JP2013000665A - Fruit sorting machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fruit sorting machine which can prevent an agricultural product on one tray from being damaged by contact with another tray even when the product is larger than the outer diameter of the tray, and can further effectively prevent the product from changing its attitude when conveyance of the trays on an accumulation conveyor is stopped.SOLUTION: When the trays are discharged from a sorting conveyor to a selected accumulation conveyor by a discharge device while keeping a non-selected accumulation conveyer in a stopped state, a controller operates the accumulation conveyor to make the endless body of the accumulation conveyor move only by a predetermined distance X larger than the outer diameter of the tray.

Description

  The present invention relates to a fruit sorter configured to discharge a tray on which agricultural products are placed from a sorting conveyor to a stacking conveyor by a discharging device.

  A sorting conveyor capable of transporting a receiving tray on which agricultural products are placed in an unconnected state, a measuring device for measuring the quality of agricultural products placed on the receiving tray, and the receiving tray on which agricultural products are placed from the sorting conveyor. A plurality of stacking conveyors that can be inherited, a discharge device that discharges the tray on which agricultural products are placed from the sorting conveyor to the stacking conveyor, and a control device that controls operation of the discharge device, the control device comprising: The stacking conveyor that selects the stacking conveyor as the discharge destination of the tray on which the agricultural product section is placed is selected based on the measurement result by the measuring device, and the tray on which the agricultural product is placed is selected from the sorting conveyor Conventionally, a free tray type fruit sorter that operates the discharge device so as to discharge to the center has been used.

  This free tray type fruit sorter can transport, measure, and transfer produce from the sorting conveyor to the stacking conveyor while it is placed on the tray, so that the farm products can be placed directly on the sorting conveyor and the stacking conveyor. Damage compared to the type of fruit sorting machine or the type of fruit sorting machine that places the agricultural products on a bucket that is detachably attached to the sorting conveyor and rolls the bucket over when it is transferred to the stacking conveyor. Can be effectively prevented.

  However, in the free tray type fruit sorter, when the agricultural product to be processed protrudes from the outer frame of the saucer, the agricultural product placed on the one saucer is adjacent to the one saucer. There was a problem of being damaged by the saucer.

  In other words, in the conventional free tray type fruit sorter, the stacking conveyor is always driven, and a stopper for the packaging portion is provided at the downstream end in the transport direction of the stacking conveyor.

In such a configuration, the tray located at the top (most downstream side in the transport direction) of the plurality of trays on the stacking conveyor is forcibly stopped by contacting the packaging portion stopper, and the top The tray that follows the tray is brought into contact with a tray that is adjacent to the downstream side in the transport direction, so that the transport is forcibly stopped sequentially.
Therefore, when the agricultural product to be processed protrudes from the outer frame of the tray, the agricultural product of one tray may come into contact with another adjacent tray or the stopper and be damaged.

  In consideration of this point, in a free tray type fruit sorting machine provided with a stopper for a wrapping portion at the downstream end in the transport direction of the stacking conveyor, and the stacking conveyor is always driven, along the transport direction of the stacking conveyor There has been proposed a fruit selection machine provided with a plurality of stoppers arranged at predetermined intervals and capable of moving back and forth with respect to the conveying surface of the stacking conveyor (for example, see Patent Document 1 below).

In the fruit selection machine described in Patent Document 1, the plurality of stoppers are protruded upward from the transport surface to forcibly bring the plurality of trays into a transport stop state without contacting other adjacent trays. Furthermore, after the conveyance stop state, the plurality of stoppers are allowed to enter the conveyance surface and protrude upward again, so that the plurality of trays are kept apart from each other by the interval between the stoppers. Can be moved intermittently by the interval.
Therefore, even if the agricultural product protrudes from the outer frame of the tray, it is possible to prevent the agricultural product of one tray from being damaged by another adjacent tray.

  In addition, in the said patent document 1, when agricultural products are smaller than the outer diameter of a saucer, in a state where the plurality of saucers on the stacking conveyor are jammed by causing the plurality of stoppers to enter the transport surface. There is also a statement that it can be conveyed.

  The fruit selection machine described in Patent Document 1 uses the plurality of stoppers, so that even if the produce is larger than the outer diameter of the saucer, the produce in one saucer is damaged by the other saucers before and after the saucer. Although it is possible to effectively prevent this, the tray is always driven and the tray that is constantly receiving a propulsion force downstream in the transport direction by the stacking conveyor is forcibly stopped by the stopper. When the tray is stopped by the stopper, the posture of the agricultural product is changed by an impact, and in some cases, the agricultural product may be damaged along with the change of the posture.

  In addition, even in a usage mode in which the produce is smaller than the outer diameter of the saucer and the stopper is not used, the saucer that is constantly receiving a propulsion force downstream in the transport direction by the accumulation conveyor is downstream in the transport direction from the saucer. A similar problem may occur because the conveyance is forcibly stopped by colliding with another receiving tray adjacent to.

JP 2000-272740 A

  This invention is made | formed in view of such a prior art, Comprising: It is a fruit selection machine which transfers the saucer on a selection conveyor to a stacking conveyor with a discharge device, Comprising: The agricultural product of a process target is larger than the outer diameter of the said saucer Even in this case, it is possible to prevent the produce in one tray from coming into contact with other adjacent trays and damaging it, and effectively prevent the produce from changing its posture when the tray on the stacking conveyor is stopped. The purpose is to provide a possible fruit selection machine.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a sorting conveyor capable of transporting a tray on which agricultural products are placed in an unconnected state, a measuring device for measuring the quality of agricultural products placed on the saucers, A plurality of stacking conveyors that can inherit the tray on which the agricultural products are placed from the sorting conveyor, a discharge device that discharges the trays on which the agricultural products are placed from the sorting conveyor to the stacking conveyor, and operation control of the discharging device The control device selects an accumulation conveyor to be a discharge destination of the saucer on which the agricultural product section is placed based on the measurement result by the measurement device, and the agricultural product is placed A fruit sorter that operates the discharging device so that a tray is discharged from the sorting conveyor to the selected collecting conveyor, wherein the control device stops the non-selected collecting conveyor. The endless body of the stacking conveyor is moved by a predetermined distance X larger than the outer diameter of the tray when the tray is discharged from the sorting conveyor to the selected stacking conveyor by the discharging device. A fruit sorter for operating the accumulation conveyor is provided.

  Preferably, the control device is configured such that when the endless moving distance of the selected stacking conveyor is up to X1 shorter than the predetermined distance X, the moving speed of the endless body becomes V1, and when the endless body moving exceeds X1, the endless body moves. The stacking conveyor can be operated so that the moving speed of the vehicle becomes V2 that is decelerated from V1.

  Preferably, the predetermined distance X can be arbitrarily set by an input means that can be manually operated.

  According to the fruit sorter according to the present invention, when the trays are discharged from the sorting conveyor to the selected stacking conveyor by the discharging device while maintaining the non-selected stacking conveyor in the stopped state, the selected stacking conveyor Since the selected stacking conveyor is operated so that the endless body moves by a predetermined distance X that is larger than the outer diameter of the tray, the tray is received at the upstream end of the selected stacking conveyor in the transport direction. The tray can be smoothly transferred from the sorting conveyor to the selected accumulation conveyor while securing a space. Therefore, even when the agricultural product to be placed is larger than the outer diameter of the tray, it is possible to effectively prevent the agricultural product from coming into contact with and damaging the stopper or another adjacent tray.

  Furthermore, when the endless body of the selected stacking conveyor moves by a predetermined distance X, the stacking conveyor is stopped and the tray is stopped. Compared to the conventional configuration in which the conveyance is forcibly stopped by the tray adjacent to the downstream side in the direction, the posture of the agricultural product can be stabilized when the conveyance of the tray is stopped.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a fruit selection machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic control circuit diagram of a control device in the fruit selection machine shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a partial schematic plan view in the vicinity of the first and second stacking conveyors in the fruit sorting machine shown in FIG. 1, and shows a state in which the tray is discharged from the sorting conveyor to the first stacking conveyor.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a fruit selection machine according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In FIG. 1, the schematic plan view of the fruit selection machine 1 which concerns on this embodiment is shown.
2 and 3 are sectional views taken along lines II-II and III-III in FIG. 1, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the fruit selecting machine 1 includes a sorting conveyor 10, a measuring device 20, a plurality of stacking conveyors 30, a discharging device 40, and a control device 100 (see FIG. 4 below).

  The sorting conveyor 10 is configured to convey the tray 80 on which the processing target agricultural product 85 such as strawberry is placed in an unconnected state.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the sorting conveyor 10 includes a sorting endless body 11 that can support the tray 80 on a transport surface, and a sorting driving device 15 that drives the sorting endless body 11.

In the present embodiment, the sorting endless member 11 has a pair of conveyor belts 12 arranged substantially in parallel with a gap 13 between them.
Each of the pair of conveyor belts 12 is appropriately wound around a plurality of rollers 19.

In addition, the said fruit selection machine 1 which concerns on this Embodiment further has the supply stand 90 provided in the conveyance direction upstream of the said selection endless body 11. FIG.
The supply table 90 is configured to temporarily hold a plurality of receiving trays 80 on which the agricultural products 85 are placed, and an operator places one receiving tray 80 from the supply table 90 to the sorting endless body 11. By placing them one by one, the plurality of trays 80 are conveyed by the sorting conveyor 10 in a state where they are arranged in series.

The sorting drive device 15 is an electrically controllable drive device such as an electric motor.
As shown in FIG. 3, the sorting drive unit 15 is operatively connected to at least one roller 19a of the plurality of rollers 19, and the pair of conveyor belts 12 are driven in synchronization via the rollers 19a. The

The measuring device 20 measures the quality of the agricultural product 85 placed on the tray 80.
The quality includes external quality such as size and weight of the agricultural product 85 and / or internal quality such as sugar content of the agricultural product.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the present embodiment, the measuring device 20 includes a size measuring means 21 for measuring the size of the agricultural product and a sugar content measuring means 25 for measuring the sugar content of the agricultural product. ing.

  The size measuring means 21 is an imaging camera having a plurality of optical fibers 22 positioned above the sorting endless body 11 and arranged such that a tip portion provided with a lens faces downward.

  The sugar content measuring means 25 has an irradiation light 26 and a light receiving sensor 27 arranged above and below the tray 80 on the sorting endless body 11.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the saucer 80 includes a dish part 81 on which the agricultural product 85 is placed and a body part 82 that supports the dish part 81. The dish portion 81 is formed with an opening 81a smaller than the agricultural product 85 while allowing light from the irradiation light 26 to pass therethrough.
The light that has passed through the opening 81 a of the plate portion 81 reaches the light receiving sensor 27 through the gap 13 between the pair of conveyor belts 12.

Further, the measurement device 20 is provided with a measurement time identification sensor 29 for detecting identification information for identifying the agricultural product to be measured.
In the present embodiment, an IC chip 89 is mounted on the tray 80, and the identification sensor 29 is configured to detect identification information of the IC chip 89.

  Thereby, the control device 100 stores the information by the size measuring unit 21 and the information by the sugar content measuring unit 25 in a state associated with the agricultural product identified by the identification sensor 29.

The plurality of stacking conveyors 30 can inherit the tray 80 on which agricultural products are placed from the sorting conveyor 10.
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, first to fourth accumulation conveyors 30 (1) to 30 (4) are provided.

  The plurality of stacking conveyors 30 (1) to 30 (4) are arranged so that the tray 80 can be inherited from the sorting endless body 11, and the stacking endless body 31 (1) that can support the tray 80 on the transport surface. To 31 (4) and integrated driving devices 35 (1) to 35 (4) (see FIG. 4 below) for driving the corresponding integrated endless bodies 31 (1) to 31 (4).

  In the present embodiment, each of the integrated endless bodies 31 (1) to 31 (4) is a conveyor belt wound around a plurality of rollers 39 (see FIG. 3).

The integrated drive devices 35 (1) to 35 (4) are electrically controllable drive devices such as electric motors.
The integrated driving devices 35 (1) to 35 (4) are operatively connected to at least one of the plurality of rollers 39 around which the corresponding integrated endless bodies 31 (1) to 31 (4) are wound. Thus, the corresponding integrated endless bodies 31 (1) to 31 (4) can be driven independently.

  The discharge device 40 is controlled by the control device 100, and the tray 80 on which the agricultural product 85 is placed is transferred from the sorting conveyor 10 to any one of the plurality of stacking conveyors 30 (1) to 30 (4). It is configured to be transferred to the accumulation conveyor.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the said fruit selection machine 1 which concerns on this Embodiment is the 1st provided in every said 1st-4th integrated conveyor 30 (1) -30 (4) as the said discharge device 40. As shown in FIG. To fourth exhaust cylinders 41 (1) to 41 (4).

  In the first to fourth discharge cylinders 41 (1) to 41 (4), first to fourth discharge time identification sensors 49 (for identifying the tray 80 conveyed by the sorting conveyor 10), respectively. 1) to 49 (4) are provided.

  The control device 100 includes a calculation unit (CPU) including a control calculation means that executes calculation processing based on a signal input from the measurement device 20, a ROM that stores a control program, control data, and the like, a set value, and the like. An EEPROM that is stored in a state that is not lost even when the power is turned off, and the setting value can be rewritten, and a storage unit that includes a RAM that temporarily stores data generated during the calculation by the calculation unit I have.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic control circuit diagram of the control device 100.
The said control apparatus 100 is the determination for selecting the accumulation conveyors 30 (1) -30 (4) used as the discharge destination of the said agricultural product 85 based on the quality of the agricultural product 85 as the said control data accommodated in the said memory | storage part. I have data.

  The control device 100 is a discharge destination of the agricultural product 85 in the first to fourth integrated conveyors 30 (1) to 30 (4) based on the measurement data from the measurement device 20 and the determination data. The stacking conveyor is selected, and the discharge cylinders 41 (1) to 41 (4) corresponding to the selected one stacking conveyor are operated, and the tray 80 on which the agricultural product 85 is placed is removed from the sorting conveyor 10. Transfer to one selected conveyor.

  Further, the control device 100 is configured such that when the tray 80 is transferred from the sorting conveyor 10 to the selected one stacking conveyor, the stacking endless body of the one stacking conveyor is smaller than the outer diameter of the tray 80. The accumulation driving device of the one accumulation conveyor is operated so as to move by a large predetermined distance X.

  That is, in the normal state where the discharge cylinders 41 (1) to 41 (4) are not operated, the control device 100 stops the accumulation conveyors 30 (1) to 30 (4) In the discharged state in which one of the discharge cylinders 41 (1) to 41 (4) is operated, only the stacking conveyor corresponding to the one discharge cylinder is operated.

For example, a case where the first stacking conveyor 30 (1) is selected as the discharge destination of the agricultural product 85 will be described as an example.
FIG. 5 shows an enlarged schematic plan view of the vicinity of the first and second stacking conveyors 30 (1) and 30 (2) in a state where the first stacking conveyor 30 (1) is selected as a discharge destination of the agricultural products 85. .

As shown in FIG. 5, the control device 100 operates the first discharge cylinder 41 (1) corresponding to the selected first stacking conveyor 30 (1) to receive the agricultural product 85. When transferring 80 from the sorting conveyor 10 to the selected first stacking conveyor 30 (1), the stacking endless body 31 (1) of the selected first stacking conveyor 30 (1) moves by a predetermined distance X. In this manner, the accumulation driving device 35 (1) of the first accumulation conveyor 30 (1) is operated.
At this time, the non-selected second stacking conveyor 30 (2) is maintained in the stopped state.

  According to such a configuration, while the receiving space 80S of the tray 80 is secured at the upstream end of the selected endless body 31 (1) of the selected first stacking conveyor 30 (1) in the transport direction, the sorting conveyor 10 The tray 80 can be smoothly transferred to the receiving space 80S, and a plurality of trays 80 can be arranged at predetermined intervals X on the stacking conveyors 30 (1) to 30 (4). Therefore, even if the agricultural product 85 is larger than the outer diameter of the tray 80, it is possible to effectively prevent the agricultural product 85 from coming into contact with and damaging the stopper and other adjacent trays 80.

Further, when the integrated endless bodies 31 (1) to 31 (4) of the integrated conveyors 30 (1) to 30 (4) are moved by the predetermined distance X, the integrated conveyors 30 (1) to 30 (4) are driven. By being stopped, the tray 80 on which the agricultural product 85 is placed is brought into a conveyance stopped state.
Therefore, compared to the conventional configuration in which the tray on the stacking conveyor is forcibly stopped by a stopper or a tray adjacent to the downstream side in the transport direction while the stacking conveyor is always transported, the transport of the tray 80 It is possible to stabilize the posture of the agricultural product 85 at the time of stopping.

Preferably, as shown in FIG. 4, the predetermined distance X can be arbitrarily set by an input means 70 that can be manually operated.
That is, the control device 100 is configured to rewrite the distance data input by the input unit 70 as the predetermined distance X.

  Preferably, the control device 100 moves the selected endless bodies 31 (1) to 31 (4) of the selected stacking conveyors 30 (1) to 30 (4) by a predetermined distance X. Corresponding integrated driving devices 35 (1) to 35 (4) can be operated so that the corresponding integrated endless bodies 31 (1) to 31 (4) stop after being decelerated.

  That is, the control device 100 receives the tray 80 from the sorting conveyor 10 to the selected stacking conveyors 30 (1) to 30 (4) (the first stacking conveyor 30 (1) in the example of FIG. 5). When the corresponding integrated endless bodies 31 (1) to 31 (4) are moved by a predetermined distance X in accordance with the discharge, the moving distance of the integrated endless bodies 31 (1) to 31 (4) is the predetermined distance X Between the shorter X1, the moving speed of the integrated endless bodies 31 (1) to 31 (4) becomes V1, and when exceeding X1, the moving speed of the integrated endless bodies 31 (1) to 31 (4) becomes V1. Corresponding integrated driving devices 35 (1) to 35 (4) can be operated so that V2 is further decelerated.

  According to such a configuration, the transition of the selected stacking conveyors 30 (1) to 30 (4) from the moving state to the stopped state can be performed softly, and the posture of the agricultural product 85 when the transport of the tray 80 is stopped. Can be further stabilized.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Fruit sorting machine 10 Selection conveyor 20 Measuring apparatus 30 Stacking conveyor 30 (1) -30 (4) 1st-4th stacking conveyor 31 (1) -31 (4) Stacked endless body 35 (1) -35 (4) Integrated drive device 40 Discharge device 70 Input means 80 Sauce pan 85 Agricultural product 100 Control device

Claims (3)

A sorting conveyor capable of transporting a receiving tray on which agricultural products are placed in an unconnected state, a measuring device for measuring the quality of agricultural products placed on the receiving tray, and the receiving tray on which agricultural products are placed from the sorting conveyor. A plurality of stacking conveyors that can be inherited, a discharge device that discharges the tray on which agricultural products are placed from the sorting conveyor to the stacking conveyor, and a control device that controls operation of the discharge device, the control device comprising: The stacking conveyor in which the collecting conveyor as the discharge destination of the tray on which the agricultural product is placed is selected based on the measurement result by the measuring device, and the tray on which the agricultural product is placed is selected from the sorting conveyor A fruit selector that operates the discharge device to be discharged
The control device, when maintaining the unselected stacking conveyor in a stopped state, when the tray is discharged from the sorting conveyor to the selected stacking conveyor by the discharging device, the endless body of the stacking conveyor is the end of the tray A fruit selecting machine, wherein the stacking conveyor is operated so as to move by a predetermined distance X larger than the outer diameter.   The control device is configured such that the moving speed of the endless body is V1 when the moving distance of the selected endless body of the stacking conveyor is shorter than the predetermined distance X to X1, and the moving speed of the endless body exceeds X1. 2. The fruit selecting machine according to claim 1, wherein the stacking conveyor is operated so that V becomes V 2 which is decelerated from V 1.   The fruit selection machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the predetermined distance X can be arbitrarily set by an input means that can be manually operated.