JP2020199444A - Waste sorting device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a waste sorting device which can effectively improve a collection ratio.SOLUTION: A waste sorting device 1 includes a conveyor 3 which conveys a waste 2, a charging part which charges the waste 2 to the conveyor 3, a 3D sensor 4 which measures a shape and a height of the waste 2 on the conveyor 3, a visible light camera 5 which photographs the waste 2 on the conveyor 3, a discrimination device 7 which discriminates a material of the waste 2 based on information from the visible light camera 5, and a robot arm 8 which picks up the waste 2 whose material has been discriminated from the conveyor 3 and charges the picked-up waste to a recovery box 10. A dispersion device 9 is arranged between the charging part of the conveyor 3 and the 3D sensor 4, the waste 2 on the conveyor 3 is dispersed by the dispersion device 9, and overlapping and contact of the waste 2 are prevented.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a waste sorting device that sorts waste according to a material.

For example, waste containing various materials such as concrete, metal, wood, and plastic, such as construction waste, was once used for final disposal such as landfill and ocean dumping. In order to reuse such wastes in which different materials are mixed, attempts to sort wastes by material and recycle them are spreading recently.

Conventionally, as an apparatus for sorting waste by material, a waste sorting apparatus for photographing an object to be processed and discriminating the material by image recognition has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). This waste sorting device is a material based on a conveyor that conveys waste, a vibrating sieve device that puts the waste to be sorted into the conveyor, a camera that photographs the waste on the conveyor, and images taken by the camera. It is provided with a discriminating unit for discriminating the material and a robot hand for picking up the waste whose material is discriminated by the discriminating unit from the conveyor.

The conventional waste sorting device performs image processing on a captured image of waste captured by a camera according to an algorithm by machine learning, and identifies the material of the waste in the image. Wastes whose materials have been identified are picked up by a robot arm and put into a collection box corresponding to the material for sorting. The operation of the robot arm is controlled by the control device based on the waste position and size information calculated based on the captured image.

Patent No. 5969685

However, the above-mentioned conventional waste sorting device has a problem that the collection of waste by the robot arm tends to fail. Specifically, if the waste on the conveyor is in contact with or overlaps with each other, the robot arm control device may determine that it cannot be picked up. Further, when the waste is located near the side edge of the conveyor, the control device of the robot arm may determine that the waste cannot be picked up. As described above, the waste that cannot be picked up by the control device is not collected by the robot arm, which leads to a decrease in the collection rate. That is, there is a problem that the recovery rate of waste decreases depending on the arrangement state of waste on the conveyor. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a waste sorting device capable of reducing the failure of waste collection and improving the waste collection rate.

In order to solve the above problems, the waste sorting apparatus of the present invention includes a conveyor for transporting waste and
On the transport surface of the conveyor, a loading section for loading waste mixed with different materials and a loading section
A discriminator that discriminates the material of the waste transported by the conveyor,
In a waste sorting apparatus provided with a collection unit that collects waste whose material has been determined by the discrimination unit from the conveyor according to the material.
The conveyor is characterized in that it is provided with a dispersion device that disperses the waste on the transport surface to eliminate contact between the wastes.

According to the above configuration, waste containing a mixture of different materials is charged onto the transport surface of the conveyor by the charging unit. The material of the charged waste is discriminated by the discriminating unit in the process of being conveyed by the conveyor. The discriminating unit can discriminate the material by image processing based on, for example, an infrared image or a visible light image of waste, but the material may be discriminated by another method. The waste whose material is determined by the discrimination unit is collected from the conveyor by the collection unit according to the material. The collection unit collects waste by various mechanisms, such as those that pick up waste, those that suck waste, those that adsorb waste, and those that change the direction of progress of waste by a conveyor. Applies to. Here, the disperser disperses the waste on the transport surface of the conveyor and eliminates contact between the wastes, so that the probability of failure of the collection unit to collect the waste can be effectively reduced. Can be done. As a result, the recovery rate of waste can be effectively improved.

In the waste sorting device of one embodiment, the disperser is defined as a rotating shaft extending parallel to the transport surface of the conveyor and perpendicular to the traveling direction of the conveyor, and a transport surface of the conveyor attached to the rotary shaft. It has flexible blades that rotate with a clearance of.

According to the above embodiment, the rotating shaft of the disperser is rotated, and the blades attached to the rotating shaft are rotated. Since the blades are flexible and rotate with a predetermined clearance from the conveyor transport surface, waste having a height larger than this clearance can be dispersed without causing biting. Further, among the wastes on the transport surface of the conveyor, in particular, the wastes that overlap and come into contact with other wastes can be effectively dispersed.

In the waste sorting device of one embodiment, the blades of the disperser rotate so as to move in a direction opposite to the moving direction of the conveyor on the side approaching the transport surface of the conveyor.

According to the above embodiment, since the blades of the disperser rotate so as to move in the direction opposite to the moving direction of the conveyor on the side approaching the transport surface of the conveyor, the waste on the transport surface of the conveyor is the blades. When moving under rotational force, this waste moves upstream in the transport direction of the conveyor. Therefore, even if the moved waste comes into contact with other waste, the contact with the waste can be eliminated again by the disperser.

The waste sorting device of one embodiment is provided on the upstream side of the disperser with a moving tool for moving wastes located on both sides in the width direction of the transport surface of the conveyor toward the center in the width direction.

According to the above embodiment, the moving tool provided on the upstream side of the disperser moves the wastes located on both sides of the conveyor surface in the width direction toward the center in the width direction. As a result, it is possible to effectively prevent the inconvenience of failure to collect waste due to the parts of the conveyor arranged close to both sides in the width direction of the conveyor surface. Here, the failure to collect the waste caused by the parts of the conveyor often occurs when the collection unit includes the robot hand and the hand comes into contact with the parts of the conveyor.

In the waste sorting device of one embodiment, the discriminating unit discriminates the material of the waste by image recognition of the photographed image of the waste.

According to the above embodiment, the waste on the transport surface of the conveyor is photographed in a state where the contact with each other is eliminated by the dispersion device, and the material is discriminated by the image recognition of the discriminating unit based on the photographed image. Therefore, since the photographed image in which the waste is dispersed with each other is used, the correct answer rate and the recognition efficiency of the recognition of the material of the waste by the discriminating unit can be effectively improved.

The waste sorting device of one embodiment includes a robot hand in which the collecting unit picks up the waste from the transport surface of the conveyor.

According to the above embodiment, the robot hand of the collection unit can appropriately pick up the waste on the transport surface of the conveyor according to the material, so that the waste collection rate can be effectively improved.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the waste sorting apparatus of embodiment of this invention. It is a vertical cross-sectional view which shows the disperser of a waste sorting apparatus. It is a cross-sectional view which shows the disperser of a waste sorting apparatus. It is a top view which shows typically the part from the disperser to the collection part of a waste sorting apparatus. It is sectional drawing which shows typically the state of the waste on the transport surface of a conveyor.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a waste sorting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This waste sorting device sorts waste such as municipal waste, which is a mixture of various materials such as concrete, glass bottles, metal scraps, plastics, wood chips, and used paper, according to the material. The waste sorting device of the present embodiment can be installed in, for example, a garbage disposal plant, etc., and can be used to sort waste collected from homes, commercial facilities, etc., collect each material, and reuse it. ..

The waste sorting device 1 of the present embodiment photographs the conveyor 3 that conveys the waste 2, the 3D sensor 4 that measures the shape and height of the waste 2 on the conveyor 3, and the waste 2 on the conveyor 3. The visible light camera 5 is provided. The 3D sensor 4 and the visible light camera 5 are connected to a discriminating device 6 as a discriminating unit that discriminates the material of the waste 2 based on the information output from them. The discriminating device 6 is connected to the control device 7, and the control device 7 controls the robot arm 8 as a collecting unit and the conveyor 3 according to the discriminating result by the discriminating device 6. The robot arm 8 controlled by the control device 7 picks up the waste 2 on the conveyor 3 and puts it in the collection box 10 which collects the waste 2 separately for each material. A dispersion device 9 for dispersing the waste 2 on the transport surface of the conveyor 3 is arranged on the upstream side of the 3D sensor 4 of the conveyor 3.

The conveyor 3 is configured such that the conveyor belts 31 wound around the pulleys at both ends are driven by the pulleys connected to the motor to convey the waste 2 on the conveyor belts 31. In the conveyor 3, the drive device 30 formed including the motor, the transmission, and the like is controlled by the control device 7, and the operation of transporting the waste 2 is controlled.

The 3D sensor 4 measures the shape and height of the waste 2 on the conveyor 3, and the measurement information is used for identifying the waste 2 on the conveyor 3 and controlling the robot arm 8. The 3D sensor 4 can be configured using a laser scanner. The 3D sensor 4 is arranged inside a measurement room installed so as to surround the upper part of the conveyor 3 so as to prevent the influence of external light. Here, the 3D sensor 4 may use an optical method other than the laser scanner, or an acoustic method using ultrasonic waves or the like.

The visible light camera 5 photographs the waste 2 on the conveyor 3 and outputs a visible light image, and the discriminating device 6 discriminates the material of the waste 2 based on the visible light image. The visible light camera 5 is arranged inside a photographing room installed so as to surround the upper part of the conveyor 3 so as to prevent the influence of external light. The visible light camera 5 captures a still image each time the conveyor belt 31 of the conveyor 3 travels a predetermined distance, and captures the waste 2 on the conveyor belt without omission. In addition to the visible light camera 5, an infrared camera may be arranged, and the discriminating device 6 may discriminate the material of the waste 2 based on the infrared image of the waste 2 output from the infrared camera. Further, both the visible light camera 5 and the infrared camera may be arranged, and the discriminating device 6 may discriminate the material of the waste 2 based on both the visible light image and the infrared image.

The discrimination device 6 inputs the measurement information of the 3D sensor 4 and the visible light image taken by the visible light camera 5, and based on these information, identifies the position of the waste 2 on the conveyor 3 and wastes. Specify the dimension of 2. Further, the discriminating device 6 refers to each waste 2 on the conveyor 3 based on the dimensions of the waste 2, the distance from the other waste 2, the distance from the side wall of the conveyor 3, and the like. Determines whether or not can be gripped by the gripping portion of the robot arm 8. Information about the waste 2 determined to be grippable by the robot arm 8 is output to the control device 7. The information output to the control device 7 includes information on the position, size, and center of gravity of the waste 2, information on the posture of the gripping portion when gripping the waste 2, and the like.

Further, the discrimination device 6 receives information indicating the amount of movement of the conveyor 3 from the control device 7 that controls the conveyor 3, and controls the 3D sensor 4 and the visible light camera 5 to measure and photograph the timing. By controlling the operation timing of the 3D sensor 4 and the visible light camera 5 according to the amount of movement of the conveyor 3, the position information of the waste 2 can be obtained from the information acquired by the 3D sensor 4, the visible light camera 5 and the metal sensor 6. Accurately calculated, and based on this information, the robot arm 8 can accurately identify and collect the waste 2.

Further, the discriminating device 6 discriminates the material of the waste 2 by the image recognition technique based on the visible light image taken by the visible light camera 5. For example, the discrimination device 6 uses a neural network that grows an algorithm by supervised learning as a discrimination model to perform image recognition of waste 2. In this case, the image of the waste 2 is input to the neural network, the calculation is performed, and the material of the waste 2 is output. As the discrimination model, a support vector machine (SVM) or the like based on another algorithm for supervised learning can also be used. Further, the neural network of the discrimination device 6 may have a large number of structures and perform deep learning.

The neural network of the discrimination device 6 performs machine learning in the learning mode prior to the waste sorting device 1 performing the sorting work of the waste 2. In the learning mode, the image of the waste is input as the teacher data, and the material information of the image of the waste is input as the correct answer. For a plurality of materials to be sorted by the waste sorting device 1, a plurality of combinations of images showing various forms of waste and correct information indicating the material of the waste are prepared, and a plurality of these combinations are prepared. Machine learning is performed using a combination of images and information.

In the learning mode, the waste 2 is conveyed by the conveyor 3 of the waste sorting device 1, the visible light image taken by the visible light camera 5 is processed by the discriminating device 6, and the portion of the waste 2 is extracted and the discriminating device is used. Information on the material of the waste 2 is input as a correct answer through the input unit provided in 6 or the control device 7. The image of the waste 2 and the correct answer information regarding the material can be input to the discrimination device 6 for supervised learning. In the learning mode, in addition to performing machine learning based on the captured image of the waste 2 on the conveyor 3, an image of the waste and information indicating the material of the waste in this image are prepared in advance, and these Machine learning may be performed by inputting an image and information into the discrimination device 6.

The control device 7 controls the robot arm 8 based on the information from the discrimination device 6. Specifically, the control device 7 refers to the waste 2 specified as the target of sorting by the discrimination device 6 based on the information regarding the center of gravity of the waste 2 received from the discrimination device 6 and the posture of the grip portion of the robot arm 8. The robot arm 8 is controlled to pick up the waste 2 from the conveyor 3 and put it into the collection box 10 according to the material. Further, the control device 7 controls the operation of the conveyor 3 and outputs information indicating the amount of movement of the conveyor belt detected by the conveyor 3 to the discrimination device 6.

Each of the discriminating device 6 and the control device 7 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a storage device in which a computer program is stored, and the computer program of the storage device is read out and executed by the CPU. The function of the device is realized. The storage device of the discrimination device 6 and the control device 7 can be formed of a magnetic disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like. The control device 7 has an operation unit for operating the waste sorting device 1, and this operation unit is formed by an input device such as a button, a touch sensor, a touch pad, a dial, or a touch panel having a display function. be able to.

The robot arm 8 can be composed of, for example, a vertical articulated robot, and has a grip portion at its tip that grips the waste 2 on the conveyor 3. The grip portion is formed by a robot hand having a plurality of fingers, and is formed so as to grip or release the waste 2 by bringing the fingers at opposite positions into contact with each other. The gripping portion is not limited to the robot hand, and may be one that grips the waste 2 by suction or suction, for example. The robot arm 8 grips and picks up the waste 2 on the conveyor 3 with the gripping portion at the tip, and puts the robot arm 8 into the collection box 10 set for each material according to the material of the picked up waste 2. In addition to the vertical articulated robot, the robot arm 8 may use other types of robots such as a parallel link robot.

As shown by an arrow E, a vibration feeder (not shown) is provided on the upstream side of the conveyor 3 on the upstream side of the 3D sensor 4 as a charging unit for charging the waste 2 onto the conveyor 3. The charging section may be configured by using another device such as a conveyor.

A disperser 9 is provided between the loading section of the conveyor 3 and the 3D sensor 4 to disperse the waste 2 loaded at the loading section and on the transport surface of the conveyor 3. FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the disperser 9, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the disperser 9.

The disperser 9 disperses the waste 2 charged by the vibration feeder as the charging unit on the transport surface of the conveyor 3, and is parallel to the transport surface of the conveyor 3 and in the traveling direction of the conveyor 3. It has a rotating shaft 12 extending at a right angle, and a plurality of blades 13 attached to the rotating shaft 12. The blade 13 has an elongated rectangular shape in the direction perpendicular to the rotation shaft 12, and is fixed around the rotation shaft 12 at 90 degree intervals. Further, at the same angle position, a plurality of blades 13 are fixed in the extending direction of the rotating shaft 12. As shown in FIG. 3, the plurality of blades 13 are arranged so that the tip portions pass through the insides of the edge members 34, 34 arranged on both sides in the width direction of the conveyor 3. These blades 13 are arranged so that their tips rotate with a clearance of several centimeters with respect to the transport surface of the conveyor 3. These blades 13 are preferably made of a flexible material and can be made of, for example, rubber.

As shown in FIG. 2 or 3, the conveyor 3 includes a conveyor belt 31 that conveys waste 2, a transfer side roller 32 that supports the transfer side of the conveyor belt 31, and a return side that supports the return side of the conveyor belt 31. It has a roller 33 and a support column 36 that supports the transport side roller 32 and the return side roller 33. The surface of the conveyor belt 31 on the transport side is the transport surface. Edge members 34, 34 covering the edges of the conveyor belt 31 are arranged on both sides of the transport surface of the conveyor belt 31. Bearings that rotatably support the rotating shaft 12 of the disperser 9 are provided on the columns 36 of the conveyor 3, and the motor 15 of the disperser 9 is installed.

On the upstream side of the disperser 9 of the conveyor 3, as shown in FIG. 4, wastes 2 located on both sides of the conveyor 3 in the width direction are moved toward the center in the width direction. Guides 17 and 17 as moving tools are arranged. The guide 17 is formed of a plate-like body and is erected at a substantially right angle to the transport surface of the conveyor 3. The two guides 17 and 17 are arranged on the edge members 34 and 34, respectively, and are arranged in a V shape so that the distance between the two guides 17 and 17 decreases as the conveyor 3 is conveyed in the transport direction indicated by the arrow C in a plan view. There is. The guides 17 and 17 as moving tools may be provided on the downstream side of the disperser 9 of the conveyor 3.

The upstream side and the downstream side of the conveyor 3 are connected by a return conveyor (not shown), and among the waste 2 on the conveyor 3, the waste 2 remaining without being picked up by the robot arm 8 is indicated by an arrow F1. Is discharged from the end of the conveyor 3, returned by the return conveyor, and recharged to the start end of the conveyor 3 as shown by the arrow F2.

The waste sorting device 1 having the above configuration operates as follows. First, the waste 2 is charged into the starting end of the conveyor 3 by a vibration feeder as indicated by an arrow E. Of the charged waste 2, the waste 2 on both sides of the conveyor 3 in the width direction and close to the edge members 34 and 34 is generated by the guides 17 and 17 in the width direction of the conveyor 3 transport surface. Move to the center side.

After that, when the waste 2 is conveyed by the conveyor 3 and reaches the position of the dispersion device 9, it is dispersed by the rotating blades 12 of the dispersion device 9. Here, as shown in FIG. 5, the blade 12 of the disperser 9 moves the conveyor belt 31 on the transport surface side in the direction indicated by the arrow C, and as shown by the arrow R, the conveyor belt 31 is the transport surface. At a position close to the surface of the conveyor belt 31, the conveyor belt 31 rotates so as to move in the direction opposite to the moving direction. As a result, the wastes 2A and 2B arranged so as to overlap on the transport surface of the conveyor 3 are moved by the blades 12 of the disperser 9 and dispersed on the upstream side of the transport surface of the conveyor 3. Therefore, the overlap of the wastes 2A and 2B can be effectively eliminated. Further, the waste 2 arranged in horizontal contact with other waste on the transport surface of the conveyor 3 is moved by the blades 12 of the disperser 9 and dispersed on the upstream side of the transport surface of the conveyor 3. .. Therefore, the contact of the waste 2 can be effectively eliminated. Here, since the blade 12 of the disperser 9 disperses the waste 2 on the upstream side of the conveyor 3, the waste 2 dispersed by the blade 12 comes into contact with the other waste 2 or the other waste 2. Even if it overlaps on the top, the contact and overlap can be eliminated again by the disperser 9.

The shape of the waste 2 on the conveyor 3 whose contact and overlap have been eliminated by the disperser 9 is measured by the 3D sensor 4 on the downstream side, and the three-dimensional information is acquired by the discrimination device 6. After that, it is conveyed to the downstream side of the 3D sensor 4 by the conveyor 3, photographed by the visible light camera 5, and the visible light image is acquired by the discrimination device 6. The information acquired by the 3D sensor 4 and the visible light camera 5 is processed by the discriminating device 6, the visible light image is input to the neural network, image recognition is performed, and the material of the waste 2 is specified. Information on the material of the specified waste 2, information on the center of gravity of the waste 2, and information on the posture of the gripping portion of the robot arm are output to the control device 7, and the control device 7 is based on these information. Controls the arm 8. Under the control of the control device 7, the robot arm 8 picks up the waste 2 on the conveyor 3 and puts it in the collection box 10 corresponding to the material for collection. Here, since the waste 2 on the conveyor 3 is dispersed by the disperser 9 so as not to overlap each other and not to come into contact with each other, there is a failure when the robot arm 8 picks up the waste 2. , Effectively prevented. Therefore, the waste sorting device 1 can recover the waste 2 on the conveyor 3 with a high recovery rate.

Of the waste 2 on the conveyor 3, the waste 2 not picked up by the robot arm 9 is discharged from the end of the conveyor 3 as shown by the arrow F1, returned by a return conveyor (not shown), and is returned by the arrow F2. As shown, it is charged again to the starting end of the conveyor 3. Whether or not the waste 2 to be sorted remains on the conveyor 3 is determined by the discriminating device 6 based on the three-dimensional information of the 3D sensor 4 and / or the visible light image of the visible light camera 5, and the conveyor 3 When the waste 2 to be sorted remains on the top, the control device 7 continues the operation of the conveyor 3 and the disperser 9. On the other hand, when there is no waste 2 to be sorted on the conveyor 3, the control device 7 stops the operation of the conveyor 3 and the disperser 9, and the sorting work of the waste sorting device 1 is completed.

Further, since the waste sorting device 1 of the present embodiment disperses the waste 2 on the conveyor 3 by the dispersing device 9, the waste 2 on the conveyor 3 can be photographed in a state where there is little overlap or contact. When the device 6 performs machine learning, an appropriate image of the waste 2 can be input as teacher data. Therefore, the accuracy of discriminating the waste 2 by the discriminating device 6 can be effectively improved.

In the above embodiment, the disperser 9 has an elongated rectangular blade 13, but the shape of the blade is not limited to a rectangular shape, and for example, a spiral or brush-shaped blade can be used. Further, although the dispersion device 9 is formed by using the rotating blades 13, it is not limited to the one using the blades as long as it has a function of dispersing the waste 2 on the conveyor 3. For example, the dispersion device can be realized by various means such as one that disperses the waste 2 by vibration and one that disperses the waste 2 by compressed air.

Further, in the above embodiment, the conveyor 3 that conveys the waste 2 by the conveyor belt 31 is used, but the waste sorting apparatus of the present invention is not limited to this, and various conveyors such as a roller conveyor and a slat conveyor are used. Can be used.

Further, in the above embodiment, the waste sorting device 1 includes a discriminating device 6 that discriminates the material of the waste 2 based on the three-dimensional information of the 3D sensor 4 and / or the visible light image of the visible light camera 5. It suffices to have a discriminating unit for discriminating the material of the waste 2, and the configuration of the discriminating unit is not particularly limited.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and many modifications are possible by those who have ordinary knowledge in the art within the technical idea of the present invention.

1 Waste sorting device 2 Waste 3 Conveyor 4 3D sensor 5 Visible light camera 6 Discriminating device 7 Control device 8 Robot arm 9 Distributor 10 Collection box 12 Distributor rotation axis 13 Disperser blade 15 Disperser motor 17 Guide

Claims (6)

Conveyor for transporting waste and
On the transport surface of the conveyor, a loading section for loading waste mixed with different materials and a loading section
A discriminator that discriminates the material of the waste transported by the conveyor,
In a waste sorting apparatus provided with a collection unit that collects waste whose material has been determined by the discrimination unit from the conveyor according to the material.
A waste sorting device characterized in that the conveyor is provided with a dispersion device for dispersing the waste on the transport surface and eliminating contact between the wastes. In the waste sorting apparatus according to claim 1,
Flexibility in which the disperser has a rotating shaft extending parallel to the transport surface of the conveyor and perpendicular to the traveling direction of the conveyor, and is attached to the rotating shaft to rotate with a predetermined clearance from the transport surface of the conveyor. A waste sorting device characterized by having blades of the same. In the waste sorting apparatus according to claim 2.
A waste sorting device characterized in that the blades of the disperser rotate so as to move in a direction opposite to the moving direction of the conveyor on the side approaching the transport surface of the conveyor. In the waste sorting apparatus according to claim 1,
A waste sorting device characterized in that a moving tool for moving wastes located on both sides in the width direction of the transport surface of the conveyor toward the center in the width direction is provided on the upstream side of the disperser. In the waste sorting apparatus according to claim 1,
A waste sorting device characterized in that the discriminating unit discriminates the material of the waste by image recognition of a photographed image of the waste. In the waste sorting apparatus according to claim 1,
A waste sorting device characterized in that the collecting unit includes a robot hand that picks up the waste from the transport surface of a conveyor.

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