JP2006258534A - Combinational metering device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve metering efficiency of a combinational metering device, concerning the combinational metering device equipped with metering hoppers and memory hoppers. <P>SOLUTION: The plurality of memory hoppers 20 are provided corresponding to the plurality of metering hoppers 2, and an article metered by the metering hopper 2 is supplied to the corresponding memory hopper, and a new article is supplied to a vacant metering hopper 2, and each article weight in the metering hopper 2 and in the memory hopper 20 is combined variously, and a discharge combination wherein the total weight is equal or similar to a target weight determined beforehand is selected from among the combinations. When the total value of each article weight in the mutually-corresponding metering hopper 2 and memory hopper 20 not selected as the discharge combination by the combination operation is below a weight value wherein a combination probability is not lowered (yes in determination in step S18), the article in the metering hopper is supplied to the corresponding memory hopper (step S20), and a new article is supplied to the vacant metering hopper, and the combination operation is performed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a combination weighing device, and more particularly to a combination weighing device including a weighing hopper and a memory hopper.

  The combination weighing device including the weighing hopper and the memory hopper has a larger number of hoppers loaded with articles to be combined than the combination weighing device including only the weighing hopper, so that the combination accuracy can be improved. it can. Even with such a combination weighing device, a combination in which the total weight is within a predetermined weight range may not be obtained. The countermeasures in this case are disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, for example.

  In the technologies disclosed in these Patent Documents 1 and 2, if the above combination cannot be obtained, an article that has been weighed by the weighing hopper is added to the corresponding memory hopper, and a new article is added to the empty weighing hopper. The combination of the weighing hopper and the memory hopper is performed.

JP-A-62-231122 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-282227

  However, in the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, since the articles of the weighing hopper are simply supplied to the corresponding memory hopper, the weight of the articles supplied to the memory hopper may be excessive in some cases, and the memory hopper There is a high probability that the supplied article will not be selected for the combination. Therefore, the supply of articles to such a memory hopper can be handled only when the supply quantity of articles supplied to any weighing hopper becomes small, and a combination in which the total weight falls within a predetermined weight range cannot be obtained. For example, the weight of only the articles supplied to a specific weighing hopper or memory hopper is reduced due to, for example, the relationship of the properties of the articles, and the articles of the specific weighing hopper or memory hopper are not included in the combination and stay. I can not cope with it.

  An object of the present invention is to improve the weighing efficiency by allowing an article to be included in the combination even when the article stays in a specific weighing hopper or memory hopper.

  The combination weighing device according to the present invention includes a plurality of weighing hoppers and a plurality of memory hoppers provided corresponding to these weighing hoppers. Although the articles can be manually supplied to the plurality of weighing hoppers, it is desirable to supply the articles by a supply means capable of supplying the articles by a substantially constant weight. Further, the weighing hopper can not only supply the article to the memory hopper but also discharge the article to the outside. Articles weighed by the weighing hoppers are supplied to the corresponding memory hoppers, and articles are newly supplied to the empty weighing hoppers. A plurality of memory hoppers can be provided for one weighing hopper. However, it is desirable to provide one memory hopper corresponding to one weighing hopper in terms of the efficiency of transferring articles. The combination calculation means variously combines the weights of the articles of the weighing hoppers and the memory hoppers, and selects a discharge combination from which the total weight is equal to or close to a predetermined target weight. When the total value of the weights of the weighing hopper and the memory hopper corresponding to each other and not selected as the discharge combination by the combination calculation is equal to or less than the weight value that does not deteriorate the combination probability, the control means Articles are supplied to the corresponding memory hopper, new articles are supplied to the empty weighing hopper, and the combination calculation means is made to perform the combination calculation again. As the weight value that does not deteriorate the combination probability, a value obtained by dividing the target weight by the number of combinations that maximizes the number of combinations when the combination is performed can be used. For example, a value obtained by dividing the total number of the weighing hoppers by 2 or a value before and after the value, and a value obtained by dividing the target weight, or a value obtained by dividing the total number of the weighing hoppers and the memory hoppers by 2 or A value obtained by dividing the target weight by a numerical value before and after, or a value obtained by dividing the total number of the weighing hopper and the memory hopper that can participate in the combination in each weighing cycle by 2, or a numerical value before and after the target weight, Or a divided value.

  With this configuration, each time a combination calculation is performed, the weighing hopper that did not participate in the combination and the corresponding memory hopper have a weight that is highly likely to participate in the combination. It is possible to prevent the article from staying in the memory hopper and the corresponding weighing hopper for a long time.

  As described above, according to the present invention, in the combination weighing device, when the weight of articles supplied to the memory hopper and the weighing hopper is small and the possibility of participating in the combination is small, the weighing hopper and the memory corresponding to each other If the total weight of the articles supplied to the hopper is likely to participate in the combination, move the article from the weighing hopper corresponding to the memory hopper, and increase the possibility that this memory hopper article will participate in the combination. Since new articles are supplied to the weighing hopper that is high and empty, articles can be prevented from staying in the memory hopper and the weighing hopper for a long period of time, and the weighing efficiency can be improved.

  The combination weighing device according to one embodiment of the present invention has a weighing hopper 2 as shown in FIG. Although only one weighing hopper is shown in FIG. 2, the weighing device actually has a plurality of weighing hoppers 2. These weighing hoppers 2 are arranged along the upper edge opening of the collecting chute 4. The collecting chute 4 is formed in a substantially inverted truncated cone shape, and the inside thereof is hollow, and has an upper edge opening and a lower edge opening that are circular at the upper edge and the lower edge, respectively. Each weighing hopper 2 is provided with weighing means, for example, a load cell 6, which weighs an article supplied to the weighing hopper 2 and generates an analog weight signal indicating the weight of the article. The analog weight signal is converted into a digital weight signal by the A / D converter 8, supplied to the CPU 10, and stored therein.

  A supply means, for example, a supply hopper 12 is arranged above each weighing hopper 2. These supply hoppers 12 are supplied with a substantially constant amount of articles via a single dispersion feeder 14 and a linear feeder 16 provided corresponding to each supply hopper 12. When the corresponding weighing hopper 2 is empty, the gates 12a and 12b of the supply hopper 12 are opened, and the articles in the supply hopper 12 are supplied to the corresponding weighing hopper 2. However, although the article is supplied to the dispersion feeder 14 from another supply device, when the supply amount of the article to the dispersion feeder 14 greatly fluctuates, the weight of the article supplied to the supply hopper 10 is almost the same as that described above. May be less than a certain weight. The vibration control unit 18 also controls the dispersion feeder 14 and the linear feeder 16 in accordance with instructions from the CPU 10.

  A memory hopper 20 is disposed below each weighing hopper 2, that is, in the collective chute 4 so as to correspond to each weighing hopper 2. Each weighing hopper 2 also has gates 2a and 2b, and when the gate 2a is opened, articles in the weighing hopper 2 are supplied into the corresponding memory hopper 20. When the gate 2b is opened, the articles in the weighing hopper 2 are discharged to the collecting chute 4.

  When an article is supplied from the corresponding weighing hopper 2 to the memory hopper 20, the CPU 10 stores the digital weight of the article in the corresponding weighing hopper as the weight of the article in the memory hopper 20, and the weight of the corresponding weighing hopper 2 is Zero. Thereafter, the empty weighing hopper 2 is supplied with an article from the supply hopper 12 thereabove, and a digital weight representing the weight of the article is stored in the CPU 10.

  The memory hopper 20 is also provided with a gate 20a. When the gate 20a is opened, articles in the memory hopper 20 are discharged to the collecting chute 4. The gate driver 22 opens and closes the gates 12a and 12b of the supply hopper 12, the gates 2a and 2b of the weighing hopper 2, and the gate 20a of the memory hopper 20 according to instructions from the CPU 10.

  The CPU 10 variously combines the weights of the articles supplied to each weighing hopper 2 and each memory hopper 20, and selects, for example, the nearest discharge combination from which the total weight is equal to or close to a predetermined target weight. To do. The CPU 10 determines whether or not the total weight of the discharge combination is within the allowable weight range defined by the target weight and the predetermined allowable weight deviation range. When the packaging machine (not shown) transmits a discharge enable instruction to the CPU 10, the articles are discharged from the weighing hopper 2 and the memory hopper 20 constituting the discharge combination to the collecting chute 4. The articles collected in the funnel part 4a below the collecting chute 4 are put into a packaging machine. Then, the CPU 10 causes the empty memory hopper 20 to supply articles from the weighing hopper 2 located above the memory hopper 20. Also, the CPU 10 causes the weighing hopper 2 that has been emptied by discharging the articles to the collecting chute 4 or discharging the articles to the corresponding memory hopper 20 to supply the articles from the supply hopper 12 thereabove. . Articles in the weighing hopper 2 are weighed by the load cell 6 and supplied to the CPU 10. Then, the CPU 10 performs the combination calculation again. Thereafter, the same operation is repeated. In this way, the CPU 10 repeats this cycle, with the supply, weighing, combination calculation, and discharge of articles as one weighing cycle. When the combination calculation is executed, the memory hopper and the weighing hopper that are still being supplied or being weighed are not the targets of the combination calculation. That is, not all weighing hoppers 2 and memory hoppers 20 are always subject to combination.

  The CPU 10 is connected to an operation setting display unit 24, which can be used to set a target weight, an allowable weight deviation range, etc. in the combination weighing device, and also to calculate the total of combinations selected by the combination calculation. The weight and memory hoppers that make up the selected combination are displayed.

  In addition, the CPU 10 determines the weighing hopper 2 and the memory hopper 20 constituting the discharge combination, and then checks the total weight of the weighing hopper 2 and the memory hopper 20 that are paired to satisfy a predetermined condition. The article is supplied from the weighing hopper 2 corresponding to the memory hopper 20, and the article is newly supplied to the empty weighing hopper 2.

The predetermined condition is that when the total number of weighing hoppers 2 and memory hoppers 20 to be combined is an even number, the number is 1/2 of the total number, and when the total number is odd, the number is 1/2 ± 1 of the total number. The total weight of the weighing hopper 2 and the memory hopper 20 in a pair is equal to or less than a value obtained by multiplying the target weight. For example, assuming that the total number of weighing hoppers 2 and memory hoppers 20 to be combined is m, when considering a combination targeting these, the combination is a combination of a combination of m units and a combination of m units. There are a total of 2 ^m -1 combinations from m to m. Among these combinations, the number of combinations that can be obtained is the largest when m / 2 is an even combination of m / 2 units, and when m is an odd number, / 2 ± 1 combination. Accordingly, when the weight of the articles supplied to each weighing hopper 2 and the memory hopper 20 is a value obtained by dividing the target weight by m / 2 or m / 2 ± 1, m / 2 or m / 2 ± 1 units. The probability of obtaining a combination that is equal to or very close to the target weight in the combination is increased.

  Therefore, when the total weight of the pair of weighing hoppers 2 and the memory hopper 20 not selected for combination is equal to or less than the value obtained by dividing the target weight by m / 2 or m / 2 ± 1, these weighing hopper 2 and memory The articles of the hopper 20 are each too small in weight and are less likely to be selected as a combination. However, the articles of the memory hopper 20 are selected for the combination by moving the articles of the weighing hopper 2 to the memory hopper 20. Is more likely. On the other hand, since new articles are supplied to the empty weighing hopper 2, the articles in the weighing hopper 2 are also targets for combination.

  The above example is a case where the number of weighing hoppers 2 and memory hoppers 20 to be combined is not all weighing hoppers and memory hoppers due to the influence of article supply and weighing. However, when the combination calculation is executed in a state where articles are always supplied to the weighing hopper 2 and the memory hopper 20, the total number of all the weighing hoppers 2 and the memory hoppers 20 is 1/2 (when the total number is an even number). ) Or 1/2 ± 1 (when the total number is odd, for example, when the memory hopper 20 is not provided in all the weighing hoppers 2), the value obtained by subtracting the target weight is used.

  The CPU 10 performs this process in a sequence as shown in the flowchart of FIG. This process is performed immediately before the combination calculation is executed. First, the value of the counter k for designating each weighing hopper 2 or memory hopper 20 is set to 1 (step S2).

  Then, it is determined whether the weighing hopper Wk designated by the counter k has been weighed (step S4). If the answer to this determination is no, that is, if the weighing is not completed, the value of the counter k is incremented by 1 to designate the next weighing hopper 2 (step S6). Then, it is determined whether the value of the counter k is equal to or greater than the number of all weighing hoppers 2. If the answer to the determination is no, that is, if all the weighing hoppers 2 are not designated, step S4 is executed again. . If the answer to the determination in step S6 is yes, this process ends, and for example, a combination operation is executed.

  If the answer to the determination in step S4 is yes, that is, if the weighing of the weighing hopper Wk designated by the counter k is completed, the article of the weighing hopper Wk is selected as a combination and waits for a discharge signal from the packaging machine. (Step S10). If the answer to this determination is yes, step S6 and subsequent steps are executed.

  If the answer to the determination in step S10 is no, that is, if the weighing hopper Wk designated by the counter k is not selected for the combination and is not waiting for the discharge signal from the packaging machine, the memory corresponding to this weighing hopper Wk It is determined whether or not an article has been put into the hopper Mk (step S12).

  If the answer to this determination is no, that is, if no article is put in the memory hopper Mk corresponding to the weighing hopper Wk, the gate 2a of the weighing hopper Wk is opened, and the article of the weighing hopper Wk is associated with the corresponding memory hopper Mk. (Step S14). Subsequently, the CPU 10 stores the weight of the weighing hopper Wk as the weight of the memory hopper Mk (Step S16), and executes Step S6 and subsequent steps.

  If the answer to the determination in step S12 is yes, that is, if an article is put in the memory hopper Mk corresponding to the weighing hopper Wk, the sum of the weight of the article in the weighing hopper Wk and the weight value of the article in the memory hopper Wk. It is determined whether the value is equal to or less than a predetermined value (step S18). The predetermined value here is ½ of the total number of the weighing hoppers 2 and the memory hoppers 20 to be combined as described above when the number is an even number, and ½ ± of the total number when the number is odd. It is a value obtained by multiplying the target weight by the number of units of one.

  If the answer to this determination is yes, the discharge gate 2a of the weighing hopper Wk is opened, the article is loaded into the corresponding memory hopper Mk (step S20), and the weight of the weighing hopper Wk is set to the corresponding memory hopper Mk. The weight is stored (step S22), and step S6 and subsequent steps are executed. If the answer to the determination at step S18 is no, step S6 and subsequent steps are executed. These steps S18, S20, and S22 correspond to the control means in the claims.

  Thus, the weighing hopper 2 and the memory hopper 20 that are not selected for the combination, and the articles are supplied to each, and the total weight is equal to or less than the predetermined value, the articles of the weighing hopper 2 Is put into the memory hopper 20. The empty hopper is supplied with articles from the supply hopper 12 when a supply sequence (not shown) is executed. Then, a combination calculation sequence is executed.

  In the process of FIG. 1 described above, when the process of FIG. 1 is to be executed, when the total number of the weighing hoppers 2 and the memory hoppers 20 to be combined is an even number, the total number is 1/2 and the odd number. In step S18, the value obtained by multiplying the target weight by the number of 1/2 ± 1 of the total number is used in step S18. For example, the combination is performed in a state where articles are supplied to all the weighing hoppers 2 and the memory hoppers 20. When the calculation is performed, the total weight of the articles of the weighing hopper and the memory hopper corresponding to each other is equal to or less than a value obtained by dividing the target weight by a half of the total number of the weighing hopper 2 and the memory hopper 20. You may make it judge. In this case, the total number of weighing hoppers 2 and memory hoppers is an even number, but a value obtained by dividing the target weight by a number close to ½ of the total number, for example, ± 1 can be used.

  In the above embodiment, the weighing hopper 2 is configured to supply articles from the supply hopper 12. However, for example, the supply hopper 12, the linear feeder 16, and the dispersion feeder 14 are removed, and the articles are manually measured by the weighing hopper 2. Can also be supplied.

It is a flowchart which shows the process of the combination weighing | measuring apparatus of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic block diagram of the combination weighing | measuring apparatus of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

2 Weighing hopper 10 CPU (combination calculation means, control means)
20 Memory hopper

Claims (3)

A plurality of weighing hoppers and a plurality of memory hoppers provided corresponding to the weighing hoppers are provided, and articles weighed by the weighing hoppers are supplied to the corresponding memory hoppers and become empty. Further, articles are newly supplied to each weighing hopper, the weights of the articles of the weighing hoppers and the memory hoppers are variously combined, and the total weight of these combinations is equal to or close to a predetermined target weight. In the combination weighing device in which the combination calculation means performs the combination calculation for selecting the discharge combination,
When the total value of the weights of the weighing hopper and the memory hopper corresponding to each other and not selected as the discharge combination by the combination calculation is equal to or less than the weight value not deteriorating the combination probability, the weighing hopper is matched. A combination weighing device provided with a control means for supplying a new article to the weighing hopper that is empty, supplying a new article to the empty weighing hopper, and causing the combination calculation means to perform the combination calculation again.   2. The combination weighing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the weight value that does not deteriorate the combination probability is a value obtained by dividing the total number of the weighing hopper and the memory hopper by 2, or a value obtained by dividing the target weight. A combination weighing device 2. The combination weighing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the weight value that does not impair the combination probability is a value obtained by dividing the total number of the weighing hopper and the memory hopper that can participate in the combination for each weighing cycle by 2, or a numerical value before and after that A combination weighing device which is a value obtained by dividing the target weight.

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