JP2682934B2 - Crop sorting equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a crop sorting apparatus which automatically weighs long and narrow crops such as carrots and radish and sorts them by weight rank.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As the above-mentioned crop sorting device, a crop aligning conveying device that arranges the crops from the crop supplying conveying device in a posture in which the longitudinal direction thereof is lateral to the conveying direction and sends them one by one, and a crop aligning device. A crop sorting device is provided that sends the crops supplied one by one from the crop transport device to each collection section according to the weight rank, to form the crop aligning transport device. A large number of conveyors having long crop mounting surfaces are provided so that they can be driven up and down so that the heights of adjacent ones are alternately reversed. The surface is formed longer toward the starting end side of the conveyance, the first end of the crop placement surface is juxtaposed substantially in the conveyance direction, and the crops on the crop placement surface are brought closer to the first end side with the conveyance. Place crops along the width-shifting belt Place a second end surface, which is provided with collecting means for collecting the crop falling from the end of the crop mounting surface has been developed. Conventionally, in this type of crop sorting device, a carrier can be reliably fed from the crop parallel transport device to the weighing and sorting device irrespective of the change in the length of the crop that varies depending on the variety or pattern, Among them, a plurality of types having different lengths were prepared for final alignment on the transport end side, and a final alignment transport body having a length corresponding to the length of the crop was selected and attached.

[0003]

However, since it is necessary to prepare a plurality of types of final aligning carriers having different lengths, the cost becomes high, and the storage of the final aligning carrier becomes troublesome. There was room for improvement. An object of the present invention is to prepare a single type of final aligning carrier so that the crop aligning device can reliably supply the crops to the weighing / sorting device irrespective of changes in the length of the crop, and the cost can be reduced. The point is to provide an excellent crop selection device in terms of surface and equipment management.

[0004]

A characteristic feature of the present invention is that the crop aligning and conveying device sequentially arranges the crops from the crop supplying and conveying device in a posture in which the longitudinal direction is lateral to the conveying direction and sends them one by one. In addition, a weighing and sorting device is provided for sending the crops, which are supplied one by one from the crop aligning transport device, to each of the different collecting units according to the weight ranks, and the crop aligning transport device is formed. A large number of carriers having a horizontally long crop mounting surface are provided so that they can be driven up and down so that the heights of adjacent ones are alternately reversed. At
The crop mounting surface is formed to be longer toward the transport start end side, and the first end of the crop mounting surface is arranged substantially linearly in the transport direction,
Also, the second end of the crop mounting surface is arranged along the width-shifting belt that moves the crop on the crop mounting surface toward the first end side as it is transported, and falls from the end of the crop mounting surface. In a crop sorting apparatus provided with a collecting means for collecting crops, a member for forming a crop mounting surface in at least a part of the final aligning ones of the conveyors can be mounted in a lateral position with respect to the conveying direction, and the position can be freely changed. It has been installed in.

[0005]

In other words, the final aligning carrier and its superior carrier are formed in such a length that only one longest crop can be placed on the carrier.
Even if a plurality of crops that are in a horizontal orientation when targeting a short crop are placed side by side in the longitudinal direction on the upper carrier of the final aligning carrier, the crops are arranged in at least a part of the final aligning carrier. Change the mounting position of the member that forms the placement surface in the lateral direction with respect to the transport direction, leave only one of the multiple crops that move in parallel on the changed crop placement surface, and remove other crops. The crops can be dropped from the end of the crop mounting surface to the collecting means, and the crops can be reliably and individually supplied to the weighing / sorting device from the crop parallel conveying device regardless of the change in the length of the crops. Therefore, it becomes unnecessary to prepare a plurality of types of final aligning carriers having different lengths as in the above-described conventional technique and to store a final aligning carrier that is not used, resulting in cost and equipment management. Will be advantageous.

[0006]

As a result, the crop sorting apparatus not only can reliably supply the crops individually from the crop parallel conveying device to the weighing and sorting apparatus regardless of the change in the crop length, but also has excellent cost and equipment management. Is now available.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, a crop feeding transport device 2 comprising a belt conveyor 2a and a belt conveyor 2b with a lifting projection for carrying out crops from a hopper 1 for storing elongated crops such as carrots and radish. Is provided, and the crop aligning transporting device 3 that arranges the crops from the crop feeding transporting device 2 in a posture in which the longitudinal direction is lateral to the transporting direction and sequentially sends the crops one by one, and one from the crop aligning transporting device 3 is provided. A weighing / sorting device 5 is provided for sending the crops to be supplied to each of the separate collecting units 4 according to their weight ranks, and is composed of a chute 6a and a belt conveyor 6b for returning the crops falling from the crop alignment transport device 3 to the hopper 1. A chute 7 for collecting crops that are not sorted by the weighing and sorting device 5 by providing a collecting unit 6.
The container 8 is provided to configure a crop selection device that automatically selects crops by weight.

In order to form the transport device 3 for aligning crops, as shown in FIG.
And, as shown in FIG. 3, a large number of conveyors 9 and 10 having the crop placing surfaces 9a and 10a which are lower toward the conveying direction and longer in the transverse direction with respect to the conveying direction are alternately reversed in height. In the condition 9 which can be driven up and down freely, and which is other than the final alignment device 10 on the transfer end side of the transfer bodies 9 and 10, the crop mounting surface 9a is formed longer toward the transfer start end side, and the crop mounting surface 9a is formed. The first end portions 9b of the crop mounting surface 9a are arranged substantially in the conveying direction, and the crop mounting surface 9a is moved along the width-shifting belt 11 that moves the crops on the crop mounting surface 9a to the first end portion 9b side with the transfer. The second end 9c is arranged, the second end 9c is arranged higher than the first end 9b, and the crop mounting surface 9a is also slanted in the longitudinal direction. That is, when the heights of the adjacent carriers 9 and 10 are alternately reversed, the long and narrow crops fed in the non-uniform posture are moved along the longitudinal direction on the crop placing surface 9a that is long in the lateral direction with respect to the conveyance direction. The crop placement surfaces 9a, 10a that are adjusted to the posture and the posture-adjusted crop is lower toward the transport direction
Is sequentially sent to the next crop mounting surfaces 9a and 10a, and the crop is moved to the first end side 9b by the cooperation of the pressing effect of the width-shifting belt 11 and the inclination of the crop mounting surface 9a in the longitudinal direction. It is constructed so that the excess crops are brought to the collecting means 6 from the first end 9b. A guide plate 12 is attached to one of the transport bodies 9 and 10 on the transport start end side so that the guide plate 12 can swing up and down and the angle can be adjusted to the right and left.
1 is configured to be driven at substantially the same speed as the crop transport speed by the transport bodies 9 and 10 so that the crop can be smoothly transported without dropping unnecessarily. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, in all or part of the final aligning carrier 10, a member 10b forming the crop mounting surface 10a is elastically held by a spring plate 10c, so that the member 10b can be moved in the carrying direction. It is mounted on the base 10d so that the mounting position can be changed laterally. That is, the final aligning carrier 10 and its superior carrier 9 are formed to have a length such that only one longest crop can be placed thereon, and as shown in FIG. Even if a plurality of crops 13a, 13b that have become defective are placed side by side in the longitudinal direction of the carrier 9 on the upper side of the final aligning carrier 10, at least a part of the final aligning carrier 10 is used for forming the crop placement surface. The mounting position of the member 10b is changed in the lateral direction with respect to the conveying direction, and only one of the plurality of parallelly moving crops 13a, 13b is left on the crop mounting surface 10a whose position has been changed, and the other crop 13b. Is dropped onto the collecting means 6 from the end of the crop placement surface 10a, and the crops can be supplied one by one from the crop parallel conveying device 3 to the weighing and sorting device 5 regardless of the change in the length of the crops. As shown in FIG. 7, every other one of the transfer bodies 9 and 10 is connected by connecting members 14 and 15 so as to be integrally movable up and down, and a pair of T
The character-shaped rocking members 16a and 16b are swingably provided around the support shaft 17, and the connecting members 14 and 15 are rocking members 16a and 16b.
Is mounted in a state in which the adjacent carriers 9 and 10 are raised and lowered with the rocking of the rocking members 16a and 16b, and the crank mechanism 19 interlocked with the motor 18 is interlocked with the rocking members 16a and 16b. With the reciprocating rocking of the rocking members 16a and 16b, the heights of the adjacent carriers 9 and 10 are alternately reversed. A belt-type continuously variable transmission 20 is provided between the motor 18 and the crank mechanism 19, and when a crop having a long diameter, that is, a slender crop is targeted, the ascending / descending speed of the carriers 9 and 10 is increased to increase the diameter. In the case of short crops, that is, jungle crops, the raising and lowering speeds of the carriers 9 and 10 are slowed down so that the crops can be efficiently conveyed regardless of their shapes and can be reliably arranged and conveyed. There is.

In order to form the weighing and sorting apparatus 5, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a tray 22 is installed over left and right chains 21 which can be driven and rotated so as to be vertically swingable around a support shaft 23, and a guide rail is provided. The support member 25, which is received by 24 and maintains the saucer 22 in the crop mounting posture, is provided on the saucer 22, and the movable portion 24a of the guide rail 24 is swingably moved around the support shaft 26 and arranged at a plurality of positions in the transport direction. Balance weights 27 that are separately provided to keep the guide rail movable portion 24a in the guide working position.
The guide rail movable portion 24a is set such that the biasing force becomes smaller toward the conveying direction, and the guide rail movable portion 24a is caused by the weight of the crop.
A chute 28 is provided for sending the crops that fall due to the downward swing of the tray 22 due to the descending of No. 1 to the collecting unit 4 and the crops are sorted and collected for each weight rank.

[Other Embodiments] The concrete configuration of the crop supply transporting device 2 can be appropriately changed, and may be, for example, one having a crop cleaning device. In the crop aligning and conveying device 3, the number of the carriers 9 and 10 installed, the shapes and dimensions of the crop mounting surfaces 9a and 10a, the degree of inclination, the driving and elevating configuration of the carriers 9 and 10, and the crop mounting surface forming member 10b. The number of final aligning carriers 10 whose attachment position can be changed, the structure for attaching the crop mounting surface forming member 10b, and the like can be appropriately selected. For example,
The crop mounting surface forming member 10b of the final aligning carrier 10 may be mounted by screwing or the like so as to change the mounting position in a stepwise or stepless manner, or to the belt type continuously variable transmission 20. Alternatively, the motor 18 may be of a variable speed type, or the speed changing means may be omitted. The specific configurations of the weighing and sorting device 5 for sorting the crops by weight rank, the collecting section 4, and the collecting means 6 for collecting the crops falling from the crop mounting surfaces 9a, 10a can be arbitrarily selected.

In the claims, reference numerals are provided for convenience of comparison with the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the configuration shown in the attached drawings.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing the overall configuration of a crop sorting device.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the crop aligning and conveying device.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a crop alignment transport device.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional side view showing a main part of the crop aligning conveyance device.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional side view showing a main part of another embodiment of the crop aligning and conveying device.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a main part of the crop aligning and conveying device.

FIG. 7 is a schematic side view showing a drive unit of the crop aligning conveyance device.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a weighing and sorting device.

FIG. 9 is a vertical sectional front view of the weighing and sorting apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Conveying device for supplying crops 3 Conveying device for aligning crops 4 Collection unit 5 Weighing / sorting device 6 Collection means 9 Conveyor 9a Crop mounting surface 9b First end 9c Second end 10 Conveyor 10a Crop mounting surface 10b Crop Mounting surface forming member

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A transport device (3) for aligning crops, which sequentially feeds the crops from the transport device (2) for supplying crops in a posture in which the longitudinal direction is lateral to the transport direction, one by one.
Further, there is provided a weighing and sorting device (5) for sending the crops supplied one by one from the crop aligning transport device (3) to each separate collecting section (4) by weight rank, and the crop aligning transport device (3). In order to form a plurality of conveyance bodies (9) and (10) having lower crop-carrying surfaces (9a) and (10a) which are lower in the conveyance direction and longer in the transverse direction with respect to the conveyance direction, the heights of adjacent ones are increased. Are provided so that they can be alternately rotated in the reverse direction, and the crop mounting surface (9a) is transferred except for the final alignment (10) of the transfer ends of the transfer bodies (9) and (10). The first end portion (9b) of the crop mounting surface (9a) is arranged in parallel in the transport direction while being formed longer toward the start end side.
Further, the width-shifting belt (1) that shifts the crop on the crop mounting surface (9a) to the first end (9b) side as the crop is transported.
1) along the second end (9) of the crop mounting surface (9a)
c) is arranged and provided with a collecting means (6) for collecting crops falling from the ends of the crop mounting surfaces (9a), (10a), which is the carrier (9), (10)
A member (10) forming the crop mounting surface (10a) in at least a part of the final alignment member (10)
A crop sorting device in which b) is installed so that the mounting position can be changed laterally with respect to the transport direction.