JP4875426B2 - Agricultural product sorting equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an agricultural product sorting apparatus that is preferably used in an agricultural product sorting and packaging facility, and enables the weighing of agricultural products by the manner in which the agricultural products are placed on the sorting and conveying means for conveying the agricultural products toward the sorting discharge position. The present invention relates to an agricultural product sorting apparatus that can realize a plurality of sorting modes with a single transporting means, such that the selection method can be selected according to the result of evaluation such as equal class.

  In agricultural product sorting and packaging facilities, different items (types) of agricultural products to be sorted often have different measurement items for sorting. For this reason, a sorting device suitable for the type of agricultural product should be adopted individually. Is generally done.

  However, since the harvest period of agricultural products is short, it is unavoidable to install a sorting device corresponding to each specific item of agricultural products in consideration of cost effectiveness.

  Then, the proposal which enabled it to sort the agricultural products from which an item differs with one sorter is made (patent document 1).

  This sorter for agricultural products requires high-grade citrus, which is a high-quality citrus fruit such as navel that requires a pre-processing step such as washing and waxing, and a weight selection step for the received fruits and vegetables, and a pre-processing step and a shape selection step for received fruits and vegetables A normal citrus fruit, which is a common citrus fruit, is selected, and a transport path between the high-class citrus fruit and the normal citrus fruit is appropriately selected by using a forward / reverse conveyor for a station that performs these steps.

  When sorting high-quality citrus fruits, the forward / reverse conveyor is rotated forward, for example, and the fruits and vegetables discharged from the pretreatment line, which is the transport path for performing the pretreatment process, are subjected to the weight sorting process using the forward / reverse conveyor. Supply to fruit line. Further, when selecting normal citrus, the forward and reverse conveyor is reversed, for example, and the fruits and vegetables discharged from the shape type fruit selection line for performing the shape selection process are carried out by the same forward and reverse conveyor by the carry-out conveyor.

In this way, by rotating the single forward / reverse conveyor forward / reversely, it can be used for both the supply to the weight type selection line and the unloading from the shape type selection line. The installation area is reduced and the installation cost is reduced.
JP-A-5-228445

  By the way, the agricultural product sorting apparatus described in Patent Document 1 described above separately installs a weight type sorting line that performs weight measurement and a shape type sorting line that performs shape measurement, and corrects these two systems of sorting lines. It is set as the structure linked by a reverse conveyor. For this reason, two transport lines for sorting are required, and the entire apparatus is not compacted, the equipment cost is reduced, and the installation area cost is not sufficiently reduced.

  That is, the conventional agricultural product sorting apparatus does not have specifications that can cope with changes in the item (type) of the agricultural product to be sorted for the sorting and conveying means for conveying the agricultural product for sorting.

  In addition, even for agricultural products of the same item, high-grade agricultural products and low-grade agricultural products are also discharged by the same discharge method depending on the evaluation result of the equal class, etc., so it is possible to select a careful discharge form for high-grade agricultural products It cannot be selected.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and selection of sorting that enables weighing of agricultural products by the manner in which the agricultural products are placed on the sorting and conveying means that conveys the agricultural products toward the sorting discharge position. It is an object to provide a sorting apparatus for agricultural products that can realize a plurality of sorting forms with one transport means so that a discharging method at a sorting discharge position can be selected according to an evaluation result such as an equal class. .

The first configuration of the agricultural product sorting apparatus that realizes the object of the present invention is to transport a transport body in which a plurality of individually tiltable agricultural product support pieces are juxtaposed along the transport direction, as described in claim 1. A plurality of conveying means connected endlessly to the body driving means and a discharge unit provided on the conveyance downstream side of the conveying means, and a support for tilting the agricultural product support piece in a horizontal posture when a discharge signal is inputted One tilting means, and a processing means for outputting a discharge signal to the support piece tilting means, and when the plurality of produce support pieces are used as bucket units, the processing means includes a plurality of bucket units . In the first sorting mode for outputting a discharge signal to the support piece tilting means at the timing of tilting the produce support piece, and when the produce is placed and transported randomly on a number of endlessly rotating produce support pieces, Placed Wherein for a second sorting mode for outputting a discharge signal to said supporting piece tilting means supporting piece sequentially in tilting is to timing, characterized by having that.

The second configuration of the agricultural product sorting apparatus that realizes the object of the present invention is to transport a transport body in which a plurality of individually tiltable agricultural product support pieces are juxtaposed along the transport direction. A plurality of conveying means connected endlessly to the body driving means and a discharge unit provided on the conveyance downstream side of the conveying means, and a support for tilting the agricultural product support piece in a horizontal posture when a discharge signal is inputted One tilting means, and a transfer means that is arranged in the discharge section and picks up the agricultural product placed on the agricultural product support piece in a horizontal posture and transfers it to the side of the transport means when a discharge signal is inputted And a processing means for outputting the discharge signal to either the support piece tilting means or the transfer means, and the processing means uses the plurality of produce support pieces as bucket units, transportable by the conveying means Depending on the evaluation results of the agricultural products is a first ejection mode for outputting the discharge signal to said supporting piece tilting means at a timing tilting the plurality of agricultural support piece of the bucket unit, said discharge signal to said transfer means And a second discharge mode for outputting.

  According to a third configuration of the agricultural product sorting apparatus that realizes the object of the present invention, in any one of the above-described configurations, the transport unit is configured so that the transport body is more than the transport body driving unit. The upper and lower directions are connected with a degree of freedom.

According to a fourth configuration of the agricultural product sorting apparatus that realizes the object of the present invention, in any one of the above-described configurations, the transport body that moves in the middle of the transport path of the transport means is provided. provided the weight measuring device for measuring the weight, characterized by inputting the weight information measured in the processing means.

A fifth configuration of the agricultural product sorting apparatus that realizes the object of the present invention is the configuration according to any one of the first to third aspects, in the middle of the transport path of the transport means. At least one of an internal quality sensor for measuring internal quality and an appearance sensor for measuring the appearance of agricultural products is provided, and detection information is input to the processing means .

According to a sixth configuration of the agricultural product sorting apparatus that realizes the object of the present invention, the processing unit uses the plurality of agricultural product support pieces as bucket units according to the configuration of the fifth aspect. In this case, the evaluation result is determined based on detection information including information on the weight measuring device.

  According to a seventh configuration of the agricultural product sorting apparatus that realizes the object of the present invention, as in claim 7, the supply of supplying a large number of agricultural products in a row to the starting end of the conveying means in any one of the configurations described above It has a conveyor.

  According to an eighth aspect of the agricultural product sorting apparatus for realizing the object of the present invention, in any one of the above-described configurations, the agricultural product is placed on the conveying means at the conveying start end of the conveying means. It is characterized in that a work area for manual work is provided for placing on the hand.

According to a ninth configuration of the agricultural product sorting apparatus that realizes the object of the present invention, as in claim 9, the agricultural product support pieces constituting the transport means are visually identified from above by any one of the configurations described above. characterized in that a mark digits set possible.

  According to a tenth configuration of the agricultural product sorting apparatus that realizes the object of the present invention, as described in claim 10, the tenth configuration is the ninth configuration, wherein the mark is a plurality of support pieces constituting the adjacent transport body. Among them, the foremost and rearmost support pieces are colored or different in length from other support pieces, and are configured in a tilted manner.

  The eleventh configuration of the agricultural product sorting apparatus that realizes the object of the present invention is the ninth configuration as described in claim 11, wherein the mark is transported by the transport means to the side of the transport means. The flashing means includes a plurality of light sources arranged along a direction and flashes so as to run parallel to the movement of the transport body.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, as a handling method for the conveying means, it is possible to select a usage method that allows endless rotation of a large number of produce support pieces and a usage method that handles the conveyance body like a bucket. When a large number of agricultural products such as mandarin oranges are supplied at random, the agricultural products may be discharged in the second sorting mode. When weight measurement is required such as a deco-pon , multiple agricultural products are supported. because you can place the Dekopon migraine as bucket unit, which facilitates handling of the weighing.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when transporting agricultural products using a plurality of agricultural product support pieces as bucket units , the agricultural products with high agricultural product evaluation results are, for example, adsorbed and held by the transfer means without being dropped by the transfer means. For example, it is possible to handle the product carefully by transferring it directly to a product box. In addition, when the evaluation result is low or non-standard, the agricultural products are dropped and discharged by tilting the support piece, so that only the agricultural products used for boxing can be discharged for boxing on the transfer means side, Packaging efficiency is improved.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, each transport body constituting the transport means is pulled endlessly by being pulled by a transport body driving means such as an endlessly rotating chain. Therefore, the weight of the carrier on which the agricultural product is placed can be measured by creating such a state where the edge is cut.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 4, the weight of the conveyance body which moves can be measured in the middle of the conveyance path of the said conveyance means.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 5, in the middle of the conveyance path of the said conveyance means, external quality information, such as internal quality information and the external appearance flaw of a produce, a magnitude | size, can be obtained.

According to the invention which concerns on Claim 6, when using these some produce support pieces as a bucket unit, an evaluation result can be determined based on the detection information also including the information of the said weight measuring device.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 7, the agricultural products which do not require weight measurement, such as a mandarin orange, can be supplied to a conveyance means at random at 1 row.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 8, the operation | work which mounts agricultural products, such as a decopon, on a conveyance means by hand can be performed easily.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 9,10,11, an agricultural product can be mounted correctly on a conveyance body.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on embodiments shown in the drawings.
First Embodiment FIGS. 1 to 4 show a first embodiment of the present invention.

  FIG. 1 is a top view showing a schematic configuration of an agricultural product sorting apparatus, and shows a state in which decapon is sorted as an agricultural product of an item incorporating weight measurement as one of measurement items for sorting. FIG. 2 is a view showing a state in which mandarin oranges are selected as agricultural products of items that do not incorporate weight measurement in the measurement items for selection instead of the selection of decopon shown in FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a top view of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a view taken along the line BB of FIG.

  In this embodiment, as measurement items for sorting, internal quality measurement that measures internal quality such as sugar content, agricultural products such as mandarin oranges that require appearance measurement such as external scratches, and decopon that requires weight measurement. Agricultural products such as citrus fruits 1 and decopon 2 will be described as an example.

  1 to 4, a keyboard type conveyor (hereinafter referred to as a PK (Piano Key) conveyor) 10 is used as sorting and conveying means. The description of the PK conveyor 10 will be described later.

  The first agricultural product supply unit 11 that supplies agricultural products such as tangerines that do not require weight measurement as a measurement item for sorting with respect to the PK conveyor 10 and weight measurement as a measurement item for sorting are required. A second agricultural product supply unit 12 is arranged.

  The first agricultural product supply unit 11 supplies the mandarin orange 1 to the conveyance start end of the PK conveyor 10, and supplies, for example, a small amount of mandarin orange contained in a damper (not shown) to a washing / wax machine (not shown). An agricultural product supply conveyor 13 comprising a belt conveyor and an alignment device 14 that aligns the washed and waxed mandarin oranges 1 sent from the agricultural product supply conveyor 13 and supplies them to the conveyance start end of the PK conveyor 10. In addition, a container in which a large amount of mandarin orange 1 is accommodated is sent to the damper by a load receiving conveyor (not shown).

  This aligning device 14 has a structure in which a plurality of roller conveyors are arranged in a reverse H-shape symmetrically. When the mandarin orange 1 that is randomly transported by the agricultural product supply conveyor 13 is supplied, the left and right roller conveyors 14 a The mandarin oranges 1 are conveyed forward while being directed toward the center in the width direction and aligned in a row. Then, the mandarin orange 1 is supplied to the PK conveyor 10 in an aligned state.

  The second agricultural product supply unit 12 supplies the decopon 2 to the PK conveyor 10, and has a plurality of agricultural product supply stations 12a installed along the conveyance direction on the side of the conveyance start end side of the PK conveyor 10. The agricultural product supply station 12a is provided with a branch conveyor 12c branched from a container conveyor 12b such as a roller conveyor. It is supposed to be. Then, at each agricultural product supply station 12a, the worker W manually places the decapon 2 on the PK conveyor 10. At that time, a mark 10 a is provided so that the decopon 2 is placed within a predetermined range on the PK conveyor 10.

  In addition, when selecting agricultural products that do not require weight measurement, such as the mandarin orange 1, the mark 10a may be ignored and placed on an arbitrary position on the PK conveyor 10.

  The PK conveyor 10 has an internal quality sensor 15 for measuring the internal quality such as sugar content of the agricultural product, the weight measuring device 16 for measuring the weight of the agricultural product, and the agricultural product from the second agricultural product supply unit 12 toward the downstream side in the conveying direction. An appearance sensor 17 composed of a camera or the like for measuring the outer appearance of the outer shape or the like is sequentially arranged.

  Further, a discharge unit 18 for discharging the agricultural products placed on the PK conveyor 10 for each sorting section is disposed on the downstream side of the appearance sensor 17.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the PK conveyor 10 has a plurality of support pieces 101 as bucket units 100 as one transport body, and a plurality of bucket units 100 are connected so as to be endlessly rotatable in the transport direction. It is what.

  In the PK conveyor 10, endless chains 103 that endlessly rotate are respectively installed on guide rails 102a that are respectively disposed on a conveyor base 102 that is disposed opposite to the width direction orthogonal to the transport direction, and the pair of endless chains 103 are arranged at a constant pitch. In this configuration, a large number of bucket units 100 are attached. In a state where the large number of bucket units 100 are connected, all the support pieces 101 are arranged at an equal pitch.

  In one bucket unit 100, a plurality of (in this embodiment, nine) support pieces 101 are attached to the mounting base 104 so as to be tilted at a fixed interval.

  The mounting base 104 is detachably fixed to the support base 105, for example, and the support base 105 is connected to the endless chain 103.

  A plurality (two in this embodiment) of connecting shafts 106 are passed between the pair of left and right endless chains 103 for each bucket unit 100, and a through-hole 107 through which the connecting shaft 106 passes is provided in the carrier 105. Is formed. Therefore, the bucket unit 100 moves by transmitting the power of the endless chain 103 via the connecting shaft 106.

  A first support bracket 108 and a second support bracket 109 are fixed to the mounting base 104, and a support piece 101 is tiltably connected to the first support bracket 108 via a support pin 110. A lever member 111 having a hook 111 a and an engagement release lever portion 111 b is rotatably connected to the second support bracket 109 via a support pin 113.

  The lever member 111 is urged toward the engagement position by a return spring (not shown), and the lever member 111 is engaged with the engagement pin 112 protruding from the side surface of the support piece 101 when the support piece 101 is in the horizontal posture. The hook 111a is engaged, and the support piece 101 is held in a horizontal posture, so that it is possible to place the agricultural product as the transported body. When the release lever portion 111b of the lever member 111 is pushed down against the spring force of the return spring, the lever member 111 rotates counterclockwise and the hook 111a is disengaged from the engaging pin 112, and the support piece 101 is moved. The support pin 110 is tilted downward with the fulcrum as a fulcrum, and comes into contact with the stopper 114 to stop.

  Since the axis of the support pin 110 is arranged along the transport direction of the PK conveyor 10, when the support piece 101 is tilted, the agricultural product being placed rolls toward the side of the PK conveyor 10. Discharge.

  The width of the support piece 101 (the length along the conveyance direction of the PK conveyor 10) is narrow, and the single support piece 101 cannot completely support the agricultural products placed thereon, and several continuous supports are supported. The piece 101 supports the agricultural product.

  The lever operating mechanism 19 which is a discharging means for tilting the support piece 101 by pushing down the release lever portion 111b of the lever member 111 downward has an electromagnetic solenoid in the driving portion and is an operating rod (not shown) that is movable in the vertical direction. Is driven by the electromagnetic solenoid, and when it is lowered to a position where it interferes with the position in the height direction of the release lever portion 111b of the lever member 111 in the engaged state at the discharge position, the lowered operating rod moves in the conveying direction. The release lever portions 111b that move along the contact points are successively brought into contact with each other and pushed down, and the support piece 101 continuously tilts downward.

  Then, since the plurality of continuous support pieces 101 tilt downward with a slight time delay, the agricultural products supported by the plurality of support pieces 101 fall while rolling gradually without falling at once. Discharged.

  In order to disengage the hook 111a of the lever member 111 from the engagement pin 112, the lever member 111 may be rotated in a predetermined direction, and is not limited to the above-described configuration.

  In order to return the tilted support piece 101 to the original horizontal posture, for example, when the support piece 101 is turned 180 degrees from the conveyance end position of the PK conveyor 10 and turned downward, the support piece 101 is in a state close to the horizontal posture. Therefore, the hook 111a of the lever member 111 is automatically engaged with the engagement pin when the back surface of the support piece 101 is brought into contact with the guide member (not shown) from this position and pushed into the engagement position. 112, the horizontal posture of the support piece 101 is held again and is used for the next conveyance.

  In this embodiment, a plurality of protrusions 101a formed in a fin shape on the upper surface of the support piece 101 are spaced along the left-right direction, and shocks when placing agricultural products are absorbed by the protrusions 101a.

  Since the through-hole 107 of the support base 105 is formed with an inner diameter larger than the outer diameter of the connecting shaft 106 and has play, one bucket unit 100 is formed of a pair of rails 105a when the support base 105 is lifted upward. And 105b, the carrier 105 is disengaged from the connecting shaft 106 and is free in the vertical direction. Therefore, the weight of one bucket unit 100, that is, the agricultural product placed on one bucket unit 100 is The weight can be measured.

In order to put agricultural products without fail in every one bucket unit 100, the mark 10a is provided on the PK conveyor 10, and the worker W of the agricultural product supply station 12a places the decopon 2 between the marks 10a. The decopon 2 is securely placed on one bucket unit 100, and the weight of one decopon 2 can be measured.
If all the support pieces 101 constituting one bucket unit 100 adjacent to the support piece 101 constituting one bucket unit 100 are color-coded as the mark 10a, it is certainly possible to distinguish one bucket unit 101.

  However, since the internal quality sensor 15 and the appearance sensor 17 irradiate light toward the agricultural products, the surface of the support piece 21 is naturally irradiated with light, but the color applied to the surface of the support piece 21 The wavelength of the reflected wave changes, resulting in variations in analysis of measurement information. For this reason, it is not a good idea to color-code all of the support pieces 101.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the first support piece 101 </ b> F and the last support piece 101 </ b> R as viewed in the transport direction in one bucket unit 100 are preliminarily tilted. 100a. Of course, the first support piece 101F and the last support piece 101R may be colored with other colors in order to be distinguished from the other support pieces 101.

  As described above, the arbitrary support piece 101 can be tilted by controlling the lever operating mechanism 19. Then, each bucket unit 101 constituting the PK conveyor 10 can be discriminated from above, and the worker W of the second agricultural product supply unit 12 can tilt the leading support piece 101F and the last support piece. All you have to do is put the Dekopon 2 between 101R.

  As a method of recognizing and tilting the first support piece 101F and the last support piece 101R in one bucket unit 100, for example, an encoder pulse coaxially with the drive pulley around which the endless rotating chain 103 of the PK conveyor 10 is wound. A plate (not shown) is provided, and a support piece detection signal is output from the encoder pulse plate in accordance with the timing at which the last support piece 101R reaches the specific lever operation mechanism 19 in the discharge unit 18. The interval between the first support piece 101F and the last support piece 101R is constant in each bucket unit, and the support piece following the last support piece 101R is the first support piece 101F of the next bucket unit 100. Therefore, the sorting discharge signal is output to the specific lever operating mechanism 19 in accordance with the passage time of the two support pieces 101, and then the passing timing of the leading support piece 101F and the last support piece 101R is determined. In addition, the sorting discharge signal may be output again. Then, by executing the output of the sorting discharge signal at the series of timings by the number of bucket units 100 in the PK conveyor 10, the leading support piece 101F and the last supporting piece 101R of all the bucket units 100 are tilted. be able to.

  Next, the configuration of the weight measuring device 16 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

  In FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, a pair of width direction rails 201 a and 201 b are attached via a load cell 202 corresponding to the left and right bottom wall portions 105 a formed on the bottom portion of the carrier 105. The pair of rails 201 a and 201 b are attached to the rail support base 203, and the rail support base 203 is attached to the load cell 202 to constitute the weight measuring device 16.

  When the one bucket unit 100 reaches the weight measurement position, the left and right bottom wall portions 105a of the carrier 105 slightly ride on the pair of rails 201a and 201b.

  If it does so, the support stand 105 will be in a free state in the up-down direction as mentioned above, and a weight can be measured in one bucket unit 100. Therefore, it is possible to measure the weight of the decopon 2 that is an agricultural product placed on one bucket unit 100.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a discharge conveyor 20 composed of a plurality of belt conveyors is arranged for each sorting section along the transport direction of the PK conveyor 10, and the discharge unit 18 corresponds to each discharge conveyor 20. A lever operating mechanism 19 is disposed on each side of the PK conveyor 10. Then, when the lever actuation mechanism 19 is driven by a sorting discharge signal from a processing device (not shown), the lever member 111 that holds the support piece 101 of the portion on which the agricultural product of the corresponding sorting section is placed in a horizontal posture. The engagement is released one after another, and the support piece 101 is tilted.

  The tilting operation of the support piece 101 of the PK conveyor 10 tilts the plurality of support pieces 101 constituting one bucket unit 100 by the discharging device 19 when sorting the agricultural products that require weight measurement. In addition, for agricultural products that are not subjected to weight measurement, the first agricultural product supply unit 11 is randomly supplied to the PK conveyor 10, and in particular, no agricultural products are placed for each bucket unit 100. Instead, tilt control for each support piece 101 is performed.

  As shown in FIG. 3, each discharge conveyor 20 is arranged at a position below the tip of the support piece 101 in a state where the support piece 101 of the PK conveyor 10 is tilted downward, and rolls from the PK conveyor 10. The agricultural products discharged while being dropped are supplied onto the discharge conveyor 20.

  In the state where the support piece 101 is tilted, when a gap is generated between the tip of the tilt and the discharge conveyor 20, as shown in FIG. 3, the guide plate 21 is disposed so as to close the gap, and the tilted support piece What is necessary is just to enable it to discharge agricultural products from 101 to the discharge conveyor 20.

  These discharge conveyors 20 extend in the lateral direction substantially orthogonal to the transport direction of the PK conveyor 10, and the agricultural products that are the same sort of mandarin orange 1 or decopon 2 transported to the discharge end of the discharge conveyor 20 22 is temporarily stored. Note that a hopper or the like may be provided at the discharge end of the discharge conveyor 20 and temporarily stored, and when a predetermined number or a predetermined weight is counted, the hopper may be discharged into a product box disposed below the hopper.

  The configuration of the discharge unit 18 is not limited to that using the discharge conveyor 20 described above, and the agricultural product is in a position where the agricultural product falls due to the tilt of the support piece 101 of the PK conveyor 10 set for each sorting section. You may make it arrange | position the receiving box 22 which receives directly.

  The configuration of the present embodiment has been described above, and the selection of agricultural products that do not require weight measurement, such as mandarin oranges, and the selection of agricultural products that require weight measurement, such as decopon, will be described below.

  First, referring to FIG. 2, weight measurement is unnecessary as a measurement item, but selection of mandarin orange 1 as an agricultural product that requires measurement of internal quality such as sugar content, and appearance measurement that handles the presence or absence of external scratches and the shape is good. An example will be described.

  As a pretreatment for sorting, the mandarin orange 1 that has been washed and waxed is randomly transported on the agricultural product supply conveyor 13, aligned in a line by the alignment conveyor 14, and sent to the PK conveyor 10. The transport speed of the PK conveyor 10 is set to be higher than the transport speed of the alignment conveyor 14, thereby preventing the mandarin orange 1 from being transported on the PK conveyor 10 in a continuous manner.

  In the PK conveyor 10, one mandarin orange 1 is placed on a plurality of continuous support pieces 101.

  In the mandarin orange 1 placed and transported on the support piece 101 of the PK conveyor 10, first, internal quality information such as sugar content is measured by the internal quality sensor 15. When the time when the mandarin orange 1 passes through the internal quality sensor 15 is used as a reference, the position of each mandarin orange 1 that moves downstream from the reference position in the transport direction can be specified. Thus, since the processing apparatus can identify the mandarin orange 1 that has reached the appearance sensor 17, the sorting classification of the mandarin orange 1 is determined based on the internal quality information of the mandarin orange 1 that has passed the appearance sensor 17 and the appearance information measured by the appearance sensor 17. judge.

  The processing device outputs a sorting discharge signal to the lever operating mechanism 19 of the corresponding sorting section at the timing when the mandarin orange 1 determined to be the sorting section reaches the corresponding sorting section position.

  The lever operating mechanism 19 is kept ON for a predetermined time, and sequentially tilts the plurality of continuous support pieces 101. Accordingly, the mandarin orange 1 is dropped and discharged onto the discharge conveyor 20 while rolling on the tilted support piece 101, transported on the discharge conveyor 20 and dropped into the receiving box 22.

  A product box base 23 is provided on the front side of the receiving box 22, and the product box 24 is placed on the product box base 23 so that the mandarin orange 1 in the receiving box 22 is placed in the product box 24 by an operator W. Box by packing. When a predetermined number of mandarin oranges 1 are packed, the product box 24 is placed on the carry-out conveyor 25.

  In the present embodiment, the agricultural products discharged from the discharge unit 18 are manually clogged, but a mechanical automatic weighing machine may be used.

  Next, a case where the operator W manually places the decapon 2 from the second agricultural product supply unit 12 on the PK conveyor 10 and selects it will be described.

  The worker W of the agricultural product supply station 12a places the decopon 2 between the marks 100a indicating the boundary positions of the bucket units 100 constituting the PK conveyor 10. As with the mandarin orange 1, the decopon 2 conveyed by the PK conveyor 10 receives the internal quality measurement by the internal quality sensor 15, and then the weight measurement device 16 measures the weight. Then, as in the case of the mandarin orange 1, the appearance sensor 17 receives an appearance inspection to determine the sorting category.

  A bucket signal was output in synchronization with the bucket unit 100 from an encoder pulse plate (not shown) provided coaxially with the drive pulley around which the endless rotating chain 103 of the PK conveyor 10 is wound, and passed through the internal quality sensor 15. By counting the bucket signal based on the time point, internal quality information, weight information, and appearance information can be stored in the processing device for each agricultural product placed in each bucket unit 100 to determine the equal class or the like. When the bucket unit 100 reaches the corresponding discharge position, a sorting discharge signal is output to the lever operation mechanism 19 at the discharge position for a predetermined time, and the plurality of support pieces 101 constituting the bucket unit 100 are tilted. Thereby, the decopon 2 is dropped and discharged onto the discharge conveyor 20.

  Thus, about the PK conveyor 10 of the structure which connected many bucket units 100 comprised by the some support piece 101, when conveying agricultural products by the bucket unit 100, the plurality which comprises each bucket instead of the bucket unit 100 By arbitrarily tilt-controlling all of the support pieces 101, weight measurement is possible if agricultural products are placed on the PK conveyor 10 for each bucket unit 100. If weight measurement is not required, the PK conveyor 10 Even if agricultural products such as mandarin oranges 1 are supplied at random, the agricultural products can be discharged at the corresponding sorting position, and for the agricultural products having different measurement items for sorting, one PK conveyor 10 as a transporting means for sorting is used. Can be sorted using.

Second Embodiment FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.

  In the above embodiment, as a means for visually recognizing the bucket unit 100, as shown in FIG. 5A, the leading support piece 101F and the trailing support piece 101R are tilted. However, the means shown in FIGS. 5B and 5C may be used.

  In the example shown in FIG. 5 (b), in the second agricultural product supply unit 12, LED flashers 122, which are blinking means in which a large number of LEDs 121 are arranged in parallel with the PK conveyor 10, are arranged close to each other. The LED 121 is turned on at intervals corresponding to the head and the tail of the LED, and blinking control is performed so that the LED 121 that is lit is moved at the same speed as the transport speed of the PK conveyor 10. In this case, the lighting timing of the LED can be controlled by using the signal from the encoder pulse plate.

  In the example shown in FIG. 5C, the length of the first support piece 101 </ b> F and the last support piece 101 </ b> R of the bucket unit 100 is formed longer than the other support pieces 101.

Third Embodiment FIGS. 6 and 7 show a third embodiment of the present invention.

  6 is a top view of the agricultural product sorting apparatus including the transfer device, and FIG. 7 is a front view of FIG.

  In the first embodiment described above, all the agricultural products on the PK conveyor 10 are dropped and discharged onto the discharge conveyor 20 by the tilting operation of the support piece 101, but in this embodiment, the agricultural products are loaded on a bucket basis. In such a case, automatic removal is performed using a transfer device during sorting, and non-standard agricultural products or lower-class agricultural products are dropped and discharged by tilting the support piece 101.

  In the present embodiment, a transfer device 30 is provided for each sorting section above the PK conveyor 10 in the discharge unit 18. The transfer device 30 hangs an endless chain 33 between pulleys 31 and 32 having rotating shafts 31 a and 32 a in the vertical direction, and a plurality of suction devices 34 that can be moved up and down on the endless chain 33 are arranged at the same pitch as the bucket unit 100. It is attached with. Further, the transfer device 30 moves the suction device 30 in synchronization with the bucket unit 100 of the PK conveyor 10 at the same speed as the transport speed of the PK conveyor 10.

  In the suction device 34, an air cylinder 36 is attached to the mounting base 35 in the vertical direction, and a suction pad 39 is attached to a lower end of a piston rod 37 that moves up and down of the air cylinder 36 via a joint member 38. In the present embodiment, the suction pad 39 is attached to the joint member 38 so as to be movable up and down, and a buffer spring 40 is disposed between them, and the shock when the suction pad 39 descends and sucks the produce 41 is buffered. It can be absorbed by the spring 40.

  The suction pad 39 is connected to a vacuum source (not shown), and the connection to the vacuum source is controlled by a control valve (not shown), so that the agricultural product 41 is sucked and released.

  If the agricultural product 41 placed in the bucket unit 100 of the PK conveyor 10 is in the corresponding sorting section, the sorting discharge signal from the processing device is output to the transfer device 30 in the sorting section. The transfer device 30 to which the sorting discharge signal has been input instructs the suction device 34 positioned directly above the agricultural product to perform the agricultural product discharging operation.

  When the suction device 34 is instructed to discharge the agricultural product, the control valve is controlled to switch the suction pad 39 to the vacuum source, and the piston rod 37 of the air cylinder 36 is brought to a predetermined suction position. Lower and hold the agricultural product 41 just below by adsorption. Then, the piston rod 37 is raised. At that time, it is not necessary to return the piston rod 37 to the original uppermost position, and it may be raised to a position where there is no interference with the bucket unit 100. When the suction device 34 moves out of the upper position of the PK conveyor 10 and moves to the opposite conveyance track, the lowering operation of the piston rod 37 is started, and the suction pad 39 is lowered to a release position further below the suction position, The control valve is switched to block communication with the vacuum source and, for example, the atmosphere is released to release the suction action and the agricultural products are discharged onto the discharge conveyor 20.

  In this embodiment, although the transfer apparatus 30 is provided corresponding to the discharge conveyor 20 arrange | positioned for every classification | category division, the transfer apparatus 30 is not used by all the classification | category, and it is below the preset equal class For the lower-grade or non-standard agricultural products, for example, the lever operating mechanism 19 is driven with respect to the specified discharge conveyor 20, and the agricultural products are dropped and discharged onto the discharge conveyor 20 by tilting the support piece 101. Then, this lower class or non-standard agricultural product is dropped from the discharge end of the discharge conveyor 20 to the receiving box.

  On the other hand, the agricultural products 41 discharged so as to be transferred to the discharge conveyor 20 by the transfer device 30 are pooled at the transport end of the discharge conveyor 20, and are boxed in a product box, for example, manually.

  In this way, by using the transfer device 30, the agricultural products can be discharged for each sorting category without dropping, and the lower-class or non-standard agricultural products can be discharged without much trouble.

  In the present embodiment, the agricultural products transferred and discharged by the transfer device 30 are pooled at the transport end of the discharge conveyor 20, but there is a hole for fitting the agricultural products according to the packaging state. The formed tray pack may be supplied from the upstream side in the transport direction of the discharge conveyor 20, and the agricultural products from the transfer device 30 may be directly placed on the tray pack. At that time, the discharge conveyor 30 is intermittently fed, and the suction device 34 is controlled so that the agricultural products can be discharged into empty holes on the tray pack. Thereby, since the tray pack full of agricultural products is conveyed to the discharge end of the discharge conveyor 30, it is only necessary to store the tray pack in the product box.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, it is not necessarily an essential evaluation item that the agricultural product 41 conveyed by the bucket unit 100 is weight-measured by the weight measuring device 16, and evaluation based on measurement results by the internal quality sensor 15 and the appearance sensor 17. It may be.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a top view which shows schematic structure of the agricultural-product selection apparatus by 1st Embodiment of this invention, and shows the state which has selected the decopon as agricultural products which implement weight measurement. The figure which shows the state which is selecting the mandarin orange as an agricultural product which replaces with the decopon shown in FIG. 1, and does not require weight measurement. The AA arrow directional view of FIG. The BB arrow line view of FIG. The figure which shows the other example which displays the bucket unit of PK conveyor. The top view which shows 3rd Embodiment of this invention. CC arrow line view of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

W worker 1 orange 2 dekopon 10 keyboard type conveyor (PK conveyor)
10a Mark 100 Bucket unit 101 Support piece 101F First support piece 1011R Last support piece 101a Protruding part 102 Conveyor machine base 102a Guide rail 103 Endless chain 104 Mounting base 105 Carrying base 105a Bottom wall part 106 Connecting shaft 107 Through hole 108 First 1 support bracket 109 second support bracket 110 support pin 111 lever member 111a hook 111b disengagement lever portion 112 engagement pin 113 support pin 114 stopper 11 first agricultural product supply unit 12 second agricultural product supply unit 13 agricultural product supply conveyor 14 Alignment device 14a Roller conveyor 15 Internal quality sensor 16 Weight measuring device 201a, 201b Rail 202 Load cell 203 Rail support base 17 Appearance sensor 18 Discharge unit 19 Lever operating mechanism 20 Discharge conveyor 21 Inner plate 22 Receiving box 23 Product box base 24 Product box 25 Unloading conveyor 30 Transfer device 31, 32 Pulley 31a, 32a Rotating shaft 33 Chain 34 Suction device 35 Mounting base 36 Air cylinder 37 Piston rod 38 Joint member 39 Suction pad 40 Buffer Spring 41 produce 121 LED
122 LED flasher

Claims (11)

Conveying means in which a plurality of agricultural product support pieces that can be individually tilted are arranged in parallel along the conveying direction, and a plurality of conveying means are connected to the conveying body drive means in an endlessly rotatable manner,
A support piece tilting means that is disposed in a discharge section provided on the transport downstream side of the transport means, and tilts the agricultural product support piece in a horizontal posture when a discharge signal is input;
Processing means for outputting a discharge signal to the support piece tilting means;
Have
The processing means, when using the plurality of produce support pieces as bucket units, outputs a discharge signal to the support piece tilting means at a timing of tilting the plurality of produce support pieces in the bucket unit ; When the agricultural products are randomly placed and transported on a large number of endlessly rotating produce support pieces, a discharge signal is output to the support piece tilting means at the timing of sequentially tilting the support pieces on which the produce is placed. And a second sorting mode. Conveying means in which a plurality of agricultural product support pieces that can be individually tilted are arranged in parallel along the conveying direction, and a plurality of conveying means are connected to the conveying body drive means in an endlessly rotatable manner,
A support piece tilting means that is disposed in a discharge section provided on the transport downstream side of the transport means, and tilts the agricultural product support piece in a horizontal posture when a discharge signal is input;
When the discharge signal is input and the discharge signal is input, the transfer means that picks up the agricultural product placed on the agricultural product support piece in a horizontal posture and transfers it to the side of the transport means;
Processing means for outputting the discharge signal to either the support piece tilting means or the transfer means;
Have
The processing means, in the case of using a plurality of agricultural support pieces as bucket unit, according to the evaluation results of the agricultural products are transported by the transport means, the timing tilting the plurality of agricultural support piece of the bucket unit An agricultural product sorting apparatus comprising: a first discharge mode for outputting the discharge signal to a support piece tilting means; and a second discharge mode for outputting the discharge signal to the transfer means. The agricultural product sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport unit is connected to the transport unit driving unit with a degree of freedom in the vertical direction. In the middle of the conveying path of the conveying means, a weight measuring device for measuring the weight of the carrier to be moved is provided, either the weight information measured from claim 1, wherein the input to the processing means 3 of A sorting apparatus for agricultural products according to the above. At least one of an internal quality sensor for measuring the internal quality of the produce and an appearance sensor for measuring the appearance of the produce is provided in the middle of the transport path of the transport means, and the detection information is input to the processing means . The agricultural product sorting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The said processing means determines an evaluation result based on the detection information also including the information of the said weight measuring device, when using these agricultural produce support pieces as a bucket unit. Agricultural product sorting equipment. The apparatus for sorting agricultural products according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising a supply conveyor that supplies a large number of agricultural products in a row to the starting end of the conveying means. 8. The agricultural product according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a manual work area for manually placing the agricultural product on the transport means is provided at a transport start end of the transport means. Sorting device. Agricultural sorting device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the agricultural support pieces that constitute the transport means digits set a mark that can be identified visually from above.   The mark is configured in such a manner that, among a plurality of support pieces constituting the adjacent transport body, the most advanced support piece and the last support piece are colored or different in length from other support pieces and tilted. The agricultural product sorting apparatus according to claim 9, wherein:   The mark is a blinking means that is formed by a plurality of light sources arranged along the conveyance direction of the conveyance means on the side of the conveyance means, and blinks so as to run in parallel with the movement of the conveyance body. An apparatus for sorting agricultural products according to claim 9.

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