2002 Volume 64 Issue 1 Pages 100-105
To select kernels for breeding from either naturally distributed samples or artificially mutated ones that have required constituent content, it is necessary to process batch samples in a short time. Unfortunately, it is said that there are certain wholesalers who illegally mix several varieties of brown rice and sell them as single variety rice to obtain illegal profit. In order to distinguish varieties for breeding or other purposes, the constituent content of single-kernel grains such as wheat and rice has been determined using conventional bench type NIR instruments; however, it takes a lot of time and effort. To achieve these objectives in a short time, a continuous high-speed single-kernel brown rice sorting machine based on rice protein content has been developed. It consists of several sections such as a feeding mechanism, measuring unit, sorting mechanism and controlling PC. The feeding mechanism picks up single kernel of brown rice from the hopper (maximum of 5kg storage capacity) and sends it to the measuring unit. A spectrum of the brown rice is obtained in the measuring unit, which consists of a near-infrared array sensor. The brown rice is then sorted in the sorting mechanism based on its protein content estimated by the controlling PC. In the present study, measuring speed was approximately 500ms for the full spectrum range and overall sorting speed was approximately 2.8s for one kernel.
