JP3073410B2 - Sorting equipment for grades of long vegetables - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fruit sorting device that determines the length of a cucumber, a long eggplant or the like of each grade that is discriminated on the basis of the degree of bending, dimensions, and external shape such as scratches and conveyed by a sorting conveyor. The present invention relates to a sorting apparatus for sorting long vegetables for automatically feeding them to a sorting conveyor, a width aligning apparatus, and a box packing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional automatic sorting and boxing system conventionally used for sorting long vegetables by grade will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0003] Long vegetables such as cucumber harvested by the producer and stored in a special container are shipped to a collection site of an agricultural cooperative or the like, and after refrigerated storage, first, the cucumber in the container is automatically operated by the auto damper A. Are discharged onto the conveyor of the sorting and feeding device B, and are arranged and transported one by one by utilizing the speed difference of the conveyors provided in several stages, and then the sorting tray 4 of the sorting conveyor C is discharged.
Moved to 1. Next, the cucumber conveyed one by one on the sorting conveyor C at an interval is discriminated in each grade by a camera-type fruit sorting device D provided on the line of the sorting conveyor C.

[0005] Next, as shown in FIG. 5, only the same grade of cucumbers 50 conveyed by the sorting plate 41 engaged with the sorting conveyor C running at a high speed is selected.
From the sorting conveyor C
Are provided in a direction orthogonal to the above, and are sequentially supplied from the downstream section of the sorting conveyor C in the width direction on the sorting conveyor E of the same grade that circulates and moves. Cucumbers 50 supplied in a plurality of rows with their longitudinal direction facing the width direction on the sorting conveyor E
Are conveyed to the width aligning / aligning device F, packed in a box packing device G, and then shipped.

[0005] However, in the conventional apparatus, as shown in FIG.
The cucumbers 50 supplied one by one in the width direction of the sorting conveyor E from the downstream side of the section partitioned by the partition frame 31 sequentially have a partition width of the cucumber 5 of the sorting frame 31.
The interval of one width of 0, that is, the cucumbers 50 required for aligning and transporting the cucumbers 50 with the longitudinal direction of the cucumbers 50 oriented in the traveling direction of the sorting conveyor E, is one transport width. In some cases, a section may not fall into a narrowly designated section. Further, when the cucumbers 50 are transferred into the section of the sorting frame 31, they may hit the upper end edge of the partitioning frame 31 and may be damaged.

In order to solve these problems, it is conceivable to increase the section width of the sorting frame 31.
Increasing the width of one section increases the width of the sorting conveyor E, which leads to an increase in the size of the sorting conveyor E, and a large number of sorting operations for transporting the cucumbers 50 sorted into a large number of classes. Since it is necessary to arrange the conveyor E at right angles to the sorting conveyor C and dispose it below, a conveying section of the large sorting conveyor C is required downstream of the fruit sorting device D, and the sorting conveyor C needs to be extended. At the same time, there is a problem that a large-scale fruit sorting place is required.

Further, the cucumbers 50 sequentially supplied one by one to the sorting conveyor E are conveyed to the width-shifting / aligning device F from those supplied first, so that the cucumbers are placed in the above-mentioned designated section. If the drop of 50 does not occur and if it is damaged, it becomes difficult to arrange and pack a predetermined number by fully automatic operation. For this reason, replenishment of the cucumbers 50 to replace the damaged cucumbers 50 to a predetermined number or replacement of the damaged cucumbers 50 must rely on humans, and it is difficult to fully automate the automatic sorting and boxing system. for,
There has been a problem that the work efficiency is reduced due to the accumulation of fatigue, and a problem such as a shortage of manpower occurs particularly at the peak of shipping in summer.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, long vegetables conveyed on a sorting conveyor are designated on a sorting conveyor for conveying long vegetables of a determined grade. In the section of, it falls accurately without any damage, and there is no need to increase the size of the sorting conveyor or sorting conveyor, and it is also necessary to manually arrange a predetermined number of long vegetables and pack them in boxes. It is an object of the present invention to provide a graded sorting device for long vegetables that can achieve full automation of the automatic sorting and boxing system without performing the process and can perform fruit sorting with high working efficiency.

[0009]

Therefore, the apparatus for sorting long vegetables according to the present invention has the following means.

(1) A receiving hopper having the following structure is provided between the lower part of the sorting conveyor and the upper part of the sorting conveyor provided at right angles to the sorting conveyor.

(A) When the long direction is set to be one width of the long vegetable when the long direction is transported in the direction in which the sorting conveyor moves the long vegetable. ,
A hopper plate with a slope to divide the width of the sorting conveyor into two widths of the long vegetables and to guide the long vegetables falling from the sorting tray moving upward to the opening above to the bottom slowly. (B) an upper gate plate having one end pivotally attached to a lower end of the hopper plate and opening and closing the bottom of the hopper plate by rotation about a pivot axis; (c) an upper gate plate around the pivot axis (2) An intermediate gate having the following configuration was provided above the sorting conveyor and immediately below the receiving hopper.

(D) In the width direction of the sorting conveyor, a portion immediately below the hopper plate is divided for each width of the long vegetable, and the partition frame is erected. (E) One end portion is provided at the lower end of the partition frame. The lower gate plate is pivotally mounted, and opens and closes the lower end between the partition frames by rotation about a pivot axis,
(F) a lower rotating device for rotating the lower gate plate about a pivot axis; (3) supporting the intermediate gate above the sorting conveyor, and connecting the intermediate gate to a long vegetable in the width direction of the separating conveyor. A lateral moving device capable of laterally moving by one width is provided.

[0013]

According to the present invention, the sorting apparatus for long vegetables according to the above-mentioned means determines the grades by the fruit sorting device by the above-mentioned means, and the same sort of long vegetables transported on the sorting tray of the sorting conveyor. Only grades are dropped sequentially in order to fit within the hopper plate above the receiving hopper and are received by the upper gate plate with the bottom of the hopper plate closed.

Since the hopper plate has a width corresponding to two widths of the long vegetables and is opened below the sorting conveyor, the long vegetables falling from the sorting dish are surely placed in the designated section of the same grade. It falls and is sequentially supplied into the receiving hopper from the end of the sorting conveyor provided below. In addition, since the hopper plate is provided with a slope for gently dropping the long vegetables to the bottom, the long vegetables are not damaged when dropped, and there is no need to replace the damaged long vegetables. At the same time, the product value does not decrease.

[0015] Further, the fruit selection plate and the hopper plate, which rotate around the mounting shaft and drop the long vegetables, are formed in a comb-like shape in a pattern opposite to each other, so that the lower portion of the inverted fruit selection plate is formed. It is possible to overlap with the inclined upper part of the hopper plate, which makes it possible to reduce the drop height when receiving long vegetables and dropping them successively on the hopper, without any damage to the long vegetables. You can also.

When a long vegetable of the same grade enters a preset section of the receiving hopper, the upper gate plate is rotated at a required angle by an upper rotating device, and the bottom of each hopper plate is moved. Open, drop each long vegetable that was received into the intermediate gate, catch it at the intermediate gate, and then rotate the upper gate plate again at the required angle by the upper rotating device, and the bottom of each hopper plate Can be closed and the receiving hopper has
Long vegetables can be dropped continuously.

Further, a partition frame is provided at an interval of one width of the long vegetable provided immediately below the receiving hopper at the intermediate gate where the long vegetable has fallen, and an upper gate is provided in the partition frame. Long-sized vegetables will be supplied to every other section directly below the plate.

Next, the intermediate gate is laterally moved by one width of the long vegetable by the lateral movement device, and every other section not containing the long vegetable is moved to a position directly below the receiving hopper.

Similarly, long vegetables are supplied for every other section of the partition frame that does not contain long vegetables, and are divided and provided at the intermediate gate for each width of the long vegetables. When the long vegetables are held in a predetermined number of sections of the partition frame, the intermediate gate is returned to the original position by the lateral movement device, and the lower gate plate is rotated at a required angle by the lower rotation device. Then, the space between the partition frames is opened, and a predetermined number of long vegetables arranged at intervals of one width of the long vegetables in the traveling direction of the partition conveyor are simultaneously discharged onto the sorting conveyor.

The predetermined number of long vegetables are arranged in a horizontal line at substantially equal intervals in the width direction on a sorting conveyor,
It is transported to the alignment device F. This eliminates the need for manual alignment work required to replenish long vegetables on the sorting conveyor or replace damaged long vegetables, and achieves full automation of the automatic sorting and boxing system. Efficiency can be improved.

Further, by adopting the apparatus for sorting long vegetables according to the present invention, the width of the sorting conveyor, which constitutes an automatic sorting and boxing system, which is considered to be necessary for solving the problems of the conventional apparatus, is provided. There is no need to expand or extend the conveying distance of the sorting conveyor, and fruit sorting work can be performed at the same sorting place as that required by conventional equipment.
Equipment investment can be reduced.

[0022]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an apparatus for sorting long vegetables according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a sorting apparatus for grading long vegetables according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view taken along the arrow A in FIG. 1, and FIG.
It is a B top view. In the present embodiment, an example of a long vegetable is a cucumber.

In the figure, the sorting conveyor C is disposed above the sorting conveyor E so as to be orthogonal to the sorting conveyor E, and the sorting conveyor E is provided with a predetermined number of cucumbers 5.
It has the purpose of transporting with the longitudinal direction of 0 directed in the traveling direction and arranged in a line in the width direction. The sorting conveyor E
Is a predetermined half of the cucumbers 50 to be conveyed by the hopper plate 1 in the width direction, that is, for each conveyance width dimension of two cucumbers 50 to be conveyed in a row.
The transport width dimension of this is called one width of the long vegetable. ).

Each of the hopper plates 1 has
The inclined surface 8 for guiding the cucumbers 50 supplied from the sorting plate 41 of the sorting conveyor C traveling orthogonally above the hopper plate 1 to the bottom of the hopper plate 1 is provided. It is comb-shaped as shown in FIG. In addition, the fruit selection dish 41 is also formed in a comb shape having a pattern opposite to the inclined surface 8.

A bearing 4 is mounted on the bottom of each hopper plate 1, and an upper rotating shaft 3 is rotatably mounted on the bottom.
One side of the upper gate plate 2 is mounted on the upper pivot shaft 3, and when the adjacent upper pivot shafts 3 are rotated in opposite directions, the bottom of each hopper plate 1 is closed.
And open. Also, as shown in FIG. 3, at the end of each upper rotating shaft 3, every other lever 5 is mounted upstream and downstream of the sorting conveyor E, respectively.
Each of the levers 5 on both sides is connected by a link 6, and the link 6 is driven by an opening / closing cylinder 7 as an upper rotating device, and reciprocates in the width direction of the sorting conveyor E. Accordingly, the bottom of the hopper plate 1 can be opened and closed by operating the links 6 on the upstream and downstream sides of the conveyor E in the opposite directions by the opening and closing cylinders 7 respectively.

The receiving hopper 10 is constituted by the hopper plate 1, the upper gate plate 2, the upper rotary shaft 3, the bearing 4, the lever 5, and the opening / closing cylinder 6 described above.

Also, in FIG. 1, below the receiving hopper 10, a partition for dividing the section divided every two widths of the long vegetables by the hopper plate 1 into sections for every one width of the long vegetables. A frame 11 is provided. A bearing 14 is mounted on a lower portion of the partition frame 11, and a lower rotating shaft 13 is rotatably mounted on the lower frame. One side of the lower gate plate 12 is mounted on the lower pivot shaft 13, and when the adjacent lower pivot shafts 13 are rotated in opposite directions, the lower portions of the sections divided by the partition frames 11 are closed. And open.

Similarly to the receiving hopper 10, at the end of each lower rotating shaft 13, every other lever 15 is mounted upstream and downstream of the sorting conveyor E, respectively. Each of the upstream and downstream levers 15
Are connected by a link 16, and the link 16 reciprocates by the operation of an opening / closing cylinder 17 as a lower rotating device. Therefore, the lower portion of the partition frame 11 can be opened and closed by operating the links 16 provided on the upstream and downstream sides of the sorting conveyor E in the opposite directions by the opening and closing cylinder 17.

The above-mentioned partition frame 11, lower gate plate 12, lower rotary shaft 13, bearing 14, lever 15,
An intermediate gate 20 is formed by the link 16 and the opening / closing cylinder 17.

Further, in FIG. 1, the intermediate gate 20 is located below the intermediate gate 20 and above the sorting conveyor E.
Is provided. On the fixed frame 21, the intermediate gate 20 can be reciprocated by one width of a long vegetable by a lateral moving cylinder 22 as a lateral moving device.

Next, the operation of the above-described embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, only the same grade of the cucumbers 50 of the same grade among the cucumbers 50 whose grade has been discriminated and placed on the sorting tray 41 of the sorting conveyor C and conveyed from the left to the right in the figure are placed above the receiving hopper 10. In order to fit in the hopper plate 1, the section from the downstream side of the sorting conveyor C to the section on the upstream side,
That is, they are sequentially dropped in the width direction of the sorting conveyor E. The drop of this cucumber 50 is on the left side of the figure, sorting conveyor C
When the sorting plate 41 arrives on the sorting conveyor E that transports only the cucumbers 50 of the same grade as the cucumbers 50 placed on the sorting plate 41 by the discrimination signal from the sorting device D provided on the upstream side of By rotating the mounting shaft 42 that supports the fruit selection plate 41, the selection is performed by inverting the fruit selection plate 41.

In addition, the receiving hopper 10 is a long vegetable 2
Since the hopper plates 1 are provided at intervals of the width, the falling cucumbers 50 surely fall into the designated section of the receiving hopper 10 and are received by the closed upper gate plate 2. At this time, the hopper plate 1 is provided with the inclined surface 8, and as described above, the inclined surface 7 of the hopper plate 1
Are in a comb-like shape in an inverse pattern, the lower part of the inverted sorting plate 41 and the upper part of the hopper plate 1 can be overlapped, and the cucumber 50 is received and the bottom of the hopper 10 is sequentially placed on the hopper 10. The drop height when dropping is
In addition to being lower, the landing can be soft-landed on the upper gate plate 2, and the damage caused by the fall of the cucumbers 50 can be suppressed.

When cucumber 50 of the same grade enters into a preset section of the receiving hopper 10, a lever of the upper rotary shaft 3 arranged opposite to the bottom of the hopper plate 1 by the opening / closing cylinder 7 and the link 6 is provided. 5 by the required amount, each upper gate plate 2 rotates in the opposite direction, opens the bottom of the hopper plate 1, and removes each cucumber 50 received on the upper gate plate 2. It is dropped on the intermediate gate 20 and received by the lower gate plate 12 located immediately below the bottom of the hopper plate 1.

Subsequently, by operating the opening / closing cylinder 7 in the opposite direction to the above, the lever 5 and the upper rotating shaft 3 are rotated at a required angle, and each upper gate plate 2 is closed. At this time, the cucumbers 50 are placed in the partition frame 11 of the intermediate gate 20 immediately below the hopper plate, that is, every other section immediately below the upper gate plate 2.

Subsequently, the intermediate gate 20 is fixed to the fixed frame 2.
In order to move the section between every other partition frame 11 where the cucumbers 50 do not enter by moving the long vegetable by one width by the lateral movement cylinder 22 on the top 1, the figure is moved right below the upper gate plate 2. 1, at the position shown by the dotted line in FIG.
The intermediate gate 20 is moved laterally.

During the horizontal movement of the intermediate gate 20, the receiving hopper 10 with the upper gate plate closed.
Then, only the same grade of the cucumbers 50 that are placed on the sorting plate 41 of the sorting conveyor C and are conveyed on the sorting tray C are stored in the hopper plate 1 above the receiving hopper 10 as described above. As described above, the upper gate plate 2 is sequentially dropped from the downstream section to the upstream section and received by the closed upper gate plate 2. Thus, the receiving hopper 1
When a cucumber 50 of the same grade enters a preset section of 0, the lever 5 of the upper rotary shaft 3 disposed opposite to the bottom of the hopper plate 1 by the opening / closing cylinder 7 and the link 6 as described above. By moving the upper gate plate 2 by a required amount in the lateral direction, each upper gate plate 2 rotates in the reverse direction, opens the bottom of the hopper plate 1, and transfers each cucumber 50 received on the upper gate plate 2 to the intermediate gate 2.
0, and the lower gate plate 1 provided in the section between every other partition frame 11 where the cucumbers 50 are not placed and which have been moved just below the bottom of the hopper plate 1.
Take it in 2.

Subsequently, the lever 5 and the upper turning shaft 3 are turned at a required angle by operating the opening / closing cylinder 7 in the opposite direction to the above, and each upper gate plate 2 is closed. At this time, the partition frame 11 of the intermediate gate 20
Cucumber 50 is contained in all the sections in between.

The partition frame 11 of the intermediate gate 20
When the cucumber 50 is held in all of the sections provided in the above, the intermediate gate 20 is returned to the original position by the lateral movement cylinder 22, and the lever 15 and the lower rotation shaft 13 are required by the opening / closing cylinder 17 and the link 16. , Each lower gate plate 12 is opened, and a predetermined number of cucumbers 50
Are simultaneously discharged onto the sorting conveyor E. The predetermined number of cucumbers 50 are conveyed to the sorting device F in a row in the width direction on the sorting conveyor E.

As described above, according to the apparatus for classifying long vegetables according to the present embodiment, the length of the long vegetables can be accurately and without being chipped within one width of the long vegetables in the width direction of the sorting conveyor E. Since the long vegetables are arranged and the long vegetables are not damaged due to the sorting operation, the aligning operation is facilitated, and the aligning operation and the boxing operation can be fully automated.

[0040]

As described above, according to the apparatus for classifying long vegetables according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained by the structure shown in the claims. (1) The long vegetables conveyed by the sorting conveyor are accurately supplied for each width of the long vegetables in the width direction of the sorting conveyor,
Can be aligned. (2) When transferring long vegetables to the sorting conveyor, the long vegetables are not damaged and the commercial value is not reduced. (3) There is no need for manual work, so that the automatic sorting and boxing system can be fully automated, the efficiency of the fruit sorting work can be improved, and the shipping time can be shortened. (4) There is no need to extend the sorting conveyor or widen the sorting conveyor, and it is not necessary to particularly widen the places where these are installed, so that the investment amount for installing the sorting equipment can be suppressed. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view showing an embodiment of an apparatus for sorting long vegetables according to the present invention;

2 is a side view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view taken along line BB of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a conventional automatic sorting and boxing system for long vegetables,

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional front view as an example of the grade sorting apparatus of FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hopper plate 2 Upper gate plate 3 Upper rotating shaft 4 Bearing 5 Lever 6 Opening / closing cylinder as upper turning device 7 Opening / closing cylinder 8 Incline 10 Receiving hopper 11 Partition frame 12 Lower gate plate 13 Lower turning shaft 14 Bearing 15 Lever 16 Link 17 Opening / closing cylinder as lower rotating device 20 Intermediate gate 21 Fixed frame 22 Lateral moving cylinder 41 as lateral moving device 41 Sorting dish 42 Mounting shaft 50 Cucumber

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Noboru Koyamada 4-2-2 Kannon Shinmachi, Nishi-ku, Hiroshima Sanritsu Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. Hiroshima Works (72) Inventor Shutaro Mori 4-2-2 Kanon Shinmachi, Nishi-ku, Hiroshima Mitsubishi Hiroshima Heavy Industries, Ltd. (56) References JP-A-7-313942 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65G 47/34-47/51 B07C 5/36

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A grade is determined by a fruit sorting device, and a long vegetable placed on a sorting tray of a sorting conveyor and conveyed is moved to a sorting conveyor provided at a right angle below the sorting conveyor. In the sorting apparatus for sorting long vegetables, the sorting apparatus is installed below the sorting conveyor, and the width of the sorting conveyor is divided every two widths of the long vegetables to be conveyed and moved from the sorting tray. A hopper plate provided with a slope for guiding the long vegetable to the bottom, an upper gate plate having one end pivotally attached to a lower end of the hopper plate, and rotating the upper gate plate to form a bottom portion of the hopper plate. A receiving hopper comprising an upper rotating device for opening and closing a partition, a partition frame installed immediately below the receiving hopper, and dividing at every one width of the long vegetable, one side end at a lower end portion of the partition frame A lower gate plate to which a part is pivotally mounted, and an intermediate gate including a lower rotation device for rotating the lower gate plate to open and close between the partition frames, and interposed between the intermediate gate and the sorting conveyor. And a horizontal moving device for moving the intermediate gate by one width of the long vegetable.