| abstract |
Application of wax to fruit, or groups of fruit in a conveyor system, can be controlled to optimize the protective and cosmetic effects of the wax application and to efficiently utilize the wax notwithstanding variations in size, texture, nature or number of the fruit, the type(s) of wax or the processing environment, by providing an intelligent wax controller. The wax controller has a camera which detects fruit passing through a field of view defined by an optical housing in which the camera is fixed. Particularly if the camera is a line-scan camera, two-dimensional pixel maps of the fruit passing through the viewing area are assembled and image processed to provide distinct pixel images even when the fruit are touching. The entire width of the conveyor belt is detected furing each detection time. The diameter of the fruit for each of the separated images is then determined, from which the total surface area of the fruit passing under the viewing area is computed. Based on this computation a plurality of variable stroke pujps and wax nozzles are each individually controlled at appropriate positions across the width of the conveyor system to apply the appropriate amount of wax to the fruit then passing under the wax applicator nozzles. |