Micro Crack Detection in Egg Shell using Machine Vision

Cracks and micro cracks present in egg shells are one of the probable source for bacterial contamination in other eggs. Machine vision system was developed for detecting micro cracks present in egg shell. A vacuum chamber was fabricated to create vacuum pressure of 0.8Kpa to force open micro cracks present in egg shells. 200 eggs ranging in color from brown to white of different size and shape were used as sample. Three algorithms viz ratio image algorithm, first derivative algorithm and structural similarity algorithm were applied for detecting micro cracks in egg shell. The structural similarity algorithm was superior to the other two algorithms in detecting the micro-crack if present in the egg shell. The algorithm could detect all the micro-crack correctly however the algorithm was influenced by egg boundary in some cases. This study can be a milestone for developing egg shorting machine on the basis of micro crack present in egg shell.