JP2003072709A - Sorting and boxing machine for long vegetable - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive and simply structured sorting and boxing machine for long vegetables with which boxing work can be done efficiently requiring a few workers. SOLUTION: This sorting and boxing machine for long vegetables is provided with a sorting conveyer for sorting long vegetables according to its grade and rack, a pull out conveyer positioned roughly at right angles to the sorting conveyer, and a lining means for lining in a predetermined number on the pull out conveyer the long vegetables sorted and dropped by the sorting conveyer. Control parts for changing and controlling the position for dropping the vegetable are provided at a plurality of positions at each division for sorting vegetables according to its grade or rank and for determining the position of the vegetables to be dropped from the sorting conveyer to the lining means. The control parts can change the position relative to the pull out conveyer of the lining means depending on the drop position.

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to cucumber, ginseng,
The present invention relates to an apparatus for sorting and packing long vegetables such as eggplant. [0002] Conventionally, various fruit sorting devices for vegetables and the like are known. This fruit sorting device is made up of vegetables shipped from farmers,
Fruits and the like are collected in agricultural cooperatives and the like, and these are sorted by grade class, supplied to a plurality of sorting conveyors for each grade class, and packed in boxes. In the case of long vegetables such as cucumbers, carrots, and eggplants, if the orientation on the conveyor is not uniform after the selection of the grades, the vegetables must be boxed while being oriented one by one. It has been pointed out that the efficiency of the system becomes poor. [0004] Therefore, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-29121.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-257508 discloses an automatic cartoning device that corrects the orientation of sorted and dropped long vegetables, packs the arranged intervals, and packs them in a box. There is disclosed an automatic boxing device that sequentially supplies discharged long vegetables to a pallet and packs them in a predetermined arrangement in a box. [0005] However, since the above-mentioned automatic packaging device is intended to automatically perform packaging without the need for manual operation, the device is large and expensive, so initial capital investment is required. In a fruit sorting facility that wants to reduce waste, there has been a long-awaited desire for a long vegetable sorting and boxing device that can reduce the number of workers, simplify the structure, reduce costs, and enable efficient box packing. Accordingly, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a sorting conveyor for sorting long vegetables by grade and rank, and a drawer conveyor arranged at a substantially right angle to the sorting conveyor. In a long vegetable sorting boxing device provided with an aligning means for sorting and dropping long vegetables sorted by the sorting conveyor and a predetermined number of them on the draw-out conveyor, the drop position of the long vegetables from the sorting conveyor to the aligning means. And a control section for changing and controlling the drop position is provided, and the control section can change the position of the alignment means with respect to the draw-out conveyor based on the drop position. It is characterized in that. [0007] According to the present invention, the long vegetables that have been graded and grade-sorted by the sorting conveyor and fallen on the lower alignment means from a predetermined dropping position are arranged substantially at a right angle to the sorting conveyor and juxtaposed to the alignment means. They are sequentially conveyed to the draw-out conveyor by the aligning means and aligned. At this time, the drop position where the selected long vegetables fall is provided at a plurality of places for each class and / or class-sorted section, and by changing the drop position, the transport distance is short. The position of the means is also changed so that when the falling position is close to the draw-out conveyor, the aligning means approaches the draw-out conveyor, and when the dropping position is away from the draw-out conveyor, the aligning means moves away from the draw-out conveyor. Go to According to the above construction, the width of the draw-out conveyor is increased, and even when the number of long vegetables to be aligned increases, it is not necessary to increase the conveying distance of the aligning means. A predetermined number of long vegetables can be arranged by the compact arrangement means, and the provision of this lightweight and inexpensive arrangement means results in an inexpensive long vegetable sorting and packing apparatus. In addition, since long vegetables are transported in a state of being aligned from the drawer conveyor, a small number of workers can perform packing work. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a long vegetable sorting boxing facility according to the present invention. Here, the case where the sorting line has two lines (line A and line B) is shown. A description is given below. [0010] This facility has cucumbers shipped by producers,
A cargo receiving section (N) for collecting and collecting long vegetables 1 such as carrots and eggplants in a dedicated container is provided.
Is connected via a belt conveyor 3 to a container scale 4 on which weight measurement is performed. Subsequently, the container scale 4 is connected to a reversing conveyor 5 which is usually called a container damper or an auto damper, and is connected to a branch conveyor 6 for excluding containers 2 exceeding a preset weight. , And further connected to a belt conveyor 7. The belt conveyor 7 is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-1882.
No. 28, a plurality of belt conveyors are sequentially arranged in the transfer direction, and the long vegetables 1 in a piled state taken out of the reversing conveyor 5 are sequentially collapsed and aligned, and the belt conveyor 7 On the side, a grade evaluation unit 8 is installed which visually judges the transported long vegetable 1 by shape, gloss, scratch, etc., sorts it into non-defective products and non-defective products, and sorts out and removes non-defective products. I have. In the grade evaluation section 8, at the same time as the grade evaluator 9 performs the evaluation, a bucket (a saucer) of the sorting conveyor 10 following the belt conveyor 7
It monitors whether the long vegetables 1 are placed one by one on 11. The sorting conveyor 10 is an endless chain conveyor equipped with a large number of buckets 11 having a central portion depressed downward and receiving the long vegetables 1. The sorting conveyor 10 has a long end from the starting end near the belt conveyor 7. A camera device 12 with a built-in CCD camera 12 'for measuring the size, thickness, sledge, etc. of the vegetables 1 is provided. Next, a distribution unit 13 for distributing the long vegetables 1 by grade based on the measurement is provided. ing. In the distributing section 13, a known automatic packaging device 14 is installed in the equal-grade section where the supply amount is the largest, and a distribution section in which the manual packaging operation is performed downstream of the automatic packaging device 14 is sequentially performed. It is arranged. For example, in the distribution unit 13 in which the automatic box packing device 14 is disposed, the non-defective product rank M
(Medium) is assigned, and from the downstream side, “good product rank S (small)”, “good product rank L (large)”, “good product rank LL”
(Extra large) ". Downstream of the sorting conveyor 10 at the sectioned position, between the two lines A and B, a boxing worker 15 who manually packs boxes is disposed. A draw-out conveyor 16 for transporting the long vegetables 1 distributed by 10 to a boxing worker 15
Are arranged at substantially right angles to the sorting conveyor 10 so as to face each other. Further, below the sorting conveyor 10, between the dropping section 16 of the sorting conveyor 10 provided for each grade and / or class sorting and the draw-out conveyor 16, the sorting conveyor 17 and the sorting conveyor 17 are drawn out. Alignment means having a driving device for moving the conveyor 16 toward and away from the conveyor 16 is provided. The alignment conveyor 17 will be described with reference to FIGS. The aligning conveyor 17 is provided with rollers 19 provided before and after a machine frame 18 of the aligning conveyor 17, and the endless transport belt 2 is provided.
In the conveyor around which 0 is wound, on the lower surface of the machine frame 18 of the sorting conveyor 17, a moving wheel 21 for moving a rail 41a fixed to the sorting conveyor machine frame 41 is provided. The moving wheels 21 are configured to be moved back and forth by a motor 22 fixed to the machine frame 18 via a timing belt 23, and the motor 22 is connected to a controller 25. 1
Numeral 7 allows the rail 41a to move back and forth. The draw-out conveyor 1 of the alignment conveyor 17
For example, a pair of photoelectric switches 27 are provided on both sides of the inclined plate 26 provided at the end on the 6th side. When the light is blocked, it is determined that the long vegetables 1 have passed, and the alignment conveyor 17 is moved to the long vegetables 1.
The controller 25 performs control to retreat by a distance corresponding to one piece. The drawer conveyor 16 has a predetermined number of long vegetables 1
Next, the controller 25 that has counted that the vegetables are aligned, sends the long vegetables to the storage multi-stage conveyor 28 in which a plurality of stages of conveyors (28a, 28b,...) Arranged downstream of the drawer conveyor 16 are connected. Move 1 FIG. 4 is a view showing the structure of the draw-out conveyor 16 and the multi-stage conveyor 28 for storage, and the multi-stage conveyor 2 for storage.
8, each of the conveyors 28a, 28b,. . Is provided with a sensor 43 for detecting the presence or absence of the long vegetable 1.
When the long vegetables 1 are transferred from 6, the long vegetables 1 arranged on the conveyor on the downstream side are conveyed to the downstream side only when the long vegetables 1 arranged on the downstream conveyor are not stored. When the sensor 43 detects that there is no space in the multi-stage conveyor 28 adjacent to the draw-out conveyor 16, an alarm is issued or the movement of the sorting conveyor 10 is stopped. At the end of 28, a boxing worker 15 who fills an empty box with the long vegetable 1 is on standby. Next, the bucket 11 of the sorting conveyor 10
A solenoid for rotating the bucket 11 will be described with reference to FIG. The bucket 11 is a saucer having both ends thereof pivotally supported by a chain link plate 29 of the sorting conveyor 10, a depression 30 below, and an elastic body 31 on the surface, and one side 32 of the bucket 11 and the chain A block 33 is provided between the link plates 29 to maintain the posture of the bucket 11 horizontally or to pivot downward. The block 33 has a guide groove 34 serving as a guide when rotating the bucket 11 downward,
A falling body 35, one end of which is pivotally supported, a locking lever 36 for locking the falling body 35, and a frame 37 for pivotally supporting the falling body 35 and the locking lever 36. The hook 39a provided on the falling body 35, the spring 39 provided on the locking lever 36 and the support pin 3
By 6a, it is always held in a locked state. The upper end 40 of the locking lever protrudes upward from the upper surface of the bucket.
1, a solenoid 38 (46, 47) for rotating the bucket 11 downward is mounted. The solenoid 38 (46, 47) is provided with a lever 42 having an L-shaped tip. When a signal is sent from the controller 25, the solenoid 38 (46, 47) directs the lever 42 downward and downward. The lever 42 and the upper end 40 of the locking lever come into contact with each other. The solenoids 38 (46, 47) are provided for each class and / or class. In the present embodiment, three solenoids 38 (46, 47) are provided for each class. Can be set at three locations. (See Fig. 2)
The operation and the boxing operation of sending the long vegetables 1 sent from the sorting conveyor 10 and dropping from the sorting conveyor 10 to the drawing conveyor 16 by the alignment conveyor 17 and packing the long vegetables 1 conveyed from the drawing conveyor 16 will be described. The container 2 filled with the long vegetables 1 dropped on the belt conveyor 3 by the production farmer is weighed by the container scale 4, and the container 2 having a weight other than the predetermined range is taken out of the line by the branch conveyor 6. The container 2 having the predetermined weight is inverted by the reversing conveyor 5, aligned by the belt conveyor 7 and the grade evaluator 9, and placed one by one on the bucket 11 of the sorting conveyor 10. The lengthy vegetables 1 on the bucket 11 are then measured for size, thickness, sled, etc. by the camera device 12, and the non-defective items "S (small)", "M (medium)", "L" (Large) "," L
L (extra large) ". The controller 25 receives the divided signals. For example, when the controller 25 receives the "L" class division signal, the solenoid 38 in the "L" class division
Rotate the lever down. When the bucket 11 divided into the signals moves to the solenoid position, the block 33 of the bucket 11
, The upper end 40 of the locking lever abuts against the lever 42 of the solenoid 38, and as a result, the locking lever 36
The hook 39a of the falling body 35 comes off the support pin 36a,
With the falling movement of the falling body 35, the bucket 11 rotates downward along the guide groove 34, and the horizontal posture of the bucket 11 is released. Then, the long vegetable 1 placed on the bucket 11 falls onto the alignment conveyor 17 located below. The initial position of the leading end of the sorting conveyor 17 is a position close to a stopper 45 provided on one side of the draw-out conveyor 16, and the selected long vegetables 1 are conveyed by the sorting conveyor 17, and the inclined plate 26 When the long vegetable 1 passes through the photoelectric switch 27, the alignment conveyor 17 moves the long vegetable 1
Retreat by a distance equivalent to one. When this operation is repeated for a predetermined number of times (for example, when three solenoids are installed in each section, one third of the number of lines to be arranged on the draw-out conveyor 16), the controller 25 rotates the lever of the solenoid 38 upward. Then, when the signal of the "L" class is received next, the lever of the solenoid 46 is rotated downward. Thereafter, when the signal of the long vegetable 1 of the "L" class is received, the controller 25 sets the solenoid 46
So that the long vegetable 1 falls from the position.
Is controlled to rotate the lever 42 downward. At this time, the tip of the sorting conveyor 10 is located near the last long vegetable 1 that has been dropped and aligned by the solenoid 38. When the sorting and sorting of the predetermined number are repeated as described above, the controller 25
By the same operation as described above, control is performed so that the long vegetable 1 falls from the position of the solenoid 47. With this configuration, the alignment conveyor 17
Can be configured to be extremely short. That is,
When the position where the long vegetable 1 is dropped by the solenoid is set to one place, the length of the alignment conveyor 17 needs to be at least equal to or larger than the width of the drawer conveyor 16 as shown in FIG. As described above, when the drop position of the long vegetable 1 is set at a plurality of positions, an arbitrary number can be aligned on the drawer conveyor 16 by the aligning conveyor 17 having a very short transfer distance regardless of the width of the drawer conveyor 16. The controller 25, which counts that the photoelectric switch 27 has aligned the predetermined number of the long vegetables 1 on the draw-out conveyor 16, then moves the long vegetables 1 to the multi-stage conveyor 28 for storage. As a result, long vegetables 1
Are sequentially arranged and stored from the conveyor downstream of the storage multi-stage conveyor 28. The boxing worker 15 sequentially puts the long vegetables 1 aligned at the end of the multi-stage conveyor 28 into the multi-stage conveyor 28.
The box packed with the long vegetables 1 in an empty box placed on the elevating box mounting table 48 installed adjacent to the container is shipped via the shipping line 50 via the packing machine 49. The elevating box mounting table 48 is provided with a vertically movable table on which boxes are placed. The table on which empty boxes are placed is raised to an optimum position for the operator's work. Down to shipping line 50
A box is transported to the top. In the present embodiment, the size of the objects to be sorted is usually the largest in the M size, and the sizes in the S, L and LL sizes are smaller than those in the size. Therefore, in the facility shown in FIG. The size is machine packed and the S, L and LL sizes are manually packed by one or more boxing workers. However, this is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to this. Of course. In the embodiment, only the grades are defined as good grades. However, a plurality of sorting conveyors 10 may be provided in parallel so that the grades can be classified into a plurality of ranks (excellent products, excellent products, etc.). Thus, the two-line sorting conveyor 10 of line A and line B
When the long vegetables 1 are graded and grade-sorted and packed in a box, the sorting conveyor 10 between the two-line sorting conveyors 10
A boxing worker 15 who performs a boxing operation by hand is arranged on the side of the class and the sorting section where the throughput of the small amount is small, and the selected long vegetables 1 are drawn out on a sorting conveyor 10 at a substantially right angle. Box worker 1 waiting by
5, it is configured to be transported in an aligned state, so that a small number of people can pack the long vegetables 1 transferred from the double-row sorting conveyor 10 line by line. In addition, since the long vegetables 1 are orderly arranged, they can be easily packed in a box. Therefore, while being simple in construction and inexpensive,
It is possible to obtain a long vegetable boxing device with high working efficiency.
Next, a description will be given of a container collecting device used by a farmer for receiving cargo. Conventional empty container 6 after receiving
7 was transferred to the empty container storage 61 as shown in FIG. 7, and the cargo receiving space 59 and the empty container storage 61 were separately arranged. This was a measure for avoiding congestion between the empty container collecting farmer and the receiving farmer in one place, but required an employee W to arrange the empty containers 60 in the empty container storage area 61. In order to solve such a problem, the empty container collecting device 70 has an empty container conveying conveyor 65 disposed above the load receiving conveyor 64 in parallel with the load receiving conveyor 64. The end portion 65b of the empty container transport conveyor 65 faces the start end portion 64a of the load receiving conveyor, and the start end portion 65a of the empty container transport conveyor 65 is provided at the end portion 64b of the load receiving conveyor 65, and adjusts the transfer speed of the empty container transport conveyor 65 to the load receiving conveyor 64. The transfer speed can be set faster than the transfer speed based on the load receiving amount of the load receiving conveyor 64 and the transfer length. With this configuration, as shown in FIG. 8A, the container 2 on which the long vegetables 1 and the like are loaded is placed on the receiving conveyor 64, and the container 2 is transported.
The empty container 60 is emptied by the reversing conveyor 5 provided at the terminal end of the load receiving conveyor 64, moved to the start end 65a of the empty container transporting conveyor, and the empty container 60 receives the empty container 60 based on the receiving amount and the transport length (L). The empty container transporting conveyor 65 returns to the load receiving work position (load receiving place 59) which is the starting end 64a of the load receiving conveyor at a speed set faster than the conveyor 64. At this time, at the same time, if many farmers bring the cargo to the receiving place 59 and the receiving amount is large, or if the transport length L is long even if the number of the producing farmers brought to the receiving place 59 is small, for example, an empty container The transfer speed of the conveyor 65 can be set to a value within 1.1 to 2 times the transfer speed of the receiving conveyor 64 to prevent accumulation of empty containers in the sorting unit 71. By placing no containers in the empty box placement section above the sorting section 71, it is possible to easily place empty containers. Further, since the returned empty container 60 can be collected while performing the cargo receiving operation, the user goes to the empty container storage 61 and returns to the container 6 as in the related art.
Since there is no need to collect 0, no sorting staff is required, and the container collection operation can be started with a slight delay in the receiving operation, the receiving farm and the empty container collecting farm are crowded. There is no feature. Further, as shown in FIG. 8 (2), the empty container transport conveyor 65 is located above the load receiving conveyor 64, so that it does not hinder the load receiving operation. FIG. 9 is a view showing an embodiment of the empty container collecting device 70 in a facility of leek, FIG. 9 (1) shows the transportation from the receiving place 59 to the sorting unit 71, and FIG. From the receiving place 5
9 shows the collection and transportation of the empty container 60 between the nine containers. The farmer puts the brought onion into the peeling machine 72 at the loading dock 59, and puts the peeled onion into the container 60 collected from the sorting unit 71.
The container 2 is separated by a roller conveyor 73 into a sorting unit 71.
Container 60 which has been transported to
Is placed on the empty container transport conveyor 65 disposed above the roller conveyor of the sorting unit 71, and the
Transferred to 9. Since the empty container collecting apparatus 70 is configured as described above, it is possible to perform the receiving process with a minimum number of containers, and it is not necessary to arrange an operator dedicated to processing the empty container 60.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an overall plan view of a long vegetable sorting and packing facility according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an alignment conveyor. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a tip end portion of an alignment conveyor. FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a draw-out conveyor and a multi-stage conveyor for storage. FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram illustrating an embodiment of a bucket of a sorting conveyor. FIG. 6 shows a case in which the falling position of long vegetables is fixed.
It is a figure showing the conventional alignment conveyor. FIG. 7 is an overall plan view showing a conventional facility. FIG. 8 is an overall plan view showing (1) an empty container collection device. (2) It is an elevational view showing arrangement of an empty container collection device. FIG. 9 is a plan view of a facility showing (1) receiving and transporting. (2) It is a top view which shows an empty container collection device. [Description of Signs] 1 Long vegetable 2 Container 3 Belt conveyor 4 Container scale 5 Reversing conveyor 6 Branch conveyor 7 Belt conveyor 8 Grade evaluation section 9 Grade evaluator 10 Sorting conveyor 11 Bucket (pan) 12 Camera device 13 Distribution section 14 Automatic packing machine 15 Packing worker 16 Pull-out conveyor 17 Alignment conveyor 25 Controller 28 Storage multi-stage conveyor 38 Solenoid 42 L-shaped lever 44 Boxing worker 46 Solenoid 47 Solenoid 50 Shipping line

   ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page    (72) Inventor Katsushige Natsui             1 Iseki Agricultural Machinery, 1 Hachikura, Tobe-cho, Iyo-gun, Ehime Prefecture             Technology Department F term (reference) 3E028 AA02 BA06 CA06 EA01 GA02                       GA08 HA02                 3E054 AA05 CA08 DA03 DA08 EA02                       FA07 FE03 GA01 GB03 GC02                       HA02 HA07 JA02                 3F044 AA14 AB03 AB06 AB09 AB10                       AB16 AB25 AB37 CD06 CD18                       CF02                 3F081 AA46 BA02 BA06 BB01 BB03                       BC04 BD08 BD15 BD16 BD17                       BD18 BD22 BF06 CC08 CD01                       CE13 DA02 EA04 EA09 EA10                       EA13 EA15 FB01 FB06 FB08

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A sorting conveyor for sorting grades and grades of long vegetables, a pull-out conveyor arranged substantially at right angles to the sorting conveyor, and a long vegetable dropped and sorted by the sorting conveyor. In a long vegetable sorting and boxing apparatus provided with an aligning means for aligning a predetermined number of vegetables on the draw-out conveyor, a plurality of locations for dropping long vegetables from the sorting conveyor to the aligning means are set for each class and / or class sorting. And a control unit for changing and controlling the drop position is provided,
The long vegetable sorting and boxing device, wherein the control unit can change the position of the aligning means with respect to the draw-out conveyor based on the drop position.