JP2005161246A - Sorting device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sorting device which can reduce an equipment cost and an installation cost, improve a sorting quantity per unit time even at a constant feed speed, and at the same time, be installed in a relatively narrow installation space, and has a high movable efficiency regardless of the numerical quantities of the harvesting. <P>SOLUTION: A sorting controller 4 waits until a detecting signal of a container 2 is given from a sensor 5: when it is given, a rank memorized according to the position of each agricultural product (a) contained in the concerned container 2 is read out. The sorting controller 4 keeps the ranks of the agricultural products to be sorted at the concerned sorting sectors 10 preset up according to each sorting sector 10. The sorting controller 4 produces a display command for displaying the position of the agricultural product of the rank corresponding to the rank to be sorted at the sorting sector 10 and outputs it to an indicator 6 corresponding thereto, to make the indicator 6 display the position of the agricultural product to be sorted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a sorting device that sorts a plurality of agricultural products on a predetermined basis.

Agricultural products such as tomatoes, pears and apples are collected in a fruit selection field, sorted by multiple ranks determined by size, external grade, etc. by a sorting device installed in the fruit selection field, and then packed and shipped. . In Patent Document 1 described later as such a sorting device, the following is disclosed.

  That is, a plurality of buckets on which agricultural products are mounted are placed in a line at appropriate intervals on a line-shaped conveyance path, and each bucket is conveyed from upstream to downstream by a conveyor for conveyance. For example, a measuring instrument for imaging agricultural products is disposed at an appropriate position on the conveyance path, and the agricultural product data measured by the measuring instrument is given to the controller. In addition, on the downstream side of the measuring device of the conveyance path, a plurality of discharge machines for discharging agricultural products from the bucket are arranged in the vicinity of one side of the conveyance conveyor with an appropriate distance in the conveyance direction. On the other side of the conveyor, fruit collecting portions for collecting the discharged agricultural products are formed corresponding to the respective discharging machines. And each discharge machine will discharge the agricultural products mounted there to the corresponding fruit collection part from the bucket conveyed to the position facing the said discharge machine with a conveyance conveyor, if the discharge command is given from the said controller. .

  In such a sorting apparatus, a plurality of workers are arranged on the upstream side of the measuring instrument on the conveyance path, and agricultural products are respectively mounted on the buckets conveyed by the conveyor for conveyance. A measuring instrument measures the magnitude | size etc. of the said agricultural product whenever a agricultural product is conveyed by a conveyance conveyor, and gives obtained data to a controller. The controller is preset with a plurality of ranks based on the size of the produce, etc. When the controller is given data from the measuring instrument, the produce corresponds to which rank among the ranks. To decide. Each discharge machine and each fruit collection unit described above are provided corresponding to each rank. And a controller gives a discharge command to the said discharge machine at the timing which reaches | attains the position of the discharge machine corresponding to the rank which the said agricultural product determined, and discharges agricultural products from a bucket.

  One or a plurality of workers are arranged in each fruit collection section described above, and a box for packing is prepared in the vicinity of each fruit collection section. Each time, each time the agricultural product is discharged to the corresponding fruit collection unit, the worker is boxed with the agricultural product.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-57211 (FIG. 1)

  However, in such a conventional sorting apparatus, a plurality of ejectors must be installed according to each rank to be sorted, and there is a problem that the cost required for the ejectors and their installation is high. In addition, in order to improve the sorting quantity per unit time at a constant conveying speed, it is only necessary to sort each agricultural product in a plurality of rows. However, in the conventional sorting apparatus, the above-described conveying is performed for each of a plurality of conveying paths. A sorting device including a conveyor, a measuring instrument, a controller, and a plurality of ejectors has to be installed, resulting in a high equipment cost and a large equipment space. On the other hand, when a plurality of conveyance paths are provided in this way, when the number of harvested agricultural products is small and it is not necessary to use all the conveyance paths, the movable efficiency of the sorting apparatus that is not used decreases.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and can reduce the apparatus cost and the installation cost even when sorting into a plurality of ranks. Further, even at a constant conveyance speed, the unit cost can be reduced. The sorting apparatus can be installed in a relatively narrow facility space, and the sorting apparatus with high movable efficiency can be provided regardless of the amount of harvested agricultural products.

  The sorting device according to the present invention as set forth in claim 1 is arranged on a transport path for transporting a plurality of farm products in which a plurality of farm products are positioned and arranged in order, and on a transport path of the transport machine. A means for detecting the characteristics of each agricultural product included in the transported agricultural product group, and the corresponding agricultural product in a plurality of ranks set in advance according to the position of each agricultural product in the agricultural product group based on the detected characteristics of each agricultural product. Corresponding to a plurality of sorting areas set in tandem downstream from the detection means of the transport path so as to sort each agricultural product included in the agricultural product group by the plurality of ranks. A plurality of instruction means for indicating positions of one or a plurality of agricultural products in the agricultural product group to be sorted from the agricultural product group in the sorting area; At the appropriate timing until it is transported to the area, based on the result specified by the position-specific rank specifying means, a command that indicates the position of the produce of the rank to be sorted in the sorting area in the agricultural product group And means for outputting to each means.

  The present invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the instruction means comprises a display for displaying the position of the corresponding agricultural product in the agricultural product group in accordance with the instruction.

  The present invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that a plurality of the display devices are respectively installed corresponding to the respective sorting areas.

  The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the agricultural product group is configured by storing a plurality of agricultural products separately in each region in a storage container in which a plurality of regions for storing the agricultural products are provided in advance. To do.

  In the present invention according to claim 1, a plurality of agricultural product groups in which a plurality of agricultural products are respectively positioned and conveyed are detected in order, the characteristics of each agricultural product included in the agricultural product group are detected, and based on the detected characteristics of each agricultural product, According to the position of each agricultural product in the agricultural product group, the rank to which the agricultural product among a plurality of preset ranks belongs is specified, and the agricultural product detection means of the transport path is used to sort each agricultural product included in the agricultural product group by the plurality of ranks. Agricultural product group is provided corresponding to a plurality of sorting areas set in tandem downstream, and a plurality of indicating means for indicating the position in the agricultural product group of one or a plurality of agricultural products to be sorted from the agricultural product group in the sorting area At an appropriate timing until each of the sorting areas is conveyed to each sorting area, based on the result specified by the position-specific rank specifying means. In order to indicate the position of the agricultural product of the rank to be divided in the agricultural product group, each worker arranged in each sorting area, every time the agricultural product is transported to the sorting area, the agricultural product at the position instructed by the instruction means is the agricultural product group. Can be taken out and sorted.

  Therefore, it is not necessary to install a plurality of ejectors according to each rank to be sorted, and the apparatus cost required for the ejector and the installation cost required for the installation can be reduced. In addition, because a group of agricultural products composed of multiple rows can be transported and sorted by one transport path, the number of items selected per unit time can be improved even at a constant transport speed, while this is realized by a single transport path. Therefore, the equipment cost is low, and it can be installed in a relatively narrow equipment space. On the other hand, the movable efficiency of the sorting device is high regardless of the amount of harvested agricultural products.

  In the present invention according to claim 2, since the instruction means is configured by a display device that displays the position of the corresponding agricultural product in the agricultural product group in accordance with the instruction, the workers arranged in each work area are classified objects. The farm products can be recognized visually.

  In this invention of Claim 3, since the said some indicator is each installed corresponding to each sorting area | region, the worker arrange | positioned in each sorting area | region is the instruction | indication displayed on a corresponding indicator. The corresponding agricultural products can be reliably sorted from the agricultural product group.

  In the present invention according to claim 4, since the agricultural product group is configured to store a plurality of agricultural products separately in each region in a storage container in which a plurality of regions for storing the agricultural products are provided in advance, a plurality of agricultural products Can be easily positioned in a short time. Moreover, by using this storage device, the position of the agricultural product in the storage device can be easily determined, and the position-specific rank specifying means can easily specify the position of the agricultural product in the agricultural product group.

  The sorting device according to the present invention detects the characteristics of each agricultural product included in the agricultural product group conveyed by the transport device on the transport path of the transport device that sequentially transports the multiple agricultural product group in which the multiple agricultural products are respectively positioned and arranged. Means are arranged. As such a detection means, for example, a monaural or color imager can be used, and features such as contours and colors of agricultural products are obtained by the imager. In addition, for example, characteristics such as sugar content and acidity may be detected by the attenuation of the intensity of a predetermined wavelength contained in the projector and the reflected light from the agricultural products irradiated from the projector.

  The position-specific rank specifying means specifies, based on the detected feature of each agricultural product, the rank to which the agricultural product belongs among a plurality of preset ranks for each position of the agricultural product in the agricultural product group.

  On the other hand, corresponding to a plurality of sorting areas set in tandem downstream from the detection means of the conveyance path in order to sort each farm product included in the farm product group by the plurality of ranks, it should be sorted from the farm product group in the sorting area A plurality of instruction means for instructing the position of one or a plurality of agricultural products in the agricultural product group by, for example, a light beam, display, voice, or the like is provided. Note that the instruction means may issue an instruction corresponding to each sorting area by one instruction device, or may give an instruction for each sorting area by a plurality of instruction devices.

  Then, the output means, at an appropriate timing until the agricultural product group is conveyed to each sorting area, based on the result specified by the position-specific rank specifying means, the agricultural product group of the agricultural products of the rank to be sorted in the sorting area A command for instructing the position is output to the corresponding instruction means.

  The instructing means described above is constituted by a display that displays the position of the corresponding agricultural product in the agricultural product group in accordance with the instruction. This display device can display a plurality of display areas corresponding to each sorting area in one screen.

  On the other hand, a plurality of the display devices are installed corresponding to each sorting area. Thereby, the worker disposed in each sorting area can reliably sort the corresponding agricultural products from the agricultural product group according to the instructions displayed on the corresponding display.

  By the way, the above-mentioned agricultural product group is configured such that a plurality of agricultural products are individually stored in each region in a storage container in which a plurality of regions for storing agricultural products are provided in advance.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic partial perspective view showing a configuration of a sorting apparatus according to the present invention, in which 1 is a transport installed in a transport path for transporting a plurality of agricultural products a, a,... Conveyor. In this embodiment, a roller conveyor provided with a plurality of rollers and driving rollers at appropriate intervals is used as the conveyor 1 for conveyance. However, another conveyor such as a belt conveyor may be used.

  A plurality of box-shaped containers (containers) 2, 2,... Are placed on the conveyor 1 at appropriate intervals, and each container 2, 2,. Are conveyed in order. At the bottom of each container 2, for example, a plurality of mounting parts 21, 21,... For partitioning the agricultural products a, a,. 21... Have agricultural products a, a,.

  A detector 3 for detecting characteristics such as the size, coloring, and scratches of the agricultural products a, a,... Conveyed by the container 2 is disposed at an appropriate position on the conveyance path described above. The detector 3 has an image pickup device 32 such as a color line sensor and a conveyor 1 on the ceiling side in a light-shielding casing 31 provided with a carry-in port for carrying the container 2 and a discharge port for carrying the container 2 out. Line-shaped light projectors 33, 33 arranged in the width direction are disposed, and the conveyer 1 is passed through the housing 3 in such a manner as to pass through the discharge port from the carry-in port.

  When the container 2 is transported into the housing 31 by the transporting conveyor 1, the detector 3 projects light from the projectors 33, 33 to the agricultural products a, a,... The farm products a, a,... Placed in the container 2 are imaged at a predetermined sampling interval in the order in which they are conveyed in the direction of the arrow on the conveyor 1 for conveyance. The detector 3 sequentially gives the image data obtained by imaging the container 2 and the agricultural products a, a,.

  A plurality of sensors 5, 5,... Provided with optical sensors or the like for detecting the presence or absence of the container 2 transported by the transporting conveyor 1 is provided downstream from the detector 3 in the transporting path. 1 is arranged at an appropriate distance in the conveyance direction, and each sensor 5, 5,... Provides a detection signal to the sorting controller 4 every time the container 2 is detected. Yes. A side of the conveyer 1 is a side, and a work table 11, 11,... Is placed in a plurality of sorting areas 10, 10,. .. Are placed on the required work tables 11, 11,....

  On the other hand, the other side of the conveyer 1 is a side, and the position of one or a plurality of agricultural products a to be taken out from the container 2 on the work table 11 is in a position substantially opposite to each of the work tables 11, 11,. Are arranged, and when the instruction command is given from the sorting controller 4, each indicator 6, 6,... Displays the position of the corresponding agricultural product. It has become. In the present embodiment, the above-described indicator 6 includes, for example, a “◯” mark in each of a plurality of areas formed by dividing the rectangular display unit into, for example, a 4 × 3 grid corresponding to the partition of the container 2. Can be displayed / hidden.

  One or a plurality of workers (not shown) are arranged on the above-described work tables 11, 11,..., And each worker is transported by the conveyor 1 every time the container 2 is transported. The agricultural products a at one or more positions indicated by the indicators 6, 6, ... corresponding to the arranged work tables 11, 11, ... are taken out from the container 2, and the box 12 on the work tables 11, 11, ... .., 12,..., And sorting out the agricultural products a, a,.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a sorting control procedure by the sorting controller 4 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, each time the image data is given from the detector 3, the sorting controller 4 sequentially develops the image of the container 2 and each agricultural product placed in the container 2 in the work area of the internal memory. Image a, a,... is generated (step S1), and the position of each agricultural product a, a,... in the container 2 is specified based on each obtained image (step S2). Further, the sorting controller 4 obtains the size, degree of coloring, and degree of scratching of each agricultural product a, a,... Based on the image of each agricultural product a, a,. Of the plurality of ranks set in advance according to the degree of coloring and the degree of scratches, the rank to which the agricultural product a belongs is determined (step S3). Then, the sorting controller 4 stores the determined rank of each agricultural product a, a,... In association with the specified position in the container 2 (step S4), so that each agricultural product is classified by position in the container 2. The rank of a, a,.

  The sorting controller 4 waits until a detection signal for detecting the containers 2, 2,... Is given from any of the sensors 5, 5,... Described above (step S5), and when the detection signal is given, The rank stored in association with the position of each agricultural product a, a,... Stored in the container 2 passing through the output sensor 5 is read (step S6). In this sorting controller 4, the ranks of agricultural products to be sorted in the sorting area 10 are set in advance corresponding to the sorting areas 10, 10,... Related to the sensors 5, 5,. 4 generates a display command for displaying the position of the agricultural product of the rank corresponding to the rank to be sorted in the sorting area 10 related to the sensor 5 (step S7), and outputs the generated display command to the corresponding indicator 6. (Step S8), the indicator 6 displays the position of the produce to be sorted.

  The sorting controller 4 determines whether or not the detection signal is given from all the sensors 5, 5,... (Step S9), and repeats the operations from Steps S1 to S9 until it is determined that this is the case.

It is a typical fragmentary perspective view which shows the structure of the selection apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the sorting control procedure by the sorting controller shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Conveyor 2 Container 21 Placement part 3 Detector 31 Case 32 Image pick-up device 33 Projector 33 Projector 4 Sorting controller 6 Indicator 10 Sorting area 11 Work table 12 Box a Agricultural product

Claims (4)

A transporter that sequentially transports a plurality of farm products in which a plurality of farm products are positioned and arranged, and
Means for detecting the characteristics of each agricultural product that is disposed on the conveyance path of this conveyance machine and is included in the group of agricultural products conveyed by the conveyance machine,
Based on the characteristics of each detected agricultural product, for each position in the agricultural product group of each agricultural product, a position-specific rank specifying means for specifying a rank to which the agricultural product belongs among a plurality of preset ranks;
Each agricultural product included in the agricultural product group is provided corresponding to a plurality of sorting areas set in tandem downstream from the detection means of the conveyance path so as to sort each agricultural product by the plurality of ranks, and is sorted from the agricultural product group in the sorting area A plurality of indicating means for indicating the position of the one or more agricultural products in the agricultural product group;
A command to indicate the position of the agricultural product of the rank to be sorted in the sorting area based on the result specified by the position-specific rank specifying means at an appropriate timing until the agricultural product group is conveyed to each sorting area. Each of which is output to a corresponding instruction means. 2. The sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instruction means comprises a display device that displays a position of a corresponding agricultural product in the agricultural product group in accordance with the instruction. The sorting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of the indicators are installed corresponding to each sorting area. The sorting apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the group of agricultural products is configured to store a plurality of agricultural products separately in each region in a storage container in which a plurality of regions for storing the agricultural products are provided in advance.

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