JP2013210279A - Device and method for inspecting content omission of egg - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To certainly detect a content omission state in a packed product.SOLUTION: A content omission inspection device of eggs has: means 20 for conveying a packed product 1 obtained by packing a plurality of eggs at an aligned state inside a container; and a determination device which has a microwave transmitter and a microwave receiver fixedly arranged to the ground at a state that microwaves cross in a connection connecting an oblique horizontal upper part and an oblique horizontal lower part of egg columns to determine content omission on the basis of relative ratio between a transmission signal level from the microwave transmitter and a reception signal level by the microwave receiver.

Description

  The present invention relates to an egg dropout inspection apparatus and method.

In modern times, the purchase rate of so-called packed chicken eggs sold at supermarkets is increasing.
In particular, the packing form of the packed eggs is not single, but relatively many are, for example, a total of 10 pieces in two rows on the left and right sides, for example, five on one side on the bottom of the thin polyethylene container. Eggs are installed and sealed by joining the upper and lower flanges of the container.

  In the following, the problem of inspection in this packed container or packaging will be mainly described.

  Prior to packing, the eggs are exposed to light from below in the dark room, and the inspector visually detects cracks, eggs, blood eggs, etc., removes them, and then taps the eggs and sorts them by judgment based on the sound. There is also.

However, even if various inspections are performed prior to packing, egg whites and egg yolks are lost mainly during and after the packing stage due to missing detection of cracks and cracks in the handling process of eggs before shipment. In some cases, so-called stuffed-down packed products may be on the market. At first, it is extremely difficult to visually detect the contents missing after packing.
Therefore, since the seller of this kind of packaged product with missing contents is involved in a complaint trouble by the purchaser, it is necessary for the manufacturer to carry out a reliable inspection so as not to ship the packaged product with missing contents. Is strongly requested.

  Conventionally, as disclosed in, for example, a patent document (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-13065), irradiation light is directly applied to an egg from above, and transmitted light is detected downward at the same time. It was known to test eggs.

However, this kind of technology can be applied only in the egg-checking process, and cannot be applied to missing contents in the packing stage.
That is, egg white and egg yolk due to missing contents may remain in the recesses of the pack, and as long as it is based on a difference in transmitted light level, a difference from a normal chicken egg cannot be detected.

JP 2001-13065 A

  Therefore, the main problem to be solved by the present invention is to reliably detect the contents missing from the packed product.

The present invention for solving this problem is as follows.
[Invention of Claim 1]
Means for transporting a packed product in which a plurality of eggs are packed in an aligned state inside the container;
In a state where the microwave crosses in the direction connecting the diagonally upper side and the diagonally lower side of the egg row, it has a microwave transmitter and a microwave receiver fixed to the ground,
An egg dropout inspection apparatus comprising: a determiner that determines a dropout based on a relative ratio between a transmission signal level from the microwave transmitter and a reception signal level at a microwave receiver.

(Function and effect)
Temporarily, the microwave transmitter of the microwave sensor of the present invention is arranged above, the microwave receiver is arranged below, and the transmission signal level from the microwave transmitter and the reception signal level at the microwave receiver are Even if it is attempted to determine missing contents based on the relative ratio, reliable detection is difficult.
That is, as shown in FIG. 1, a packed product in which a plurality of eggs E are packed in an aligned state inside a container 1, such as polyethylene, for example, a total of 10 chicken eggs in two rows on the left and right sides are installed on each side. In the lower part that is not noticeable even if microwaves are passed up and down with respect to the packed product X which is sealed by joining the upper and lower flanges with tape or the like (whether or not it is completely sealed) When the crack expands and reaches the crack, the fallen egg white and egg yolk stay in the recess of the container 1 even though the inner egg white and egg yolk are removed and remain in the eggshell state (see FIG. 1). Therefore, the egg white and egg yolk that have fallen out are detected and the product is judged to be a normal product.
On the other hand, in the present invention, a microwave transmitter and a microwave receiver that are fixedly arranged with respect to the ground are installed in a state where the microwave MW crosses in the direction connecting the obliquely horizontal upper side and the obliquely horizontal lower side of the egg row. In addition, since the contents are determined based on the relative ratio between the transmission signal level from the microwave transmitter and the reception signal level at the microwave receiver, the retention of egg white and egg yolk that has fallen into the recess of the container 1 Since the so-called contents missing state can be detected without any difference, the detection probability is remarkably increased.
Furthermore, although side cracks have occurred, detection is possible even when egg white or part of egg yolk remains inside the eggshell.
Of course, it is also possible to detect a “no egg” state in which the egg itself does not exist in the container.
Furthermore, since the present invention uses a microwave sensor in the first place, the detection accuracy is higher than that of a general light transmission type detection sensor system.

[Invention of Claim 2]
The egg dropout inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the microwave transmitter and the microwave receiver are supported by the support so as to be in the same directivity direction.

(Function and effect)
When the microwave transmitter and the microwave receiver are configured to be supported by the support so as to have the same directivity direction, for example, in the factory, the microwave transmitter and the microwave receiver are set in the same directivity direction together with the support in advance. Then, the unit is carried into the installation site and positioning is performed in the unit state, so that the installation work at the site becomes easy.

[Invention of Claim 3]
The egg dropout inspection device according to claim 2, wherein the support body is rotatable around a horizontal axis, and is configured to adjust a transverse direction angle of the microwave with respect to the egg row.

(Function and effect)
If the support is rotatable around the horizontal axis, the angle of the crossing direction of the microwave with respect to the egg row can be adjusted in a unit state, and adjustment work is easy.

[Invention of Claim 4]
The contents of an egg according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the support body is configured to be movable up and down by a holding body fixedly arranged with respect to the ground, and the height position across the microwave egg row can be adjusted. Missing inspection device.

(Function and effect)
The crossing height position with respect to the microwave egg row can be easily adjusted.

[Invention of Claim 5]
While transporting packed products packed in a container with multiple eggs in an aligned state,
A microwave transmitter and a microwave receiver are fixedly arranged with respect to the ground in a state in which the microwave crosses in a direction connecting the diagonally upper side and the diagonally lower side of the egg row,
An egg dropout inspection method, wherein a dropout is determined based on a relative ratio between a transmission signal level from the microwave transmitter and a reception signal level at a microwave receiver.

(Function and effect)
There exists an effect similar to Claim 1.

[Invention of Claim 6]
6. The egg dropout inspection method according to claim 5, wherein the dropout is determined in a state where labels are present in the pack.

(Function and effect)
When a microwave sensor is used, since microwaves are highly permeable to polyethylene and the like, even if labels 2 exist in the container 1 as shown in FIG. . In addition, even if there is a label attached to the container 1, it is possible to easily determine whether the contents are missing.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reliably detect a missing state in a packed product.

It is a general | schematic perspective view of a packed product. It is a perspective view of the example of a single detection apparatus. It is a side view of the example of installation. It is a side view of another direction. It is outline | summary explanatory drawing of a detection apparatus. It is a top view of the packed product of a pack-in label.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In the present invention, the material of the container 1 in the target packed product X is not limited to polyethylene. The arrangement form of the packed product in which a plurality of eggs E are packed in the container 1 in an aligned state is not limited. However, the condition is that the array is one or two columns.

  A configuration example of the detection apparatus according to the present invention is shown in FIG. The microwave transmitter 11 includes a drive circuit 11A and a clock generator 11B, and transmits microwaves via the transmission horn antenna 11C. On the other hand, the microwave receiver 12 arranged oppositely receives the signal via the receiving horn antenna 12C, amplifies the received wave by the amplifier circuit 12B to which the DC bias circuit 12A is attached, removes noise by the filter circuit 12D, A detection wave is detected by the detection circuit 12E. In place of the horn antenna, a patch antenna having a wide directivity can be used.

  Further, a determination unit 13 is provided for determining the content loss based on the relative ratio between the transmission signal level from the microwave transmitter 11 and the reception signal level at the microwave receiver 12.

  As the microwave transmitter 11 and the microwave receiver 12, modularized ones can be used. For example, a module manufactured by Jupiter can be used, and in particular, a "K band" (24.2 GHz band) can be used. An “X band” (10.5 GHz band) or the like can also be used. New Japan Radio "k-band Doppler sensor" can also be used.

  The packed product X is transported on a transporting means 20 such as a conveyor. The microwave transmitter 11 and the microwave receiver 12 are fixed to the ground with respect to this conveyor line.

  Since the illustrated packed product X is a two-packed product X, two inspection devices YA and YB are provided corresponding to each column. They differ only in that they are installed before and after the conveying direction of the conveyor line, and can have the same configuration. Therefore, in the following, the description will be focused on the configuration of one inspection apparatus.

  A holding body 21 is provided on the side of the conveyor line so as to be fixed to the ground, and a support shaft 23 of the support body 22 is movable up and down along the elongated hole 21a.

  Before and after the support 22, the microwave transmitter 11 and the microwave receiver 12 are fixed so as to be position-adjustable in the front-rear direction along a long hole 22 a formed in the support 22 via an adjustment knob shaft 24. Has been.

  More specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, a rotary seat 25 is provided at the base of the support shaft 23, and the support shaft 23 can rotate around the center line of the rotary seat 25. The bolts 25a and 25a fixed to the attachment portion on the back surface of the rotary seat 25 are along the long hole 21a, so that the support shaft 23 of the support 22 can be moved up and down.

The microwave transmitter 11 and the microwave receiver that are fixedly arranged with respect to the ground in a state where the microwave MW crosses in a direction connecting the diagonally horizontal upper side and the diagonally horizontal lower side of the egg train using the apparatus configured as described above. 12, and the contents are determined based on the relative ratio between the transmission signal level from the microwave transmitter 11 and the reception signal level at the microwave receiver 12. Normally, the relative ratio to the signal level is large, but if the relative ratio is smaller than the threshold range, it can be determined that the contents are missing.
Note that the detection of the packed product X prior to the determination of missing contents can be performed by, for example, the pack detector 30 such as a photoelectric switch that the packed product X has been transported to a predetermined position.
According to the embodiment of the present invention, since the so-called contents omission state can be detected in the recess of the container 1 without the retention of the egg white or egg yolk that has fallen out, the detection probability is remarkably increased.

  On the other hand, the installation positions of the microwave transmitter 11 and the microwave receiver 12 can be reversed.

The eggs of the present invention are mainly chicken chicken eggs, but it will be apparent that they can be applied to other eggs such as quail.
On the other hand, in the above example, the polyethylene container 1 is taken as an example. However, in the present invention, since microwaves are used and it does not relate to light transmittance, even if it is a paper container or the like whose inside cannot be visually confirmed, the contents are omitted. Can be easily determined.

X ... Packed product E ... Egg wave MW ... Microwave YA, YB ... Inspection device 1 ... Container 2 ... Labels 11 ... Microwave transmitter 12 ... Microwave receiver 13 ... Determinator 20 ... Means for conveying (conveyor)
21 ... Holding body 22 ... Support body 23 ... Support shaft 24 ... Rotating seat 30 ... Pack detector

Claims (6)

Means for transporting a packed product in which a plurality of eggs are packed in an aligned state inside the container;
In a state where the microwave crosses in the direction connecting the diagonally upper side and the diagonally lower side of the egg row, it has a microwave transmitter and a microwave receiver fixed to the ground,
An egg dropout inspection apparatus comprising: a determiner that determines a dropout based on a relative ratio between a transmission signal level from the microwave transmitter and a reception signal level at a microwave receiver.   The egg dropout inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the microwave transmitter and the microwave receiver are supported by the support so as to be in the same directivity direction.   The egg dropout inspection device according to claim 2, wherein the support body is rotatable around a horizontal axis, and is configured to adjust a transverse direction angle of the microwave with respect to the egg row.   The contents of an egg according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the support body is configured to be movable up and down by a holding body fixedly arranged with respect to the ground, and the height position across the microwave egg row can be adjusted. Missing inspection device. While transporting packed products packed in a container with multiple eggs in an aligned state,
A microwave transmitter and a microwave receiver are fixedly arranged with respect to the ground in a state in which the microwave crosses in a direction connecting the diagonally upper side and the diagonally lower side of the egg row,
An egg dropout inspection method, wherein a dropout is determined based on a relative ratio between a transmission signal level from the microwave transmitter and a reception signal level at a microwave receiver.   6. The egg dropout inspection method according to claim 5, wherein the dropout is determined in a state where labels are present in the pack.

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