JP2005046766A - Crop washing/sorting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a crop washing/sorting apparatus which has excellent workability and by which a compact crop can be washed and sorted at the same time. <P>SOLUTION: This crop washing/sorting apparatus is constituted so that the crop conveyed by a conveying unit 1 is washed by a washing unit 2 and the washed crop is sorted by a sorting unit 3. Since the units 2 and 3 are arranged at the adjacent positions and a discharge part 7 of the washing unit 2 is arranged at the position higher than that of a crop supplying part to the sorting unit 3, the crop can be conveyed from the washing unit 2 to the sorting unit 3 by a free-fall, this crop washing/sorting apparatus can be made compact and the installation area of this crop washing/sorting apparatus can be made small. Since a conveyance starting end part 6a of the conveying unit 1 is arranged at the position lower than that of a supply part 5 of the washing unit 2 and closer to the sorting unit 3, a worker can throw the crop in the conveying unit 1 while looking at the situation that the sorting unit 3 sorts the crop. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a cleaning and sorting apparatus for sorting a crop based on its size and the like after washing the crop.

Development of an apparatus for automatically washing harvested carrots and other crops with a machine (JP-A-6-70732 and JP-A-6-70733) has been made, greatly contributing to the reduction of heavy labor for agricultural workers.
JP-A-6-70732 JP-A-6-70733

  However, the machine for automatically washing the crops only cleans the harvested crops, and in order to ship them, it is necessary to select them based on the size, quality, etc. of the crops. Crop sorting is not easy, and it is hard work.

  In addition, there is already known a machine that performs automatic and specialized sorting of crops, but there is a sorting device in a facility that collects a large amount of crops such as a crop accumulation site, but a crop sorting device combined with a cleaning device is not available. Absent.

  Thus, since the conventional crop cleaning apparatus and sorting apparatus are manufactured by different manufacturers, they have a structure that is not related to each other. Moreover, in order to arrange these devices together, it is not only necessary to secure a sufficient space, but also has disadvantages such as a wasteful space and an increased operating range for cleaning and sorting operations. is there. In addition, the work for putting the crop into the sorting device after washing the crop with the washing device has to be performed manually because there is no relation between the washing device and the sorting device.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a crop cleaning and sorting apparatus that can perform cleaning and sorting of compact crops with good workability automatically.

The above-described problems of the present invention can be achieved by the following solution means.
The invention described in claim 1 is a crop cleaning / sorting device comprising a cleaning device 2 for cleaning crops and a sorting device 3 for sorting crops washed by the cleaning device 2, wherein the cleaning device 2 and the sorting device 3 are provided. Are disposed at adjacent positions, and the discharge unit 7 of the cleaning device 2 is a crop cleaning and sorting device configured to be positioned higher than the crop supply unit to the sorting device 3.

  The invention according to claim 2 is provided with a transport device 1 for transporting crops to the supply unit 5 of the cleaning device 2, the transport start end portion 6a of the transport device 1 is lower than the supply unit 5 of the cleaning device 2, and The crop cleaning and sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the crop cleaning and sorting apparatus is disposed at a position close to the sorting apparatus 3.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the cleaning device 2 and the sorting device 3 are adjacent to each other, and the discharge unit 7 of the cleaning device 2 is positioned higher than the supply unit (conveying belt 21) of the sorting device 3. Therefore, the crop can be not only transported from the cleaning device 2 to the sorting device 3 by natural fall, but also the crop washing and sorting device can be made compact and its installation area can be reduced.

  According to the invention described in claim 2, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, the region where the crop is introduced into the transporting device 1 is a position close to the sorting device 3. The crop can be thrown into the transport device 1 while viewing the image, and the crop can be thrown into the transport device 1 at a relatively low position, thereby improving workability. Moreover, the whole apparatus does not become unnecessarily long, and the whole crop washing and sorting apparatus can be made compact.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a side view of a washing and sorting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention taking carrots as an example of a crop, FIG. 2 (a) is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 2B is a perspective view, FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a view taken along the line S-S in FIG. FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 1 (however, the cleaning device 2 is a side sectional view).

  A transport device 1 for transporting carrots, a cleaning device 2 for cleaning carrots transported from the transport device 1, and a sorting device 3 for sorting carrots washed by the cleaning device 2 are adjacent to each other. Place in position.

  The transport device 1 that transports carrots to the supply unit 5 of the cleaning device 2 includes an endless belt conveyor 6, and the transport start end 6 a is disposed at a position lower than the supply unit 5 of the cleaning device 2 and close to the sorting device 3. This makes it easier for workers to supply carrots. Moreover, the conveyance start end part 6a of the belt conveyor 6 of the conveyance apparatus 1 is arrange | positioned adjacent to the side part of the washing | cleaning apparatus 2, and also monitors a mode that the carrot is moving to the selection apparatus 3 from the discharge part 7 of the washing | cleaning apparatus 2. Since it is in a position where it can be done, the operator can observe whether the carrot is smoothly transferred from the cleaning device 2 to the sorting device 3 while putting the carrot on the belt conveyor 6 of the transport device 1.

  Further, the transport device 1 is disposed adjacent to the cleaning device 2, and the transport terminal portion 6 b of the belt conveyor 6 forms an inclined path that rises toward the supply unit 5 of the cleaning device 1, and the supply unit 5 of the cleaning device 2. The carrot can be put into the cleaning device 2 from the shooter 9 provided in the hood.

  The cleaning device 2 includes a cleaning tank 13 having a box shape in plan view. In the cleaning tank 13, a plurality (six) of cylindrical brushes 15 provided around a plurality of rod-shaped rotating shafts 12 are arranged in a substantially U shape adjacent to each other when viewed from the direction of arrow B in FIG. A pulley 16 is provided outside the cleaning tank 13 of the rotary shaft 12 provided with the cylindrical brush 15, and a belt 11 driven by a motor is stretched over the pulley 16.

  As shown in FIG. 5, two cleaning paths composed of a plurality of (six) cylindrical brushes 15 arranged in a substantially U shape are arranged to form two rows of cleaning paths. A cylindrical brush 15 is fixed around the rotary shaft 12, and when the rotary shaft 12 is rotated by a driving force from a driving source, the cylindrical brush 15 rotates.

  The rotation axis 12 of the washing tank 13 is arranged at a slight angle with respect to the horizontal direction so that the carrot supply unit 5 side is raised and the discharge unit 7 side is lowered. The inclination angle of the rotating shaft 12 of the cleaning tank 13 is adjusted by providing an angle adjusting unit 17 that moves the cleaning tank end on the discharge unit 7 side up and down. Further, although not shown, cleaning water is constantly supplied and discharged into the cleaning tank 13 to maintain a substantially constant amount of water.

  The discharge portion 7 of the cleaning device 2 is provided with an openable / closable opening 7a (FIG. 2), and a hopper-like shooter 18 is connected to the opening 7a. A plurality of shooters 18 may be provided. FIG. 3 shows an example in which two shooters 18 are arranged in parallel.

  When carrot is supplied into the cleaning tank 13, the carrot drops mud while acting on the cylindrical brush 15 rotating along the cleaning path, and proceeds to the discharge unit 7 of the cleaning device 2. The carrots fall naturally and are sequentially discharged from the discharge unit 7 to the shooter 18.

  When the carrot is sufficiently cleaned, when the opening 7a of the discharge unit 7 of the cleaning device 2 is opened, the carrot floating on the water surface in the cleaning device 2 passes through the shooter 18 and falls onto the conveyor belt 21 of the sorting device 3.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, a carrot detection sensor 22 is installed on the side wall of the tip of the hopper-like shooter 18 provided in the discharge part 7 of the cleaning device 2. The sensor 22 is a so-called full sensor. When the carrot fills up to the sensor height of the shooter 18, the sensor surface senses the carrot, and when the carrot accumulates too much, the driving of the entire apparatus is stopped.

  2B, a plurality of grids 20 are provided at the bottom of the shooter 18 of the discharge unit 7 of the cleaning apparatus 2 so that a part of the bottom of the shooter 18 is shown in the circle of FIG. You may provide the taking-out part which drops a small carrot from the space between.

  The sorting device 3 has a configuration in which a sorting conveyor belt 21 is disposed below the shooter 18 of the cleaning device discharge section 7. Therefore, since the carrot can be supplied from the cleaning device 2 to the sorting conveyor belt 21 by natural fall, no power is required.

  In addition, since the cleaning device 2 and the sorting device 3 are disposed adjacent to each other, and the discharge unit 7 of the cleaning device 2 is positioned higher than the supply unit of the sorting device 3, the entire device can be made compact and the installation area is small. Become.

  The crop sorting conveyor belt 21 of the sorting device 3 is an endless belt, and a plurality of pairs of shooters 23 and containers 24 are arranged in a direction crossing the inside of the reciprocating path of the belt 21. Each pair of shooter 23 and container 24 are arranged in parallel in a direction orthogonal to the belt 21 from the upstream side to the downstream side of the carrot transport of the transport belt 21, and the carrot transported on the transport belt 21 is, for example, depending on the weight They are sorted and fall into the box-type shooter 23 via the shooters 30 adjacent to the belts 21 respectively. In this embodiment, for weighing the carrots, a weighing scale 25 is arranged at a position corresponding to each shooter 23 under the conveyor belt 21. The weighing scale 25 measures the carrot being conveyed on the belt 21 and sorts the weight. It is configured to do. Further, instead of the weighing scale 25, a device that detects the size of the carrot with an optical sensor (not shown) provided above the belt 21 and sorts it by size may be used. Other appropriate methods can be used for these carrot sorting methods.

  When the carrots can be selected, the weights of the carrots conveyed on the belt 21 (or on the basis of the command of a control device not shown in the figure) are as follows. It can be dropped into an appropriate shooter 23 according to the size.

  As shown in FIG. 4, an elastic body 28 is attached to the inner side wall surface of the shooter 23 so as not to damage the falling carrot. Since the bottom surface of the shooter 23 is formed of an inclined surface, the bottom surface is slid down, and the shutter 23a provided on the side wall portion at the lowest position is pushed down to roll down to the container 24 corresponding to each shooter 23.

  If the carrot transported on the transport belt 21 is out of specification, the sorting arm 26 does not operate, so that the carrot is transported to the end of the transport belt 21. Nonstandard carrots transported to the terminal end slide down in the shooter 29 and fall into the container 27.

  The washing and sorting apparatus for sorting the crops based on the size and the like after washing the crops of the present invention has a high possibility of being used as a labor-saving automation apparatus for agricultural products before shipment.

It is a side view of the washing sorting device of an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 1 (FIG. 2A) and a view taken in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 2A (FIG. 2B). It is a top view of the washing sorting device of an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 is a view taken along the line S-S in FIG. 3. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC in FIG. 1 (a cleaning device portion is a side sectional view).

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Conveying device 2 Cleaning device 3 Sorting device 5 Cleaning device supply unit 6 Conveyor belt conveyor 6a Conveying device belt conveyor conveying start end 6b Conveying device belt conveyor conveying termination unit 7 Cleaning device discharging units 9, 18 29, 30 Shuter 11 Belt 12 Rotating shaft 13 Washing tank 15 Cylindrical brush 16 Pulley 17 Angle adjusting unit 20 Grid 21 Conveying belt 22 Detection sensor 23 Box-type shooter 23a Shutter 24, 27 Container 25 Weigh scale 26 Sorting arm 28 Elastic body

Claims (2)

In a crop washing and sorting apparatus comprising a washing device 2 for washing crops and a sorting device 3 for sorting crops washed by the washing device 2,
Crop washing and sorting, wherein the washing device 2 and the sorting device 3 are arranged at adjacent positions, and the discharge unit 7 of the washing device 2 is positioned higher than the crop supply unit to the sorting device 3 apparatus.   A transport device 1 for transporting crops is provided in the supply unit 5 of the cleaning device 2, and the transport start end 6 a of the transport device 1 is lower than the supply unit 5 of the cleaning device 2 and is close to the sorting device 3. The crop cleaning and sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is arranged.

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