JPH032775B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an automatic tea leaf storage device that automatically distributes and stores shipped raw tea leaves as appropriate.

[Background of the invention and its problems]

Fresh tea leaves that have just been shipped to the tea factory are still actively respiring, so if they are stored in a compacted state, the heat of breathing in the leaves will accumulate and reach high temperatures, causing browning and deterioration. Resulting in.

Therefore, conventionally, the storage floor is made of a breathable member, and cold air is ventilated from below the floor between the tea leaves placed and stored on the floor to remove the respiratory heat latent in the tea leaves. This prevents the above-mentioned deterioration. The apparatus for carrying out the above method includes a floor-type storage apparatus in which a number of rows of pits are installed on the floor of the raw tea room and communicated with fans outside the apparatus, and a ventilation plate is placed over the pits, and a storage floor. There are automatic transfer-type storage devices that have a long, wide, air-permeable endless conveyance belt and ventilate cold air from the bottom surface, and container-type storage devices that are equipped with casters to automatically move freely.

In the case of a floor type that accommodates a large amount of green tea leaves, a movable feeding conveyor is generally provided for each row of ventilation plates to distribute and feed the green tea leaves. The number of intermediate conveyors etc. for distributing fresh leaves has become very large;
The control device for controlling these devices is also complicated, and the device for dispensing and feeding green tea leaves becomes extremely expensive.

In addition, in the case of a long and narrow automatic transfer type, a uniform feeding device is provided at the starting end of each device, and the green tea leaves fed by the uniform feeding device are sequentially transferred toward the other end to spread the tea leaves over the entire area of the device. The green tea leaves are accommodated, but if they are transferred to the steamer during feeding, there will be a portion where the green tea leaves are not fed.Also, a large number of uniform feeding devices and an intermediate conveyor for distributing the green tea leaves are required. This has the disadvantage that a large number of tea leaves are required, and the device for distributing and feeding raw tea leaves is complicated and expensive.

In the case of a container type that stores a small amount of fresh tea leaves, it is designed with the assumption that the fresh tea leaves will be manually input by the worker, but due to its simplicity, it is also possible to use a large number of container types. Yes, but
In this case, the operator is responsible for putting in and taking out the green tea leaves, which poses a problem in that it places a heavy burden on the operator.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks and problems, the present invention aims to provide an automatic tea leaf storage device capable of sequentially appropriately distributing and storing shipped raw tea leaves.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an automatic storage device for fresh tea leaves, which comprises: a group of storage devices for storing fresh tea leaves in which a plurality of storage devices for ventilating cold air from the storage floor are arranged side by side at equal intervals; The first unit installed above the equipment group
a guide rail, a second guide rail that is parallel to the storage device group, has a length substantially equal to the overall vertical length of the storage device, and is movable left and right on the first guide rail; and the storage device group an input belt conveyor having a length approximately half of the total vertical length of the conveyor belt and capable of rotating in forward and reverse directions so as to be movable back and forth on the second guide rail; a guiding member protruding so as not to obstruct the movement of the loading belt conveyor; a third guide rail supported on the loading belt conveyor along the center of the storage device group; and an idler on the third guide rail. The housing device group has a length approximately half of the total lateral length of the storage device group which is moved freely left and right by being guided, and is provided with engaging devices at both left and right ends that can be engaged with and disengaged from the guide member, respectively, Its characteristics include a distribution belt conveyor that can freely rotate in forward and reverse directions, with the engagement end side engaged by the device serving as the input end, and a conveyance device for supplying green tea leaves, the terminal end of which faces onto the distribution belt conveyor. That is.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

Figures 1 and 2 show an automatic transfer type storage device roll.
An embodiment will be shown in which four green tea leaf storage apparatus group A is constructed by arranging four tea leaf storage apparatuses A, RO-2, RO-3, and RO-4 at predetermined intervals.

The multi-accommodation device B has a storage chamber 5 whose storage floor is composed of a breathable endless transport zone 1, the endless transport zone 1 is surrounded by left and right side walls 2, 3, and a starting end wall 4, and the upper surface is open. is formed. At the end of each of the endless transport belts 1 described above, a scraping device 6 is provided which scrapes the green tea leaves transferred by the endless transport belt 1 and drops them onto a carry-out conveyor 7, which will be described later. The carry-out conveyor 7 is disposed below each of the scraping devices 6 described above, and conveys the dropped green tea leaves to a steamer (not shown).

On the storage device group A constituted by the plurality of storage devices Row-1 to Row-4 described above, four first guide rails are provided horizontally at predetermined intervals over the entire length of the storage device group A in the lateral direction. 10, 10, 10, 10 are installed parallel to each other. 11, 11, 11,...
is the first guide rail 10, 10, 10, 1
0, the left and right side walls 2 of each storage device B,
This is a pillar erected along 3.

The first guide rail 10, 10, 10,
A second guide rail 15 is provided on the first guide rail and has a length substantially equal to the length of each of the storage devices described above, and the second guide rail 15 has a deceleration motor 16. A drive shaft 17 and a driven shaft 18 that rotate in forward and reverse directions are attached to the drive shaft 17 and driven shaft 18, and a first guide rail 10,
Drive wheels 19,1 rolling on 10,10,10
9, 19 and driven wheels 20, 20, 20 are pivotally supported, and the second guide rail 15 is connected to the first guide rail 10, 10, 10 by the respective wheels 19, 19, . . . and 20, 20, . , 10 can be moved left and right.

A loading belt conveyor 24 having a length slightly shorter than half of the length of each of the storage devices is placed on the second moving rail 15, and the loading belt conveyor 24 is equipped with a driving drive for moving. Equipped with a motor 25 and a drive motor 26 for forward and reverse rotation of the belt, the charging belt conveyor 24 is movable in the front and rear directions of the storage device B.

A pair of third guide rails 30 are provided above the input belt conveyor 24 over the entire width in the center of the storage device group A, and the third guide rails 30 include the input belt conveyor 24.
A distribution belt conveyor 33 that is orthogonal to this is suspended so as to be movable left and right. The above-mentioned distribution belt conveyor 33 is simply suspended in a movable manner and does not include a driving motor or the like for movement. Further, the length of the distribution belt conveyor 33 may be approximately half of the length of the storage device group A, but in this embodiment, it is reasonable for the distribution of green tea leaves to be set to the length of every other pitch of each storage device. It is.

36 conveys the shipped green tea leaves to above the central part of the storage device group A, and transfers them to the distribution belt conveyor 33.
This is a supply conveyance device that drops and supplies the material upward.

Approximately in the center of the second guide rail 15, a gate-shaped guiding member 21 is provided above the second guide rail 15 so as not to obstruct the movement of the input belt conveyor 24 that moves along the guide rail 15. Further, corresponding to the guiding member 21, engaging positions 34, 3 are provided at both left and right ends of the distribution belt conveyor 33, respectively, so that the guiding member 21 can be freely engaged and disengaged.
4 is installed. The engagement device 34 will be further explained in detail based on FIG. 3.
4 is the side frame 3 of the distribution belt conveyor 33
2, one end is pivotally supported on the side frame 32, the other end is movable upward, and the lower part of the other end is protruded from the guiding member 21. Furthermore, an electromagnetic solenoid 35 is mounted on the other end of the engagement device 34 to move the other end up and down, and the engagement device 34 moves one end by the operation of the solenoid 35. It moves up and down centering on the guide member 21 and engages with or disengages from the protrusion 22 of the guide member 21.

When the second guide rail 15 moves on the first guide rail 10, the guiding member 21 protruding from the second guide rail 15 engages with one of the right and left ends of the distribution belt conveyor 33. The dispensing belt conveyor 33 is coupled with the combining device 34, and the distribution belt conveyor 33 follows the above-mentioned movement and moves at the same time.

By the way, in order to set the movement range and movement limit of the second guide rail 15 and the feeding belt conveyor 24, the position detection limit switch 4 is used.
0 to 47 are attached to each member as follows.

That is, 40 and 41 are the first guide rail 1
limit switches 42, 43 for setting the movement limits of the second guide rail 15 attached to the left and right ends of the
is a limit switch for confirming the position of the distribution belt conveyor 33 mounted on the rear part of the third guide rail 30 directly above the inner side of the left and right side walls 2 and 3 of the storage device row 1, and is located at the rear left end of the distribution belt conveyor 33. The second member contacts and separates from the protrusion member 50 fixed to the second member, and moves while pulling the distribution belt conveyor 33.
This is for setting the left and right movement range of the guide rail on the storage device row 1. 44,4
Reference numeral 5 denotes a limit switch mounted on the rear part of the third guide rail directly above the inner sides of the left and right side walls 2 and 3 of the storage device row 2, and the limit switch 4
Reference numerals 4 and 45 set the movement range of the second guide rail on the storage device row 2.

Moreover, as mentioned above, the distribution belt conveyor 3
Since the length of the limit switch 42 is approximately equal to the length of the installation pitch of each housing device, the length of the limit switch 42,
43, 44, and 45, when the guiding member 21 protruding from the second guide rail 15 is engaged with the other end of the distribution belt conveyor 33 and the rotation direction of the belt is reversed, the storage device row 3 , also serves to set the movement range of the second guide rail 15 on the row 4.

Reference numerals 46 and 47 indicate limit switches for setting the longitudinal movement limits of the input belt conveyor 24, which are attached to the front and rear ends of the second guide rail 15.

Since the present embodiment is configured as described above, the second guide rail 15, the feeding belt conveyor 24, and the distributing belt conveyor 33 are arranged as described below.
Accordingly, it is possible to drop and supply green tea leaves to each of the plurality of automatic transfer type storage devices Row-1, Row-2, Row-3, and Row-4 over the entire area from corner to corner.

To explain the state in which fresh tea leaves are automatically fed according to the flowchart shown in Fig. 8, (1) First, one of the storage devices Row-1, Row-2, Row-3, and Row-4 is loaded. One is selected by turning a selection switch (not shown). If there is no selection by the operator, the steps are performed in order starting from Row-1.

(2) As shown in FIG. 3, the engaging devices 34 provided at the left and right ends of the distribution belt conveyor 33 are inclined downward from one end to the other.
When engaging the guiding member 21 with the left (right) end engaging device 34, the electromagnetic solenoid 35 is
If the guiding member 21, that is, the second guide rail 15 is moved from the right (left) to the left (right) of the engagement device 34, the guidance is activated. The protrusion 22 of the member 21 moves along the inclined surface of the engagement device 34 while pushing up the engagement device 34, and fits into and engages with the recess 34a of the engagement device 34. Once fitted, the second guide rail 15 will not come off unless the electromagnetic solenoid 35 is turned ON and the engagement device 34 is raised to the position indicated by the solid line.
The distribution belt conveyor 33 is moved through the guide member 21 and the engagement device 34 while being pulled by the distribution belt conveyor 33.

(3) As shown in FIG. 4, the green tea leaves are fed into the storage device B in order from the rear end to the front of the storage device B. If you want to start loading from the middle of the storage device B, use forced movement switches (not shown) for the second guide rail 15 and loading belt conveyor 24 to move them to the desired position and then force the start.

(4) Since the length of the feeding belt conveyor 24 is made slightly shorter than half of the length of the storage device RO, green tea leaves are fed into the rear half and the front half of the storage device RO.

(5) When adding fresh tea leaves to the latter half of the process,
The belt of the charging belt conveyor 24 is rotated in the normal direction, and when simultaneously loading the front half, the belt of the charging belt conveyor 24 is rotated in the reverse direction.

(6) Describe the supply system for green tea leaves.

The raw tea leaves shipped to the tea factory are dropped onto the distribution belt conveyor 33 from the center of the storage device group A by the supply conveyance device 36, and are further conveyed to the distribution belt conveyor 33 to be placed in a predetermined manner. They fall onto the charging conveyor 24 on the storage device B, are conveyed to the charging conveyor 24, and are sequentially dropped into predetermined positions of the storage device B.

(7) Limit switches 49, 49 for sensing green tea leaves conveyed by the conveyor 33 are installed on both left and right ends of the distribution belt conveyor 33 (see FIG. 5). Although the green tea leaves dropped by the feeding belt conveyor 24 sometimes break off, the conveyor 24 and the second guide rail 15
If it is moved at a constant speed, there will be parts where fresh tea leaves are dropped and parts where they are not dropped, creating a difference in the thickness of the stacked green tea leaves, and the cold air will not be ventilated evenly. Therefore, only when it is confirmed that green tea leaves are being conveyed at the input end of the distribution belt conveyor 33, the second guide rail 15 and the input belt conveyor 24
I'm trying to move around.

(8) The movement range of the second guide rail 15 on the storage device rows 1 and 3 (rows 2 and 4) is determined by the limit switch 4 fixed to the third guide rail 30.
2, 43 (44, 45), and each time the projection 50 on the left end of the distribution belt conveyor 33 contacts the limit switch, the traveling direction of the second guide rail 15 that pulls the distribution belt conveyor 33 is reversed. .

(9) The moving distance L of the charging belt conveyor 24 on the second guide rail 15 can be changed by changing the set time t1 in the moving time timer.

(10) At the same time as the feeding of green tea leaves into the rear half of the storage device is completed, the front end of the feeding belt conveyor 24 comes into contact with the limit switch 46. is moved backward until it contacts the limit switch 47 at the rear end, and then the belt of the feeding belt conveyor 24 is reversed, and the second guide rail 15 is moved alternately left and right again in the same way as when feeding into the rear half. At the same time, the charging belt conveyor 24 is moved forward little by little.

(11) When the loading of fresh tea leaves into the rear half and then the front half of the storage device is completed, the machine returns to "Start".
Move on to the next storage device B.

(12) The stacking thickness of the tea leaves on the storage device B is controlled by adjusting the moving speed of the second guide rail 15 and the moving distance L of the feeding belt conveyor 24.

The green tea leaves stored in the storage device B as described above are ventilated and cooled by the cold air ventilated through the breathable non-transport zone 1 until they are used for tea processing. is stored in good condition without heat accumulation.

Then, when processing tea, the scraping device 6
is activated, the endless transport belt 1 is moved little by little, the green tea leaves are scraped off little by little, and conveyed by the take-out conveyor 7 toward a steamer (not shown).

In this embodiment, the length of the distribution belt conveyor 33 is equal to the length of every other pitch of each storage device, so the rotation direction of the belt (forward and reverse)
By simply changing the
(Ro-2, 4) The fresh tea leaves can be transported towards the second
Guide rail 15 and distribution belt conveyor 33
sensors 42, 43 (44, 4
5) can be shared, the moving distance of the second guide rail 15, etc. is shortened to the minimum, and the time required for moving between each storage device row 1, 2, 3, and 4 without inputting green tea leaves is shortened. Efficient.

In addition, a green tea leaf confirmation sensor 49 is arranged on the re-feeding end of the distribution belt conveyor 33, and only when green tea leaves are being conveyed, the second guide rail 15
Since the feeding belt conveyor 24 is moved, the stacking of the green tea leaves in each storage device becomes uniform, and the cold air is evenly ventilated through the endless transport belt 1, so that the green tea leaves are kept in a better condition. It is possible to improve the management ability of the storage device.

Furthermore, since the dropping of green tea leaves starts near the scraping device 6 at the rear end of the storage device, even during dropping, the scraping device 6 and the endless transport belt 1 can be operated to continue tea production. Fresh tea leaves can be supplied immediately for consumption.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, each limit switch and timer are input, and each conveyor and the drive motor of the second guide rail 15, and the electromagnetic solenoid 35
The control device S for activating and stopping the control device may be any device as long as it is programmed to execute according to the flowchart described above.

To describe an example of a storage device group consisting of a large number of floor-type storage devices A (not shown in the drawings) arranged side by side, in the embodiment of the automatic transfer type storage device group A described above, the storage device is replaced. But everything else is exactly the same. However, if the width of the ventilation plate is narrower than in the storage device B described above, it is not necessary to alternately move the second guide rail 15 from side to side. Additionally, a separate device is required to collect the raw tea leaves for tea processing.

In the case of the storage device group shown in FIG. 7, which is made up of a large number of container-type storage devices C arranged in front, back, left, and right,
Sensors 55, 56 (57, 58) for detecting the position of the charging belt conveyor 24 in the front-back direction are newly required. This means that when putting in fresh tea leaves, each container harp 1 to 16 should be
are installed at predetermined positions in the front, rear, left, and right directions, so the movement of the second guide rail 15, etc. in the left and right directions may be as in the case of the automatic transfer type described above, but since multiple guide rails are installed in parallel in the front and rear directions, Similarly to the left and right directions, the loading belt conveyor 24 must be moved intermittently for each container. Therefore, the above-mentioned sensors 55, 56 (57, 58) are required to confirm the position of each container.

〔Effect of the invention〕

The automatic green tea leaf storage device according to the present invention can automatically store a large number of storage devices arranged in parallel by freely moving the second guide rail, the input belt conveyor, and the distribution belt conveyor. It is possible to store fresh tea leaves sequentially, allowing for distribution and distribution of fresh tea leaves.
The charging device is extremely simplified, and at the same time, the control device for controlling the device is also simple, resulting in a significant reduction in cost.

Second, the engaging device installed at the input end of the distribution belt conveyor is engaged with the guiding member provided on the second guide rail, so that the second guide rail always pulls the input end of the distribution belt conveyor. Therefore, even if the distribution belt conveyor itself does not have any movement drive device or tracking sensor, the input end of the distribution belt conveyor always moves following the second guide rail. Therefore, the green tea leaves supplied onto the distribution belt conveyor by the supply conveyance device immediately fall onto the input belt conveyor, and are efficiently and reliably supplied to a predetermined position in a predetermined storage device. It has an extremely rational and simple structure, and is even cheaper.

Thirdly, the input end of the input belt conveyor moves two-dimensionally due to the movement of the second guide rail and the movement of the input belt conveyor itself, so even if the storage device is wide, it can be easily removed from corners. Fresh tea leaves can be placed and stored evenly up to the corners.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 and 2 show an embodiment in which automatic transfer type storage devices are installed side by side, Figure 1 is a front view, Figure 2 is a plan view, and Figure 3 is a distribution belt. The engagement device 34 attached to the left end of the conveyor 33 (the right end is omitted) and the guiding member 21 of the second guide rail 15
FIG. 4 is a simplified plan view showing the movement path of the input conveyor 24, and FIG. 6 is a detailed diagram of the limit switch 49 for detecting fresh tea leaves mounted on the top (omitted), FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the input/output of the control device S, and FIG. 7 is a case in which a container-type storage device C is installed in parallel. FIG. 2 is a simple plan view showing an embodiment of the invention. Figures 8a and 8b are flowcharts of automatic feeding of fresh tea leaves. A: Storage device group, Row 1, 2, 3, 4: Automatic transfer type storage device, 10: First guide rail, 1
5: Second guide rail, 24: Input belt conveyor, 30: Third guide rail, 33: Distribution belt conveyor, 36: Supply conveyance device, 21: Guiding member, 34: Engagement device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A group of storage devices for green tea leaves, which includes a plurality of storage devices that ventilate cold air from the storage floor surface, arranged side by side at equal intervals, a first guide rail installed on the group of storage devices, and a first guide rail that is parallel to the group of storage devices, and a second guide rail having a length substantially equal to the total vertical length of the storage device and movable left and right on the first guide rail; and a second guide rail having a length approximately half of the total vertical length of the storage device group; A loading belt conveyor is rotatable in forward and reverse directions so as to be movable back and forth on the second guide rail, and a loading belt conveyor is configured so as not to obstruct the movement of the loading belt conveyor on the central portion of the second guide rail. a protruding guide member, a third guide rail supported on the input belt conveyor along the center of the storage device group, and the storage device group that is freely suspended on the third guide rail and moves freely from side to side. It has a length approximately half of the total horizontal length of , and is provided with engaging devices at both left and right ends that can be engaged with and disengaged from the guide member, respectively,
Consisting of a distribution belt conveyor that can freely rotate in forward and reverse directions, with the engagement end engaged by the engagement device serving as the input end, and a conveyance device for supplying green tea leaves, the terminal end of which faces onto the distribution belt conveyor. An automatic tea leaf storage device featuring: