JP2011041872A - Matter discrimination device, and matter sorting device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simply discriminate matter of a kind again used as resources in matter to be discriminated wherein a transparent material and a plurality of kinds of opaque materials are mixed. <P>SOLUTION: This matter discrimination device is constituted so as to discriminate the matter 200 again used as resources from the matter 200 to be discriminated wherein the transparent material 201 and a plurality of kinds of the opaque materials 202 and 203 are mixed and includes a floodlight projection part 40 for irradiating the matter 200 to be discriminated with light, a light detection part 50 for detecting not only the light transmitted through the matter 200 to be discriminated in the light emitted from the floodlight projection part 40 but also the light diffused through the matter 200 to be discriminated to be reflected therefrom and a discrimination part 60 for discriminating what kind matter the matter 200 to be discriminated is on the basis of the quantity of the light detected by the light detection part 50. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an object identification device and an object selection device that can identify an object to be identified in which a transparent body and an opaque body are mixed for each type.

  Conventionally, various products are recycled. In particular, with regard to waste materials such as glass and plastic, light is irradiated to each identified object to be crushed such as cullet, and each color and material is changed based on the transmitted light transmitted through each identified object. Identification is performed (see, for example, “Patent Document 1” and “Patent Document 2”). In order to use the waste material as a resource, it is important to identify or sort the object to be identified for each type by using such an object identification device or an object sorting device without manpower or cost.

JP 2000-28435 A JP 2004-351875 A

By the way, the waste material may include not only a transparent body having light permeability such as glass and plastic but also various opaque bodies. In an object to be identified in which various types of opaque bodies are mixed, there are cases where identification of various types of opaque bodies is required in order to recycle a specific type of opaque body. However, since an opaque body does not transmit light, a method for identifying an object to be identified based on transmitted light cannot be applied as in the conventional case.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and in an object to be identified in which a transparent body and a plurality of types of opaque bodies are mixed, an object identification that can easily identify the type of object to be recycled. An object is to provide an apparatus and an object sorting apparatus.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, for each object to be identified in which a transparent body and a plurality of types of opaque bodies are mixed, each identified object is identified as to which type of object. A light projecting unit that irradiates each identified object with light, and receives light that has passed through each identified object out of light emitted from the light projecting unit for each identified object And a light-receiving unit that receives light diffusely reflected by each object to be identified, and an identification unit that identifies which type of object each object to be identified based on the amount of light received by the light-receiving unit; An object identification device characterized by comprising:
According to the above configuration, the transparent body transmits light, whereas the opaque body does not transmit light. Therefore, each object to be identified becomes a current identification target based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit. It is possible to easily identify whether the object to be identified is a transparent body or an opaque body. In addition, for the opaque body, it is assumed that the reflection characteristics of the surface light are different for each type. It is also assumed that the amount of diffusely reflected light varies depending on the surface color of the opaque body, the surface roughness, and the like. Therefore, the type of each opaque body can be easily identified from the difference in the amount of diffusely reflected light based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit.
However, when a plurality of types of transparent bodies are mixed in the object to be identified, the above-described conventional method is applied to determine which type of each transparent body is based on the light transmitted through each transparent body. Can be identified.
As described above, in the object to be identified in which the transparent object and the plurality of types of opaque objects are mixed, it is possible to easily identify which kind of object each identified object is. In an object to be identified in which a plurality of types of opaque bodies are mixed, it is possible to easily identify the type of object to be recycled.
However, as an object to be identified in which a transparent body and a plurality of types of opaque bodies are mixed, for example, there is a silicon scrap. Examples of the silicon scrap include silicon that can be used as a raw material for solar cells, transparent silicon dioxide, and opaque silicon dioxide. Silicon has specular reflection characteristics and exhibits a black color. On the other hand, the opaque silicon dioxide contains a plurality of bubbles. The opaque silicon dioxide has diffuse reflection characteristics due to the encapsulated bubbles and exhibits white.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the light projecting unit includes a first light projector and a second light projector that simultaneously irradiate each identified object with light from different directions. The light receiving unit receives, for each identified object, light transmitted through each identified object from among the light emitted from the first projector, and simultaneously identifies each identified object from among the light emitted from the second projector. It receives light diffusely reflected by an object.
According to the said structure, a light projection part is provided with a 1st light projector and a 2nd light projector, and can respectively irradiate light to a to-be-identified object simultaneously from a mutually different direction. That is, the light projecting surface of the first projector and the light receiving surface of the light receiving unit are arranged so as to face each other, and the straight line connecting the light projecting surface of the first projector and the light receiving surface of the light receiving unit It is configured by a CCD camera or the like by arranging a second projector so that the object to be identified passes through and the light is irradiated from the light receiving surface side of the light receiving unit to the object to be identified. The light receiving unit as one component part can simultaneously receive light transmitted through one identified object that is the current identification target and light diffusely reflected by the identified object. Therefore, it is not necessary to separately provide a light receiving means for receiving the light transmitted through each identified object and a light receiving means for receiving the light diffusely reflected by the identified object. It is possible to save the time and effort required for identifying the type of each object to be identified, such as adding the amount of reflected light or performing separate evaluation for each amount of light.

A third aspect of the present invention is the above second aspect, wherein the light receiving unit receives, for each identified object, light transmitted through each identified object out of light emitted from the first projector, Along with the first light receiver that receives the light diffusely reflected by each identified object among the light emitted from the second projector, for each identified object, each of the light emitted from the second projector And a second light receiving device that receives light diffused and reflected by each identified object out of the light emitted from the first projector while receiving the light transmitted through the identified object. .
According to the above configuration, based on the amount of light received by each of the first light receiver and the second light receiver, which type of object is the one object to be identified as the current identification object. Can be identified. The identification accuracy can be improved by identifying the object to be identified based on the amount of light received by each of the two light receivers. In particular, there are cases where the object to be identified, which is the current identification target, is a single opaque body with a plurality of types of opaque bodies attached thereto. In such a case, of the light emitted from the first projector, the amount of light diffusely reflected by the identified object, and of the light emitted from the second projector, diffused and reflected by the identified object. The amount of light may vary greatly. When identifying each type of object and selecting an object for each type, it becomes possible to eliminate the identified objects that have different types of opaque objects attached to form one object. Sorting accuracy can be improved.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to third aspects, the plurality of types of opaque bodies include an opaque body having a specular reflection characteristic, and the specular reflection characteristic. A light irradiation range by the light projecting unit with respect to each object to be identified is limited so that light that is specularly reflected at the end of the opaque body having a light is not received by the light receiving unit.
According to the above configuration, the irradiation range of each identified object by the light projecting unit is specularly reflected at the end of the opaque object when the identified object to be identified is an opaque body having specular reflection characteristics. It is restricted so that light is not received by the light receiving unit. Therefore, the light that is specularly reflected at the end of the opaque body is received by the light receiving section, the amount of light received by the light receiving section increases, and the opaque body is prevented from being identified as a transparent body. It is possible to accurately identify which type of object the identification object is.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fourth aspects, an irradiation position at which light is irradiated to each identified object by the light projecting unit is provided in a hollow space. The present invention is characterized in that a transport unit having a transport groove for dropping the identified objects one by one at a predetermined drop trajectory at the irradiation position is provided.
According to the above configuration, since the irradiation position where the light is irradiated to each identified object by the light projecting unit is provided in a hollow space, the conveyance path for conveying the identified object to the irradiation position is configured by the transparent member. There is no need to consider the light transmittance or light absorption of the members constituting the transport path. In addition, each identified object is dropped one by one in a predetermined dropping trajectory onto the irradiation position by the light projecting unit by the transport unit having the transport groove so that the identified objects are overlapped and irradiated with light. Can be prevented. Moreover, it is possible to reliably irradiate each identified object with light and improve the identification accuracy.

In order to achieve the above object, according to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a predetermined type of opaque body is identified from an object to be identified in which a transparent body and a plurality of types of opaque bodies are mixed. A light projecting unit that irradiates each identified object with light, and for each identified object, receives light that has passed through each identified object out of the light emitted from the light projecting unit. And a light receiving unit that receives light diffusely reflected by each object to be identified, and whether each object to be identified is a predetermined type of object set in advance based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit. An object identification device comprising: an identification unit for identifying whether or not.
According to the above configuration, the transparent body transmits light, whereas the opaque body does not transmit light. Therefore, each object to be identified becomes a current identification target based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit. It is possible to easily identify whether the object to be identified is a transparent body or an opaque body. In addition, for the opaque body, it is assumed that the reflection characteristics of the surface light are different for each type. It is also assumed that the amount of diffusely reflected light varies depending on the surface color of the opaque body, the surface roughness, and the like. Therefore, the type of each opaque body can be easily identified from the difference in the amount of diffusely reflected light based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit.
For example, for a predetermined type of object set in advance, by measuring the amount of light received by the light receiving unit in advance, the light reception is performed depending on whether or not the same amount of light is received. Based on the amount of light received by the unit, it is possible to easily identify whether or not the one identified object that is the current identification target is a predetermined type of object.
Therefore, in an object to be identified in which a transparent body and a plurality of types of opaque bodies are mixed, the object can be easily identified by setting the type of object to be recycled as a predetermined type of object.

In order to achieve the above object, the seventh aspect of the present invention includes a transport unit that transports an object to be identified in which a transparent body and a plurality of types of opaque bodies are mixed, and a transport process by the transport unit. A light projecting unit that irradiates each identified object with light, and, for each identified object, receives light that has passed through each identified object out of the light emitted from the light projecting unit, and diffuses at each identified object A light receiving unit that receives the reflected light, an identification unit that identifies each type of object to be identified based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit, and the identification unit There is provided an object sorting apparatus comprising a sorting unit that sorts each identified object for each type according to the type.
According to the said structure, since it has the structure substantially the same as the 1st aspect of the said invention, there exists an effect | action and effect substantially the same as the said 1st aspect of this invention. Further, according to the above configuration, since the conveyance unit and the selection unit are provided, the identification object is identified by identifying the type of each identification object while the identification unit is conveyed by the conveyance unit. Accordingly, the operation of selecting the object to be identified can be automatically performed, and the type of object to be recycled can be easily identified and selected.

  According to the present invention, the object to be identified, in which a transparent body and a plurality of types of opaque bodies are mixed, is irradiated with light by the light projecting unit and is used as a resource based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit. Can be easily identified.

It is a side view which shows the example of an external appearance structure of the object selection apparatus of this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the general view of each to-be-identified object made into identification object or selection object. It is the side view (a) which shows the structure of a vibration sieve, and a partial top view (b). It is a figure which shows the typical structure of the principal part of the object selection apparatus of this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating a mode that the light irradiated from the light projection part is specularly reflected by the edge part of a to-be-identified object, and injects into a light-receiving part. It is a front view which shows the structure of the light projection surface limiting member provided in a light projector. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating a light projection surface limiting member. It is the figure which showed the light quantity of the light received by the light-receiving part about each of (a) transparent body, (b) opaque body which has a specular reflection characteristic, and (c) opaque body which has a diffuse reflection characteristic. It is a figure which shows the typical structure of the principal part of the object selection apparatus at the time of comprising a light-receiving part using two light receivers. It is a figure for demonstrating the light received by a light-receiving part, when the opaque body which has a diffuse reflection characteristic has adhered to the surface of the opaque body which has a specular reflection characteristic. It is a figure which shows the conveyance groove | channel provided in a sliding plate. It is a figure for demonstrating the blowing area of a blowing nozzle.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an object sorting apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The object sorting apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 is an object to be identified 200 (see FIG. 2) in which a transparent body 201 and a plurality of types of opaque bodies 202 and 203 are mixed. Is a device for sorting out a predetermined type of object from other types of objects. In the present embodiment, the identified object 200 includes a predetermined type of opaque body 203 that can be used as a resource, and other objects (transparent body 201 and opaque body 202). The apparatus 100 will be described below on the assumption that a predetermined type of opaque body 203 that can be used as a resource is selected as a non-defective product, and the transparent body 201 and other types of opaque body 202 are selected as foreign substances.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the object sorting apparatus 100 includes a supply unit 10 to which an object to be identified 200 is supplied, a transport unit 20 that transports the object to be identified 200 supplied from the supply unit 10, and transport by the transport unit 20. In the process, the main body 30 is provided for identifying which type of each identified object 200 is an object and sorting the identified object 200 into a non-defective product and a foreign object.

FIG. 2 shows an overview example of the identified object 200. The identified object 200 is a crushed material obtained by crushing a waste material containing a useful material that can be used as a resource to a predetermined extent. As shown in FIG. 2, each identified object 200 is a crushed object, and thus exhibits various shapes. In the present embodiment, the identified object 200 is crushed so as to have a maximum length of about 20 mm. However, the maximum length of about 20 mm indicates the longest length when the length between arbitrary end portions of one identified object 200 is measured.
In this embodiment, as a result of crushing the waste material, the transparent body 201 and the plurality of types of opaque bodies 202 and 203 include two types of opaque bodies 202 and 203 having different reflection characteristics. Here, the transparent body 201 refers to an object having optical transparency. Further, the opaque bodies 202 and 203 indicate objects that do not have optical transparency and reflect or absorb irradiated light.
In the present embodiment, it is assumed that one of the two types of opaque bodies 202 and 203 having different reflection characteristics is an opaque body 202 having diffuse reflection characteristics, and the other is an opaque body 203 having specular reflection characteristics. . In the present embodiment, a predetermined type of object that can be recycled as a non-defective object among the identified objects 200 will be described below as an opaque body 203 having specular reflection characteristics. However, the shapes of the transparent body 201 and the opaque bodies 202 and 203 shown in FIG. 2 are examples, and each transparent body 201 and each opaque body 202 and 203 have various shapes.

Examples of such an object to be identified 200 include a crushed material obtained by crushing silicon scraps generated during silicon purification. The purity required for silicon used as a raw material for silicon wafers is extremely high. High purity silicon is refined by putting silicon dioxide into a crucible or the like and reducing it in an arc furnace or the like. After the silicon purification, the silicon scrap as a waste material remains in the crucible after the high-purity silicon is taken out. The silicon end material includes silicon that has not reached the purity required for the raw material of the silicon wafer and silicon dioxide that has not been reduced. Silicon contained in the silicon scrap is a useful material that has a purity that can be used as a raw material for solar cells and can be used as a resource.
Here, silicon is an opaque body (203) and exhibits a black color. When crushing silicon scraps, silicon breaks and has a smooth surface. For this reason, the surface of silicon exhibits specular reflection characteristics, and light irradiated on the surface of silicon is regularly reflected.
On the other hand, the silicon dioxide that has not been reduced includes silicon dioxide of the transparent body 201 and silicon dioxide of the opaque body 202 that includes a plurality of bubbles in the process of reduction. The transparent silicon dioxide transmits the irradiated light. The opaque silicon dioxide has a white color because it contains a plurality of bubbles, and the light irradiated to the opaque silicon dioxide is diffusely reflected.

The supply unit 10 is formed in a funnel shape, and supplies the identified object 200 supplied from the supply port 11 by an operator or the like to the transport unit 20.
The transport unit 20 includes a vibrating screen 21 (see FIG. 3) that is provided on a transport path for transporting the identified object 200 supplied from the supply unit 10 to the main body unit 30 and vibrates electrically. The vibrating object 21 excludes the identified object 200 having a mesh diameter smaller than that of the sieve as an excluded product.
Here, among the identified objects 200, when the object used as a resource is the above-described semiconductor such as silicon or the like, the supply unit 10 A portion of the transport unit 20 where the identified object 200 may come into contact is configured using a non-metallic material such as plastic in order to prevent contact between the identified object 200 and metal, or non-metallic. It is covered with a made material. The same applies to the non-defective product accommodating portion 81 described below.
FIG. 3A shows a side view of the vibrating sieve 21. FIG. 3B shows a top view of the vibrating sieve 21. Among the identified objects 200, in the vibrating sieve 21 shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the mesh surface 21a and the side wall surface 21b disposed on both sides of the mesh surface 21a are covered with a non-metallic material. ing. Further, the supply unit 10 and the later-described sliding plate 23 and non-defective product storage unit 81 are made of a non-metallic material.
An exclusion product accommodating portion 22 is provided at the lower portion of the vibration sieve 21. The identified object 200 that has been excluded as an excluded product by the vibration sieve 21 is dropped and accommodated in the excluded product accommodating portion 22. The identified object 200 larger than the mesh diameter of the vibration sieve 21 is conveyed to the main body 30 using the vibration sieve 21 as a conveyance path.
In the present embodiment, the mesh diameter of the vibration sieve 21 is 4 mm. This mesh diameter is appropriately determined from the viewpoint of accurately identifying the crushed material of the waste material to be identified and rationalizing the cost, energy, and human resources related to recycling of the waste material. It can be.

FIG. 4 shows a main configuration of the main body 30 including a part of the transport unit 20.
As shown in FIG. 4, the transport unit 20 includes a sliding plate 23 that drops the identified object 200 that has passed through the vibrating screen 21 from the upper end (not shown) toward the lower end 23 a.

  The main body 30 receives the light that has passed through each identified object 200 out of the light emitted from the light projecting unit 40 and the light projecting unit 40 that irradiates each identified object 200 with light. A light receiving unit 50 that receives the light diffusely reflected by the light receiving unit 200, and an identification unit that identifies which type of object each identified object 200 is based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50. A control unit 60 and a sorting unit 80 that sorts non-defective products and foreign substances according to the identification result of the identified object 200 in the control unit 60 are provided. However, the object identification device according to the present invention includes the light projecting unit 40, the light receiving unit 50, and the control unit 60.

The light projecting unit 40 includes a first light projector 41 and a second light projector 42 that simultaneously emit light from different directions. The first projector 41 is a projector for detecting transmitted light for detecting transmitted light that has passed through the identified object 200. The second projector 42 is a projector for detecting diffuse reflected light for detecting reflected light diffusely reflected by the identified object 200.
The light receiving unit 50 receives light transmitted through each identified object 200 and light diffusely reflected by each identified object 200, and outputs a signal based on the received light amount to the control unit 60. It is configured using a camera or the like.

Here, each arrangement | positioning of the 1st light projector 41, the 2nd light projector 42, the light-receiving part 50, and the sliding plate 23 and inclination-angle (theta) 1 of the sliding plate 23 are demonstrated.
As shown in FIG. 4, the light projecting surface 41 a of the first projector 41 and the light receiving surface 50 a of the light receiving unit 50 are arranged to face each other. The sliding plate so that the straight line L1 connecting the light projecting surface 41a of the first projector 41 and the light receiving surface 50a of the light receiving unit 50 intersects the drop trajectory C of the identified object 200 by the sliding plate 23. 23 and the inclination angle θ1 of the sliding plate 23 are determined. Here, the position where the straight line L1 connecting the light projecting surface 41a of the first projector 41 and the light receiving surface 50a of the light receiving unit 50 intersects the fall trajectory C of the identified object 200 by the sliding plate 23 is defined. A light irradiation position P1 at which light is irradiated to the identified object 200 is defined. And the 2nd light projector 42 is arrange | positioned so that the to-be-identified object 200 which passes the irradiation position P1 may be irradiated from the light-receiving part 50 side. By arranging in this way, the light receiving unit 50 receives the light transmitted through the identified object 200 when the light irradiated by the first projector 41 passes through the identified object 200, and the second projector. When the light irradiated by 42 is diffusely reflected by the identified object 200, the light diffusely reflected by the identified object 200 can be received.

In this embodiment, as will be described later, based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50, the control unit 60 determines whether the identified object 200 is the transparent body 201 or the opaque bodies 202 and 203. In addition, when the identified object 200 is an opaque body 202 or 203, it is identified whether the object 200 is an opaque body 202 having a diffuse reflection characteristic or an opaque body 203 having a specular reflection characteristic. Therefore, the light receiving unit 50 simultaneously receives the light transmitted through the identified object 200 and the light diffusely reflected by the identified object 200, and is disposed at a position where the light specularly reflected by the identified object 200 does not enter. Is preferred.
That is, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the irradiation position P1 is provided hollow, and the first projector 41, the light irradiation position P1 with respect to the identified object 200, and the light receiving unit 50 are provided. The angle θ2 formed by the straight line L1 connecting the first light projector 41, the irradiation position P1, and the light receiving unit 50 and the straight line L2 connecting the second light projector 42 and the irradiation position P1 is an acute angle. As described above, the second projector 42 is arranged. In the present embodiment, the angle θ2 is about 30 degrees. By arranging the second projector 42 in this way, even when the light irradiated by the second projector 42 is specularly reflected by the identified object 200, the light reflected by the specular reflection is not received by the light receiving unit 50. Can be. However, the optimum position of the second projector 42 is determined in advance through experiments, calculations, or the like.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the identified object 200, which is a crushed waste material, has various shapes. Therefore, for example, when the object to be identified 200 as the current identification target is an opaque body 203 having specular reflection characteristics, the light emitted from the first projector 41 is the opaque body as shown in FIG. When the light receiving unit 50 receives light that is applied to the end 203a of 203 (in particular, the upper end or the lower end in the falling direction F of the identified object 200) and is specularly reflected at the end 203a, the light receiving unit 50 It is assumed that the amount of light received by the light becomes approximately the same as the amount of light transmitted through the transparent body 201. In this case, it becomes difficult for the control unit 60 to identify whether the identified object 200 is the transparent body 201 or the opaque bodies 202 and 203 based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50. Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the area of the light projecting surface 41 a of the first projector 41 is narrowed particularly in the height direction H, and the end portion 203 a of the identified object 203. The first light projector 41 is provided with a light projecting surface restricting member 43 that restricts the specularly reflected light from entering the light receiving unit 50. However, the height direction H is the falling direction F of the identified object 200.

As shown in FIG. 6, the light projecting surface limiting member 43 is formed by forming a slit 43b that is long in the width direction W of the shielding plate 43a at a substantially central portion of the shielding plate 43a that shields light. Light is irradiated to the identified object 200 through the slit 43b. By providing the light projecting surface limiting member 43, the area of the light projecting surface 41 a of the first light projector 41 is narrowed in the height direction H. However, the shielding plate 43a may not be particularly provided depending on the size of the identified object 200 and the size of the light projecting surface 41a of the first projector 41. Further, the size of the slit 43b can be appropriately set according to the size of the identified object 200.
As shown in FIG. 7, the projection surface limiting member 43 is provided on the projection surface 41a of the first projector 41, and the irradiation range of light on the identification target object 200 is limited, so that the identification target object 200 is specularly reflected. Even in the case of the opaque body 203 having the characteristics, it is possible to prevent the end portion 200a of the identified object 200 from being irradiated with light. Therefore, unlike the example shown in FIG. It is possible to prevent the light reflected by the end 200a from being reflected by the light receiving unit 50.
In the present embodiment, the second projector 42 is also provided with the projection surface limiting member 43, and the first projector 41 and the projection surface 42a of the second projector 42 are substantially equal in size. It has become a thing.

The control unit 60 shown in FIG. 4 includes a CPU, RAM, ROM, and the like (not shown), and is based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50, that is, based on a photographed image taken by the light receiving unit 50 configured as a CCD camera or the like. Thus, identification processing for identifying which type of object each identified object 200 is is executed.
A display device 70 is connected to the control unit 60. The display device 70 can display the display content according to the processing result such as the identification processing by the control unit 60. Furthermore, the control unit 60 transmits a sorting control signal S to the sorting unit 80 according to the processing result of the identification process.

  The control unit 60 compares the first threshold value T1, the second threshold value T2, and the third threshold value T3 (see FIG. 8) set in advance with the light amount received by the light receiving unit 50 in the identification process. In addition, each type of object 200 to be identified as a current identification target is identified. The first threshold value T1 to the third threshold value T3 are stored in the ROM so as to be readable by the CPU. Further, the display device 70 can display the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50 together with the first threshold value T1 to the third threshold value T3. Furthermore, it is possible to display the current identified object 200 so that the type of each identified object 200 can be identified by the color associated with each type.

Here, the first threshold value T1 is provided as a threshold value for identifying whether or not the identified object 200 currently exists at the irradiation position P1. When the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50 indicates a value equal to or greater than the first threshold T1, it is determined that the identified object 200 does not exist at the irradiation position P1. If the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50 is less than the first threshold value T1, it indicates that the identified object 200 is present at the irradiation position P1.
The second threshold value T2 is for identifying whether the identified object 200 to be identified is the transparent body 201 or the opaque bodies 202 and 203 when the identified object 200 exists at the irradiation position P1. It is provided as a threshold value. When the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50 indicates a value between the first threshold T1 and the second threshold T2, it is determined that the identified object 200 to be identified is the transparent body 201. Is done. When the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50 does not reach the second threshold value T2, it is determined that the identified object 200 to be identified is the opaque bodies 202 and 203.

  The third threshold value T3 corresponds to the type of the opaque body 202, 203 depending on the reflection characteristics of the opaque body 202, 203 when the identified object 200 to be identified is the opaque body 202, 203. It is provided as a threshold value for identifying whether or not. Specifically, it is provided as a threshold value for identifying whether the opaque bodies 202 and 203 to be identified at present are the opaque body 202 having the diffuse reflection characteristic or the opaque body 203 having the specular reflection characteristic. When the identified object 200 has a diffuse reflection characteristic, the light receiving unit 50 receives the light diffusely reflected by the identified object 200 among the light irradiated by the second projector 42. On the other hand, when the identified object 200 is an opaque body 203 having specular reflection characteristics, the light irradiated by the second projector 42 is regularly reflected. As described above, the light receiving unit 50 determines the positional relationship between the light receiving unit 50 and the second projector 42 so that the light that is specularly reflected by the identified object 200 is not incident. The amount of received light is substantially equal to “0”. Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the light amount of the light received by the light receiving unit 50 indicates a value between the second threshold T2 and the third threshold T3, the identified object 200 that is the current identification target is The opaque body 202 having diffuse reflection characteristics is determined. Further, when the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50 does not reach the third threshold value T3, it is determined that the identified object 200 to be identified is an opaque body 203 having specular reflection characteristics.

These threshold values are determined based on whether or not each identification object is a transparent body 201 in the identification target object 200 in which the transparent body 201 and a plurality of types of opaque bodies 202 and 203 are mixed by repeating experiments in advance. , The opaque bodies 202 and 203, and which type of opaque bodies 202 and 203 are set to values that can be identified.
In FIG. 8, when the identified object 200 that has passed through the irradiation position P1 is a transparent body 201 (a), when it is an opaque body 203 having specular reflection characteristics (b), an opaque body 202 having diffuse reflection characteristics is shown. For each of the cases, an example of the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50 is shown.
However, in FIG. 8, the vertical axis indicates the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50 in a range from “0 (zero)” to “255”. The light amount “0 (0%)” indicates that the light amount received by the light receiving unit 50 is “0”. The light amount “255 (100%)” indicates the light amount when the light irradiated by the first projector 41 is received by the light receiving unit 50 without being blocked by the identified object 200.

As shown in FIG. 8A, when the identified object 200 is a transparent body 201, the light receiving unit 50 receives light having a light amount in a range of “100” to “220”. Further, as shown in FIG. 8B, when the identified object 200 is an opaque body 203 having specular reflection characteristics, the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50 is less than “30”, and FIG. As shown in c), when the identified object 200 is an opaque body 202 having a diffuse reflection characteristic, the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50 is a light amount of “30” to less than “100”.
Therefore, in the example shown in FIG. 8, the first threshold T1 is “220” (about 86%), the second threshold T2 is “100” (about 39%), and the third threshold T3 is “30” (about 12%).
Thus, by repeating the experiment using the actual identified object 200, the first threshold T1 to the third threshold T3 that can identify each identified object 200 for each type can be set.

Next, the configuration of the sorting unit 80 will be described with reference to FIG.
Based on the sorting control signal S transmitted from the control unit 60, the sorting unit 80 sorts the identified object 200 that passes through the irradiation position P1 and falls into a non-defective product (203) and a foreign object (201, 202). The non-defective product is accommodated in the non-defective product accommodating portion 81 and the foreign matter is accommodated in the foreign matter accommodating portion 82. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the non-defective product accommodating portion 81 disposed on the extended trajectory of the drop trajectory C of the identified object 200 by the sliding plate 23, and the non-defective product accommodating portion 81 are provided. When the foreign object container 82 is located at a position where the extended track of the falling track C of the sliding plate 23 is removed, and the object 200 to be identified is a foreign object, this object is detected based on the selection control signal S from the controller 60. An accommodation position control unit 83 that changes the fall trajectory C of the identification object 200 and accommodates the foreign matter in the foreign matter accommodation unit 82 is provided.

The storage position control unit 83 is provided between the blowing nozzle 84 that blows out air, a compressed air storage unit (not shown) that is connected to the blowing nozzle 84 and stores compressed air, and the compressed air storage unit and the blowing nozzle 84. And an electromagnetic valve control unit 86 for controlling the opening / closing operation of the electromagnetic valve 85. Based on the selection control signal S transmitted from the control unit 60, the electromagnetic valve control unit 86 opens the electromagnetic valve 85 for a predetermined time when the identified object 200 is a foreign object. However, in the present embodiment, the selection control signal S is transmitted from the control unit 60 to the electromagnetic valve control unit 86 when the identified object 200 is a foreign object. When the electromagnetic valve 85 is opened, the compressed air stored in the compressed air storage part is blown out through the blowing nozzle 84. The blowout nozzle 84 blows air from the irradiation position P1 to the foreign matter exclusion position P2 provided at a predetermined position on the extended orbit of the drop trajectory C of the identified object 200. The direction of is determined. Due to the air blown out from the blow-out nozzle 84, the drop trajectory C of the identified object 200 is changed to the foreign substance storage unit 82 side. As a result, the drop trajectory C of the identified object 200 (201, 202) identified as a foreign object is changed at the foreign object exclusion position P2, and the identified object 200 (201, 202) is accommodated in the foreign object accommodating portion 82. Is done.
However, since there is a delay time from the time when the identified object 200 passes through the irradiation position P1 to the time until it passes through the foreign substance removal position P2 by the blowing nozzle 84, the electromagnetic valve control unit 86 performs control. After receiving the selection control signal S from the unit 60, the solenoid valve 85 is controlled to open after a predetermined delay time has elapsed. The delay time from when the selection control signal S is received from the control unit 60 to when the electromagnetic valve 85 is opened is the actually used electromagnetic valve 85, the irradiation position P1 and the foreign substance exclusion position P2, and the inclination angle θ1 of the sliding plate 23. The speed is appropriately changed according to the falling speed of the identified object 200 or the like. Normally, the electromagnetic valve 85 is in a closed state, and when the selection control signal S is transmitted from the control unit 60 to the electromagnetic valve control unit 86, the electromagnetic valve 85 is opened for a predetermined time after a predetermined delay time.

Next, the operation of the object sorting apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described.
First, when power is turned on to the object sorting apparatus 100, power is supplied to the vibration sieve 21 and the vibration of the vibration sieve 21 starts. When the operator supplies the identification object 200 to the supply unit 10, the identification object 200 supplied to the supply unit 10 passes through the vibration sieve 21 and the identification object 200 having a mesh diameter equal to or smaller than the mesh diameter of the vibration sieve 21 is obtained. It is accommodated as an excluded product in the excluded product storage unit 22 (see FIG. 1). The identified object 200 that has passed through the vibrating screen 21 reaches the upper end (not shown) of the sliding plate 23 connected to the vibrating screen 21. Then, the identified object 200 slides down from the upper end of the sliding plate 23 toward the lower end 23a (see FIG. 3), and falls from the lower end 23a of the sliding plate 23 while drawing a predetermined drop trajectory C. The identified object 200 passes through the irradiation position P <b> 1 in the process of falling from the sliding plate 23. At this time, light is simultaneously irradiated from the first projector 41 and the second projector 42 to the identified object 200. At the same time, when the identified object 200 is a transparent body 201, the light receiving unit 50 receives light transmitted through the identified object 200, and the identified object 200 is an opaque body 202 having diffuse reflection characteristics. In this case, the light diffusely reflected by the identified object 200 is received. The control unit 60 compares the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50 with the first threshold value T1 to the third threshold value T3 shown in FIG. Is identified. And when the control part 60 identifies the to-be-identified object 200 which passed the irradiation position P1 is the transparent body 201 or the opaque body 202 which has a diffuse reflection characteristic now, these are identified as a foreign material, The sorting control signal S is transmitted to the solenoid valve control unit 86 of the sorting unit 80. When the selection control signal S is received, the electromagnetic valve control unit 86 opens the electromagnetic valve 85 after a predetermined delay time has elapsed. As a result, air is blown out from the blowing nozzle 84, and the drop trajectory C of the identified object 200 identified as a foreign object is changed and accommodated in the foreign object accommodating portion 82. On the other hand, the identified object 200 identified as the opaque body 203 having the specular reflection characteristic by the control unit 60 falls into the non-defective product accommodating portion 81 by the sliding plate 23 and is accommodated in the non-defective product accommodating portion 81. However, a plurality of identified objects 200 are supplied from the supply unit 10 at a time, and the supplied identified objects 200 reach the upper end of the sliding plate 23 at different times while passing through the vibrating screen 21. As a result, the identification objects 200 pass through the irradiation position P1 so as not to overlap each other.

According to the embodiment described above, the control unit 60 sets the light amount illustrated in FIG. 8 to the first threshold T1 based on the light amount of the light received by the light receiving unit 50 for each identified object 200. By comparing with the third threshold value T3, in the identified object 200 in which the transparent body 201 and a plurality of types of opaque bodies 202 and 203 are mixed, it is easy to determine which kind of object each identified object 200 is. Can be identified. Thereby, in the identified object 200 in which the transparent body 201 and a plurality of types of opaque bodies 202 and 203 are mixed, the type of object to be recycled can be easily identified.
Further, according to the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the light projecting unit 40 includes a first light projector 41 for detecting transmitted light and a second light projector 42 for detecting diffuse reflected light. It is possible to simultaneously irradiate light from different directions to one identified object 200 that is an identification target. That is, the light projecting surface 41a of the first projector 41 and the light receiving surface 50a of the light receiving unit 50 are arranged so as to face each other, and the light projecting surface 41a and the light receiving unit 50 of the first projector 41 are arranged. The object to be identified 200 is passed so as to cross a straight line L1 connecting the light receiving surface 50a, and the second object is irradiated with light from the light receiving surface 50a side of the light receiving unit 50 to the object 200 to be identified. By disposing the projector 42, the light that has passed through the identified object 200 that is the current identification target and diffusely reflected by the identified object 200 are received by the light receiving unit 50 as one component configured by a CCD camera or the like. Light can be received simultaneously. Therefore, it is not necessary to separately provide a light receiving means for receiving the light transmitted through the identified object 200 and a light receiving means for receiving the light diffusely reflected by the identified object 200, and the transmitted light amount and the diffuse reflected light amount are added. And the time required for identifying the type of each identified object 200, such as performing separate evaluation for each light quantity, can be saved.

  Moreover, according to the said embodiment, as shown in FIG.6 and FIG.7, the light projection surface 41a of the 1st light projector 41 is provided with the light projection surface limitation member 43 which restrict | limits the area of the light projection surface 41a. It has been. By providing the light projecting surface limiting member 43 on the light projecting surface 41 a of the first projector 41, the light reflected by the end 203 a of the opaque body 203 having specular reflection characteristics is not received by the light receiving unit 50. The light irradiation range for each identified object 200 can be limited. Therefore, the light specularly reflected by the end portions 203a of the opaque bodies 202 and 203 is received by the light receiving section 50, and the amount of light received by the light receiving section 50 increases, and the opaque bodies 202 and 203 are identified as the transparent body 201. Therefore, it is possible to accurately identify which kind of object each identified object 200 is.

  Further, according to the above-described embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the irradiation position P <b> 1 for irradiating light to each identified object 200 by the light projecting unit 40 is provided in a hollow state. When the light is emitted from different directions from the second projector 42, a transport path for transporting each identified object 200 to the irradiation position P1 is formed of a transparent member, or a member that configures the transport path It is not necessary to consider the light transmission property, light absorption property, or the like.

However, the above embodiment is one aspect of the present invention, and it is needless to say that the embodiment can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist of the present invention.
For example, in the embodiment described above, the light that has passed through the identified object 200 out of the light emitted from the first projector 41 is received by the one light receiving unit 50 and emitted from the second projector 42. Of the light, the light diffusely reflected by the identified object 200 is received at the same time. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the light receiving unit 50 includes a first light receiver 51 and a second light receiver 52. You may comprise using two light receivers.
In the example shown in FIG. 9, the light receiving surface 51a is arranged at a position facing the light projecting surface 41a of the first light projecting device 41 in the same manner as in the above embodiment. Is arranged. The second light receiver 52, which is also constituted by a CCD or the like, is disposed so that the light receiving surface 51a is disposed at a position facing the light projecting surface 42a of the second light projector 42. As described above, by configuring the light receiving unit 50 using the first light receiver 51 and the second light receiver 52, the first light projector 51 has the first projector as in the above embodiment. Of the light irradiated by 41, the light transmitted through the identified object 200 is received, and at the same time, the light diffused and reflected by the identified object 200 among the light irradiated by the second projector 42 is received. On the other hand, the second light receiver 52 receives the light transmitted through the identified object 200 out of the light irradiated by the second light projector 42 and at the same time among the light irradiated by the first light projector 41. The light diffusely reflected by the identification object 200 is received. Based on the light quantity of the light received by the first light receiver 51 and the light quantity of the light received by the second light receiver 52, which type of object is the object to be identified 200 that is currently identified. The identification accuracy can be improved by identifying.
For example, as shown in FIG. 10A, the identified object 200 that is the current identification target is an opaque body 203 having specular reflection characteristics, but on the side irradiated with light from the second projector 42. In the case where the opaque body 202 having the diffuse reflection characteristic is attached as a foreign substance, the light diffusely reflected by the opaque body 202 is received even when the light receiving unit 50 is constituted by one light receiver. Therefore, the non-defective product to which the foreign matter is attached can be accommodated in the foreign matter storage portion 82 as a foreign matter. However, as shown in FIG. 10B, the object to be identified 200 that is the current identification target is an opaque body 203 having specular reflection characteristics, on the side irradiated with light from the first projector 41. When the opaque body 202 having the diffuse reflection characteristic is attached, the light emitted from the second projector 42 is specularly reflected by the object to be identified 200, and the diffuse reflected light is received by the light receiving unit 50. Therefore, the control unit 60 identifies the identified object 200 as a non-defective product. However, as shown in FIG. 9, by forming the light receiving unit 50 using the first light receiver 51 and the second light receiver 52, the foreign object also adheres to the non-defective product in which the foreign material adheres to the first projector 41 side. Can be sorted out from non-defective products, and the accuracy of sorting non-defective products can be improved.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 11, it is more preferable to provide a conveyance groove 23b on the sliding plate 23 so that the identified object 200 is reliably dropped at the irradiation position P1 along a predetermined dropping trajectory C. Thus, by providing the conveyance groove 23b, it is possible to prevent the falling trajectory C of the identified object 200 from deviating from the irradiation position P1, and the irradiation is performed from the first projector 41 and the second projector 42. It is possible to reliably irradiate each identified object 200 with light. Further, as shown in FIG. 11, a plurality of conveying grooves 23b are provided, and the width corresponds to the width corresponding to the width of the sliding plate 23, or the width corresponding to the width through which the identified object 200 falling from the sliding plate 23 may pass. On the other hand, light may be irradiated from the first projector 41 and the second projector 42. Also in this case, each identified object 200 is irradiated with light, and for each identified object 200, each identified object 200 is of any type based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50. It can be set as the structure which identifies whether it is an object. The same applies to the case where the sliding plate 23 is not provided with the conveying groove 23b.

  Further, although not particularly described in the above embodiment, the blowing area for blowing the air from the blowing nozzle 84 can be appropriately set according to the size of the identified object 200. If the blowing area of the blowing nozzle 84 is large, there is a possibility that air is also blown to the identified object 200 falling before and after the identified object 200 identified as a foreign object. When air is blown to the identified object 200 that falls back and forth, even if the identified object 200 is identified as a non-defective product, the fall trajectory C is changed and accommodated in the foreign material accommodating part 82. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 12, the blowout area A of the blowout nozzle 84 is large so that air is not blown onto the identified object 200 that falls before and after the identified object 200 (201, 202) identified as a foreign object. It is preferable to set based on the size of the identified object 200, the falling speed of the identified object 200, and the like. It is also preferable to adjust the falling speed of the identified object 200 by adjusting the inclination angle θ1 of the sliding plate 23 together with the blowing area A of the blowing nozzle 84.

  In the above-described embodiment, as the plurality of types of opaque bodies 202 and 203, the opaque body 202 having the diffuse reflection characteristic and the opaque body 203 having the specular reflection characteristic have been described as examples. The opaque bodies 202 and 203 are not limited to these two types. For different types of opaque bodies, it is assumed that the surface light reflection characteristics differ for each type. It is also assumed that the amount of diffusely reflected light varies depending on the surface color of the opaque body, the surface roughness, and the like. Therefore, in the light receiving unit 50, for each opaque body, the value of the diffuse reflection light amount that can identify the type of the opaque body is set in advance as a threshold value, so that based on the light amount of light received by the light receiving unit 50, It is possible to easily identify which type of opaque body the one identified object 200 that is the identification target is.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 20 Conveyance part 40 Light projection part 41 1st light projector 42 2nd light projector 43 Light projection surface restriction | limiting member 50 Light receiving part 50a Light receiving surface 51 1st light receiver 51a Light receiving surface 52 2nd light receiver 60 Control part (identification part) )
80 Sorting unit 100 Object sorting device 200 Object to be identified 201 Transparent body 202, 203 Opaque body

Claims (7)

An object identification device for identifying an object to be identified, which is an object to be identified in which a transparent body and a plurality of types of opaque bodies are mixed,
A light projecting unit that irradiates each identified object with light;
For each identified object, a light receiving unit that receives light that has passed through each identified object out of the light emitted from the light projecting unit, and that receives light diffusely reflected by each identified object;
Based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit, an identifying unit for identifying which type of each identified object,
An object identification device comprising: The projector includes a first projector and a second projector that simultaneously irradiate each identified object with light from different directions.
The light receiving unit receives, for each object to be identified, light transmitted from the first projector among the light irradiated from the first projector, and simultaneously receives each light out of the light irradiated from the second projector. Receiving light diffusely reflected by the identification object;
The object identification device according to claim 1. The light receiving unit is
For each identified object, light that has passed through each identified object out of the light emitted from the first projector is received, and at the same time, diffusely reflected by each identified object out of the light emitted from the second projector. With the first light receiver that receives the light
For each identified object, light that has passed through each identified object out of the light emitted from the second projector is received, and at the same time, diffusely reflected by each identified object out of the light emitted from the first projector. A second light receiving device for receiving the received light,
The object identification device according to claim 2. Among the plurality of types of opaque bodies, an opaque body having specular reflection characteristics is included.
The light irradiation range by the light projecting unit with respect to each identified object is limited so that the light reflected by the end of the opaque body having the specular reflection characteristic is not received by the light receiving unit,
The object identification device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The irradiation position where light is irradiated to each identified object by the light projecting unit is provided in a hollow space,
A transport unit having a transport groove for dropping each identified object one by one in a predetermined drop trajectory at the irradiation position;
The object identification device according to any one of claims 1 to 4. An object identification device for identifying a predetermined type of opaque body set in advance from an object to be identified in which a transparent body and a plurality of types of opaque bodies are mixed,
A light projecting unit that irradiates each identified object with light;
For each identified object, a light receiving unit that receives light that has passed through each identified object out of the light emitted from the light projecting unit, and that receives light diffusely reflected by each identified object;
An identification unit for identifying whether each identified object is a predetermined type of object set in advance based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit;
An object identification device comprising: A transport unit for transporting an object to be identified in which a transparent body and a plurality of types of opaque bodies are mixed;
In the course of transport by the transport unit, a light projecting unit that irradiates each identified object with light,
For each identified object, a light receiving unit that receives light that has passed through each identified object out of the light emitted from the light projecting unit, and that receives light diffusely reflected by each identified object;
Based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit, an identifying unit for identifying which type of each identified object,
According to the type identified by the identification unit, a sorting unit that sorts each identified object for each type,
An object sorting apparatus comprising:

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