JP2014180225A - Tomato separation unit in tomato harvester - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a separation shelf and a holding structure thereof by which tomatoes can be highly efficiently and stably separated, in a separation unit that separates fruits by vertically moving tomato branches with the separation shelf that vertically moves the branches.SOLUTION: A separation shelf 41 is held by a support frame 46 through a vertical driving mechanism, with one end in the front and rear of the support frame 46 held by a support structure in a manner freely adjusting the height. On the side of the support frame 46, there is installed a tilt angle display 10, making it display a tilt angle relative to a level of the support frame 46. Consequently, the tilt angle of the support frame 46 is set at an initial set angle by driving height adjusting means, and thereby the deviation of the tilt angle of the support frame 46 during an operation relative to the initially set tilt angle is displayed.

Description

The present invention relates to a tomato separation apparatus in a harvesting machine for processing tomatoes.
Many tomatoes for processing branch from one stalk, branch P stretches around the ground and spreads in all directions, and many berries ripen all at once. And sort hard good tomatoes and soft bad tomatoes and garbage, and visually select and harvest good tomatoes with good color and intactness. This tomato harvester consistently performs from the above mowing to selection.
The tomatoes for processing are spherical (diameter is about 5 cm) or a slightly vertically long ellipse, and the tomatoes at the bottom are hard enough to be crushed even if they are raised to a height of 60 cm. In addition, the breeding has been improved so that when the branch P is shaken strongly, the stickiness is removed and the tomato fruits are separated all at once.

Tomato harvesters for processing in foreign countries are large. On the other hand, the tomato harvester suitable for harvesting tomatoes for processing in Japan is the medium size.
By the way, the cultivation of processing tomatoes in Japan is intensive, the cultivation scale is relatively small, the yield per unit area is large, and only high-quality tomatoes are used for processing. The varieties, cultivation conditions, and harvesting conditions are very different.
On the other hand, when manually harvesting the processing tomatoes as described above, it takes a lot of labor, and it is a labor that is hard and burdensome, such as being done in the middle and under the hot sun.
For this reason, it was necessary to develop a tomato harvester suitable for cultivation of processing tomatoes in Japan.

Due to the above circumstances, medium-sized tomato harvesters suitable for cultivation of processing tomatoes in Japan have been developed, but they are relatively simple such as not using expensive precision equipment such as optical equipment and image processing equipment. Therefore, the mechanism and structure of the main parts are very different from those of foreign countries.
By the way, the development of processing tomato harvesters in Japan started with auxiliary machines for harvesting and harvesting for the purpose of reducing labor burden and improving work efficiency (Patent Document 1). Development of tomato harvesters (so-called combine harvesters) has been promoted for further reduction. Nowadays, a mechanism is being developed to simplify the mechanism to reduce its production cost, improve workability and work efficiency, and improve the sorting accuracy of the mechanical sorting means.

The thing of patent document 1 is an auxiliary machine for harvesting work, The outline is as FIG. 12, FIG. 13 shows. This is an auxiliary machine for harvesting work that is driven by the operation lever 83 and self-propelled by the crawler 80, and includes a lifting conveyor 71, a hopper 72, a loading platform 78, and the like. Then, the branch P of the processing tomato that is prosperous over the whole field is manually cut, and the cut branch P is shaken strongly on the hopper 72 to drop the fruit onto the hopper 72, and when the fruit is dropped, The branch P is abandoned in the field, the fruit collected in the hopper 72 is pulled up onto the loading platform 78 by the lifting conveyor 71, and the raised tomato is temporarily stored in the shooter 74 and visually inspected here for mixed garbage and After removing the defective tomatoes, an operation is performed in which the shooter 74 is opened and accommodated in the container 77 on the loading platform.
The thing of this patent document 1 is only an auxiliary machine for the tomato harvesting work which self-propels after the harvester, and harvests the branch P, separates the tomato from the branch P, and collects the tomato fruit. All sorting operations for sorting are performed manually by the operator.
A tomato harvester developed in Japan, that is, a tomato harvester (so-called combine) that consistently cuts, separates, sorts, and sorts is already known, but this tomato harvester (which is the premise of the present invention) There is no literature that describes (prior art).

  By the way, the tomato harvester in Japan is self-propelled, and consists of a traveling part and a working part mounted on the traveling part, and the working part is lifted and lowered by a hydraulic cylinder to adjust its height and body frame. It is comprised from the back part currently fixed on the top. The overall structure is almost the same as that of the tomato harvesting machine of the present invention (FIGS. 1 and 2), and the scraping device at the tip is supported by the support structure so as to be freely raised and lowered, and is raised and lowered by a hydraulic cylinder. Can be adjusted.

In addition, this conventional tomato harvester includes a scraping device that cuts and scrapes the tomato branch P, a tomato separation device that separates the tomatoes from the branches (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “separation device”), It is equipped with a pass / fail sorting device that sorts hard good tomatoes and soft bad tomatoes, and a sorting device that removes small tomatoes from hard good tomatoes, and sorts good tomatoes that are ripe, have no color unevenness, have good shape, and are intact.
An outline of each of the above-described conventional apparatuses will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 (drawings of the embodiment of the present invention).

The scraping device 1 is composed of a large number of longitudinal (front-rear) rods (steel materials) that perform a crank motion, and is composed of a scraping unit 1A and 1B each composed of a large number (for example, 9 to 10 rods). Is. And the horizontal width is a width which straddles a base, and the divider D exists in the front-end | tip. The divider D is a means for scraping the tomato branch extending in the groove between the straws on the straw.
In the scraping units 1A and 1B, the tip portion is slightly inclined to the front lower side, and the main body portion is greatly inclined to the rear upper side. The rods of the units 1A and 1B reciprocate up and down and back and forth alternately. Both units 1A and 1B are driven by their respective cranks.

  The above-mentioned scraping units 1A and 1B scoop up the tomato branch P (hereinafter also referred to simply as “branch P”) from below, push the branch P up by the crank motion and float it off the ground, and then cut it with a cutter C. Then, the rooted technique P is scraped upward.

  Above the scraping device 1 is a scraping assist device 2. The scraping assisting device 2 assists the scraping action by the scraping device 1, and pulls the root-cut branch P between the scraping device 1 and reliably scrapes it.

  The scraping assisting device 2 in the conventional tomato harvester is based on a chain conveyor 20 shown in FIGS. 11 (a) and 11 (b). This chain conveyor 20 includes a large number of sprockets 26a, 26b, 26c, one chain 27, and the like. The conveyors (29a to 29e) are combined together at regular intervals, and the branches P are hooked and pulled up by the claws 28 provided in each chain 27.

The lifting conveyor 3 is immediately behind the scraping device 1, pulls the branch P scraped up by the scraping device 1 to a high position, and sends it to the tomato separation device 4.
When the branch P is sent to the tomato separation device 4 by the pulling conveyor 3, the fruit is separated from the branch P on the tomato separation device 4 and dropped to the quality sorting device 5 below, and the branch P is behind the tomato separation device 4. Released.

  The tomato fruits that have fallen from the separation device 4 to the pass / fail sorting device 5 (hereinafter also simply referred to as “tomatoes”) are rolled by the pass / fail conveyor 6 by the good pass / fail sorting device 5, and the soft defective tomatoes fall. It is conveyed backward and discharged.

In Japan, high quality tomatoes that are hard and have a certain size or more, good color, no color irregularities, and no scratches are harvested as processing tomatoes. Then, hard good tomatoes and soft defective tomatoes are sorted before the quality conveyor tomatoes are sorted by the sorting conveyor 7. It is this pass / fail sorter 5 that performs this sort. The stems and leaves that have fallen from the tomato separation device 4 are also discharged backward by the quality sorting device 5.
The pass / fail sorting apparatus 5 in the conventional tomato harvesting machine is specifically an ordinary belt conveyor, and since the conveyor belt is relatively hard, the tomato may be damaged by an impact when dropped on the conveyor belt. There is also a problem that the accuracy of sorting is not stable.

  The transverse feed conveyor 6 also serves as a sieve for sorting small balls from hard good tomatoes, and sieves the balls before being sent to the sorting conveyor 7. As a result, only a certain size or larger is sent to the sorting conveyor 7. This is the same as the embodiment of the present invention.

The sorting conveyor 7 is a conveying conveyor for visual inspection, and picks up things with poor color, uneven color, bad shape, scratches, etc., and finally leaves a good quality tomato.
The selected high-quality tomatoes are pulled up by the lifting conveyor 8 and sent to the shooter 9. This is the same as the embodiment of the present invention.
The above is the outline of the conventional tomato harvester and the outline of the prerequisite technology of the present invention.

[Problems in the prior art]
In the chain conveyor 20 (FIGS. 11 (a) and 11 (b)) of the lifting assist device 2 in the conventional tomato harvester, the branch P enters between the multiple chains 27 and 27, and the chain 27 and the sprocket 26a, 26b and 26c may wrap around and stop the scraping, and the scraping may stop because it cannot sufficiently adapt to the change in the size of the mass of the branch P sandwiched between the scraping device 1. is there.

  As described above, in the conventional scooping assisting device 2, it is inevitable that the branch P becomes entangled with the chain conveyor 20 and cannot be scraped up. If the lump of the branch P is large, the scraping device 1 and the chain conveyor 20 are inevitable. It is strongly sandwiched between the two and the scraping is not made smoothly. In addition, if the branch P is strongly pinched, it may be strongly pressed by the scooping assist device and the tomato fruit may be damaged by the chain 27 (first problem).

  In addition, the conventional quality sorting apparatus is required to be stable in sorting accuracy between hard good tomatoes and soft bad tomatoes, to have buffering properties, and to have a simple mechanism (second problem). ).

  Furthermore, since the harvesting power of the tomato separation device decreases when the separation ability decreases, it is required that the separation efficiency is always stable irrespective of the topography of the field, the tomato overgrowth and the maturation. (Third issue)

  Assuming the conventional tomato harvesting machine, the present invention devised the third problem, that is, the separation shelf and the support mechanism so that the tomato separation apparatus can efficiently and stably separate tomatoes at all times. It solves the problem.

Means for solving the above problems are based on (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f) on the premise of the following (A).
(A) The tomato branch P is floated with a scraping device, rooted with a cutter, the rooted branch P is scraped with a scraping device, sent to a tomato separating device with a lifting conveyor, and the tomato from the branch with a tomato separating device The tomato separation device of a self-propelled tomato harvester that sorts hard good tomatoes and soft bad tomatoes with a good / bad sorting device, and visually inspects the color, shape and scratches of hard good tomatoes to sort out good quality tomatoes There,

(B) The tomato separation device is due to a separation shelf that reciprocates up and down and back and forth,
(B) the separation shelf is inclined forward and supported by a support frame via front and rear cranks;
(C) The inclination angle of the separation shelf is adjustable, the rear portion of the support frame is supported by a hydraulic cylinder, and the inclination angle of the separation shelf is adjusted by expansion and contraction of the hydraulic cylinder. ,
(D) It has an angle indicator that displays the inclination angle with respect to the horizontal on the side surface of the separation shelf,
(E) It has an operation valve for expanding and contracting the hydraulic cylinder,
(F) The tilt angle can be adjusted by expanding and contracting the hydraulic cylinder while confirming the tilt angle of the separation shelf with the angle indicator.

In addition, the said angle indicator displays the inclination angle with respect to the horizontal of a separation shelf, and the change can be read. Then, it is possible to easily adjust the inclination angle while visually recognizing the angle display so as to be always appropriate.
The angle indicator may be mechanical or electrical, but it is necessary that the operator can easily see the angle display during the tomato harvesting operation.
It is preferable that the said operation valve is arrange | positioned in the position which an operator can operate easily during a tomato harvesting operation | work.
It is possible to change the hydraulic cylinder to a telescopic rod, but in that case, the telescopic rod must be capable of adjusting the angle of the separation shelf easily by adjusting the length in a stepless manner or in multiple steps. . Examples of the length adjusting means include a telescopic screw means.

The tomatoes are separated by the impact when the branch P of the tomatoes jumps up and falls on the separation shelf, and the ripe tomatoes are completely separated by repeating this.
For example, when it is flipped up to a height of about 20 cm and it is repeated about 10 times, ripe tomatoes are completely separated.
And whenever it is flipped up, the branch P moves back little by little on the separation shelf. The moving distance depends on the rearward stroke and speed of the separation shelf, and also depends on the forward inclination angle of the separation shelf, and is adjusted by adjusting the inclination angle.
Therefore, the number of jumps repeated until the branch P moves backward on the separation shelf and falls from the rear end can be easily adjusted by adjusting the inclination angle of the separation shelf.

  By the way, it is as described above that the tomato for processing is separated from the branch P by the relatively weak impact, and the tomatoes for processing are separated from the branches P as described above. It depends on the degree. Therefore, since the required number of times of jumping varies depending on the above, it is necessary to adjust the inclination angle θ of the separation shelf so that the necessary number of times of jumping is increased.

  On the other hand, since the inclination angle θ of the separation shelf is an angle with respect to the horizontal, when the tomato harvester is inclined forward or downward, the inclination angle θ of the separation shelf is changed accordingly and is flipped up on the separation shelf. The number of times increases and decreases, and as a result, the separation ability of the tomato separation apparatus varies. That is, if the number of times of flip-up is small, the separation ability of tomatoes decreases, and if it is large, the staying time on the separation shelf becomes longer than necessary and the work efficiency decreases.

From the above, when the maturity level of the tomato or the state of overgrowth changes or the inclination angle of the separation shelf changes, it is necessary to appropriately adjust the inclination angle θ of the separation shelf accordingly.
On the other hand, in order to appropriately adjust the inclination angle θ, it is possible to easily recognize the fluctuation of the separation shelf with respect to the inclination angle θ and the standard inclination angle during the harvesting operation, and based on this, the inclination angle θ can be easily and appropriately adjusted. is necessary.

  The tomato separation apparatus according to the present invention can easily and accurately recognize the fluctuation of the inclination angle θ of the separation shelf from the standard angle, and operate the operation valve while viewing the display on the angle display. By expanding and contracting the hydraulic cylinder, it can be adjusted appropriately and easily so as to have an appropriate inclination angle, whereby the tomato separation operation is always carried out efficiently and stably.

Embodiment
The inclination angle of the separation shelf is set to a predetermined standard angle (for example, a standard angle of 2 to 3 degrees) when the tomato harvester is in a substantially horizontal state.
And it is necessary to reciprocate the inclined separation shelf up and down and back and forth by the crank in that state, and it is necessary to adjust the inclination angle appropriately.

The separation shelf is driven violently up and down and front and rear by the front and rear cranks, but the inclination angle θ is equal to the inclination angle of the support frame in (b) above, so the inclination of the separation shelf is displayed by displaying the inclination angle of the support frame. The angle is displayed.
Therefore, when displaying the tilt angle of the tomato harvester body in the front-rear direction, the tilt angle of the separation shelf at that time is adjusted to an appropriate angle while taking into account the display angle from time to time and the default tilt angle of the separation shelf. There is a need to. For this purpose, the inclination angle of the separation shelf that is initially set is displayed, the inclination angle of the tomato harvester itself with respect to the horizontal is displayed, and the inclination angle of the separation shelf is corrected as necessary based on these indications. .

Further, in order to be able to adjust the inclination angle θ of the support frame, the front part or the rear part may be fixed in the vertical direction so that the rear part or the front part can be raised and lowered.
It is only necessary to select the structure for raising or lowering the front part or the rear part, but this structure is desirable because the positional relationship with the transverse feed conveyor 6 is stable when the structure allows the rear part to be raised and lowered.

Is an overall side view of a tomato harvester according to the invention Is an overall plan view of the tomato harvester according to the present invention Is a perspective view of the scraping device 1 and the scraping assisting device 2 Is an exploded explanatory view of the scraping operation of the scraping device 1 (A) is a conveyor plan view of the lifting assist device 1, and (b) is a side view thereof. Is a perspective view of the tomato separation device 4, the pass / fail sorting device 5 and the transverse feed conveyor 6 as seen obliquely from above. Is an exploded explanatory view of the operation for explaining the operation of the separation shelf 41 of the tomato separation device 4 (A) is a perspective view of the tomato separation device 4 and the pass / fail sorting device 5, and (b) is a partially enlarged view of the pass / fail sorting device. Side view of a tomato separator Is a schematic diagram of the tilt angle indicator of the separation shelf (A) is a perspective view of a conventional lifting assist device, (b) a partially enlarged view of the chain Is a side view of the conventional auxiliary machine for tomato harvesting work of Patent Document 1 Is a front view of a conventional tomato harvesting auxiliary machine of Patent Document 1

  The outline of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with respect to the gist of the present invention, and the description will be omitted where there is no particular difference from the prior art.

(1) Tomato separation device 4
The tomato separation device 4 is based on a separation shelf that reciprocates up and down, and the vertical movement of the separation shelf repeatedly causes the branches P on the separation shelf to repeatedly jump up and drop onto the separation shelf, and a little by repeating this jumping operation. Send backwards one by one. This flip-up action separates the tomato fruits and sifts the separated ones off the separation shelf 4 while discharging the branches P backwards.

  The drive mechanism of the separation shelf 41 of the tomato separation apparatus 4 includes a support frame 46 inclined forward and downward, and front and rear cranks 42, 42 on the support frame 46. Further, the inclination angle of the separation shelf 41 can be easily adjusted.

(2) Pass / fail sorting device 5
The quality sorting device 5 is a device that sorts tomatoes dropped from the tomato separation device 4 into hard good tomatoes and soft defective tomatoes, and can quickly and accurately sort them.

  When tomatoes are dropped on the conveyor surface inclined forward and backward, hard good tomato rolls down the inclined surface of the conveyor (conveyor surface with many thin horizontal rods), and soft defective tomatoes are not rolled up. It is done. This ensures that hard good tomatoes and soft bad tomatoes are sorted.

The pass / fail sorting apparatus 5 according to the present invention is a chain conveyor composed of left and right chains and a large number of horizontal rods. The horizontal rod is an elastic rod, so that the rolling resistance of the conveyor surface is stable. High sorting performance is demonstrated. Moreover, the buffer property with respect to the fallen hard favorable tomato is exhibited.
Note that the left and right chains of the chain conveyor of the pass / fail sorting apparatus 5 do not necessarily have to be chains, and may be timing belts or flexible transmission means equivalent thereto, but are preferably chains from the viewpoint of durability. .

Next, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.
[About overall structure]
In this embodiment, the width is 2.1 m, the total length is 5.2 m, and the height is 2.6 m. Then, there is a scraping device 1 at the tip, a cutter C is under the front part of the scraping device, a scraping assisting device 2 is above the scraping device 1, and further, it is pulled up behind the scraping device 1. There is a conveyor 3. The cutter C is a clipper type with a wide cutting width, and this point is not different from the conventional one.
The first half of the scraping assisting device 2 overlaps with the scraping device 1, and the second half overlaps with the tip of the lifting conveyor 3, so that the branch P can be smoothly transferred from the lifting device 1 to the lifting conveyor 3. The
A scraping device 1, a scraping assisting device 2, a cutter C, and a lifting conveyor 3 are supported by a movable frame (not shown), and are moved up and down as a unit. The movable frame is moved up and down by a hydraulic cylinder (not shown) that supports the movable frame from below.

  The scraping device 1, the cutter C, and the scraping assisting device 2 are supported by a subframe (not shown), and the subframe is supported by the movable frame so as to be movable in the vertical direction. The height of the subframe is freely adjusted by a hydraulic cylinder (not shown). As a result, the tip of the scraping device 1 is raised and lowered, and its vertical position is finely adjusted.

[About partial structure]
The height of the intake port between the scraping device 1 and the scraping assisting device 2 is about 160 mm.
The forward speed of the tomato harvester in the harvesting operation is 0.05 m / second, and the conveying speed of the conveyor of the scraping assisting device 2 is 0.08 m / second, which is slightly faster than the forward speed. However, since the forward speed affects the work efficiency, sorting accuracy, and sorting accuracy, it is adjusted according to the density of the tomato branches P in the field so that the maximum working efficiency can be obtained while ensuring the required sorting and accuracy sorting accuracy. Is done.
On the other hand, the conveying speed of the lifting conveyor 3 is a little faster than the scraping speed by the scraping device 1, specifically 0.1 m / sec.

  The tomato separation device 4 has a total length of 1600 mm and a lateral width w1 of 800 mm, and its tip is 450 mm below the rear end of the pulling conveyor 3. This drop may be appropriate, but there is a need for a margin that allows the subsequent branch P to be smoothly transferred from the pulling conveyor 3 to the separation shelf 41 even when the tomato branch P falls on the tomato separation device and is piled up. is there.

The acceptance / rejection sorting device 5 is inclined forward and downward, and its conveying direction is the backward direction.
Then, there is a lateral feed conveyor 6 in front of and below the front end of the pass / fail sorting apparatus 5, and hard good tomatoes sorted by the pass / fail sort apparatus 5 fall on the lateral feed conveyor 6, and the sorting conveyor 7 is moved by the lateral feed conveyor 6. (FIG. 6).
The sorting conveyor 7 is visually inspected for color, uneven color, shape, scratches, etc., and defective products are removed.

[Harvest work]
The tomato branch P spreading in the field is brought to the center of the cocoon by a divider D that advances along the groove between the cocoons, pushed up by a scraping device, and rooted by a cutter C. The roots P, which have been cut off, are picked up by the pick-up device 1 and the pick-up assisting device 2, lifted by the pulling conveyor 3, and dropped onto the tomato separation device 4. The branch P that has fallen on the tomato separation device 4 is repeatedly raised up and down by the vertical movement of the separation shelf 41, and the tomato fruit is separated from the branch P by the impact at this time.

  The tomato fruits (hereinafter simply referred to as “tomatoes”) separated by the tomato separation device 4 fall into the pass / fail sorting device 5, and hard hard tomatoes of them roll forward on the conveyor surface of the pass / fail sorting device 5 to the transverse feed conveyor 6. On the other hand, soft, defective tomatoes are conveyed rearward by a pass / fail sorting apparatus and discharged from the rear.

  The small balls of the hard good tomatoes that have fallen to the horizontal feed conveyor 6 are sieved by the horizontal feed conveyor 6, and the middle balls and large balls are transferred from the horizontal feed conveyor 6 to the sorting conveyor 7. Then, the high-quality tomatoes having undergone final inspection on the sorting conveyor 7 are pulled up to the shooter 9 by the lifting conveyor 8 and transferred from the shooter 9 to the container.

[Main part structure]
Next, the detailed structure of the main part of the embodiment will be described.
[Structure of scraping device 1]
The scraping device 1 has a width of 950 mm and a length of 700 mm, the wire diameter of the rod 11 is φ16 mm, and the pitch of the rod is 40 mm. Further, the rotation speed of the crank is 300 / min, and the strokes in the vertical and front-rear directions are 16 mm.

The scraping device 1 is composed of a combination of a scraping unit 1A and a scraping unit 1B, and is driven by cranks 12A and 12B to reciprocate up and down and back and forth alternately.
The crank motion of the scraping units 1A and 1B will be described with reference to (1) to (4) of FIG.

1): The scraping unit 1A is at the uppermost position, and the unit 1B is at the lowermost position. At this time, the front-rear direction positions of the unit 1A and the unit 1B coincide.
2): The crank 12 rotates 90 degrees clockwise, the unit 1A moves backward while descending, and the unit 1B moves forward while moving up. At this time, the unit 1A is located most rearward with respect to the unit 1B.
3): The unit 1A further rotates 90 degrees and moves forward while lowering, and the unit 1B moves backward while further rising.
4): Further, the unit 1A rotates 90 degrees and moves forward while moving up, and the unit 1B moves backward while moving down.
5): The unit 1A further rotates 90 degrees and moves backward while further rising, and the unit 1B moves forward while further lowering. As a result, the crank 12 has made one revolution, so the units 1A and 1B return to the position (1) in FIG.
Then, the two scooping units 1A and 1B move up and down and back and forth alternately while slowly moving forward, so that the branch P is pushed up and floated, rooted and scraped up backward.

[Structure of scraping assist device 2]
The scraping assisting device 2 is an inverted triangular chain conveyor 21 made up of three sprockets 25a, 25b, 25c. The chain conveyor 21 is constructed by connecting left and right chains 22, 22 with a number of elongated horizontal rods 23. Both ends of the horizontal rod 23 also serve as connection pins (connection pins for chain links). Yes. The wire diameter of the horizontal rod 23 is φ8 mm, and the rod pitch (interval between rods) is 40 mm.
Further, a claw 24 is provided across two adjacent horizontal rods 23, 23, and this claw 24 is located on both the left and right side portions of the horizontal rod 23 and the central portion of the other rods, and is even on the conveyor transport surface. Is arranged.

The scraping assisting device 2 has a width of 950 mm, and includes a front half portion that overlaps with the scraping device 1 and a rear half portion that overlaps the tip end portion of the lifting conveyor 3.
And the space | interval in the part which the scraping apparatus 1 and the scraping assistance apparatus 2 have overlapped up and down is 150 mm when either of the scraping units 1A and 1B exists in the uppermost position.
When either one of the scooping units 1A and 1B is at the uppermost position, the branch P is pushed up most strongly and pushed most strongly against the scooping assisting device 2, and in this state, it is pushed up most strongly backward.
The horizontal rod 23 of the chain conveyor 21 of the pulling assisting device 2 is a long and highly flexible rod, and elastically presses the branch P scooped up by the scooping device 1 to increase the pushing force by the scooping units 1A and 1B. Accordingly, it is elastically deformed upward.

[Structure of lifting conveyor 3]
The pulling conveyor 3 is a chain conveyor configured by connecting left and right chains with a number of horizontal rods, and the horizontal rods have a claw having a height of 50 mm for preventing slipping. The structure of the lifting conveyor 3 (the relationship between the left and right chains and the horizontal rods and the arrangement of the claws) is almost the same as that of the chain conveyor 21 of the lifting assist device 2 (see FIGS. 2 and 3 if necessary). ).
The width of the lifting conveyor 3 is slightly wider than the width of the scraping device 1, the length is 2.8 m, and the inclination angle is 55 degrees. The horizontal rod has a wire diameter of 8 mm and a pitch of 40 mm.

[Structure of tomato separation apparatus 4]
The separation shelf 41 of the tomato separation device 4 is composed of a number of vertical rods (front / rear direction rods) 41a and support members 41b, and the width w1 is 800 mm and the total length is 1,600 mm. A large number of vertical rods 41 a are integrated by fixing both ends to the front and rear support members 41 b, and the front and rear support members 41 b are supported by the front and rear cranks 42.
The total length of the separation shelf 41 is long enough for the subsequent branches P not to overlap with the branches P on the separation shelf to be sequentially sent backwards, jumped about 10 times to a height of 20 cm, and then released backwards. It is.
The rod diameter of the vertical rod 41a of the separation shelf 41 is φ17 mm, and the rod pitch P is 85 mm.
The separation shelf 41 is inclined slightly rearward (forward downward) (inclination angle θ), and the front and rear cranks 42 and 42 are moved in the same direction by the central drive sprocket 44a via the transmission chain 45 and the driven sprocket 44b. Driven.

(1) to (5) in FIG. 7 show the crank movements by the cranks 42 and 42 before and after the separation shelf 41 in an exploded manner every 90 degrees.
In (1) of FIG. 7, it exists in the center of the front-back direction in the up-down direction lower end, and in (2), it exists in the up-down direction center and the front-back direction front.
Further, (3) is the upper end position, (4) is the center position, and (5) is the same lower end position as (1).
The above crank motion is repeated at a speed of 300 times per minute.

When the separation shelf 41 reciprocates up and down and back and forth by being driven by the front and rear cranks 42, 42, the vertical movement causes the branch P on the separation shelf 41 to spring up (approximately 20 cm) and drop onto the separation shelf 41. To do. And the branch P is sent little by little by the back and forth movement of this crank motion.
The height to be flipped up and the rearward moving distance are determined by the strokes of the cranks 42 and 42 and the rotational speed thereof. Therefore, the jumping height and the rearward moving distance are adjusted by adjusting the rotational speed. Therefore, it is not possible to adjust only the rearward movement distance by adjusting the rotation speed.

In the tomato separation apparatus 4 of this embodiment, the cranks 42 and 42 rotate at a speed of 300 times per minute, and the vertical and longitudinal strokes by this crank are 80 mm.
The separation shelf 41 can adjust the inclination angle θ (FIG. 9) with respect to the horizontal, and by adjusting the inclination angle θ, the moving distance to the rear of the branch P by one jumping up and down is adjusted. Thus, the number of times of jumping up before being released backward from the separation shelf 41 is adjusted.

  The branch P is sent backward by the rank movement of the separation shelf 41, and the backward feed distance varies depending on the inclination angle of the separation shelf. Then, by adjusting the inclination angle of the separation shelf 41, the number of times of flip-up is adjusted with the jump height kept constant. In this embodiment, the inclination angle θ of the separation shelf 41 is adjusted to approximately 3 degrees, so that the branch P is flipped up 10 times and then released backward.

  The difficulty of separating tomatoes varies depending on the variety, its prosperity, and the degree of maturity, and accordingly, the number of times the branch P is flipped up on the separation shelf 41 needs to be adjusted. For this reason, it must be possible to easily adjust the inclination angle of the separation shelf 41.

  In the tomato harvesting machine of the present invention, the cranks 42 and 42 for driving the separation shelf 41 are attached to the support frame 46, and the front end portion of the support frame 46 is supported by the lateral pivot shaft 47. A hydraulic cylinder 48 is connected to the end. When the hydraulic cylinder 48 is expanded and contracted, the rear end of the separation shelf 41 is raised and lowered, and the inclination angle θ is adjusted (FIG. 9).

An inclination angle indicator 10 shown in FIG. 10 is provided on the side surface of the support frame 46 (FIG. 9). The inclination angle indicator 10 is set with an angle indicator plate 103 fixed to the side surface of the support frame 46, and a setting. The reference pointer 101 that indicates the inclination angle θ of the separation shelf 41 and the movable pointer 102 that always indicates a vertically downward position due to gravity are provided. The reference pointer 101 indicates a standard angle serving as a reference, and is adjusted to a set inclination angle (for example, when the inclination angle of the separation shelf 41 is set to 25 degrees, the reference pointer 101 is moved vertically downward. Point the display to 25 degrees). On the other hand, even if the tomato harvester tilts in the front-rear direction, the movable pointer always shows a vertically downward direction, and thus a deviation from the set angle of the separation shelf 41 is represented as a deviation between the display of the reference pointer 101 and the display of the movable pointer. It will be.
Therefore, if the initial setting of the tomato separation shelf is performed while viewing the display by the movable pointer 102, the initial setting angle at that time is indicated by the movable pointer 102.
If the inclination angle of the support frame 46 is adjusted until the movable pointer 102 overlaps the reference pointer 101, the inclination angle of the separation shelf 41 is returned to the initial state.

  When the field is tilted in the front-rear direction, the movable pointer 102 is displaced from the reference pointer 101 by the tilt angle. When this deviation exceeds the allowable range, the operation valve (not shown) is operated to extend and contract the hydraulic cylinder 48 to adjust the tilt angle of the support frame 46 so that the movable pointer 102 overlaps the reference pointer 101. As a result, the inclination angle of the separation shelf 41 (inclination angle with respect to the horizontal) is returned to the initial setting state.

  Since the inclination angle θ of the separation shelf 41 is the same as the inclination angle of the support frame 46, the inclination angle θ of the separation shelf 41 is simultaneously adjusted by adjusting the angle of the support frame 46. The tilt angle indicator 10 in this embodiment is very simple and inexpensive, and the tilt angle θ is easily adjusted.

The tilt angle display 10 of this embodiment has a structure showing the standard tilt angle set by the reference pointer 101 with the angle display plate 103 fixed, but can also be configured as follows.
That is, the semicircular angle display plate 103 is pivotally supported on the side surface of the support frame 46, and the angle display plate 103 is temporarily fixed. After setting (initial setting), the angle display plate 103 is made free, its position is returned to zero, and it is fixed again there. Accordingly, the movable pointer 102 can display the tilt angle of the airframe. In this case, since the displacement of the movable pointer 102 with respect to the scale zero of the angle display plate 103 represents the inclination angle in the front-rear direction of the tomato harvester, the inclination angle of the separation shelf 41 until the movable pointer 102 overlaps with the scale zero. Is changed to the initial setting state.

Moreover, although the above example is a simple mechanical tilt angle indicator, an electrical tilt angle sensor is provided on the side surface of the support frame 46, and the detection angle by this electrical tilt angle sensor is displayed on the monitor screen. It can also be made.
When such an electrical tilt angle sensor is used, the hydraulic cylinder 48 can be automatically controlled using the detected angle data. In this case, the initial setting of the tilt angle and the adjustment during work are performed. It is also possible to control automatically using a microcomputer.

[Structure of the pass / fail sorting apparatus 5]
The pass / fail sorting apparatus 5 is formed by a chain conveyor 51 composed of left and right chains 52 and a large number of horizontal rods 53, and is inclined forward and downward (FIG. 6) to be conveyed rearward.

Hard good tomatoes that have fallen on the chain conveyor 51 of the pass / fail sorting apparatus 5 quickly roll forward (opposite to the conveying direction) due to the inclination of the conveyor, and soft, defective tomatoes are difficult to roll and are therefore conveyed backward. .
In this way, those having a backward conveyance speed higher than the forward fall speed are discharged backward as defective tomatoes.

Further, the stems and leaves dropped together with the tomatoes from the tomato separation device 4 are discharged backward by the quality sorting device 5.
And the said inclination | tilt angle (alpha) (refer FIG. 8) of the quality sorting apparatus 5 of this Example is about 25 degree | times with respect to horizontal, and the conveyance speed to back is 0.3-0.5 m / sec.

The wire diameter d of the horizontal rod 53 of the chain conveyor 51 of the pass / fail sorting apparatus 5 is 5 mm, the rod pitch p is 20 mm, the lateral width w of the pass / fail sorting apparatus 5 is 600 mm, and the length L is 1050 mm.
The wire diameter d of the horizontal rod 53 and the rod pitch p are related to the rolling resistance of the conveyor conveying surface and the pass / fail sorting performance.
In addition, the pass / fail sorting performance depends on the change in the inclination angle α of the chain conveyor and the backward transfer speed, so that the required sort accuracy can be achieved by making the inclination angle variable and the transfer speed variable. Can be adjusted.

  The pass / fail sorting apparatus 5 is a chain conveyor 51 including left and right chains 52, 52 and a large number of horizontal rods 53. However, the left and right transmission means do not necessarily have to be a chain. Means can also be used.

[Structure of transverse feed conveyor 6]
The transverse feed conveyor 6 is a chain conveyor composed of left and right chains 62 and a large number of transverse rods 63.
The horizontal rod 63 has a wire diameter of 9 mm and a rod pitch of 42 mm, and the horizontal conveyor 6 has a horizontal width of 500 mm and a length of 900 mm. The gap between the rods is 33 mm.

[Structure of sorting conveyor 7]
Since the sorting conveyor 7 is a conveying conveyor for visual inspection, it does not have a special structure, and is a simple chain conveyor similar to the transverse feed conveyor 6. The horizontal rod has a wire diameter of 5 mm, a rod pitch of 20 mm, a conveyor width of 400 mm, and a length of 3000 mm. The gap between the rods is 15 mm.

[Structure of lifting conveyor 8]
The pulling conveyor 8 is a simple conveying conveyor having left and right chains and a large number of horizontal rods, and has no special structure.
The pulling conveyor 8 in this embodiment has an inclination angle of 45 degrees, and the sorting conveyor 7 is extended to be configured as a series.

JP-A-6-46647

1: scraping device 2: scraping assisting device 3: lifting conveyor 4: tomato separation device 5: pass / fail sorting device 6: transverse feeding conveyor 7: sorting conveyor 8: lifting conveyor 9: shooter 10: inclination angle indicator 21: chain Conveyor 22: Chain 23: Horizontal rod 24: Claw 41: Separation shelf 41a: Vertical rod 42: Crank 45: Chain 46: Support frame 48: Hydraulic cylinder 101: Reference pointer 102: Move pointer 103: Angle display plates 1A, 1B: Scraping unit θ: Inclination angle of separation shelf α: Inclination angle of pass / fail sorting device
C: Cutter P: Tomato branch

Claims (7)

Separating the fruits from the cut tomato branches for processing,
It is a tomato separation device with a separation shelf and a support frame that supports the separation shelf,
A drive mechanism is interposed between the separation shelf and the support frame, and the separation shelf is driven in the vertical direction by the drive mechanism,
The support frame is inclined forward and is supported by the support structure so that the inclination angle of the inclination can be adjusted,
The front end or the rear end of the support frame is attached to the support structure via the adjusting means,
The inclination angle is adjusted by adjusting the height of the front end or the rear end of the support frame by the adjusting means,
An inclination angle indicator is provided on a side surface of the support frame, and the inclination angle indicator displays an inclination angle θ with respect to the horizontal of the support frame,
A tomato separation apparatus for processing tomatoes, wherein a reference inclination angle is displayed by the inclination angle indicator, and an inclination angle relative to the reference inclination angle when the inclination angle is changed is displayed.   2. The tomato separation apparatus for processing tomatoes according to claim 1, wherein the driving means is a crank mechanism.   3. The tomato separation apparatus for processing tomatoes according to claim 2, wherein the adjusting means is a hydraulic cylinder, and has an expansion / contraction operation means for the hydraulic cylinder. A tilt angle indicator that displays the tilt angle in the front-rear direction of the support frame is provided on the side surface of the support frame,
The tilt angle indicator displays the tilt angle of the support frame with respect to the horizontal;
4. The tomato separation apparatus for processing tomatoes according to claim 3, wherein an initial setting angle of the inclination angle of the support frame is displayed and a deviation of the inclination angle of the support frame with respect to the initial setting inclination angle is displayed. The angle support plate is a fixed plate fixed to a side surface of the support frame;
5. The tomato separation apparatus for processing tomatoes according to claim 4, wherein the fixed plate and the movable pointer display a set inclination angle and display a deviation of the inclination angle of the support frame with respect to the set inclination angle. . The tomato branch P for processing is floated with a scraping device and rooted with a cutter, the rooted tomato branch P is scraped with a scraping device, sent to a tomato separating device with a lifting conveyor, The tomatoes are separated from the branches, sorted into hard good tomatoes and soft bad tomatoes by the quality sorting device, and the quality good tomatoes sorted by the quality sorting device are visually inspected for color, shape, scratches, etc. In a traveling tomato harvester,
The tomato separation device is due to a separation shelf that is driven back and forth in the up-down direction and the front-rear direction,
The separation shelf is an inclined shelf inclined forward, and is supported by a support frame via front and rear crank mechanisms,
The inclination angle of the separation shelf is adjustable, the rear portion of the support frame is supported by a hydraulic cylinder, and the inclination angle of the separation shelf is adjusted by expansion and contraction of the hydraulic cylinder,
It has an angle indicator that displays the inclination angle of the separation shelf with respect to the horizontal,
It has an operation valve for extending and contracting the hydraulic cylinder,
A tomato harvester characterized in that the tilt angle is adjusted by expanding and contracting the hydraulic cylinder while confirming the tilt angle of the separation shelf on the display of the angle indicator. The angle indicator is provided with an angle indicator plate and a movable pointer indicating directly below by gravity,
The angle display plate is a fixed plate fixed to a side surface of the support frame;
7. The tomato harvester according to claim 6, wherein the angle display plate and the movable pointer display a set tilt angle and display a shift of the tilt angle of the support frame with respect to the set tilt angle.

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