JP2000202376A - Apparatus for selecting and sorting long agricultural product - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To sort long agricultural products without damaging them and to miniaturize the sorting apparatus by installing holding means for holding long agricultural products such as spring onions in a selecting conveyer, sorting the products during the upper face transportation of the products based on imaging process, and transferring the products to a plurality of sorting conveyers during the lower face transportation. SOLUTION: Spring onions whose outer skins are peeled by an automatic skin- peeling apparatus 1 are put one by one on a holding mechanism 25 attached to a selecting conveyer 8 by a worker 10 waiting on a throwing work stand 11 to be transported. During the upper face transportation, each onion 9 is photographed by an image reading apparatus 4 and the grade of each onion is determined by a grade judging apparatus 5 based on the width of each spring onion and the boundary position of the soft white part and the leaf part and the curved degree of the photographed image. Based on the judgment result (sorting information), when each spring onion is transported on the lower face to prescribed dropping positions of a plurality of sorting conveyers 22, which are at right angles to the sorting conveyer 8 and installed in the number corresponding to the number of the sorting grades, the holding mechanism 25 is released to drop each spring onion to the corresponding sorting conveyers 22.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for sorting and sorting long agricultural products such as green onions and asparagus into several classes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, onions harvested from a field are cut and removed from hair roots and leaf tips, and stripped of aged skin is shipped. At that time, several grades are selected and sorted according to the thickness of the green onion, the length of the soft white portion (white portion), the shape (bending), and the like.

Heretofore, such onion sorting has been performed by an operator by visually checking each one. Since such manual work is extremely inefficient, many automatic techniques have been proposed in which grades are sorted and sorted by image processing techniques while conveying green onions on a conveyor. This is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-89928.

[0004] The root and tip of the onion are cut off,
Automating the removal of aging epidermis is described in JP-A-10-108657.

[0005]

A conventional sorting / sorting apparatus performs a sorting process by image processing while transporting a long agricultural product such as green onions on a linearly arranged conveyor, and then performs a sorting process. . For this reason, there is a problem that the length of the conveyor becomes large, so that the sorting and sorting apparatus becomes large and the installation area is required to be large.

[0006] Sorting by grade is performed by dropping long agricultural products from a conveyor into a graded storage box. The height of the conveyor is located at a position where workers can easily work, and there is also a problem that soft long agricultural products such as green onions and asparagus are damaged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to reduce the size and to reduce the possibility of damaging long agricultural products during sorting. Is to provide.

[0008]

A feature of the present invention is that a sorting endless conveyor is provided with gripping means for gripping a long agricultural product, and the long agricultural product performs a sorting process by image processing when transporting the upper surface of the endless conveyor. When the sorting device is used when transferring the lower surface of the endless conveyor, the long agricultural products are released from the gripping means to perform the sorting process.

In the present invention, a desirable sorting process is performed by transferring the long agricultural product released from the gripping means to a plurality of sorting conveyors arranged orthogonally below the sorting endless conveyor.

According to the present invention, the sorting process is performed at the time of transporting the upper surface of the sorting conveyor, and the sorting process is performed at the time of transporting the lower surface, so that the sorting and sorting apparatus can be downsized.
Since the falling distance of the long agricultural product in the sorting process is reduced, the possibility of damaging the long agricultural product can be significantly reduced.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The figure shows an example of sorting and sorting onions.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of an onion sorting / sorting apparatus.

In FIG. 1, a sorting conveyor 8 is an endless conveyor for gripping and transporting a green onion 9 and has a worker 10
The green onion 9 is gripped. The green onions 9 conveyed by the sorting conveyor 8 are imaged by the image reading device 4 and subjected to image processing and grade judgment by the grade judging device 5. The sorting and sorting control device 7 transfers the green onions 9 conveyed by the sorting conveyor 8 to the sorting conveyor 22 or the forced dispensing conveyor 23 based on the grade determination result. In this way, the onion 9 is loaded on the upper surface of the sorting conveyor 8 and the sorting process by image processing is performed, and the onion is sorted by grade on the lower surface of the sorting conveyor 8. This makes it possible to reduce the size of the sorting / sorting apparatus by efficiently utilizing the space in the height direction and reduce the installation area. Further, in order to add the sorting conveyor 8, since the sorting conveyor 8, the sorting conveyor 22, and the forced delivery conveyor 23 are arranged orthogonally, the space above the sorting conveyor 22 and the forced delivery conveyor 23 can be used, so that it can be easily performed.

The sorting / sorting control device 7 starts and stops the sorting conveyor 8, the sorting conveyor 22, and the forced delivery conveyor 23, and adjusts the transport speed.

The loading worktable 11 is used by a worker 10 on which the onion 9 is loaded into the sorting conveyor 8. Since the sorting conveyor 22 and the forcible pay-out conveyor 23 are arranged in the space immediately below the loading worktable 11, the loading worktable 11 is provided at an appropriate height with legs. Further, a safety fence 12 is provided around the input work table 11 in order to prevent the worker 10 from dropping.

FIG. 1 shows an example in which an automatic peeling apparatus 1 and a supply conveyor 2 as disclosed in JP-A-10-108657 for peeling the skin of the onion 9 are connected.

FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram of the device of the present invention.

The onion sorting and sorting apparatus according to the present invention can be roughly classified into six functions. Specifically, an input section for inputting onions from which unnecessary outer skin has been removed, an image reading section for reading the morphological characteristics necessary for sorting the input onions, and a morphological characteristic read by the image reading section. A grade judging unit that classifies onions based on the classification of onions, a sorting unit that sorts onions according to grades based on the judgment results from the grade judging unit, power management of the whole onion sorting / sorting device, and monitoring of the conveyor speed of the sorting / sorting conveyor A control unit for controlling, and a transport unit for continuously transporting the onion from the input unit to the image reading unit and the sorting unit.

Hereinafter, the structure will be described according to this classification.
Here, only the components of the device and the unique functions of the device will be described, and the operation of the entire device, that is, the organic operation and operation between the components will be described later.

The loading section includes a loading worktable 11 on which an operator 10 puts the onion 9 from which the outer skin has been removed to perform a loading operation, an emergency stop button 19 for urgently stopping the leek 9, and foreign matter is caught in the sorting conveyor 8. A safety device 20 for automatically detecting and stopping the operation, a producer change lamp 28 for notifying the operator 10 that the producer of the onion 9 to be changed has changed, and a worker changing the producer. The confirmation switch 29 is pressed after confirming the confirmation.

As shown in FIG. 1, the loading worktable 11 has a certain height above the ground. This is because the loading section and the sorting section are vertically arranged vertically to reduce the installation area of the entire apparatus, that is, to realize space saving.
In addition, in order to ensure safety such as drop prevention, the loading work table 11 is provided with a safety fence 12 around the work table 11.

The image reading section comprises an image reading device 4. In order to determine the grade of the onion 9 carried by the sorting conveyor 8, the thickness reading camera 14, the end reading camera 15, the soft-white section reading camera 16, and the two bent reading cameras 17a and 17b are used for reading. Illumination 13 that provides optimal illuminance, linked to the operating speed of the sorting conveyor 8,
It comprises a timing sensor 18 for determining measurement start timings 4 to 17. It is desirable that the housing of the image reading device 4 be rich in light shielding in order to keep the internal reading conditions constant.

The grade judging section extracts the thickness, the length of the soft white part, the leaf color and the degree of bending from the image of the onion 9 photographed by the image reading processor 4 and judges the grade.
0, a class determination device 5 composed of a sorting switch controller 31 for transmitting a switch switching signal to a sorting switch 21 described later with a signal from the image processing device 30,
It comprises a result collecting personal computer 32 capable of collecting, storing and printing sorting result data from the sorting image processing apparatus 30, and a data input terminal 33 for inputting a producer name and weight of the onion to be sorted. The performance collecting personal computer 32 does not need to be placed inside or adjacent to the onion sorting / sorting apparatus, and may be installed in an office where accounting and the like are performed.

The data input terminal 33 can be installed in the same manner, for example, in the vicinity of the automatic peeling machine 1. It is desirable that the data input terminal 33 be a touch panel type with good operability.

The sorting section is a rotary sorting switch 21 for sorting onions according to grade, an origin sensor 35 for accurately rotating the hand opening guide 24, and binding and packing the onions sorted according to grades. A sorting conveyor 22 for transporting to a work place where the sorting is performed, a hand opening guide 24 of a fixed type for forcibly dispensing the green onions 9 that were not sorted to the sorting conveyor 22 due to unreadable, out-of-grade or other reasons, to a conveyor 23; And a compulsory delivery conveyor 23 for transporting such onions to a temporary storage place or the like. Sorting switch 21
And the origin sensor 35 are a sorting switch control.
The control signal from the controller 31 is converted into a signal form suitable for the sorting switch 21 and the origin sensor 35 by the servo pack 34 and given.

The control section is constituted by a sorting and sorting control device 7. The sorting / sorting control device 7 is a power supply for supplying power to the conveyor control panel 26 for starting / stopping / stopping the timer of the sorting conveyor 8 and other operations, adjusting / monitoring the conveyor speed, etc., and the onion sorting / sorting device. 27. The conveyor control panel 26 is provided with buttons and display lamps as shown in the figure, but the details will be described later.

The transport section refers to an endless orbital sorting conveyor 8 driven by, for example, a chain, a linear motor, or another driving method. The sorting conveyor 8 is provided with long onion holding mechanisms 25 at equal intervals. The detailed structure, function, operation, and the like of the onion holding mechanism 25 will be described later.

Next, the working procedure and operation of the onion sorting / sorting apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. First, the onion sorter is started (step S5).
01). When the administrator presses the power button 36 provided on the conveyor control panel 26, the power is turned on and the power lamp 37 is turned on. When the operation preparation button 38 is pressed, the operation preparation is completed, and the operation preparation lamp 39 is turned on. When the start button 40 is pressed, the sorting conveyor 8 is driven. The speed of the sorting conveyor 8 can be adjusted to the most efficient speed by the speed adjusting dial 41 based on the number of workers 10. The speed of the sorting conveyor 8 can be adjusted at any time during the operation, and the input operation can be performed in an efficient state in response to the increase or decrease of the number of workers 10 and other factors.

Next, producer data is input (step S502). The name of the producer of the onion to be sorted (or a previously registered producer name code), the quantity of the onion, and other data are entered into the data input terminal 33. Enter from. When the input is completed, the producer change lamp 28 is turned on to notify the worker 10 that a new producer's onion will be introduced. The data input from the data input terminal 33 is used in combination with the results of sorting to calculate a reward paid to the producer.

The green onions 9 whose outer skin has been removed by the automatic peeling apparatus 1 and conveyed by the supply conveyor 2 are loaded (step S503). One or a plurality of workers 10 waiting on the loading worktable 11 transfer the onion 9 carried by the supply conveyor 2 to the onion holding mechanism 25 mounted on the sorting conveyor 8 one by one. Put on. At the time of input work, worker 1
If the user 0 finds inconvenience in performing a work such as a trouble, the emergency stop can be performed by pressing the emergency stop button 19. Further, when the worker 10 or a foreign substance is caught in the sorting conveyor 8, the safety device 20 is operated to make an emergency stop. The detailed structure, function, operation and characteristics of the onion holding mechanism 25 will be described later.

When the green onions 9 conveyed by the sorting conveyor 8 are conveyed to the image reading device 4, they are photographed by the image reading device 4 (step S504).

FIG. 5 shows a detailed configuration of the image reading device 4.

A timing sensor 18, which is a transmission type sensor, detects a time interval during which the onion gripping mechanism 25 passes, so that the image processing apparatus 30 calculates the speed of the sorting conveyor 8 and determines the photographing timing. It outputs a photographing instruction to the five cameras 14, 15, 16, 17a, and 17b. 5 cameras 14, 15, 16, 17a, 17b
Captures an image regardless of whether the green onion holding mechanism 25 grips the green onion 9 and transmits it to the image processing apparatus 30.

FIG. 3 shows an arrangement diagram of five cameras. The thickness reading camera 14 is arranged so as to be able to photograph a central portion which is convenient for measuring the thickness of the onion 9. The tip scanning camera 15 is attached so that the vicinity of the tip 9 c of the onion 9 can be photographed. The soft part reading camera 16 is arranged at a position where the vicinity of the border between the leaf part (green part) 9a of the onion 9 and the soft part 9b can be photographed. A color camera capable of photographing in color is used as the soft-skin reading camera 16. The two bend reading cameras 17a and 17b are arranged so that the entire green onion 9 can be photographed. As shown in the figure, the two bending reading cameras 17a and 17b are arranged such that their photographing directions are at 90 degrees to each other.

The green onion 9 is gripped by a Y-shaped jig 80 constituting the two green onion gripping mechanisms 25. By being supported at two points by the two Y-shaped jigs 80, the onion 9 can be changed to a stable posture by its own weight. This means that the load on the onion 9 is reduced because the portion of the onion 9 that contacts the ground during transport is reduced as compared with the case where the entire onion is placed and transported on a conventional flat conveyor surface. It is effective in keeping freshness. In addition, the onion 9 can easily take a stable posture with its center of gravity down due to its own weight.
The use of the table makes it possible to measure the amount of bending with higher accuracy than conventional flat bending reading.

The grade judging device 5 judges the grade of the onion 9 based on the video taken by the image reading device 4 (Step S505).

The details of the class determination device 5 will be described with reference to a functional block diagram shown in FIG.

The thickness reading processing section 51 includes a thickness reading camera 14.
From the image having the width of the green onion 9 photographed in the above step, the thickness is measured by an average value within the width, and is added to the class determination processing unit 55.

FIG. 7 shows an image that has been subjected to smoothing processing, binarization processing, and noise removal processing by the thickness reading processing section 51. Xc indicates the center of the viewpoint of the camera, and Xa and Xb indicate both ends of the shooting range. Thickness reading processing unit 5
1 calculates the average thickness f between the points Xa and Xb by calculating the area of the green onion and dividing the value by the width Xb-Xc (where Xb> Xa) in the X-axis direction. , To the grade determination processing unit 55. By calculating the average thickness of a certain section in this way, it is possible to perform a higher-precision class determination as compared with a case where the measured value of a specific location is the thickness of the onion.

The leading end reading processing section 52 measures the leading end position using the image of the onion 9 photographed by the leading end reading camera 15 and adds the measured position to the class determination processing section 55.

FIG. 8 is an image obtained by performing the smoothing process, the binarization process, and the noise removal process by the leading end reading processing unit 52.

In FIG. 8, X0 is the center of the camera's viewpoint,
P indicates the tip position of the onion 9. The leading end reading processing unit 52 is a distance l from PX0 (where P> X0).
1 is calculated and added to the class determination processing unit 55. The soft part reading processing unit 53 measures the boundary position and leaf color between the soft part and the leaf part from the image of the green onion 9 captured by the soft part reading camera 16, and gives the boundary position and the leaf color to the grade determination processing unit 55. The soft part reading camera 16 is a camera that performs color photographing, and the soft part reading processing unit 53 can also perform color image processing.

FIG. 9A shows an image obtained by extracting a picture-wise white portion of the green onion 9 by the soft white portion reading processing section 53 and then performing smoothing processing, binarization processing, and noise removal processing. In FIG. 9A, X1 is the center of the viewpoint of the camera,
Q represents the terminal position of the white portion in the image. FIG. 9B illustrates a smoothing process and a binarization process after extracting a video green portion of the green onion 9 by the soft white portion reading processing unit 53 based on the same image as that of FIG. , Noise removal processing. X1 represents the center of the camera's viewpoint, and R represents the end position of the green portion in image. Here, an intermediate position S between Q and R is defined as a soft white portion boundary, and S
And the distance l2 between X1 and X1 is calculated and added to the class determination processing unit 55. In addition, the soft-white part reading processing unit 53 extracts the green leaf color (represented by hue, saturation, and luminance) of the leaf from the color image, and adds the leaf color to the grade determination processing unit 55.

The bend reading processing unit 54 measures the amount of the bend from the images of the onion 9 taken by the two bend reading cameras 17a and 17b, and adds it to the class determination processing unit 55.

FIG. 15 shows an image obtained by performing smoothing processing, binarization processing, and noise removal processing on an image captured by the two cameras 17a and 17b. As shown in the figure, the bending amounts M1 and M2 viewed from the cameras 17a and 17b are measured. M measured in the images of the individual cameras 17a and 17b
From 1, M2, the amount of bending M of the whole green onion 9 is measured as described below. FIG. 16 shows the relationship between the shooting directions of the two cameras and the angle of the green onion. As described above, the angle formed by the direction of the photographing center of the bend reading camera 17a and the bend reading camera 17b is 90 degrees, because it is necessary to use the three-square theorem when measuring the amount of bending M.

From this figure, the overall bending amount M can be obtained by the following equation (1).

[Equation 1] M = √ (L ² + S ² ) It should be noted that accurate measurement of the amount of bending M is difficult if the angle formed by the cameras 17a and 17b with respect to the shooting center direction is not 90 degrees. The value of the bending amount M obtained in this way is added to the class determination processing unit 55.

The grade determination processing section 55 is provided with a thickness reading processing section 5
1, the distance l1 given from the leading end reading processing unit 52, the distance l2 given from the soft-white reading processing unit 53, the leaf color, and the bending amount M given from the bending reading processing unit 54. , And determine the corresponding grade. The grade determination processing unit 55 obtains the soft white part length L of the green onion from the distances l1 and l2. As is clear from FIG. 13, the soft portion length L can be obtained by Expression 2.

[Equation 2] L = l1 + d + l2 In Equation 2, d is the distance between X0 and X1, that is, the distance between the photographing center positions of both the leading end reading camera 15 and the soft-white reading camera 16. . The value of the distance d is always constant,
By setting the value in the grade determination processing unit 55, the value of the soft part length L can be obtained from the two values of the distances l1 and l2.

The grade judging section 55 includes a thickness F, a soft white portion length L,
The bend amount M and the four elements of the leaf color are compared with, for example, a grade determination table as shown in FIG. 10 to determine the grade of the green onion 9. This grade judgment table is registered in the grade judgment device 5 in advance.

Next, the grade judging device 5 sorts the green onions 9 based on the grade thus judged (step S506). In FIG. 2, the grade determination device 5 transmits an ON signal of the sorting switch 21 to the sorting switch 21 of the corresponding grade in order to sort the grade into the grade sorting line 22 corresponding to the determined class of the green onion 9. As a result, the green onions 9 are sorted into the corresponding sorting conveyors 22 for each grade.
The details of this function will be described later.

If the green onion 9 is out of grade or cannot be graded, it is not sorted on the sorting conveyor 22 but is forcibly sorted on the compulsory delivery conveyor 23.

Next, if there is a change in the producer, the producer data is input again (step S507 → step S507).
To 502).

Next, when the sorting is to be continued, the green onions 9 are introduced again (step S508 → step S50).
503). When Sorting is Completed (Step S508 →
In step S509), the operation end button 42 provided on the control panel 26 is pressed. After pressing the operation end button 42, the sorting conveyor 8 operates for a certain period of time in order to discharge all the onions 9 being gripped, and then stops. After confirming that the sorting conveyor 8 has stopped, the stop is completed by depressing the power-off button 43.

As described above, the onion sorting process and the sorting process are performed according to the work procedure and operation based on the flow shown in FIG.

Next, the onion holding mechanism 25 will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 4 is a detailed view of the onion gripping mechanism 25 provided on the sorting conveyor 8 which is an endless conveyor on a non-tracking track.

In FIG. 4, a plate 8 is provided between two chains 83 with attachments constituting the conveyor 8.
2 are mounted at equal intervals. Each plate 82 is provided with a pair of gripping mechanisms 25. The gripping mechanism 25 includes a Y-shaped jig 80 that holds (grips) the green onion 9 when the upper surface of the sorting conveyor 8 is transported, and a hand 81 that grips the green onion 9 when transporting the lower surface (return side transport).

The green onion 9 is conveyed while being supported at two points by two Y-shaped jigs 80 or hands 81. It is desirable that the Y-shaped jig 80 and the hand 81 have a structure in which a pair of opposed intervals (pitch) X can be changed so as to convey onions 9 of various lengths. The Y-shaped jig 80 and the plate 82
Is painted in black as the background for image processing.

Since the gripping mechanism 25 is configured as described above, the leek 9 is loaded (supplied) and sorted on the upper side of the sorting conveyor 8, that is, on the upper surface transport, and is gripped on the lower surface transported and sorted on the lower surface transport. Done.

FIG. 11 shows a detailed configuration diagram of the onion gripping mechanism 25.

In FIG. 11, the Y-shaped jig 80 is composed of an onion receiving portion 84 and a bracket 85. Green onions
As shown in FIG. 4, 9 is held at two locations of the two onion receiving portions 84, and the bracket 85 secures a certain transport height H (about 40 mm). With this mechanism, the onion 9 can be conveyed without applying any external force without any correction deformation. Although the conventional device had a bucket structure for receiving the onion 9 in a plane, the bending of the onion 9 was corrected, but in the present invention, the bending measurement can be performed without giving the onion 9 a correction deformation. High-precision sorting becomes possible. In addition, since the green onions 9 are floating above the conveying surface of the sorting conveyor, three-dimensional recognition by image processing from multiple directions becomes possible.

The hand 81 for gripping the green onion 9 when transporting the lower surface is gripped by the right claw 86 and the left claw 87.
By arranging the center of gravity 89 of the left claw and the left claw in the position of FIG. 11, it is possible to maintain the state by its own weight without using a special driving device or a mechanical mechanism such as a spring or a magnet.

The closing operation of the hand 81 from the open state is performed by correcting the trajectory of the guide roller 90 attached to the right claw 86 with a guide and closing the claw. Conversely, hand 8
When the kick roller 91 is opened from the closed state, the kick roller 91 attached to the left claw 87 is corrected by a guide (not shown) and a servomotor to correct the trajectory.

The left and right claws 86 and 87 are provided with respective claws 8.
Simultaneous opening and closing is performed by moving one of the claws 86 or 87 via spur gears 92 and 93 attached to the gears 6 and 87. Since the two claws 86 and 87 open and close at the same time, the operating distance of one claw can be minimized, and high-speed opening and closing can be performed.

Since the left and right claws 86 and 87 have different roles, they are formed in unique shapes according to the roles.
The guide roller 90 and the kick roller 91 are arranged at appropriate positions according to the open / closed state of the hand.
Further, since the onion 9 has a curved portion 94 suitable for a normal diameter of 10 to 30 mm, the onion 9 is gripped without being damaged or deformed by this bending.

FIG. 12 shows an operation state diagram of the onion gripping mechanism 25 when the sorting conveyor 8 is transported.

In the set state S301 of the green onion 9, the right claw 86 and the left claw 87 of the hand 81 are weighed by their own weights.
1 is kept open, and the onion is attached to the Y-shaped jig 80.
9 is supplied. The supplied green onion 9 is in the hand open state S3.
02 is transported. In this state, the onion 9 is sorted.

The state of the end face position of the sorting conveyor 8 S303
Then, the hand 81, which is about to be opened by its own weight, is corrected by the hand closing guide S310 to correct the trajectory of the guide roller 90 attached to the right claw 86 so that the hand is closed. The hand closed state S304 to S306 is the sorting conveyor 8
Is a state in which the conveyance at the bottom has changed from the upper surface conveyance to the lower surface conveyance (return side conveyance). This state S304 to S306
Also, the hand closed state is maintained by the hand opening guide S310 and the guide roller 90. As described above, the opening and closing of the claws 86 and 87 are operated via the spur gears 92 and 93. Therefore, if the trajectory of only the guide roller 90 is corrected, the hand 81 can be kept closed.

The hand closed state S307 is the sorting conveyor 8
Hand 8 is completely changed to lower side transfer.
The hand 81 is kept closed by the weight of the right claw 86 and the left claw 87 of FIG.

When the onion 9 is conveyed to the sorting position (S308 in FIG. 12) determined by the sorting conveyor 22 according to the sorting information, the hand 81 releases the hand-closed state by its own weight, and 9 is dropped on the lower sorting conveyor 22. The sorting conveyor 22 is provided with a number of lines corresponding to the number of sorting classes of the green onions 9.

The sorting and dropping is performed by dropping to the position specified by the sorting information among the fixed 10 to 12 falling positions. Release of the hand closed state is performed by the servo motor 96.
And the kick bar 97 is turned by 90 degrees. The kick roller 91 of the hand 81 is kicked by the swiveled kick bar 97 to release the hand closed state, and the hand 81 is opened. Servo motor 96 is 9 ~ 11 depending on the sorting grade
A stand is installed, and the mounting position is also variable.

The hand-closed state S309 is the sorting and dropping position of the green onion 9, but since the green onion 9 is out of the corresponding class, the servo on-motor 96 is passed without being driven. At the forced drop position S310, the onion 9 not corresponding to the grade is forcibly dropped. In the forced drop, the trajectory of the kick roller 91 is corrected by the hand closing guide 24 to keep the hand 81 open, thereby preventing the poorly selected onion 9 from being conveyed to the upper surface of the sorting conveyor 8 again. Hand open state S
Reference numerals 311 to S313 denote states in which the conveyance on the sorting conveyor 8 is changing from lower surface conveyance (return side conveyance) to upper surface conveyance. In this conveyance, the hand open state is maintained by the hand closing guide 24 and the kick roller 91. ing.

The hand open state S314 is the sorting conveyor 8
Hand 8 is completely changed to upper surface transfer.
The hand is held open by the weight of the right claw 86 and the left claw 87 of FIG. 1 and is transported on the upper surface of the sorting conveyor 8 in this state. Then, the green onion 9 is supplied to the hand 81 that has sorted and dropped the green onion 9 again.

As described above, the onion 9 is sorted and the hand is opened and closed except when it is dropped, and the state of the hand 81 is maintained by the weight of the guide and the claw of the hand, so that the onion 9 can be gripped without using a special driving device. .

As described above, according to the present invention, the sorting conveyor, which is an endless conveyor, is provided with a gripping mechanism for the onion, and when the upper surface of the sorting conveyor is transported, the gripping mechanism grips the green onion to perform the sorting process. During transportation, the onion is released from the gripping mechanism to perform the sorting process. Accordingly, the size of the sorting and sorting apparatus can be reduced, and the possibility of damaging the onions can be significantly reduced because the onions are dropped (opened from the gripping mechanism) from the lower surface of the sorting conveyor.

In the above embodiment, the gripping mechanism for gripping the green onion at two points is composed of simple parts such as a hand and a Y-shaped jig, so that a simple configuration without a special driving mechanism is required. Can be used to hold onions. Since the onion can be gripped without deformation, sorting can be performed with high accuracy.

Although the above embodiment has been described with reference to the case of long onion as a long agricultural product, the same applies to long agricultural products such as asparagus, burdock, carrot, butterbur, etc. Obviously you can do that.

Further, it is needless to say that the class determination may be performed by other means instead of the image processing.

[0080]

According to the present invention, the apparatus for sorting and sorting long agricultural products can be downsized, the installation area can be reduced, and the possibility of damaging the long agricultural products can be significantly reduced. The effect of the present invention is particularly remarkable when the present invention is used for sorting and sorting soft and long agricultural products.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an onion sorting / sorting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a layout diagram of a photographing camera.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an onion holding mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a detailed configuration diagram of the image reading apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a detailed functional block diagram of the class determination device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image obtained by measuring the thickness of an onion;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of an image of the onion tip position measurement.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of an image of a soft-blanch portion measurement of onion.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a judgment class of onion.

FIG. 11 is a detailed enlarged configuration diagram of a gripping mechanism.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of an operation state of a gripping mechanism.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating the principle of measuring the length of the soft-blanch portion of onion.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of an image obtained by measuring the bending of a green onion;

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating the principle of measuring the bending of a green onion;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Automatic peeling apparatus, 2 ... Supply conveyor, 4 ... Image reading apparatus, 5 ... Grade judgment apparatus, 7 ... Sorting and sorting control apparatus, 8
... sorting conveyor, 9 ... leek, 10 ... worker, 11 ... loading work table, 22 ... sorting conveyor, 23 ... forced delivery conveyor, 25 ... leek holding mechanism, 30 ... image processing device, 32 ... performance collecting personal computer, 33 Data input terminal

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kenji Tsuchiya 5-2-1 Omika-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside the Omika Plant, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroyasu Kato 4-6-6 Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Address: Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroshi Yagi 4-6, Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Tomotaka Ayukawa 4-6, Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Kiyoshi Naoka 3-2-2, Sachimachi, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Within Hitachi Engineering Services Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toshiaki Tango 3-2-2, Sachimachi, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Co., Ltd. F term in Hitachi Engineering Services (reference) 2F065 AA21 AA26 AA46 BB06 BB15 CC00 FF04 JJ03 JJ05 JJ08 JJ09 QQ04 QQ31 TT01 3F079 AC23 CA18 CA21 CA24 CA32 CB25 CB30 CB35 DA16

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A sorting conveyor comprising an endless conveyor for transporting a long agricultural product, provided on the sorting conveyor,
Gripping means for gripping the long agricultural products one by one at predetermined intervals at a position floating from the sorting conveyor surface, and the long agricultural product being gripped by the gripping means when the upper surface of the sorting conveyor is transported. Take an image of the shaku produce, image processing device to measure the length, thickness, and bend of the long produce by image processing, and the length, thickness, and bend including the bend measured by the image processing device. A grade judging device for judging the grade of the long agricultural product, a sorting device provided below the sorting conveyor for sorting the long agricultural products by grade, and the long agricultural product being gripped based on a sorting result of the grade judging device. When the lower surface of the sorting conveyor is conveyed while being gripped by the means, the gripping by the gripping means is released so that the long agricultural product is dropped so as to be sorted by the sorting device of the corresponding grade. A sorting and sorting device for long agricultural products, comprising a sorting and sorting control device. 2. A sorting conveyor comprising an endless conveyor for transporting a long agricultural product, provided on the sorting conveyor,
Gripping means for gripping the long agricultural products one by one at predetermined intervals at a position floating from the sorting conveyor surface; and An image of a shaku produce is taken by two cameras having an angle of 90 degrees with respect to the photographing center direction, and the values of the bends of the long produce are obtained from the images taken by the two cameras, and from the values of these two bends, An image processing device that measures the entire bend, a grade determination device that determines the grade of the long agricultural product including the bend measured by the image processing device, and a grade determination device that is provided under the sorting conveyor, and classifies the long agricultural product. A sorting device that sorts separately, based on a sorting result of the grade determining device, the long agricultural product is gripped by the gripping means in a state where the lower surface of the sorting conveyor is gripped by the gripping means, A sorting and sorting control device for releasing the grip by the gripping means and dropping the long agricultural product so as to sort into the sorting device.