lens (9) and the field of view of the visible light source lens (10) overlap on the transmission belt (3) to form a common detection area. The illumination range of the infrared light source assembly (7) and the visible light source assembly (8) covers the common detection area, thereby ensuring that the same batch of dehydrated vegetables can simultaneously obtain infrared images and visible light images in the same detection area for fusion recognition.

5. A method for removing foreign objects from dehydrated vegetables using infrared visual fusion, employing an infrared visual fusion dehydrated vegetable equipment as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: S1: Feeding and conveying: The dehydrated vegetables to be tested are fed into the feed hopper (1) and guided onto the transmission belt (3) through the guide chute (2). The motor (12) is started to drive the transmission belt (3) to run in a cycle through the transmission belt (4), so that the dehydrated vegetables are conveyed forward with the transmission belt (3). S2: Multi-source illumination and image acquisition. When the dehydrated vegetables enter the detection area corresponding to the field of view of the infrared light source lens (9) and the visible light source lens (10), the infrared light source component (7) and the visible light source component (8) are lit by the control box (6) to illuminate the detection area with infrared and visible light. The infrared light source lens (9) acquires the infrared image of the dehydrated vegetables, and the visible light source lens (10) acquires the visible light image of the dehydrated vegetables. S3: Image preprocessing and fusion recognition. The control box (6) preprocesses and registers the acquired infrared and visible light images, and performs feature fusion of infrared and visible light to obtain a fused image containing foreign object features. S4: Foreign object positioning and nozzle target determination. The electrical control box (6) identifies the foreign object in the fused image, determines the position of the foreign object in the width direction and conveying direction of the transmission belt (3), and calculates the spraying time of the foreign object reaching the nozzle assembly (14) directly below the transmission belt (3) in combination with the running speed of the transmission belt (3). S5: The nozzle assembly is positioned laterally. Before the foreign object approaches the nozzle assembly (14) along the transmission belt (3), the electrical control box (6) controls the nozzle assembly (14) to move along the length direction of the limiting baffle (13) to the position corresponding to the width of the foreign object and maintain the state of waiting to spray. S6: Foreign object ejection and waste collection. When the calculated ejection time is reached, the electrical control box (6) controls the nozzle assembly (14) to eject compressed air to blow the foreign object away from the transmission belt (3). The foreign object is blocked by the limit baffle (13) and falls into the waste tank (11). The dehydrated vegetables that are not ejected continue to be transported and output with the transmission belt (3).

6. The method for removing foreign objects from dehydrated vegetables using infrared visual fusion according to claim 5, characterized in that: When the nozzle assembly (14) sprays compressed air, the electrical control box (6) adjusts the spray pressure and spray duration according to the size of the foreign object and the running speed of the transmission belt (3). The high-pressure short pulse or multi-pulse spray method is used to blow the target position at a fixed point, so as to ensure that the foreign object is reliably blown away from the transmission belt (3) while minimizing the impact on the surrounding normal dehydrated vegetables.

7. The method for removing foreign objects from dehydrated vegetables using infrared visual fusion according to claim 5, characterized in that: When the electric control box (6) performs feature fusion on infrared and visible light images, it first registers the infrared and visible light images by feature point detection and matching or geometric calibration, aligning them to a unified coordinate system. Then, it uses weighted fusion, multi-scale fusion or deep learning-based multimodal feature fusion algorithms to generate a fused image, so as to simultaneously retain the features in the infrared image that reflect material differences and the features in the visible light image that reflect shape and texture, thereby improving the accuracy of identifying foreign objects in dehydrated vegetables.

8. The method for removing foreign objects from dehydrated vegetables using infrared visual fusion according to claim 5, characterized in that: in When calculating the spraying time when the foreign object reaches the nozzle assembly (14), the electrical control box (6) establishes a time mapping relationship between the detection area and the nozzle assembly (14) based on the rotational speed parameter of the drive belt (3) driven by the motor (12) or the displacement detection signal linked with the drive belt (3), and triggers the nozzle assembly (14) to spray with a predetermined time accuracy through an internal timer or synchronous trigger module, so that the spraying action is synchronized with the time when the foreign object passes through the spraying position.

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