阅读说明：本技术 一种基于机器视觉的鲜莲子去芯机 (Fresh lotus seed core removing machine based on machine vision ) 是由 丁为民 张万里 徐谐庆 于 2020-06-29 设计创作，主要内容包括：一种基于机器视觉的鲜莲子去芯机。涉及一种鲜莲子去芯设备。提出了一种基于机器视觉的鲜莲子去芯机,通过准确识别莲子尾部朝向及尾部凸点位置,控制去芯执行机构从莲子尾部方向及尾部凸点位置精准去芯。包括用于采集鲜莲子图像的机器视觉装置3,以及执行去芯操作的去芯执行机构4；所述机器视觉装置3包括分处于莲子的去芯工位的两侧的第一相机32和第二相机34；所述去芯执行机构4包括第一直线模组42、第二直线模组43和去芯捅针组件44,所述去芯捅针组件44水平设置,通过去芯捅针组件44的动作完成去芯操作。本发明视觉定位准确,对莲子品种、产地、大小一致性要求低,且具有成功率高、破损率低、运行可靠、维护方便等特点。(A machine vision-based fresh lotus seed core remover. Relates to a fresh lotus seed core removing device. The fresh lotus seed coring machine based on machine vision is provided, and the coring actuator is controlled to precisely core the lotus seed from the tail direction and the tail salient point position of the lotus seed by accurately identifying the tail direction and the tail salient point position of the lotus seed. Comprises a machine vision device 3 for collecting fresh lotus seed images and a coring actuating mechanism 4 for executing coring operation; the machine vision device 3 comprises a first camera 32 and a second camera 34 which are respectively positioned at two sides of a coring station of lotus seeds; the coring actuating mechanism 4 comprises a first linear module 42, a second linear module 43 and a coring poking needle assembly 44, wherein the coring poking needle assembly 44 is horizontally arranged, and the coring operation is completed through the action of the coring poking needle assembly 44. The invention has accurate visual positioning, low requirements on the variety, production area and size consistency of the lotus seeds, and has the characteristics of high success rate, low damage rate, reliable operation, convenient maintenance and the like.)

1. A fresh lotus seed core removing machine based on machine vision is characterized by comprising a machine vision device (3) for collecting fresh lotus seed images and a core removing executing mechanism (4) for executing core removing operation;

the machine vision device (3) comprises a first camera (32) and a second camera (34) which are respectively positioned at two sides of a coring station of the lotus seeds, and images of the lotus seeds positioned in the coring station are acquired through the first camera (32) and the second camera (34);

coring actuating mechanism (4) include first straight line module (42), second straight line module (43) and coring and disclose needle subassembly (44), coring and disclosing needle subassembly (44) level setting, drive through first straight line module (42) and second straight line module (43) coring and disclosing needle subassembly (44) translation to the action of disclosing needle subassembly (44) through coring accomplishes the coring operation.

2. The machine vision-based fresh lotus seed coring machine as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an image processing module and a control system;

the image processing module identifies the tail direction of the lotus seed and the position of the salient point of the tail of the lotus seed according to the image acquired by the machine vision device (3), and sends the lotus seed tail salient point to the control system after calculating the space coordinate of the salient point of the tail of the lotus seed;

the control system controls the first linear module (42) and the second linear module (43) according to the space coordinates of the salient points of the tail part of the lotus seed, so that a coring and poking needle in the coring and poking assembly (44) is translated to a position coaxial with the salient points of the tail part of the lotus seed, and then controls the corresponding coring and poking needle according to the direction of the tail part of the lotus seed to complete coring operation of the lotus seed.

3. Machine vision based fresh lotus seed decoring machine according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the machine vision device (3) further comprises a light source (33) arranged towards the decoring station.

4. Machine vision based fresh lotus seed decoring machine as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said first camera (32) and second camera (34) are respectively fixedly connected on the frame and both are arranged towards the decoring station, said first camera (32) is arranged parallel to the Y-axis and said second camera (34) is arranged parallel to the X-axis.

5. Machine vision based fresh lotus seed decoring machine as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said first linear module (42) and second linear module (43) are both linear driving mechanisms and both have a fixed part and a movable part;

the fixed part of the first straight line module (42) is fixedly connected to the rack, the fixed part of the second straight line module (43) is fixedly connected to the movable part of the first straight line module (42), and the coring and poking needle assembly (44) is fixedly connected to the movable part of the second straight line module (43);

the first linear module (42) is arranged in parallel to the Y axis so as to drive the second linear module (43) and the coring and poking needle assembly (44) to translate along the Y axis; the second linear module (43) is arranged parallel to the X-axis to drive the coring and poking needle assembly (44) to translate along the X-axis.

6. The machine vision-based fresh lotus seed coring machine as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the coring and poking needle assembly (44) comprises a poking needle bracket (441) and a first coring cylinder (442) and a second coring cylinder (445) fixed thereon, the poking needle bracket (441) is C-shaped, the first coring cylinder (442) and the second coring cylinder (445) are respectively and fixedly connected to two sides of a C-shaped opening of the poking needle bracket (441), and the first coring cylinder (442) and the second coring cylinder (445) are both arranged parallel to the Z axis;

a first poking needle (443) is fixedly connected to the first coring cylinder (442), a second poking needle (444) is fixedly connected to the second coring cylinder (445), and the first poking needle (443) and the second poking needle (444) are located in a C-shaped opening of the poking needle support (441) and are coaxial with each other.

7. The machine vision-based fresh lotus seed coring machine as claimed in claim 1 or 2, further comprising a conveying and guiding device (2), wherein the conveying and guiding device (2) comprises a driving motor (21), a driving chain wheel (22), a conveying and guiding chain (23), a driven chain wheel (24), a damping support plate (25), a photoelectric sensor (26), a pressing device (27), a sorting blanking nozzle (281), a sorting blanking pipeline (282), a blanking pipeline (283), a processed lotus seed collection box (291) and an unprocessed lotus seed collection box (292);

the conveying guide chain (23) comprises a plurality of guide rollers (231), a plurality of pairs of roller mounting pieces (232) and a pair of roller chains (233);

the pair of roller chains (233) bypasses the driving chain wheel (22) and the driven chain wheel (24), and the driving chain wheel (22) is linked with the driving motor (21) so that the pair of roller chains (233) synchronously run under the driving of the driving motor (21); the guide rollers (231) are arranged in parallel to the Z axis, and two ends of the guide rollers (231) are hinged with the pair of roller chains (233) through a pair of roller mounting pieces (232) respectively, so that the guide rollers (231) can freely rotate around the axes of the guide rollers; the middle part of the guide roller (231) is provided with an annular groove, so that an accommodating space for accommodating lotus seeds is formed between the adjacent annular grooves;

the damping support plate (25) extends into a space between the driving chain wheel (22) and the driven chain wheel (24) and is in contact with the guide roller (231) positioned above the driving chain wheel (22) and the driven chain wheel (24), so that the guide roller (231) passively rotates under the influence of friction force between the guide roller and the damping support plate (25) when passing through the damping support plate (25);

the photoelectric sensor (26) is fixedly connected to one side of the conveying guide chain (23) and is positioned in front of the coring actuating mechanism (4) and used for detecting whether lotus seeds are ready to enter a coring station or not;

the pressing device (27) comprises a pressing rod (271) and a pressing cylinder (272), wherein the pressing rod (271) is positioned right above the coring station and is driven by the pressing cylinder (272) to do reciprocating lifting motion;

the top opening of the blanking pipeline (283) is arranged below the tail end of the conveying guide chain (23), and the bottom opening of the blanking pipeline (283) is communicated with the lotus seed processing collecting box (291), so that lotus seeds which are subjected to coring operation are collected;

the sorting blanking nozzle (281) and the sorting blanking pipeline (282) are respectively arranged on two sides of the conveying guide chain (23) and on two sides of the next station of the coring station, lotus seeds without cores are blown to the sorting blanking pipeline (282) through the sorting blanking nozzle (281), and the sorting blanking pipeline (282) is communicated with the unprocessed lotus seed collecting box (292) so as to collect the lotus seeds without coring operation.

8. The machine vision-based fresh lotus seed core removing machine is characterized by further comprising a feeding device (1), wherein the feeding device (1) comprises a main hopper (11), a conveying channel (12), a direct vibration motor (13), a flow guide elastic sheet (14), a feeding cylinder (15) and an auxiliary hopper (16);

the auxiliary hopper (16) is fixedly connected above the conveying guide chain (23) and is positioned on one side, far away from the coring execution mechanism (4), of the damping support plate (25); the conveying channel (12) is connected above the auxiliary hopper (16) through a direct vibration motor (13), and the outlet of the conveying channel (12) is positioned right above the auxiliary hopper (16); the main hopper (11) is fixedly connected to one side of the conveying channel (12) far away from the auxiliary hopper (16), and the outlet of the main hopper (11) is positioned right above the conveying channel (12);

the flow guide elastic sheet (14) is arc-shaped and is arranged in the middle of the conveying channel (12) along the length direction of the conveying channel, and the flow guide elastic sheet is made of elastic materials;

an outlet used for containing a single lotus seed is formed in the side wall of the conveying channel (12), the feeding air cylinder (15) is fixedly connected to the conveying channel (12), a piston rod of the feeding air cylinder (15) extends into the outlet of the conveying channel (12), and the outlet of the conveying channel (12) is opened or closed through reciprocating motion of the piston rod.

9. The machine vision-based fresh lotus seed coring machine as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the image processing module first pre-processes images acquired by two cameras; the positions of the aligned lotus seeds at the coring station are relatively fixed, and at least one camera can shoot a dark head area of the lotus seeds, so that the tail direction of the lotus seeds can be identified through the gray features of the heads and the tails of the lotus seeds; further preprocessing the images of the tail areas of the lotus seeds, then highlighting the salient points at the tail of the lotus seeds, and identifying the coordinate positions of the salient points at the tail by adopting an angular point detection algorithm; calculating the space coordinate of the salient point at the tail of the lotus seed according to coordinate conversion; and finally, sending the orientation of the tail part of the lotus seed and the coordinate information of the tail salient point to a control system.

10. The machine vision-based fresh lotus seed coring machine as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the image preprocessing mainly comprises clipping an image, performing binarization processing on the image, and performing morphological processing on the image;

the gray scale characteristics of the head and the tail of the lotus seed mean that a dark color area outside the lotus seed is the head, a light color area is the tail, namely the gray scale value of the tail image of the lotus seed is lower than that of the head image;

at least one of the first camera or the second camera can acquire a characteristic image of a head dark color area of the lotus seed, and the tail direction of the lotus seed is identified through the difference of contrast gray values if the position of the lotus seed is relatively fixed; the angular point detection algorithm means that the salient points at the tail part of the lotus seeds protrude outwards, and if the image of the tail part area has obvious angular points, the coordinate positions of the salient points at the tail part are identified through the angular point detection algorithm.

Technical Field

The invention relates to a fresh lotus seed core removing device, in particular to a machine vision-based fresh lotus seed core removing device.

Background

Lotus seeds are distributed in various provinces of south and north of China, and are mainly distributed in water areas of east China, China and south China, such as Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and the like. The lotus seed has high nutritive value and medicinal value, but the lotus plumule is bitter and generally needs to be removed before eating. At present, the core-opening link of the lotus seed is mainly processed by a simple tool or a laggard small machine by manpower.

The existing lotus seed coring equipment adopts the maximum cross section of the outer contour along the long axis direction of the lotus seed to position, and punctures a poking needle from the center of a circumscribed circle to core. However, the appearance size of the lotus seed is different, the roundness of the cross section is not uniform, and the coaxiality error of the geometric axis of the fresh lotus seed and the axis of the lotus nut is large and can reach about 2mm at most. When the existing method is adopted for coring, the poking direction of a poking needle or a drill bit is easy to deviate from the axial direction of a lotus nut long shaft, so that the problems of easy damage of lotus nuts, incomplete coring, serious damage of lotus nuts and the like are caused.

In the prior art, most of coring equipment for fresh chains is similar to a Chinese invention patent application named as a pneumatic self-adaptive fresh lotus seed coring machine and having an application number of 201910301627.3, which is published by the national bureau on 7, 23 and 2019, wherein the information of the head and the tail of the straightened lotus seeds is obtained through a color code sensor and is transmitted to a PLC (programmable logic controller) to determine which group of self-adaptive coring mechanisms execute coring actions; however, the problems of incomplete coring, lotus seed kernel and lotus seed kernel damage and the like caused by the fact that the axis direction of the lotus seed kernel long shaft is deviated due to the piercing direction are still not solved. Meanwhile, the mode of identifying the head and the tail through the color mark sensor has high requirement on the color of the head of the lotus seed, and is not suitable for the lotus seeds with different head colors in different producing areas and different growing periods.

In addition, the scheme also mentions that the rubber-coated rollers are driven to rotate by a friction belt, so that the lotus seeds positioned between two adjacent rubber-coated rollers can roll quickly to realize posture adjustment; however, since the shape of the lotus seed is approximately elliptical, if the encapsulated roller shown in fig. 7 is adopted, an optimal phase section exists between the lotus seed and the encapsulated roller, so that the long axis of the lotus seed deviates from a preset position and forms a certain included angle with the preset position, and finally, great influence is brought to the accuracy of subsequent coring operation and the coring effect.

Disclosure of Invention

Aiming at the problems, the invention provides a machine vision-based fresh lotus seed coring machine, which controls a coring execution mechanism to accurately core the lotus seed from the tail direction and the tail salient point position of the lotus seed by accurately identifying the tail direction and the tail salient point position of the lotus seed. The problem of difficult positioning of the coring position is solved, and the method has the characteristics of high automation degree, high coring success rate, low requirement on the uniformity of the lotus seed size, good applicability to lotus seeds of different production places, capability of ensuring the integrity and low damage rate of the cored lotus seeds and the lotus cores and the like.

The technical scheme of the invention is as follows: comprises a machine vision device 3 for collecting fresh lotus seed images and a coring actuating mechanism 4 for executing coring operation;

the machine vision device 3 comprises a first camera 32 and a second camera 34 which are respectively positioned at two sides of a coring station of lotus seeds, and images of the lotus seeds positioned in the coring station are collected through the first camera 32 and the second camera 34;

the coring actuating mechanism 4 comprises a first linear module 42, a second linear module 43 and a coring poking needle assembly 44, wherein the coring poking needle assembly 44 is horizontally arranged, the coring poking needle assembly 44 is driven to translate by the first linear module 42 and the second linear module 43, and coring operation is completed by the action of the coring poking needle assembly 44.

The fresh lotus seed coring machine further comprises an image processing module and a control system;

the image processing module identifies the tail orientation of the lotus seed and the position of the salient point of the tail of the lotus seed according to the image acquired by the machine vision device 3, and sends the space coordinate of the salient point of the tail of the lotus seed to the control system after calculating the space coordinate;

the control system controls the first linear module 42 and the second linear module 43 according to the space coordinates of the salient points of the tail part of the lotus seed, so that a coring and poking needle in the coring and poking needle assembly 44 is translated to a position coaxial with the salient points of the tail part of the lotus seed, and then controls the corresponding coring and poking needle according to the direction of the tail part of the lotus seed to complete coring operation of the lotus seed.

The machine vision device 3 also comprises a light source 33 arranged towards the coring station.

First camera 32 and second camera 34 are fixed connection respectively in the frame, and the two all sets up towards coring station, first camera 32 sets up in parallel with the Y axle, second camera 34 sets up in parallel with the X axle.

The first linear module 42 and the second linear module 43 are both linear driving mechanisms and both have a fixed part and a movable part;

the fixed part of the first straight line module 42 is fixedly connected to the frame, the fixed part of the second straight line module 43 is fixedly connected to the movable part of the first straight line module 42, and the coring and poking assembly 44 is fixedly connected to the movable part of the second straight line module 43;

the first linear module 42 is arranged parallel to the Y axis, so that the second linear module 43 and the coring and poking needle assembly 44 are driven to translate along the Y axis; the second linear module 43 is arranged parallel to the X-axis to drive the coring and poking needle assembly 44 to translate along the X-axis.

The coring and poking assembly 44 comprises a poking needle support 441, and a first coring cylinder 442 and a second coring cylinder 445 which are fixed on the poking needle support 441, wherein the poking needle support 441 is C-shaped, the first coring cylinder 442 and the second coring cylinder 445 are respectively and fixedly connected to two sides of a C-shaped opening of the poking needle support 441, and the first coring cylinder 442 and the second coring cylinder 445 are both arranged in parallel to the Z axis;

a first poking needle 443 is fixedly connected to the first coring cylinder 442, a second poking needle 444 is fixedly connected to the second coring cylinder 445, and the first poking needle 443 and the second poking needle 444 are both positioned in the C-shaped opening of the poking needle support 441 and are coaxial with each other.

The fresh lotus seed core removing machine further comprises a conveying and guiding device 2, wherein the conveying and guiding device 2 comprises a driving motor 21, a driving chain wheel 22, a conveying and guiding chain 23, a driven chain wheel 24, a damping supporting plate 25, a photoelectric sensor 26, a pressing device 27, a sorting and blanking nozzle 281, a sorting and blanking pipeline 282, a blanking pipeline 283, a processed lotus seed collecting box 291 and an unprocessed lotus seed collecting box 292;

the conveying guide chain 23 comprises a plurality of guide rollers 231, a plurality of pairs of roller mounting pieces 232 and a pair of roller chains 233;

the pair of roller chains 233 are wound around the driving sprocket 22 and the driven sprocket 24, and the driving sprocket 22 is linked with the driving motor 21, so that the pair of roller chains 233 are driven by the driving motor 21 to synchronously run; the guide rollers 231 are arranged in parallel to the Z axis, and two ends of the guide rollers 231 are hinged to the pair of roller chains 233 through a pair of roller mounting pieces 232, so that the guide rollers 231 can freely rotate around the axes thereof; the middle part of the guide roller 231 is provided with an annular groove, so that an accommodating space for accommodating lotus seeds is formed between adjacent annular grooves;

the damping support plate 25 extends between the driving sprocket 22 and the driven sprocket 24 and contacts with the guide roller 231 on the driving sprocket 22 and the driven sprocket 24, so that the guide roller 231 passively rotates under the influence of the friction force between the guide roller 231 and the damping support plate 25 when passing through the damping support plate 25;

the photoelectric sensor 26 is fixedly connected to one side of the conveying guide chain 23 and is positioned in front of the coring executing mechanism 4, and is used for detecting whether lotus seeds are ready to enter a coring station;

the pressing device 27 comprises a pressing rod 271 and a pressing cylinder 272, wherein the pressing rod 271 is positioned right above the coring station and is driven by the pressing cylinder 272 to reciprocate.

The top opening of the blanking pipeline 283 is arranged below the tail end of the lotus seed conveyed by the conveying guide chain 23, and the bottom opening of the blanking pipeline 283 is communicated with the lotus seed processing collecting box 291 so as to collect the lotus seed which is subjected to the coring operation; the lotus seeds without cores are continuously conveyed forwards until the lotus seeds freely fall to the top opening of a blanking pipeline 283 arranged below the conveying guide chain, and enter a processed lotus seed collecting box 291 through the blanking pipeline 283 to finish blanking collection;

the sorting blanking nozzle 281 and the sorting blanking pipeline 282 are respectively arranged at two sides of the conveying guide chain 23 and at two sides of the next station of the coring station, lotus seeds without coring are blown into the sorting blanking pipeline 282 through the sorting blanking nozzle 281, and the sorting blanking pipeline 282 is communicated with the unprocessed lotus seed collecting box 292 so as to collect the lotus seeds without coring operation.

The fresh lotus seed core removing machine further comprises a feeding device 1, wherein the feeding device 1 comprises a main hopper 11, a conveying channel 12, a direct vibration motor 13, a flow guide elastic sheet 14, a feeding cylinder 15 and an auxiliary material hopper 16;

the auxiliary hopper 16 is fixedly connected above the conveying guide chain 23 and is positioned on one side of the damping support plate 25 far away from the coring actuating mechanism 4; the conveying channel 12 is connected above the auxiliary hopper 16 through a direct vibration motor 13, and the outlet of the conveying channel 12 is positioned right above the auxiliary hopper 16; the main hopper 11 is fixedly connected to one side of the conveying channel 12 far away from the auxiliary hopper 16, and the outlet of the main hopper 11 is positioned right above the conveying channel 12;

the flow guide elastic sheet 14 is arc-shaped and is arranged in the middle of the conveying channel 12 along the length direction of the conveying channel, and the flow guide elastic sheet is made of an elastic material;

an outlet for accommodating a single lotus seed is formed in the side wall of the conveying channel 1, the feeding air cylinder 15 is fixedly connected to the conveying channel 12, a piston rod of the feeding air cylinder 15 extends into the outlet of the conveying channel 12, and the outlet of the conveying channel 12 is opened or closed through the reciprocating motion of the piston rod.

The image processing module firstly preprocesses images acquired by the two cameras; the positions of the aligned lotus seeds at the coring station are relatively fixed, and at least one camera can shoot a dark head area of the lotus seeds, so that the tail direction of the lotus seeds can be identified through the gray features of the heads and the tails of the lotus seeds; further preprocessing the images of the tail areas of the lotus seeds, then highlighting the salient points at the tail of the lotus seeds, and identifying the coordinate positions of the salient points at the tail by adopting an angular point detection algorithm; calculating the space coordinate of the salient point at the tail of the lotus seed according to coordinate conversion; and finally, sending the orientation of the tail part of the lotus seed and the coordinate information of the tail salient point to a control system.

The image preprocessing mainly comprises the steps of cutting an image, carrying out binarization processing on the image and carrying out morphological processing on the image;

the gray scale characteristics of the head and the tail of the lotus seed mean that a dark color area outside the lotus seed is the head, a light color area is the tail, namely the gray scale value of the tail image of the lotus seed is lower than that of the head image;

at least one of the first camera or the second camera can acquire a characteristic image of a head dark color area of the lotus seed, and the tail direction of the lotus seed is identified through the difference of contrast gray values if the position of the lotus seed is relatively fixed; the angular point detection algorithm means that the salient points at the tail part of the lotus seeds protrude outwards, and if the image of the tail part area has obvious angular points, the coordinate positions of the salient points at the tail part are identified through the angular point detection algorithm.

In order to overcome the defects of the prior art, the invention discovers that a convex point is formed at the tail part of the lotus seed at the growth joint of the lotus plumule and the lotus pulp by observing the physical characteristics of the lotus seed and the actual production process, the lotus plumule is removed from the convex point position at the tail part of the lotus seed, the core removing effect is best, and if the core removing quality and efficiency are improved, the lotus plumule is passed through from the convex point position at the tail part of the lotus seed, so the positioning of the convex point position becomes a difficult problem.

Therefore, the machine vision recognition system is introduced to collect and process the image of the fresh lotus seed in real time, recognize the tail orientation of the lotus seed and the position coordinates of the salient points in real time, control the coring execution mechanism to accurately core from the salient points at the tail of the lotus seed, improve the success rate of coring the fresh lotus seed, and reduce the damage rate of the lotus seed and the lotus seed.

The beneficial effects obtained by the invention are as follows: the machine vision device is adopted to collect images of lotus seeds at a coring station on line, the tail orientation and tail salient point coordinate positions of the lotus seeds are identified through the image processing module, the tail orientation and tail salient point coordinate information is transmitted to the control system in real time, the control system controls the corresponding linear module on the coring execution mechanism to move in real time, the tail salient point position is accurately positioned, then the poking needle and the nozzle in the corresponding direction are driven to act, and the coring operation is accurately finished; the lotus seeds which are not successfully identified with the tail orientation information and the salient point coordinate position are not subjected to coring operation, and are separated by a sorting device; the control system can effectively control the system according to the material signals detected by the photoelectric sensor, and does not perform image recognition and coring operation during material shortage. The invention has accurate visual positioning, low requirements on the variety, production area and size consistency of the lotus seeds, and has the characteristics of high success rate, low damage rate, reliable operation, convenient maintenance and the like.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of the present application,

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of the feeding device in the present case,

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of the conveying and guiding device in the present application,

figure 4 is a top view of the conveying and guiding device in the present case,

figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line a-a of figure 4,

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a coring actuator in the present case,

figure 7 is a top view of the coring actuator of the present case,

figure 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of figure 7,

figure 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line C-C of figure 7,

figure 10 is a schematic view of a coordinate system in the present case,

figure 11 is a flow chart of the working of the present case as a whole,

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of the image processing in the present case;

in the figure, 1 is a feeding device, 11 is a main hopper, 12 is a conveying channel, 13 is a direct vibration motor, 14 is a flow guide elastic sheet, 15 is a feeding cylinder, and 16 is an auxiliary hopper;

2, a conveying guide device, 21, a motor, 22, a driving sprocket, 23, a conveying guide chain, 24, a driven sprocket, 25, a damping support plate, 26, a photoelectric sensor, 27, a pressing device, 271, a pressing rod and 272, a pressing cylinder; 281 is a sorting blanking nozzle, 282 is a sorting blanking pipeline, 283 is a blanking pipeline, 291 is a processed lotus seed collecting box, and 292 is an unprocessed lotus seed collecting box;

3 is a machine vision device, 31 is a first camera mount, 32 is a first camera, 33 is a light source, 34 is a second camera, 35 is a second camera mount;

4 is a coring actuator, 41 is a coring actuator bracket;

42 is a first linear module, 421 is a first motor, 422 is a first lead screw, 423 is a first limit switch, 424 is a first screw nut, 425 is a first sliding block, and 426 is a first fixed seat;

43 is a second linear module, 431 is a second motor, 432 is a second lead screw, 433 is a second limit switch, 434 is a second screw nut, 435 is a second sliding block, 436 is a second fixed seat;

44 is a coring and poking needle assembly, 441 is a poking needle bracket, 442 is a first coring cylinder, 443 is a first poking needle, 444 is a second poking needle, 445 is a second coring cylinder;

and 5 is a frame.

Detailed Description

In order to clearly explain the technical features of the present patent, the following detailed description of the present patent is provided in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

As shown in fig. 1-12, the lotus seed core removing machine comprises a machine vision device 3 for collecting fresh lotus seed images and a core removing actuating mechanism 4 for executing core removing operation;

the machine vision device 3 comprises a first camera 32 and a second camera 34 which are respectively positioned at two sides of a coring station of lotus seeds, and images of the lotus seeds positioned in the coring station are collected through the first camera 32 and the second camera 34; when the chain is conveyed to a coring station, the chain can be temporarily stopped so as to facilitate image processing and coring operation;

the coring actuating mechanism 4 comprises a first linear module 42, a second linear module 43 and a coring poking needle assembly 44, wherein the coring poking needle assembly 44 is horizontally arranged, the coring poking needle assembly 44 is driven to translate by the first linear module 42 and the second linear module 43, and coring operation is completed by the action of the coring poking needle assembly 44.

The fresh lotus seed coring machine further comprises an image processing module and a control system;

the image processing module identifies the tail orientation of the lotus seed and the position of the salient point of the tail of the lotus seed according to the image acquired by the machine vision device 3, and sends the space coordinate of the salient point of the tail of the lotus seed to the control system after calculating the space coordinate;

the control system controls the first linear module 42 and the second linear module 43 according to the space coordinates of the salient points of the tail part of the lotus seed, so that a coring and poking needle in the coring and poking needle assembly 44 is translated to a position coaxial with the salient points of the tail part of the lotus seed, and then controls the corresponding coring and poking needle (namely, the coring and poking needle close to the salient points of the tail part of the lotus seed) according to the orientation of the tail part of the lotus seed to complete coring operation of the lotus seed.

The machine vision device 3 also comprises a light source 33 arranged towards the coring station. Therefore, the brightness of the position of the coring station is effectively improved, and the first camera 32 and the second camera 34 can conveniently acquire images.

As shown in fig. 1 and 10, the first camera 32 and the second camera 34 are respectively and fixedly connected to the frame and both disposed toward the coring station, the first camera 32 is disposed parallel to the Y axis, and the second camera 34 is disposed parallel to the X axis.

The first camera 32 is fixedly connected to the frame 5 through a first camera support 31, the second camera 34 is fixedly connected to the frame through a second camera support 35, and the first camera 32 and the second camera 34 are symmetrically arranged on two sides of the coring station and have orthogonal central axes.

As shown in fig. 6-10, the first linear module 42 and the second linear module 43 are both linear driving mechanisms, and both have a fixed part and a movable part;

the fixed part of the first straight line module 42 is fixedly connected to the rack through a coring actuator bracket 41, the fixed part of the second straight line module 43 is fixedly connected to the movable part of the first straight line module 42, and the coring poking needle assembly 44 is fixedly connected to the movable part of the second straight line module 43;

the first linear module 42 is arranged parallel to the Y axis, so that the second linear module 43 and the coring and poking needle assembly 44 are driven to translate along the Y axis; the second linear module 43 is arranged parallel to the X-axis to drive the coring and poking needle assembly 44 to translate along the X-axis.

As shown in fig. 7-9, the first linear module 42 includes a first motor 421, a first lead screw 422, a first limit switch 423, a first nut 424, a first sliding block 425, and a first fixing seat 426, where the first sliding block 425 is a movable portion of the first linear module 42, the first fixing seat 426 is fixedly connected to the rack through a coring actuator bracket 41, the first motor 421 is fixedly connected to the first fixing seat 426, two ends of the first lead screw 422 are hinged to the first fixing seat 426 and linked with the first motor 421, the first lead screw 422 is disposed parallel to the Y axis, the first sliding block 425 is slidably connected to the first fixing seat 426 along the Y direction, the first nut 424 is fixedly connected to the first sliding block 425, the first nut 424 is sleeved on the first lead screw 422, and the first nut 424 is in threaded connection with the first lead screw 422.

The first limit switch 423 is fixedly connected to the first fixing base 426 and is used for limiting the maximum moving distance of the first slider 425.

As shown in fig. 7-9, the second linear module 43 includes a second motor 431, a second lead screw 432, a second limit switch 433, a second nut 434, a second slider 435, and a second fixed seat 436, where the second slider 435 is a movable portion of the second linear module 43, the second fixed seat 436 is fixedly connected to the first slider 425, the second motor 431 is fixedly connected to the second fixed seat 436, two ends of the second lead screw 432 are hinged to the second fixed seat 436 and linked with the second motor 431, the second lead screw 432 is disposed parallel to the X-axis, the second slider 435 is slidably connected to the second fixed seat 436 along the X-direction, the second nut 434 is fixedly connected to the second slider 435, the second nut 434 is sleeved on the second lead screw 432, and the second nut 434 is in threaded connection with the second lead screw 432.

The second limit switch 433 is fixedly connected to the second fixing seat 436 and is configured to limit a maximum moving distance of the second sliding block 435.

Thus, the first motor 421 drives the first slide block 425 in the first linear module 42 to translate along the Y direction, the second motor 431 drives the second slide block 435 in the second linear module 43 to translate along the X direction, and the coring and poking needle assembly 44 is translated by a corresponding distance according to the tail bump position coordinates sent by the image processing module; and during the movement, the maximum safe moving distance is limited by the first limit switch 423 and the second limit switch 433.

As shown in fig. 6 and 10, the coring and poking assembly 44 comprises a poking needle support 441 and a first coring cylinder 442 and a second coring cylinder 445 fixed thereon, the poking needle support is fixedly connected to the second slider 435 in the second linear module 43, the poking needle support 441 is C-shaped, the first coring cylinder 442 and the second coring cylinder 445 are respectively and fixedly connected to two sides of a C-shaped opening of the poking needle support 441, and the first coring cylinder 442 and the second coring cylinder 445 are both arranged parallel to the Z-axis;

a first poking needle 443 is fixedly connected to the first coring cylinder 442, a second poking needle 444 is fixedly connected to the second coring cylinder 445, and the first poking needle 443 and the second poking needle 444 are both positioned in the C-shaped opening of the poking needle support 441 and are coaxial with each other.

The first poking needle 443 and the second poking needle 444 are both connected with coring nozzles, so that according to tail orientation signals sent by a control system, the coring cylinders in corresponding directions are controlled to work, namely, the coring cylinders close to the salient points of the tail of the lotus seed drive the poking needles to move along a Z direction, the lotus seeds are poked in from the positions of the salient points along the Z direction to poke the lotus cores, then the poked lotus cores are removed by blowing through the nozzles arranged on the poking needles, and coring operation is completed.

As shown in fig. 10, the coordinate system established by the present invention has an X-axis parallel to the axis of the second camera 34, a Y-axis parallel to the axis of the first camera 32, an X-axis and a Y-axis intersecting the origin O, and a Z-axis perpendicular to the XOY plane. Through the calculation of the image processing module, the first camera 32 can obtain the image coordinates (X, Z) of the salient points at the tail of the lotus seeds, the second camera 34 can obtain the image coordinates (Y, Z) of the salient points at the tail of the lotus seeds, and the space coordinates (X, Y, Z) of the salient points at the tail of the lotus seeds can be obtained through coordinate conversion. However, the lotus seed position is relatively fixed, the movement of the coring and poking needle can be customized and driven by the coring air cylinder, so that the coring actuating mechanism can be guided to perform bump positioning only by the (X, Y) coordinates without a Z-axis coordinate, and then the coring and poking needle in the corresponding direction is driven to complete coring operation according to tail bump orientation information.

As shown in fig. 3-5, the fresh lotus seed core remover further comprises a conveying and guiding device 2, wherein the conveying and guiding device 2 comprises a driving motor 21 for providing driving force, a driving sprocket 22, a conveying and guiding chain 23, a driven sprocket 24, a damping support plate 25, a photoelectric sensor 26, a pressing device 27, a sorting and blanking nozzle 281, a sorting and blanking pipeline 282, a blanking pipeline 283, a processed lotus seed collecting box 291 and an unprocessed lotus seed collecting box 292;

the conveying guide chain 23 comprises a plurality of guide rollers 231, a plurality of pairs of roller mounting pieces 232 and a pair of roller chains 233;

the pair of roller chains 233 are wound around the driving sprocket 22 and the driven sprocket 24, and the driving sprocket 22 is linked with the driving motor 21, so that the pair of roller chains 233 are driven by the driving motor 21 to synchronously run; the guide rollers 231 are arranged in parallel to the Z axis, and two ends of the guide rollers 231 are hinged to the pair of roller chains 233 through a pair of roller mounting pieces 232, so that the guide rollers 231 can freely rotate around the axes thereof; the middle part of the guide roller 231 is provided with an annular groove, so that an accommodating space for accommodating lotus seeds is formed between adjacent annular grooves; therefore, different from the accommodating space with an arc-shaped or conical-surface-shaped cross section in the prior art, the groove bottom of the annular groove is planar, the groove bottom of the annular groove is vertical to two side walls of the annular groove, and the problem that the lotus seeds and the accommodating space form the optimal phase section due to surface contact is avoided through a point contact mode, so that the axis of the long axis of the lotus seeds and the axis of the lotus cores can be parallel to the Z axis after the lotus seeds are subsequently straightened, and the problems of inclination and deflection of the axis of the long axis of the lotus seeds are avoided;

the damping support plate 25 extends between the driving sprocket 22 and the driven sprocket 24 and contacts with the guide roller 231 on the driving sprocket 22 and the driven sprocket 24, so that the guide roller 231 passively rotates under the influence of the friction force between the guide roller 231 and the damping support plate 25 when passing through the damping support plate 25; thus, when the guiding roller bearing the lotus seeds passes through the damping support plate, the lotus seeds are guided while rotating through the passive rotation around the axes of the guiding roller, so that the axes of the long axes of the lotus seeds and the axes of the lotus cores can be parallel to the Z axis;

the photoelectric sensor 26 is fixedly connected to one side of the conveying guide chain 23 and is positioned in front of the coring executing mechanism 4, and is used for detecting whether lotus seeds are ready to enter a coring station;

the pressing device 27 comprises a pressing rod 271 and a pressing cylinder 272, wherein the pressing rod 271 is positioned right above the coring station and is driven by the pressing cylinder 272 to reciprocate. The pressing rod 271 extends into the C-shaped opening of the poking needle support 441, and when the pressing rod 271 moves downwards, the pressing rod 271 can press the lotus seeds in the accommodating space below the pressing rod, so that the lotus seeds temporarily stay at the position, which can also be called a coring station. When the lotus seed enters the coring station, the pressing rod descends to press the lotus seed so as to facilitate the subsequent machine vision device 3 to collect the fresh lotus seed image and the coring execution mechanism 4 to execute coring operation;

the top opening of the blanking pipeline 283 is arranged below the tail end of the lotus seed conveyed by the conveying guide chain 23, and the bottom opening of the blanking pipeline 283 is communicated with the lotus seed processing collecting box 291 so as to collect the lotus seed which is subjected to the coring operation; the lotus seeds without cores are continuously conveyed forwards until the lotus seeds freely fall to the top opening of a blanking pipeline 283 arranged below the conveying guide chain, and enter a processed lotus seed collecting box 291 through the blanking pipeline 283 to finish blanking collection;

the sorting blanking nozzle 281 and the sorting blanking pipeline 282 are respectively arranged at two sides of the conveying guide chain 23 and at two sides of the next station of the coring station, lotus seeds without coring are blown into the sorting blanking pipeline 282 through the sorting blanking nozzle 281, and the sorting blanking pipeline 282 is communicated with the unprocessed lotus seed collecting box 292 so as to collect the lotus seeds without coring operation. Thus, for step S5, when the orientation signals of the two camera images do not coincide, the lotus seeds which are not cored out, and which are not subjected to the subsequent steps S6-S9, are sorted.

As shown in fig. 1-2, the fresh lotus seed core remover further comprises a feeding device 1, wherein the feeding device 1 comprises a main hopper 11, a conveying channel 12, a direct vibration motor 13, a flow guide elastic sheet 14, a feeding cylinder 15 and an auxiliary hopper 16;

the auxiliary hopper 16 is fixedly connected above the conveying guide chain 23 and is positioned on one side of the damping support plate 25 far away from the coring actuating mechanism 4; the conveying channel 12 is connected above the auxiliary hopper 16 through a direct vibration motor 13, and the outlet of the conveying channel 12 is positioned right above the auxiliary hopper 16; the main hopper 11 is fixedly connected to one side of the conveying channel 12 far away from the auxiliary hopper 16, and the outlet of the main hopper 11 is positioned right above the conveying channel 12; after entering the main hopper, the lotus seeds can enter the conveying channel from the outlet of the main hopper and finally fall on the conveying guide chain 23 through the auxiliary hopper;

the flow guide elastic sheet 14 is arc-shaped and is arranged in the middle of the conveying channel 12 along the length direction of the conveying channel, and the flow guide elastic sheet is made of an elastic material; thereby ensuring that the feeding process of the lotus seeds is smooth and does not block the materials;

an outlet for accommodating a single lotus seed is formed in the side wall of the conveying channel 1, the feeding air cylinder 15 is fixedly connected to the conveying channel 12, a piston rod of the feeding air cylinder 15 extends into the outlet of the conveying channel 12, and the outlet of the conveying channel 12 is opened or closed through the reciprocating motion of the piston rod. During the in-service use, steerable pay-off cylinder motion cycle keeps unanimous with transport and leads positive device operation cycle to make the lotus seeds fall to the accommodation space one by one, guarantee the stability of pay-off.

As shown in fig. 11-12, the image processing module first pre-processes the images captured by the two cameras; the positions of the aligned lotus seeds at the coring station are relatively fixed, and at least one camera can shoot a dark head area of the lotus seeds, so that the tail direction of the lotus seeds can be identified through the gray features of the heads and the tails of the lotus seeds; further preprocessing the images of the tail areas of the lotus seeds, then highlighting the salient points at the tail of the lotus seeds, and identifying the coordinate positions of the salient points at the tail by adopting an angular point detection algorithm; calculating the space coordinate of the salient point at the tail of the lotus seed according to coordinate conversion; and finally, sending the orientation of the tail part of the lotus seed and the coordinate information of the tail salient point to a control system.

The image preprocessing mainly comprises the steps of cutting an image to improve the processing speed, carrying out binarization processing on the image to highlight the salient points at the tail parts of the lotus seeds, and carrying out morphological processing on the image to eliminate image noise;

the gray scale characteristics of the head and the tail of the lotus seed mainly mean that a dark color area outside the lotus seed is the head, a light color area is the tail, namely the gray scale value of the tail image of the lotus seed is lower than that of the head image;

at least one of the first camera or the second camera can acquire a characteristic image of a head dark color area of the lotus seed, and the tail direction of the lotus seed is identified through the difference of contrast gray values if the position of the lotus seed is relatively fixed; the angular point detection algorithm mainly means that the lotus seed tail salient points protrude outwards, obvious angular points are arranged in the images of the tail area, and the coordinate positions of the tail salient points are identified through the angular point detection algorithm.

The working process of the invention is specifically as follows:

s1, lotus seed feeding: the lotus seeds after husking and peeling are led into a main hopper 11, the feeding of the lotus seeds is completed by a feeding device 1, and the lotus seeds enter a conveying guide chain one by one;

s2, conveying and correcting lotus seeds: the lotus seeds are conveyed forwards through the conveying and aligning device 2, and when the lotus seeds pass through the upper part of the damping supporting plate, the aligning roller automatically rotates under the action of friction force to align the lotus seeds;

s3, incoming material detection: detecting the supplied materials of the straightened lotus seeds through a photoelectric sensor 26, and judging whether the lotus seeds pass through; when lotus seeds pass through, the signal is sent to a control system; otherwise, continuing the detection; during continuous processing, the photoelectric sensor can be kept working continuously, and the lotus seeds passing through the photoelectric sensor can be kept detected;

s4, pressing down a pressure lever: the 5-station delayed control pressure rod cylinder 272 drives the pressure rod 271 to press down, so that the lotus seeds stay at the coring station;

s5, image processing: triggering the first camera 32 and the second camera 34 to acquire images, processing the images in parallel by the image processing module, firstly segmenting the images, then comparing the gray scale characteristics to distinguish the tail direction, and when the direction signals of the two camera images are not consistent, not executing subsequent operation and waiting for the next camera triggering signal; when the orientation signals are consistent, tail area images of the two images are taken, binarization operation is carried out on the images, then corrosion expansion morphological operation is carried out to eliminate image noise, and then angular point detection is carried out to identify tail salient points; obtaining coordinates (X, Z) of a salient point in an image of the first camera, coordinates (Y, Z) of a salient point in an image of the second camera, and guiding the coring execution mechanism 4 to perform salient point positioning only by the coordinates (X, Y) of the spatial coordinates of the salient point, wherein the motion of the Z axis is a fixed value, so that the coordinates (X, Y) of the tail part of an XOY plane can be obtained by taking the coordinates and the Y coordinates in the image through coordinate conversion, and data are transmitted to the control system according to a Modbus communication protocol;

s6, movement of a coring mechanism: the control system controls the first motor and the second motor in the coring execution mechanism 4 to act;

s7, bump positioning: when the poking needle in the coring executing mechanism 4 moves to a corresponding position, namely the first poking needle, the second poking needle and the salient point at the tail part of the lotus seed are coaxial, the salient point positioning is completed;

s8, poking needle movement in the tail direction: controlling the coring cylinder in the corresponding direction to drive the coring poking needle to extend out, namely controlling the first coring cylinder or the second coring cylinder close to the salient point at the tail part of the lotus seed to work, so that the first poking needle or the second poking needle is poked from the salient point position at the tail part of the lotus seed;

s9, blowing air to remove lotus plumule: opening a nozzle on a first poking needle or a second poking needle which is punctured into the lotus seeds, blowing air to remove lotus cores, withdrawing the poking needle, and finishing the coring operation;

s10, blanking: the lotus seeds without cores are continuously conveyed forwards until the lotus seeds freely fall to the top opening of a blanking pipeline arranged below the conveying guide chain, and fall into a processed lotus seed collecting box 291 through a blanking pipeline 283 to finish blanking collection; for step S5, when the orientation signals of the two camera images are not consistent, the lotus seeds which are not decored are not processed in the subsequent steps S6-S9, and after the conveying guide chain moves forward to advance the lotus seeds by one station, the lotus seeds are blown into the sorting and blanking pipeline 282 by the sorting and blanking nozzle 281 arranged on one side of the conveying guide chain and fall into the unprocessed lotus seed collecting box 292 to be sorted.

While the invention has been described in terms of its preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.