METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING QUALITY OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTS

摘要

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus (1) for determining the quality of fruit and vegetable products (2) . The method comprises the following steps: irradiation of a product (2) with light radiation with at least a wavelength centred on the values 670 nm ± 50 nm; measuring of the absorbance of the radiation with wavelength of 670 nm and 720 nm return wavelength from the product (2) ; calculation of the absorbance difference between the values of the wavelengths at 670 nm and at 720 nm; obtaining from said difference an index (AD) the value of which is correlated with various parameters of the quality of the product: hardness of the pulp, Brix grades, ethylene concentration, etc. The apparatus (1) , which can be portable, comprises: a radiating light source (3) with at least a wavelength of 670 nm ± 50 nm,- a sensor (4) suitable for collecting part of the radiation reflected by the product (2) and connected, by means of an optic fibre beam (5) , to a detector unit (6) comprising possible optic filter means (7) and a detector (8) , a central control and processing unit (10) of the detected signals and a display (11) for displaying the result of the reprocessed signals.