JP2006075788A - Particulate sorting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a particulate sorting apparatus of simple structure, capable of easily moving particulate in a thin layer, and enhancing foreign matter sorting capacity. <P>SOLUTION: This particulate sorting apparatus 1A supplies particulate to a rotating circular member 12 from a supply part 11, forms it into a uniform thin layer by centrifugal force, and detects existence of foreign matter in the particulate by an optical sensor 13. When foreign matter is detected, by changing relative rotation speed of an annular member 14 having collection covers 32 surrounding an outer periphery of the circular member 12, rotatably provided, with through-holes piercingly provided, and by changing a ratio of amount of the particulate collected by the cover 32 from the circular member 12, reaching an inner recovering part 16 through the through-holes, to an amount of the particulate passing over the annular member 14 from the circular member 12 and reaching an outer recovering part 15, foreign matter is sorted from particulate. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a granular material sorting apparatus suitable for removing foreign matters mixed in a granular material, for example.

Conventionally, in order to remove foreign matter mixed in the granular material, the granular material is supplied onto the belt conveyor so as to form a uniform thin layer, and in the process of horizontally conveying the granular material, it is optically powdered. An apparatus that detects and removes foreign matter mixed in a granular material is known (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
JP 2000-84496 A JP 2000-162136 A

  In order to optically detect foreign matter mixed in the powder and remove it, the powder must first be formed into a uniform thin layer. In the apparatus described in Patent Document 1, the granular material is made uniform using a squeeze roller on the first conveyor and then transferred onto the second conveyor. In the apparatus described in Patent Document 2, The powder particles are leveled by vibrating. In any case, the transport amount of the granular material is determined by the width of the conveyor, the thickness of the layer of the granular material, and the conveyor speed. Since the detectable range of the optical sensor for optically detecting foreign matter mixed in the powder is limited, there is a limit to increasing the width of the conveyor. The thinner the layer, the better. Moreover, since the granular material does not follow even if the conveyor speed is increased unnecessarily, there is a limit to increasing this. For this reason, the conveyance amount of the granular material per unit time, and thus the processing capacity for removing foreign matter is limited, and in order to compensate for the insufficient processing capacity, a belt including a powder supply unit, a foreign matter detection unit, etc., together with this belt conveyor There is a problem that it is difficult to increase the processing capacity because there is only an additional conveyor line. Moreover, in the case of each apparatus mentioned above, there existed a problem that a granular material could not necessarily be made into a uniform thin layer form by the kind of granular material.

  An object of the present invention is to eliminate such a conventional problem, and with a simple configuration, the powder particles can be easily moved in a uniform thin layer, and the powder capable of improving the foreign matter selection processing capability. The present invention intends to provide a granule sorting apparatus.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the first invention has a supply port at the lower end portion, and is provided rotatably with a supply portion for supplying powder particles downward from above and a vertical axis, A circular member that places the granular material from the supply unit on a flat upper surface and moves to the larger diameter side by centrifugal force, a light projecting unit that irradiates light on the granular material on the circular member, and the light projection A light receiving unit that receives light passing through the granular material from the unit and converts it into an electrical signal, and if there is a foreign object detected by judging the presence or absence of a foreign material to be separated from a specific object in the granular material from this electrical signal Has a plurality of through holes vertically formed in a circular annular body surrounding an outer periphery of the circular member, and an upper side from the large diameter side of the upper end of the through hole. Covered and formed into a shape that captures the capture cover that opens toward the circular member In addition, the circular member and the upper surface are provided so as to be concentrically rotatable in a state where the upper surface is on the same plane, and when the optical sensor unit detects the foreign matter, the relative rotational speed with respect to the circular member can be changed. An annular member, an outer recovery portion that surrounds the outer periphery of the annular member, and is provided so as to be able to capture the discharged matter therefrom, and an inner recovery portion that is provided so as to be able to capture fallen matter from the through hole. It was set as the structure provided with.

  In the second aspect of the invention, in addition to the structure of the first aspect of the invention, the supply port of the supply unit is arranged immediately above the center of the circular member.

  In addition to the structure of 1st invention, 3rd invention set it as the structure arrange | positioned above the position where the supply port of the said supply part was eccentric from the center of the said circular member.

  According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in addition to the configuration of any one of the first to third aspects of the invention, when the foreign member is not detected, the annular member is relatively positioned relative to the circular member. A configuration in which the rotation direction is the same as the rotation direction, and the rotation direction is relatively opposite to the rotation direction when the foreign matter is detected. It was.

  According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in addition to any one of the configurations of the first to third aspects, the annular member is configured so that the circular member is relatively positioned relative to the circular member when the foreign matter is not detected. On the other hand, the rotation direction is opposite to the rotation direction. On the other hand, when the foreign matter is detected, the rotation direction is relatively high with respect to the circular member.

  According to a sixth aspect of the invention, in addition to any one of the configurations of the first to fifth aspects, the granular material from the supply unit is released to the larger diameter side by centrifugal force between the supply unit and the circular member. While having a concave rotary container, it was set as the structure which interposed the small specific gravity removal apparatus which has the suction tube which attracts | sucks small specific gravity objects, such as hair and a fiber mixed in the granular material, from the upper surface close position in a rotary container.

  According to the granular material sorting apparatus according to the present invention, the apparatus has a simple configuration, and even if the supply flow rate of the granular material is increased, the granular material can be easily formed into a uniform thin layer. It is possible to increase the foreign matter sorting ability.

  Further, in the case where the supply port of the supply unit is provided eccentrically from the center of the circular member and the granular material is supplied to a position eccentric from the center, in addition to the above-described effects, foreign object detection The effect that the optical sensor part for can be simplified can also be obtained.

  Furthermore, by providing a small specific gravity removal device, there is an effect that the various foreign substances in the granular material can be more reliably selected.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 to 3 show a granular material sorting apparatus 1A according to the first embodiment of the present invention. This granular material sorting apparatus 1A includes a supply unit 11, a circular member 12, an optical sensor unit 13, an annular member 14, An outer recovery unit 15 and an inner recovery unit 16 are provided.

  The supply unit 11 is a cylindrical body having a circular horizontal cross section, has a supply port 21 at the lower end, and is connected to powder supply equipment (not shown), and the powder sent from here drops. , Supplied from the supply port 21 downward. Moreover, this supply part 11 is provided so that height adjustment is possible, and it can replace | exchange for the thing from which an internal diameter differs.

  The circular member 12 is made of a disk having a flat upper surface, and is provided at an upper end portion of a rotary shaft 22 provided to be vertically rotatable so as to be integrally rotatable therewith. The rotary shaft 22 is rotated by, for example, a timing belt 23 and a pulley 24 by a rotation driving unit (not shown). It is preferable that the rotational drive unit is variable speed. A cone 25 is provided on the upper end surface of the rotary shaft 22 that passes through the center of the circular member 12 so as to be integrally rotatable with the rotary shaft 22 below the supply unit 11. In addition, each of the supply part 11, the circular member 12, the rotating shaft 22, and the cone 25 is concentric. And the granular material which has fallen in the supply port 21 is equally distributed over the perimeter of the cone 25 along the slope which spreads below the rotating cone 25, and the circular member which rotates similarly. 12 is supplied toward the large diameter side. On the circular member 12, since the granular material also rotates following the circular member 12, a centrifugal force acts on the granular material, and moves to the larger diameter side as shown by a dashed line curve a in FIG. At the same time, it spreads in the circumferential direction. That is, on the circular member 12, the granular material immediately becomes a uniform and thin layer in the circumferential direction and moves toward the large diameter side. Note that the curve a is exemplarily shown at intervals of 90 degrees, and actually, there is a curve a indicating the movement trajectory of the granular material over the entire circumferential direction of 360 degrees.

  The optical sensor unit 13 includes a light projecting unit that irradiates light toward the upper surface of the circular member 12, a light receiving unit that irradiates the upper surface, receives light reflected from the upper surface, and converts the light into an electrical signal. Judgment is made from the electrical signal to determine if there is a foreign object to be separated from the specific substance in the granular material, and when a foreign object is detected, it has a detection circuit that emits a detection signal. It is what. In the example shown in the figure, four photosensor parts 13 are equally arranged around the supply part at an angular interval of 90 degrees. Each of the optical sensor units 13 functions to detect foreign matter at least in the range indicated by the double-dotted chain double-headed arrow b in FIG. For the range, it works without omission.

  The annular member 14 is a circular annular body that surrounds the outer periphery of the circular member 12 and has a flat upper surface that is flush with the upper surface of the circular member 12, and a plurality of through-holes 31 drilled in the vertical direction and the through-holes A catch cover 32 is provided for each of the 31 and covers from the large diameter side of the upper end of the through hole 31 to the upper side and opens toward the circular member 12. As shown in FIG. 2, these through-holes 31 and the capture cover 32 are positioned such that the end on the side preceding the rotation direction is on the small-diameter side and the end on the following side is positioned on the larger-diameter side. When the same curve as the one-dot chain line curve a is drawn between the adjacent capture covers 32, the adjacent capture covers 32 and the through holes 31 so that this curve always passes through one of the capture covers 32. The interval of is determined. The annular member 14 is coupled to a hollow rotary shaft 33 having a central portion passing through the rotary shaft 22 so as to be integrally rotatable via an intermediate member. The hollow rotary shaft 33 is disposed concentrically with the rotary shaft 22 and The rotary shaft 22 is rotatably provided independently of the rotary shaft 22. The hollow rotary shaft 33 is rotated by a rotation driving unit (not shown) via, for example, timing belts 34 and 35, pulleys 36, 37, and 38 and an intermediate shaft 39 that is rotatably provided in the vertical direction. The relative rotation speed of the annular member 14 with respect to the circular member 12 can be changed when the optical sensor unit 13 detects the foreign matter. By the way, the granular material released to the outside from the circular member 12 by centrifugal force is caught by the capture cover 32 and further passes over the annular member 14 with respect to the amount guided to the through hole 31. The ratio of the amount discharged outward increases as the annular member 14 is rotated in the same direction as the circular member 12 and at a higher speed than the circular member 12. In view of the behavior of such a granular material, for example, the annular member 14 is rotated at a higher speed than the circular member 12 in the same direction as the circular member 12 and the entire amount of the granular material passes over the annular member 14. Only when the optical sensor 13 detects the foreign matter, the annular member 14 is rotated at a lower speed than the rotating member 12 or stopped to rotate, and the particulate matter containing the foreign matter is guided to the through hole 31 to completely remove the foreign matter. The Alternatively, the rotation of the annular member 14 is stopped, and only when the optical sensor 13 detects the foreign matter, the annular member 14 is placed in the same direction as the circular member 12, and the total amount of the granular material is the same as described above. You may make it rotate at high speed rather than the circular member 12 so that it may pass on the annular member 14, and in this case, the granular material containing a foreign material passes over the annular member 14, is discharge | released to the outer side, and a foreign material Is completely removed.

  The outer recovery unit 15 surrounds the outer periphery of the annular member 14 and is formed so as to capture the powder particles that are discharged outward from the large-diameter side of the annular member 14 and guide it to a recovery facility (not shown). Has been.

  The inner recovery part 16 is formed so as to capture the powder particles that have fallen through the through-hole 31 and guide it to another recovery facility (not shown).

  Thus, according to the granular material sorting apparatus 1A that uses the rotating circular member 12 and the annular member 14 to move the granular material by centrifugal force, the granular material is horizontally conveyed by the conveyor. Compared to the above-mentioned apparatus, the powder can be easily moved in a uniform thin layer with a simple configuration, and the circular member of the powder can be obtained by increasing the rotational speed of the circular member 12. 12 can increase the flow rate supplied to the top 12, so that it is possible to greatly improve the foreign matter selection processing capability. The same can be said for each of the embodiments described below.

  In addition, this granular material sorter 1A can be used to eliminate foreign matters when the foreign matters are not allowed to be mixed in the granular materials, and includes a plurality of types of granular materials. In the case where a certain specific item and other items are collected separately, it can also be used to select and collect items other than the specific item as foreign matters.

4 and 5 show a granular material sorting apparatus 1B according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the granular material sorting apparatus 1B, the same numbers are assigned to parts common to the above-described granular material sorting apparatus 1A. The description is omitted.
In this granular material sorting apparatus 1 </ b> B, the supply unit 11 is provided above two positions eccentric from the center of the circular member 12. In this case, the distribution area of the granular material dropped from the supply unit 11 onto the rotating circular member 12 is divided into two as shown in FIG. Therefore, in FIG. 5, it is sufficient to provide the optical sensor unit 13 that functions for detecting foreign matter within the range indicated by the two-dot chain line b in FIG. Unlike the powder and particle sorting apparatus 1A that spreads over the entire top surface, the powder and particle sorting apparatus 1B only requires two optical sensor units 13.

  The position eccentric from the center of the circular member 12 is not limited to two, but may be one, three, or more.

  FIG. 6 shows a granular material sorting apparatus 1C according to a third embodiment of the present invention. This granular material sorting apparatus 1C is provided between the supply unit 11 and the circular member 12 of the granular material sorting apparatus 1A or 1B described above. In addition, a small specific gravity removing device 17 for removing small specific gravity such as hair and fibers having a specific gravity smaller than that of the granular material is interposed. In order to simplify the drawing, only a part of the supply unit 11 and the circular member 12 is illustrated, and the other parts of the powder sorting apparatus 1A or 1B are the same as described above, and are not illustrated. ing.

  The small specific gravity removing device 17 has a concave rotating container 52 coupled to an upper end portion of a vertical rotating shaft 51 rotated by a rotation driving unit (not shown) so as to be integrally rotatable therewith. A cone 53 is provided on the upper end surface of the rotating shaft 51 that penetrates the center of the bottom surface of the rotating container 52 so as to be integrally rotatable with the rotating shaft 22 below the supply unit 11. An optical sensor unit 54 similar to the optical sensor unit 13 is disposed above the inner slope of the rotating container 52, and a suction pipe 55 connected to a suction device (not shown) in proximity to the inner upper surface. Is arranged. Furthermore, a fixed container 57 is provided that surrounds the outer periphery of the rotary container 52 and has an inclined bottom surface, and has a discharge port 56 that opens toward the circular member 12 at the bottom. It is preferable that the distance between the supply unit 11 and the rotary container 52, the distance between the discharge port 56 and the circular member 12, and the rotational speed of the rotary container 52 are adjustable. Further, it is preferable that the suction tube 55 can be replaced with one having a different cross-sectional shape.

  In the small specific gravity removal device 17 having the above-described configuration, the granular material from the supply unit 11 is placed on the rotary container 52 via the cone 53 and on the large diameter side thereof while the suction device is operating. It falls toward the top and moves toward the upper side of the inner slope of the rotating container 52 by centrifugal force. And when small specific gravity such as hair and fiber is mixed in the granular material, this small specific gravity does not move as fast as the granular material, and is not on the surface layer or surface of the granular material. Only the granular material that has moved up to the surface and has been suctioned and removed by the suction pipe 55 and from which the small specific gravity has been removed is discharged from the upper end of the rotating container 52 into the fixed container 57 by centrifugal force, and is discharged through the discharge port 56. And supplied on the circular member 12. Further, foreign matter is selected in the same manner as described above with respect to the granular material supplied onto the circular member 12.

  For small specific gravity materials such as hair and fibers in the granular material, the movement is slow and stays on the surface layer or surface of the granular material, and moves differently from the granular material. Although it is difficult to eliminate it even if handled in the same way, it is difficult to exclude it from the granular material. On the other hand, it is never allowed to mix hair, fibers, etc. into the granular material, but this small specific gravity removal The device 17 facilitates its removal. Further, in the small specific gravity removal device 17, the light sensor unit 54 is not necessarily required if only the small specific gravity removal is considered, but the small specific gravity is not present in the granular material supplied onto the circular member 12. It is provided to confirm that it is not mixed, and the reliability of the small specific gravity removing device 17 is further enhanced.

  In the above-described embodiment, the reflection type photosensor units 13 and 54 are shown. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and includes a device using a transmission type photosensor unit instead of the reflection type. . Moreover, the cross-sectional shape of the supply part 11 is not limited to a circle.

  The present invention is suitable for a granule inspection system for removing foreign matters, hair, fibers and the like mixed in granules, for example.

It is a sectional view showing the outline of the granular material sorting device concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view shown in the partial cross section of the granular material classification device shown in FIG. It is the III-III sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the outline of the granular material sorter | selector which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a top view shown with the partial cross section of the granular material classification device shown in FIG. It is a fragmentary sectional view showing the outline of the granular material sorting device concerning a 3rd embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1A, 1B, 1C Powder and Particle Sorting Device 11 Supply Unit 12 Circular Member 13 Optical Sensor Unit 14 Annular Member 15 Outer Recovery Unit 16 Inner Recovery Unit 17 Small Specific Gravity Removal Device 21 Supply Port 22 Central Rotating Shaft 23 Timing Belt 24 Pulley 25 Cone 31 Through-hole 32 Capture cover 33 Hollow rotating shaft 34, 35 Timing belt 36, 37, 38 Pulley 39 Intermediate shaft 51 Rotating shaft 52 Rotating container 53 Cone 54 Optical sensor section 55 Suction tube 56 Discharge port 57 Fixed container

Claims (6)

A supply port having a supply port at the lower end, and supplying the granular material downward from above;
A circular member that is rotatably provided around a vertical axis, puts the granular material from the supply unit on a flat upper surface, and moves to a larger diameter side by centrifugal force;
A light projecting unit that irradiates light on the powder on the circular member, a light receiving unit that receives light passing through the powder from the light projecting unit, and converts the light into an electrical signal, and a powder from the electrical signal Determining the presence or absence of foreign matter to be separated from a specific object therein, and when a foreign matter is detected, an optical sensor unit having a detection circuit that emits a detection signal;
A plurality of through holes are vertically drilled in a circular annular body that surrounds the outer periphery of the circular member, covers the upper end of the through hole from the large diameter side to the upper side, and protrudes the capture cover that opens toward the circular member. And is provided so as to be concentrically rotatable with the circular member and the upper surface being flush with each other, and when the optical sensor unit detects the foreign matter, the circular member is relative to the circular member. An annular member capable of changing the rotation speed;
An outer recovery portion that surrounds the outer periphery of the annular member and is provided so as to be able to capture the emission from the annular member;
A powder and particle sorting apparatus, comprising: an inner recovery portion provided so as to be able to capture fallen objects from the through hole.   2. The granular material sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the supply port of the supply unit is arranged immediately above the center of the circular member.   The granular material sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a supply port of the supply unit is disposed above a position eccentric from a center of the circular member.   When the foreign material is not detected, the annular member is set in a state of rotating at a high speed in the same direction as the rotational direction of the circular member relative to the circular member. 4. The granular material according to claim 1, wherein the powder body is rotated relative to the circular member in a direction opposite to the rotation direction. 5. Sorting device.   When the foreign member is not detected, the annular member is rotated in a direction opposite to the rotational direction of the circular member relative to the circular member, while the foreign member is detected. 4. The powder and particle sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the powder and particle sorting apparatus is configured to rotate at a high speed in the same direction relative to the circular member. Between the supply unit and the circular member, there is a concave rotating container that discharges the granular material from the supply unit to the large diameter side by centrifugal force, and the hair, fibers, and the like mixed in the granular material are small. The granular material sorting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a small specific gravity removing device having a suction pipe for sucking a specific gravity from a position close to the upper surface in the rotating container.

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