Apparatus for inspecting bulk goods.

摘要

The invention relates to an apparatus for inspecting bulk goods (6), having an average colour, said apparatus comprising: drivable conveyor means (5); dispensing means (4) for pouring the bulk goods on the conveyor means in such a way, that said goods form thereon a single layer; a light source (9, 10) for illuminating the bulk goods transported by said conveyor means; and a video camera (11) for forming first video signals corresponding to the picture of the bulk goods illuminated by said light source from the side of the video camera and a signal processing unit having a memory, in which previously said colour and the associated tolerance limits are stored; means for forming from the first video signals second video signals representative of the colour of the bulk goods observed by the video camera; comparing means for comparing the contents of the memory with the second video signals and generating a reporting signal in case of a detected difference. In the prior art with the inspection of coloured objects a problem may occur as a result of the colour transition between the conveyor means and an object observed by the video camera. At a transition from the conveyor means to the object as a result hereof in the camera spurious and disturbing colour variations may occur around the object, that later have to be filtered out electronically in the signal processing unit. It cannot be avoided that such a filtering has negative consequences for the detection accuracy of colour deviations of the product. In view thereof the invention provides an inspection apparatus of the type mentioned above, characterized in that the background observed by the video camera has substantially the same colour as correct bulk goods.