Dark Cigarette Burning Test via Edge Highlighting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for testing the burning performance of dark-colored cigarettes are hindered by the inability to distinguish between the dark-colored cigarette paper and the dark burn line in image processing, leading to inaccurate localization and evaluation of burning performance indicators.
Innovation Solution
A method utilizing a lighting system with parallel light sources and industrial cameras to highlight the edge of the dark-colored cigarette, employing exposure control and a detection algorithm to capture and track the burn line in real-time, allowing for precise localization and analysis of burning performance indicators.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a dark environmental background is used for image acquisition, then the chromatic aberration between white cigarette paper and background is enhanced for accurate localization, but the chromatic aberration between dark-colored cigarette paper and background becomes insufficient, making edge detection impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the color of the environmental background from dark (black) to bright (white) to enable effective chromatic aberration between dark-colored cigarette paper and background. This color inversion allows the edge detection algorithm to distinguish the cigarette edges by detecting the color difference, thereby resolving the contradiction between maintaining measurement precision for white cigarettes and achieving adaptability for dark-colored cigarettes.
2Ease of manufacture
If visual evaluation methods are used for burning performance indicators, then the testing process is simple, but the evaluation accuracy and objectivity are compromised due to subjective influence
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the subjective visual evaluation method with an automated machine vision system. The system uses a camera to capture images of the burn line and employs an edge detection algorithm to automatically measure burning performance indicators such as burn line length, crack rate, and ash column characteristics. This substitution eliminates human subjective influence while maintaining testing simplicity through automated image processing.
3Measurement precision
If conventional image processing based on chromatic aberration is used, then white cigarette edges can be clearly distinguished, but dark-colored cigarette edges cannot be distinguished from the dark background
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional dark background configuration by using a bright (white) environmental background instead. This inversion enables the dark-colored cigarette paper to form a clear chromatic aberration contrast with the background, allowing the edge detection algorithm to successfully identify and track cigarette edges. The inversion strategy maintains measurement precision while achieving versatility for dark-colored cigarettes.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables accurate and objective testing of burning performance indicators such as crack rate, ash column characteristics, and burn line uniformity for dark-colored cigarettes, overcoming the limitations of previous methods by effectively differentiating the cigarette edge from the background.
Implementation Method 1
Positions of the lighting source and cameras are adjusted to highlight reflected light on an edge of the dark-colored cigarette
Implementation Method 2
the industrial cameras can distinguish the highlighted edge of the dark-colored cigarette from a background of a dark field during image processing, so as to acquire an edge peak of a chromatic aberration
Data Source
AI summary
A method for testing burning performance of a dark-colored cigarette using a dark-colored cigarette paper is provided. The dark-colored cigarette paper has a grayscale less than 255. The method includes: simulating, by a robotic arm, a cigarette smoking process and environment; acquiring, by a full-vision camera system, an image of a burn line and ash column region of the dark-colored cigarette; and analyzing a burning performance indicator of the dark-colored cigarette according to coordinate information of the burn line and ash column region. The method is based on a surface reflection characteristic of the dark-colored cigarette paper and a principle of optical reflection to light and highlight an edge of the dark-colored cigarette sample by a light source at a certain angle from a side. In this way, the method forms a chromatic aberration to localize the dark-colored cigarette sample, thereby testing the burning performance of the dark-colored cigarette sample.