AUTOMATED PRODUCT PROFILING APPARATUS AND PRODUCT SLICING SYSTEM USING THE SAME

摘要

An apparatus for acquiring a profile of a food product for use in subsequent processing of the food product includes a scanning area and one or more product drives for driving a product through the scanning area in a longitudinal direction. First line lasers project one first transverse laser line transversely to the longitudinal direction on the first surface and two first cameras arranged to capture different, overlapping first transverse image portions of the first transverse laser line. A reference laser projects a beam on the first surface that indicates a transverse reference position, and the two first cameras also capture the reference position. A control system uses the transverse reference position to combine the different first transverse image portions captured by the two first cameras to calculate a first profile of the first surface at multiple positions along a length of the first surface as the product is driven through the scanning area.

主权项

1. An apparatus for acquiring a profile of a food product for use in subsequent processing of the food product, comprising:
a scanning area; at least one product drive configured to drive a food product through the scanning area in a longitudinal direction; a first vision system configured to scan a first surface of the food product in the scanning area, the first vision system having
at least one illumination device, the at least one illumination device projecting light transversely to the longitudinal direction on the first surface,two first image capturing devices arranged to capture different first transverse image portions of the first surface illuminated by the light of the illumination device, wherein the two first image capturing devices are configured to capture overlapping images, anda reference illumination device configured to project reference light on the first surface that indicates a transverse reference position,wherein the two first image capturing devices are configured to capture the reference position along with the different first transverse image portions; and a control system configured to process the different first transverse image portions, the control system is configured to use the transverse reference position to combine the different first transverse image portions captured by the two first image capturing devices to eliminate overlap in the different first transverse image portions, and wherein the control system is configured to calculate a first profile of the first surface at multiple positions along a length of the first surface as the food product is driven through the scanning area.