CN210437518U - Apparatus for dispensing a target quantity of discrete articles - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for dispensing a target quantity of discrete articles, comprising a drive conveyor for driving the articles out; continuously taking images of an image taking area at the tail end of the conveyor, wherein the image taking area is set in front of the tail end of the conveyor and spans the conveying direction of the conveyor, each article passes through the image taking area and is taken at least once before being output, and the acquired images are processed in real time to determine the quantity of the output articles; stopping the conveyor until the quantity of the output articles reaches the target quantity, and simultaneously continuing to determine the quantity of the output articles until the articles stop outputting from the conveyor, so as to obtain a first distribution quantity; dispensing the differential amount of the item to achieve the target quantity of the item. The image capturing area is arranged at the output section of the conveyor, the orientation of the articles is stable, the shape and the size of the articles can be detected conveniently after the images are captured visually, the image capturing and counting can be completed by utilizing the image capturing area crossing the conveyor without passing through a detection platform or a counting platform, the structure is simple, and the space is saved.

Description

Apparatus for dispensing a target quantity of discrete articles

Technical Field

The utility model relates to a discrete article distribution technical field, concretely relates to method and distributor of discrete article of distribution target quantity.

Background

It is often desirable to dispense a granular, tablet, or small piece of discrete articles into a container in a targeted amount. Examples include dispensing tablets, pills, capsules, seeds, candy or the like into bottles, bags or other containers.

Since the articles are loaded into the container after they have been counted, the articles may be damaged by collision during supply, and foreign objects, or inherently defective articles may need to be detected during the dispensing process.

In some dispensing tasks, the finished container must not contain less than a predetermined number of items. For example, when dispensing certain pills, it may be necessary to provide a complete treatment cycle, and therefore at least a predetermined number of items must be provided in each container.

On the other hand, the dispensed items may be expensive, thus increasing the cost of production for the supplier of the items or the packaging facility if too many containers contain more than a predetermined number of items.

In many dispensing machines, where articles are conveyed along a conveyor and are collected in containers falling into a plurality of single rows at the end of the conveyor, each row of articles is counted one by a photoelectric sensor during the fall, and when a predetermined number is reached, the articles are prevented from falling into the containers by physical separation on the lanes of each row, this mechanism is inherently inefficient because the articles are divided into a plurality of single rows on the conveyor, the number of articles that can be conveyed in a given conveying area is necessarily less than that which would be required if the articles were not divided into single rows, and a distance between the rows is also required to mount the photoelectric sensors and the physical separation mechanisms described above.

U.S. patent No. 6,659,304 to Geltser et al, entitled "cassette for a system for feeding, counting and dispensing discrete articles," discloses a high capacity cassette for an article counting and dispensing system that includes, inter alia, a structure for feeding discrete articles in a single file toward an exit aperture.

Application publication No. CN103129783A entitled "method and apparatus for dispensing items," which discloses operating a conveyor to convey a plurality of items toward an imaging apparatus, wherein the items are arranged in a single layer and conveying at least some of the items in parallel; operating the imaging device to continuously capture images of an area directly below an end of the conveyor such that items falling from the conveyor are recorded in the images while in trajectory; the images are processed in real time to continuously determine the number of falling items.

In the prior art, the method for counting articles in a visual mode is to take images and count the articles in the process of falling off the conveyor, but because the direction of the articles in the process of falling off is uncertain, the size and the shape of the articles cannot be stably detected. Meanwhile, the image capturing area is arranged in the falling process of the article, the vertical height needs to be occupied, the overall height of the equipment is increased, and the operation is inconvenient.

The system needs to judge whether the articles are completely stopped or not at intervals after the conveyor is stopped and the time between two start-stop periods is longer, so that the capacity of the whole system is relatively reduced.

Chinese patent CN201420130214.6 describes a method for synchronously counting and detecting articles by using a counting platform, and a method for achieving a target quantity by using a first allocation amount and a compensation amount, but because the articles fall from a conveyor to the counting platform, a distance is often needed to stabilize the moving posture of the articles for image capture, the space occupied by the mechanism is large, and the articles in the distance are not monitored by the system, the random range of the articles which still continue to enter the counting area after the conveyor is stopped is also enlarged, the compensation amount required for the subsequent process is increased, and the efficiency of the whole system is also low.

There is a need for a more efficient, simpler, and more space efficient dispensing method and device.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is directed to overcome the problems of the prior art, and provides a dispensing device with higher efficiency, simpler structure, and more space saving.

The utility model discloses technical scheme as follows:

an apparatus for dispensing a target quantity of discrete articles,

comprises a supply bin for storing articles and continuously supplying the articles to a conveyor;

a conveyor for laying the articles flat into a single layer and outputting,

the image capturing device is used for continuously capturing images of passing articles in the image capturing area of the conveyor;

the central processing and control platform is used for processing the images acquired by the image acquisition device in real time to calculate the number of all articles passing through an image acquisition area, detecting and judging the images of the articles, wherein the image acquisition area is set in front of the tail end of the conveyor and spans the conveying direction of the conveyor, and the length and the width of the image acquisition area are set to ensure that each article passing through is completely acquired at least once;

a container for receiving articles output by the conveyor;

a difference compensating device for distributing the difference amount of the articles to the container to make the articles in the container reach the target amount.

Wherein, a gathering device is arranged under the output end of the conveyor, and the objects output from the conveyor and the objects output from the difference compensating mechanism are gathered to the container.

Wherein, the output end of the collector is provided with a gate, and collected articles are temporarily stored on the gate before the container arrives.

Wherein, the gate is arranged below the inlet end of the gathering device, and the next stack of first distribution articles is temporarily stored on the gate before the stack of first distribution articles output by the conveyor is not received by the container.

Wherein, the conveying surface of the conveyor is provided with a plurality of channels parallel to the conveying direction;

wherein the cross section of the channel is V-shaped.

Has the advantages that:

(1) the utility model discloses to get for instance the region and establish the output section at the conveyer, article receive the conveyer bearing, and the orientation is stable, makes things convenient for the vision to get for the shape and the size of back to article and detect, utilizes the getting for instance region that spanes the conveyer, need not through testing platform or count platform, can accomplish getting for the instance and count, compares the conveyer that has testing platform or count platform class and has reduced length, and simple structure saves space.

(2) Because need not get for instance when article fall, get for instance the region and do not occupy vertical height, the height of whole platform equipment also can reduce, it is more convenient to operate. Meanwhile, the fall of the articles leaving the conveyor to the container is reduced, the impact of the articles is reduced, the time for collecting the articles to the container is shortened, and the distribution efficiency is improved.

(3) The article moves slowly and stably on the conveyor, the length of the image capturing area required for capturing a complete image of an article can be shorter, and the overall efficiency is reduced compared with the case that if the image capturing area is set after the article leaves the conveyor, the length of the image capturing area required for counting or shape detection is larger as the article moves faster due to the acceleration of gravity during the falling of the article, and a complete image of the article needs to be captured, so that the central control system needs to acquire larger image information. Through the utility model discloses a time that the method can effectively accelerate image processing to improve distribution efficiency.

(4) The articles are imaged and monitored before leaving the conveyor, when the conveyor is stopped, although the articles can still move and output due to inertia, the moving and stopping conditions of the articles at the outlet end of the conveyor are known in real time, and the system can judge the stop output of the articles more quickly, so that the time interval required between two start-stop periods is shorter, and the efficiency of the whole system is improved.

(5) The articles are monitored before leaving the conveyor, and the quantity of the articles which are output due to inertia after the conveyor is stopped can be evaluated in advance, so that the quantity of the articles which are distributed for the first time can be controlled to be closer to the target quantity more accurately, the quantity which needs to be compensated is reduced, and the distribution efficiency is greatly improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of an image capturing area of a dispensing device according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a second image capturing area of the dispensing device of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a third image capturing area of the dispensing device of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of an inertial output region of a dispensing device of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a top view of a dispensing device of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of a distribution device with a collector gate according to the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a schematic view of the difference compensating mechanism of the dispensing device of the present invention outputting an article.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a dispensing apparatus of the present invention using a conveyor with a channel.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of the distribution device of the present invention.

The reference numbers are as follows:

1-conveyor, 101-channel

2-image-taking device, 201-image-taking area

3-article, 4-difference compensating mechanism

5-collector, 501-first gate of collector, 502-second gate of collector,

6-container.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

Example 1

A method of dispensing a target quantity of discrete articles, as shown in FIGS. 1-7, includes

Driving the conveyor to move the articles in a single layer state toward the end of the conveyor and outputting the articles;

continuously taking images of an image taking area positioned at the tail end of the conveyor, wherein the image taking area is set at the tail end of the conveyor and crosses the conveying direction of the conveyor, each article passes through the image taking area and is taken for at least one time before being output, and the article also leaves the conveyor when leaving the image taking area;

processing the captured images in real time to determine the quantity of the output items;

stopping the conveyor until the quantity of the output articles reaches the target quantity, and simultaneously continuing to determine the quantity of the output articles until the articles stop outputting from the conveyor, so as to obtain a first distribution quantity;

calculating the quantity of the items which are different from the quantity of the first distributed items according to the target item quantity, and distributing the items with different quantities.

The utility model discloses a get for instance counting method, when every article get for instance the region, its image appears in the image of acquireing, tracks the position of this article in every frame image of continuous acquisition, and when the image of this article disappears in the image of acquireing, the count adds one. Assuming that the length of the article is L, the length of the image capturing area is W, the image capturing frequency is f, and the article speed is V, the condition that the article is captured at least once when passing through the image capturing area is as follows,

W>V / f

the condition that the object is completely imaged at least once is that,

W>(V / f) + L

an article completely leaving the image capture zone has a center of gravity that is away from the conveyor surface when the distance between the exit end of the image capture zone and the exit end of the conveyor is sufficiently small (less than the minimum distance between the center of gravity of the article and the edge of the article), and gravity will cause the article to automatically leave the conveyor, so that the number of articles completely leaving the image capture zone is equal to the number of articles output by the conveyor regardless of whether the conveyor is in a driven or stopped state.

The first dispensed article and the differential article output from the conveyor are collected into a container at the dispensing station, and when the container is finished receiving the article, the container is output and continuously supplied to the dispensing station to receive the first dispensed article and the corresponding differential article output from the conveyor.

The method can continuously distribute the target quantity of articles to the container, and has high automation degree of continuous operation and high production efficiency.

The next container is temporarily stored until it has not reached the dispensing station.

The problem that continuous containers are distributed completely in the conveying process, but the containers do not reach the output positions, namely the distribution time is longer than the time from the containers to the positions, at the moment, if the containers need to wait for being in the positions, the distribution efficiency of the equipment is greatly wasted, at the moment, the collected objects can be temporarily stored by using the temporary storage function, namely, when the containers do not reach the output positions, the equipment continues to distribute the next target quantity of objects, but temporarily stores the objects during output, and after the containers are in the positions, the objects are distributed, so that the time wasted by distributing the containers when the containers are in the positions is avoided. The method can be controlled by using an electric control gate.

When a stack of first dispensed items is not received by the container, the next stack of first dispensed items is temporarily stored.

The time that the distributed article got into the container is influenced by the time that the height and article dropped and launch, when the article of distribution had not got into the container completely, continued distributing a heap of article of first distribution next to keep in, can avoid waiting for the time that article got into the container, improve holistic distribution efficiency.

The utility model discloses can still further, the conveyer makes article divide into multiseriate individual layer article on the conveyer surface, and the article that every row of article constitute for single article are listed as, and its messenger article that can be convenient is prominent in the image, improves the degree of accuracy of discernment and detection.

Image capture area: each article passing through the image capture area is completely captured at least once.

Each article passing through the image capturing area is completely captured at least once; and comparing the object image in the image with a preset object image, judging a comparison result, and rejecting the object when the comparison result is inconsistent.

The comparison results are inconsistent as follows: and when any requirement of the shape, the color and the size of the object image in the image is different from that of the preset object image, judging that the comparison result is inconsistent. The utility model discloses an article are rejected, can adopt and directly reject this unqualified article, perhaps use one to reject the passageway and reject this article when the conveyer is exported, perhaps with the article that this article belongs to pile the final container that collects to whole rejection.

The poor article of benefit also can pass through the area of looking for instance simultaneously, and it also can detect, and the detection mode is as follows:

the articles with the difference distribution are output by the difference compensation conveyor, and the articles output by the difference compensation conveyor are collected and output to the container together with the first distributed articles after being completely imaged by the imaging area.

And comparing the image of the article in the image obtained by the image capturing device arranged on the offset conveyor with the image of the preset article, judging the comparison result, and rejecting the article when the comparison result is inconsistent.

The image taking area spans the conveyer and the offset conveyer, and each article output by the conveyer and the offset conveyer is completely taken at least once. The image taking area respectively crosses the conveyer and the offset conveyer, and each article output by the conveyer and the offset conveyer is completely taken at least once.

The utility model discloses a get for instance the region and realize the count including following method:

the length direction of the image capturing area comprises an input side boundary and an output side boundary, the input side boundary is arranged on the conveyor, the output side boundary is arranged in front of a tail end line of the conveyor, the distance between the output side boundary and the tail end line of the conveyor is smaller than the distance between the gravity center of each article and the shortest outer diameter of the article, the distance between the input side boundary and the output side boundary is larger than the maximum length of the article, each article passes through the image capturing area and is captured at least once before being output, and the article also leaves the conveyor when leaving the image capturing area.

The image capturing area is located on the surface of the conveyor, so that the counting function can be completely realized, the image detection is convenient, and the recognition rate is high.

The utility model discloses a get for instance the region can also design and set up on the conveyer for the input side boundary, the boundary and the terminal line coincidence of conveyer of output side, and the distance on input side boundary and output side boundary is greater than the maximum length of article, and every article is before being exported, all get for instance once through getting for instance the region and at least by getting for instance, and article leave also to leave the conveyer when getting for instance the region.

The utility model discloses a get for instance the region can also design and set up on the conveyer for input side boundary, and the boundary of output side sets up in the conveyer terminal line outside, and the distance on input side boundary and output side boundary is greater than the maximum length of article, and every article is before being exported, all gets for instance once through getting for instance the region and at least by getting for instance, and article leave also when getting for instance the region and leave the conveyer.

Adopt above-mentioned method, can make the regional settlement process of getting for instance easier to reduce the interference when the machine moves, the utility model discloses distance between input side boundary and the conveyer terminal line is greater than the maximum length of article, so that distinguish two article images that pass through in succession, and allow a complete article image to present, so that can realize article shape and size detection.

The utility model also provides an utilize distribution method of inertia regional count:

an inertia output area is arranged in front of the output end of the image taking area of the conveyor, articles in the inertia output area are output after the conveyor is stopped, and when the sum of the number of the articles in the inertia output area and the number of the output articles is less than the target number, the conveyor is stopped。The inertia output area refers to the area where the articles continuously output due to inertia in the image acquisition area are positioned when the conveyor is stopped each time, and the number of the articles in the inertia output area is identified to be usedThe quantity of the articles which are added to the output quantity of the articles is used as the basis for stopping the conveyor, after the conveyor is stopped, the quantity of the articles which are actually output can be more similar to the target quantity, and the quantity which needs to be compensated is reduced.

The stop conveyor is essentially a stop driving conveyor, and after the stop driving conveyor, two inertia quantities still exist, namely the inertia quantity of the conveyor and the inertia quantity of the article, and the article in the inertia output area of the application comprises the article which is output under the influence of the two inertia quantities.

Example 2

The utility model discloses another technical scheme:

a dispensing device for a method of dispensing discrete articles,

comprises a supply bin for storing articles and continuously supplying the articles to a conveyor;

a conveyor 1 for laying the articles 3 flat into a single layer and discharging them,

an image capturing device 2 for continuously capturing images of articles passing through the image capturing area 201 of the conveyor 1;

a central processing and control platform for processing the images acquired by the image capturing device 2 in real time to calculate the number of all articles passing through the image capturing area 201, and detecting and judging the images of the articles, wherein the image capturing area 201 is set in front of the end of the conveyor 1 and crosses the conveying direction of the conveyor 1, and the length and width of the image capturing area 201 are set to enable each article passing through to be completely captured at least once;

a container 6 for receiving the articles output by the conveyor;

the difference compensating mechanism 4 is used for distributing the difference amount of the articles to the container 6 so as to enable the articles in the container 6 to reach the target amount.

The utility model discloses a get for instance regional 201 the position difference, and then need not traditional count platform or height drop, can accomplish detection, count and distribution, efficient, the space is little.

A collector 5 is arranged below the output end of the conveyor 1, and collects the articles output from the conveyor 1 and the articles output from the difference compensating mechanism 4 into a container.

The output end of the collector 5 is provided with a collector gate 503, the collector 5 is opened or closed to output the articles 3, and the collected articles are temporarily stored on the collector gate before the container arrives. The collector gate 503 is in electrical signal connection with the central processing and control platform. The central processing and control platform controls the opening or closing of the gate 503 of the collector, namely temporarily stores the distributed articles 3 for output, and does not need to wait for the containers to be in place, thereby reducing the waiting time and improving the distribution efficiency of the whole machine.

The temporary storage gate 501 and the fixing plate 502 are arranged below the inlet end of the gathering device, the fixing plate 502 is used for fixing the gate, the fixing plate 502 is obliquely arranged and can also play a role of gathering articles, and the temporary storage gate 501 distributes the articles into the temporary storage gate 501 for the first time when the distributed articles are not received by the container. The temporary storage gate 401 is electrically connected with the central processing and control platform. The central processing and control platform controls the temporary memory gate 401 to open or close, and switches between the output and temporary storage modes.

The conveyor 1 is provided with a driving mechanism, the driving mechanism is in electric signal connection with a central processing and control platform, the central processing and control platform controls the start-stop time of the conveyor 1, the existing driving mode is usually an electromagnetic driving vibration disc, and the central processing and control platform controls the motion state of a motor so as to control the start-stop period.

A container 6 conveyor line is provided, the outlet of the collecting channel for continuously conveying the containers 6 towards the outlet of the collector 5 being provided with a diversion flap for diverting two successive stacks of released articles 3 into two different containers 6.

The conveying surface of the conveyor 1 is provided with a plurality of channels 101 parallel to the conveying direction. The channel 101 can form article 3 row of single range with article 3, when getting for instance regional 201 through, can be clear get for instance device 2 discernment by getting for instance, improved identification efficiency, this is because some heterotypic article 3, in transmission process, form article 3 in the easy crisscross way, get for instance the loading and get for instance the back, when central processing and control platform handle the picture, easily discern it as article 3, can effectually distinguish article 3 with the direct boundary of article 3 through the channel 101, improve the accuracy of discernment.

The cross section of the channel 101 is V-shaped. The use of such a channel 101 makes it easier to singulate the articles and the conveyor effect is more consistent.

The above description is only for the preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope of the present invention should be covered by the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (10)

1. An apparatus for dispensing a target quantity of discrete articles, characterized by:

comprises a supply bin for storing articles and continuously supplying the articles to a conveyor;

a conveyor for laying the articles flat into a single layer and outputting,

the image capturing device is used for continuously capturing images of passing articles in the image capturing area of the conveyor;

the image capturing area is arranged at the tail end of the conveyor and spans the conveying direction of the conveyor, and the length and the width of the image capturing area are set to enable each passing article to be completely captured once at least;

a central processing and control platform for processing the images obtained by the image capturing device in real time to calculate the number of all articles passing through the image capturing area, and detecting and judging the images of the articles,

a container for receiving articles output by the conveyor;

a difference compensating device for distributing the difference article to the container to make the article in the container reach the target article quantity.

2. The apparatus for dispensing a target quantity of discrete articles of claim 1, wherein: the gathering device is arranged below the output end of the conveyor and gathers the articles output by the conveyor and the articles output by the difference compensating mechanism into the container.

3. The apparatus for dispensing a target quantity of discrete articles of claim 2, wherein: the output end of the collector is provided with a collector gate, the collector is opened or closed to output articles, and the collected articles are temporarily stored on the collector gate before the container reaches.

4. The apparatus for dispensing a target quantity of discrete articles of claim 3, wherein: the concentrator gate is in electric signal connection with the central processing and control platform, and the central processing and control platform controls the concentrator gate to be opened or closed.

5. The apparatus for dispensing a target quantity of discrete articles of claim 1, wherein: the temporary storage gate and the fixing plate are arranged below the inlet end of the gathering device, the fixing plate is used for fixing the gate, and the temporary storage gate temporarily stores the next stack of objects distributed for the first time in the temporary storage gate before the distributed objects are not received by the container.

6. The apparatus for dispensing a target quantity of discrete items of claim 5, wherein: the temporary storage gate is in electric signal connection with the central processing and control platform, and the central processing and control platform controls the temporary storage gate to be opened or closed and switches between the output state and the temporary storage state.

7. The apparatus for dispensing a target quantity of discrete articles of claim 1, wherein: the conveying surface of the conveyor is provided with a plurality of channels parallel to the conveying direction.

8. The apparatus for dispensing a target quantity of discrete articles of claim 7, wherein: the cross section of the channel is V-shaped.

9. The apparatus for dispensing a target quantity of discrete articles of claim 1, wherein: the image taking area spans the conveyer and the offset conveyer, and each article output by the conveyer and the offset conveyer is completely taken at least once.

10. The apparatus for dispensing a target quantity of discrete articles of claim 1, wherein: the image taking area respectively crosses the conveyer and the offset conveyer, and each article output by the conveyer and the offset conveyer is completely taken at least once.

Images