Abstract: A husking apparatus supplies cereal grains between a pair of rotating rubber rolls through a guiding chute, rubs and husks them. A roll diameter marker for indicating an abrasion degree of the diameter of one of the rubber rolls is provided near the minimum gap between the rubber rolls. An incline angle changing marker previously marked with a changing degree of a position or an angle of incline of the guiding chute in correspondence to the roll diameter marker is provided near the lower end of the guiding chute. An operator can readily detect the diameter of the rubber roll by means of the roll diameter marker and accurately set the position or the angle of incline of the guiding chute in accordance with the incline angle changing marker.

Abstract: The circulating type grain drying machine is provided in which, at the grain filling operation, a controller causes a first heated air generator to operate and a second heated air generator to stop operating, and also causes, according to the detected values of the outside air humidity from an outside air humidity detector, an airflow control section to operate so as to change the quantity of the airflow by an air exhaust section. Also, at the drying operation, the controller controls the first heated air generator and controls the temperature of the heated air supplied into each heating pipe according to the detected values of the grain water content value, and controls the second heated air generator and controls the temperature of the temperature of the heated air supplied into the drying section according to the detected values of the grain water content values and the grain filling amount.

Abstract: A rotationally oscillating separator for separating mixed rice into unhulled rice and unpolished rice after the rice have passed through a rice huller to remove the hulls from rice.

Abstract: An apparatus for drying granular objects comprises, from the top of the apparatus, a holding section; a heating section for heating the granular objects flowing down from the holding section, the heating section being provided beneath the holding section and having a plurality of air ducts to which heated air is introduced; a drying air producing section connected to the air ducts, in which the heated air from the air ducts is mixed with air taken-in from the outside of the apparatus to produce a drying air; and a drying section for drying the granular objects by directly exposing the granular objects to the drying air. The dried granular objects are taken out from a taking-out section and returned to the holding section through a bucket elevator. The apparatus further comprises a detector for detecting the temperature of the drying air. Based on the detected temperature, a control device controls the temperature of the heated air so as to keep the temperature of the drying air to a predetermined temperature.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus are provided for estimating a quality of grains to be harvested from a grain plant in the future, during a growth period prior to the harvesting. The method comprises the step for establishing a quality conversion coefficient for estimating a specific quality of grains after the harvesting based on absorbencies relating to the specific quality of the grains obtained by irradiating light having predetermined wavelength regions on a leaf of a grain plant in growth at a predetermined time during the growth period of the grain plant and the specific quality obtained from the same grains after the harvesting, and the step for estimating the quality of the grains to be harvested in the future based on said quality conversion coefficient and absorbencies relating to said specific quality obtained from a leaf of the grain plant presently growing at the predetermined time.

Abstract: A flour milling method and a flour milling system are provided, in which a plurality of milling steps whose milling degrees are different from one another are performed sequentially from an upperstream to a downstream, each of the milling steps including a breaking step and a grading step. The steps are carried out by sorting the raw wheat grains into regular wheat grains and material other than the regular wheat grains, forwarding the sorted regular wheat grains to the uppermost-stream milling step, and forwarding the sorted material other than the regular wheat grains to at least one of downstream milling steps at a downstream of the uppermost-stream milling step. The method and the system enable the production of wheat flour of better quality with better yield than that conventionally produced.

Abstract: The apparatus for effecting temperature compensation in a load cell type load detector is for a load detecting apparatus having a load cell constituting the load detector formed with a strain gauge attached to a deflectable body, a mount base for positioning the load detector, and a load generating section to receive a flow of objects to be measured. The apparatus includes a pair of thermal source blocks provided so as to be directly in contact with the deflectable body and be disposed respectively at two symmetric positions with respect to the center of the load detector, a pair of temperature sensors provided respectively to the thermal source blocks, a controller for controlling thermal elements based on temperatures detected by the temperature sensors such that a temperature of the load cell type load detector may be maintained at a predetermined constant temperature.

Abstract: An induction motor as driving apparatus includes two stators in which two rotor cores each formed in a squirrel cage type are rotatably mounted on a common rotary axis; two stators which respectively surround the two rotors and on which stator windings are respectively wound; and a switching device which supplies power by sequentially switching between one side of either the one stator winding or the other stator winding and both the sides of the two stator windings. Starting characteristics and operation characteristics of an induction motor are improved thereby enlarging applications of the induction motor, enhancing operation efficiency, and reducing power consumption.

Abstract: A brushless three-phase synchronous generator includes a stator having primary generating windings and stator excitation windings whose number of poles is odd-number times the number of poles of the primary generating windings. The generator further includes a cylindrical rotor on which a plurality of field windings are wound in a full-pitch concentrated winding form. The plurality of field windings are respectively short-circuited by the corresponding diodes. A plurality of field windings in which voltages of the same phase are induced based on the odd-order spatial higher harmonic magnetic fields are connected in parallel and further connected in parallel to the central field windings which effectively produce primary field magnetic fluxes. A circulating rectifier element is connected in parallel to the central field windings.

Abstract: The field of the invention is food drying apparatus and methods. In particular, the invention discloses a rotary dryer which dries food granules, such as rice, by rotation within a perforated cylindrical barrel, to prepare the rice for packaging. The dryer provides high velocity drying zones along its length, and high temperatures may be used.

Abstract: A granular material sorting apparatus comprises a transfer device for causing material grains to fall down, optical detector units mounted along the falling-down locus of the material grains, an injection nozzle device for injecting air to the material grains, and a control unit for controlling operation of the injection nozzle device in response to detection by the optical detector unit. The optical detector units and the control unit optically detect and discriminate colored grains different in color from good material grains and foreign matters in similar color to the good material grains or transparent, which are mixed in the material grains, and activate the injection nozzle device in a predetermined period of time after the detection to remove the detected bad grains. The control unit sets different injection times and different injection delay times depending whether the bad grains are colored grains or foreign matters.

Abstract: An impact type flow meter for a particulate material such as cereal comprises a supply device for dropping the particulate material, an inclined load detection plate for receiving the dropped particulate material, and a load detector for detecting a load of the particulate material exerted to the load detection plate. A bottom surface of the supply device is inclined at substantially the same degree with the load detection plate, and has at its lower end with a supply opening for dropping the particulate material onto the load detection plate. The bottom surface serves to guide the particulate material to the load detection plate at substantially the same inclination therewith. Thus, the flow meter has a buffer device for softening a dropping impact of the particulate material integrally incorporated in the particulate material supply device, and accordingly, the height is low and the whole apparatus is compact.

Abstract: A granular object evaluation device for evaluating quality and shapes of transparent or translucent granular objects includes an illuminating device for irradiating light to the object fed into a measuring area by a feeder, a detecting device in which a detection viewing line is directed to the measuring area through a center portion of the illuminating device and which receives reflection light from the object, a light shielding plate located between the illuminating device and the detecting device, for preventing the light from the illuminating device from directly incident on the detecting device, and having an opening through which the detection viewing line passes, and a control device for analyzing detected signals from the detecting device and evaluating quality and shapes of the granular object.

Abstract: A color-sorting machine for granular materials optically detects raw material grains falling along a substantially fixed path and sorts out no-good grains by color. An optical detection unit to this end comprises a condenser lens, a plurality of optical filters and a plurality of light-receiving sensors corresponding to the filters and can detect a plurality of wavelengths. The light-receiving sensors lie side by side on the same plane, are formed in a unit body, require no positioning adjustment among the light-receiving sensors, and make it possible to reduce the size of the optical system. A prism is provided between the condenser lens and the light-receiving sensors. The prism has light path diffraction surfaces of the same number as the light-receiving sensors, so that the light-receiving sensors receive light of the same point of view and can perform color sorting.

Abstract: A color sorting machine sorts particles of different colors from raw material such as cereal grains or the like. The machine has a down chute descending towards a front side of the machine for letting raw material particles flow down linearly, a photoelectric detection device which subjects the raw material particles jumped out of the down chute to light and discriminates different-color particles in accordance with difference in reflected light, and a nozzle device which injects air to and blows off the different-color particles. The injection nozzle device is situated on the rear side of the machine with respect to a coming-down locus of raw material particles from the down chute and close to the coming-down locus. The sorting machine further comprises a dust collecting device which is situated on the front side of the machine with respect to the coming-down locus of the raw material.

Abstract: A method for measuring ash content of food stuff is carried out by 1) preparing, with respect to food stuff samples whose ash content values are known, a calibration curve by a non-linear analysis of absorbance values and the known ash content of each sample, the absorbance values being obtained by irradiating light having particular wavelengths containing at least an ultraviolet ray band wavelength, the particular wavelength being specific to organic ingredients well coupled to inorganic ingredients which result in the ash content, and 2) deriving, with respect to a sample whose ash content value is unknown, an ash content value of the sample from absorbance values obtained by irradiating, on the sample, light having the particular wavelengths containing at least the ultraviolet ray band wavelength and from the calibration curve prepared in advance by the non-linear analysis.

Abstract: A method for measuring ash content of food stuff is carried out by 1) preparing, with respect to food stuff samples whose ash content values are known, a calibration curve by a non-linear analysis of absorbance values and the known ash content of each sample, the absorbance values being obtained by irradiating light having particular wavelengths containing at least an ultraviolet ray band wavelength, the particular wavelength being specific to organic ingredients well coupled to inorganic ingredients which result in the ash content, and 2) deriving, with respect to a sample whose ash content value is unknown, an ash content value of the sample from absorbance values obtained by irradiating, on the sample, light having the particular wavelengths containing at least the ultraviolet ray band wavelength and from the calibration curve prepared in advance by the non-linear analysis.

Abstract: Rice and other grains are inspected by a video camera system, and the data are processed to determined grain measurements, whether each grain is broken, and to obtain measures such as the percent broken by weight of a sample of rice. The apparatus takes a sample of grains or a stream of grains, and conveys it into view of a video camera. The grains in the camera's view are illuminated by an illumination system. After the grain images have been acquired by the camera and electronics, the grains are then removed from the camera's viewing area to an output stream or hopper, and uninspected grains may be conveyed into the camera's view to continue the process. The image data is processed to identify individual grains and then to perform measurements on them.

Abstract: A water adding control apparatus includes a microwave detecting unit which enables the detection of microwave value proportional to the water content amount of the water added grain and which makes it unnecessary to make calculations for an estimated water content value of the water added grains. The water adding process is started by inputting initial water adding amount, the microwave value of the raw grain after the addition of water is measured, the measured microwave value is set as the target microwave value which serves as control reference, and the water adding amount is feed-back controlled for the actually measured microwave value to constantly match the target microwave value.

Abstract: A husking apparatus for cereals comprises a pair of rolls provided parallel to each other with a clearance therebetween, and an inclined guide chute situated above the rolls. The guide chute slides down cereal grains between the rolls, and the rolls rotate in opposite directions, respectively, to nip and shell the cereal grains therebetween. The guide chute and the rolls are located so that a guide surface of the guide chute is substantially perpendicular to a line connecting the centers of rotational shafts, and that an extension line from the guide surface passes within a range of .+-.10 mm on both sides of a middle point of the clearance between the first and second rolls. The guide surface of the guide chute has such an inclination that the cereal grains spread all over a width of the guide surface in the substantially single layer of a band-like shape and are accelerated up to a speed less than peripheral speeds of the rolls while they slide down along the guide surface.