Egg inspection apparatus

Abstract

To provide an egg inspection apparatus capable of inspecting a crack.SOLUTION: An egg inspection apparatus essentially consists of: a conveyor which rotatably supports and conveys eggs by rollers; imaging means equipped with an LED light source which irradiates eggs on the conveyor with white light and a color camera which captures images of eggs on the conveyor, or inspection means equipped with OCT means for allowing reflected light from eggs on the conveyor and reflected light from a reference mirror to interfere with each other to capture images of a surface layer of eggs by interference; and image determination means including first determination means for converting an image captured by the color camera into a gray scale image and determining a gray scale value of each pixel as irregularity of an egg surface or second determination means for determining abnormality of the surface of eggs based on the image captured by the OCT means.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an egg inspection device that inspects the surface of an egg. [Background technology]

[0002] Cracks in the shell of an egg make it look unattractive, so they are separated from normal eggs. Also, peeled boiled eggs with cracks on the surface (surface of the white) are also separated. In general, raw eggs and boiled eggs are inspected.

[0003] In Patent Document 1, a color CCD camera, a lighting unit, a conveying roller, an image processing device, and an image judgment unit are provided to inspect dirt on raw egg shells. In Patent Document 2, a peeled boiled egg is irradiated with planar excitation light, and the presence or absence of remaining shell fragments is judged based on the difference in fluorescence between the boiled egg surface and the shell. In Patent Document 3, a peeled boiled egg is irradiated with near-infrared light, and the presence or absence of remaining shell fragments is judged based on the transmitted image. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2008-309678 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2004-233272 A [Patent Document 3] JP 2016-75660 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] To provide an egg inspection device capable of inspecting the surface of raw eggs and boiled eggs for cracks, and also capable of inspecting boiled eggs with the shell removed, and capable of inspecting the surface of the egg white for cracks and pieces of shell stuck therein. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The egg inspection device according to the present invention is characterized in that it comprises a conveyor that rotatably supports and transports eggs on rollers, an imaging means having an LED light source that irradiates white light onto eggs on the conveyor and a color camera that images the eggs on the conveyor, or an inspection means consisting of OCT means that causes reflected light from the eggs on the conveyor to interfere with light reflected from a reference mirror and captures an image of the surface of the eggs through the interference, and an image judgment means consisting of a first judgment means that converts the image captured by the color camera into a grayscale image and judges the grayscale value of each pixel as unevenness on the egg surface, or a second judgment means that judges abnormalities on the egg surface from the image captured by the OCT means.

[0007] The inspection means is installed at three locations above the conveyor and on both sides in the conveyor's transport direction, and is characterized by capturing images of the entire circumference of the body of the boiled egg and both ends of the boiled egg in the longitudinal direction.

[0008] The OCT means is characterized by comprising a light source that emits broadband light, the reference mirror, an optical coupler that splits the light emitted from the light source in the directions of the boiled egg and the reference mirror and causes the reflected light from the boiled egg and the reflected light from the reference mirror to interfere with each other, a scan mirror that scans the light emitted from the optical coupler over the surface of the boiled egg, and a camera that receives the light interfered by the optical coupler via a diffraction grating as incident light. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, (1) A conveyor is provided that rotatably supports and transports eggs on rollers, making it possible to inspect the entire circumference of the egg body. (2) When the inspection means is an imaging means using a color camera, a first judgment means (image judgment means) is provided that converts the full-color image into a grayscale image and regards the grayscale value as the unevenness of the shell surface, so that cracks in the shell or the surface of the boiled egg can be detected. (3) In the case where the inspection means is an OCT means that performs optical coherence tomography, the second determination means (image determination means) can detect cracks on the surface of the shell or boiled egg from a tomographic photograph of the surface (a few mm deep).

[0010] Inspection means are installed above the conveyor and at three locations on both sides of the conveyor in the conveying direction, so that the entire circumference of the egg body and both ends of the egg in the longitudinal direction can be inspected. In Example 1, the inspection means refers to an imaging means using a full-color camera, and in Example 2, it refers to an OCT means.

[0011] The OCT method uses coherent broadband light, making it possible to obtain cross-sectional images of the egg surface, enabling the detection of cracks in the egg, or the penetration of shell fragments. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a plan view of an egg inspection device (100) according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] A photo of a cracked egg. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the internal configuration of the imaging means in FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a layout diagram of the second imaging means and the third imaging means in FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of an inspection image of an egg. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 shows a full-color inspection image. [Figure 7] This is an example of converting color pixels to grayscale pixels. [Figure 8] FIG. 13 shows an inspection image converted to grayscale. [Figure 9] FIG. 13 is a graph showing an inspection line. [Figure 10] 10 is a graph showing the normalized inspection line of FIG. 9. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a plan view of an egg inspection device (200) according to a second embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 2 is a front view of a first optical coherence tomography means. [Figure 13]1 shows the operating line of the first optical coherence tomography means and the rotation direction of the egg. [Figure 14] FIG. 2 is a plan view of a second optical coherence tomography means. [Figure 15] 1 shows the operating line of the second optical coherence tomography means and the transport direction of the eggs. [Figure 16] FIG. 13 is a plan view of a third optical coherence tomography means. [Figure 17] 13 shows the operating line of the third optical coherence tomography means and the transport direction of the eggs. [Figure 18] 2 shows the configuration of an optical coherence tomography means. [Figure 19] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of broadband light. [Figure 20] 4 is an example of a 3D image captured by a first optical coherence tomography means. [Figure 21] 13 is an example of a 3D image captured by the second optical coherence tomography imaging means and the third optical coherence tomography imaging means. [Figure 22] 3A and 3B are photographs of a peeled boiled egg captured by a first optical coherence tomography unit. (a) is a surface photograph, and (b) is a cross-sectional photograph. [Diagram 23] This indicates that pieces of shell have penetrated into the inside of the boiled egg. [Figure 24] 2 shows a cross-sectional view of a raw egg imaged by a first optical coherence tomography means. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] Hereinafter, an egg inspection device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. EXAMPLES

[0014] FIG. 1 is a plan view of an egg inspection device 100 of the first embodiment for inspecting eggs. The egg inspection device 100 of the first embodiment includes a conveyor 7, an imaging means 20 installed on the conveyor 7, and an image judgment means 30. The imaging means 20 includes a first imaging means 20a installed above the conveyor 7, and a second imaging means 20b and a third imaging means 20c installed on both sides of the conveyor 7 in the conveying direction. The image judgment means 30 can use a computer equipped with a processor, memory, and a magnetic disk. The conveyor 7 has one lane, and supports eggs 1 with two rollers 8 and conveys them at a predetermined speed in the conveying direction. The conveyor 7 is operated intermittently, and when the conveyor 7 is temporarily stopped, the eggs 1 are rotated by the driving means 26 engaged with the rollers 8, 8, and when the rotation ends, the conveyor 7 resumes conveyance.

[0015] Driving means 26 is made up of a motor and gears, and rotates two rollers 8, 8 that support egg 1. The rotation of rollers 8, 8 allows egg 1 to rotate 360 ​​degrees, and images of the entire circumference of egg 1 can be taken. In embodiment 1, transport on the conveyor is temporarily stopped when rotating the egg, but it is also possible to provide driving means for all rollers 8, 8 and rotate the egg constantly while it is being transported on the conveyor without intermittent operation of conveyor 7. In that case, images taken at multiple points in the transport direction are stitched together to form an image of the entire 360 ​​degrees.

[0016] Figure 2 is a photograph of an egg 1 with a crack. The egg to be inspected may be a raw egg, a boiled egg (with shell), or a peeled boiled egg. In the case of a chicken egg, the shell is about 0.3 mm thick. When a crack occurs in the shell, a streak-like valley (concave) about 0.3 mm deep is created. When pieces of shell are attached to the surface of a peeled boiled egg, that part will become a hill (convex part) about 0.3 mm high.

[0017] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the internal configuration of the imaging means 20 in FIG. 1. The configuration of the imaging means 20 is shown in the case of the first imaging means 20a. The configurations of the second imaging means 20b and the third imaging means 20c are the same as that of the first imaging means 20a. The imaging means 20 comprises an LED light source 4 that irradiates the eggs 1 with white light, and a color camera 5 that images the eggs 1 during transport. The color camera 5 is preferably a line sensor camera rather than an area camera, as it is capable of detecting fine irregularities. In the egg surface inspection of the first embodiment, the image determination means 30 determines the height of the surface of the egg 1 based on the brightness of the irradiated light. Such an image determination means 30 is referred to as the first determination means.

[0018] As shown in Figure 3, light 14 emitted from LED light source 4 is reflected by half mirror 10 to become light 15 irradiated onto egg 1. Light 16 reflected from egg 1 passes through half mirror 10 to become light 17 incident on camera 5. Camera 5 can be a line sensor camera or an area camera. In the case of a line sensor camera, egg 1 is rotated by driving means 26 and images are captured line by line. As light 15 irradiated onto egg 1 and light 17 incident onto camera 5 are configured to be on the same axis, reflected light from the side of egg 1 does not head directly upwards. As a result, the side of egg 1 is imaged slightly darker than the directly above.

[0019] Fig. 4 is a layout diagram showing the relationship between the second imaging means 20b and the third imaging means 20c constituting the imaging means in Fig. 1 and the egg 1. The internal structure of the second imaging means 20b and the third imaging means 20c is the same as that of the first imaging means 20a in Fig. 3, so a description thereof will be omitted. The second imaging means 20b and the third imaging means 20c can image the side surface of the egg 1 perpendicular to the conveying direction. At the positions of the second imaging means 20b and the third imaging means 20c in Example 1, the egg 1 is not rotating, so it can be imaged by either a line camera or a line sensor.

[0020] FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an inspection image 11 of an egg 1. The color camera 5 captures an image so that the entire egg 1 is within the imaging range 19. The gray part is the background 21. In the case of an area camera, the side of the egg 1 located on the outer periphery appears slightly dark, so the bright rectangular-sized part at the top of the egg is used as the inspection image 11. In the case of a line sensor camera, the scanning operation line extends in the vertical direction of FIG. 5, and similarly the upper and lower ends of the operation line appear slightly dark. In the case of an area camera, multiple inspection images 11 captured while rotating the egg 1 can be stitched together to create an image of the entire circumference of the body part of the egg 1. In the case of a line sensor camera, an image of the body part of the egg 1 can be created by collecting the operation lines captured while rotating the egg 1 all around.

[0021] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a full-color inspection image 11. Assume that the inspection image 11 is a full-color image and is composed of n×m pixels. Here, n and m are 1000 pixels, and if a length of 20 mm is captured with 1000 pixels, the size of one pixel is approximately 0.02 mm. A color pixel 2 is composed of three bytes of R, G, and B, and R, G, and B can each express a tone of 0 to 255. Here, the tone is a numerical value indicating the color density or brightness. The image of the entire circumference of the body part of the egg 1 is in a form that is formed by joining multiple inspection images 11 horizontally.

[0022] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of conversion from a color pixel 2 to a grayscale pixel 3. FIG. 7 shows five typical examples of color conversion. When the color pixel 2 (R, G, B) = (255, 255, 255) is white and converted to a grayscale pixel 3, the white pixel has a Gs of 255. When the color pixel 2 is (R, G, B) = (255, 255, 0) indicating yellow, the gray pixel has a Gs of 170. When the color pixel 2 is (R, G, B) = (255, 0, 0) indicating red, the gray pixel has a Gs of 85. When the color pixel 2 is (R, G, B) = (0, 0, 0) indicating blue, the gray pixel has a Gs of 85. When the color pixel 2 is (R, G, B) = (0, 0, 0) indicating black, the grayscale pixel has a Gs of 0. The conversion formula (R + G + B) / 3 is used for conversion from the color pixel 2 to the grayscale pixel 3 as described above. The present invention is not limited to this, and a weighted conversion formula may be used.

[0023] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an inspection image 11 converted into a grayscale image. A grayscale pixel 3 can be expressed by a gradation of 0 to 255. An inspection line 6 is defined at a position (indicated by AA) of an X coordinate k in the inspection image 11. The pixels of the inspection line 6 are designated p1 to p n In this example, n is set to 1000.

[0024] 9 is a diagram showing a graph of the inspection line 6. Each of the pixels p1 to p 1000 When plotted, a zigzag waveform is obtained, as shown by the wavy line as an example. The downward sloping to the right indicates that the brightness of the lower part of the inspection image 11 is reduced because the inspection image 11 is set slightly below the center of the egg 1, as shown in FIG. 5. The numerical values ​​of the grayscale pixels are brightnesses that reflect the unevenness of the shell surface. Pixels p1 to p 1000 The approximate curve for each value can be obtained as shown by the thick line. The approximate curve is y=a1X 4 +a2X 3 +a3X 2 +a1X 1 +a5. The coefficients a1 to a5 are calculated based on the values ​​of each pixel, and a1 is 1.303e- 9 , a2 is -1.127e- 6 , a3 is 0.000211, a4 is -0.0505, and a5 is 204.8. When X is 0, Y is 204.8, so these values ​​are slightly lower than pure white (255).

[0025] FIG. 10 is a graph in which the deviation from the approximation curve 9 in FIG. 9 is converted into a horizontal straight line. 1000 The distance each value is from the approximate curve 9 is plotted. Approximate curve 9 is assumed to be horizontal. This graph can be considered as a series of peaks and valleys that represent unevenness, and if there is a deep valley, it can be determined that this is a crack on the surface of egg 1.

[0026] The summary of Example 1 is as follows. (1) The surface of the egg is captured with a camera to obtain a full color image. (2) Images are taken of three locations: the entire circumference of the egg body and both ends of the egg in the longitudinal direction. (3) The camera can be an area camera or a line sensor camera, with a line sensor camera being preferable in terms of accuracy. (4) A rectangular inspection image is cut out from the captured image. (5) The color inspection image is converted to grayscale. (6) The grayscale value of each pixel is regarded as the unevenness of the egg surface, and any deep valleys or tall peaks are judged to be abnormal (cracks, etc.). (7) Raw eggs and peeled boiled eggs can be inspected.

[0027] In the above embodiment 1, a color camera is used as a means for capturing an image of an egg, but a monochrome camera may also be used. In the case of a monochrome camera, the grayscale camera shown in FIG. 8 can directly capture an image. EXAMPLES

[0028] 11 is a plan view of egg inspection device 200 of the present invention. Egg inspection device 200 detects cracks in the white part of a peeled boiled egg 201. Inspection device 200 includes a conveyor 207 that transports boiled egg 201, and optical coherence tomography means 220 that images peeled boiled egg 201 transported by conveyor 207. Conveyor 207 supports boiled egg 201 with two rollers 208, and includes driving means 226 that rotates two rollers 208. Drive means 226 rotates boiled egg 201 360 degrees, so that the entire circumference of boiled egg 201 can be imaged. The optical coherence tomography imaging means 220 consists of a first optical coherence tomography imaging means 220a installed above the conveyor 207, a second optical coherence tomography imaging means 220b installed on both sides of the conveyor 207, and a third optical coherence tomography imaging means 220c. The captured image is judged by an image judgment means 219 serving as a second judgment means whether there is an abnormality on the surface of the boiled egg 201. The image judgment means 219 is a processing device equipped with a processor, a memory, and a magnetic disk.

[0029] Conveyor 207 is operated intermittently, and when conveyor 207 is temporarily stopped, boiled egg 201 can be rotated by drive means 206 engaged with rollers 208, 2088. Alternatively, conveyor 207 may not be operated intermittently, and drive means may be provided for all rollers to rotate boiled egg 201 at all times during transport. Boiled egg 201 is rotated at all times during transport. In that case, images captured at multiple points in the transport direction are stitched together to create a full 360-degree image.

[0030] 12 is a front view of the first optical coherence tomography imaging means 220a. The first optical coherence tomography imaging means 220a includes a light source 212 that emits coherent light that can be interfered with as emitted light 214, a reference mirror 225, an optical coupler 224 that separates the emitted light 214 from the light source 212 into irradiation light 216 to the boiled egg 201 and reference light 215 (going) to the reference mirror 225, and causes reflected light 217 from the boiled egg 201 and reference light 218 (return) from the reference mirror 225 to interfere with each other, a scan mirror 210 (see FIG. 18) that scans the irradiation light 216 from the optical coupler 224 over the surface of the boiled egg 201, and a camera 205 that receives the light interfered by the optical coupler 224 via the diffraction grating 202 as incident light 204. The camera 205 is made of a line sensor type imaging element. The boiled egg 201 rotates as shown in FIG. 12, the irradiated light 216 is manipulated along an operation line extending in the front-rear direction, and imaging proceeds.

[0031] 13 is a diagram showing the operation line of first optical coherence tomography imaging means 220a and the rotation direction of boiled egg 201. When rollers 208, 208 rotate, boiled egg 201 rotates. In accordance with the rotation of boiled egg 201, irradiated light 216 is operated along the operation line, and imaging progresses. When boiled egg 201 rotates 360 degrees, the entire circumference of the body of boiled egg 201 is imaged.

[0032] Fig. 14 is a plan view of the second optical coherence tomography imaging means 220b shown in Fig. 11. The configuration of the second optical coherence tomography imaging means 220b is the same as that of the first optical coherence tomography imaging means 220a shown in Fig. 12, so a detailed description will be omitted. The second optical coherence tomography imaging means 220b is located on the front side of the conveyor 207, and images the front side of the boiled egg 201 in the longitudinal direction.

[0033] Fig. 15 is a diagram showing the operation line of second optical coherence tomography imaging means 220b and the transport direction of boiled egg 201. As boiled egg 201 moves in the transport direction as shown in Fig. 15, irradiated light 216 is operated along the operation line extending in the vertical direction, and imaging progresses. In accordance with the transport of boiled egg 201, irradiated light 216 is operated along the operation line, and imaging progresses.

[0034] Fig. 16 is a plan view of the third optical coherence tomography imaging means 220c shown in Fig. 11. The configuration of the third optical coherence tomography imaging means 220c is the same as that of the first optical coherence tomography imaging means 220a shown in Fig. 12, so a description thereof will be omitted. The third optical coherence tomography imaging means 220c is installed on the rear side of the conveyor 207 and images the rear side of the boiled egg 201 in the longitudinal direction.

[0035] Fig. 17 is a diagram showing the operation line of third optical coherence tomography imaging means 220c and the transport direction of boiled egg 201. As boiled egg 201 moves in the transport direction as shown in Fig. 17, irradiated light 216 is operated along the operation line extending in the vertical direction, and imaging progresses. In accordance with the transport of boiled egg 201, irradiated light 216 is operated along the operation line, and imaging progresses.

[0036] Fig. 18 is a configuration diagram of first optical coherence tomography imaging means 220a. The configuration of first optical coherence tomography imaging means 220a is shown in Fig. 12, but Fig. 18 clarifies the position of scan mirror 210. Scan mirror 210 reciprocates at a predetermined angle to scan the surface of boiled egg 201 with irradiated light 216.

[0037] 19 is an explanatory diagram of broadband light. Coherent broadband light that can be interfered with is used for the light source 212. This allows for clearer tomographic images to be captured.

[0038] FIG. 20 is an example of a 3D image 211 captured by the first optical coherence tomography imaging means 220a. With the optical coherence tomography imaging means, not only surface images but also images in the depth direction can be obtained. Therefore, a stereoscopic image like a 3D (three-dimensional) plate can be obtained. The 3D image 211 is a collection of cross-sectional images captured by scanning. A cross section in the operation direction can also be seen. FIG. 20 shows a portion of an image of the body of a boiled egg 1. If the entire circumference is captured and stitched together, the 3D image 211 will be a rectangle that is long in the vertical direction.

[0039] FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram of a 3D image 211 captured by the second optical coherence tomography imaging means 220b and the third optical coherence tomography imaging means 220c. With the optical coherence tomography imaging means, not only surface images but also images in the depth direction can be obtained. Therefore, a stereoscopic image like a 3D (three-dimensional) plate can be obtained. The 3D image 211 is a collection of cross-sectional images captured by scanning. A cross section in the operation direction can also be seen. FIG. 21 shows imaging of both ends of a boiled egg 201 in the longitudinal direction.

[0040] 22 shows an example of a 3D image captured by the first optical coherence tomography means. (a) is an image of the surface, and (b) is a cross-sectional photograph of the AA line. The gray part is the white of the boiled egg 201.

[0041] FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram showing that shell fragments 213 have penetrated into the inside of boiled egg 201. (a) shows a case where shell fragments 213 remain inside a crack in the white. (b) shows a case where shell fragments 213 have stuck inside the white. Shell fragments stuck inside the white of boiled egg 201 do not protrude to the outside, and are difficult to detect by visual inspection or touch. With optical coherence tomography means 220, a tomographic image of the surface of boiled egg 201 can be obtained, so shell fragments 213 can be detected. The imaging depth is several mm. Optical coherence tomography can obtain a tomographic image, so it can detect not only shell fragments, but also cracks and cracks in the white, and remaining membranes. When the yolk is imaged close to the outer periphery of the white, it can be detected that the yolk is biased. Cracks in the white can be detected even if both sides are not in contact and open.

[0042] In the second embodiment, a boiled egg 201 with its shell removed has been described, but the egg inspection device 200 of the second embodiment can also inspect raw eggs. Fig. 24 is a drawing of a cracked raw egg imaged by the first optical coherence tomography means 220a. As shown in Fig. 24(a), the crack is visible, and as shown in Fig. 24(b), it can be detected that the shell has cracked and is split to the left and right.

[0043] It takes about one second for an egg to rotate on the two rollers. If the conveyor is temporarily stopped while the eggs are rotating, for example, assuming it takes one second to capture the image and one second to send the eggs off the conveyor, it will take two seconds to process one egg, so the hourly processing capacity will be 1,800 eggs per hour. On the other hand, if the eggs are constantly rotated while they are being transported on the conveyor, performance is determined by the conveyor speed. If the conveyor speed is 6 m / min and one egg is discharged per 10 cm of transport, the processing capacity will be 3,600 eggs per hour. In response to improved performance, cameras are installed at multiple points on the line, which means that the number of cameras increases and the line length becomes longer. [Explanation of symbols]

[0044] 1 egg 2 pixels (color) 3 pixels (grayscale) 4 LED light source 5 Color Camera 6 Inspection Line 7 Conveyor 8. Lola 9 Approximate curve 10 Half Mirror 11 Inspection images 14 Light emitted from LED 15 Light irradiation on eggs 16 Reflected light from eggs 17 Incident light to the camera 19 Imaging range 20 Imaging means 20a First imaging means 20b Second imaging means 20c Third imaging means 26 Driving means (such as roller driving motor) 30 Image judgment means (first judgment means) 100, 200 Egg inspection device 201 (peeled) boiled eggs 202 Diffraction Grating 203 Lens 204 Incident light 205 Camera 207 Conveyor 208 Lola 209 Boiled egg white 210 Scan Mirror 211 3D images 212 Light source 213 Shell fragment 214 Emitted light 215 Reference beam (outgoing) 216 Irradiation Light 217 Reflected light 218 Reference light (return) 219 Image judgment means (second judgment means) 220 Optical coherence tomography imaging means 220a First optical coherence tomography means 220b second optical coherence tomography means 220c third optical coherence tomography means 224 Optical Coupler 225 Reference Mirror 226 Driving means (roller driving motor, etc.)

Claims

1. a conveyor that rotatably supports and transports eggs using rollers; an imaging means having an LED light source that irradiates eggs on the conveyor with white light and a color camera that images the eggs on the conveyor, or an inspection means consisting of an OCT means that causes interference between reflected light from the eggs on the conveyor and reflected light from a reference mirror and captures an image of the surface of the eggs by the interference; an image assessment means comprising a first assessment means for converting the image captured by the color camera into a grayscale image and assessing the grayscale value of each pixel as irregularities on the egg surface, or a second assessment means for assessing abnormalities on the egg surface from the image captured by the OCT means; An egg inspection device comprising:

2. 2. The egg inspection device according to claim 1, wherein the inspection means is installed at three locations above the conveyor and on both sides in the conveyor's transport direction, and captures images of the entire circumference of the body of the boiled egg and both ends of the boiled egg in the longitudinal direction.

3. 2. The egg inspection device according to claim 1, wherein the OCT means comprises: a light source that emits broadband light; the reference mirror; an optical coupler that splits the light emitted from the light source in the directions of the boiled egg and the reference mirror and causes the reflected light from the boiled egg and the reflected light from the reference mirror to interfere with each other; a scan mirror that scans the light emitted from the optical coupler over the surface of the boiled egg; and a camera that receives the light interfered by the optical coupler via a diffraction grating as incident light.

Images