JP2010274203A - Article sorting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an article sorting apparatus capable of discharging, from a carrying conveyor to a branching conveyor, articles such as agricultural produce without rolling it. <P>SOLUTION: In the article sorting apparatus, articles (agricultural produce) P placed on an endless rotary belt 15 are discharged to the branching conveyor, by moving toward the branching conveyor side the endless rotary belt 15 of a discharging mechanism 11 installed in the bucket 6 of a bucket conveyor. In this apparatus, with the conveying front side of the articles P held on the support member 26 of a stabilizer 25 that moves integrally with the endless rotary belt 15, the support member 26 is advanced to the upper part of the branching conveyor and also rotated in the direction reverse to the conveying direction of the bucket 6. As a result, rolling of the articles P is prevented by receiving with the support member 26 the inertia of the articles P that are discharged from the endless rotary belt 6. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an article sorting device that discharges articles moving on a conveyor to a branch conveyor for each sorting section, and in particular, a discharge mechanism that can deliver articles such as agricultural products from the conveyor to the branch conveyor without rolling. The present invention relates to a provided article sorting apparatus.

  Articles to be selected include articles that have a shape that easily rolls when delivered to a branch conveyor, such as agricultural products that have a substantially spherical shape such as oranges, apples, pears, melons, lemons, sweet potatoes, radishes, An elliptical or cylindrical shape having a substantially circular cross-section along the short direction, such as a hood, can be exemplified. For non-agricultural products, a substantially spherical shape or a cross-section along the short direction is a substantially circular cross-section. For example, a ball for ball games can be exemplified.

  As an agricultural product sorting device, when agricultural products that have been classified on the same class are discharged for each class at a predetermined sorting discharge position, the agricultural products are orthogonal to the conveying direction of the bucket conveyor. A method of moving in a direction and delivering it to a fruit vegetable sorting basket has been proposed (Patent Document 1).

  Moreover, it replaces with the above-mentioned fruit vegetable selection basket, and the structure which has arrange | positioned diagonally toward the conveyance direction of the said bucket conveyor is also proposed (patent document 2).

  The discharge mechanism described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 described above has an agricultural product placement belt that rotates endlessly with the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the bucket conveyor as the discharge direction, and rotates the agricultural product placement belt in the forward direction. Thus, the agricultural product placed on the agricultural product placing belt is moved to the fruit vegetable sorting basket and the branching conveyor side and delivered. In the agricultural product sorting apparatus of Patent Document 1, when the agricultural product is delivered to the fruit and vegetable sorting basket, the agricultural product rolls by an inertial force composed of the combined force of the agricultural product placing belt and the bucket conveyor. There is a case.

  On the other hand, in the agricultural product sorting apparatus of Patent Document 2, since the branch conveyor extends obliquely along the direction of the inertial force, the agricultural product is rolled by driving the branch conveyor at the inertial speed of the agricultural product. It can be delivered to the branch conveyor without making it.

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 06-023936 JP 2004-209397 A

  As described in Patent Document 2 described above, when the branch conveyor is disposed obliquely with respect to the transport direction of the bucket conveyor, it is required to discharge the agricultural products straight along the transport direction of the branch conveyor. However, since the shapes of the agricultural products are different, not all can be discharged straight with respect to the obliquely arranged branch conveyor, and the agricultural products may roll if the discharging direction is deviated.

  An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an article sorting device that can discharge agricultural products from a conveyor to a branch conveyor without rolling them.

  A configuration of an article sorting device that realizes an object of the present invention includes a plurality of buckets on which articles are placed, and an article placement member on which articles are placed with respect to a bucket main body portion is orthogonal to the conveying direction of the buckets A plurality of branch conveyors arranged on the side of the transport conveyor for receiving the sorting category determined articles placed on the bucket for each sorting section, and the branching conveyor A guide member that is provided corresponding to each conveyor and moves the operation member together with the article placement member in the discharge direction on the branch conveyor side by engagement with an operation member connected to the article placement member. An article sorting device having an article sorting member that moves in the discharge direction together with the article placing member while supporting a front surface in a transport direction of an article placed on the article placing member. An article supporting member having a rotation axis in the vertical direction that extends to the conveyor, and the article supporting member while supporting the article transferred to the branch conveyor at the final stage when the article placing member moves in the discharge direction. Rotation driving means for rotating the bucket in a direction opposite to the conveying direction of the bucket.

  In the configuration of the article sorting apparatus described above, the branch conveyor is intermittently driven by a distance corresponding to one article when the article is transferred, thereby pooling the articles and the next discharged article. Ensure transfer.

  In the configuration of the article sorting device described above, the discharge mechanism is provided below the endless rotating belt that forms the article placing member and the endless rotating belt that is slidably guided in the moving direction of the endless rotating belt. A slide member arranged, connecting the article mounting surface side of the endless rotating belt to the slide member, attaching the actuating member, and fixing the rotation shaft of the article support member to the slide member It can be set as the structure attached to the attachment member made, and the transfer of the article | item to a branch conveyor is made easy.

  In the article sorting apparatus described above, the rotation driving means is fixed to the rotation operation pin fixed to the rotation shaft and the bucket main body portion engaged with the rotation operation pin at the end of movement in which the rotation shaft moves in the discharge direction. The rotation operation pin and the operation pin engagement member are configured such that the article support member is moved into the bucket as the article on the article placement member moves toward the end in the discharge direction. In this case, the article support member can be rotated by applying a rotational force to the rotating shaft using the moving force of the rotating shaft in the discharging direction.

  According to the present invention, when an article having a shape that is easy to roll, for example, is ejected from a conveyor conveyor such as a bucket conveyor to a branch conveyor, the article support member supports the article on the front side of the conveyance. It is possible to prevent rolling on the branch conveyor due to inertial force, and in particular, by rotating the article support member in the direction opposite to the conveying direction of the bucket, the discharge direction and conveying direction of the article possessed by the article are combined. It is possible to prevent the article from rolling due to the inertial force.

  Articles with shapes that are easy to roll upon delivery to the branching conveyor, which is the object to be sorted, are, for example, substantially spherical shapes such as mandarin oranges, apples, pears, and melons in agricultural products, lemons, sweet potatoes, radishes, An elliptical or cylindrical shape having a substantially circular cross-section along the short direction, such as a hood, can be exemplified. For non-agricultural products, a substantially spherical shape or a cross-section along the short direction is a substantially circular cross-section. For example, a ball for ball games can be exemplified.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, articles such as agricultural products can be pooled in an aligned state at predetermined intervals on the branch conveyor, and the next discharged article can be transferred without colliding with the preceding article. Can be placed.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 3, transfer of articles | goods, such as agricultural products, to a branch conveyor is made easy, and a discharge mechanism can be made into a simple structure.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the article support member can be rotated by applying a rotational force to the rotating shaft using the moving force of the rotating shaft in the discharging direction.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 5, a bucket can be located in the arbitrary positions of the orthogonal | vertical direction with the conveyance direction of a conveyance conveyor, This arbitrary position of articles, for example, agricultural products, such as a melon, mounted in a bucket It can be set according to the grade that is one of the items indicating the quality, and the configuration for the grade determination in the article sorting device can be simplified.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Schematic of the whole apparatus which shows embodiment which applied the goods selection apparatus by this invention to the agricultural product selection apparatus. 1 shows a bucket conveyor of FIG. 1 and a discharge mechanism provided in the bucket, (a) is a top view showing an endless rotating belt as an agricultural product placing member in a standby position, and (b) is a front view. (C) is the AA arrow directional view of (a), (d) is the BB arrow directional view of (a). It is a top view of the discharge mechanism shown to Fig.2 (a), The state which the endless rotation belt which is an agricultural product mounting member moved to the discharge position, and the rotation position of the stabilizer which is the agricultural product support member at that time are shown. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement of the discharge mechanism until the agricultural products on a bucket are discharged to a branch conveyor, and the intermittent drive state of a branch conveyor.

  A description will be given below based on an embodiment in which the article sorting apparatus according to the present invention is applied to an agricultural product sorting apparatus.

  The agricultural product sorting apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a bucket conveyor 2 that is a transport conveyor that rotates endlessly between a drive unit 2a and a driven unit 2b. A container 5 containing agricultural products on the conveyor 4 is transported to the side of the bucket conveyor 2, and an agricultural product supply operator W 1 supplies (places) a spherical agricultural product such as melon in the container 5 to each bucket 6 of the bucket conveyor 2. )

  In this embodiment, the bucket conveyor 2 is connected to a later-described connecting shaft 12 connected in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the bucket 6 (hereinafter referred to as a bucket width direction) with respect to a later-described chain 13 that rotates endlessly. The bucket 6 is connected so as to be movable in the bucket width direction, and the bucket 6 can be moved in the bucket width direction by the manual operation of the agricultural product supply worker W1 to be stopped at an arbitrary position.

  In the present embodiment, the agricultural product supply operator W1 visually determines a grade (excellent, excellent, etc.) that is one of the quality items of the agricultural product, and determines each grade in the bucket width direction for the bucket 6 on which the agricultural product is placed. A hand sorting method is adopted that moves to a predetermined position corresponding to the above.

  When the agricultural product placed at a predetermined grade position of the bucket 6 in the agricultural product supply unit 3 passes through the grade determination device 7, for example, by a plurality of photoelectric switches (not shown) composed of a combination of a light projecting element and a light receiving element. The predetermined grade position is detected, and the grade information detected together with the current position (bucket number) is transmitted to a processing device (not shown). The agricultural product on the bucket 6 that has passed through the grade determination device 7 is subsequently inspected by entering the inspection device 8 that measures the external size, internal quality, etc., and the inspection result information of the agricultural product is transmitted to the processing device to produce the agricultural product. The class (S, M, L, LL, etc.), which is another item of the quality, is determined, and the classification of each agricultural product is determined.

  A plurality of branch conveyors 9 are arranged between the inspection device 8 and the drive unit 2a on the side of the bucket conveyor 2. In this embodiment, for example, the four branch conveyors 9 are grouped, and a plurality of groups 9A, 9B,... Are arranged. Transferred from the bucket conveyor 2. Each branching conveyor 9 functions as a pool conveyor that pools agricultural products for packaging processing, and is intermittently driven with a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the bucket conveyor 2 as the conveying direction. The driving operation of the branch conveyor 9 is started in synchronism with the start of the discharge operation of the agricultural products from the bucket 6, and the agricultural product delivered to the branch conveyor 9 is conveyed by a predetermined feed distance α from the conveyance start end of the branch conveyor. Then, the driving of the branch conveyor 9 is stopped. By providing this predetermined feed distance α, when receiving the next agricultural product, it is possible to ensure a space between the previous agricultural product and the next agricultural product to be fed and the conveyance start end of the branch conveyor 9. This ensures that collisions with the agricultural products placed on it can be avoided. Therefore, the agricultural products pooled on each branch conveyor 9 are pooled in a state of being aligned at a predetermined interval. The details of the delivery of agricultural products to the branch conveyor 9 and the intermittent drive of the branch conveyor 9 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  The bucket conveyor 2 is configured by connecting a large number of buckets 6 to a chain that rotates endlessly. As shown in FIG. 2, each bucket 6 is a main body of a frame structure that is connected to the chain that rotates endlessly. A discharge mechanism 11 that moves in the bucket width direction with respect to the main body portion 10 and discharges agricultural products placed on the branch conveyor 9 is provided on the portion 10.

  A connecting shaft 12 extending in the bucket width direction is rotatable and penetrates the main body 10 so as to be movable in the axial direction. One end of the connecting shaft 12 is connected to the endlessly rotating chain 13. Therefore, in this embodiment, the bucket 6 is guided by the connecting shaft 12 and is movable along the bucket width direction.

  The bucket 6 can be moved to an arbitrary position in the bucket width direction for setting the grade until it passes through the hand sorting area and the grade determination device 7, and the bucket 6 of the bucket 6 is held in order to maintain the set grade position. The position in the width direction is not regulated. Then, after passing the grade determination device 7, the inspection device 8 performs inspection at a fixed position in the bucket width direction, and the bucket 6 is moved as close to the branch conveyor 9 as possible with respect to the branch conveyor 9, and the discharge mechanism 11 As shown in FIG. 1, a guide member 37 for returning the offset position to the bucket conveyor body is disposed immediately before the inspection device 8.

  The guide roller 14 attached to one side (opposite to the branching conveyor 9) of the main body 10 is engaged with the guide member 37 for returning to the offset position, and the guide roller 14 is branched as the bucket 6 is conveyed in the conveying direction. Move to the conveyor 9 side. When the bucket 6 passes through the region where the branch conveyor 9 is provided, the bucket 6 is held as close to the branch conveyor 9 as possible, so that the guide rail has a U-shaped cross section along the conveying direction of the bucket conveyor 2. 38 is provided in the bucket conveyor body, and the guide roller 14 is engaged with the U-shaped groove of the guide rail 38. By providing this guide rail 38 just before the agricultural product supply unit 3, the bucket 6 can be moved while being held at a fixed position in the bucket width direction.

  The discharge mechanism 11 has a configuration in which an endless rotating belt 15 as an agricultural product placing member having the bucket width direction as the transport direction is disposed at the upper end of the main body 10, and the first roller 16 and the second roller 17. It is arranged between. In the present embodiment, the first roller 16 side is the agricultural product discharge side, and the substantially central position in the bucket width direction is the standby position for the agricultural product P to be discharged.

  The endless rotating belt 15 moves the upper surface 15a on which the agricultural product P is placed toward the first roller 16, and the movement in the discharging direction stops at the position where the agricultural product P reaches the discharging end of the endless rotating belt 15, Thereafter, for example, the original standby position is returned.

  Also, two slide guide rods 18 extending in the bucket width direction are fixed to the main body 10 below the endless rotating belt 15 along the transport direction of the bucket conveyor 2 (hereinafter referred to as the bucket longitudinal direction). A slide member 19 is slidably attached to the two slide guide rods 18. A plate-like connection plate 20 formed in a substantially L-shaped plane is fixed to the slide member 19 with a bolt or the like.

  The connecting plate 20 has a short side portion 20a extending in the bucket width direction on the front end portion side in the front-rear direction of the main body portion 10 and a long side portion 20b extending in the front-rear direction of the bucket beyond the endless rotating belt 15. is doing. When the connecting plate 20 connects the tip of the long side portion 20b and the upper surface belt portion 15a of the endless rotating belt 15 by the connecting metal 21, and the slide member 19 is moved in the bucket width direction, the end of the endless rotating belt 15 The upper surface belt portion 15a is moved to the branch conveyor 9 side.

  The connection fitting 21 rises upward from a lower fixing portion 21a fixed to the distal end portion of the long side portion 20b of the connection plate 20 with a screw, and extends in the bucket width direction formed in the top plate 10a of the main body portion 10. 10b, and is formed in a bent shape having an upper fixing portion 21b that reaches the back side of the upper surface belt portion 15a of the endless rotating belt 15 from the side surface of the endless rotating belt 15 in the front-rear direction of the bucket. Then, the screw 23 is passed through the pressing plate 22 arranged on the surface side of the upper surface belt portion 15a, and penetrates the upper surface belt portion 15a and is screwed to the upper plate portion 21b of the connection fitting 21, thereby connecting the connection plate 20 and the endless plate The rotating belt 15 is fixed by a connection fitting 21. The length of the first elongated hole 10b in the bucket width direction is a length that does not interfere with the connection fitting 21 when the endless rotating belt 15 reciprocates between the standby position and the discharge position. It is set.

  On the other hand, a rotating shaft 24 extending vertically upward is rotatably attached to the distal end portion of the long side portion 20a of the connection plate 20. The rotating shaft 24 passes through the second elongated hole 10c formed in the top plate 10a of the main body 10 and reaches the upper portion of the upper surface belt portion 15a of the endless rotating belt 15. The shaped stabilizer 25 is fixed above the upper surface belt portion 15 a, and the stabilizer 25 is rotatable about the rotation shaft 24.

  In the present embodiment, the belt width (length in the bucket longitudinal direction) of the endless rotating belt 15 is shorter than the length in the bucket longitudinal direction of the main body 10, and the endless rotating belt 15 is substantially the same in the bucket longitudinal direction of the main body 10. Located in the center. The first elongated hole 10b is formed at a position hidden by the endless rotating belt 15, and the second elongated hole 10c is positioned forward of the endless rotating belt 15 in the bucket front-rear direction at a position away from the endless rotating belt 15. Forming. 2A and 3, the structure on the back side of the endless rotating belt 15 is shown by a solid line.

  FIG. 2A shows a state in which the discharge mechanism 11 is in the standby position, and in this standby position, the stabilizer 25 has a front surface in the conveyance direction of the agricultural product P on which the agricultural product support member 26 extending in the bucket width direction is placed. It is supported from the front side in the transport direction. Further, the stabilizer 25 is provided with a positioning member (back supporter) 27 extending in the front-rear direction of the bucket in the state of the standby position of the discharge mechanism 11, and the agricultural product P is formed by the positioning member 27 and the agricultural product support member 26. The agricultural product P can be positioned and placed at a predetermined position of the upper surface belt portion 15a of the endless rotation belt 15 simply by placing it on the L-shaped portion.

  The agricultural product support member 26 is formed with a gentle curved surface as a whole in contact with the agricultural product P so that the surface of the agricultural product P is not damaged during rotation, which will be described later.

  Further, in this embodiment, the produce P, which is brought into contact with the surface of the produce support member 26 and the positioning member 27 of the stabilizer 25 by attaching a soft elastic member Q such as sponge, is prevented from being damaged.

  The stabilizer 25 is provided with a positioning member (back supporter) 27 for positioning the placement position of the agricultural product in addition to the agricultural product support member 26, but for positioning on the upper surface belt portion 15 a of the endless rotating belt 15. You may make it provide a crosspiece member etc. in the bucket front-back direction.

  Since the rotation shaft 24 of the stabilizer 25 is fixed to the connection plate 20, when the slide member 19 slides in the discharge direction, the stabilizer 25 moves together with the upper surface belt portion 15 a of the endless rotating belt 15 in the discharge direction. A rotating operation pin 28 extending radially outward is fixed to the rotating shaft 24 at a position below the top plate 10a of the main body portion 10, and the rotating shaft 24 moves toward the discharge side through the second long hole 10c. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, when approaching the discharge end of the second long hole 10 c, the rotation operation pin 28 is engaged with the first operation pin engagement member 29 fixed to the main body 10, and the rotation shaft 24 is further engaged. Is moved to the discharge side, the rotary shaft 24 rotates via the rotation operation pin 28, and the stabilizer 25 starts to rotate.

  When the rotary shaft 24 moves to the discharge side of the stabilizer 25, the tip of the produce support member 26 enters the branch conveyor 9, and the produce support member 26 starts to rotate in the direction opposite to the conveying direction of the bucket 6, It rotates to the position shown in FIG. That is, the agricultural product P on the upper surface belt portion 15 a of the endless rotating belt 15 moves to the discharge end side while being supported by the agricultural product support member 26 of the stabilizer 25, and is transferred to the branch conveyor 9. In this case, the conveying speed of the bucket conveyor 2 acts at least as an inertial speed. However, the agricultural product support member 26 receives the inertial force of the agricultural product P on the branch conveyor 9, and the bucket described above as the bucket 6 is conveyed downstream in the conveying direction. Since the agricultural product support member 26 rotates and returns to the bucket 6 side, the support of the agricultural product P on the front surface in the conveying direction is continued, and the rolling of the agricultural product P is suppressed.

  After the agricultural products placed on the endless rotating belt 15 are discharged to the branch conveyor 9 by the discharging mechanism 11, the slide member 19 is moved to the opposite side to the discharging side, so that the stabilizer 25 is moved together with the endless rotating belt 15. It can be returned to the original standby position. At that time, the rotation actuating pin 28 is engaged with the second actuating pin engaging member 30 which is fixed to the main body portion 10 so as to face the first actuating pin engaging member 29, so that the stabilizer 25 is opposite to that at the time of discharging the produce. It can be rotated in the direction and held in the state shown in FIG. An impact buffer 31 such as sponge or rubber is fixed to the front side of the agricultural product support member 26 of the stabilizer 25 in the longitudinal direction of the bucket, and the impact buffer 31 is brought into contact with a stop plate 32 provided on the main body 10, thereby stabilizing the stabilizer. 25 absorbs the impact when returning to the standby position by the reverse rotation described above, and prevents the generation of noise and the like.

  In the present embodiment, the discharge pin 33 which is an operation member for moving the discharge mechanism 11 in the bucket width direction is fixed to the slide member 19 downward, and as shown in FIG. By engaging the discharge pin with the guide member 34 provided along the conveyance path 2, the discharge pin 33 moves toward the branch conveyor 9 while moving along the engagement surface with the guide member 34. While discharging the agricultural product P on the moving belt 15 to the branching conveyor 9, the stabilizer 25 suppresses the rolling of the agricultural product P on the branching conveyor 9.

  The guide member 34 is movable between an engagement position that engages with the discharge pin 33 located at the standby position and a non-engagement position that does not engage with a drive mechanism including a motor (not shown). When a discharge signal from the processing device is output to the drive mechanism, the guide member 34 is moved from the non-engagement position to the engagement position, and the discharge pin 33 of the bucket 6 to be conveyed is engaged, The agricultural product P placed on the bucket 6 is discharged to the branch conveyor 9. In this case, the discharge signal is output to the drive mechanism of the guide member 34 corresponding to the branch conveyor 9 so that the agricultural products P of the sort section are discharged to the branch conveyor 9 whose sorting section is predetermined. In addition, if the interval between the adjacent branch conveyors 9 is narrow, interference may occur during the operation of the adjacent guide member 34. For example, the guide member 34 can be freely arranged by shifting the vertical position of the adjacent guide member 34. Degree is obtained.

  The operation of discharging the agricultural product P by the discharging mechanism 11 from the bucket 6 to the single branch conveyor 9 and the rotating operation of the stabilizer 25 for preventing the rolling of the agricultural product P will be further described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 4 (a), among the plurality of buckets 6 (6a, 6b) to be conveyed, among the branch conveyors 9 (9a, 9b) for paralleling the agricultural products P placed on the buckets 6a, the branch conveyors The case of discharging to 9a will be described as an example. When the bucket 6b passes in front of the branch conveyor 9a, the guide member 34 corresponding to the branch conveyor 9a is moved to the illustrated engagement position and waits for the next engagement of the bucket 6a to be transported with the discharge pin 33. As the drive start of the branch conveyor 9a, for example, in order to move the guide member 34 to the engagement position, intermittent drive of the branch conveyor 9a can be started in synchronization with the drive signal to the drive mechanism of the guide member 34, The intermittent drive can be stopped, for example, after a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of driving, but the present invention is not limited to this.

  The guide member 34 has a cam shape of the cam surface 34a with which the discharge pin 33 engages at the illustrated engagement position, and the first cam is inclined toward the branching conveyor 9 from the upstream side toward the downstream side in the conveying direction of the bucket 6. It is comprised by the part 34b and the 2nd cam part 34c parallel to the conveyance direction of the bucket 6 provided in a row by the 1st cam part 34b.

  4A to 4D show the position of the produce P and the rotational position of the stabilizer 25 when the discharge pin 33 is engaged at the points A, B, C, and D in the first cam portion 34b. 4 (e) shows the position of the produce P and the rotational position of the stabilizer 25 when the discharge pin 33 is engaged with the point E in the second cam portion 34c.

  Before the discharge pin 33 reaches the point A of the first cam portion 34b shown in FIG. 4A, the discharge pin 33 engages with the first cam portion 34b so that the upper surface belt portion 15a of the endless rotating belt 15 is moved. The discharge pin 33 engages with the point A when the product P is moved toward the branch conveyor 9a and the agricultural product P is transferred to the substantially center in the width direction of the branch conveyor 9a or slightly delayed. In the state of point A engagement shown in FIG. 4A, the agricultural product support member 26 of the stabilizer 25 reaches the upper side of the branch conveyor 9a, and supports the front surface in the conveyance direction of the agricultural product P transferred to the branch conveyor 9a.

  At the point A engagement position, the rotation operation pin 28 is engaged with the first operation pin engagement member 29, and the stabilizer 25 starts rotating counterclockwise. That is, even if the conveying speed of the endless rotating belt 15 and the conveying speed of the branch conveyor 9a are equal, the agricultural product P discharged from the endless rotating belt 15 is not delivered to the branch conveyor 9a without time lag. The discharged agricultural product P has an inertial force in a combined direction of the conveying direction of the bucket conveyor 2 and the conveying direction of the endless rotating belt 15. However, since the stabilizer 25 rotates counterclockwise, the produce support member 26 of the stabilizer 25 receives the inertial force of the produce P and prevents rolling.

  In a state where the bucket 6a is further conveyed and the discharge pin 33 is engaged with the point B shown in FIG. 4B, the branch conveyor 9a is transporting the received agricultural product P, but the discharge pin 33 is still in the branch conveyor 9a. The stabilizer 25 is rotated counterclockwise. For this reason, the agricultural product support member 26 of the stabilizer 25 maintains the state where the side surface of the agricultural product P is supported at the tip portion.

  The bucket 6a is further conveyed, and the discharge pin 33 is engaged at a point C shown in FIG. 4C in a state where the agricultural product P is substantially transferred to the branch conveyor 9a. In this state, the agricultural product support member 26 of the stabilizer 25 is rotated approximately 45 degrees counterclockwise with respect to the conveyance direction of the branch conveyor 9a, and the support with the agricultural product P is completed. When the bucket 6a is further conveyed and the discharge pin 33 advances to the point D, the stabilizer 25 further rotates counterclockwise, and the agricultural product support member 26 is retracted from the branch conveyor 9a and enters the bucket 6a side.

  When the agricultural products on the branch conveyor 9a are transported from the transport start end to the distance α, the driving of the branch conveyor 9a is stopped and waits at that position until the next agricultural product is sent.

  When the engagement of the discharge pin 33 is shifted from the first cam portion 34b to the second cam portion 34c, the movement of the discharge pin 33 toward the branch conveyor 9a is completed as shown in FIG. The agricultural product support member 26 of the stabilizer 25 rotates to a position along the conveying direction of the bucket 6a and fits in the bucket 6a. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the occurrence of an interference state such as coming into contact with the agricultural product P placed on the adjacent branch conveyor 9b located on the downstream side in the transport direction. In the second cam portion 34c, even if the discharge pin 33 is engaged with a position other than the point E, the stabilizer 25 is maintained at the discharge completion position in FIG.

  The agricultural products P discharged to the branching conveyor 9 as a pool conveyor are conveyed by intermittent driving, and are pooled in a state where they are aligned at a predetermined interval corresponding to one agricultural product, for example, as shown in FIG. As a result, it is packed in a packaging box by the packing unit 35.

  On the other hand, since the discharge mechanism 11 after discharging the agricultural product P stays at the position where the discharge is completed (discharge completion position) and is transported to the agricultural product supply unit 3, the agricultural product P cannot be placed. The standby position return guide member 36 is disposed between the branch conveyor 9 located at the position 2 and the drive unit 2a, and the stabilizer 25 is rotated in the reverse direction while the upper surface belt portion 15a of the endless rotating belt 15 is moved to the original standby position. To return to the original standby position.

  When the bucket 6 passes the guide member 36 for returning to the standby position, the guide roller 14 of the bucket 6 is engaged with the guide rail 38, and the bucket 6 is on the branch conveyor 9 side until the agricultural product supply unit 3. Although it is in a state of being biased to the side, when it reaches the agricultural product supply unit 3, the bucket 6 can move in the bucket width direction as described above.

  In the agricultural product supply unit 3, the agricultural product supply operator W1 places the agricultural product P on the endless rotating belt 15 of the bucket 6 biased to the agricultural product supply operator W1 side based on the result of the visual inspection. Is moved to the bucket width direction position corresponding to the visual grade judgment. At that time, the offset position of the bucket 6 described above is also one of the positions corresponding to the grade determination, and in the case of other grade determination positions, the bucket 6 may be pushed toward the opposite side. Work time for mounting and positioning can be shortened.

  Further, the bucket 6 that has passed through the grade determination device 7 has different positions in the bucket width direction, but is branched by the guide roller 14 being engaged with the guide member 37 for returning to the offset position disposed immediately before the inspection device 8. It is forcibly returned to the offset position on the conveyor 9 side and passes through the inspection device 8.

  The above-described embodiment exemplifies substantially spherical agricultural products such as mandarin oranges, apples, pears, and melons that are easy to roll when delivered to the branching conveyor as articles to be selected. It may be an oval or columnar agricultural product having a substantially circular cross section along the short direction, such as sweet potato, radish, and turnip. Needless to say, it may be an article other than agricultural products as long as it has a substantially spherical shape or a substantially circular cross section along the short direction, and examples thereof include a ball for ball games.

  The agricultural product sorting apparatus according to this embodiment is particularly advantageous for agricultural products that are easily damaged by external impacts.

  In the above-described embodiment, the branch conveyor 9 is arranged in the direction along the bucket width direction, but may be arranged obliquely with respect to the conveying direction of the bucket conveyor 2.

P Agricultural product Q Soft elastic member W1 Agricultural product supply worker W2 Agricultural product boxing worker 1 Agricultural product sorting device 2 Bucket conveyor 3 Agricultural product supply unit 4 Container 5 Container transport conveyor 5
6 Bucket 7 Grade determination device 8 Inspection device 9 Branch conveyor 10 Main body (bucket main body)
11 discharge mechanism 12 connecting shaft 13 chain 14 guide roller 15 endless rotating belt 16 first roller 17 second roller 18 slide guide rod 19 slide member 20 connecting plate 21 connecting bracket 22 pressing plate 23 screw 24 rotating shaft 25 stabilizer 26 support member 27 Positioning member (back supporter)
28 Rotating operation pin 29 First operation pin engaging member 30 Second operation pin engaging member 31 Shock absorbing material 32 Stop plate 33 Discharge pin 34 Guide member 35 Packing portion 36 Guide member for standby position return 37 Guide for returning to the offset position Member 38 Guide rail

Claims (4)

A transport conveyor having a plurality of buckets for placing articles, and having a discharge mechanism for discharging the article placement member on which the articles are placed with respect to the bucket main body in a direction orthogonal to the carrying direction of the bucket; ,
A plurality of branch conveyors arranged on the side of the conveyor for receiving the sorting category determined articles placed in the bucket for each sorting category;
A guide member provided corresponding to each of the branch conveyors and configured to move the operation member together with the article placement member in a discharge direction on the branch conveyor side by engagement with an operation member connected to the article placement member; , An article sorting device having
An article having a rotation axis in the vertical direction that moves in the discharge direction integrally with the article placement member and advances to the branch conveyor while supporting the front surface in the transport direction of the article placed on the article placement member A support member;
Rotation driving means for rotating the article support member in the direction opposite to the conveying direction of the bucket while supporting the article transferred to the branch conveyor at the final stage when the article placement member moves in the discharge direction;
An article sorting apparatus comprising:   2. The article sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the branch conveyor is intermittently driven by a distance corresponding to one article when the article is transferred.   The discharge mechanism includes an endless rotating belt that forms the article placement member, and a slide member disposed below the endless rotating belt that is slidably guided in a moving direction of the endless rotating belt. The article mounting surface side of the endless rotating belt is connected to the slide member, the operating member is attached, and the rotation shaft of the article support member is attached to an attachment member fixed to the slide member. 3. The article sorting apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The rotation drive means includes a rotation operation pin fixed to the rotation shaft, and an operation pin engagement member fixed to the bucket body portion that engages with the rotation operation pin at the end of movement in which the rotation shaft moves in the discharge direction. The rotation operation pin and the operation pin engaging member are configured such that the article support member moves in the direction opposite to the conveying direction of the bucket as the article on the article placement member moves toward the end in the discharge direction. 4. The article sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article sorting apparatus is in an engaging relationship to be rotated.

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