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EP0789634B1 - Separateur ainsi que methode et appareil de classification d'articles - Google Patents

Separateur ainsi que methode et appareil de classification d'articles Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0789634B1
EP0789634B1 EP95937231A EP95937231A EP0789634B1 EP 0789634 B1 EP0789634 B1 EP 0789634B1 EP 95937231 A EP95937231 A EP 95937231A EP 95937231 A EP95937231 A EP 95937231A EP 0789634 B1 EP0789634 B1 EP 0789634B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
items
stream
discharge zone
scanning
streams
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP95937231A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0789634A4 (fr
EP0789634A1 (fr
Inventor
Hamish Alexander Nigel Kennedy
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Horticultural Automation Ltd
Original Assignee
Horticultural Automation Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Horticultural Automation Ltd filed Critical Horticultural Automation Ltd
Publication of EP0789634A1 publication Critical patent/EP0789634A1/fr
Publication of EP0789634A4 publication Critical patent/EP0789634A4/fr
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0789634B1 publication Critical patent/EP0789634B1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
    • B07C5/00—Sorting according to a characteristic or feature of the articles or material being sorted, e.g. by control effected by devices which detect or measure such characteristic or feature; Sorting by manually actuated devices, e.g. switches
    • B07C5/34—Sorting according to other particular properties
    • B07C5/342—Sorting according to other particular properties according to optical properties, e.g. colour
    • B07C5/3422—Sorting according to other particular properties according to optical properties, e.g. colour using video scanning devices, e.g. TV-cameras
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
    • B07C5/00—Sorting according to a characteristic or feature of the articles or material being sorted, e.g. by control effected by devices which detect or measure such characteristic or feature; Sorting by manually actuated devices, e.g. switches
    • B07C5/36—Sorting apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution
    • B07C5/361—Processing or control devices therefor, e.g. escort memory

Definitions

  • This invention relates to article grading methods and apparatus and in particular but not solely to optical scanning methods and apparatus used in the grading and/or packaging of fruit and/or vegetables.
  • Apparatus for the grading of fruit which included a fast moving single stream grading conveyor with an endless circuit of carriers or cups for holding individual items of fruit. It is known to pass the fruit on the fast moving conveyor through an imaging zone, where while being rotated on the carriers or cups, the fruit are optically scanned to analyse for example the fruits' colour so that the fruit may for example be colour graded. It is also known to weigh each cup to ascertain the presence and, if present, the weight of items in each cup. This information may then be used to discharge the fruit carried by the individual cups into appropriate discharge lanes for packing.
  • Apparatus such as this has the disadvantage that for high speed operation the grading conveyor must move very rapidly and the scanning can produce blurred, fuzzy or less accurate images.
  • Apparatus for grading fruit which has a multiple stream singulator for supplying fruit to the single stream grading conveyor.
  • the multiple stream singulator has the desired effect of spreading fruit supplied to it in an even manner, such that fruit arriving at the single stream grading conveyor arrives in a fairly steady supply, and therefore the utilisation of the single stream grading conveyor, in terms of the number of filled cups per the total number of cups is higher than would be the case without the multiple stream singulator.
  • currently known multiple stream singulators have advancing rows of effective cups delivering fruit to a discharge zone from where the fruit is then received by the grading conveyor, and each row of fruit on the singulator is delivered to the discharge zone simultaneously, and consequently the fruit arrives at the discharge conveyor in bunches. This has the disadvantage of not being a particularly steady flow.
  • the multi-stream singulator as defined in the paragraph immediately above and further including apparatus for scanning items to be graded which includes
  • a plan elevation is shown of the relevant portion of apparatus for the grading of items, the apparatus shown is generally to be applied to fruit or vegetables, however items of other purpose may also be graded in the same manner.
  • Single stream grading conveyor 1 is shown for movement of attached cups 2 in the direction of arrow 8.
  • Attached cups 2 are preferably of the form shown and described in WO94/14547.
  • the preferred cups described in WO94/14547 have a cup-like depression formed from a bow-tie roller on one side and an angled cross member on the other side.
  • the cups are adapted to be individually actuable to discharge an item present in the cup-like depression to one or other sides of grading conveyor 1.
  • the grading conveyor 1 receives fruit from singulator 4 via discharge zone 3.
  • the singulator 4 has rotating shafts 5 with bow-tie rollers 6 mounted thereon, the shafts 5 attached to a chain conveyor (not shown), so that a conveyor is formed having multiple streams of effective cups 7, being the formed depressions between the forwardly adjacent rollers 6, the conveyor advancing the effective cups 7 to discharge zone 3.
  • the rollers 6 are caused, over at least some of the length of the singulating conveyor, to rotate in either a forwards or a backwards direction.
  • rollers 6 may be keyed, or otherwise non-rotatingly attached, to the shafts 5, and causing shafts 5 to rotate, for example by powering sprockets keyed to the shafts, or rotation of the rollers 6 may be achieved by having the rollers able to freely rotate relative to the shaft and causing each individual roller to rotate, for example by moving the rollers over a raised surface.
  • items are presented to singulator 4, where the rotating rollers 6 cause items to become evenly distributed across the width of singulating means 4 in effective cups 7, such that practically all items rest individually in an individual effective cup 7.
  • the process of singulation serves to distribute the presented items through the rotational movement of the rollers so that the items are distributed approximately entirely in to only one layer of items.
  • the items in effective cups 7 are advanced by the advancement of the conveyor forming singulator 4 to discharge zone 3 where the items are discharged from the effective cups 7 into discharge zone 3.
  • the items are then received by the cups 2 of single stream grading conveyor 1 whereon they are advanced in the direction of arrow 8 to eventually be discharged into discharge zones appropriate to each individual item as decided by a discharge control means.
  • singulating means 4 is able to advance at a considerably lesser speed than grading conveyor 1, due to multiple rows feeding only one row.
  • single stream grading conveyor 1 is advancing at a substantially faster speed than multiple stream singulator 4, it is preferable that the items, between being discharged at discharge zone 3 and being received at discharge zone 3 by the single stream grading conveyor, are accelerated to index the speed of travel of the items in discharge zone 3 with the speed of travel of the grading conveyor 1, at the point of reception by grading conveyor 1.
  • the items may be permitted to accelerate by free travel down a sloping surface, the length and gradient of the surface being calculated to provide appropriate acceleration so that approximately the desired speed is obtained, or for example discharge zone 3 may include an armadillo plate conveyor, the plates of the conveyor being substantially overlapping at its singulator end, and becoming less overlapping closer to the grading conveyor end, such that in plates advancing from the singulator end to the grading conveyor end the plates face effective acceleration from an initial speed, and consequently any items thereon also undergo acceleration.
  • Scanning zone 10 may for example have a digital camera 15 taking sequential frames of the entire scanning zone. To these ends, given the rotation of the items on the singulating conveyor 4, the sequential frames taken by the camera 15 allow several views of each item, of different rotational aspects, to be taken as the item progresses from entry into scanning zone 10 to moving out of scanning zone 10.
  • Other configurations for scanning zone 10 are possible, for example the zone may, rather than having only one camera covering the entire zone, have multiple cameras, each scanning a reduced section of the zone.
  • Other forms of scanning device are also possible for example the scanning device may involve use of ultrasound or could for example be an X-ray device.
  • the output of the camera or cameras or other optical scanning devices used in the scanning zone 10 is analysed to provide an indication of at least one discernable characteristic of each item on the singulating conveyor, the results of the analysis being fed to a discharge controller 14, which in the current form of the invention is for example, a computer program, so that the discharge controller may make use of the indication of the discernable characteristic of each item in controlling, via output 18, the discharge of each item from the grading conveyor.
  • the discernable characteristic of each item would be a visually discernable characteristic, for example the colouring of each item, and the discharge of each item from the grading conveyor may be weighted according to the coloration of each item.
  • means for associating the discernable characteristic for an item with the item's position on the single stream grading conveyor are provided.
  • the means for associating may take a number of forms. For example, with reference to Figure 3, video images may be taken by digital camera 17 of the discharge zone, at sufficient rate that items entering the discharge zone may be tracked through the discharge zone to their receipt onto single stream grading conveyor 1, the analysis of the tracking allowing mapping of a given item's position on singulating conveyor 4, and thereby the discernable characteristic of the item, to the item's position on single stream grading conveyor 1.
  • Means for serially determining the position may for example be a weighing means 16, the weighing means 16 weighing each individual cup, and thereby ascertaining the presence or absence of an item thereon, and thereby allowing association of the next ranked item of the series to be associated with the cup.
  • FIG. 2 and 4 Another form of means for associating in accordance with the invention is depicted in Figures 2 and 4. It can be seen in Figures 2 and 4 that the multiple streams of the singulator 4 are staggered, so that rather than multiple items arriving at discharge zone 3 simultaneously, the items arrive at discharge zone 3 serially, the series being preserved through the discharge zone, and therefore onto grading conveyor 1.
  • the use of means to serially determine the position on the grading conveyor of the items may be used to associate the discernable characteristic of each item with the item's position on the grading conveyor.
  • the form of singulating means shown in Figures 2 and 4 has the further advantage that items are not discharged from the singulating means to the discharge zone simultaneously, and therefore a more steady stream of items arrives at grading conveyor 1. It is considered that such a singulator is advantageous, and may be used in grading apparatus with or without the inclusion of scanning of items while on the singulator.
  • rollers 6 are provided on shafts 5 with approximately single roller spacings laterally provided between adjacent rollers on each shaft, so that the shafts may, when assembled to form a conveyor, form a series of laterally adjacent streams, each stream partially advanced (or partially delayed) compared to its laterally adjacent streams by approximately half of a cup period.
  • imaging of the items on the singulating conveyor provides the significant advantage that the items are travelling at a significantly slower speed and therefore blurring and fuzzing of images is reduced. Also, the high density of items on the singulating conveyor allows a single camera view to cover a larger number of items with each shot, and thereby it is possible to reduce the wastage of processor time in analysing redundant portions of an image.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Sorting Of Articles (AREA)
  • Vending Machines For Individual Products (AREA)
  • Auxiliary Devices For And Details Of Packaging Control (AREA)
  • Discharge Of Articles From Conveyors (AREA)
  • Control Of Conveyors (AREA)

Claims (12)

  1. Dispositif d'individualisation (4) à suites multiples, comprenant au moins deux suites de coupelles (7), caractérisé en ce qu'au moins l'une desdites suites de coupelles (7) est en avance d'une partie de coupelle par rapport à l'autre suite de coupelles (7), de telle sorte que l'avance simultanée desdites suites de coupelles (7) vers une zone d'évacuation (3) a pour effet que des articles portés par lesdites coupelles (7) desdites au moins une série de coupelles partiellement en avance, ne sont pas déchargées en même temps que des articles portés par lesdites coupelles (7) desdites autres séries.
  2. Dispositif d'individualisation à suites multiples selon la revendication 1, caractérisé en ce qu'il comporte au moins deux suites de rouleaux de forme papillon (6) et que lesdits rouleaux de forme papillon adjacents sur le côté avant forment entre eux une coupelle.
  3. Dispositif d'individualisation à suites multiples selon la revendication 1 ou la revendication 2, caractérisé en ce que chaque suite est partiellement en avance ou partiellement en retard par rapport aux suites qui lui sont adjacentes latéralement, et ce d'une période égale à environ une demi-coupelle (7).
  4. Dispositif d'individualisation à suites multiples selon l'une quelconque des revendications 1 à 3, caractérisé en ce qu'il comporte en outre un dispositif pour explorer des articles devant être classés, incluant
    des moyens pour recevoir sur un convoyeur de classement (1) à une seule suite, à partir de ladite zone de déchargement (3), les articles déchargés du dispositif d'individualisation (4) à suites multiples,
    des moyens (15) pour explorer les suites multiples du dispositif d'individualisation (4) à suites multiples pour au moins une caractéristique discernable de chaque article et envoyer des signaux de sortie depuis lesdits moyens d'exploration auxdits moyens de commande de déchargement (14) dudit convoyeur de classification (1) à une seule suite et
    des moyens pour associer, pour chaque article, au moins une caractéristique discernable dudit article à la position dudit article sur ledit convoyeur de classification (1) à une seule suite.
  5. Dispositif selon la revendication 4, caractérisé en ce que ladite exploration (15) est une exploration à balayage optique et ladite au moins une caractéristique discernable est au moins une caractéristique discernable visuellement.
  6. Dispositif selon la revendication 4 ou 5, caractérisé en ce que le dispositif inclut des moyens pour faire avancer lesdites suites multiples jusqu'à ladite zone de déchargement (3) de telle sorte que des articles pénètrent en série dans ladite zone de déchargement dans un ordre prédéterminé, des moyens pour maintenir ledit ordre prédéterminé dans l'ensemble de ladite zone de déchargement (3), et des moyens pour recevoir lesdits articles sur ledit convoyeur de déchargement (1) dans ledit ordre prédéterminé.
  7. Dispositif selon l'une ou l'autre des revendications 4 et 5, caractérisé en ce que ledit dispositif comprend des moyens (17) pour explorer par balayage optique ladite zone de déchargement (3), des moyens pour utiliser ladite exploration par balayage optique pour suivre des articles dans ladite zone de déchargement (3), et des moyens pour déterminer l'ordre dans lequel lesdits articles sont reçus sur ledit convoyeur de classification (1) à partir du suivi desdits articles.
  8. Dispositif selon l'une quelconque des revendications 4 à 7, caractérisé en ce que ledit dispositif comprend des moyens pour peser en série les articles sur ledit convoyeur de classification, le cadencement de ladite pesée en série (16) indiquant l'espacement relatif de positions dans lesdites suites, et
       des moyens pour déterminer la position dudit convoyeur de classification (1) de chacun desdits articles à partir dudit cadencement.
  9. Dispositif selon l'une quelconque des revendications 4 à 8, caractérisé en ce que ledit dispositif inclut
       des moyens pour accélérer lesdits articles dans ladite zone de déchargement, indexer la vitesse desdits articles au niveau de l'interface entre ladite zone de déchargement (3) et ledit convoyeur de classification (1) sur la vitesse dudit convoyeur de classification (1).
  10. Procédé d'exploration par balayage d'articles devant être classés, caractérisé en ce qu'il consiste à :
    présenter les articles devant être explorés par balayage et classés à des moyens d'individualisation (4) adaptés pour faire avancer des suites multiples des articles présents sur des coupelles (7) jusqu'à une zone de déchargement (3), dans laquelle au moins l'une desdites suites de coupelles (7) est en avance d'une partie de coupelle (7) par rapport à la ou aux suites qui lui sont adjacentes latéralement;
    recevoir sur un convoyeur de classification (1) à une seule suite, à partir de ladite zone de déchargement (3), les articles déchargés des moyens (4) d'individualisation à suites multiples,
    explorer par balayage (15) les suites multiples des moyens d'individualisation (4) pour au moins une caractéristique discernable de chaque article et envoyer des signaux de sortie obtenus à partir de ladite exploration par balayage (15) à des moyens de commande de déchargement (14) dudit convoyeur de classification (1) à une seule suite, et
    garantir, entre le déchargement des moyens d'individualisation à suites multiples au niveau de la zone de déchargement (3) et la saisie à partir de la zone de déchargement par des convoyeurs de classification (1) à une seule suite, le maintien de la séquence des articles déterminée pendant l'exploration par balayage des articles.
  11. Dispositif pour l'exploration par balayage d'articles devant être classés, caractérisé en ce qu'il inclut
    des moyens pour présenter les articles devant être explorés par balayage et classés à des moyens d'individualisation (4) adaptés pour faire avancer des suites multiples des articles présents sur des coupelles (7) jusqu'à une zone de déchargement (3), au moins l'une des suites de coupelles (7) étant en avance, et ce d'une partie de coupelle (7), par rapport à la ou aux suites qui lui sont adjacentes latéralement,
    des moyens pour recevoir, sur un convoyeur de classification (1) à une seule suite, de la part de ladite zone de déchargement (3), les articles déchargés des moyens d'individualisation (4) à suites multiples,
    des moyens (15) pour explorer par balayage les suites multiples des moyens d'individualisation (4) pour au moins une caractéristique discernable de chaque élément et l'envoi de signaux de sortie depuis lesdits moyens d'exploration par balayage aux moyens de commande de déchargement (14) dudit convoyeur de classification (1) à une seule suite, et
    des moyens pour garantir, entre le déchargement des moyens d'individualisation (4) à suites multiples, au niveau de la zone de déchargement (3) et la saisie à partir de la zone de déchargement (3) par ledit convoyeur de classification (1) à une seule suite, le maintien de la séquence des articles déterminée pendant l'exploration par balayage de ces derniers.
  12. Dispositif selon la revendication 11, caractérisé en ce que le dispositif d'exploration par balayage (15) effectue une exploration par balayage optique et ladite au moins une caractéristique discernable est au moins une caractéristique discernable visuellement.
EP95937231A 1994-11-01 1995-11-01 Separateur ainsi que methode et appareil de classification d'articles Expired - Lifetime EP0789634B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
NZ26483594 1994-11-01
NZ26483594 1994-11-01
PCT/NZ1995/000113 WO1996013340A1 (fr) 1994-11-01 1995-11-01 Appareil de calibrage d'articles

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0789634A1 EP0789634A1 (fr) 1997-08-20
EP0789634A4 EP0789634A4 (fr) 1999-01-27
EP0789634B1 true EP0789634B1 (fr) 2001-09-26

Family

ID=19924998

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP95937231A Expired - Lifetime EP0789634B1 (fr) 1994-11-01 1995-11-01 Separateur ainsi que methode et appareil de classification d'articles

Country Status (6)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0789634B1 (fr)
AT (1) ATE206080T1 (fr)
AU (1) AU703594B2 (fr)
DE (1) DE69522952D1 (fr)
ES (1) ES2164782T3 (fr)
WO (1) WO1996013340A1 (fr)

Families Citing this family (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
ES2123422B1 (es) * 1996-07-03 1999-08-16 Amaducci Romana Procedimiento y dispositivo para clasificacion cromatica de productos.
JP2001225029A (ja) 2000-02-18 2001-08-21 Hiroshi Maeda オンライン内部品質検査用搬送装置
DE102010015839A1 (de) † 2010-04-20 2011-10-20 Bizerba Gmbh & Co. Kg Steuerungsverfahren für einen Linienvereiniger
EP2711701B1 (fr) 2012-09-21 2018-06-13 Wipotec Wiege- und Positioniersysteme GmbH Procédé d'examen de produits par transillumination

Family Cites Families (13)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB1212120A (en) * 1968-12-31 1970-11-11 Sphere Invest Ltd Position memory system
US4106628A (en) * 1976-02-20 1978-08-15 Warkentin Aaron J Sorter for fruit and the like
AU534616B2 (en) * 1977-12-16 1984-02-09 Ikanui Farms Ltd. Conveying articles into single file
US4482061A (en) * 1978-11-24 1984-11-13 Durand-Wayland, Inc. Apparatus and process for sorting articles
US4254877A (en) * 1979-11-05 1981-03-10 Fmc Corporation Weight sizing apparatus
US4726898A (en) * 1982-09-30 1988-02-23 Pennwalt Corporation Apparatus for spinning fruit for sorting thereof
GB8432340D0 (en) * 1984-12-21 1985-02-06 British Res Agricult Eng Singulator
US4717026A (en) * 1986-04-03 1988-01-05 Golden Aluminum Company Container scanning and accounting device
US5086909A (en) * 1988-09-23 1992-02-11 Powell Machinery, Inc. Gentle handling of fruit during weight sizing and other operations
US5170880A (en) * 1991-04-17 1992-12-15 Agri-Tech, Incorporated Soft drop singulating device
DE59200942D1 (de) * 1991-05-14 1995-01-26 Elpatronic Ag Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Bearbeiten, insbesondere Codieren und/oder Prüfen, von Kunststoff-Flaschen od. dgl.
US5339963A (en) * 1992-03-06 1994-08-23 Agri-Tech, Incorporated Method and apparatus for sorting objects by color
JP3327703B2 (ja) * 1993-10-19 2002-09-24 マグネティック セパレイション システムズ インコーポレイテッド 不揃いな異種材料の分類装置

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE69522952D1 (de) 2001-10-31
ATE206080T1 (de) 2001-10-15
AU703594B2 (en) 1999-03-25
ES2164782T3 (es) 2002-03-01
WO1996013340A1 (fr) 1996-05-09
EP0789634A4 (fr) 1999-01-27
EP0789634A1 (fr) 1997-08-20
AU3939495A (en) 1996-05-23

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