Claims:CLAIMS

I Claim :

1. A method for sorting grain with four sorting stages, resulting in three sorted output stages as (i) Good grains , (ii) chalky grains & (iii) Other defects like Black, yellow , discoloured, such method comprising,
a) a Primary Sorting Stage, followed by resorting stages Resort 1 , Resort 2 and Resort 3,
i) each such stage having means for conveying the grain into a hopper and further to a vibratory feeder by means of a hopper collection box,
ii) further conveying of the grain from the vibratory feeder to a chute,
iii) such grain being illuminated by means of at least one light source such as fluorescent tube light or LED light with series of multiple Light emitting diodes and capturing of the image of the grain by at least one camera in the front and one camera in the rear,
iv) means for detection of good grain / black grain / yellow grain/ chalky grain,/discoloured or any other defects like pinpoint, tip black , weightless & foreign materials, such means for detection to vary according to rice variety,
v) controlling means for blowing an air stream for a particular duration by means of ejectors for segregation of reject grains and accept grains,
vi) collection means for collecting accept and reject grains separately,

b) such Primary Sorting stage, sorting the grains into Good grains which is the Final accept and Reject grains (4.1) which includes Black, Yellow and Chalky grains
c) such Resort 1 stage (4.2), wherein the input into this stage is the Reject grains received from the primary sorting stage, wherein such input is resorted into Good grains which is considered as accept quality and is again sent to Primary Sorting stage for re-inspection, and the reject grains (4.3) obtained from this Resort 1 stage which includes Black, Yellow and Chalky grains are further sorted in Resort 2 stage,
d) such resort 2 stage (4.4) further sorting the input grains into Final rejection (4.6) which includes, Black and Yellow grains and Accept quality (4.5) which includes Good and Chalky grains which is further resorted in Resort 3 stage and
e) such resort 3 stage (4.7) sorting the input grains into Chalky grains (4.9) which is sent for packing and Good grains (4.8) which is again sent to Resort 1 stage for re-inspection.
2. An alternate method for sorting grain with four sorting stages, comprising,
a) a Primary Sorting Stage, followed by resorting stages Resort 1 , Resort 2 and resort 3.
i) each such stage having means for conveying the grain into a hopper and further to a vibratory feeder by means of a hopper collection box,
ii) further conveying of the grain from the vibratory feeder to a chute,
iii) such grain being illuminated by means of at least one light source such as flourescent tube light or LED light with series of multiple light emitting diodes and capturing of the image of the grain by at least one camera in the front and one camera in the rear,
iv) means for detection of good grain / black grain / yellow grain/ chalky grain,/discoloured or any other defects like pinpoint, tip black weightless & foreign materials, such means for detection to vary according to rice variety,
v) controlling means for blowing an air stream for a particular duration by means of ejectors for segregation of reject grains and accept grains,
vi) collection means for collecting accept and reject grains separately,
b) such Primary Sorting stage, sorting the grains into Good grains which is the Final accept and Reject grains (5.1) which includes Black, Yellow and Chalky grains,
c) such Resort 1 stage, wherein the input into this stage is the Reject grains received from the primary sorting stage, wherein such input is resorted into Black, Yellow and Good Grains which is as accept quality and is sent to Resort 3 stage, and the reject grains (5.3) which includes chalky grains are further sorted in Resort 2 stage,
d) such resort 2 stage (5.4) further sorting the input grains into Accept quality (5.5) which includes Chalky grains which is sent for packing and reject quality (5.6) which includes good grains that is sent to Resort 1 stage for reinspection,
e) such resort 3 stage (5.7) sorting the input grains into Good grains (5.8) which is sent to either Primary Sorting Stage or
Resort 1 stage for reinspection and Final rejection (5.9) which includes Black and Yellow grains.
3. An apparatus for sorting grains, in particular rice grains, manufactured according to the invention as claimed in claim 1.
4. An apparatus for sorting grains, in particular rice grains,
manufactured according to the invention as claimed in claim 2.
5. The invention as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the product optical information image obtained through specific optical condition to detect the presence of chalky grains is determined based on the background or reference surface for both the front camera and rear camera.
6. The invention as claimed in claim 3 or claim 4, wherein chalky rice grains are separated and is available for packing.

Senthil Kumar B
Agent for the applicant
IN/PA-1549 , Description:
FORM 2

THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENT RULES, 2003

Complete Specification
(See section 10 and rule 13)

1.Title of the Invention :

TRISORTER - Three Output from One Input

2. Applicant
Name Nationality Address
Orange Sorting Machines (India) Pvt Ltd Indian S.F.No. 90/3, Chinnavedampatti Village, Aadhavan Industrial Estate, Athipalayam Road, Coimbatore 641049, Tamil Nadu

3. Preamble to the Description :

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

4. DESCRIPTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a grain sorter, and in particular to a vision based Rice colour sorter.

Background of the Invention

The conventional sorting process provides two sorted output against one input. With this invention we can get three sorted output against one input. In colour sorting machines the sorted output quality is decided by the colour sorter user based on agreed norms. The removing criteria of defects from the product flow is based on sorting criteria provided by the user according to the expected Quality requirement.

Normally in Rice grains the major defects considered are Black , Yellow, Chalky & discoloured grains, or any other defects like pinpoint, tip black weightless & foreign materials according to rice variety. The Black & yellow are based on their colour and grouped as Dark defects. Light yellow defects are considered as discoloured. Chalky defect means about half or three quarters of grain surface has an opaque and floury appearance. The sorting criteria is decided by the colour sorter user with the objective of optimising the yield of production by considering the allowable percentage of Defects in the Final sorted product.

The present invention allows the user to sort and get three modes of output like (i) Good, (ii) Chalky & (iii) other defects like black, yellow & Discoloured, etc separately. The separation of chalky grains provides benefit to the user since it can be used as an ingredient in food preparation process.

Objectives of the Invention

A principal object of this invention is to provide a means cum method of sorting chalky grains separately.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a Colour sorter with four sorting stages, resulting in three sorted output stages.

Detailed Description of the Invention

A colour sorter is used to sort grains and more particularly rice grains to separate defective grains from good and healthy grains. This invention proposes an improved method of sorting grains, against one input, getting three modes of sorted output like good, chalky & other defects separately . Further the invention discloses a device that can be easily programmed to obtain the desired level of purity in the final output. Flexibility in separately bagging the chalky grains that may be present in the input material is provided in the design aspect itself.
Fig 1 of the attached drawings discloses a layout of the colour sorter, wherein the input product (food grains) is carried over by means of an elevator and delivered to the hopper (1) which is a storage tank to temporarily hold a large volume of grains. The food grains flow from the hopper (1) to the hopper collection box (2), in which the product flow is regulated and such product is fed into the Vibratory feeder(3). From this feeder, the grains flow through the chute (4) which may have a plain or grooved surface. While passing through the plain or grooved surface, the grains are illuminated / irradiated by means of at least one light source (5) of desired wavelength. The camera (6) captures the light reflected by the grains. The camera also captures the light reflected by the background surface (7) which is considered as a reference. The optical information so obtained is converted into electrical signal and the data is sent to a control unit. The control unit analyses the data to determine if the grain is good or defective. In case the grain turns out to be defective, instruction is given to the ejectors (8) to produce an air stream for a particular time duration and the air blows the defective product away from the product flow. The accepted and rejected products are collected in a collection box (11) where a partition system is provided with individual outlets (9 & 10) to collect the accepted and rejected products separately.

Figure 2 discloses a colour sorter that contains primary and secondary stages of sorting. The first level of sorting is the primary sorting which results in segregation of good grains from the defective ones. These good grains are directly sent for packing.
Secondary sorting stage involves the sorting of the rejected grains from the primary sorting stage (12). This is done to improve the purity level of sorting and to remove the good grains mixed in the rejected output which are unintentionally removed during the removal of defects in Primary sorting process. This is required to decrease the proportion of good grains getting wasted along with the other defects.
Normally the secondary sorting contains two stages of sorting - Resort 1 (13) and Resort 2 (14). In Resorter 1 (13), the rejected grains of primary sorting (15) are fed into the chute and passes through the illumination area. After inspection, the accepted grains from outlet (16) are again fed into primary sorting feeder (12) for re-inspection.
Rejected grains from resorter 1 outlet (17) are fed into Resorter 2 (14). The sorting process is again carried out and accepted grains (18) are fed into Resort 1. The rejected rice from resorter 2 (19) is the final rejection.

In so far as rice commodity is concerned, the major defects that are required to be removed are black rice, yellow, discoloured & Chalky grains. The chalky rice is white in colour and about half or three quarters of the surface has an opaque and floury surface.
Grains with these defects are mixed in the throughput which is known as input contamination and expressed in percentage.
The allowable percentage of defects in the final sorted product is decided by the food grain producer or seller based on their norms and agreed quality standards. In the final rejection, all the above said defects will be present based on the sorting criteria provided by the user of the colour sorter.

Summary of the invention

This invention discloses a means cum method of allowing or facilitating the operator of the colour sorter to sort and separate chalky grains alone from the other defective grains in the final rejection. The purpose of collecting chalky rice grains separately is that this product is widely accepted as a food grain and is used in food preparation process. There is demand in the market to buy such chalky rice grains. Sorting chalky grains separately allows the user to extract more economic benefit out of the rice that would have otherwise been rejected.
Separation of chalky grains is achieved by introducing a new configuration in the colour sorter, wherein an additional sorting stage is introduced. Such separation and collection of chalky grains by adding another resorting stage, could be achieved in two methods.

Current practice of Sorting configuration

Fig 3 represents the sorting configuration that is currently practiced.
The primary sorting process is carried out and good grains are accepted which is final accept.
The rejection grains from the primary sorting (3.1) include Black, yellow, chalky grains & some amount of good grains. These good grains are unintentionally removed along with defective grains during primary sorting. Here the good grains present in the resorter input means they are left out good grains from Primary sorting process.

The rejected grains of primary sorting are fed into Resort 1 stage (3.2) Sorting process is again carried out and the rejected grains (3.3) from the Resort 1 (which comprise Black, Yellow chalky grains & Leftout Good grains ) are fed into Resort 2 (3.4). The accepted grains from Resort 1 are again fed into Primary sorting.

The rejected grains from resort 2 are the final rejection (3.6). The accepted grains from resort 2 (3.5) are fed into resort 1 for sorting again. Thus we are getting two output against one input.

Sorting configuration New method – Type I

Fig 4 discloses a new method of sorting configuration (Type I) which includes a resort stage 3.
In this new configuration, the primary rejection grains 4.1 (which includes black, yellow and chalky grains) are fed into Resort 1 stage (4.2). Sorting process is carried out in Resort 1 and the good grains are accepted. The rejected grains from Resort 1 (4.3) are fed into Resort 2 (4.4).
In Resort 2 stage, chalky grains along with good grains are also considered as Accept (4.5). This is achieved by setting the optical information and modifying the software algorithm to accept the chalky grains as good. Other defects are rejected and collected in the rejected outlet (4.6).
The mixed output of good and chalky grains from Resort 2 accept outlet (4.5) are fed into Resort 3 (4.7). In this stage good grains are considered as accept and chalky grains are considered as reject. The accepted good grains (4.8) are again fed into resort 1 (4.2) stage for re-inspection. The rejected chalky grains (4.9) are collected in a separate bin and sent for packing.

Sorting configuration New method – Type II

Fig 5 discloses a new method of sorting configuration (Type II) wherein the chalky grains are separated at the Resort 1 stage itself and the same is again passed through Resort 2 stage for re-inspection.
In this type of configuration, the primary rejection grains (which includes Black, yellow, Chalky & Left out good grains) are fed into Resort 1 stage (5.2). The sorting process is carried out and good grains along with black and yellow are accepted in this stage. The chalky grains (5.3) are rejected and fed into Resort 2 stage (5.4). It contains both chalky grains and left out good grains in the earlier sorting process.
In Resort 2 stage, chalky grains are considered as Accept (5.5) and sent for packing. The good grains are rejected and fed into Resort 1 input stage (5.2).
In Resort 3 stage (5.7), the input grains include good grains, black and yellow grains. The sorting process segregates the good grains (5.8) as Accept which is sent to either primary or Resort 1 input for re-inspection based on the contamination percentage present in the input. The Black and yellow grains (5.9) obtained in this stage is Final Rejection.

Chute System

Fig 6 reveals the chute design that can be used for the two new Types of Sorting configuration (Type I and Type II) discussed above. The chute design for primary stage comprises a Flat or plain surface. However in the Resort stages, the chute design comprises of a grooved surface with grooves like line formation. A single chute with partition wall at the centre may be used for resorting stage. Another alternative is to use two individual chutes for this purpose. The collection box for resort is single enclosure with a partition sheet inside the box to separate accept and reject grains. The top surface of the partition sheet is provided with a sharp corner formation to avoid hit back.

Product Optical Information

Product optical information is the image data captured by the camera at specific light condition. Product optical information image for chalky grains removal is obtained by varying the amount of light provided for the product. This can be done in two ways, i.e., by front camera or detection by both front and rear camera.

For detecting chalky grains by front camera means, the optical information image is as per the image shown in Fig 7a. With reference to the background or reference surface level (7.1), the chalky information (7.2) is in the upper half side and information related to good and other dark defects like Black, Dark yellow and light yellow (7.3) are in the lower half side. The Fig 7b shows the product optical information image of rear camera for this condition
.
This image is achieved by setting specific optical condition as per figure 7.4. The front side product lights are in switch ON condition (7.5 ) and Topmost rear product light is in On condition (7.6) . The condition of other rear product Lights (7.7) is in switch OFF condition.
For detecting Chalky grains by both Front and Rear camera means, the optical information image of front camera obtained is as per Fig 8a. With reference to the background or reference surface level (8.1), the chalky information (8.2) is in the lower half side and other dark defects like Black, Dark yellow and light yellow (8.3) are also in the lower half side. The figure 8b shows the product optical condition image captured by Rear camera for this condition

This image is achieved by setting specific optical condition as per figure 8.4. The front product lights are in switch ON condition (8.5 ) and All rear product light is in OFF condition (8.6) . The user provides the required sorting threshold level through HMI (Human machine interface). The image algorithm module compares the product optical information image and sorting threshold level data and provides instructions to ejectors. Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

Description of Drawings (Please refer drawings attached in the Annex)

Fig 1 –Colour Sorter Working concept
Fig 2 –Sorting Layout with Elevator Pipe lines
Fig 3 – Sorting Concept – Current methodology
Fig 4 – Sorting Concept – New configuration with resort 3 Type I
Fig 5 - Sorting Concept – New configuration with resort 3 Type II
Fig 6 – Chute System Design
Fig 7 – Product Optical Information image – Front camera
Fig 8 – Product Optical information image – Front & Rear camera

Senthil Kumar B
Agent for the applicant
IN/PA-1549