JP2863685B2 - Green onion peeling machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for peeling green onions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a crop is processed over its entire circumference, a user holds the crop by hand or the like and rotates the crop. For example, when air is sprayed over the entire surface of the green onion to peel the green onion, the green onion is applied to the air injected in one direction from the nozzle, and the green onion is turned around its own axis by hand or the like in this state. By rotating, the skin is peeled over the entire circumference.

[0003]

As described above, it is troublesome to rotate the green onion while holding the green onion by hand or the like.
The burden on the worker is large, and the work efficiency is poor.

[0004] In view of such circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide an onion peeling apparatus which can automatically peel onion.

[0005]

As a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a conveying apparatus for conveying green onion while rotating the green onion in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the rotation axis thereof, and using the green onion from the conveying apparatus. An air supply means is provided at a position deviated in the same direction as the rotation axis direction, and blows air to a portion of the green onions that protrudes from the transport device.The transport device is a transport belt driven in the transport direction. A holding member fixed at a position parallel to and facing the conveyor belt, and the positional relationship between the holding member and the conveyor belt is set such that the crop is held between the holding member and the conveyor belt. (Claim 1).

It is preferable that the surfaces of the conveyor belt and the holding member that face each other are formed of a flexible elastic material (claim 2). It is preferable to bend in the direction in which it separates.

[0007] A rotating member having a cutting edge on a peripheral surface thereof is provided at a position facing the air supply means and in contact with the onion being transported around an axis parallel to the rotation axis direction of the onion. And rotatable driving means for rotatably driving the rotating member at a speed in the same direction as the direction of transport of the green onion and at which the peripheral speed of the rotating member is greater than the transport speed of the transport belt. (Claim 4) The transport device is arranged so that the rotation axis direction of the green onion is substantially vertical, and the leaf portion and the stem portion of the green onion are provided below the transport device by the transport device. By securing a space in which the leaf portion hangs down while the boundary portion is sandwiched (claim 5), a more excellent effect as described later can be obtained.

[0008]

In the apparatus according to the first aspect, the green onion sandwiched between the transport belt and the holding member is transported in the driving direction by driving the transport belt, but the pressing member facing the transport belt remains stationary. Therefore, the onion sandwiched between the two is conveyed in the above-described direction while rolling on the holding member (that is, while rotating around its own axis perpendicular to the above-mentioned conveyance direction). Then, air is blown from the air supply means to the portion protruding from the transporting device, so that air is blown over the entire circumference of the portion and the skin is automatically peeled off. It will be continuously applied to the green onion one after another.

Further, in the apparatus according to the second aspect, the opposing surfaces of the pressing member and the conveyor belt are formed of a flexible elastic member. At the same time, damage to the green onion due to this pinching is prevented.

Further, in the apparatus according to the third aspect, the end of the pressing member on the entrance side is warped in a direction away from the conveyor belt, that is, has a shape gradually approaching the conveyor belt in the conveying direction. Onion is smoothly introduced from the entrance side between the holding member and the transport belt.

Further, in the apparatus according to the fourth aspect, a boundary portion between the leaf portion of the green onion and the stem portion or a portion close to the boundary portion is held between the conveyor belt and the pressing member, and the stem portion is rotated by the rotating member. In the state where it is in contact with
And, by rotating the rotating member at a speed at which the peripheral speed is greater than the transport speed of the transport belt, the green onion is transported while rotating around its own axis, and at the same time, at a peripheral speed greater than the green onion. The stem of the green onion is cut in the circumferential direction by a cutting blade provided on the peripheral surface of the rotating rotating member. Therefore, when air is blown on the surface of the stem, the air enters the inside of the stem from the cut end,
The skin of this stem becomes easier to peel.

Further, in the apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the onion is held by the transport device in a state where the onion is peeled in a substantially vertical direction.
Since the onion is transported in a state where the leaf portion of the green onion hangs below the transporting device, the green onion can be peeled while transporting the green onion without damaging the leaf portion.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

The device shown here is a device for peeling so-called white leek, which is a frame 1 installed on the ground.
0 is provided. A left frame 12 and a right frame 14 are provided below the frame 10, and a support plate 16 is provided above the frame 10.

A pair of left and right brackets 18 are erected on the left frame 12 at the front and rear portions thereof.
, A shaft 20 extending in the left-right direction is rotatably supported. A sprocket 22 is fixed to the left end of each shaft 20 (the left end in FIG. 2), and a conveyor belt 24 is stretched between the front and rear sprockets 22. The outer surface of the conveyor belt 24 is made of sponge rubber. It is formed of a flexible elastic material such as.

As shown in FIG. 2, a sprocket 26 is fixed to an intermediate portion of the shaft 20 on one side, and a belt driving motor 28 is provided below the mount 12. The sprocket 29 and the sprocket 26 fixed to the output shaft are connected by a chain 30. The belt driving motor 28
The sprocket 22 is driven to rotate in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 1 by the operation of, so that the transport belt 24 is driven to rotate in the direction of the arrow in FIG.

At a position immediately above the upper surface of the conveyor belt 24, a holding plate (holding member) 34 is fixed in a state parallel to (ie, horizontal to) the conveyor belt 24. The front and rear portions of the holding plate 34 are connected to the support plate 16 via a connecting plate 32 extending in the vertical direction.
4 is supported by the support plate 16 in a suspended state. The holding plate 34 has a width substantially equal to that of the conveyor belt 24,
The surface (that is, the lower surface) of the pressing plate 34 facing the upper surface of the transport belt 24 is formed of a flexible elastic material such as sponge rubber or the like, like the surface of the transport belt 24. The holding device 34 and the transfer belt 24 constitute a transfer device of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the rear end (end of the green onion) 34a of the presser plate 34 is bent upward and approaches the upper surface of the conveyor belt 24 as it goes forward. . In FIG. 1, reference numeral 33 denotes a guide plate for carrying onion N carried from a belt conveyor (not shown) onto the conveyor belt 24 from behind the conveyor.
Is a guide plate for transferring the green onion N, which has been conveyed by the conveying device, from the front of the conveying device to the next step.

A pair of left and right roller brackets 36 are erected on the right base 14. Each roller bracket 3
1 extend in the front-rear direction as shown in FIG. 1, and the right and left ends of a plurality of rollers (rotating members) 38 are rotatably supported by these roller brackets 36. These rollers 38 are provided side by side, and are supported at a position where the upper end surface thereof is substantially at the same height as the upper end surface of the transport belt 24. A cutting edge 40 is formed.

Among these rollers 38, a sprocket 44 is fixed to a left rotating shaft 42 of a specific roller (the second roller from the right in FIG. 1 in the illustrated example) 38. On the other hand, a roller drive motor (rotation drive means) 46 is provided on the support plate 16, and a sprocket 48 fixed to an output shaft thereof is connected to the sprocket 4 via a chain 50.
4 is fixed. The rollers 38 are connected to each other via an interlocking mechanism (not shown). When the specific roller 38 is rotationally driven by the operation of the roller drive motor 46, all the rollers 38 Are driven to rotate in the same direction at the same speed.

Here, the rotational driving direction of the specific roller 38 is set in the counterclockwise direction as shown by the arrow in FIG. 24 is set to a speed slightly higher than the driving speed.

Brackets 52 are erected at the front and rear portions on the support plate 16, and each bracket 52 has a joint 54.
The shafts 56 in the vertical direction are connected to each other via a shaft, and a pipe 58 is connected to the lower end of each shaft 56 via an elbow 57. With this structure, the left and right pipes 58 are supported so as to extend leftward and rightward above the group of rollers 38, and furthermore, are supported so as to be rotatable around the center axis (left-right axis) of the joint 54.

An unillustrated air pressurizing source is connected to each pipe 58 via a hose or the like. A plurality of air nozzles 60 are provided on the lower surface of each pipe 58 along its longitudinal direction.
The air introduced into the pipe 58 from the pressure source flows through the air nozzle 60 to the roller 3.
Eight groups can be sprayed from above.

As shown in FIG. 2, rocking drive motors 61 are fixed to the front and rear portions of the lower surface of the support plate 16 so that the output shafts are oriented in the left-right direction. A circular crank plate 62 as shown in FIG. 1 is fixed. The peripheral edge of each crank plate 62 is connected to a substantially middle portion of the left and right shafts 56 in the vertical direction via a connecting rod 64, and the crank plate 62 rotates by the operation of each swing drive motor 61, With this rotation, the shaft 56 and the pipe 58 are configured to swing as shown by arrows in FIG.

Next, the operation of this device will be described.

The green onion N conveyed by a belt conveyor (not shown) rolls on the guide plate 33 while the conveyor belt 24
While being conveyed forward by the conveyor belt 24 below the holding plate rear end 34a, the holding plate 34 and the conveyor belt 24 are finally clamped from above and below. Here, the rear end portion 34a is warped in a direction away from the transport belt 24 and has a shape that gradually approaches the transport belt 24 from the entrance side toward the transport direction. The green onion N is smoothly introduced between the conveyor belt 24.

At the time of this introduction, the direction and the position of the green onion N are as shown in FIG.
The stem portion N1 is set so as to face the left side of the apparatus, and the boundary between the two portions N1 and N2 is set so as to be clamped by the holding plate 34 and the transport belt 24. Here, the surfaces of the pressing plate 34 and the conveyor belt 24 facing each other are formed of an elastic material having flexibility, so that the conveying force of the onion N is increased by sandwiching them, and the onion N may be damaged. There is no.

In this sandwiched state, the green onion N is conveyed from the rear of the apparatus to the front (from right to left in FIG. 1) by driving the conveyor belt 24. Here, the conveyor belt 2
4 moves in the above direction, while the holding plate 34a remains stationary, so that the green onion N moves on the lower surface of the holding plate 34 about its own axis (the axis in the left-right direction) in the clockwise direction in FIG. Transported in the above direction while rolling.

During the transport, the stem portion N1 of the green onion N is transported while being in contact with the upper end of each roller 38. A cutting edge 40 is formed at the peripheral edge of each roller 38, Numeral 38 is driven to rotate at a speed at which the peripheral speed is greater than the transport speed by the transport belt 24.
Moreover, since each onion N is conveyed while rotating about its own axis as described above, a cut is made in the stem portion N1 of the onion N over the entire circumference by the cutting blade 40.

Then, air is blown from above through the pipe 58 and the nozzle 60, so that the air penetrates into the inside from the cut and blows the skin from the onion N to the outside. In this manner, the green onions N transported while being subjected to the peeling process over the entire circumference roll on the guide plate 35 and are transported to the next step.

As described above, in this apparatus, the transport belt 24 driven in a predetermined direction and the holding plate 3
4 can be transported continuously in the above-mentioned direction while rotating the green onion N by simply holding the green onion N between the green onion 4 and the stem N1 of each green onion. Simply by blowing air from above, the peeling process over the entire circumference of each green onion N can be performed automatically and continuously.

Further, in the apparatus of this embodiment, the roller 3 with the cutting edge is placed at a position in contact with the stem portion N1 of the onion N being conveyed.
8, each roller 38 is driven to rotate at a speed at which the peripheral speed thereof is greater than the transport speed of the transport belt 24, so that each roller 38 automatically cuts the stem portion N1 of the green onion N. This makes it possible to more reliably perform the peeling treatment by air blowing.

In this embodiment, since the pipe 58 and the air nozzle 60 are swung back and forth above the rollers 38, air can be blown to the conveyed onion N many times. This further enhances the peeling effect.

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

This embodiment is particularly suitable for peeling green onion (leaf portion N2 is longer than stem portion N1 and is mainly used for eating the leaf portion N2). In this apparatus, as shown in FIG. 3, basically, each member is arranged such that the green onion N is sandwiched from the left and right by the transport belt 24 and the holding plate 34 while the green onion N is oriented substantially vertically. ing. Specifically, the apparatus includes a duct 70 for collecting peeled skin, the duct 70 includes a horizontal portion 71 extending in the left-right direction (the left-right direction in FIG. 3), and a vertical direction extending from an end of the horizontal portion 71. And an upright portion 72 extending therefrom.

A support member 73 extending in the front-rear direction (the left-right direction in FIG. 4) is fixed to the upper and lower portions of the upright portion 72, and the bracket 18 is fixed to the front and rear portions of each support member 73. A pair of front and rear shafts 20
Are rotatably supported in a state where they face up and down. Then, a sprocket 22 is fixed to the upper end of each shaft 20,
A transport belt 24 is stretched between the two sprockets 22.

On the other hand, a column 76 is provided on the right side of the duct 70. The front and rear portions of the holding plate 34 are connected to the support 76 via the connecting plate 32 extending in the left and right directions.
4 and is supported in a state parallel thereto. The connecting plate 32 is provided with a long hole 33 in the left-right direction. By passing a bolt 74 through the long hole 33,
The connecting plate 32 is fixed to the column 76 by the bolt 74, and therefore, the position of the holding plate 34 in the left-right direction is adjusted (in other words, the distance between the conveyor belt 24 and the holding plate 34 is adjusted).
Can be appropriately performed according to the diameter of the green onion N.

A shaft 56 is connected to the support column 76 via a bracket 52 and a joint 54 in a state where the shaft 56 faces left and right. A pipe 58 with a nozzle 60 is connected to each shaft 56 via an elbow 57 in an upright state. Have been. With this structure, the front and rear pipes 58 are
Of the joint 54
Are supported so as to be rotatable around a central axis (vertical axis).

As shown in FIG. 3, the swing drive motor 61 is fixed to the left side surface of the support column 76, and its output shaft is connected to the crank mechanism 62 and the connecting rod 64 shown in the first embodiment. And each swing drive motor 6
By the operation of 1, the shaft 56 and the pipe 58 are configured to swing around a vertical axis.

According to such an apparatus, as shown in FIG. 3, the boundary between the stem portion N1 and the leaf portion N2 of the green onion N is sandwiched between the conveyor belt 24 and the holding plate 34, so that the green onion N Can be transported forward (backward in FIG. 3 and leftward in FIG. 4) while being rotated about its own axis.
And by blowing air through the nozzle 60,
The peel can be done.

Further, in this apparatus, the transport belt 2
The green onion N is clamped from the left and right by the pressing plate 4 and the holding plate 34, and the leaf portion N2 is hung below the green onion N, so that the green onion N is transported without bringing the leaf portion N2 into contact with other members. And the protection of the portion N2 of the leaves mainly used for food can be ensured.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the green onion rotates around its own axis with a simple structure in which the green onion is held between the conveyor belt driven in a predetermined direction and the pressing member fixed at a position facing the belt. , And can be conveyed continuously. Then, with respect to the green onion conveyed while being rotated by the conveyance device, only blowing air from the air supply means on a portion of the green onion protruding from the conveyance device,
Air can be blown over the entire circumference of the above-mentioned portion to automatically peel the skin. In addition, such peeling treatment can be sequentially and continuously applied to the onion being transported, which has the effect of enabling a large amount of peeling of green onion.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the opposing surfaces of the holding member and the conveyor belt are formed of a flexible elastic member. Further, it is possible to prevent the onion from being damaged by this pinching.

In the apparatus according to the third aspect, since the end of the holding member on the inlet side of the holding member is warped in a direction away from the conveyor belt, the green onion is smoothly moved between the holding member and the conveyor belt from the inlet side. Can be introduced.

Further, in the apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the boundary between or close to the onion leaf portion and the stem portion is sandwiched between the conveyor belt and the holding member, and the stem portion is rotated by the rotating member. In the state where it is in contact with
In addition, since the rotating member is driven to rotate at a speed at which the peripheral speed of the rotating member is greater than the transport speed of the transport belt, during the transport, the cutting blade of the rotary member cuts the onion stem in the circumferential direction. By spraying air on the surface of the stem, there is an effect that the skin orientation work can be performed more reliably.

Further, in the apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the onion is clamped by the transporting device in a state where the green onion peels in a substantially vertical direction, and the onion leaf is transported in a state where the leaf portion of the green onion hangs below the transporting device. Therefore, particularly in green onions, there is an effect that the transportation can be performed while reliably protecting the leaves mainly used for food.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an onion peeling apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially sectional front view of the peeling apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a partially sectional front view of an onion peeling apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the peeling apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 Frame 24 Conveyor belt 34 Holding plate 40 Roller (rotating member) 46 Roller drive motor (rotation driving means) 58 Pipe (air supply means) 78 Space only to hang onion leaves N onion N1 Onion stem portion

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A transport device for transporting green onions while rotating the green onions in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the rotation axis, and the transport device.
From the onion rotation axis direction
Air is applied to the part of the green onion that protrudes from the transport device.
The conveying device includes a conveying belt driven in the conveying direction, and a pressing member fixed at a position parallel to and facing the conveying belt. peeling instrumentation green onions, characterized in that said crop is obtained by setting the positional relationship between the pressing member and the conveyor belt so as to be sandwiched between the belt
Place . 2. The onion peeling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the opposing surfaces of the conveyor belt and the holding member are formed of a flexible elastic material.
Onion peeling device . 3. The apparatus for peeling green onions according to claim 1, wherein an end of the holding member on the entrance side of green onions is warped in a direction away from the conveyor belt.
Onion peeling device . 4. The onion peeling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a cutting edge is provided on a peripheral surface of the onion at a position facing the air supply means and in contact with the onion being transported. A rotatable member having a rotatable member is disposed so as to be rotatable about an axis parallel to the rotation axis direction of the green onion, and the rotary member is in the same direction as the transport direction of the green onion, and the peripheral speed of the rotary member is the transport belt. An onion peeling device, comprising: a rotary drive unit that rotates at a speed greater than the transport speed of the green onion. 5. The onion peeling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transporting device is arranged so that a rotation axis direction of the green onion is substantially vertical, and a lower portion of the transporting device. A peeling device for peeling green onions, wherein a space is provided for the leaves to hang down in a state where a boundary between the green onions and the stems is clamped by the transport device.