JP2009096566A - Device for conveying generally spherical object to be sorted and color sorting device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device of a flat belt conveyor type for conveying generally spherical objects to be sorted capable of conveying without extremely rotating the objects to be sorted back and forth, right and left and the like even if the objects to be sorted are spherical and a color sorting device using the same which are superior in durability as a whole. <P>SOLUTION: The device for conveying the spherical objects to be sorted includes a transfer conveyor conveying and shooting out the objects to be sorted in a prescribed direction at a prescribed speed, wherein the transfer conveyor includes a flat belt and at least two roller shafts, a plurality of vertical furrings are arranged in parallel in the width direction of the flat belt with a space capable of accommodating at least one object to be sorted, and notches are provided with pitches of generally 1/3 to generally 1/10 of the peripheral length of the roller shaft on respective vertical furrings in the conveying direction of the transfer conveyor. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for conveying a substantially spherical object to be sorted and a color sorting apparatus using the apparatus.

  In order to accurately perform image processing and color selection on an approximately spherical object to be selected, it is necessary to supply the object to be selected at a high speed and a constant speed without rotating the object.

  In general, when a sphere is naturally dropped with a chute, a sphere with a low roundness jumps from the chute surface, and there is a problem that an object cannot be supplied to a certain position, which is not very suitable in the first place.

  Further, when the sphere is transported by a flat belt conveyor, the sphere rolls on the belt and the transport speed is not constant. However, by correcting this and making the conveyance speed constant, it is possible to realize accurate measurement.

  Therefore, various conventional methods such as a flat belt conveyor, a naturally falling chute, and a method of pressing a material flowing on a flat belt with a roller as a method for conveying a substantially spherical body for image processing and color selection. Has been proposed (see Patent Document 1).

  An example of the above (a method of pressure-bonding a material flowing on a flat belt with a roller) will be briefly described based on the description in Patent Document 1. The object to be sorted 2 conveyed by the belt conveyor 12 contacts the pressing roller 20. Then, the object to be sorted 2 is pressed onto the belt conveyor 12 while the pressing roller 20 is elastically recessed. By this pressing, the object to be sorted 2 is stably settled on the belt conveyor 12 and does not roll on the belt conveyor 12 during the subsequent conveyance. Thereby, since the detection information by the sensor 15 and the air blowing timing of the ejector 19 based on this detection are performed in accordance with the position and the conveyance speed of the object to be selected 2, it is possible to accurately select the quality. Accuracy is improved. The above symbols are those of Patent Document 1.

  However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, since the object to be sorted 2 is pressed, the to-be-sorted object is damaged, or when the object to be sorted 2 is food such as beans as in this embodiment, Furthermore, there is a problem such as adhesion of a roller surface layer member of the pressing roller 20.

  That is, even if the pressing pressure of the pressing roller 20 is controlled, or the material of the surface layer portion of the pressing roller 20 is soft, the object to be sorted 2 is damaged or crushed by the pressing of the pressing roller 20. Generation of non-defective products could not be prevented.

When the object to be selected 2 is food, the fact that there are many possibilities that fragments of the roller surface layer member and the like are mixed into the object to be selected has been a problem in terms of food hygiene.
JP-A-6-269743

Therefore, the present invention firstly selects a substantially spherical body of a flat belt conveyor type capable of transporting the object to be sorted without extremely rotating back and forth and right and left even if the object to be sorted is a substantially spherical body. It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for conveying an object and a color sorting apparatus using the apparatus.
The present invention also provides: i) The objects to be sorted are transported without being meandered in a regular array on the conveyor belt, and thrown out from the end of the belt conveyor to a plurality of ejectors as possible as possible. Ii) Timing difference between optical observation / determination and ejection by the ejector hardly occurs, and iii) a device for transporting a substantially spherical object to be sorted with a good yield when viewed as the entire device, and the same It is an object of the present invention to provide an existing color sorting device.
Further, when the present invention adopts some conveyance assisting means for assisting the conveyance of the object to be sorted with respect to the belt surface of the belt conveyor in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the auxiliary means also has a turning point or An object of the present invention is to provide a device for transporting a substantially spherical object to be sorted that is highly durable as a whole and a color sorting device using the device so that no stress is applied in the vicinity of the roller shaft. To do.

  As a result of various studies to solve the above problem, the present inventor has provided a vertical cross made of urethane foam or sponge on a flat belt, and can solve the above problem by cutting at regular intervals. As a result, the present invention has been completed.

  An apparatus for transporting a substantially spherical object to be sorted according to the present invention that can solve the above problems is (1) an apparatus for transporting a substantially spherical object to be sorted, which transports the object to be sorted. And a transport conveyor that throws out in a constant direction at a constant speed, the transport conveyor comprising a flat belt and at least two roller shafts, and can accommodate at least one object to be sorted in the width direction of the flat belt. A plurality of vertical rails are provided side by side, and each of the vertical rails has approximately 1/3 to 1 / of the circumferential length of the roller shaft in a direction along the transport direction of the transport conveyor. This is characterized in that cuts are made at a pitch of 10.

  In addition, the color sorting apparatus of the present invention includes (2) a transport conveyor that transports the object to be sorted and throws it in a certain direction at a constant speed, a detection unit that detects the color of the object to be sorted, and a detection result of the detection unit A discriminating means for discriminating the object to be sorted based on a discrimination result; and a trajectory changing means for changing the trajectory from which the object to be sorted is thrown out based on the discrimination result of the discriminating means, A color sorting device that discriminates and sorts the quality, wherein the transport conveyor includes a flat belt and at least two roller shafts, and can accommodate at least one object to be sorted in the width direction of the flat belt. A plurality of vertical rails are provided side by side, and each of the vertical rails has approximately 1/3 to 1 / of the circumferential length of the roller shaft in a direction along the transport direction of the transport conveyor. 10 pitches And it is characterized in that the cuts.

  Preferably, the height of the vertical rail is about twice to about 1/3 of the height of the object to be sorted. The vertical bar is made of urethane foam or sponge. Further, the positions of the cuts between the adjacent vertical bars may be different when viewed in the width direction.

According to the present invention, first, even if the object to be selected is a substantially spherical body, the object to be selected can be conveyed without extremely rotating back and forth, left and right by the vertical rail provided on the belt surface of the belt conveyor. It became possible. At this time, the objects to be sorted are transported without being meandered in a regular arrangement between the vertical rails, and thrown out from the end of the belt conveyor toward the fixed positions as much as possible with respect to the plurality of ejectors. Accordingly, there is a feature that the timing difference between the optical observation and determination and the ejection by the ejector hardly occurs, and the yield when viewed as the whole apparatus is good.
In addition, by notching the longitudinal bars in the direction of belt travel, the vertical bars are not stressed near the roller shaft, and the durability of the vertical bars is greatly increased.

  In the following, the present invention will be described in detail with an example according to the above-mentioned Patent Document 1. FIG. 1 is an overall side view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of the embodiment.

[Example]
FIG. 1 is an overall side view of an embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a conveying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and C denotes an entire color sorting apparatus to which the conveying apparatus 1 is applied. In this figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a hopper in which the objects to be sorted 2 are stored. The object to be sorted 2 is a spherical object in this embodiment, and for example, a thing like beans is assumed. The hopper 10 is provided on the vibration feeder 11 and supplies the stored objects 2 to be sorted to the vibration feeder 11. The vibration feeder 11 moves the object to be sorted 2 while being vibrated and supplies it to the belt conveyor 12. At this time, the vibration feeder 11 is spaced from the front, rear, left and right of the object to be sorted 2 so that the supply amount is always constant.

  The conveying surface of the belt conveyor 12 moves at a constant speed in the direction of arrow Y, conveys the object to be sorted 2 supplied from the vibration feeder 11, and throws it out from its end 12a along the conveying path. By throwing out the object 2 being conveyed in this way along the conveying path, the discharge speed and the discharge direction are constant for all kinds of objects 2 and the object 2 discharged from the belt conveyor 12 is Regardless of its type, it always flies along the same trajectory at the same speed.

  Here, the color of the belt conveyor 12 is determined by the brightness of the color of the object to be sorted 2 to be excluded. For example, when the object to be sorted 2 is beans and it is desired to eliminate dark defective products, the color of the belt conveyor 12 is made white. Conversely, when trying to eliminate defective products that are not mature enough and are too whitish, the color of the belt conveyor 12 is made black.

  An illumination 13 is installed above and slightly upstream of the end 12 a of the belt conveyor 12. This illumination 13 consists of two parts 13a and 13b arranged along the conveying direction of the conveyor 12, and each part has a fluorescent lamp or an incandescent lamp. Further, a cover 14 is applied to the lights 13a and 13b. The cover 14 is configured so that light emitted from the lights 13a and 13b is irradiated only on the conveyor 12 directly below, and is not irradiated in other directions. To. In addition, the location illuminated by illumination 13a, 13b in the conveyance surface on the conveyor 12 is called the observation part A. FIG. When the object to be sorted 2 conveyed by the conveyor 12 passes through the observation part A, it is illuminated by the illumination 13. In this embodiment, the object to be sorted 2 is observed on the conveyor 12. The to-be-sorted item 2 (substantially spherical) in the middle of conveyance is rotated forward / backward / left / right by the effect of the vertical bars 201 to 20n provided at substantially equal intervals t in the width direction W of the belt surface 100 of the belt conveyor 12. It is in a stable state without any additional movement. Therefore, the observation accuracy in the subsequent determination circuit and the like is extremely high.

  A sensor 15 is provided above the observation unit A. This sensor 15 has a light receiving element such as a CCD array or a diode array, and scans the observation part A from between the illuminations 13a and 13b in the width direction W of the belt conveyor 12, while The reflected light is received, converted into an electrical signal, and supplied to the pass / fail judgment circuit 16. The sensor 15 supplies a timing signal for scanning to the eject position determination circuit 17.

  The pass / fail determination circuit 16 determines pass / fail of the object to be sorted 2 based on the light reception signal supplied from the sensor 15 and supplies the determination result to the eject position determination circuit 17. The details of the pass / fail judgment circuit 16 and the basic selection principle of the color sorter regardless of whether it is a conveyor type or a chute type are known in Japanese Patent Application No. 61-42614 or Japanese Patent No. 3606863 filed by the applicant of the present application. It is.

  When the ejection position determination circuit 17 receives a determination result indicating that the object to be sorted 2 is defective from the pass / fail determination circuit 16, the ejected position determination circuit 17 sends the defective object 2 to the conveyor 12 by a timing signal supplied from the sensor 15 at the same time. The position in the width direction W is determined.

  On the other hand, a plurality of ejectors 19 are arranged in the width direction W of the belt conveyor 12, that is, on an extended surface of the conveyor belt conveying surface or slightly below the extended surface. These ejectors 19, 19... Are arranged in a row in the width direction W of the conveyor belt 12 with the air outlets facing downward. In addition, the place where the vertical plane including the ejectors 19, 19... Intersects the trajectory of the sorting object 2 discharged from the conveyor 12 is referred to as an exclusion unit B.

  The ejector position determination circuit 17 selects the ejector 19 corresponding to the trajectory of the defective object 2 after determining the position of the defective object 2 in the width direction of the conveyor 12. Then, an activation signal is supplied to the drive circuit 18 of the ejector 19 selected at a predetermined timing. This timing is determined in advance based on the time from when the object to be sorted 2 passes through the observation part A until it reaches the exclusion part B. In other words, the ejector position determination circuit 17 supplies an activation signal to the drive circuit 18 in anticipation of when the object to be sorted 2 for which a defect is detected in the observation part A reaches the exclusion part B. As a result, the compressed air is blown downward from the selected ejector 19 and blown to the object to be sorted 2 that is about to pass through the exclusion portion B. As a result, the trajectory of the object 2 to which the air is blown changes and is separated from the other objects 2 to be selected.

In addition to the above configuration, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the vertical bars 201 to 20 n are bonded to the belt surface 100 of the belt conveyor 12 at substantially equal intervals t in the width direction W. The material of the vertical beam is a relatively flexible material such as urethane foam or sponge.
The purpose of the vertical bars 201 to 20n is to throw out the object to be sorted 2 from the terminal end 12a of the belt conveyor 12 toward a fixed position as much as possible.

The vertical rails 201 to 20n are arranged in parallel along the transport direction Y of the belt conveyor 12 and at a distance t at which the sorting object 2 can be accommodated. In the case of the present embodiment, the interval t is designed so that one object to be sorted 2 enters between the vertical bars.
Regarding the height of the vertical bars 201 to 20n, i) If the height is too low, the object to be sorted will jump over the vertical bars to the adjacent lane, and the meaning of arranging the vertical bars in the first place will be lost. On the other hand, if it is too high, on the other hand, the accuracy of the subsequent observation system including the sensor 15 may be hindered. Therefore, it is preferable that the optimum height is about twice to about 1/3 of the height of the object to be sorted 2. In the present embodiment, the height of each vertical rail is substantially the same as the height of the object to be sorted 2.

By the way, in the case of a present Example, although the vertical crosspieces 201-20n are arranged in parallel along the conveyance direction Y of the belt conveyor 12, conversely, a horizontal crosspiece is the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction Y of the belt conveyor 12. In the example in which the objects to be sorted 2 are arranged side by side at a predetermined interval along the line, a downward force is exerted on the objects to be sorted 2 (due to the influence of the horizontal beam) when the objects 2 are transported and thrown out along the transport track from the terminal end 12a. May be applied.
In this case, since there is a possibility that the direction of the object 2 to be ejected (toward the ejector 19 or the compressed air emitted therefrom) is chained, the use of a cross rail is not recommended.

  Next, in the case of the present embodiment, the vertical rails 201 to 20n are provided with notches c at substantially predetermined intervals in the direction along the conveying direction Y of the belt conveyor 12. The pitch of the notches c varies depending on the application model, but preferably, as shown in FIG. 2, 1/3 to 1 of the circumferential length of the roller shaft 21 (the length of one round of the outermost surface) at the turning portion T. / 10 or so. If it is more than this, the effect will not be exhibited, and if it is less than this, there is a risk that the vertical rail itself will be broken.

  The notches c inserted into the vertical bars 201 to 20n eliminate the stress or excessive tension applied to the vertical bars 201 to 20n around the turning portion T of the belt conveyor 12, and the life of the vertical bars 201 to 20n is reduced. The effect of greatly increasing is obtained. That is, it is possible to extend the life of what was conventionally about six months to about three years.

  In addition, a technique of arranging vertical bars in the width direction W of the belt side by side at substantially equal intervals t without the following notch c is also conceivable, but in that case, the material of the vertical bars is devised as urethane foam or sponge, etc. In the meantime, as described above, there was a problem that it was immediately broken and had a lifetime of only about half a year. In addition, when the object to be selected is food, the fact that there is a high possibility that broken pieces of sponges and the like are mixed into the object to be selected has been a problem in terms of food hygiene.

The characteristics of the present embodiment described above can be summarized as follows.
First, even if the article to be sorted 2 is a substantially spherical body, the article to be sorted 2 is transported without being extremely rotated back and forth and right and left by the vertical bars 201 to 20n bonded to the belt surface 100 of the belt conveyor 12. Became possible.
At this time, the object to be sorted 2 is transported without being meandered in a regular arrangement between the vertical bars 201 to 20n, and is fixed to the plurality of ejectors 19 from the end 12a of the belt conveyor 12 as much as possible. Thrown toward the position. Accordingly, there is a feature that the timing difference between the optical observation and determination and the ejection by the ejector hardly occurs, and the yield when viewed as the whole apparatus is good.
Furthermore, since the vertical rails 201 to 20n have notches c, the vertical rails are not stressed near the roller shaft 21, and the durability of the vertical rails is greatly increased.

[Modification]
Although the contents of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to one embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the above, and various modifications can be made.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the belt conveyor 12 has the simplest configuration with only going and returning, but the number of the roller shafts 21 and the number of the rotating portions T are not limited to the above, and various configurations may be used. For example, the belt conveyor 12 may be configured to be folded.

Further, the object to be sorted 2 is a substantially spherical object in the present embodiment, and for example, a thing like beans is assumed. However, the object to be sorted 2 is not limited to a spherical shape, for example, It may have a shape with a certain aspect ratio (up to about 7: 3) like a rugby ball.
The term “spherical” is also used herein to include a certain degree of irregularity.

  Furthermore, with regard to the item 2 to be sorted, for example, a thing like beans is assumed, but there is no particular limitation on the size and color, and for example, the present invention relates to selection of pepper that is completely different from beans. An apparatus may be applied.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, in the above embodiment, it is assumed that the positions of the cuts between the adjacent vertical bars are the same when viewed in the width direction, but the present invention is not limited to this. As shown in FIG. 3, the positions of the notches between the adjacent vertical bars may be different when viewed in the width direction. In this case, it is expected that the risk of movement of the object to be sorted 2 in the width direction W becomes lower.

  As described above, the present invention is a flat belt conveyor type substantially spherical object that can be conveyed without rotating the front and rear, left and right extremely even if the object to be sorted is a substantially spherical body. It is clear that the apparatus for transporting the sorting object and the color sorting apparatus using the apparatus are novel and useful, providing an overall highly durable apparatus.

It is a whole side view showing one example of the present invention. It is a perspective view of the principal part of one Example. It is a principal part perspective view which shows another Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sphere conveying apparatus 2 Sorted object 10 Hopper 11 Vibrating feeder 12 Belt conveyor 12a Termination 13a, 13b Illumination 14 Cover 15 Sensor 16 Pass / fail judgment circuit 17 Eject position determination circuit 18 Drive circuit 19 Ejector 21 Roller shaft 100 Belt surface 201-20n Vertical Crosspiece c Notch t Interval A Observation part B Exclusion part C Color sorting device S Straight part T Turning part Y Transport direction W Width direction

Claims (6)

An apparatus for transporting a substantially spherical object to be sorted,
Consists of a conveyor that conveys the object to be sorted and throws it in a certain direction at a constant speed.
The conveyor includes a flat belt and at least two roller shafts;
In the width direction of the flat belt, a plurality of vertical rails are juxtaposed at intervals that can accommodate at least one object to be sorted,
Further, each of the vertical rails is cut at a pitch of about 1/3 to about 1/10 of the circumference of the roller shaft in a direction along the transport direction of the transport conveyor. apparatus.   The apparatus for transporting a substantially spherical object to be sorted according to claim 1, wherein a height of the vertical beam is approximately twice to approximately 1/3 of a height of the object to be sorted. .   The apparatus for transporting a substantially spherical object to be sorted according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the positions of cuts between adjacent vertical bars are different when viewed in the width direction. A transport conveyor that transports the objects to be sorted and throws them in a constant direction at a constant speed;
Detecting means for detecting the color of the object to be sorted;
Discriminating means for discriminating the object to be sorted based on the detection result of the detecting means;
A trajectory changing means for changing a trajectory on which the object to be sorted is thrown out based on a discrimination result of the discriminating means;
A color sorting device that discriminates and sorts the quality based on the color of the object to be sorted,
The conveyor includes a flat belt and at least two roller shafts,
In the width direction of the flat belt, a plurality of vertical rails are juxtaposed at intervals that can accommodate at least one object to be sorted,
Further, each of the vertical rails is cut at a pitch of about 1/3 to about 1/10 of the circumference of the roller shaft in a direction along the transport direction of the transport conveyor. Color sorting device.   The color sorting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the height of the vertical beam is about twice to about 1/3 of the height of the object to be sorted.   6. The color selecting device according to claim 4, wherein the positions of the cuts between the adjacent vertical bars are different when viewed in the width direction.

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