JPH10297754A - Automatic sorting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify a device, achieve low cost, achieve efficiency in work, and improve operability and maintenance effect of the device in an automatic sorting device. SOLUTION: As a container 12 on which vegetables A are placed is carried on a selecting conveyor 11, a camera 14 takes an image of the vegetable A, an image processing device 16 determines its grade, position sensors 18a-18f detect a carried position of the container 12, and a controller 15 applies compression air from a side part toward the container 12 by a spray nozzle 19a-19f based on the grade and carried position of the vegetable A when the container 12 gets to a specified sorting position, thereby the container 12 is pushed to a specified conveyor 17a-17f from the selecting conveyor 11 to be transferred.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic sorting apparatus for sorting agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables into equal classes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, automatic sorting devices for automatically sorting and sorting fruits and vegetables into predetermined classes have been actively developed and put into practical use. FIG. 6 is a plan view of a conventional automatic sorting apparatus, and FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line VII-VII of FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a sorting conveyor is used.
Reference numeral 101 denotes a belt-type conveyor, which can place a tray 102 of fruits and vegetables A to be sorted and continuously transport the same. The sorting conveyor 103 is a roller-type conveyor, and is disposed such that the transport surface on the base end side is continuous with the transport surface of the sorting conveyor 101, and places the tray 102 for fruits and vegetables sorted from the sorting conveyor 101. Can be placed and transported. And this sorting conveyor 101 and sorting conveyor 1
A sorting device 104 is provided at a connection portion with 03. This sorting device 104 is rotatable by a rotating shaft 105.
The rotating body 106 is rotatable by a driving device (not shown). A plurality of sorting arms 107 are mounted on the rotating body 106 along the circumferential direction. Each of the sorting arms 107 is moved up and down at a predetermined position by a lifting device (not shown). It can be locked to the flange 109.

[0004] Therefore, the fruits and vegetables A are put into the tray 102 and are continuously conveyed on the sorting conveyor 101 in large numbers. Then, the grade of the fruits and vegetables A in the tray 102 is determined in advance by a predetermined determination device, and at a connection portion between the sorting conveyor 101 and the sorting conveyor 103, the sorting device 104 sets the tray 102 for the predetermined fruits and vegetables A. From the sorting conveyor 101 to the sorting conveyor 103 for sorting. That is, when the saucer 102 of the fruits and vegetables A to be sorted approaches the sorting device 104, the sorting arm 107 extending outward from the rotating body 106.
The engaging portion 108 of the tray 102 rises and is locked to the outer peripheral flange portion 109 of the tray 102. Then, when the rotating body 106 rotates in this locked state, the tray 102 is pulled by the sorting arm 107 and is transferred from the sorting conveyor 101 onto the sorting conveyor 103, and thereafter, the engaging portion 108 of the sorting arm 107 is moved. It descends and separates from the tray 102.

As described above, conventionally, the tray 102 (vegetables A) on the sorting conveyor 101 is sorted by the sorting device 104, and the sorting arm 107 of the rotating body 106 is locked to the tray 102, and the tray 102 is moved. The sorting conveyor 101 has been moved to the sorting conveyor 103, and a predetermined tray 102 (vegetables A) has been sorted by this repetition.

[0006]

However, in the conventional automatic sorting apparatus described above, the sorting apparatus 104 has a complicated structure because a rotatable rotating body 106 has a plurality of sorting arms 107. turn into. Also, the sorting device 104
A driving device for rotating the rotating body 106 and an elevating device for elevating and lowering the sorting arm 107 are required, which makes the device large and expensive. In addition, sorting conveyor 101
When a plurality of sorting conveyors 103 are provided, the sorting device 104 having a complicated and large structure must be provided for each sorting conveyor 103, and the operability of the automatic sorting device itself is increased. In addition, there is a problem that the maintainability is deteriorated and the equipment cost is further increased.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and aims at simplifying and reducing the cost of the apparatus, increasing the efficiency of the sorting operation, and improving the operability and maintainability of the apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic sorting device.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic sorting apparatus for automatically selecting and sorting continuously conveyed articles. A container on which the article is placed, a sorting conveyor for placing and transporting the container, determining means for determining the grade of the article on the container transported by the sorting conveyor, Position detecting means for detecting a transfer position of an article on the container, an injection nozzle for injecting compressed air from the side to the container conveyed by the sorting conveyor, and a jet nozzle which is extruded by the compressed air of the injection nozzle. A sorting conveyor for receiving and transporting the container, and injecting compressed air from the injection nozzle based on a determination result of the determination unit and a detection result of the position detection unit. It is characterized in that and control means for controlling.

In the automatic sorting apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the container has a circular outer wall, an article mounting portion inside the outer wall, and a space for air reservoir formed in a lower portion. It is characterized by having.

[0010] In the automatic sorting apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention, a plurality of compressed air injection ports are arranged in the injection nozzle along the width direction.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an automatic sorting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a sorting state of containers,
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III of FIG. 2, FIG.
FIG. 5 is a graph showing the amount of movement of the container with respect to the time from the start of injection.

In the automatic sorting apparatus according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the sorting conveyor 11 is a belt conveyor, for example, in which a container 12 for fruits and vegetables A such as tomatoes is mounted and can be continuously conveyed. it can. A gate-shaped frame 13 is installed on the base end side of the sorting conveyor 11,
A camera 14 for photographing fruits and vegetables A in a container 12 conveyed on the sorting conveyor 11 is attached to an upper portion of the frame 13. The camera 14 is connected to a controller 15 as control means.
Is connected to an image processing device 16 as a determination unit. Accordingly, when the image processing device 16 processes the image of the fruits and vegetables A captured by the camera 14 and sends the processed image to the controller 15 as processing information, the controller 15 sequentially stores the image information, and sets the image information in advance based on the image information. The grade of the fruit or vegetable A can be determined from the sorting conditions thus set.

Further, the sorting conveyors 17a to 17f are roller conveyors, are arranged in parallel with each other, and are located such that the conveying surface on the base end side is continuous with the conveying surface of the sorting conveyor 11. The container 12 of the fruits and vegetables A sorted from the sorting conveyor 11 can be placed and transported. Then, the sorting conveyor 11 and each sorting conveyor 17
Position detecting sensors 18a to 18f as position detecting means for detecting the containers 12 conveyed on the sorting conveyor 11 are attached to the connection portions with the a to 17f, respectively.
Each of the position detection sensors 18a to 18f is connected to the controller 15. Further, on the opposite side of the sorting conveyor 11 from each of the sorting conveyors 17a to 17f, a plurality of injection nozzles 1 are opposed to the sorting conveyors 17a to 17f.
9a to 19f are provided. Each of the injection nozzles 19
a to 19f are connected to a compressed air supply pipe 22 through connection hoses 21a to 21f having solenoid valves 20a to 20f at an intermediate portion.
3 are connected.

Accordingly, if the fruits and vegetables A in the container 12 conveyed by the sorting conveyor 11 are, for example, those sorted into the sorting conveyor 17a, the container 12 on the sorting conveyor 11 is transferred to the connection position with the sorting conveyor 17a. Then, when the position detection sensor 18a detects, the controller 15 opens the solenoid valve 20a. Then, the compressed air in the compressed air supply pipe 22 is supplied to the injection nozzle 19a from the connection hose 21a, and the container 1
By injecting the compressed air toward 2, the containers 12 on the sorting conveyor 11 can be extruded and transferred to the sorting conveyor 17a.

As described above, the controller 15 controls the camera 1
Fruits and vegetables A photographed by 4 and image-processed by the image processing device 16
Based on the image information of the container 12 and the position information of the container 12 detected by the position detection sensors 18a to 18f.
0f is controlled to open and close to control the injection of compressed air from the injection nozzles 19a to 19f.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the container 12 has a circular outer wall 31 and an inclined mounting portion 32 for mounting and supporting the fruits and vegetables A inside the outer wall 31.
And a ring-shaped air reservoir space portion 33 is formed in the lower portion. The upper surface plate 11a of the sorting conveyor 11, that is, the mounting surface supporting the lower surface of the container 12, is desirably formed flat by a material that allows the container 12 to easily slide, for example, stainless steel or a plastic material.

Further, the injection nozzles 19a to 19f are shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4 to FIG. 4, a plurality of compressed air injection ports 41 are formed in parallel at the distal end along the width direction. The injection nozzles 19a to 19f are mounted horizontally on the side of the sorting conveyor 11, and the compressed air injected from the compressed air injection port 41 is used to supply the fruits and vegetables A and the center of gravity G of the container 12 on which the fruits and vegetables A are placed. It is arranged to be injected toward the position.

Here, a method of sorting fruits and vegetables A by the automatic sorting apparatus of the present embodiment will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the sorting conveyor 11 is driven, containers 12 loaded with fruits and vegetables A are continuously conveyed on the sorting conveyor 11 at substantially equal intervals.
4 shoots the fruits and vegetables A in the container 12 one by one, and outputs the shot image to the controller 15 as needed. The controller 15 outputs the input image to the image processing device 16, and the image processing device 16 processes the image of the fruits and vegetables A and returns the processed image to the controller 15 as processing information. And
Based on the image information, the controller 15 determines the grade of the fruit or vegetable A based on a preset sorting condition and stores the grade in order. On the other hand, the position detection sensors 18a to 18f
Is a container 12 of fruits and vegetables A conveyed on a sorting conveyor 11
Is detected, and the detection result is input to the controller 15.

Therefore, for example, the fruits and vegetables A in the container 12 conveyed by the sorting conveyor 11 are
5, the class is determined, and the sorting conveyor 17
If the position is classified as a, the controller 15 opens the solenoid valve 20a when the position detection sensor 18a detects the determined container 12 of the fruit or vegetable A. Then, the compressed air stored in the compressed air supply pipe 22 by the compressor 23 is supplied from the connection hose 21a to the injection nozzle 1
9a, and the compressed air is injected from the injection nozzle 19a toward the corresponding container 12. At this time, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the container 12 receives a jet of compressed air from the side on the outer wall 31, and the compressed air is supplied to the outer wall 31.
The container 12 is smoothly extruded from the sorting conveyor 11 to the sorting conveyor 17a by the drag generated by the flow, and the bearing effect of the fluid flowing into the air reservoir space 33, and the sorting is performed. Complete.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the amount of movement of the container 12 with respect to the elapsed time from the start of the injection of the compressed air by the injection nozzle 19a, where t ₁ is the injection stop time. As can be seen from this graph, at the beginning of the start of the injection of the compressed air, the acceleration starts gently, reaches the maximum speed after the injection is stopped, and then moves at a constant speed.

As described above, in the automatic sorting apparatus according to the present embodiment, the sorting conveyor 11 and each sorting conveyor 17a
Injection nozzles 19a to 19f at the connection portions with
f, and when the container 12 of the fruits and vegetables A whose grade is determined comes to a predetermined sorting position, the corresponding injection nozzle 19
By injecting compressed air from a to 19f, the container 12 can be easily transferred to the sorting conveyors 17a to 17f.

At this time, the container 12 has a circular outer wall 31, a mounting portion 32, and an air reservoir space portion 33, and the injection nozzles 19a to 19f have compressed air injection ports 41 along the width direction. A plurality of compressed air injection ports 41 are formed in parallel.
The compressed air is ejected from the container 12 toward the position of the center of gravity G of the container 12, and is transferred at a high speed without disturbing the posture of the container 12 and without giving an impact to the fruits and vegetables A mounted on the container 12. be able to. As a result, even if a plurality of containers 12 moving on the sorting conveyor 11 come close to each other, it is possible to transfer only the relevant containers 12 without affecting the containers 12 before and after transportation, and to speed up the sorting operation, Automation becomes possible.

In the above-described embodiment, six sorting conveyors 17a to 17a to one sorting conveyor 11 are provided.
Although 17f is provided, this number is not limited to the embodiment. In addition, each sorting conveyor 17 for each class
Injection nozzles 19a-1 arranged corresponding to a to 17f
In 9f, the transfer from the sorting conveyor 11 to the sorting conveyors 17a to 17f can be smoothly performed by changing the injection position and the injection pressure in accordance with the determined weight of the fruit or vegetable A.

[0026]

As described above in detail in the embodiment, according to the automatic sorting apparatus of the first aspect of the present invention, a container for placing an article, a sorting conveyor for placing and transporting the container, Judgment means for determining the grade of the goods conveyed by the sorting conveyor, position detecting means for detecting the conveying position on the container conveyed by the sorting conveyor, and compression of the container conveyed by the sorting conveyor from the side An injection nozzle for injecting air, a sorting conveyor for receiving and transporting the container extruded by the compressed air of the injection nozzle, and injecting compressed air from the injection nozzle based on the determination result of the determination unit and the detection result of the position detection unit. Control means for controlling, when the container on the sorting conveyor comes to a position corresponding to the grade of the determined item, the injection nozzle By injecting compressed air into the containers, the containers can be easily transferred from the sorting conveyor to the sorting conveyor, thereby simplifying the apparatus and reducing the cost, and increasing the efficiency of the sorting operation. In addition, the operability and maintainability of the device can be improved.

According to the automatic sorting apparatus of the second aspect of the present invention, a circular outer wall is provided in the container, an article mounting portion is formed inside the outer wall, and an air reservoir space is formed in a lower portion. Therefore, when compressed air is injected from the side to the container on the sorting conveyor by the injection nozzle, the injected air flows in a rectified manner around the outer periphery of the container, and the drag,
Due to the inertial force of the container on the sorting conveyor, the air bearing action of the air reservoir space, etc., the sorting operation can be speeded up without disturbing the posture of the container and without giving an impact to the goods mounted on this container. The efficiency of the sorting operation can be improved by enabling automation.

According to the automatic sorting apparatus of the third aspect of the present invention, since a plurality of compressed air injection ports are arranged in the injection nozzle along the width direction, the containers on the sorting conveyor are arranged from the side. The compressed air is injected horizontally, and the injected air flows in a rectified manner on the outer periphery of the container, and can be stably transferred without disturbing the posture of the container.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an automatic sorting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating a sorting state of containers.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an injection nozzle.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the amount of movement of a container with respect to time from the start of injection.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a conventional automatic sorting device.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VII-VII of FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Sorting conveyor 12 Container 14 Camera 15 Controller (Control means) 16 Image processing device (Determining means) 17a-17f Sorting conveyor 18a-18f Position detection sensor (Position detecting means) 19a-19f Injection nozzle 20a-20f Solenoid valve 23 Compressor 31 Outer wall part 32 Placement part 33 Space for air reservoir 41 Compressed air injection port

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor: Akira Yamazaki 4-6-22 Kannonshinmachi, Nishi-ku, Hiroshima-shi, Hiroshima Hiroshima Research Laboratory, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An automatic sorting apparatus for automatically selecting and sorting continuously conveyed articles, comprising: a container on which the articles are placed; a sorting conveyor for placing and transporting the containers; Determining means for determining the grade of the goods on the containers conveyed by the sorting conveyor, position detecting means for detecting the conveying position of the goods on the containers conveyed by the sorting conveyor, and conveyed by the sorting conveyor An injection nozzle for injecting compressed air from the side to the container, a sorting conveyor for receiving and transporting the container extruded by the compressed air of the injection nozzle,
An automatic sorting apparatus, comprising: control means for controlling the injection of compressed air from the injection nozzle based on the determination result of the determination means and the detection result of the position detection means. 2. The automatic sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the container has a circular outer wall, an article mounting portion inside the outer wall, and an air reservoir space formed in a lower portion. An automatic sorting device, characterized in that: 3. The automatic sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of compressed air injection ports are arranged in the injection nozzle along a width direction.