Rotary Tray for Machine Vision Inspection of Whole Eggplant

Fruit

Naoshi KondoNaoshi Kondo

Department of Mechanical EngineeringDepartment of Mechanical Engineering

Graduate School of Science and EngineeringGraduate School of Science and Engineering

Ehime UniversityEhime University

Japanese eggplants (Baby eggplants)

Overview of an eggplant grading system

Flow of fruit

Flow of box

(Total working area, including both 1st

and 2nd floors, is 3978 m2)

Fruit Reception

Eggplant Grading System

Conveyors that connect fruit feeding to sorting

3.3m/s

Turning Over

Rotary tray

Moving Direction

Capturing upper hemispheric image

Capturing opposite hemispheric image

Mechanism of Rotary Tray

Rotary Tray Motion

(1)(1)

A B

A

B

A B

A B

B A

B

A

B A

B

A

(2)(2) (3)(3) (4)(4)

(5)(5) (6)(6) (7)(7) (8)(8)

Motion of rotary trays on a grading line

Eggplants packed in a 2 kg box (size L) Box labels showingBox labels showing

Current traceability system

Traceability Data base

Web. Server

Grading dataFruit varietyChemicalsFertilizerOther operation

Consumer

EnquiriesComments

ProducerGrading Machine

Improvement for more precise traceability data

Eggplants from farmer Reception andData input

Feeding by manual

GradingPacking by manual

Conclusion

Rotary tray made whole elongate fruit inspection Rotary tray made whole elongate fruit inspection possible.possible.

Automation system enable more labor saving as Automation system enable more labor saving as well as provide a means of recording information well as provide a means of recording information on the quality of each fruit (fruit feeding and on the quality of each fruit (fruit feeding and packing operations.)packing operations.)

Automation will improve the traceability of Automation will improve the traceability of eggplants in the food distribution system, which is eggplants in the food distribution system, which is increasingly important in addressing the issues increasingly important in addressing the issues related to food quality and safety.related to food quality and safety.