JP2001276749A - Per-class measurement/tabulation device for agricultural product - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To completely automate a measurement/tabulation operation and the like after sorting out an agricultural product per class. SOLUTION: The automated per-class sorting device for an agricultural product comprises a class identifying device 3 for the agricultural product and a sorting device 4 for accumulating the agricultural product whose class is identified in containers 5 assigned per class, connected to each other by means of a trap conveyor 1. In this sorting device, a weight measuring device is provided on each of the containers 5. Thus, the sorting device is constituted so as to indicate at least the shipping amount of the agricultural product per class and the total shipping amount as a per-class measurement/tabulation device for the agricultural product.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus which completely automates sorting and sorting of agricultural products according to grades based on arbitrarily set quality standards and weighing and totaling the yield.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Crops such as vegetables, fruits and cereals are classified according to a certain standard, and when they are shipped to the market after harvesting, they are based on sizes such as S, M, L and 2L. It is customary to carry out classification work based on grades and grades based on quality such as excellent, excellent, good, and unselected.
Recently, an apparatus for automatically performing such a sorting operation has been developed and is being put to practical use. The present inventor has also previously proposed a device for optically discriminating the shape, color and the like of long-stem vegetables such as asparagus, garlic stalk, butterbur, burdock, carrot, radish and leek, and automatically selecting the grades (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-5663
No. 5).

[0003] The apparatus for sorting long-stalked vegetables described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-56635 is a shaping apparatus for aligning long-stalked vegetables to a predetermined length, and a grade of the long-stalked vegetables sent from the shaping apparatus to C.
A class discriminating device for discriminating by image processing using a CD camera, a sorting device for dropping crops whose class has been discriminated on a weighing hopper corresponding to each class, and a trap for transporting longstalk vegetables between these devices It is roughly composed of a conveyor. In this device, the long-stem vegetables whose lengths have been trimmed and classified into equal ranks are dropped onto each weighing hopper one by one by a trap conveyor, and discharged to a shooter every time a certain amount is collected in the weighing hopper. Then, it is configured to be sent to the next binding device.

[0004]

However, according to the sorting apparatus provided conventionally, only the grade-approved agricultural products are accumulated in container containers or the like prepared for each grade, and each grade is classified. It was not enough to measure the weight of the crops sorted by each. Therefore, in order to know the amount of agricultural products to be shipped for each class, new work was required separately, such as weighing each container using a measuring instrument after sorting. .

[0005] In this respect, the inventor of the present invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
In the long-stalk vegetable sorting device described in No. 6635, it is possible to measure the agricultural products sorted for each rank by the measuring hopper in the device. However, the weighing hopper functions only to measure the quantity of each bundle, which is a shipping unit, and cannot use the measured numerical value. It is necessary for producers to know the total amount of crops that they have shipped, in addition to the amount of crops for each grade, but the work of summarizing the amount of crops is still cumbersome, even using a calculator. They had to do it with calculations.

Further, depending on the circumstances of the agricultural product collection site, there are many cases where the binding devices are not connected to the automatic sorting device but are installed as independent devices. In this case, the agricultural products that have been graded by the automatic sorting device are sorted into container containers prepared for each grade, and the container containers are manually conveyed to the binding device. A trap conveyor is used to transport and drop the selected crops to each container container, but when replacing a full container container with an empty container, the empty container is not in time,
In many cases, crops fell out of the container containers from the continuously operating trap conveyor, damaging the crops.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a first object of the present invention is to completely automate the work of weighing and counting after sorting and sorting of agricultural products. A second object is to prevent an inadvertent drop of agricultural products when replacing container containers.

[0008]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, first, means for classifying agricultural products into equal ranks, and the crops having been classified into the same ranks are stored in container containers assigned to the respective ranks. In an automatic crop classifying apparatus that is connected to a sorting means for accumulation by a transport means,
By providing weight measurement means for each container container,
A grading and summarizing device for each class of agricultural products, which displays at least the amount of agricultural products shipped per each class and the total amount of the agricultural products.

Therefore, in the device according to the present invention, the agricultural products accumulated in each container container for each class are automatically weighed by the weight measuring means provided for each container container, and the measured value is measured by the device. Since the information is displayed on the monitor screen or the printer output, there is no need to separately perform weighing work. Therefore, a complicated weighing operation is omitted, and a totalizing operation of the weighed values is not required, so that the efficiency of the sorting operation is remarkably improved and no artificial calculation error occurs. The measured value obtained by the weight measuring means may be integrated and stored in a storage means such as a memory or a hard disk (HD) provided in the apparatus, or, for example, text data may be used as shipping data for general-purpose personal computers. The data may be converted into data and the like, and may be formed so as to be output via a storage medium such as a flexible disk (FD) or a communication cable.

[0010] In the invention according to claim 2, a trap conveyor is used as a transport means in the grading and counting device for the same grade of agricultural products, and the container is opened and closed between the container containers placed below the trap conveyor. A possible shutter device was provided so that when the shutter device was closed, the crops could be temporarily stored on the shutter plate. When the container containers that hold the crops that are sorted for each grade are full and are to be replaced with empty containers, the shutter plates in the shutter device are closed, and the crops that continuously fall from the trap conveyor are placed on the shutter plates. Can be stored temporarily. And by restarting the shutter plate after replacing the container container,
The crops can be stored and accumulated in a container without being damaged or dissipated.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An apparatus for weighing and summarizing agricultural products according to the present invention according to the present invention will be described below, using asparagus as an example of agricultural products that are classified according to the same hierarchy.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an apparatus for weighing and totaling agricultural products according to the same rank according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the apparatus of this example includes a trap conveyor 1 as a transporting means, and a shaping apparatus 2 arranged near the center of the apparatus to trim the length of asparagus and a discriminating apparatus 3 as asparagus classifying means. ,
The trap conveyor 1 is used to roughly connect each of the sorting devices 4 as sorting means for asparagus disposed on the rear end side.

First, an operator who performs a sorting operation using the apparatus first randomly places asparagus to be sorted on a mounting table 11 arranged at an inclination on the front end side of the trap conveyor 1, and manually operates asparagus one by one. And place it on the trap conveyor 1.
While being transported by the trap conveyor 1, the asparagus passes through the shaping device 2, the discriminating device 3, and the sorting device 4, and falls into the container containers 5 for each grade placed in the sorting device 4. .

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged plan view showing details of the trap conveyor 1, and outline arrows show the traveling direction of the conveyor. 3 is a side view as viewed in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a side view as viewed in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 2, and FIG.
It is an arrow side view. As shown in these figures, the trap conveyor 1 is formed by a large number of trap plates 12 having both ends suspended and fixed between two parallel transport chains 13. A substantially U-shaped member in which a left base 121 located on the left side in the traveling direction and a right base 122 located on the right side in the conveyor traveling direction are connected by a stay, and a rotating shaft 124 is provided for these left base 121 and right base 122. A mounting plate 123 having both ends pivotally supported through the mounting plate 123;
It is composed of two mounting rods 125 and a mounting plate 126 that extend further on the opposite side in the traveling direction. The mounting rod 125 and the mounting plate 126 are both formed in a substantially V-shape in side view so that the asparagus 6 can be stably mounted.

On the left base 121 side of each trap plate 12, a baffle plate 127 is vertically provided from an end of the mounting plate 123.
The baffle plate 127 has an inclined surface directed in the direction of travel of the conveyor, and a magnet catch 129 is provided at the base of the baffle plate 127. The left base fixed to the transport chain 13 corresponding to the magnet catch 129 is provided. An adsorbing plate 128 extends from 121. Therefore, when transporting asparagus 6,
Although the upper surface of the magnet catch 129 is in a state of being attracted to the lower surface of the attracting plate 128, as described later, when the roller rides on the inclined surface of the baffle plate 127 by the reciprocating operation of the solenoid, the magnet catch 129 is pushed downward. The suction state is released. Each trap plate 12 is designed to be heavier on the traveling direction side than the rotating shaft 124 by the amount that the loading rod 125 and the loading plate 126 protrude, so that when the attracted state of the magnet catch 129 is released, As a result, the asparallel 6 placed on the trap plate 12 falls as a result of the downward movement of the trap plate 12 in the traveling direction.

Asparagus 6 placed on trap plate 12
Is transported along with the rotation operation of the transport chain 13, and first reaches the shaping device 2. The shaping device 2 is provided to cut the root side and trim the asparagus 6 from the tip to a fixed length, and a rotary cutter 21 as a cutting blade.
It has. FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the internal mechanism of the shaping device 2 in the apparatus of the present embodiment. The asparallel 6 placed on each trap plate 12 of the trap conveyor 1 is driven by a drive shaft 22 linked to a motor or the like. The state where the root side of the asparagus 6 is cut off by the contact of the rotary cutter 21 that rotates due to the rotation of the asparagus 6 is shown.

In the shaping apparatus 2 of this embodiment, a sponge roll 23 having a diameter larger than that of the rotary cutter 21 is disposed so as to be located slightly behind the rotary cutter 21 in the traveling direction of the conveyor. The sponge roll 23 abuts the asparagus 6 a little earlier than the rotary cutter 21,
As the asparagus 6 is held down, the rotary cutter 13
When the abutment comes into contact, the root can be reliably cut without the asparagus 6 dancing.

The drive shaft 22 of the rotary cutter 21 and the rotating shaft 24 of the sponge roll 23 are all supported at the end side.
The arms 27 and 28 are attached to the distal ends of the arms 27 and 28 which are pivotally supported by the arms 25 and 26.
By rotating a and 29b, the vertical position can be adjusted. Therefore, the handle mechanism
The position where the rotary cutter 21 or the sponge roll 23 comes into contact with the asparagus 6 can be set to an optimum position only by rotating the 29a and 29b.

The asparagus 6 whose length from the tip is adjusted by the shaping device 2 is further transported along with the rotation of the transport chain 13, and reaches the discriminating device 3 for judging the rank of the asparagus 6. As shown in FIG. 7, the discriminating device 3 in the present example is configured to classify the asparagus 6 of the asparagus 6 passing through the device while being placed and transported on the trap conveyor 1.
The determination is made by optical image processing using a CCD camera 31 and an illumination 32 provided on the trap conveyor 1.

In the case of asparagus, not only the size but also the presence or absence of a bend, whether the tip is not open, and the color of the root determine the grade. Therefore, in the discriminating device 3 of this example, a plurality of CCD cameras 31 are installed in the vertical direction and the left and right diagonal directions, and the opening degree of the tip is determined by the CCD camera 31 installed in the vertical direction, and the CCD cameras 31 are installed diagonally in the left and right directions. The configuration is such that the presence or absence of a bend is determined by two CCD cameras 31. Although not shown, one CCD camera for determining the root color may be added. When the CCD camera 31 is added, the illumination 32 is also added. It is desirable that the CCD camera 31 and the illumination 32 be configured so that the installation angle can be changed for fine adjustment.

The photographing information of the CCD camera 31 is transmitted to the discriminating device 3
Is stored in the control device of the present invention or stored in the central control device in the grading and counting device of the agricultural products according to the present invention, and stored and calculated.
Is determined. The determined rank information of the asparagus 6 is stored in correspondence with the trap plate 12 and transmitted to the sorting device 4.

The asparagus 6 of which the rank has been determined is further conveyed by the trap conveyor 1 and is sorted in the final stage of the sorting apparatus 4.
Sent to. FIG. 8 is a side view showing an example of the sorting device 4. As shown, the sorting device 4 is a drop device.
It is schematically composed of a shutter 41 and a shutter device 42. The dropping devices 41 are provided by the number of the classes to be sorted, and a shutter device 42 is disposed below the dropping device 41, and further below the shutter device 42, the container container 5 is disposed.
Are arranged side by side. Therefore, the asparagus 6 transported to the sorting device 4 by the trap conveyor 1
When the trap plate 12 is rotated by the action of the drop device 41 corresponding to the class discrimination information, the trap plate 12 falls through the shutter device 42 into the container 5. The container 5 is placed on a load cell 43 as a weight measuring means.
The amount of the asparagus 6 that has fallen to is measured.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the sorting device of the example shown in FIG. 8, and FIG. 10 is a partially enlarged view of the sorting device in the vicinity of a dropping device. As shown in the figure, the dropping device 41 is constituted by a solenoid 411 that moves quickly by an electric signal, and a pendulum arm 412 that swings on the trap conveyor 1 in the width direction as the solenoid 411 moves forward and backward.
The class discrimination information in the discriminating device 3 is transmitted to the solenoid 411 as an electric signal corresponding to the trap plate 12. In a normal state, the solenoid 411 is in an extended state, and the pendulum arm 412 faces inward to the trap plate 12 (a position indicated by a broken line in FIG. 10), so that the trap plate 12 passes through the drop device 41. When an electric signal is transmitted and the solenoid 411 attracts, the pendulum arm 412 descends to the vertical position. A roller 413 that rotates in the vertical direction is axially mounted on the tip of the pendulum arm 412, and the roller 413 rides on the baffle plate 127 extended from the trap plate 12 when the pendulum arm 412 descends. When the baffle plate 127 is pressed down, the suction between the suction plate 128 and the magnet catch 129 is released, and as a result, the trap plate 1
2 rotates downward by its own weight, and the asparagus 6 falls into the container 5.

When the equal class discrimination signal is not transmitted and none of the solenoids 411 is operated, it is discharged from the final end chute 44 (see FIG. 1) as a nonstandard product. Due to the rotation of the transport chain 13, the trap plate 12 circulates toward the first mounting table 11, but the trap plate 12 is rotated to drop the asparagus 6 and is suspended.
Means that the magnet catch 129 adheres to the suction plate again,
It has returned to the transportable state.

The asparagus 6 accumulated in the container 5 corresponding to each class is loaded with a load cell as a weight measuring means.
Automatically weighed by 43. At this time, the load cell 43 is set to exclude the weight of the container container 5 in consideration of the own weight of the container container 5. 1 for each class
The weight measurement data for each of the container containers 5 is transmitted to the control device, and when the container containers 5 are replaced, the weight measurement data is accumulated and recorded unless initialization is performed.

In the weighing and summarizing apparatus for agricultural products according to the same rank according to the present invention, a shutter device 42 is disposed between the trap conveyor 1 and the container container 5 for temporarily storing the agricultural products when the container container is replaced. . The shutter device 42 includes two shutter plates 422 and 423 that are manually opened and closed by an operation handle 421 using a link mechanism. FIG. 11 is a partially enlarged perspective view of the vicinity of the shutter device 42.
It is shown. The replacement timing of the container 5
Utilizing the weight measurement data by the load cell 43, an alarm lamp 424 is turned on to notify the worker when the asparagus 6 is accumulated to near the capacity of the container container 5. A warning by sound such as a buzzer may be used together with the alarm lamp 424.

FIGS. 12A and 12B are partially enlarged side views of the shutter device 42. FIG. 12A shows the shutter plates 422 and 423 closed, and FIG. 12B shows the shutter plates 422 and 423 opened. The two shutter plates 422, 423 are rotatably mounted on the support shafts 425, 426, respectively, and when the operation handle 421 is pulled up, the respective leading end portions of the shutter plates 422, 423 are drawn, and both leading end portions are pulled. In a closed state. In the shutter plates 422 and 423 of this example, the respective leading end portions are formed in a comb-teeth shape so that no gap is formed, but all may be formed as a single plate.

The asparagus 6 that has fallen on the closed shutter plates 422 and 423 is temporarily stored as shown in FIG. When the container 5 is replaced and then the operation handle 421 is pulled down, both ends of the shutter plates 422 and 423 are opened, and the asparagus 6 falls down and is put into the replaced container 5. As described above, the two shutter plates 422 and 423 are attached with the respective support shafts 425 and 426 as fulcrums, are connected to each other by the link mechanism 427, and are formed to be openable and closable only by the vertical movement of one operation handle 421. I have. The operation handle 421 is in a lowered state when the shutter plates 422, 423 are opened,
Since the setting is made so that the container container 5 cannot be taken in and out, it is possible to prevent the container container 5 from being pulled out inadvertently with the shutter plates 422 and 423 opened. Further, since the up / down operation of the operation handle 421 means the replacement of the container 5, the measurement data by the load cell 43 can be integrated by the up / down operation of the operation handle 421.

As described above, the weight of the asparagus 6 for each class measured by the load cell 43 is output from the control device in the device to the output device. The output device includes a display screen such as a CRT or a liquid crystal, and a printing device. In the example of FIG. 1, a display unit 7 is provided upright on the discriminating device 3, and the display unit 7 is configured to display a measured weight, a total weight, and the like for each class. The display unit 7 can also be used as an input device. By inputting the name or the like of the producer who has completed the sorting operation, the weight of the asparagus 6 shipped by the producer and the weight of the asparagus 6 can be displayed. The total weight will be displayed. These displayed measurement data can be further printed out using a printing device.

[0029]

According to the present invention, the agricultural products automatically classified into the same rank can be obtained by using the apparatus for weighing and summarizing the crops according to the same rank.
The weight is automatically measured for each class, and the measured value, total weight, and the like are displayed and printed by an output device. Therefore, complicated weighing work is not required at all, and the shipping work is streamlined, and there is no calculation error accompanying the calculation of the total weight.

Using the recorded measurement data,
Starting with calculating the amount to be paid by the shipping site to each producer,
The production / shipment guidance by determining the grade ratio of the crops shipped by each producer, and the grade ratio and shipping volume per unit period, such as monthly and yearly, can be transferred to a general-purpose personal computer, etc. Can be used for

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an apparatus for weighing and summarizing agricultural products according to the same rank according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged plan view showing details of a trap conveyor in the apparatus of the example of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view as viewed from an arrow A in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side view as viewed in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a side view as viewed in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view showing an internal mechanism of the shaping device in the device of the example of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view showing an internal mechanism of the discriminating device in the device of the example of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing an example of a sorting apparatus in the apparatus of the example of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the sorting apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a partially enlarged view of the vicinity of a dropping device in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a partially enlarged perspective view of the vicinity of a shutter device.

FIG. 12 is a partially enlarged side view of the shutter device;
(a) shows when the shutter plates 422 and 423 are closed, and (b) shows when the shutter plates 422 and 423 are opened.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 trap conveyor 2 shaping device 3 discriminating device 4 sorting device 5 container container 6 asparagus 7 display unit 42 shutter device 43 load cell 422, 423 shutter plate

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An automatic crop cultivating apparatus comprising: means for transporting crop grades by means of transport means; and means for classifying the grades of the crops and sorting means for accumulating the graded crops in container containers assigned to each grade. An apparatus for weighing and summarizing agricultural products by grade, wherein the weight sorting means is provided for each container in the class sorting device to display at least the amount of agricultural products shipped for each class and the total amount of the agricultural products. 2. The transport means is a trap conveyor,
A shutter device that can be opened and closed is provided between each container container placed below the trap conveyor, and when the shutter device is closed, agricultural products are temporarily stored on a shutter plate. An apparatus for weighing and counting agricultural crops according to the same rank according to claim 1.