FI59347B - APPARATUS FOER AUTOMATISK MOENSTERIDENTIFIERING OCH REGISTRERING AV TOMFLASKOR - Google Patents

Description

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Patent · och ragistaratyralaan 'AmOkan utkfd oeh utUkrtften publlcand 30. OU. 81 (32) (33) (31) Privilege claimed — Begird prloritet lh.12.71

Norway-Norway (NO) 1 * 613/71 (71) (72) Tore Planke, 3180 Nykirke, Norway-Norway (NO) (7 * +) Oy Jalo Ant-Wuorinen Ab (5 * 0 Device for automatic identification of empty bottles and This invention relates to an apparatus for the automatic identification and registration of empty bottles, which bottles are preferably conveyed by means of a motor-driven conveying device past an optical device comprising a light source and a photoelectric sensing device.

the invention has a use e.g. in grocery stores, where the manual counting of empty bottles of different return values is both time-consuming and unsatisfactory. Continuous miscalculation of the number of bottles when returning empty bottles results in a loss to the merchant, while taking unnecessary customer time. In major stores, such as supermarkets, returning bottles is a real problem.

Bottle registration devices for use in grocery stores are already known. The most well-known device consists of blocks for each type of bottle, but not for new liter bottles. The customer selects the correct opening, pushes the bottles into the opening and presses the lever down that pushes the bottles into the device. When all bottles of the same type have been inserted into the device, the second lever is pressed and a patch appears with a certain number of holes corresponding to the number of bottles inserted into the opening. Different bottle panties have different colors. The cash register calculates the number of openings and multiplies by the value of the deposit.

Another known recording device operates on the same principle as the previous one, but with the difference that the registration tag has been replaced by balls, 2 59347, the number and color of which correspond to the number of bottles and their pledge value.

The main disadvantage of these devices is that after this either the calculation of the holes or the balls has to be performed and that the amount of money for each collateral value class has to be calculated ·

Recording devices are also known per se which, for example, register the number of bottles which pass the optical device and in which information about the number can be printed on the strip. However, such devices cannot distinguish between different types of bottles and are only used to indicate the number of bottles that have passed the optical device, the invention eliminates these drawbacks by automatically registering bottles of different sizes and deposit values and automatically receiving a pre-calculated receipt for the deposit amount. withdraw from the cash register.

The device according to the invention is characterized by a recording device which registers the number and dimensions of the bottles, for example the height passing the optical device, by means of shadow images of the bottles generated by the light source and an electronic central unit which uses a printing device to write the desired information on the bottles.

The optical device uses accurate shadow images for detection and said light source generates parallel light towards a photoelectric sensing device comprising a plurality of phototransistors. According to the invention, the electronic central unit comprises a signal transformer, a detector, a counting and recording unit, a programming unit, a printing equipment control unit and a monitoring unit, in which the signal transformer and detector convert the values from the optical sensing device and logically sort these registered values. and the registration unit sums and stores values of certain characteristics, excluding other values, and wherein the printing device control unit controls a printing device that prints the registration result and wherein the monitoring unit manages and adjusts the entire device including monitoring and controlling essential functions in the device.

according to the invention, the photocell detectors are adjustable with respect to their position by means of suitable means, e.g. magnets or the like, in order to register special types of bottles and to take care of the fine adjustment of the sensing device. The transport device and the ejection mechanism have different drive motors, the speeds of which are adapted to correspond to the corresponding functions. The control table comprises, in a manner known per se, start and stop (acknowledgment) means, as well as one or more counting devices for the total registration of the different bottle types. The ejection mechanism is provided with two rollers made of a flexible material known per se, having a friction surface, which rotate about vertical axes at a certain minimum distance from each other and whose opposite sides rotate in the direction of movement of the transport device.

The invention is shown in more detail with reference to Figures 1-7 of the drawing.

Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a device according to the invention; 2 electronic central units stolen by the control unit and associated devices, fig. 3 charts! front ti signal converter, fig. 4 photocells, fig. 5 schematically detector, fig. 6 examples of a possible signal drawing, and FIG. 7 parts of the device cut to show the optical device and the transport device.

According to Figures 1 and 7, the conveying device 6 conveys the bottle forward, whereby the bottle 27 is registered by means of the optical device 4,5 and leaves the end of the conveying device by means of the ejection mechanism 7. The light source 5 generates and emits parallel light towards the photoelectric sensing device 4, where the shadow image of the bottle is registered so that the light and shadow boundary is detected by the photocells 26.

The signals given by the sensing device 4 are transmitted to the electronic central processing unit 1, where the signals are processed and classified. The central unit 1 controls the printing device 2, which at the command of the control table 3 gives a signal about the registered number of bottles and their total value. The device command is generated by the start 14 and stop (reset) 15 elements, which elements are connected to the control unit 8.

In Fig. 2 the signals flow from the sensing device 4 to the signal transformer 9, which is connected to the control unit 8. The signal transformer essentially comprises two amplifiers 18, 19, a logic gate circuit 20 and a time deceleration element 21 with variable time deceleration (Fig. 3).

The converted signal is further processed in the detectors 10, 22 and transferred to a counting and register unit 11, which is programmed by means of a programming table 13, by means of which different values can be assigned to the bottles. The unit 11 communicates with the control device 8 and the printing device 2 via the printing device control device 12. The counters 16, 17 for the total registration of bottle types are connected to the device 8. The light source 5 is supplied with electric current via a switch L controlled by the control device 8. The motors M6 and M7 of the transport device are pushed out by the switch M

, 59347, which is also controlled by the control device 8.

The sensing device A comprises a plurality of photoelectric sensing elements 26. The sensing element 26 comprises two phototransistors T1 and T2 (e.g. "TEXAS LS 602" or vast). Each photocell 26 is, as previously mentioned, connected to a signal transformer 9 and a simple logic circuit 10, 21 with an adjustable time delay (,. When T1 is exposed to light and T2 to a shadow, and only then, Hn receives a time delay of "1" * 0 The adjustable time deceleration 21 allows the overshadow limits that are too short to be filtered out.To register, the lowest T2 must be exposed to continuous light for at least the interval £ .The deceleration 21 is adjusted so that T is slightly shorter than the shadow of the bottle head 28. ohikulkuaika.

In the example of Figure 7, this shadow passes the detector 26-3. In this way, "background interference" is effectively filtered out and only those light-shadow boundaries with a duration longer than τ are recorded, i. only those bottles with the correct height. The sensing device A shown in Fig. 7 is provided with seven photocells, but it is self-evident that there may be fewer or more of them depending on the requirements for the device. The function of the photocell 26a is to measure the intensity of the light 5 coming from the light source. When the intensity is too low, the control unit 8 opens the circuit breaker M via the signal transformer 9 and cuts off the power supply to the motors M6 and M7, as a result of which the transport of the bottles is not possible.

Type identification is done by measuring the height of different objects, i.e. only one photocell deflector is needed for each bottle type.

However, the device is designed to account for the registration of more complex dimensions, such as the height of the bottles when two or more detectors are used for each registration. This is shown in Fig. 5, where Ηχ is the output signal from the logic gate circuit 22, which signal corresponds to the final registration based on the signals H & from the one or more photocells and the time-delay device 21. In this way, two or more signals 11 are held together to provide greater registration accuracy.

Fig. A shows a photocell comprising two phototransistors 2A and a supply line 23. In a preferred embodiment according to the invention, the photocell is surrounded by an annular magnet 25 fixed to the photocell by epoxy plastic.

Claims (6)

An apparatus for the automatic identification and registration of empty bottles, which bottles are preferably conveyed by a motor-driven conveying device (6) past an optical device comprising a light source (5) and a photoelectric sensing device (4), characterized by a recording device for generating bottles (27). using the shadow images (28), registers the number and dimensions of the bottles, such as the height passing the optical device, and the electronic central processing unit (1), which uses the printing device (2) to write the desired information about the bottles. Device according to Claim 1, characterized in that the central unit (1) has e.g. comprising a signal transformer (9) and a detector (10), 6 59347 which logically sorts the registered data from the sensing device (4) so that data of certain types are aggregated and stored in a programmable counting and register unit (11,13) and data with non-characteristics are separated, and that the printing device (2), which writes the desired data, is controlled by the printing device control device (12). Device according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the sensing device (4) is formed by photocell detectors (26), the position of which can be adjusted by means of suitable devices (25), e.g. magnets, to enable registration of unusual type bottles or fine tuning of the sensing device. Device according to Claim 1, characterized in that an ejection mechanism (7) is arranged in connection with the conveying device (6), which comprises two rollers of flexible material known per se, having a friction surface and rotating about their respective vertical axes at a certain minimum distance from each other. in a direction other than the direction of movement of the transport device (6). Device according to Claims 1 and 4, characterized in that the conveying device (6) and the ejection device (7) have different drive motors (M6, M7) whose speeds are adapted to correspond to the respective functions. 5,59347 Fig. 6 is a signal diagram showing signals Dn, Hn for empty simple bottle types. At "a", one bottle type is registered by the top detector 26-1. At "b", the second bottle is registered by the detector 26-5. At "c", the third flask is not registered because it is not of the "requested" type and its height is between detectors 26-2 and 26-3. This example (Figs. 6 and 7) has 26-1 top detector and 26-6 bottom detector. The pulses generated by the lowest detectors are caused by the shadow shadows coming from the bottleneck as the neck passes the lowest detectors, as well as the unwanted refraction of light in the bottle glass if this is clear glass. Figure 7 further shows a shadow image 28 and a bottle insertion opening 29. The printing device 2 may be of a known type, for example "SODECO-decaprint type PN213" or the like. In the device according to the invention, the customer starts the recording device by pressing the trigger member 14. When this is done, the device turns on the light in this member and turns on the light source 5. When the light intensity is high enough through the opening, the ACKNOWLEDGE member 15 is pressed, whereby the device acknowledges by turning on a light therein. After a short time, eg 2 seconds, the printing device presses the receipt label. The device then independently switches off all lamps and stops the drive motors. The tear-off tag can provide information on the total number of bottles registered and the amount of the deposit amount receivable. Although the device is shown in a design intended for grocery stores, it is clear that the device can also be used for the registration and classification of items other than empty bottles, and not necessarily in food stores. Device according to claim 1, characterized by a control table (3) provided with starting (14) and stopping (acknowledging) (15) means known per se and two or more counting devices (16, 17) for the total registration of different bottle types.