Device for measuring calories of food items based on near-infrared optical measurements using a plurality of light sources

摘要

A device for measuring calories of food items includes a food item holding unit on which an inspection-target food item including a plurality of food materials is placed, a light source for radiating near-infrared rays at a specific wavelength region to the food item, and a light reception unit that receives light emitted from the light source and then reflected from the food item. The light receiving device receives light reflected from the food item when the near-infrared rays at the specific wavelength are radiated to the food item. A control unit calculates calories of the food item in accordance with measurement values of absorbances of the near-infrared rays at the specific wavelength region which are received by the light reception unit.

主权项

1. A device for measuring calories of food items, comprising:
a food item holding unit on which an inspection-target food item including a plurality of food materials is adapted to be placed, a light source for radiating near-infrared rays at a specific wavelength region to the food item, the light source including a lamp, a light chopper for chopping light from the lamp, an acoustic optical device receiving the light from the lamp and providing the near-infrared rays, the acoustic optical device spectrally separating the light into single-wavelength light rays, and a reflecting mirror for reflecting the near-infrared rays, a light reception unit that receives light emitted from the light source through the reflecting mirror and then adapted to be reflected from the food item, the light reception unit including a cylindrical body having a plurality of light receiving devices equally spaced in a circumferential direction of the cylindrical body, the light receiving device receiving light adapted to be reflected from the food item when the near-infrared rays at the specific wavelength are adapted to be radiated to the food item , and a control unit for calculating calories of the food item in accordance with measurement values of absorbances of the near-infrared rays at the specific wavelength region which are received by the light reception unit, wherein the food item holding unit comprises a turn table on which the food item is adapted to be placed, a rotary motor attached to the turn table for rotating the turn table, a lifting table for supporting the turn table and the rotary motor, a motion motor attached to the lifting table for moving the lifting table in a lateral direction, a drive motor attached to the lifting table for lifting the lifting table in a vertical direction, and a weight measuring unit connected to the lifting table for measuring weight of the food item on the turn table, wherein the control unit includes a processor unit having a calorie calculation function, the control unit selecting the near-infrared rays of the specific wavelength region of the light source, radiating the near-infrared rays to a sample food, a calorie of which is already known to confirm that calorie of the sample food, and obtaining the calorie based on the light reflected from the sample food and the specific wavelength region of the light source, and the control unit controls wherein the light source for irradiating the food with the near-infrared rays and controls the light receiving devices for collecting reflected light and program which comprises an algorithm for calculating calories based on light intensities reflected from the food and calibration curve, a total calorie of the food item is adapted to be calculated based on a total weight of the food item measured by the weight measuring unit and the light received by the light reception unit with reference to the calorie by the sample food and the algorithm comprising regression expression, and wherein the regression expression is composed of a formula satisfying the relation of General Formula including variables of respective absorbances at first to n-th wavelengths indicating a high inter-wavelength correlation coefficient:C=K⁢⁢0+K⁢⁢1⁢ⅆ2⁢A1⁡(λ1)ⅆλ2+K⁢⁢2⁢ⅆ2⁢A2⁡(λ2)ⅆλ2+…+K⁢⁢n⁢ⅆ2⁢An⁡(λ⁢⁢n)ⅆλ2(General⁢⁢Formula) wherein, in the general formula,
C denotes the calorie (Kcal/100 g),λ denotes the wavelength,A1(λ1) denotes the absorbance at a first wavelength (λ1),A2(λ2) denotes the absorbance at a second wavelength (λ2), . . . , and An(λn) denotes the absorbance at n-th wavelength, andK0, K1, K2 . . . , and Kn each denote a coefficient determined through a least squares method by using absorbances and actual calories measured in a sufficiently large population.