JP2003327203A - Metering and charging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide customers with products having stable quality by accurately and quickly metering and charging commodities whose bulk density is not constant. <P>SOLUTION: A metering and charging apparatus is characterized in that a commodity reserving hopper is placed on the upper surface of a belt conveyor and the commodities drawn out on the belt conveyor by driving the belt conveyor are smoothed so as to become a layer of a given thickness by a first rake, a screw with its twisting directions being reversed from the center of the width of the conveyor, and a second rake further downstream thereof, and thereafter the commodities are divided in two rows on the belt conveyor, while metering hoppers are provided downstream the conveyor, in two rows having two sets of discharging gates, at a lower part of which a receiving hopper having a partition demarcating the interior thereof in two chambers is provided, thus the metering of a given quantity is carried out by moving the belt conveyor by a prescribed distance, and the delivering charge is repeated in sequence from the receiving hopper every time a signal for delivering arrives from outside. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a volume metering and filling apparatus which utilizes a belt conveyer and moves the belt conveyer by a predetermined distance to obtain quantitativeness of articles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the tendency to enjoy vegetable growing in home gardens and rental farms has become remarkable, and interest in gardening has increased, and in parallel with this, demand for fertilizers for gardening has also increased. For example, there is a gardening fertilizer called mixed soil. This is, for example, a mixture of cow dung, nitrogen, chaff, peat moss, and soil. Also, there is a mixture of rotted leaves, cow dung, soil, etc., which are called cultivated soil and are made to rot fallen leaves. As a method for quantitatively measuring these, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 4, a scale 43 is provided below the storage hopper 40, and the mixed soil or culture soil stored in the storage hopper is stored in the gate 41 of the storage hopper. In general, a method is used in which the actuator 42 opens the bag, puts it in the lower bag, and when the weight set in advance by the setting device 45 reaches a predetermined value, the gate of the reservoir hopper is closed by a command from the controller 44 to fill a certain amount. Known to. However, it is extremely difficult to fill a certain amount in the above-mentioned article. The first reason is that the bulk density is not stable. Moreover, since it may be a lump, it is said that it is very difficult to quantify with the above-mentioned cut gate method.

FIG. 5 shows a constant quantity feeder using a screw feeder. The load of the storage hopper 50, which is called a load cell, is received by a transducer 51 that converts the load into an electric signal, and the weight of the storage hopper is measured. 53 is a controller. This is a configuration in which a conveying mechanism 52 called a screw feeder is provided below. The setter 54 presets a predetermined amount. When the bag 55 is prepared below the screw feeder and loading is started, the articles in the storage hopper are loaded into the bag 55 prepared by the screw feeder. When the load signal of the load cell 51 supporting the storage hopper gradually decreases and reaches a predetermined amount, a stop signal is issued from the controller 53, the rotation of the screw feeder 52 is stopped, and a certain amount of filling is performed. . However, also in this case, the bulk density of the articles must be stable in the storage hopper, and in an unstable state, the input amount varies. In addition, the article may be partially compressed in the screw feeder, and the bulk density changes, which is not stable, which makes it difficult to obtain quantitativeness.

[0004]

Therefore, if such an article is weighed by weight, it is necessary to manually adjust the excess and deficiency of the weight after the filling, and it takes a long time to carry out the quantitative filling, which is very inefficient. was there. In addition, if there is too much or too little, it will bring disadvantages to both producers and consumers, and improvement measures have been required.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention is a belt conveyor main body for article transportation, which comprises article storage hoppers each having an opening in the upper part and the lower part, and is located on the upper surface of the belt conveyor. When the belt conveyor is driven, the articles in the stored hopper are designed to be discharged from the opening in the lower part of the storage hopper, the discharged articles are conveyed on the belt conveyor, and the lower part of the storage hopper is stored. A rotary first rake with rod-shaped crossbar-shaped projections for loosening the lump of articles is provided near the opening, and a screw for spreading the articles left and right in the width direction of the belt conveyor is provided downstream thereof. The feature of this screw is that the twisting direction is opposite in the width center of the belt conveyor, and it has the function of making the layer thickness of the article uniform and It has the role of diffusing in the width direction of the conveyor.

Further, a pair of left and right second rakes are provided downstream of the screw for evenly loosening the rake so that the upper part of the layer thickness of the article is scraped up in the direction opposite to the traveling direction of the article. Rotate. In other words, it acts like bouncing back. Then, the rebounded article in the upper part of the layer thickness is uniformly leveled by the screw located upstream thereof.

Further, in order to divide the article on the belt conveyor into two parts from the central part to both sides of the conveyor, a central guide that spreads left and right from the vicinity of the central part of the belt conveyor toward the downstream side, and on both sides of this central guide, A pair of guides on both sides are provided to prevent the articles from spilling from the belt conveyor, and an article stopper is provided near the leading end of the belt conveyor to prevent the excessive introduction of articles.

Further, a belt moving distance measuring device for measuring the moving distance of the belt of the belt conveyor is provided.
Further, below the front end of the belt conveyor, there is an opening in the upper part, and the left and right parts are individually opened and closed below.
Two weighing hoppers having a set of discharge gates are arranged side by side in the width direction of the belt conveyor, and a lower part thereof has an opening part in the upper part and a lower part has a discharge gate which is opened and closed individually. A receiving hopper having a structure in which a partition forming two chambers is provided inside the hopper, and one discharge gate corresponds to one chamber is provided at the bottom of each of the weighing hoppers. The
A collecting chute for collecting the articles discharged from these receiving hoppers at one place.

Further, in the present invention, the articles conveyed by the above-mentioned article storage / conveyance apparatus with a constant layer thickness have a predetermined amount when the articles are conveyed by a preset moving distance of the belt conveyor. The above-mentioned 2
When the individual weighing hoppers are empty at the same time, the belt of the belt conveyor is driven to move a predetermined distance. At that time, a predetermined amount is thrown into both of the weighing hoppers at the same time. In addition, the weighing hopper is provided with two sets of discharge gates that are individually opened and closed on the left and right sides, and articles that are simultaneously loaded into these two weighing hoppers are located under the weighing hoppers. When one of the discharge gates corresponding to each room of the receiving hopper having two chambers operates and the article in one room of the receiving hopper is discharged, the corresponding room corresponds to the above-mentioned discharged gate. It is characterized in that new articles are loaded from the weighing hopper that is operating.

The operation sequence of the apparatus according to the second aspect is such that one of the above-mentioned two weighing hoppers is an E hopper and one of the receiving hoppers located under the one is partitioned by a partition wall. The hopper has two chambers, and one of the chambers fed from the weighing hopper E above it is at least an A hopper and the other is a C hopper.

Further, the other one of the receiving hoppers, which is the lower hopper of the other weighing hopper and is the F hopper, is also a hopper having two chambers whose inside is divided by a partition wall, and is located at the upper portion thereof. One receiving room from the hopper F is used as at least a B hopper, and the other receiving hopper is provided as a D hopper. The receiving hoppers of the four rooms are provided, and articles are received in all the receiving hoppers in response to a discharge request signal from the outside. When it is loaded, it is discharged at least in the order of A, B, C, D, and when the receiving hoppers A and B are empty, articles are loaded from the weighing hopper E to the receiving hopper A and from the weighing hopper F to the receiving hopper B. Put in the goods. When the receiving hoppers C and D are empty, the weighing hopper E functions to load articles into the receiving hopper C, and the weighing hopper F functions to load articles into the receiving hopper D.

[0012]

The present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying numbered drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main part of a main body portion of the quantitative filling device of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes an article storage / conveyance apparatus, which has the following configuration. 3 is a conveyor belt conveyor, and 1
It is equipped with seven conveyor drive motors. An article storage hopper 2 having openings in the upper and lower portions is provided at the starting end of the upper surface of the conveyor belt conveyor 3, and a lump of articles is unwound in the vicinity 2-1 of the outlet of the article storage hopper 2. Rotating first rake 4 in the form of a rod-shaped crossbar for
And a drive motor 4-1 for rotating the rake.
And are provided. A screw 5 for spreading the article in the width direction of the belt conveyor 3 is provided downstream thereof. The screw 5 has the opposite twist direction at the center of the width of the belt conveyor 3. For example, in 5-1 the twist direction is Is on the right and 5-2 is on the left. 5-3 is a motor for rotationally driving this screw.

Further downstream thereof, there is a pair of left and right second rakes 6 for equalizing the layer thickness of the article spread in the width direction of the belt conveyor, and left and right 6-1 and 6-2 are provided. . 6-3 is a motor for driving the rake.
Further, the upper surface of the belt conveyor 3 is provided with a central guide 7 for dividing the article spread in the width direction of the belt conveyor into two rows on the conveyor, and the central guide gradually moves in the traveling direction of the belt conveyor. It has a wide V-shape. On both sides thereof, a pair of guides 8 on both sides for preventing articles from spilling from the side of the conveyor 3
-1 and 8-2 are provided. Reference numeral 9 denotes a roller for measuring the moving distance of the belt conveyor, which rotates as the belt comes into contact with the inside of the belt and is driven. Reference numeral 9-1 is, for example, a pulse generator that converts the rotation into an electric signal. A stopper 10 is provided in the vicinity of the tip of the belt conveyor, and the stopper prevents the excess articles from being input when the articles are fed by a predetermined amount. An air cylinder 10-1 drives the stopper to open and close.

Next, below the tip of the belt conveyor 3, two weighing hoppers 11 and 12 are provided, and the 11 hoppers have discharge gates 11-1 and 11 that open and close individually to the left and right. -2, and similarly in the weighing hopper 12, discharge gates 12-1 and 12-2 are also provided. Two receiving hoppers 13 and 14 are provided below the weighing hoppers 11 and 12, and the insides of these hoppers are divided into two chambers, respectively, to form two tanks. The relationship between the receiving hopper and the upper weighing hopper is that the weighing hopper 11 is located just above the separating plate 13-1 (14-1) of the receiving hopper.
(12) is arranged so that, for example, the weighing hopper 1
When the discharge gate 11-1 of No. 1 is opened, the article is put into the receiving hopper of A, and when the discharge gate 11-2 is opened, it is put into the receiving hopper of C. Similarly, in the weighing hopper 12, articles are loaded into the receiving hopper B when the discharge gate 12-1 is opened, and are loaded in the hopper D when the discharge gate 12-2 is opened. Reference numeral 15 is an actuator for opening and closing the discharge gate of each hopper, for example,
A rotary cylinder by air or an electric rotary solenoid can be used. And receiving hopper 1
Below 3 and 14, there is provided a chute 16 for loading the articles discharged from these hoppers into a subsequent device, for example, a packaging machine (not shown).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 20 is a main controller, which controls the entire apparatus. A discharge gate controller 21 controls the opening / closing order of each gate of the weighing hopper and the receiving hopper. Reference numeral 22 denotes a display unit for displaying the operating state, which is mainly a lamp display. 23 is an output unit for driving the first rake provided in the vicinity 2-1 of the outlet of the storage hopper 2, 24 is an output unit for driving the screw 5, and 25 is located downstream of the screw. An output unit for driving the pair of second rakes 6, 26 is an output unit for opening and closing the stopper 10 provided at the tip of the belt conveyor, 27 is an output unit for driving or stopping the belt conveyor, 28 Is an output part of the pulse generator 9-1 for measuring the moving distance of the belt of the belt conveyor, 29 is an output part for driving each discharge gate, and is a drive output of each discharge gate according to the signal of the discharge gate control part 21. Is emitted.

The operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. Now, it is assumed that the articles are stored in the article storage hopper 2 and the layer thickness of the articles on the belt conveyor is determined and adjusted to a predetermined value. First, it starts with checking whether the insides of the weighing hoppers E and F are empty. In S1 (step 1), it is confirmed whether the hopper of E is empty. Here, it is confirmed whether or not the discharge gate 11-1 or 11-2 of the E hopper is opened or closed. If the discharge gate 11-1 or 11-2 is open / closed, the articles are discharged in the hopper E, and the result in S1 is YES, and the process proceeds to S2. Similarly, it is determined whether the hopper F is empty. Check. Here, the discharge gate 12-1 or 12- of the F hopper is used.
Check whether 2 has opened and closed. If the weighing hoppers E and F are empty, the process proceeds to S3, and the stopper 10 located at the tip of the conveyor 2 is opened. Then go to S4,
The conveyor 2 is driven, and when the conveyor advances a predetermined distance, it is stopped and the stopper 10 is closed. Next, in S5, the discharge gate opening / closing memory of the weighing hoppers E and F is reset.

Next, if the receiving hoppers A, B, C and D are empty, the receiving hoppers A, B, C and D are fed from the weighing hoppers E and F.
The steps of loading the receiving hopper B, the receiving hopper C, and the receiving hopper D in this order are started. At S6, it is confirmed whether the receiving hopper A is empty. If the result is YES, the flow proceeds to S10, the articles are loaded from the weighing hopper E into the receiving hopper A, the flow proceeds to S14, the gate opening / closing memory of the weighing hopper E is set, and the gate opening / closing memory of the receiving hopper A is set to S18. Reset. If the discharge gate of the receiving hopper A is not opened / closed in S6, that is, the articles in the receiving hopper A are not discharged, the articles cannot be loaded from the weighing hopper E into the receiving hopper A, so S6 is NO. , S7. In S7, it is confirmed whether the discharge gate of the receiving hopper B has been opened or closed, that is, whether the receiving hopper B is empty. If it is empty, the flow advances to S11 to load the articles from the weighing hopper F into the receiving hopper B. Then, in S15, the gate opening / closing memory of the receiving hopper B is reset. Also in S7, if the discharge gate of the receiving hopper is not opened or closed, S7 becomes NO and the process proceeds to S8. In S8, it is confirmed whether the hopper is empty as in S6 and S7, and in S9, S6. , S7, S8, check whether the hopper is empty or not, check each, Y
Every time it is ES, the process proceeds to S22, and if each is NO, it is confirmed again from S6 whether each receiving hopper is empty.

Subsequently, in S22, it is confirmed whether or not there is a request signal. This is a signal coming from, for example, a packaging machine, and this signal causes the articles in the receiving hopper to be loaded into the packaging machine. That is, S
If the request signal is received at 22, the process proceeds to S23, and if the request signal is not received, the process returns to the start. In S23, it is confirmed whether the receiving hopper A can be discharged. That is, if the discharge gates 13-2 and 13-3 of the receiving hopper are not opened and closed, the determination is NO and the process proceeds to S27 to open and close the discharge gate 13-2 of the hopper A to insert the article into the packaging machine or the like. Then, the process proceeds to S31, and the fact that the discharge gate of the hopper A has been opened and closed is stored. If the discharge gate opening / closing memory is stored in S23, the determination is YES, and the process proceeds to S24 where the receiving hopper B is similarly checked. S28, S32 or S25, S2
9. In S33 and S26, the process proceeds to S30 and S34 and returns to the start. In this way, every time a request signal comes in,
The receiving hoppers A, B, C, and D are discharged in this order,
Even if the request signal comes, if there is no article in each receiving hopper, the process returns to S23 again, and it is confirmed from the receiving hopper A whether or not the discharge gate has been opened and closed in order. That is, it always confirms whether or not an article has been loaded into the receiving hopper.

In the present invention, as a method for confirming whether or not an article has been loaded into each hopper, the fact that the discharge gate attached to each hopper has operated is stored in the controller in the main control section every time. Although the stored value is checked to see if it can be discharged or put in (whether there is an article in the hopper), another method is to use a proximity switch or optoelectronic switch and You may make it monitor by a weight type sensor etc.

[0020]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION These fertilizers for horticulture, which are referred to as mixed soil, are not only extremely difficult to obtain a quantitative property by weight due to the fact that the bulk density is not constant and there are lumps, and a large-scale device is required. was there. According to the invention,
First, the first rake is provided at the position where it comes out of the storage hopper, the lumps are loosened, and then the product is evenly spread while spreading the articles in the width direction of the conveyor with a screw, and the second rake is provided further downstream thereof, and the lumps At the same time as unraveling, it is evenly laid out and divided into two with a specified layer thickness and fed to each weighing hopper, so by measuring the moving distance of the belt conveyor accurately, it is much higher than the weight type. Quantitative results were obtained.
In addition, two weighing hoppers are installed and two tanks with two chambers are installed in parallel below them, and each tank is sequentially distributed and discharged, so that the processing capacity of the packaging machine is sufficiently followed. Only weighing ability was obtained. Therefore, when the apparatus of the present invention is used, the production line can be processed quickly without stagnation, and the remarkable effect that a product of stable quality can be provided without drying more than necessary is achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram composed of main parts of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the main part of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conventional gravimetric quantitative balance.

FIG. 5 is a conventional gravimetric quantitative balance.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Article storage hopper 3 Conveyor belt conveyor 4 first rake 5 screws 6 second rake 7 Central guide 8 A pair of guides on both sides 9 Laura 10 stopper 11 Weighing hopper E 12 Weighing hopper F 13 Receiving hoppers A and C 14 Receiving hoppers B and D 15 Device for opening and closing the gate of each hopper 16 Collective shoot 20 Main control unit 21 Ejection gate controller 22 Operation display 23 First Rake Drive 24 screw drive 25 Second rake drive 26 Stopper drive 27 Belt conveyor drive 28 pulse generator (belt movement distance measuring device) 29 Each discharge gate drive

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A storage hopper having upper and lower openings, a belt conveyor for transporting articles, and a storage belt hopper located on an upper surface of the belt conveyor and driven by the belt conveyor to store the storage hopper. An article storage / conveyance device in which the articles inside are discharged from the opening at the bottom of the storage hopper, and a rotary-type rotary bar consisting of a rod-shaped crossbar for loosening a lump of articles near the outlet of the lower opening of the storage hopper. 1 is a screw that is located downstream of the vicinity of the outlet and that evenly distributes the articles and spreads them laterally in the width direction of the belt conveyor. The screw is twisted in the center of the width of the belt conveyor. Is in the opposite direction, the screw provided in the width direction of the belt conveyor, and located downstream of the screw,
A pair of left and right second rakes for further leveling the article spread in the width direction of the belt conveyor to a predetermined layer thickness,
The rake is rotated so that the direction of rotation of the rake is opposite to the conveying direction of the article, and a central guide that divides the article being conveyed into left and right parts as it goes from the central portion of the belt conveyor to the downstream side of the belt conveyor, On both sides of the central guide, a pair of guides on both sides for preventing articles from spilling from the belt conveyor, an article stopper for preventing excessive insertion of articles in the vicinity of the tip of the belt conveyor, and the belt conveyor. A belt moving distance measuring device for measuring the moving distance of the belt, and two sets of discharge gates, each of which has an opening at the upper portion below the leading end portion of the belt conveyor and which opens and closes independently on the left and right sides, respectively. The two weighing hoppers that are provided are arranged side by side in the width direction of the belt conveyor, and further, the opening portion is provided at the upper portion and the opening and closing operations are individually performed at the lower portion. A hopper with a left gate,
A receiving hopper having a structure in which a partition forming two chambers is provided inside the hopper, and one chamber corresponds to one gate is provided at the bottom of each of the weighing hoppers. A quantitative filling device, comprising: a collecting chute for collecting the articles discharged from the same in one place. 2. The quantitative filling device according to claim 1,
The articles conveyed by the article storage / conveyance device with a constant layer thickness have a predetermined amount when the belt movement distance of the belt conveyor set in advance is conveyed, When the weighing hoppers are empty at the same time, the belt of the belt conveyor is driven to move a predetermined distance, and the two weighing hoppers are provided with two sets of discharge gates, which are opened and closed individually on the left and right sides. The articles provided in the two weighing hoppers are provided at the same time, and one of the discharge gates corresponding to the respective rooms of the receiving hopper having the two chambers located under the weighing hopper is actuated to receive the articles. When the articles in one chamber of the hopper are discharged, the weighing hopper corresponding to the above is loaded into the chamber corresponding to the operated discharge gate, and the fixed amount filling device is provided. . 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the two weighing hoppers are provided, one of the weighing hoppers is an E hopper, and one of the receiving hoppers located under the weighing hopper is internally delimited by a partition wall. A hopper with two rooms,
One of the chambers fed from the weighing hopper E is at least an A hopper, and the other is a C hopper.
Of the individual weighing hoppers, the other weighing hopper is the F hopper,
The other one of the receiving hoppers located at the lower part is a hopper having two chambers whose inside is divided by a partition wall, and one chamber introduced from the weighing hopper F is at least B hopper, and the other is D hopper. Providing four receiving hoppers arranged as hoppers, and when articles are loaded into all the receiving hopper rooms in response to a discharge request signal from the outside, at least A, B, C, D are discharged in this order, When the receiving hopper A is empty, the articles are loaded from the weighing hopper E to the receiving hopper A, and when the receiving hopper B is empty, the articles are loaded from the weighing hopper F to the receiving hopper B. A quantitative filling device, characterized in that, when the receiving hoppers C and D are empty, the weighing hopper E feeds the article into the receiving hopper C and the weighing hopper F feeds the article into the receiving hopper D.