JP2002071439A - Combinational measuring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a combinational measuring device furnished with a booster hopper just below its measuring hopper for minimizing the quantity of objects to be discharged when an over-scale of the measuring hopper occurs. SOLUTION: The combinational measuring device 1 is provided with plural measuring hoppers 5 to measure the quantity of thrown-in objects, a booster hopper 6 and a control section. The booster hopper 6 is placed just below the measuring hoppers 5 to hold the objects measured by the measuring hoppers 5. The control section runs a combinational operation using both measurement values of those objects in the measuring hoppers 5 and in the booster hopper 6. In this combinational operation, a total amount of measurements for both objects discharged from the selected measuring hopper 5 and from the booster hopper 6 shall be the fixed limit. Additionally if a measurement of an object in any measuring hopper 5 exceeds its upper limit, the control section shall issue warning after the object removed into the booster hopper 6 located just under the measuring hopper 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a combination weighing device,
In particular, a combination operation is performed from the weighed value of the weighing object in the weighing hopper and the weighed value of the weighing object in the booster hopper, and the sum of the measured values of the weighing objects discharged from the selected weighing hopper and the booster hopper is calculated. The present invention relates to a combination weighing device that sets a value within a predetermined range.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is generally considered desirable to perform combination weighing in order to perform weighing at high speed and with high accuracy. In combination weighing, the weight and number of articles stored in each of a plurality of weighing hoppers are weighed by a load cell (weight detector), and a combination calculation of the weighed values is performed to select a plurality of hoppers having a weight within a predetermined range. The articles are collected from these hoppers. As a result, an aggregate of a predetermined weight or a predetermined number of articles can be obtained.

An apparatus for performing such combination weighing is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-56312. In this apparatus, a booster hopper is provided below a weighing hopper having two gates in order to increase the number of hoppers participating in the combination operation and improve the weighing accuracy, and the article is opened when one of the weighing hopper gates is opened. From the weighing hopper to the booster hopper. At the time of the combination calculation, a combination calculation is performed using the weighing data of the article in the weighing hopper and the weighing data of the article in the booster hopper, and the other gate of the weighing hopper or the gate of the booster hopper is opened to obtain a predetermined amount. Collect the goods that will be.

In a combination weighing apparatus having a booster hopper as described above, an amount of articles exceeding a target value of the combination calculation is thrown into the weighing hopper (hereinafter, referred to as overscale of the weighing hopper). is there. In such a case, there is no possibility that the weighing hopper is selected in the combination calculation, and the number of hoppers participating in the combination calculation is substantially reduced. To prevent this,
Conventionally, when overscale of the weighing hopper occurs, a warning is immediately issued to urge the discharge of the overscale article.

[0005]

In recent combination weighing apparatuses having a booster hopper, a booster hopper is provided directly below the weighing hopper in order to make the apparatus compact and simplify the structure of the weighing hopper. Some devices have a configuration in which articles falling from the hopper always enter the booster hopper. Here, there is a disadvantage that the weighing hopper cannot be selected unless the booster hopper immediately below is selected in the combination calculation. However, the number of hoppers participating in the combination calculation is larger than that of a device including only the weighing hopper. Also, there is no need to provide two gates in the weighing hopper, and the apparatus is compact because the booster hopper is located directly below the weighing hopper.

However, when such conventional combination weighing apparatus is applied with the conventional control for immediately issuing a warning when the weighing hopper is overscaled, a problem occurs. If a warning is issued by overscaling, the discharging process will be performed next. To discharge the items in the overscaled weighing hopper, the booster hopper immediately below the hopper must be opened. Due to the failure of one of the weighing hoppers, the articles in the booster hopper containing the positive quantity of articles are also discharged.
In this case, the amount of articles to be discharged becomes unnecessarily large.

An object of the present invention is to provide a combination weighing apparatus in which a booster hopper is provided immediately below a weighing hopper.
An object of the present invention is to reduce the amount of articles to be discharged when an overscale of a weighing hopper occurs.

[0008]

A combination weighing device according to a first aspect includes a plurality of weighing hoppers, a booster hopper, and a control unit. The weighing hopper weighs the object to be weighed. The booster hopper is disposed directly below the weighing hopper, and holds an object to be weighed by the weighing hopper. The control unit performs a combination calculation from the weighed value of the object in the weighing hopper and the weighed value of the object in the booster hopper. In this combination calculation, the sum of the measured values of the objects to be weighed discharged from the selected weighing hopper and booster hopper is set to a value within a predetermined range. When the measured value of the object in any one of the weighing hoppers exceeds the upper limit, the control unit stops the apparatus or issues a warning after the object is transferred to the booster hopper immediately below the weighing hopper. Is issued.

In this case, even when an object to be weighed exceeding the upper limit value is thrown into the weighing hopper, that is, in the case of over-scale, the apparatus is not immediately stopped or a warning is issued, and the object to be weighed is placed in the booster. After moving to the hopper, stop the device or issue a warning.

More specifically, for example, it is conceivable that the booster hopper is emptied by continuing the combination calculation, and a warning is issued after the overscaled object comes down to the booster hopper. With this configuration, the objects to be weighed that have been in the booster hopper at the time of the overscale participate in the combination calculation and exit and do not merge with the objects to be weighed discharged in the overscale. Therefore,
The amount of the object to be weighed which is discharged by the overscale is reduced.

The weighing hoppers may be arranged on the circumference or on a straight line. The combination weighing device according to claim 2 is the combination weighing device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to, when a measured value of an object to be weighed in any one of the weighing hoppers exceeds an upper limit value, The combination operation is performed with priority given to the booster hopper immediately below the hopper, and after the booster hopper becomes empty, the objects to be weighed exceeding the upper limit are transferred to the booster hopper.

Here, the combination calculation is continued even after the overscale occurs, the booster hopper is emptied, and then the overscale weighing object in the weighing hopper is moved. However, in this case, a combination calculation is usually performed a plurality of times after the overscaling is performed and before the device is stopped or a warning is issued. In the combination calculation during this time, the weighing hopper that is overscaled does not substantially participate in the combination calculation, so that the accuracy of the combination weighing is slightly reduced.

In order to suppress this, in the apparatus according to the second aspect, the combination operation is performed by giving priority to the booster hopper immediately below the overscaled weighing hopper. For this reason, the booster hopper immediately below the overscaled weighing hopper is emptied relatively quickly, and the stoppage of the apparatus or the issuance of a warning is quickened. This reduces the number of combination calculations in which the overscaled weighing hopper does not substantially participate.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS <Structure of Combination Weighing Apparatus> A combination weighing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. The combination weighing device 1 is a weighing device that sorts articles such as food into each of the weighing hoppers and the booster hoppers, selects a hopper so that the total of the weighed values becomes a target value, and collects the articles for each predetermined weight. . Combination weighing device 1
Mainly include an upper table 2, a plurality of supply feeders 3, a plurality of pool hoppers 4, and a plurality of weighing hoppers 5.
, A plurality of booster hoppers 6, and a lowermost conveyor 7
, A drive box 8 and a control box 9.

The table 2 is formed as a rectangular tray on which articles can be stocked. Table 2
In the front part of the bottom surface, a plurality of input ports for inputting the articles on the table 2 to the respective supply feeders 3 are opened at equal intervals. A plurality of supply feeders 3 corresponding to the respective inlets are arranged below the inlets in a straight line in the horizontal direction.

As shown in FIG. 3, the supply feeder 3 mainly comprises an electromagnetic vibration device 3a and an inclined trough 3b. The inclined trough 3b whose tip side (the left side in FIG. 3) is at a low level has its rear part supported by the vibrating part of the electromagnetic vibration device 3a. When the electromagnetic vibration device 3a applies vibration to the inclined trough 3b, vibration is also applied to an article put into the rear part of the inclined trough 3b from the table 2, and the article is conveyed to the tip end side of the inclined trough 3b.

The pool hopper 4 is provided at a lower part of the leading end of each supply feeder 3 and temporarily stores articles supplied from each feeder 3. The weighing hoppers 5 are arranged directly below the pool hoppers 4, and receive and measure the articles discharged from the pool hoppers 4.

The booster hoppers 6 are disposed directly below the respective weighing hoppers 5 and temporarily store articles discharged from the respective weighing hoppers 5. The articles stored in the booster hopper 6 participate in the combination calculation together with the articles in the weighing hopper 5.

The structures of the pool hopper 4, the weighing hopper 5, and the booster hopper 6 are substantially the same. Each hopper is composed of a cylindrical main body formed of a synthetic resin and communicating vertically, and a gate attached to the lower surface of the main body so as to be openable and closable. Each hopper can store articles in the hopper body when the gate is closed, and discharges the stored articles downward when the gate is opened.

The weighing hopper 5 has a load cell 10 in a drive box 8 as shown in FIG.
The load cell 10 measures the weight of the article in the weighing hopper 5 and transmits the measured value to a control unit 90 in the control box 9 described later.

The conveyor 7 horizontally conveys the articles discharged from the booster hopper 6 and places the articles at one location (a discharge chute 1).
Collect in 2). As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the funnel-shaped discharge chute 12 is provided between the left and right conveyors 7 and guides the articles falling from the ends of the conveyor 7 downward without scattering them around. .

Further, the electromagnetic vibration device 3 of the supply feeder 3
a, a drive motor for opening and closing the gates of the hoppers 4, 5, and 6, a drive motor for the conveyor 7, a load cell for the weighing hopper 5, and the like are arranged in the drive box 8. A support 9a for supporting the control box 9 is fixed to the side of the drive box 8. The control section 90 in the control box 9 is connected to each section by the connection cord in the support 9a as shown in FIG.

The control box 9 includes a control unit 90 housed therein and a touch-type operation panel 95. The control unit 90 includes a CPU 91, a ROM 92, an R
It comprises an AM 93, an HDD 94, etc., and is connected to each section as shown in FIG. The control unit 90 performs a process such as a combination operation based on the measurement data from the load cell 10 and controls the operation of each unit. The operation panel 95 plays a role of an input unit that receives an input from the operator, and also plays a role of a display unit that performs various displays. A display screen 9 is displayed in the operation panel 95.
5a is included.

<Normal Operation of Combination Weighing Apparatus> Next, normal operation of the combination weighing apparatus 1 will be described. First, an operator standing behind the combination weighing device 1 supplies an appropriate amount of articles stocked on the table 2 to the supply feeder 3 from the plurality of input ports in a unit amount. The supplied articles are supplied to the pool hoppers 4 corresponding to the respective inclined troughs 3b via the inclined troughs 3b of the supply feeder 3.

When there is no article in the weighing hopper 5 below the pool hopper 4, the gate of the pool hopper 4 opens and the article is discharged to the weighing hopper 5. Weighing hopper 5
Is detected by the load cell 10 and sent to the control unit 90 for storage.

When there is no article in the booster hopper 6 below the weighing hopper 5, after detecting the weight, the gate of the weighing hopper 5 opens and the article is discharged to the booster hopper 6. When the weighing hopper 5 becomes empty in this way, articles are supplied from the pool hopper 4 into the weighing hopper 5. The weight of this article is also detected by the load cell 10 and the control unit 9
0 and stored. That is, the control unit 90 stores the previously measured weight value of the article currently in the booster hopper 6 and the currently measured weight value of the article in the current hopper 5.

Such an operation is performed for each head composed of the pool hopper 4, the weighing hopper 5, and the booster hopper 6. Each time the weighing hopper 5 and the booster hopper 6 discharge an article and a new article is supplied, the data of the measurement value stored in each of the hoppers 5 and 6 is updated.

Then, the control unit 90 performs a combination calculation based on the measurement value data in the weighing hopper 5 and the booster hopper 6 so that the total weight approaches a preset target weight. That is, the control unit 90 selects several hoppers that are the most suitable combination from the weighing hoppers 5 and the booster hoppers 6 in the 10 rows, and the weight of the collective article matches the target weight, or the target weight falls within the allowable range. Try to be close to weight.

However, in order to select the measurement data of the article currently in the weighing hopper 5, it is necessary that the measurement data of the booster hopper 6 below the weighing hopper 5 is also selected. In the combination calculation, the lower booster hopper 6 is given priority over the upper weighing hopper 5 within an allowable range.

When a combination of hoppers is selected, the gates of the corresponding hoppers are opened, and the articles are discharged onto the conveyor 7 from those hoppers. In the case of a combination of only the booster hoppers 6, articles are supplied from the weighing hopper 5 to the empty booster hopper 6. When the combination includes the weighing hopper 5, the articles in the weighing hopper 5 are discharged together with the articles into the booster hopper 6 thereunder.

Then, after the new article is weighed by the weighing hopper 5, the article is supplied to the booster hopper 6. The articles discharged on the conveyor 7 are conveyed by the conveyor 7 and dropped into the discharge chute 12.

<Control of Combination Weighing Apparatus at Overscale> Next, the control when an article exceeding a predetermined weight is put into the weighing hopper 5 and the scale becomes overscale will be described with reference to FIGS. This will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step S1 of FIG. 5, it is determined whether or not there is a combination calculation start command, and if so, the process proceeds to step S2. In step S2, it is determined whether or not an overscale has occurred in the weighing hopper (WH) 5. If an overscale has occurred, the process proceeds to step S3, and the weighing hopper having the overscale has been set. 5 is excluded from the subject of combination weighing. If it is determined in step S2 that overscale has not occurred, step S3 is skipped and the process proceeds to step S4.

In step S4, the booster hopper (B
H) In 6 it is determined whether or not overscaling has occurred. If overscaling has occurred, the process proceeds to step S7. In step S7, a warning is issued, and the gate of the oversized booster hopper 6 is opened. In issuing a warning, a buzzer (not shown) sounds a warning sound and a display screen 95a indicates that the scale is overscaled. After step S7 is completed, the process proceeds to step S8 without performing combination weighing, and replenishment processing is performed. If it is determined in step S4 that overscaling has not occurred, step S5
Then, the combination weighing is executed, and the gate of the hopper selected in step S6 is opened.

In the combination weighing in step S5, several hoppers having the optimum combination are selected. When it is determined in step S2 that the weighing hopper 5 is overscaled, the hopper 5 is placed immediately below the weighing hopper 5. A combination operation is performed by giving priority to a certain booster hopper 6.

Since the articles have been discharged from at least the booster hopper 6 in steps S6 and S7, a replenishment process for replenishing the articles to the booster hopper 6 and the weighing hopper 5 is performed in step S8.

In the replenishment process, as shown in FIG. 6, first, in step S11, it is determined whether or not "the booster hopper 6 is empty or the booster hopper 6 is opened in step S6". Here, "Booster hopper 6
Is empty or opened in step S6. "
In this case, the process proceeds to step S12. Step S12
Then, the gate of the weighing hopper 5 above the booster hopper 6 is opened, and articles are supplied to the booster hopper 6. Subsequent to the supply of the article, in step S13, the measurement data of the article in the weighing hopper 5 in the control unit 90 is newly shifted to the measurement data of the article in the booster hopper 6. If "the booster hopper 6 is not empty and is not opened" in the step S11, the steps S12 and S13 are skipped, and the process proceeds to the step S14.

In step S14, it is determined whether or not "the weighing hopper 5 is empty or the weighing hopper 5 is opened". Here, if "the weighing hopper 5 is empty or opened in step S6", the process proceeds to step S1.
In step 5, the pool hopper 4 is opened and articles are supplied to the weighing hopper 5. If "weighing hopper 5 is not empty and is not opened" in step S14, step S1
Step 5 is skipped, and the replenishment process ends.

<Characteristics of Combination Weighing Apparatus of the Present Embodiment> (1) In the combination weighing apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 5, even when the weighing hopper 5 is overscaled,
Immediately, a warning is not issued, and a warning is issued when the booster hopper 6 immediately below is emptied due to combination weighing and an overscaled product is transferred to the booster hopper 6 and the booster hopper 6 is overscaled. Control to be performed.

Therefore, even if the weighing hopper 5 is overscaled, the articles in the booster hopper 6 under the weighing hopper 5 participate in the combination without being wasted. Therefore, the amount of articles to be discharged due to overscaling is suppressed.

(2) In the combination weighing apparatus 1, as described above, when it is determined in step S2 that overscale has occurred in the weighing hopper 5, the booster hopper 6 immediately below the weighing hopper 5 is relocated. Combination operation is performed with priority. Accordingly, the number of combination calculations in which the overscale weighing hopper 5 does not substantially participate can be reduced to a minimum, and a decrease in the accuracy of combination weighing can be suppressed.

<Modification of this embodiment> (A) In the above-described apparatus 1, when overscale occurs in the booster hopper 6, a warning is issued to open the gate of the overscaled booster hopper 6. (Step S7), but instead, the device 1 may simply be stopped. That is, when the overscale occurs in the booster hopper 6, control for simply stopping the apparatus 1 may be performed, and the discharge of the articles from the booster hopper 6 may be performed after the operation by the operator.

(B) In the above-described apparatus 1, the heads composed of the pool hopper 4, the weighing hopper 5, and the booster hopper 6 are arranged in a straight line. The present invention can also be applied to such cases.

(C) The apparatus 1 supplies the articles stocked on the table 2 to the feeder 3 by
However, the present invention can be applied to a weighing device that has a mechanism for vibrating the table 2 and that automatically supplies articles to the supply feeder 3.

[Other Embodiments] In the above embodiment, FIG.
As shown in the figure, even when the weighing hopper 5 is overscaled, a warning is not immediately issued, but the booster hopper 6 immediately below the weighing hopper 5 becomes empty due to the combination weighing, and the overscaled product is transferred to the booster hopper 6. When the booster hopper 6 shifts to overscale, a warning is issued.

On the other hand, when the weighing hopper 5 is overscaled, the overscaled articles are immediately transferred to the booster hopper 6, and thereafter, a new article is replenished to the weighing hopper 5 while issuing a warning. It is also conceivable to perform up to the combination calculation. In this case, the amount of articles to be discharged cannot be suppressed, but the weighing hopper 5
Instead of issuing a warning when the overscaled article is contained in the box, once the overscaled article is transferred to the booster hopper 6, a warning is issued, and at the same time, a new article is refilled into the weighing hopper 5 and combined. Since the calculation is performed, the return to the normal combination weighing operation after the discharge of the article is quickened.

[0047]

According to the present invention, even when an object to be weighed exceeding the upper limit is thrown into the weighing hopper, the combination operation is continued to empty the booster hopper, and the overscale object to be weighed drops to the booster hopper. When a warning is issued, the weighing object that was in the booster hopper at the time of overscale does not merge with the weighed object that is discharged in overscale, but is discharged by overscale. The quantity of things is reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a combination weighing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the combination weighing device.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the combination weighing device.

FIG. 4 is a control block diagram of the combination weighing device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a main control flow.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a control flow of a replenishment process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Combination weighing device 5 Weighing hopper 6 Booster hopper 90 Control part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of weighing hoppers for weighing an inputted object to be weighed, a booster hopper disposed immediately below the weighing hopper and holding an object to be weighed by the weighing hopper; A combination operation is performed from the measured values of the objects to be weighed and the measured values of the objects to be weighed in the booster hopper, and the sum of the measured values of the objects to be weighed discharged from the selected weighing hopper and the booster hopper is within a predetermined range. A control unit that sets the value of the measurement target.If the measurement value of the object to be weighed in any of the weighing hoppers exceeds an upper limit value, the object to be weighed is directly below the weighing hopper. A combination weighing device that stops the device or issues a warning after transferring to the booster hopper. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the measured value of the object to be weighed in any one of the weighing hoppers exceeds an upper limit value, the control unit performs a combination calculation by giving priority to a booster hopper immediately below the weighing hopper. After the booster hopper is empty, transfer the objects to be weighed exceeding the upper limit to the booster hopper,
The combination weighing device according to claim 1.