JP2019107611A - Soybean screening machine - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a soybean screening machine which can perform screening at a low cost and with a high accuracy.SOLUTION: A soybean screening machine comprising: transportation means in which a conveyor belt 5 having light ray transmissivity is operated on an endless track; internal part detection means which detects a state of bean in a pod; appearance detection means which detects a hue of a pod external surface; quality determination means which determines a quality level of a soybean based on detection data of by both of these means; and screening means which screens an object soybean according to a quality level by a command of the quality determination means. The soybean screening machine detects a state of a bean and a state of a hue of the external surface with respect to a soybean during transportation thereof by the conveyor belt 5, and determines a quality level thereof individually, and performs automatic screening thereof. This soybean screening machine is a transmission type fiber sensor in which a fiber amplifier is connected to a light-emitting part 7 and a light-receiving part 6, which are so vertically located as to face each other with the conveyor belt 5 interposed therebetween, via a fiber cable, receives light, which is emitted from the light-emitting part 7 and penetrates the soybean, by the light-receiving part 6, and detects a quantity of the light.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a green soybean sorting machine, and more particularly to a green soybean sorting machine that determines and sorts green soybean quality while detecting the state of beans inside the straw and the state of the outer surface of the straw.

  In the shipping of green soybeans, which are glutinous beans, an internal inspection to check the number and maturity of beans in a container, and an external inspection to check whether there is discoloration or no mold in the container, etc. However, it is general to sort according to a predetermined quality rank including non-shipment non-standard products. And, in a producer who manually carries out the sorting operation, the limitation of the sorting ability is considered to be one of the causes that hinder the expansion of the shipment volume.

  On the other hand, as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-216729, the appearance of the bean is taken by a CCD camera while conveying a bean such as edamame with a conveyor, and image processing is performed to judge the bean quality. An apparatus that automatically performs sorting while spreading is also popular. However, in addition to the fact that it is not possible to sufficiently check the three-dimensional shape and the like of the beans inside the crucible simply by photographing the appearance with a CCD camera, it is only possible to check the upper surface side only by photographing the sorting object on the conveyor belt from above Therefore, there is a possibility that a low quality NG product may be shipped as it is.

  On the other hand, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2017-80661, CCD cameras are respectively disposed on the upper and lower sides of a transparent conveyor belt, and the internal inspection is performed while photographing transmitted light and reflected light from both upper and lower sides of edamame being transported An apparatus has been proposed which performs visual inspection and screening. In addition to being able to check the degree of maturity of the beans inside the straw to some extent by using this, it is possible to simultaneously check the situation such as discoloration of the outer surface of the straw from above and below simultaneously, thereby enabling sorting with higher accuracy than before.

  However, such an apparatus having a plurality of CCD cameras to perform image determination is not only bulky as a whole, but also the CCD camera itself is expensive and the control means having software for image determination is also expensive. In order to introduce this green soybean sorting machine to small scale producers, it is necessary to secure an extra indoor placement space and the cost burden is likely to be excessive.

  In addition, when photographing transmitted light of edamame with a CCD camera, it is usually judged that beans are present in the shadowed area within the area of mochi, but among those judged to be beans Because they often contain thin and immature beans, there are many cases where things that are considered to be out of the shipping standard by hand are shipped as they are.

  Furthermore, edamame is likely to change the amount of transmitted light due to the variation in color density and thickness of the bale depending on the season, but even if the conveyor belt is a transparent material, it has a certain thickness from the viewpoint of securing durability. Because it has a small size, passing through it will affect the state of transmitted light which is likely to be originally variable and which has a small amount of light. In particular, when the conveyor belt is dirty, the transmitted light is further attenuated, which tends to cause a marked decrease in sorting accuracy.

JP-A-9-216729 JP, 2017-80661, A

  The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to enable low-cost and highly accurate sorting of an soybean soybean sorting machine.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, the conveyor means having a conveyor belt having light transmittance in the vertical direction operates in an endless orbit, the internal detection means for detecting the state of beans inside the crucible, and the appearance detection for detecting the color condition of the crucible outer surface Means, Quality judgment means for judging the quality level of green beans based on the detection data from both means, and Sorting means for separating target green beans according to the quality level by the command of this quality judgment means, In the edamame sorting machine for automatically determining the quality level and detecting the status of the beans and the color of the outer surface of the green beans being conveyed by the conveyor belt, the internal detection means is the conveyor belt The fiber amplifier is connected via the fiber cable to the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit, which are arranged upside down on both sides of the fiber optic cable, and the light exiting from the light emitting unit and transmitting the branch beans is received by the light receiving unit It is a transmission fiber sensor for detecting the amount of light while the light was assumed, characterized in that.

  As described above, by employing the fiber sensor as a means for detecting the presence or absence of beans inside of edamame and the state of maturation with transmitted light, significant cost reduction and downsizing of the device can be achieved as compared with the case of using a CCD camera. In addition, thin and immature beans can be detected with certainty, so that more accurate sorting can be realized.

  Further, in this soybean bean sorting machine, the conveyor belt has a wire rod of a predetermined thickness connected in a ladder shape at a predetermined interval in the transport direction so as to pass between a pair of conveyor chains arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction with a predetermined interval. If it is characterized in that it is provided and constitutes a transport surface, the influence on sensing will be significantly less than in the case of using a transparent belt.

  In this case, the distance between the wires is adapted to the pitch of the beans in the straw in the green soybeans to be sorted. If it is characterized in that the bulging part of the green beans is between the wires and the wire Since it is easy for the wire to support the recess between the bulge and the bulge while it fits, it is easy to stably transport the edamame and to receive transmitted light without the wire covering the part of the beans, so it is more accurate. Selection will be feasible.

  Furthermore, in the above-described edamame sorting machine using a wire in the conveyor belt, both ends of the wire are detachably engaged with the connecting portion side of the conveyor chain, and a force of a predetermined level or more is present in a predetermined direction. If it is added, it is removed from the conveyor chain to avoid damage to the device at the time of the occurrence of a predetermined transport problem. Even if a problem occurs, it can be recovered in a short time by avoiding damage to the device.

  Still further, in the above-mentioned edamame sorting machine using a wire rod for the conveyor belt, the appearance detection means is a pair of color identification sensors disposed facing each other up and down across the conveyor belt, and both the upper and lower surfaces of the conveyed edamame In addition to the ability to achieve significant cost reduction and compactness of the device compared to the appearance detection means using a CCD camera at the same time as detecting the color of Because it is suitable for the characteristics of the color identification sensor in that it prevents irregular reflection of the sensor light source by the transport surface while minimizing the dead area when detecting from the back side, sorting with higher accuracy is realized. It will be possible.

  In addition, in the above-described edamame sorting machine, the feed passage which is V-shaped in cross section and has a predetermined angle upward is vibrated by the vibration generating means and the edamame is conveyed obliquely upward in the longitudinal direction. If the aligning and feeding means for feeding on the conveyor belt in one row with the direction being aligned is attached on the upstream side of the conveying means, the beans are aligned in the longitudinal direction However, the above-described functions of the internal detection means and the external appearance detection means can be reliably exhibited easily because the paper is supplied onto the conveyor belt in a single row state.

  According to the present invention using a transmission type fiber sensor as the internal detection means, it is possible to reliably detect thin and immature beans as well as to enable highly accurate sorting even at low cost.

It is a front view of the soybeans sorting machine which is an embodiment in the present invention. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the detection condition of the transmitted light in the soybean-beans sorter of FIG. 1, Comprising: (A) is a case of the rice cake which has immature grain in the case of a perfect rice cake. It is an enlarged fragmentary top view which shows the state of the conveyance surface of the conveyor chain in the soybean-sorting machine of FIG. (A) And (B) is a schematic diagram which shows the state of the dead angle which arises with the wire of FIG. 3 in the visual field range of a sensor in the soybean-sorting machine of FIG. It is a partial top view which shows the state which the wire which comprises the conveyance surface fell off from the state of FIG. It is a front view which shows an example of the alignment supply machine which is attached to the green soybean sorter of FIG. 1, and supplies green soybean to a conveyance means in an aligned state.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a front view showing an soybean sorting machine 1 according to the present embodiment. The green soybean sorting machine 1 is an apparatus for automatically sorting green soybeans according to a predetermined quality, and is a pair of gears 3a and 3a rotationally driven by a motor 30 and a pair of gears 3b and 3b. A conveyor, which is an soybean bean conveying means provided with a conveyor belt 5 composed of the conveyor chains 50, 50, is disposed on the base 2, and above the conveyor belt 5, functional parts for soybean bean separation are A plurality of boards 10 are supported.

  On the board 10, the light receiving portion 6 of the transmission type fiber sensor constituting the internal detection means, the color identification sensor 8 constituting the appearance detection means, and the actuator drive type exclusion arms 11, 11 and 11 constituting the sorting means It is disposed at the upper position of the conveyance path by the conveyor belt 5. In addition, the light emitting unit 7 of the transmission type fiber sensor that is paired with the light receiving unit 6 is disposed at the opposing position across the conveyor belt 5 of the light receiving unit 6 described above on the base 2 side. The color identification sensor 8 is also disposed at the opposite position across the point 5.

  That is, this edamame sorting machine 1 is based on internal detection means for detecting the morphological state of beans inside the straw of edamame, external appearance detection means for detecting the color condition of the outer face of the straw, and detection data by both means. The system is equipped with a quality judgment unit by an electronic control unit (not shown) that judges the quality level of green soybeans, and a classification unit that sorts the target soybeans according to the quality level according to the command of the quality judgment unit. With regard to the green soybeans of the present invention, the quality level is determined individually and the sorting is automatically performed while detecting the condition of the internal beans and the condition of the appearance.

  In the present invention, a fiber amplifier (not shown) is connected to the light emitting unit 7 and the light receiving unit 6 disposed opposite to each other on the upper and lower sides of the conveyor belt 5 as the internal detection means. It is characterized in that it uses a transmission type fiber sensor which receives light emitted from the light source 7 and transmitted through the green soybean 100 by the light receiving unit 6 and detects the amount of light.

  As described above, the use of a relatively inexpensive and compact transmission type fiber sensor as a means for detecting the presence or absence of beans inside the edamame and the mature condition, etc. uses an expensive and bulky CCD camera. In comparison, significant cost reduction and downsizing of the device can be achieved. Further, as described later, since thin and immature beans which are difficult to distinguish with a CCD camera can be identified with certainty, it is possible to realize sorting with higher accuracy than in the prior art.

  Next, the principle of internal detection by the above-mentioned transmission fiber sensor will be described with reference to the schematic view of FIG. Of the part of edamame 100a sandwiched between light emitting part 7 and light receiving part 6, the left end side of FIG. 5A is a part having normal beans in the cocoon of edamame 100a, but from light emitting part 7 The emitted light is completely blocked by the internal beans so that the light receiving unit 6 can not receive light, and is detected as a part containing normal beans.

  The portion sandwiched between the light emitting portion 7 and the light receiving portion 6 on the right side is the portion only between the beans and the beans, and the light emitted from the light emitting portion 7 is to transmit only the portion of the brow skin The light is received by the light receiving unit 6 in the attenuated state, and is detected as a portion containing no beans. Further, the right side of the light receiving portion 6 is a space portion without green soybeans, and the light emitted from the light emitting portion 7 is received by the light receiving portion 6 without attenuation at all, and is detected as a portion without the green soybean 100 a on the conveyor belt 5.

  That is, the quality judgment means in the present invention sets the threshold value by the difference in the amount of light received for the portion of only the bale skin, the portion of normal beans, the portion of the conveyor belt 5 without edamame, These can be accurately determined. In addition, as shown in FIG. 1, a photoelectric sensor 9a is disposed immediately before the light receiving unit 6 and the light emitting unit 7, and detects the leading end and the trailing end of the transported green soybean 100. It is made to count how many normal beans are contained in the persimmon of one edamame 100, making a quality determination means recognize the range of the longitudinal direction of edamame 100. As shown in FIG.

  As described above, in the method of photographing transmitted light with a CCD camera, it was not possible to distinguish between thin immature beans and normal beans, but as shown in FIG. In the used edamame sorter 1, even the edamame 100b containing immature beans can detect light that attenuates by transmitting through thin beans rather than transmitting only the skin part of the bale. (The thickness of the arrow indicates the amount of light). It can be determined that the bean is not normal.

  Then, in the ground soybean sorting machine 1 according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a pair of color discrimination sensors 8 and 8 disposed opposite to each other vertically sandwiching the conveyor belt 5 is used as the appearance detecting means. It is also characterized in that colors of the upper and lower surfaces of the green soybean 100 being conveyed are simultaneously detected. An RGB sensor is preferable as the color identification sensor 8, but by using this, it is possible to achieve significant cost reduction and compactness of the device as compared with the case of using a CCD camera. A surface photoelectric sensor 9b is disposed at a position immediately upstream of the color identification sensor 8 to detect the timing of sensing.

  FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a conveyor belt 5 of the bean sorter 1 partially enlarged in order to explain the second characteristic portion in the present embodiment. In the conveyor belt 5, wires 51, 51, 51, ... having a predetermined thickness are conveyed at predetermined intervals in the conveying direction so as to pass between a pair of conveyor chains 50, 50 arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction with a predetermined interval. It is characterized in that it is continuously connected in a ladder shape to constitute a transport surface.

  The wire rod 51 has spherical locking portions 51b, 51b made of resin on both end sides of the wire rod main body 51a, and fitting of flange-shaped connecting portions 50a, 50a provided on the inner side surface of the conveyor chains 50, 50. It is connected in the state fitted in the mating hole. As the wire main body 51a, as a result of creating and testing a plurality of types of wire diameters, as a harmonization point of the viewpoint of minimizing the influence on the passing light and the viewpoint of securing the strength as a conveyor belt It is known that a steel wire with a wire diameter of about 1.0 mm is optimum.

  In the present embodiment, the adoption of the above-described configuration for the conveyor belt 5 significantly reduces the influence on sensing as compared with the case of using a transparent belt, and in particular, the color identification sensor 8 described above In the double-sided simultaneous inspection using No. 8, it is considered that preventing the irregular reflection of the sensor light source by the transport surface is suitable from the characteristics of the sensor because the transport surface of the conveyor belt is a wire.

  In addition, in common with the case of appearance detection from the back side by the color identification sensor 8 from the back side and the internal detection of the transmission fiber sensor, the wire 51 in the visual field range X of the hatched sensor as shown in FIG. Since the range of blind spots can be minimized, the influence on light passing through the transport surface is reduced, so weak transmitted light is used as in the case of determining immature beans and normal beans as described above. Even if there is, it becomes easy to detect accurately.

  If, as shown in FIG. 4B, the spacing between the wires 51, 51 described above is adapted to the pitch in the longitudinal direction of the beans in the straw in the green soybean 100a to be sorted, the wire 51, The wire 51 is likely to support the recess between the bulge and the bulge while the bulged portion of the green soybean 100a fits between the 51, so the wire 51 does not hang on the bean while stably transporting the edamame 100a It becomes easy to receive light in the state.

  Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the locking portions 51b, 51b on both ends of the wire 51 are attached to and removed from the fitting holes 510, 510 of the connecting portions 50a, 50a of the conveyor chains 50, 50. It is locked freely, and is pulled out from the conveyor chain 50 side when a force of a predetermined level or more is applied in a predetermined direction. Therefore, even in the case where an object is conveyed in a state where an object is sandwiched between the wire rods 51 and 51 and caught around the wire rod 51, the wire rod 51 can be removed as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 6 shows an alignment feeder 4 which is an soybean feeding means for feeding green soybeans in a state where green soybeans are aligned. The alignment feeder 4 is provided on the upstream side of the transport means of the soybean sorting machine 1 to constitute an alignment sorting machine equipped bean sorting machine as a whole. The alignment feeder 4 includes a feeding portion 41 having a V-shaped cross section V-shaped feeding passage 41a facing upward by a predetermined angle, and the vibration generated by the vibration feeder 4a serving as a vibration generating means is a support table 40. The supply passage 41a vibrates through the

  The supply unit 41 has a function of conveying the ground soybean 100 placed on the supply passage 41a obliquely upward by vibration, and is placed on the receiving unit 40a having a W-shaped cross section disposed below the hopper or the like on the upstream side thereof. The two rows of edamame are transported and moved to one row of supply passage 41a while including the edamame overlapped vertically, whereby the overlapped edamame 100c and 100d are aligned in the longitudinal direction by the vibration of the obliquely upward It supplies to the conveyor belt 5 side, making it the state of 1 row.

  That is, in the edamame 100c and 100d overlapping vertically in the supply passage 41a, the upper edamame 100c is flipped up while being bounced up by the vibration in the obliquely upward direction, and the edamame at the lower side is shifted between them. By advancing 100d, it exerts a function to eliminate the state of overlapping vertically. Therefore, since the plurality of green beans 100 are reliably supplied on the conveyance surface of the conveyor belt 5 in one row while aligning the directions in the longitudinal direction, the functions of the internal detection means and the external appearance detection means described above are ensured. It is easy to demonstrate.

  If the inclination angle of the supply passage 41a in the supply section 41 is too large, the edamame 100 does not reach the tip or leads to a decrease in processing capacity, and if it is too small, it acts to shift the edamame 100 placed thereon backward. It is necessary to set the angle carefully, because it will be weak and will be sent out with overlapping.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it has become possible to perform low-cost and high-precision sorting with respect to an soybean sorting machine.

  1 green soybean sorting machine, 2 bases, 3a, 3b gears, 4 alignment feeders, 5 conveyor belts, 6 light receiving parts, 7 light emitting parts, 8 color discrimination sensors, 9a photoelectric sensors, 9b surface photoelectric sensors, 11 exclusion arms, 30 Motor, 40 support base, 40a receiving portion, 41 supply portion, 41a supply passage, 50 conveyor chain, 50a connection portion, 51 wire rod, 51a wire rod main body, 51b locking portion, 100, 100a, 100b, 100c, 100d edamame

Claims (6)

  Conveying means in which a conveyor belt having light transmittance in the vertical direction operates in an endless orbit, internal detection means for detecting the state of beans inside the crucible, appearance detection means for detecting the state of color of the outer surface of the crucible, and both The system comprises: quality determination means for determining the quality level of green beans based on data detected by the means; and sorting means for sorting the target green beans according to the quality level according to the command of the quality determination means In the green soybean sorting machine which judges the quality level individually and detects automatically while detecting the state of the beans and the state of the color of the outer surface of the green beans in the inner bean, the internal detection means sandwiches the conveyor belt. A fiber amplifier is connected to the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit disposed opposite to each other via a fiber cable, and the light receiving unit receives the light that has exited from the light emitting unit and transmitted the branch beans. It is a transmission fiber sensor for detecting the amount of light Te, green soybean sorter, characterized in that.   In the conveyor belt, wire members of a predetermined thickness are continuously arranged in a ladder shape at a predetermined interval in the conveyance direction so as to pass between a pair of conveyor chains arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction with a predetermined interval to constitute a conveyance surface An edamame sorter according to claim 1, characterized in that.   The green soybean sorting machine according to claim 2, wherein the interval between the wires is adapted to the pitch of the beans in the straw in the green soybean to be sorted.   Both end sides of the wire rod are detachably engaged with the connecting portion side of the conveyor chain, and are pulled out of the conveyor chain when a force of a predetermined level or more is applied in a predetermined direction. 4. The green soybean sorting machine according to claim 2, wherein damage to the apparatus at the time of occurrence of a predetermined transportation trouble is avoided.   The external appearance detection means is a pair of color identification sensors disposed facing each other up and down across the conveyor belt, and simultaneously detects the colors on both the upper and lower sides of the conveyed green soybean. Edamame sorter described in, 3 or 4.   The feed channel, which has a V-shaped cross section and a predetermined angle upward, vibrates by the vibration generating means and transports the green beans diagonally upward into a row of aligned green beans in the longitudinal direction while aligning them vertically An apparatus for sorting green soybeans according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, characterized in that an alignment supply means for supplying on a conveyor belt is attached to the upstream side of the transport means.

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