MEASUREMENT

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a fruit ripeness measurement apparatus. More particularly to an apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real- time chlorophyll content measurement.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Malaysia accounts for about 39% of the production of palm oil in the world and 44% of palm oil exports, hence, plays an important role to play with regards to fulfilling the growing demand for oils and fats in the world. Malaysia accounts for 12% of the world's total production in the overall oils & fats industry. [Source: Malaysian PaLtn Oil Council.]

Oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) may contain up to 2,000 fruits and the fruit colour varies from very dark purple to orange depending on its gene and ripeness. Major problem currently faced by oil palm exporters and producers is the accurate grading of fresh oil palm fruits according to their ripeness levels before processing. The maturity or ripeness of the oil palm fruits dictates the quality as well as overall marketability of the palm oil produced. A fruit before maturity is typically yellow at the base and dark purple to black at the apex. A young palm has 50 to 100 red-violet ripe fruits per bunch. The ratio of oil palm fruit pigments such as carotenoids and chlorophylls affects the colour of the oil palm fruit - for e.g. unripe fruits have a higher proportion of chlorophyll that gradually decreases upon maturity and carotenoids increase as oil palm fruits mature.

The optimum ripeness of oil palm FFB is indicated by the amount of oil extracted from the oil palm FFB, hence, colour is an important feature in determining the ripeness of oil palm FFB. It was reported that there was a positive correlation between the colour of oil palm fruits and its oil content whereby it is found that under ripe fruit has the lowest oil content, ripe fruit has the highest oil content and oil content deteriorates when the fruit reaches overripe stage. It is crucial for the oil palm FFB to be harvested at its optimum ripeness as the oil content varies at different stages of the oil palm FFB ripeness. Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has established 15 classes of FFB in the grading of oil palm in palm oil mills: ripe, under ripe, unripe _. , overripe _. , empty, rotten, long stalk, unfresh/old, dirty, small, pest damaged, diseased, dura, loose fruit and wet. However, focus is given mainly on 4 ripeness stages which are unripe, under ripe, ripe and overripe. MPOB identified purplish black fruits as unripe, reddish black as under ripe, red as ripe and reddish orange as overripe. [Source: InteLLigent CoLour Vision System for Ripeness Classification of OiL Palm Fresh Fruit Bunch, Sensors 2012, 12, 14179-14195] Classification standards as established by MPOB is further shown below:

Source: The publication entitled "Oil palm fruit grading using a hyperspectral device and machine Learning algorithm (O.M. Bensaeed et. al.) [IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 20 (2014) 0102017]

Conventional method on grading of oil palm FFB requires use of workers' experience to assess the oil palm FFBs condition visually by making a small cut in the fruits to see the mesocarp colour and counting the number of loosened fruits per FFB. Manual grading is time consuming, labour intensive process, prone to biased appraisal and human error - which could lead to higher harvesting and production costs. A rapid, reliable and accurate grading technique for the detection of oil palm FFB ripeness is necessary. Successful automation of the process requires a system that can yield results that are comparable with human grading. [Source: Oil palm fruit grading using a hyperspectral device and machine Learning algorithm (O.M. Bensaeed et. al.) [IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 20 (2014) 0102017]]

Over the last decade, Indonesian palm oil industry has become a leading producer of the world, and been able to generate notable foreign export reserves. In spite of this, problems still persist in this industry, including low productivity due to mishandling of raw material in post-harvest operations. One of the prime causes of this is manual grading/sorting of oil palm FFB is essentially being prone to error and misjudgment, as well as subjectivity. High demand of oil palm establishes its high price in world market, which drives the industry to expand its plantation area to increase production which ultimately compromises forests and agricultural land. Alternatively, oil extraction productivity of existing plantation areas can be improved by carefully selecting appropriate FFB for post-harvest processing through introduction of automation. The use of machine vision and spectral analysis has shown to assist productivity of agricultural processing industry. This study employs automation technology for FFB grading in oil palm mills, resulting in improved raw material quality, thereby increasing the oil extraction productivity, and simultaneously contributing to partly release the pressure of deforestation by maintaining green agricultural areas. [Towards Sustainable Green Production: Exploring Automated Grading for Oil Palm Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) Using Machine Vision and Spectral Analysis, International Journal on Advanced Science Engineering Information Technology Vol. 3 (2013) No. 1, ISSN 2088-5334]

A research by Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute (IOPRI) identified significant potential revenue loss in most of Indonesian oil palm plantation, mainly due to inappropriate harvesting practice of FFB. When harvesting performed, the labour misjudged raw or unripe FFBs and cropped it, while in other cases, ripe FFBs were not harvested. Both mistakes account as plantation losses. Therefore, it is a necessity to explore way of correct identification of oil palm FFB upon harvest. During ripening, FFB changes physiologically and is observed through the shift in their colour due to pigment transformation and accumulation, however, human visual identification of colour is subjective and prone to mistakes due to mental and physical influences. Current technologies enable the use of photosensitive electro- sensor devices to correctly measure the fruits color and monitor its physiological- related developments. Application of such technologies for FFB quality inspections have been done in previous studies, whereby, the studies emphasized post-harvest condition of oil palm FFB prior to the milling process. [Source: International Journal on Advanced Science Engineering Information Technology, Vol. 5 (2015) No. 3, ISSN: 2088-5334 - Optical Characteristics of Oil Palm Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) Under Three Spectrum Regions Influence for Harvest Decision].

Chlorophyll is vital for photosynthesis, the process by which plants manufacture food. The energy for this process is trapped from sunlight by this pigment. The function of the vast majority of chlorophyll (up to several hundred per photosystem) is to absorb light and transfer it by resonance to a specific chlorophyll pair in the reaction center of the photosystems. The process of light harvesting is an essential one when one considers that a molecule of chlorophyll (or a mole of chlorophyll) can absorb one photon of light per second to complete its reaction in 10(-15) seconds. Therefore, it is clear that photosynthesis requires a considerable free energy input, and this is where energy from sunlight and the light-trapping capacity of chlorophyll play their roles. In the reaction centre, chlorophyll absorbs light at about 675nm and the quantum at this wavelength is 1.84 electron volts. This suggests that any reduction in the chlorophyll content will proportionally affect the quantity and quality of food material produced by the green plants such as oil palm trees. On ripening, an increasing chloroplast degeneration occurs leading to loss of chlorophyll. [Source: Chlorophyll contents of oil palm (ELaeis Guineensis) Leaves harvested from crude oil polluted soil: a shift in productivity dynamic (Otitoju, O. et. aL), Scholars Research Library]

Sendot Research has created a new low-cost ripeness sensor (FluoMini sensor) which displays amount of chlorophyll. The amount of chlorophyll is a good indicator of fruit ripeness for a large number of fruits. With this sensor, the ripeness stage can be established even more accurately due to a measurement that can’t be done with the naked eye [Source: https://www.freshplaza.com/article/2185321/new-ripeness-sens or- displays-amount-of-chlorophyll/]. This ripeness sensor is not described to specifically measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Publication entitled "Relationships between chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments during on- and off-tree ripening of apple fruit as revealed non-destructively with reflectance spectroscopy, Postharvest Biology and Technology 38(1) :9-17, October 2005" describes about the changes in total chlorophyll and carotenoid contents characteristic for on- and off-tree ripening of apple (Malus x domestica Borkh. cv. Antonovka) fruit taken from the inner part of the canopy were studied non- destructively over several seasons. Multi-season observations showed that off-tree patterns of both pigments as well as the rate of their ratio changes are closely related with on -tree chlorophyll content at harvest . In spite of the complex kinetics of chlorophylls and carotenoids during ripening, their stoichiometry revealed a tight interrelation of the pigments, and the relationship 'carotenoid-to- chlorophyll ratio versus chlorophyll content ' displayed a strong correlation . Chlorophyll content appea red to be a suitable internal marker of fruit ripenes s, but the changes in the content of both chlorophylls and carotenoids should be used to follow the ripening process in apple fruit on and off the tree rather than the changes of each of the pigments alone .

Publication entitled "Spectral shift as advanced index for fruit ch olrophyl l breakdown " [Source: Food and Bioprocess TechnoLogy 7(7), JuLy 2014] states that the decline of fruit chlorophyll is a valuable indicator of fruit ripenes s . Fruit chlorophyll content can be nondestructively estimated by UV/VIS spectroscopy at fixed wavelengths . However, this approach cannot explain the complex changes in chlorophyll catabolism during fruit ripening . The peak pos ition and corresponding intens ity values were determined between 650 and 690 nm of nondestructively measured fruit spectra as well as of corresponding spectra of fruit extracts . In the extracts , individual contents of chlorophyll a , chlorophyll b, pheophytin a and carotenoids were analysed photometrically, using an established iterative multiple linear regression approach . The introduced spectral marker of the apparent peak position of chlorophyll absorbance bears the potential for an advanced information gain from nondestructive spectra for the determination of fruit ripeness . This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real- time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light , transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples ( such as the oil palm fruitlets , mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets .

Elega , a company from Lithuania has an instrument to measure chlorophyll·’s content in a fruit, specifically called the DA Meter instrument for fruit and vegetables ripeness, quality control . It states that the content in chlorophyll in a fruit is a precise index of a fruit ' s ripening state, hence, the DA-Meter allows to know the ripenes s state, and the way it works does not depend on the season·’ s weather conditions, a factor which influences other kinds of measurement such as the brix index. [Source: https://www. eLega. Lt/en/da-meter-to-measure-the-chlorophylls-content- in-a-fruit]. This company does not specifically describe their apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Publication entitled "In situ quality assessment of intact oil palm fresh fruit bunches using rapid portable non-contact and non-destructive approach" Source: [Journal of Food Engineering, 2014] states that as the oil palm fruitlets proceeds to ripen, the surface colour gradually changes due to biochemical reactions in the fruits due to variation in carotenoids and chlorophyll pigments ratio in its skin. Chlorophyll content is known to be highest in raw fruits and gradually decreases along with ripening fruit, but carotenoid is low in raw fruits and gradually increases during ripening process. Hence, it is possible to measure the ripeness of oil palm fruits or bunches by measuring the ratio of chlorophyll to carotenoids or vice versa. This is observable through spectral reflectance analysis with the use of VIS/NIR spectroscopy, as using visible and near infrared spectrum, spectroscopy analysis can obtain internal properties of fruits and produces result in rapid and non-destructive manner. The objectives of the study was to use VIS/NIR spectroscopy for measuring ripeness and internal quality of oil palm fruits and to analyse relationships between VIS/NIR spectral reflectance characteristics and 3 oil palm fruit quality (ripeness fraction, OC and FFA level) assessed through manual visual inspection and laboratory chemical analysis. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets. Publication entitled "Investigations on a NoveL Inductive Concept Frequency Technique for the Grading of OiL PaLm Fresh Fruit Bunches" [Source: Sensors 2013 , 13(2), 2254- 2266; https://doi.org/10.3390/sl30202254] describes about a preliminary study of a novel oil palm fruit sensor to detect the maturity of oil palm fruit bunches. To optimize the functionality of the sensor, the frequency characteristics of air coils of various diameters are investigated to determine their inductance and resonant characteristics . Sixteen samples from two categories, namely ripe oil palm fruitlets and unripe oil palm fruitlets, are tested from 100 Hz up to 100 MHz frequency. The results showed the inductance and resonant characteristics of the air coil sensors display significant changes among the samples of each category. The investigations on the frequency characteristics of the sensor air coils are studied to observe the effect of variations in the coil diameter. The effect of coil diameter yields a significant 0.02643 MHz difference between unripe samples to air and 0.01084 MHz for ripe samples to air. The designed sensor exhibits significant potential in determining the maturity of oil palm fruits. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Publication entitled "A PortabLe Lou-cost Non-destructive Ripeness Inspection for OiL Palm FFB, AgricuLture and AgricuLturaL Science Procedia 9 (2016) 230 - 240" describes a study on the ripeness of oil palm FFB assessed using a portable and low-cost device, comprising a digital camera, laptop and a small and lightweight chamber equipped with independent LED lights. The recorded FFB image subsequently segmented and analysed using the image processing software in the computer. The software calculated and specified the colour of FFB image in RGB colour space. In this study, FFB colour observations by the camera vision, produced better consistency compare to the observation results from the experts. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence. reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Publication entitled "HyperspectraL Imaging for Nondestructive Determination of Internal. Qualities for Oil Palm (Elaeis guineesis Jacq. var. tenera), Agricultural Information Research 18(3), 2009. 130-141" describes about a study to develop an approach to determine the internal qualities in oil palm, whereby bunches and fruits belonging to 4 classes of ripeness (overripe, ripe, under ripe and unripe) were used for the study. For these bunches, three of internal qualities which are ripeness, oil content and free fatty acid content were examined. Since the examination of internal qualities based on the overall data for a bunch was difficult, the focus was on the average reflectance and the average relative reflectance values of fruits that were not concealed by fronds in the bunch. By this approach, it was necessary to estimate the ripeness of the bunch before the oil content and free fatty acid content were determined. To classify ripeness of a bunch, the average relative reflectance values of bunches in different classes of ripeness were used and classified based on Euclidean distance. In additional, ratio of chlorophyll to carotenoids was also used for estimating ripeness of a bunch. The oil content and free fatty acid content were predicted by calibration models corresponding to the class of ripeness. Ripeness estimation using the average relative reflectance values in lower part of the fruit was compared with ripeness estimation using the ratio of a not-pale greenish yellow area, a not-yellow area and a not-reddish orange area to the entire area of fruit. The correct estimation in all classes of ripeness was obtained by using the average relative reflectance at lower part of a fruit while a correct ripeness estimation rate of 92.92% was gained by using ratio of area in fruit. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets. Publication entitled "Potential Application of CoLour and HyperspectraL Images for Estimation of Weight and Ripeness of OiL Palm (ELaeis guineensis Jacq. van. tenera) Phorntipha Junkwon et. ai. _, ISSN: 0916-9482 of Agricultural Information Research" describes about the development of a technique for weight and ripeness estimation of oil palm (ELaeis guieensis lacq. var. tenera) bunches from hyperspectral and RGB color images. In the experiments, color and hyperspectral images of the bunch were acquired from four different angles, each differing by 90 degrees. The acquired RGB color images were converted to HSI and L*a*b color space. Gray-scale thresholds were used to identify the area of the bunch and the area of space between the fruits. The total number of pixels in the bunch and the space were counted, respectively. In the hyperspectral images, the total number of pixels in the bunch was also counted from an image composed of three wavelengths (560 nm, 680 nm, and 740 nm), while the total number of pixels of space between fruits was obtained at a wavelength of 910 nm. From these sets of data, weight-estimation equations were determined by linear regression (LR) or multiple linear regression (MLR). As a result, the coefficient of determination (R2) of actual weight and estimated weight were at a level of 0.989 and 0.992 for color and hyperspectral images, respectively. Estimation of oil palm FFB was also tested. Bunches belonging to 4 classes of ripeness (overripe, ripe, under ripe, and unripe) were used for this study. Since ripeness estimation from overall data from a bunch was quite difficult, the focus was on the difference in colors or reflectivity of the portion concealed and not-concealed with fronds. Euclidean distances between the test sample and the standard 4 classes of ripeness were calculated, and the test sample was classified into the ripeness class that had the shortest distance from the sample. In the classification based on color image, average RGB values of concealed and not-concealed areas were used, while in hyperspectral images the average intensity values of fruits pixels from the concealed area were used. The results of validation experiments with the developed estimation methods indicated acceptable estimation accuracy, and a possibility for practical use to estimate the ripeness of oil palm bunches. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets. Publication entitled "Oil palm fruit grading using a hyperspectraL device and machine Learning aLgorithm (O.M. Bensaeed et. aL.) [IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 20 (2014) 0102017” describes about hyperspectral-based systems introduced to detect ripeness of oil palm FFB. FFB scanned using hyperspectral device and reflectance was recorded at different wavelengths. Fruit attributes in the visible and near-infrared (400 nm to 1,000 nm) wavelength range regions were measured. Artificial neural network (ANN), classified the different wavelength regions for the oil palm fruit through pixel-wise processing. The developed ANN model successfully classified oil palm fruits into the 3 ripeness categories (ripe, under ripe and overripe). The accuracy achieved by this approach was compared against that of the conventional system employing manual classification based on the observations of a human grader. This classification approach had an accuracy of more than 95% for all 3 types of oil palm fruits. The research findings will help increase the quality harvesting and grading efficiency of FFBs . This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Publication entitled "Crude palm oil characteristics and chLorophyLL content" Y.A. Tan et. ol.. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0010(199711)75:3<281: AID-JSFA875>3.0. CO;2-A' ^J describes about the chlorophyll content in palm oil extracted from oil palm fruits, ELaeis guineensis, at various stages of ripeness. It was found that oils from ripe fruits of the same age contained different levels of chlorophyll. In addition, it was noted that fruits from palms planted at the centre and those at the edge of the field seemed to ripen at different rates. Those at the centre of the field contained higher levels of chlorophyll when compared with those of the same age produced at the edge of the field. This phenomenon could be due to topographical effects whereby the palms at the edge of the field were exposed to much more sunlight. This probably hastened the process of fruit ripening. A survey on chlorophyll levels in commercial crude palm oil (CPO) samples supplied by mills showed the presence of chlorophyll in all samples analysed . The range observed was between 250 and 1800 mg kg-1 with a mean value of 930+107 mg kg-1. This implied wide variation in the ripeness of palm fruits processed by the mills . This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples ( such as the oil palm fruitlets , mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets .

Publication entitled "International. Journal on Advanced Science Engineering Information Technology _, VoL . 5 (2015) No. 3, ISSN: 2088-5334 - Optical Characteristics of Oil Palm Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) Under Three Spectrum Regions Influence for Harvest Decision" states that in the current practice, appearance was used to determine ripeness for oil palm FFB, accompanied by detachment of the fruitlets from the FFB . The FFB are harvested at 5 ripeness stages, under ripeness ( F0 ) , ripeness ( FI, F2, F3 ) , and over ripeness ( F4) . At every ripenes s stages , differences of oil content and pigment accumulation were observed on the FFB . All samples were recorded us ing a digital camera (10 MPixels ) from 2, 7, 10, and 15 -meter distance, simulating variation of l ight intens ity upon recording . During image recording, 3 lighting were used, namely ultraviolet lamp (320-380 nm) , visible light lamp (400-700 nm) and infrared lamp (720-1, 100 nm) , all have similar power output of 600 watts . Camera point of view was set to cover a square area of 12.5cm by 12. 5cm of the frontal area of F FB, each picture produced has 3, 888 by 2, 952 pixel . Image processing software created to extract digital RGB information from the images , and displayed the information in histogram . From the experiment, it was observed that the changes of intensity influence the RGB value of recorded image with reverse correlation, and longer wave light spectrum produce smaller RGB value . The correlation model among image recording distance and RGB of the image display similar nature . This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals compris ing collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples ( such as the oil palm fruitlets , mesocarp, mass pas s ing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Publication "DeveLopment of an automatic grading machine for oil palm fresh fruits bunches (FFBs) based on machine vision." [Source: Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Volume 93, April 2013, Pages 129-139] describes about an automatic grading machine for oil palm FFB developed based on machine-vision principles of non- destructive analytical grading, using Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute (IOPRI) standard. It is the first automatic grading machine for FFB in Indonesia that works on-site. The machine consists of 4 subsystems namely mechanical, image processing, detection and controlling. The samples used were tenera variety fruit bunches from 7 to 20-year-old trees. Statistical analysis was performed to generate stepwise discrimination using Canonical Discriminant with Mahalanobis distance function for classifying groups, and appoint cluster center for each fraction. Results showed adaptive threshold algorithm gave 100% success rate for background removal, and texture analysis showed object of interest lies in intensity within digital number (DN) value from 100 to 200. Group classification of FFB resulted in average success rate of 93.53% with SEC of 0.4835 and SEP of 0.5165, while fraction classification had average success rate of 88.7%. 8 models are proposed to estimate weight of FFB with average R2 of 81.39%. The orientation of FFB on the conveyor belt showed no influence on the sorting result and with examination time of 1 FFB/5 s, the machine performs more than 12 tons FFB grading per hour. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Publication entitled "Machine Vision Application in Indonesian Oil PaLm Industry (https ://www. researchgate.net/publication/314081170_Machine_Vision_AppLic ation_in_Ind onesian_Oil_Palm_Industry_ApLicacion_de_la_tecnologia_de_vis ion_electronica_en_La_ind ustria_palmera_de_Indonesia [accessed Aug 30 2018])" investigates about a non- destructive technique namely machine vision for assessing the ripeness of oil palm FFB as well as its quality indices; oil content and free fatty acid (FFA). In practice, FFB can be distinguished into several fractions; F0, FI, F2, F3, F4, and F5, whereby these fractions are correlated to the bunch ripeness state, from a raw bunch (F0) to the ripe (F2) and up to overripe bunch (F5). The machine vision developed in this study comprises of hardware and software, for acquisition and processing of an image to extract its features and to determine the ripeness fraction together with its oil content and FFA level. Results showed that the developed system had the mobility advantages compared to other systems. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

PCT Publication WO2013095082 (27-06-2013) describes a fruit ripeness detection and collection system of a fruit bearing tree is provided, whereby the system includes a fruit collection apparatus that includes a plurality of enclosures surrounding a base of the fruit bearing tree which further includes a plurality of filters with decrementally sized holes towards a plurality of chambers in holding detached fruits for each specific fruit bunch for a corresponding chamber, at least one weight sensor, wherein the weight sensor is network connectible to a wireless transmitter and a microcontroller, wherein data from weight sensor is network connectible to a base station, such that notifications of harvest are sent and received. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets. Malaysian Patent MY-157647-A describes a fruit ripeness grading system which uses computer vision application in agricultural quality inspection to ensure ripeness category of fruit characterized in that, the fruit ripeness grading system includes a) a housing having an enclosure for scanning process, b) an illumination means with optical lens illumination filter provided at the enclosure of the housing, c) a camera provided at top portion of the enclosure of the housing, d) a feeding device for conveying fruit samples to the housing, e) conveyer speed inverter, f) a processing unit process and analyse the fruit sample image, g) a data acquisition interface provided in between the camera and the processing unit wherein the feeding device further provided with separator controlled by USB controller and supported by compressor for controlling and separating the fruit samples wherein the processing unit further provided with a disk top computational unit serves to transfer data to a computer. The fruit ripeness grading system further provided is specifically targeting oil palm FFB, with an image processing and analysis for fruit ripeness grading and classification of fruit sample based on colour feature, texture feature, empty sockets and thorns feature. It will be appreciated that the fruit ripeness grading system provides non-destructive measurement method that does not require laboratory examination for determining the ripeness of the fruits. It will also be appreciated that the fruit ripeness grading system can be portable and adopting in industrial chain framework. Accordingly, the system enables to classify large numbers or quantities of fruits with high speed, accurate and time saving. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Malaysian Patent MY-162606-A describes about an automated grading of oil palm fruits comprises of grading and separating oil palm fruits into different grading wherein the said automated grading of oil palm fruits comprises of using the different types of oil palm fruit such as under ripe fruit, ripe fruit and overripe fruit and wherein the process is started by cutting out the oil palm fruit skin and scanning the oil palm fruits using red light laser and wherein the oil palm fruits are placed on a moving conveyor belt for transporting and grading the fresh oil palm FFB and wherein as the oil palm fruits passed through the laser light, the amount of reflected laser light were measured and converted to digital values and wherein these digital values, in term of incident of light levels, were correlated with the ripeness of the oil palm characterized in that wherein an average result reading obtained for under ripe fruit is in the range 3,500-4,000 incident of light level and wherein for ripe fruit the average result reading is in the range 3,000-3,500 incident of light level and wherein for over ripe fruit the average result reading is in the range of 2,500-3,000 incident of light level. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Malaysian Patent MY-164318-A describes about a system for fruit grading and quality determination, and more particularly to a system for fruit grading and quality determination of oil palm fruit by using hyperspectral imaging technology. The present invention relates to a system for fruit grading and quality determination of oil palm fruit by using hyperspectral imaging technology. Accordingly, the system includes: a) housing with an enclosure for scanning process; b) an illumination means to provide shadow free illumination; c) a spectral camera equipped with hyperspectral scanner together with a suitable charge-coupled device (CCD) array for capturing fruit sample's image; d) a conveying means to provide scanning platform to the system; e) a processing unit to process and analyze the fruit sample image; and f) a data acquisition interface provided in between the spectral camera and the processing unit; characterized in that, the system utilizes hyperspectral imaging technology for agricultural product and quality inspections, said system is subjected to an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technique for purposes of oil palm FFB ripeness classification, such that the technique of ripeness classification of oil palm FFB image is done by analysis of the fruit sample of 3 different ripeness categories: under ripe, ripe and over ripe; wherein the enclosure of the housing is formed by darken finishing material; and the conveying means is furnished with non-reflective finishing for carrying the fruit samples into the illumination field of the system; and wherein the processing unit used data processing software such as MATLAB ^® to perform the analysis of the fruit sample classification and to obtain the resultant quality data. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence _* reflectance of light _* transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets _* mesocarp, mass passing digester _* undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets .

Chinese Patent Application CN103544493A describes about a method for recognizing and locating a mature fruit e.g. tomato, citrus or peach fruit based on performing three- dimensional (3D) scanning by a laser scanner to obtain front scene reflectivity, coordinates and distance. A front scene color image is obtained by a camera. Reflectivity pattern of a fruit is obtained. A depth map is obtained. The reflectivity pattern is combined with a branch and a leaf blade. A characteristic point is obtained for a mature fruit and an immature fruit. Positioning of a mature target fruits performed based on the distance and the coordinates. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse _* measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence _* reflectance of light _* transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets _* mesocarp _* mass passing digester _* undiluted crude palm oil _* diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

European Patent EP1170581B1 refers to the non-destructive measurement of the ripening degree of individual vegetable products, preferable fruit, in which such a measurement is carried out by engaging each individual product between 2 seizing and conveying elements _* i.e. a moving upper means and a lower accommodating means, in which the latter travels along a pre-defined rectilinear path _* and the upper moving means is adapted to displace _* also on the vertical plane, with respect to a pre- defined level line. When moving, said upper moving means is subject to an adjustable force tending to compress the vegetable product and _* therefore _* tends to deviate _* i.e. move away from its original position accordingly. By measuring the vertical deviation of the upper moving means across a pre-defined displacement path the possibility is given for the pliability of the surface of the vegetable product, and therefore the ripening degree thereof, to be assessed along with other factors involved. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Chinese Patent Application CN105738302A describes about a high precision automatic measuring device and measuring method for chlorophyll content of the plant growth period, comprising a supporting platform, a rotary disc, a camera, a light source module, a chlorophyll sensor module, a control cabinet and an upper computer; the supporting platform is set on the top of the control cabinet, the turntable and the camera is arranged on the supporting platform, the chlorophyll-modifying sensor module and the light source module is arranged in the dark box, the control cabinet is provided with a light source controller, a power supply module, a signal collecting and amplifying and AD module; the PLC control module and the upper computer processing/display module, the measuring method comprises the following steps: automatic operation in the dark black box door open plant, black box door closing open source upper computer through chlorophyll sensor module to obtain red light, infrared light incidence, reflection and transmission values, the upper computer processing to obtain the value of obtaining plant chlorophyll content is saved and displayed. The invention can effectively reduce the labour intensity, and has wide application prospect. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Chinese Patent Application CN104777108B describes a device and method for detecting the chlorophyll content, the method comprising: the absorbance of chlorophyll using chlorophyll solution with different concentrations, establishing a chlorophyll detection model _. , using 2 wavelengths of incident light to-be-measured sample to detect, obtaining the to-be-detected sample, the absorbance of the chlorophyll of the to-be-detected sample into the chlorophyll detection model, obtaining the concentration of chlorophyll in the sample to be detected. The method is respectively 645 nm and 663 nm of light irradiating sample by wavelength, the intensity of transmitted light can be obtained by photoelectric sensor measuring the absorbance value under a corresponding wavelength, so as to calculate the relative concentration value of chlorophyll. The main advantage is that fast analysis speed, wide measuring range, simple preparing sample, does not consume sample, has no chemical pollution and so on. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Chinese Utility Model Application CN204231412U relates to crop growth monitor area, supply of one of agriculture series based on remote monitoring transmission device of crop terminal unit RTU, implementation of control module and wireless transmission between the work station and mobile phone terminal, comprising: monitoring the crop growth and detection module, control module and crop growing information analyzing process of monitoring test mode that is measured, and working station by the GPRS communication, WIFI module and satellite signal sending module, also comprising: using message form through the control module for analyzing process of sending location information of the GPS module to work station and GSM mode of mobile phone terminal, each module comprising the middle, to realize anti-burglary protection of RTU, at the same time user can through mobile phone terminal or work station give out order, crop and realize remote monitoring. The crop growth monitoring module comprises a temperature and humidity sensor, a C02 sensor, an illumination sensor, a soil moisture sensor, a chlorophyll sensor which are respectively connected with the input end of the control module. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

United States Application US7295316B2 describes an evaluation apparatus for vegetables and fruits capable of evaluating vegetables and fruits with respect to their interior quality through exposing vegetables and fruits carried on a carrier line, which evaluation apparatus comprises: a plurality of light sources vertically arranged exclusively in a common plane on one side of a carrier line spaced in a width direction Y from the carrier line and wherein the common plane of the light sources is perpendicular to a carrying direction X of the carrier line and a light- receiving section arranged by an opposite side of the carrier line in the width direction Y perpendicular to the carrying direction X of the carrier line and arranged exclusively in the common plane of the light sources; and wherein measuring lights irradiated from the light sources converge toward the vegetables and fruits whereby the measuring lights are transmitted through the vegetables and fruits so that the light-receiving section receives the transmitted measuring light. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

United States Patent US7112806B2 describes a portable Chlorophyll Fluorescence Imaging Time system for use in determining plant health. The system includes an enclosure for placement around a plant to be imaged in-situ. There is a controlled light source that controllably provides to the plant light of a desired wavelength range, to controllably irradiate the plant within the enclosure. The chlorophyll fluorescence emitted from the plant both spatially and temporally is captured, and the captured fluorescence information is analyzed to provide plant health information. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Chinese Utility Model Application CN205904129U describes an early fruit rotting fruit online detection system, this utility model uses the fruit conveying part conveying the fruit to the image acquisition part, under the control of the electric control part; the fruit to enter image collecting part formed by ultraviolet illumination environment image collecting part collecting the fruit fluorescence image, and transmitting to the electric control part, the electric control part based on the fluorescence image automatic detecting whether corresponding fruit is spoilage, if so, control the unloading valve for unloading the corresponding corruption so as to realize online wagering early spoilage, automatic detection and automatic separation, not only can greatly improve efficiency and it does not need manual operation under the ultraviolet radiation, so as to make the human body from the harm of ultraviolet. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

United States Patent US5606821A describes about a smart weed recognition and identification system comprises a chlorophyll sensor for detecting green vegetation and memory map means for storing images which contain different forms of green vegetation. The memory maps stored in memory are processed to eliminate the background information and leave a memory map containing only green vegetation. The enhanced memory map is further processed by an operation of segmentation into identifiable regions and the identifiable green vegetation regions are processed to identify unique attributes for each of the regions. The unique attributes for each of the regions are stored in a reference data base library and are used as reference data for comparing other green vegetation with the data stored in the base model by a processor which matches green vegetation in other regions with the green vegetation stored in said reference data base model and further produces decision data signals which are used by a controller to control a plurality of spray nozzles covering the area sensed and for dispensing a plurality of selectable controlled chemicals. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Chinese Patent Application CN104777108B1 provides a device and method for detecting the chlorophyll content, the method comprising: the absorbance of chlorophyll using chlorophyll solution with different concentrations, establishing a chlorophyll detection model, using two wavelengths of incident light to-be-measured sample to detect, obtaining the to-be-detected sample, the absorbance of the chlorophyll of the to-be-detected sample into the chlorophyll detection model, obtaining the concentration of chlorophyll in the sample to be detected. The method is respectively 645 nm and 663 nm of light irradiating sample by wavelength, the intensity of transmitted light can be obtained by photoelectric sensor measuring the absorbance value under a corresponding wavelength, so as to calculate the relative concentration value of chlorophyll. The main advantage is that fast analysis speed, wide measuring range, simple preparing sample, does not consume sample, has no chemical pollution and so on. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Publication entitled "Ripeness detection simulation of oil palm fruit bunches using Laser-based imaging system - AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 1801, Issue 1, id.050003 - DOI: 10.1063/1.4973101" proposes a laser based imaging system to substitute the traditional ripeness classifications using FFB color and number of fruit loose for harvesting. In this study, ripeness detection simulation of oil palm FFB were performed. The system composed of 2 diode lasers with 532 nm and 680 nm in wavelengths and a CMOS camera which was set on a rotating plate for easy adjustment of laser beam hitting FFB. The FFB samples were placed on an aluminum platform with 4 height variations, 1.5 m, 2 m, 2.5 m, and 3 m. The relations of reflectance intensities represented by Red Green Blue (RGB) values of the FFB images to the height variations and ripeness levels of FFB with and without laser beam were analyzed. The samples were from Tenera variety with 4 ripeness levels called F0, FI, F3, and F4. The results showed that the red component of RGB values were dominant for FFBs without laser and with red laser. The average RGB values are higher for F3 (ripe) level and F4 (overripe). Imaging with green laser showed consistency. Imaging methods using laser was able to differentiate ripeness levels of oil palm FFB, it could be applied for future remote detection of oil palm FFB ripeness. This publication does not specifically describe about measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

All prior arts as listed and described above do not specifically describe about an apparatus and/or process of measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of samples, whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

Hence, there remains a need in the art to provide an apparatus and/or process to address the above problems or to at least provide an alternative to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets. More particularly, there is a need for an apparatus and/or process to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets to obtain a fast, easy, accurate measurement in real-time mode via a use of a chlorophyll sensor whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples, the apparatus including an external housing which functions as an encasement to protect components within the external housing from foreign objects such as trash, dirt, dust or rain, an optical window connected to a flange which makes contact with the plurality of samples, at least one probe holder attached to the flange to connect at least one fibre probe to the flange and optical window, wherein the at least one fibre probe contains at least one fibre bundle consisting of single or multiple excitation and collection fibres to deliver excitation light from a plurality of light sources to the plurality of samples to excite chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples to produce excited chlorophyll molecules, a spectrometer to analyse and measure light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples based on different wavelengths, an array of detectors as contained in the spectrometer to convert the light signals into electrical signals to be displayed on plurality of monitors such as portable mobile and electronic devices and stored in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof and a wireless network and an application software as a data acquisition interface for real-time monitoring of the chlorophyll content measurement, to control the plurality of light sources, to extract data from the spectrometer, to display data on the plurality of monitors and store the data in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof.

The present invention further provides a use of an apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples, wherein the apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the ranges of 3,000,000 counts to 5, 000, 000 counts for unripe oil palm fruitlets and 800, 000 counts to 2, 999, 999 counts for ripe oil palm fruitlets .

Next, the present invention provides a process us ing an apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples, the process including the steps of sterilizing the oil palm fruitlets at temperature of between to 90 °C to 150 °C at pressure of between 1 X 10 ⁶ to 3 X 10 ⁶ Pa ( 1 to 3 bar) for a time period of between 50 minutes to 150 minutes to produce substantially sterilized palm fruits , digesting the substantially sterilized oil palm fruitlets from step a . at temperature of between 70 °C to 100 °C at atmospheric pressure for a retention time period of between 10 minutes to 30 minutes to produce mass pas sing digester, pressing the mass passing digester at temperature of between 70 °C to 100 °C and at pressure of between 30 X 10 ⁶ to 80 X 10 ⁶ Pa ( 30 bar to 80 bar) to produce undiluted crude palm fruit oil, mixing the undiluted crude palm fruit oil with dilution water to produce diluted crude palm fruit oil containing oil phase of between 50 wt . % to 70 wt . % and aqueous phase of between 20 wt . % to 40 wt . %, clarifying the diluted crude palm fruit oil into a c rude palm fruit oil, mesocarp and underflow clarifier, recovering crude palm fruit oil from the mesocarp and the underflow clarifier, wherein the apparatus includes an external hous ing which functions as an encasement to protect components within the external housing from foreign objects such as trash, dirt , dust or rain, an optical window connected to a flange which makes contact with the plurality of samples , at least one probe holder attached to the flange to connect at least one fibre probe to the flange and optical window, wherein the at least one fibre probe contains at least one fibre bundle consisting of s ingle or multiple excitation and collection fibres to deliver excitation light from a plurality of light sources to the plurality of samples to excite chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples to produce exc ited chlorophyll molecules , a spectrometer to analyse and measure light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emiss ion of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples based on different wavelengths , an array of detectors as contained in the spectrometer to convert the light signals into electrical s ignals to be displayed on plurality of monitors such as portable mobile and electronic devices and stored in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices , portable mobile devices , cloud computing network or any combination thereof and a wireless network and an application softwa re as a data acquisition interface for real -time monitoring of the chlorophyll content measurement, to control the plurality of light sources, to extract data from the spectrometer, to display data on the plurality of monitors and store the data in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof .

The present invention also provides a use of a process using an apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples, wherein the apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the ranges of 3, 000, 000 counts to 5, 000, 000 counts for unripe oil palm fruitlets and 800, 000 counts to 2, 999, 999 counts for ripe oil palm fruitlets .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features of the present invention may have been referred by embodiments as illustrated in the appended drawings . The appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments .

Figure 1 illustrates a conventional palm oil milling process

Figure 2 illustrates the apparatus of the present invention .

Figure 3 illustrates the reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples ripe and unripe oil palm fruitlets using the apparatus of the present invention .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

While the present invention is described herein by way of example using illustrative drawings and embodiments, it should be understood that the detailed description are not intended to limit the invention to embodiments of drawing or drawings described and are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed but in contrary the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the scope of the present invention .

The present invention is described herein by various embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein reference numerals used in the accompanying drawing correspond to the features through the description. However, the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to embodiments set forth herein. Therefore _. , embodiments are provided so that this disclosure would be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of invention to those skilled in the art. Numeric values and ranges and materials as provided in the detailed description are to be treated as examples only and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Terminology and phraseology used herein is solely used for descriptive purposes and is not intended as limiting in scope. The words such as "including"., "comprising", "having", "containing" or "involving" and other variations is intended to be broad and cover the subject matter as described including equivalents and additional subject matter not recited such as other components or steps.

The invention in one aspect relates to measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples obtained or obtainable by the apparatus according to the present invention.

The invention in another aspect relates to measuring ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples obtained or obtainable by the process according to the present invention.

The term "oil" whenever used herein encompasses oils that are liquid, semi-solid or solid at 20°C. "Crude palm fruit oil" (CPO) for this present invention refers to crude palm oil (unrefined palm oil) which is oil extracted from mesocarp of an oil palm fruit. Mesocarp of an oil palm fruit refers to the yellow flesh of the oil palm fruit. Crude palm oil is semi-solid at room temperature and is reddish in colour in its unrefined form due to the presence of carotenoids and tocotrienols. Typically, the crude palm fruit oil used in the present process contains at least 80 wt% triglycerides, more preferably at least 90 wt% of triglycerides.

"Undiluted crude palm oil” for this present invention refers to a mixture containing palm oil, water, cell debris, fibrous material and non-oily solids. For the purposes of this present invention, undiluted crude palm oil is mixed with dilution water to produce diluted crude palm oil containing oil phase of between 50 wt.% to 70 wt.% and aqueous phase of between 20 wt.% to 40 wt.%. The mixing of water as dilution means enables the mixture (diluted crude palm oil) to flow through gutter thus transferred to clarifier via pumping. Besides that, addition of water will reduce the viscosity thus allowing efficient separation of oil in the clarifier .

In a typical palm oil milling process , several operations are involved in extracting palm oil from oil palm FFB, which are sterilization, stripping, digestion and pressing, clarification, purification, drying and storage . The proces s firstly begins with the cleaning of the palm fruits until all foreign objects such as trash and dirt are substantially removed . This is followed by sterilization of the palm fruits at temperatures of between 80 °C to 160 °C, preferably at temperatures of between 90 °C to 150 °C and most preferably 100 °C to 140 °C at pressure of between 1 X 10 ⁶ to 3 X 10 ⁶ Pa (1 to 3 bar) for a time period of between 50 to 150 minutes to produce substantially sterilized palm fruits . Digestion of the sterilized palm fruits then takes place in the digestion tank at temperatures of between 70 °C to 100 °C at atmospheric pressure for a retention time period of between 10 to 30 minutes to produce substantially digested palm fruits . Freshly cut fruit bunches and detached loose fruits are transported to the palm oil mill where they are sterilised to inactivate the lipolytic enzymes, loosen the fruits on the bunch, soften the fruits, condition the kernels , and cause protein to coagulate . In the conventional milling proces s , bunches and loose fruits are loaded into cages and pushed into sterilizers whereby the bunches are cooked in batches . The cooking of the fruits happens using steam which is let in by the opening of inlet valves which could be easily controlled by an automated programme . Once the fruits have been cooked in the cages , the steam and condensate are exhausted from the steriliser and the fruit cages are pulled out of the steriliser . Stripping the fruit from the sterilised bunches (threshing) is carried out in a rotating cage with bars that allows the fruits to pass through, but retains the empty bunches . The loosened fruits are collected by a conveyor below the cage and the empty bunches emerge at the end of the cage . The separated fruit is then fed to a digester, which is a cylindrical, steam- j acketed vessel kept at 90°C to 100°C by the inj ection of live steam . It is fitted with beater arms that break up the fruit and liberate the oil . The digester contents are then fed continuously to a screw press that produces a liquid stream consisting of oil , fine debris / pa rticulate and aqueous phase, and a press cake containing the fruit fibre residue and palm nut that contain kernel encapsulated by its shell . The liquid stream is pas sed to a settling tank via a vibrating screen that returns what it retains to the digester . The oil recuperated from the settling tank is first of all passed through a purifier to further remove the impurities from the oil and then dried using a vacuum dryer . The sludge collected in the settling tank is passed to a decanter that separates this sludge into a heavy effluent phase and a light, oily phase that is returned to the store tank. This conventional process is generally summarised as per Figure 1.

It is pertinent and important that oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) are harvested at the optimum ripeness as the oil content of oil palm FFB is very much linked to the degree of ripeness. Conventional practice of quality inspection and grading of oil palm FFB is via human inspection (manual inspection) at the palm oil mill, whereby, it is labour intensive and time consuming. Moreover, the accuracy of grading results may be jeopardized by subjective human judgments. In addition, it is not easy for human to perform fast, easy and accurate grading and quality assessment of oil palm FFB without using advance technologies especially when performing inspections and grading of large quantities.

Due to this, innovative computer technologies have been employed in numerous applications whereby they have been incorporated with new machines for agricultural product grading and quality assessment. There are many prior arts disclosing various means of ripeness detection systems (such as hyperspectral systems, lasers, sensors, near-infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy, laser photon counting spectroscopy and image analysis etc.) and many systems are being studied and worked on, however, have not been fully adapted/deployed at the palm oil mills and/or oil palm estates at the moment.

Advantageously, the apparatus and/or process of the present invention provides a solution and/or an alternative means to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples, whereby a spectrometer is configured to analyse, measure and convert light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from the excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples (such as the oil palm fruitlets, mesocarp, mass passing digester, undiluted crude palm oil, diluted crude palm oil or crude palm oil) into electrical signals to provide the reading on the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets.

In reference to Figure 2. the present invention describes an apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples, the apparatus including a. an external housing (1) which functions as an encasement to protect components within the external housing (1) from foreign objects such as trash, dirt, dust or rain, b. an optical window (3) connected to a flange (2) which makes contact with the plurality of samples, c. at least one probe holder (5) attached to the flange (2) to connect at least one fibre probe (4) to the flange (2) and optical window (3), wherein the at least one fibre probe (4) contains at least one fibre bundle consisting of single or multiple excitation and collection fibres to deliver excitation light from a plurality of light sources (9) to the plurality of samples to excite chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples to produce excited chlorophyll molecules, d. a spectrometer (6) to analyse and measure light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples based on different wavelengths, e. an array of detectors as contained in the spectrometer (6) to convert the light signals into electrical signals to be displayed on plurality of monitors (7) such as portable mobile and electronic devices and stored in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof and f. a wireless network (8) and an application software as a data acquisition interface for real-time monitoring of the chlorophyll content measurement, to control the plurality of light sources (9), to extract data from the spectrometer (6), to display data on the plurality of monitors (7) and store the data in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof.

The present invention also provides a process using an apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples, the process including the steps of a. sterilizing the oil palm fruitlets at temperature of between to 90 °C to 150 °C at pressure of between 1 X 10 ⁶ to 3 X 10 ⁶ Pa (1 to 3 bar) for a time period of between 50 minutes to 150 minutes to produce substantially sterilized palm fruits, b. digesting the substantially sterilized oil palm fruitlets from step a. at temperature of between 70 °C to 100 °C at atmospheric pressure for a retention time period of between 10 minutes to 30 minutes to produce mass passing digester, c. pressing the mass passing digester at temperature of between 70 °C to 100 °C and at pressure of between 30 X 10 ⁶ to 80 X 10 ⁶ Pa (30 bar to 80 bar) to produce undiluted crude palm fruit oil, d. mixing the undiluted crude palm fruit oil with dilution water to produce diluted crude palm fruit oil containing oil phase of between 50 wt.% to 70 wt.% and aqueous phase of between 20 wt.% to 40 wt.%, e. clarifying the diluted crude palm fruit oil into a crude palm fruit oil, mesocarp and underflow clarifier, f. recovering crude palm fruit oil from the mesocarp and the underflow clarifier., wherein the apparatus includes an external housing ( 1 ) which functions as an encasement to protect components within the external housing (1) from foreign obj ects such as trash, dirt, dust or rain, an optical window (3 ) connected to a flange (2) which makes contact with the plurality of samples , at least one probe holder (5) attached to the flange ( 2 ) to connect at least one fibre probe (4) to the flange (2) and optical window ( 3 ) , wherein the at least one fibre probe (4) contains at least one fibre bundle consisting of single or multiple excitation and collection fibres to deliver excitation light from a plurality of light sources (9) to the plurality of samples to excite chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples to produce excited chlorophyll molecules, a spectrometer (6) to analyse and measure light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples based on different wavelengths , an array of detectors as contained in the spectrometer (6 ) to convert the light signals into electrical signals to be displayed on plurality of monitors (7) such as portable mobile and electronic devices and stored in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices , cloud computing network or any combination thereof and a wireless network ( 8) and an application software as a data acquisition interface for real -time monitoring, to control the plurality of light sources ( 9) , to extract data from the spectrometer (6) , to display data on the plurality of monitors (7) and store the data in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices , portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof .

This apparatus and/or process of the present invention provides numerous advantages and benefits such as :

a . non- destructive to samples ;

b . no- contact with samples ( samples do not get contaminated ) ;

c . s imple to use;

d . no chemical pollution ;

e . does not consume samples;

f . live remote monitoring and feedback;

g . easy maintenance without affecting process ;

h . does not require laboratory examination for determining the ripeness of the fruits ; and

i . save man power and time .

Further to the above, the apparatus and/or process of the present invention : • can be used together with the conventional manual grading to determine ripeness of the oil palm fruitlets, as a means to cross-check and validate results from conventional manual grading process;

• can be used together with any other non-destructive technologies already in place to determine ripeness of oil palm fruitlets (such as hyperspectral system, NIR reflectance spectroscopy etc.) as a means to cross-check and validate results obtained from the use of those other technologies and/or means;

• is a means for continuous monitoring of the quality of crude palm oil to be produced in the palm oil mill based on readings obtained from the apparatus and/or process of the present invention in the milling process as opposed to conventional means, as conventional manual grading and/or other non-destructive technologies only provides the data on ripeness of the oil palm fruitlets before the oil palm fruitlets are processed in the palm oil mills;

• could potentially eliminate the need for conventional manual grading in the future as the apparatus and/or the process of the present invention would eventually make certain that oil palm FFB are harvested at the optimum ripeness due to the continuous process monitoring involved;

• provides a real-time monitoring mode whereby real-time data can be obtained on the ripeness of the fruitlets immediately while the fruitlets are being processed in the palm oil mill; and/or

• is also seen as an intervention technology to be used in the palm oil mills of the future whereby all data are in real-time mode and collected electronically (which can be monitored remotely) and provides a means to make any changes, adjustments and/or corrections on the spot while the fruitlets are being processed in the palm oil mill and the ripeness data can be monitored from the start to end of the palm oil milling process.

According to an embodiment of the apparatus and/or process of the present invention, whereby the apparatus and/or process of the present invention is used together with the manual grading step, the FFB supplied to the oil palm mills are firstly inspected manually on its ripeness standard based on the number of empty sockets as follows:

° Onripe (purplish black fruitlets) with FFB containing complete fruits / 0% detachment of fruitlets;

* Onder ripe (reddish black fruitlets) with FFB having 1 to 4 empty sockets of detached fruitlets;

° Ripe (red fruitlets) with FFB having 5 or more empty sockets of detached fruitlets;

° Over ripe (reddish orange) with FFB having 50 -90 % detachment of fruitlets; and

° Empty FFB with FFB having more than 90% detachment of fruitlets.

The present invention provides a first embodiment as follows:

An apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples _. , the apparatus including an external housing (1) which functions as an encasement to protect components within the external housing (1) from foreign objects such as trash, dirt, dust or rain, an optical window (3) connected to a flange (2) which makes contact with the plurality of samples, at least one probe holder (5) attached to the flange (2) to connect at least one fibre probe (4) to the flange (2) and optical window (3), wherein the at least one fibre probe (4) contains at least one fibre bundle consisting of single or multiple excitation and collection fibres to deliver excitation light from a plurality of light sources (9) to the plurality of samples to excite chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples to produce excited chlorophyll molecules, a spectrometer (6) to analyse and measure light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from the excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples based on different wavelengths, an array of detectors as contained in the spectrometer (6) to convert the light signals into electrical signals to be displayed on plurality of monitors (7) such as portable mobile and electronic devices and stored in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof and a wireless network (8) and an application software as a data acquisition interface for real-time monitoring of the chlorophyll content measurement, to control the plurality of light sources (9), to extract data from the spectrometer (6), to display data on the plurality of monitors (7) and store the data in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices _. , portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof .

• The optical window (3) makes contact with the plurality of samples in a non- invasive manner.

• The spectrometer (6) and the plurality of light sources (9) are contained within the external housing (1) . · One end of the at least one fibre probe (4) is connected to the at least one probe holder (5) and other end is connected to the spectrometer (6) and plurality of light sources (9) .

• The at least one probe holder (5) contains no opening or at least one opening.

• The at least one probe holder (5) is rotatable or can be held at a fixed position.

• The at least one fibre probe (4) is rotatable or can be held in a fixed position . · The at least one fibre probe (4) is a sensor probe . The sensor probe is an optical sensor, an electrical sensor, a magnetic sensor, a thermal sensor or a mechanical sensor.

• The wavelengths of the light signals comprising the collected fluorescence, the reflectance of light, the transmittance of light and/or the emission of light are in the range of between 200 nm to 1, 100 nm.

• The plurality of samples includes the oil palm fruitlets, a mesocarp, a mass passing digester, a diluted crude palm fruit oil, an undiluted crude palm fruit oil, a crude palm fruit oil or any combination thereof .

• The plurality of light sources (9) are from light-emitting diode (LED), light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (LASER), halogen light, xenon lamp, deuterium lamp, white light, broad band light sources or any combination thereof . • The operating temperature of the apparatus is maintained in the range of between 15 °C to 50 °C using ventilation temperature controllers or any combination thereof .

• The apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 3, 000, 000 counts to 5 , 000, 000 counts for un ripe oil palm fruitlets .

• The apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 800, 000 counts to 2, 999, 999 counts for ripe oil palm fruitlets .

The present invention provides a second embodiment as follows :

A process using an apparatus to measure ripenes s of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples , the process including the steps of sterilizing the oil palm fruitlets at temperature of between to 90 °C to 150 °C at pressure of between 1 X 10 ⁶ to 3 X 10 ⁶ Pa ( 1 to 3 bar ) for a time period of between 50 minutes to 150 minutes to produce substantially sterilized palm fruits, digesting the substantially sterilized oil palm fruitlets from step a . at temperatu re of between 70 °C to 100 °C at atmospheric pressure for a retention time period of between 10 minutes to 30 minutes to produce mas s passing digester, pressing the mass passing digester at temperature of between 70 °C to 100 °C and at pres sure of between 30 X 10 ⁶ to 80 X 10 ⁶ Pa ( 30 bar to 80 bar) to produce undiluted crude palm fruit oil, mixing the undiluted crude palm fruit oil with dilution water to produce diluted crude palm fruit oil containing oil phase of between 50 wt . % to 70 wt . % and aqueous phase of between 20 wt . % to 40 wt . %, clarifying the diluted c rude palm fruit oil into a crude palm fruit oil, mesocarp and underflow clarifier, recovering c rude palm fruit oil from the mesocarp and the underflow clarifier; wherein the apparatus includes an external housing ( 1 ) which functions as an encasement to protect components within the external housing ( 1 ) from foreign objects such as trash, dirt , dust or rain, an optical window ( 3 ) connected to a flange ( 2) which makes contact with the plurality of samples , at least one probe holder ( 5 ) attached to the flange (2 ) to connect at least one fibre probe (4) to the flange ( 2) and optical window ( 3 ) , wherein the at least one fibre probe (4) contains at least one fibre bundle consisting of single or multiple excitation and collection fibres to deliver excitation light from a plurality of light sources ( 9 ) to the plurality of samples to excite chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples to produce excited chlorophyll molecules, a spectrometer (6) to analyse and measure light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from the excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples based on different wavelengths, an array of detectors as contained in the spectrometer (6) to convert the light signals into electrical signals to be displayed on plurality of monitors (7) such as portable mobile and electronic devices and stored in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof and a wireless network (8) and an application software as a data acquisition interface for real-time monitoring, to control the plurality of light sources (9), to extract data from the spectrometer (6), to display data on the plurality of monitors (7) and store the data in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof.

• The optical window (3) makes contact with the plurality of samples in a non- invasive manner.

• The spectrometer (6) and the plurality of light sources (9) are contained within the external housing (1).

• One end of the at least one fibre probe (4) is connected to the at least one probe holder (5) and other end is connected to the spectrometer (6) and the plurality of light sources (9).

• The at least one probe holder (5) contains no opening or at least one opening.

• The at least one probe holder (5) is rotatable or can be held at a fixed position.

• The at least one fibre probe (4) is rotatable or can be held in a fixed position.

• The at least one fibre probe (4) is a sensor probe.

_• The sensor probe is an optical sensor, an electrical sensor, a magnetic sensor, a thermal sensor or a mechanical sensor. • The wavelengths of the light signals comprising the collected fluorescence, the reflectance of light, the transmittance of light and/or the emission of light are in the range of between 200 nm to 1,100 nm.

• The plurality of samples includes the oil palm fruitlets, a mesocarp, a mass passing digester, a diluted crude palm fruit oil, an undiluted crude palm fruit oil, a crude palm fruit oil or any combination thereof.

• The plurality of light sources (9) are from light -emitting diode (LED), light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (LASER), halogen light, xenon lamp, deuterium lamp, white light, broad band light sources or any combination thereof.

• The operating temperature of the apparatus is maintained in the range of between 15 °C to 50 °C using ventilation, temperature controllers or any combination thereof.

• The apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 3,000,000 counts to 5,000,000 counts for unripe oil palm fruitlets.

• The apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 800,000 counts to 2,999,999 counts for ripe oil palm fruitlets.

The present invention provides a third embodiment as follows :

An apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples, the apparatus including an external housing (1) which functions as an encasement to protect components within the external housing (1) from foreign objects such as trash, dirt, dust or rain, an optical window (3) connected to a flange (2) which makes contact with the plurality of samples in a non-invasive manner, a probe holder (5) attached to the flange (2) to connect a fibre probe (4) to the flange (2) and optical window (3), wherein the fibre probe (4) contains at least one fibre bundle consisting of single or multiple excitation and collection fibres to deliver excitation light from a plurality of light sources (9) to the plurality of samples to excite chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples to produce excited chlorophyll molecules, a spectrometer (6) to analyse and measure light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples based on different wavelengths, an array of detectors as contained in the spectrometer (6) to convert the light signals into electrical signals to be displayed on plurality of monitors (7) such as portable mobile and electronic devices and stored in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof and f. a wireless network (8) and an application software as a data acquisition interface for real-time monitoring of the chlorophyll content measurement, to control the plurality of light sources (9), to extract data from the spectrometer (6), to display data on the plurality of monitors (7) and store the data in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof.

• The spectrometer (6) and the plurality of light sources (9) are contained within the external housing (1).

• One end of the fibre probe (4) is connected to the probe holder (5) and other end is connected to the spectrometer (6) and the plurality of light sources (9).

• The probe holder (5) contains no opening or at least one opening and is rotatable or can be held at a fixed position.

• The probe holder (5) preferably contains at least one opening and is rotatable.

The fibre probe (4) is rotatable or can be held in a fixed position, preferably is rotatable.

• The fibre probe (4) is a sensor probe, preferably an optical sensor, an electrical sensor, a magnetic sensor, a thermal sensor or a mechanical sensor. The sensor probe is an electrical sensor.

• The wavelengths of the light signals comprising the collected fluorescence, the reflectance of light, the transmittance of light and/or the emission of light are in the range of between 200 nm to 1,100 nm, preferably 600 nm to 900 nm. • The plurality of samples includes the oil palm fruitlets, a mesocarp, a mass passing digester a diluted crude palm fruit oil, an undiluted crude palm fruit oil, a crude palm fruit oil or any combination thereof. The plurality of samples includes the diluted crude palm fruit oil, the crude palm fruit oil or any combination thereof.

• The plurality of light sources (9) are from light-emitting diode ( LED), light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation ( LASER) , halogen light, xenon lamp, deuterium lamp, white light, broad band light sources or any combination thereof . The plurality of lights sources (9) are preferably from the light- emitting diode (LED), the light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation ( LASER) or any combination thereof.

• The operating temperature of the apparatus is maintained in the range of between 15 °C to 50 °C using ventilation, temperature controllers or any combination thereof, preferably in the range of between 25 °C to 35 °C.

• The apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 3, 000, 000 counts to 5, 000,000 counts for unripe oil palm fruitlets .

• The apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 800,000 counts to 2, 999, 999 counts for ripe oil palm fruitlets .

The present invention provides a fourth embodiment as follows :

An apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of a sample, the apparatus including an external housing (1) which functions as an encasement to protect components within the external housing (1) from foreign objects such as trash, dirt, dust or rain, an optical window (3) connected to a flange (2) which makes contact with the samples in a non-invasive manner, a probe holder (5) attached to the flange ( 2) to connect a fibre probe (4) to the flange (2) and optical window (3 ), wherein the fibre probe (4) contains at least one fibre bundle consisting of single or multiple excitation and collection fibres to deliver excitation light from a light source (9) to the sample to excite chlorophyll molecules in the sample to produce excited chlorophyll molecules, a spectrometer (6) to analyse and measure light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the sample based on different wavelengths, an array of detectors as contained in the spectrometer (6) to convert the light signals into electrical signals to be displayed on plurality of monitors (7) such as portable mobile and electronic devices and stored in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof and a wireless network (8) and an application software as a data acquisition interface for real-time monitoring of the chlorophyll content measurement, to control the light source (9), to extract data from the spectrometer (6), to display data on the plurality of monitors (7) and store the data in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof.

• The spectrometer (6) and the light source (9) are contained within the external housing (1).

• One end of the fibre probe (4) is connected to the probe holder (5) and other end is connected to the spectrometer (6) and light source (9).

• The probe holder (5) contains at least one opening and is rotatable.

• The fibre probe (4) is rotatable. The fibre probe (4) is an electrical sensor.

• The wavelengths of the light signals comprising the collected fluorescence, the reflectance of light, the transmittance of light and/or the emission of light are in the range of between 200 nm to 1,100 nm, preferably 6Q0 nm to 900 nm.

• The sample is a diluted crude palm fruit oil.

• The light source (9) is a light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (LASER). • The operating temperature of the apparatus is maintained in the range of between 15 °C to 50 °C using ventilation, temperature controllers or any combination thereof, preferably in the range of between 25 °C to 35 °C .

• The apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 3, 000, 000 counts to 5 , 000, 000 counts for un ripe oil palm fruitlets .

• The apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 800, 000 counts to 2, 999, 999 counts for ripe oil palm fruitlets .

The present invention provides a fifth embodiment as follows :

Use of an apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of a sample, wherein the apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the ranges of 3, 000, 000 counts to 5, 000, 000 counts for unripe oil palm fruitlets and 800, 000 counts to 2, 999, 999 counts for ripe oil palm fruitlets , wherein the sample is a diluted crude palm fruit oil .

T he present invention provides a sixth embodiment as follows ;

A process us ing an apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples, the process including the steps of sterilizing the oil palm fruitlets at temperature of between to 90 °C to 150 °C at pressure of between 1 X 10 ⁶ to 3 X 10 ⁶ Pa ( 1 to 3 bar) for a time period of between 50 minutes to 150 minutes to produce substantially sterilized palm fruits , digesting the substantially sterilized oil palm fruitlets from step a . at temperature of between 70 °C to 100 °C at atmospheric pressure for a retention time period of between 10 minutes to 30 minutes to produce mass pass ing digester, pressing the mass passing digester at temperature of between 70 °C to 100 °C and at pressure of between 30 X 10 ⁶ to 80 X 10 ⁶ Pa ( 30 bar to 80 bar) to produce undiluted crude palm fruit oil, mixing the undiluted crude palm fruit oil with dilution water to produce diluted crude palm fruit oil containing oil phase of between 50 wt . % to 70 wt . % and aqueous phase of between 20 wt . % to 40 wt . %, clarifying the diluted crude palm fruit oil into a crude palm fruit oil, mesocarp and underflow clarifier, recovering crude palm fruit oil from the mesocarp and the underflow clarifier, wherein the apparatus includes an external housing (1) which functions as an encasement to protect components within the external housing (1) from foreign objects such as trash, dirt, dust or rain, an optical window (3) connected to a flange (2) which makes contact with the plurality of samples in a non-invasive manner, a probe holder (5) attached to the flange (2) to connect a fibre probe (4) to the flange (2) and optical window (3 ) , wherein the fibre probe (4) contains at least one fibre bundle consisting of single or multiple excitation and collection fibres to deliver excitation light from a plurality of light sources (9) to the plurality of samples to excite chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples to produce excited chlorophyll molecules, a spectrometer (6) to analyse and measure light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples based on different wavelengths, an array of detectors as contained in the spectrometer (6) to convert the light signals into electrical signals to be displayed on plurality of monitors (7) such as portable mobile and electronic devices and stored in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof and a wireless network (8) and an application software as a data acquisition interface for real-time monitoring of the chlorophyll content measurement, to control the plurality of light sources (9) , to extract data from the spectrometer (6), to display data on the plurality of monitors ( 7) and store the data in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof .

• The spectrometer (6) and the plurality of light sources (9 ) are contained within the external housing (1) .

• One end of the fibre probe (4) is connected to the probe holder (5 ) and other end is connected to the spectrometer (6) and plurality of light sources (9) .

• The probe holder (5) contains no opening or at least one opening and is rotatable or can be held at a fixed position .

_• The probe holder preferably contains at least one opening and is rotatable . • The fibre probe (4) is rotatable or can be held in a fixed position, preferably is rotatable.

• The fibre probe (4) is a sensor probe, preferably an optical sensor, an electrical sensor, a magnetic sensor, a thermal sensor or a mechanical sensor. The sensor probe is an electrical sensor.

• The wavelengths of the light signals comprising the collected fluorescence, the reflectance of light, the transmittance of light and/or the emission of light are in the range of between 200 nm to 1,100 nm, preferably 600 nm to 900 nm.

• The plurality of samples includes the oil palm fruitlets, a mesocarp, a mass passing digester, a diluted crude palm fruit oil, an undiluted crude palm fruit oil, a crude palm fruit oil or any combination thereof. The plurality of samples includes the diluted crude palm fruit oil, the crude palm fruit oil or any combination thereof.

• The plurality of light sources (9) are from light-emitting diode (LED), light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (LASER), halogen light, xenon lamp, deuterium lamp, white light, broad band light sources or any combination thereof. The plurality of lights sources (9) are preferably from the light- emitting diode (LED), the light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (LASER) or any combination thereof.

• The operating temperature of the apparatus is maintained in the range of between 15 °C to 50 °C using ventilation, temperature controllers or any combination thereof, preferably in the range of between 25 °C to 35 °C.

• The apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 3,000,000 counts to 5,000,000 counts for unripe oil palm fruitlets.

• The apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 800,000 counts to 2,999,999 counts for ripe oil palm fruitlets. The present invention provides a seventh embodiment as follows :

A process using an apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples , the process including the steps of sterilizing the oil palm fruitlets at temperature of between to 90 °C to 150 °C at pressure of between 1 X 10 ⁶ to 3 X 10 ⁶ Pa (1 to 3 ba r) for a time period of between 50 minutes to 150 minutes to produce substantially sterilized palm fruits, digesting the substantially sterilized oil palm fruitlets from step a . at temperature of between 70 °C to 100 °C at atmospheric pressure for a retention time period of between 10 minutes to 30 minutes to produce mass passing digester, pressing the mass passing digester at temperature of between 70 °C to 100 °C and at pressure of between 30 X 10 ⁶ to 80 X 10 ⁶ Pa (30 bar to 80 bar) to produce undiluted crude palm fruit oil, mixing the undiluted crude palm fruit oil with dilution water to produce diluted crude palm fruit oil containing oil phase of between 50 wt . % to 70 wt . % and aqueous phase of between 20 wt . % to 40 wt . %, clarifying the diluted crude palm fruit oil into a crude palm fruit oil, mesocarp and underflow clarifier, recovering crude palm fruit oil from the mesocarp and the underflow clarifier, wherein the apparatus includes an external housing (1) which functions as an encasement to protect components within the external hous ing ( 1 ) from foreign obj ects such as trash, dirt, dust or rain, an optical window ( 3 ) connected to a flange ( 2) which makes contact with the samples in a non - invasive manner, a probe holder ( 5) attached to the flange ( 2) to connect a fibre probe (4) to the flange ( 2 ) and optical window ( 3) , wherein the fibre probe (4) contains at least one fibre bundle consisting of single or multiple excitation and collection fibres to deliver excitation light from a light source (9) to the sample to excite chlorophyll molecules in the sample to produce excited chlorophyll molecules , a spectrometer ( 6 ) to analyse and measure light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the sample based on different wavelengths , an array of detectors as contained in the spectrometer (6) to convert the light signals into electrical signals to be displayed on plurality of monitors ( 7) such as portable mobile and electronic devices and stored in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices , portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof and a wireless network ( 8) and an application software as a data acquis ition interface for real-time monitoring of the chlorophyll content measurement, to control the light source (9) , to extract data from the spectrometer ( 6 ) , to display data on the plurality of monitors (7) and store the data in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices _. , portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof.

• The spectrometer (6) and the light source (9) are contained within the external housing (1).

• One end of the fibre probe (4) is connected to the probe holder (5) and other end is connected to the spectrometer (6) and light source (9).

• The probe holder (5) contains at least one opening and is rotatable.

• The fibre probe (4) is rotatable. The fibre probe (4) is an electrical sensor.

• The wavelengths of the light signals comprising the collected fluorescence, the reflectance of light, the transmittance of light and/or the emission of light are in the range of between 200 nm to 1,100 nm, preferably 600 nm to 900 nm.

• The sample is a diluted crude palm fruit oil.

• The light source (9) is a light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (LASER).

• The operating temperature of the apparatus is maintained in the range of between 15 °C to 50 °C using ventilation, temperature controllers or any combination thereof, preferably in the range of between 25 °C to 35 °C.

• The apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 3,000,000 counts to 5,000,000 counts for unripe oil palm fruitlets.

• The apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 800,000 counts to 2,999,999 counts for ripe oil palm fruitlets.

The present invention provides an eighth embodiment as follows: Use of process using an apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real- time chlorophyll content measurement of a sample, wherein the apparatus provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the ranges of 3,000,000 counts to 5,000,000 counts for unripe oil palm fruitlets and 800,000 counts to 2,999,999 counts for ripe oil palm fruitlets, wherein the sample is a diluted crude palm fruit oil.

Chlorophyll content measurement

Oil extraction rate (OER) generally is used to measure the performance of a palm oil mill - as profitability to a great extend is influenced by the amount of oil realised per hectare and therefore is in reference to the oil extraction rate of fresh fruit bunches (FFB). There are many factors affecting the measurement of OER at palm oil mills such as crop weight and cage weight, however, in general OER is defined as the percentage of oil recovered from the oil palm FFB in the palm oil mills.

One of the key factors affecting the OER is the oil palm fruit ripeness. An unripe palm fruit will yield lesser amount of oil as compared to ripe fruit. A key indicator of fruit ripeness is its level of chlorophyll content. An unripe fruit contains higher level of chlorophyll as compared to a ripe fruit. Chlorophyll level varies in oil extracted from FFB according to their ripeness level. The ratio of oil palm fruit pigments such as carotenoids and chlorophylls affects the colour of the oil palm fruit - for e.g. unripe fruits have a higher proportion of chlorophyll that gradually decreases upon maturity and carotenoids increase as oil palm fruits mature.

For chlorophyll molecules, the wavelength of the reflectance of light, the transmittance of light and/or the emission of light are in the range of between 650 nm to 900 nm. Hence, based on fluorescence produced by the excited chlorophyll molecules, the array of detector converts the light signals into electrical signals in terms of counts. Higher counts translate to higher light intensity, and higher light intensity is in directly proportional to chlorophyll content.

Various peaks are obtainable from the apparatus and/ or process of the present invention as per Figure 3 when the readings as obtained by the array of detectors are converted into electrical signal for display at any electronic devices. As mentioned above, it is known that the chlorophyll levels of unripe fruitlets contain higher level of chlorophyll content as compared to ripe fruitlets. Hence it has been summarised based on trials conducted and data obtained, and further validated with data obtained separately at palm oil mills that:

• the apparatus and/or process of the present invention provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 3,000,000 counts to 5,000,000 counts for unripe oil palm fruitletsj and

• the apparatus and/or process of the present invention provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 800,000 counts to 2,999,999 counts for ripe oil palm fruitlets.

Cross-checking and calibration

The apparatus and/or process of the present invention allows for the measurement of the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets to be monitored in off-line mode or in real-time mode. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the present invention allows for the measurement of the chlorophyll content of the oil palm fruitlets to be done in real-time mode, wherein there is no such real-time application currently being applied in any palm oil mills to-date as described by the apparatus of this present invention. However, off-line measurement using A0CS using spectrophotometer would still be required to be used for cross-checking and re- calibration purposes as and when necessary.

AOCS Official. Method Cc 13i-96 - Determination of Chlorophyll Pigments in Crude Vegetable Oils

The content of chlorophyll pigments in vegetable oils is expressed as mg of pheophytin a in 1 kg of oil.

This method determines total chlorophyll pigments, expressed as pheophytin a, in crude vegetable oils. The method is suitable for the determination of quantities of chlorophyll pigments higher than 1 mg/kg (1 ppm). The chlorophyll pigments are determined by measuring the absorbance at 670 nm, correcting the result for the background absorption, and calculating the content with the use of the absorptivity of pheophytin a, which is the main chlorophyll pigment in crude vegetable oils.

Apparatus :

• Spectrophotometer allowing the measurement in the range of 630-710nm

• Glass spectrophotometer cells, with Light path of 10mm • Beaker 100ml

• Fitter paper 150mm

Procedure:

1. The test sample is heated and filtered using a filter paper inside the oven at temperature 60°C

2. The filtered test sample immediately (<30 sec) measured at 630nm, 670nm, and 710nm in a 10mm spectrophotometer cell against air (without any cell) rather than a reference cell

Calculation:

1. The content of chlorophyll pigments is expressed in mg of pheophytin a, which is calculated as follows:

C= 345.3 X (A670 - 0.5CA630 - 0.5 X 4710)

L

Where

C= content of chlorophyll pigments as mg of pheophytin a in 1 kg of oil A=Absorbance at the respective wavelength (nm)

L=light path of the spectrophotometer cell (mm)

According to an embodiment of the apparatus and/or process of the present invention, the apparatus to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of plurality of samples comprises an external housing (1) which functions as an encasement to protect components within the external housing (1) from foreign objects such as trash, dirt, dust or rain. The spectrometer (6) and the plurality of light sources (9) such as light-emitting diode (LED), light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (LASER), halogen light, xenon lamp, deuterium lamp, white light or broad band light sources are contained within the external housing (1).

According to an embodiment of the apparatus and/or process of the present invention, the apparatus comprises an optical window (3) connected to a flange (2) which makes contact with the plurality of samples in a non-invasive manner such as the oil palm fruitlets, a mesocarp, a mass passing digester, a diluted crude palm fruit oil, an undiluted crude palm fruit oil, a crude palm fruit oil or any combination thereof. The apparatus can be used for any of samples as mentioned above in the oil palm milling process, however, preferably be the diluted crude palm oil. The first point of oil extraction is just after pressing of sterilized fruits, producing undiluted crude palm oil which is mixed with hot water to yield diluted crude palm oil. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the diluted crude palm oil is found to be the closest sample to reflect oil palm FFB in a homogenous measurable liquid oil before undergoing further processes in the palm oil mill which could affect the chlorophyll level of the samples. Therefore, measurement of chlorophyll content of the diluted crude palm oil would most efficiently and/or accurately represent the ripeness of the oil palm fruitlets. Apart from this, diluted crude palm oil being in liquid form provides a homogenous flow of samples through the apparatus of the present invention to obtain readings of the chlorophyll content measurement. This approach is more reliable, fast and accurate as compared to conventional means of manual grading which is time consuming, labour intensive process, prone to biased appraisal and human error.

According to a further embodiment of the apparatus and/or process of the present invention, the apparatus comprises at least one probe holder (5) attached to the flange (2) to connect at least one fibre probe (4) to the flange (2) and optical window (3), wherein the at least one fibre probe (4) contains at least one fibre bundle consisting of single or multiple excitation and collection fibres to deliver excitation light from a plurality of light sources (9) to the plurality of samples to excite chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples to produce excited chlorophyll molecules. One end of the at least one fibre probe (4) is connected to the at least one probe holder (5) and other end is connected to the spectrometer (6) and plurality of light sources (9). The apparatus of the present invention can use more than one fibre probe (4), however, one fibre probe (4) is sufficient for the efficient use of the present invention. The number of probe holder (5) would depend on the number of fibre probe (4) used in the apparatus of the present invention. As one fibre probe (4) is sufficient for the purpose of the present invention, hence, one probe holder (5) is also sufficient for the purpose of the present invention. It is preferable for the optical window (3) to be made of glass or any type of materials which is able to withstand high pressure as it makes contact with the plurality of samples. The material of the flange (2) is preferably to be made of metal as it needs to withstand heat and pressure. The purpose of the flange (2) is to connect the probe holder (5) to the optical window, and to hold the optical window (3) in a fixed position. The proposed probe holder (5) for this present invention is unique as it contains at least one opening and is rotatable in both clockwise and anticlockwise directions. Conventional probe holders as previously used in the palm oil mills have no opening and is held at a fixed position. A probe holder (5) with at least one opening or no opening may be used for this present invention., however preferably with at least one opening. The probe holder (5) can be rotatable or held in a fixed position for this present invention, however, preferably to be rotatable. A probe holder (5) with at least one opening and is rotatable is proposed for this present invention to obtain and maintain a homogenous and continuous flow of diluted crude palm oil throughout the apparatus of the present invention. The rotation mechanism also helps in preventing the flow of the diluted crude palm oil to be stuck and/or trapped hence preventing flow of the diluted crude palm oil through the apparatus of the present invention due to debris. Additionally, the flow of the diluted crude palm oil can also be clearly seen with the proposed opening of the probe holder (5). The shape of probe holder (5) used for this present invention is circle with a semi-circle opening, however, a probe holder with any shape and at least one opening of any shape and/or sizes can be used for the apparatus of the present invention. If the probe holder (5) used for the apparatus of the present invention is rotatable, then, the fibre probe (4) used must also be rotatable. If the probe holder (5) used for the apparatus of the present invention is held at a fixed position, then the fibre probe (4) is also held in a fixed position. The flange (2) is held in a fixed position with the optical window (3) at a]] times, whether or not the fibre probe (4) and the probe holder (5) are rotatable or held in a fixed position.

The spectrometer (6) comprises an array of detectors to convert the light signals into electrical signals (for measurement of the chlorophyll content) to be displayed on plurality of monitors (7) such as portable mobile and electronic devices (i.e. desktop, laptops, smart phones etc.) and stored in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof.

A spectrometer (6) is commonly used to disperse the measured optical signal into its wavelength components which enables optical properties of the samples to be analysed. The spectrometer (6) consists of an array of mirrors (for beam shaping), an optical grating (to disperse light) and linear array detectors. Light entering the spectrometer (6) entrance slit will be dispersed into its wavelength components via the optical grating. The dispersed light will then be recorded by the linear array detectors in which a graph will be plotted displaying light intensity versus wavelength using a computer. Depending on the wavelength range of interest, the wavelengths can range from 200 nm to 1,100 nm for UV-Vis-NIR (Ultra Violet-visible- near-Infrared) region or 1,100 nm to 2,300 nm for near-infrared (NIR) region. For the purpose of this invention, as the chlorophyll fluorescence falls in the UV-Vis-NIR region, a spectrometer (6) which covers the spectral range from 200 nm to 1,100 nm will be used, preferably in the range of between 600 nm to 900 nm. The spectrometer (6) may use an array of detectors such as photodiode arrays, liner array detector, charged coupled device (CCD) detector or any combination thereof to detect the light properties of the samples for the purposes of this present invention.

The spectrometer (6) used for present invention could be optical spectrometer which can be fixed grating spectrometer or tunable grating spectrometer. It can be a single shot spectrometer (i.e. the entire spectrum is recorded in a single run through an array CCD detector or scanning the grating and detecting the signal through a single photodetector. For the purposes of this present invention, the spectrometer (6) with array silicon CCD detector will be preferred as it offers the speed it requires to record the signal in a single run instead of scanning the grating and detecting the spectrum wavelength by wavelength. As the chlorophyll fluorescence signal is in the UV-Vis-NIR region, silicon detectors will be suitable as it has the optical response range from 200 nm to 1,100 nm.

According to another embodiment of the apparatus and/or process of the present invention, a wireless network (8) and an application software as a data acquisition interface are required for real-time monitoring of the chlorophyll content measurement, to control the plurality of light sources (9), to extract data from the spectrometer (6), to display data on the plurality of monitors (7) and store the data in plurality of storage devices such as storage of electronic devices, portable mobile devices, cloud computing network or any combination thereof. Data obtained from the processing the samples can be obtained and monitored remotely hence not necessary to be present in the mill for data monitoring and collection. Subsequently, necessary actions can be taken and/or performed immediately (even if present remotely) based on the data obtained via the apparatus and/process of the present invention.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the fibre probe (4) is a sensor probe which essentially uses light or a sensor to probe the interaction between the plurality of samples and the spectrometer (6) in order to quantify the properties of the plurality of samples measured. The sensor probe can be an optical sensor, an electrical sensor, a magnetic sensor, a thermal sensor or a mechanical sensor. An optical sensor is preferably used for the apparatus of the present invention as the optical sensor converts light rays into electrical signals. The plurality of samples reflects the light beam as sent out by the plurality of light sources (9) and the reflection of the light beam is evaluated via the spectrometer (6).The spectrometer (6) is used to analyse and measure light signals comprising collected fluorescence, reflectance of light, transmittance of light and/or emission of light from excited chlorophyll molecules in the plurality of samples based on different wavelengths in the range of between 200 nm to 1,100 nm, preferably in the range of between 600 nm to 900 nm.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of light sources (9) are from light-emitting diode (LED), light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (LASER), halogen light, xenon lamp, deuterium lamp, white light, broad band light sources or any combination thereof. The apparatus of the present invention can use one light source (9) or more than one (same or different) light sources (9) as contained in the external housing (1) of the apparatus of the present invention. For the purposes of the present invention, one light source is sufficient and the light source is preferably to be a LASER light. LASER is preferable as laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) provides advantage which enables more accurate measurements to be made due to higher sensitivity of a LASER light, measurement under daylight can be done without any delays or issues, LASER light is also stable and has high degree of uniform brightness with long service life and can be use in a non-invasive way for the purpose of this apparatus and/or process of the present invention. "LIF” is essentially a method of study of dispersion of visible light as dispersed according to its wavelength, in which an atom or molecule is excited to a higher energy level due to absorption of laser light followed by the spontaneous emission of light.

According to an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention, the operating temperature of the apparatus is maintained in the range of between 15°C to 50°C using ventilation, temperature controllers or any combination thereof, preferably between 25°C to 35°C, for stable operations and efficient measurements of the apparatus of the present invention. The apparatus of the present invention will not function at its optimum level, the LASER light will be automatically cut-off and/or operational warning signal will be indicated (for safety precaution purposes) at temperatures higher than 50°C.

Innovative computer technologies have been employed in numerous applications where they have been incorporated with new machines for agricultural product grading and quality assessment. There are many prior arts disclosing various means of ripeness detection systems (such as hyperspectral systems _. , lasers, sensors, near-infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy, laser photon counting spectroscopy and image analysis etc.) and many systems are being studied and worked on, however, not being fully adapted/deployed at the palm oil mills or oil palm estates at the moment. It would be appreciated that a non-invasive approach such as the apparatus and/or process of the present invention is useful and convenient to be applied in the palm oil mills.

The present invention is essentially an apparatus and/or a process to measure ripeness of oil palm fruitlets via real-time chlorophyll content measurement of samples as chlorophyll content varies based on ripeness of the fruitlets. Chlorophyll readings (real-time data) obtained by the said apparatus would provide sufficient details to the palm oil milling personnel on oil palm fruitlets which are being processed which would enable the personnel to immediately adjust settings of sterilization temperature and/or pressure to obtain the highest possible CPO quantity. If high chlorophyll reading is obtained which correlates to unripe oil palm FFB, the mill and/or estate personnel would be alerted to do thorough checking of the incoming FFB quality, isolate the ramp which contains the oil palm FFB with higher percentage of unripe bunches and/or swift notification could be sent to the estates accordingly on the incident. The mill personnel would also be able to adjust the sterilization conditions to suit the higher number of unripe oil palm FFB to obtain the highest possible CPO quantity. Generally, unripe bunches would require longer sterilisation period as compared to ripe bunches. Over-cooking ripe bunches would result in oil loss due to leaching out of oil into the sterilizer condensate. Flence, the sterilisation conditions must be set at its optimum based on the types of oil palm FFB being processed. All this is now possible with the apparatus and/or process of the present invention as the data is obtained in real-time mode.

It can also be appreciated that the apparatus of the present invention can be used to measure ripeness of other oil-bearing crops apart from oil palm such as olive, avocado, rapeseed and others by measuring the chlorophyll content of these oil- bearing crops. Various modifications to these embodiments as described herein are apparent to those skilled in the art from the description and the accompanying drawings . The description is not intended to be limited to these embodiments as shown with the accompanying drawings but is to provide the broadest scope possible as consistent with the novel and inventive features disclosed. Accordingly, the invention is anticipated to hold on to all other such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the scope of the present invention and appended claims .

EXAMPLES

Example 1

The apparatus and/or process of the present invention allows a non-invasive, on-line monitoring of the chlorophyll levels of the diluted crude palm oil . Oil palm FFB are firstly sterilised under high pressure steam in the range of between 68.96 X 10 ³ Pa to 103.4 X 10 ³ Pa [10-15 psi] and then proceeds to the digester for digestion of the oil palm fruitlets and pressing of the oil palm fruitlets to extract undiluted crude palm oil by applying mechanical pressure via screw presses, undiluted crude palm oil at this point is thick and viscous, hence, hot water (90°C-95°C) is added to form diluted crude palm oil. Diluted crude palm oil is let to pass through the apparatus of the present invention, where a light source, which uses wavelengths matching the chlorophyll absorption peaks, is used to chlorophyll molecules to generate fluorescence from the diluted crude palm oil. The generated signals or fluorescence are coupled to a spectrograph and the signals are recorded via a CCD array or detector. The signal from CCD array/detector converts the light signals into electrical signals in terms of counts . Higher counts translate to higher light intensity, and higher light intensity is in directly proportional to chlorophyll content, whereby it is correlated to the ripeness of the oil palm fruitlets .

It is therefore concluded that :

• the apparatus and/or process of the present invention provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 3,000, 000 counts to 5,000,000 counts for unripe oil palm fruitlets as show in Figure 3: and The apparatus and/or process of the present invention provides a reading of the chlorophyll content measurement of the plurality of samples in the range of 800,000 counts to 2,999,999 counts for ripe oil palm fruitlets as shown in Figure 3.