JP2810510B2 - Electronic weighing device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic weighing device for weighing goods, and more particularly to an electronic weighing device for weighing goods being transported by a weighing conveyor.

[Prior art] Conventional electronic weighing equipment not only weighs products, but also calculates the price from the weight value and unit price of the product, and puts the calculated price on the label along with the product name and weight value of the product. There is a weighing device for printing.

And, in order to process the above-mentioned weighing work with high speed and in large quantities, a fully automatic type automatic weighing and weighing apparatus has been developed.

In this apparatus, a weighing conveyor is arranged on the upstream side of a product transport line, and a label printing / sticking unit is arranged on an upper portion of the downstream side. Then, this device weighs the goods during the transfer by the weighing conveyor, calculates the price of the goods based on the weighed value, prints the calculated price, the product name, the weight value, etc. on a label. The printed label is automatically attached to the goods being transported by blowing with air. In addition, this device has a maximum of 80
The goods in the pack can be weighed and priced.

"Problems to be Solved by the Invention" By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional electronic weighing device, particularly, in a high-speed type automatic weighing and weighing device, one of the technical problems to be solved is to perform accurate weighing. .

That is, since the goods are weighed during the transfer in order to increase the processing speed, the weighed value fluctuates and becomes unstable. Therefore, in this type of apparatus, the weighing value of the product is sampled and stored a plurality of times, and the plurality of weighing values immediately before the product is unloaded from the weighing conveyor (the vibration is most stable) are averaged. The weight of the product (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-213318).

In this type of apparatus, since the average value of the weighing values is obtained and used as the weight value of the product, an accurate weighing value can be obtained when the vibration of the weighing value is stable.

However, recently, in order to perform higher-speed processing, the transportation speed of the product has been further increased, and it is difficult to stabilize the vibration.

Further, in order to reduce the size of the apparatus, the length of the weighing conveyor tends to be shortened, and in this case, the vibration is hardly stabilized. In particular, when the product moves or tilts in the tray during weighing, stable vibration is not obtained, and an accurate weighing value cannot be obtained.

Further, even when the weighing conveyor itself violates due to an earthquake or a person hitting the apparatus, an accurate weighing value cannot be obtained.

If a measurement error occurs due to the various causes described above, the content of the product may be displayed in a larger amount than the actual one, and a serious problem such as incorrect display may occur.

However, in this type of conventional apparatus, even when a measurement error occurs, the apparatus itself cannot detect the error.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and provides an electronic weighing device that can determine whether or not an error greater than or equal to an allowable value has occurred in a weighed value obtained by averaging. It is an object.

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to the invention of claim 1, the carry-in conveyor, the weighing conveyor, and the carry-out conveyor are arranged in order, and the goods being transported are weighed by the weighing conveyor, and the goods are carried out by the carry-out conveyor. In an electronic weighing apparatus having a label attaching device for printing the measured value of the product on a label and attaching the label to the product, the product conveyed one by one from the carry-in conveyor to the weighing conveyor is carried out by the carry-out conveyor. Sampling the weighing data before transferring to, storage means for storing a plurality of the latest sampled weighing data, and detection means for detecting the start of unloading of the product from the weighing conveyor to the unloading conveyor, An average value is calculated by averaging a plurality of weighing data immediately before the detection of the product is detected by the detection unit. Average value calculating means, allowable deviation value determining means for determining an allowable deviation value based on the average value, and determining means for determining whether or not all of the plurality of weighing data are within the allowable deviation value, If the plurality of pieces of weighing data are all within the allowable deviation value, the average value is used as a weighing value. Control means for controlling the label attaching device so that the label is not printed and attached.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the determining means determines a maximum and a minimum of the plurality of weighing data.

[Operation] According to the first aspect of the present invention, the storage unit stores a plurality of latest sampled weighing data. Further, the detecting means detects the start of unloading of the goods from the weighing conveyor to the unloading conveyor, and the average value calculating means averages a plurality of weighing data immediately before the detection of the unloading of the goods by the detecting means to calculate an average value. Then, the deviation value determining means determines an allowable deviation value based on the average value. Further, the determining means determines whether or not all of the plurality of weighing data are within the allowable deviation value.

In this way, the weighing value determining means sets the average value as the weighing value when all of the plurality of weighing data are within the allowable deviation value, and otherwise incorrectly weighs the data.

If the weighing value determination means makes an erroneous weighing, the control means controls the label attaching device so that the label is not printed and attached.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the judging means judges the maximum and minimum one of the plurality of weighing data.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing an external configuration of a weighing device to which an electronic weighing device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration.

In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a transfer device, which is a carry-in conveyor 2 for carrying in goods, receives goods conveyed by the carry-in conveyor 2, receives a weighing conveyor 3 for weighing, and receives goods conveyed by the weighing conveyor 3; It is composed of a sticking conveyer 4 for carrying out a label sticking operation on goods and carrying out the goods. In addition, loading conveyor 2
Is driven by a motor 5, the weighing conveyor 4 is driven by a motor 6, and the sticking conveyor 4 is driven by a motor 7.

Further, a console unit 8 is provided above the weighing conveyor 3 and a weighing unit 9 is provided below the weighing conveyor 3, and the console unit 8 is used for inputting data, displaying the weighing result of the goods by the weighing unit 9, controlling each unit of the apparatus, and the like. I do. Also, the weighing unit 9
Is a load cell 10 that detects the weight of a product and outputs a weight signal and an A / D that converts the weight signal into digital data.
It comprises a converter 11.

Further, a label printing / attaching section 12 including a label printing section 13 and a label applying section 14 is provided above the attaching conveyor 4. The label printing / attaching unit 12 prints out the print data such as the product name and the measurement result transferred from the console unit 8 on the label by the label printing unit 13, and then blows the label downward with compressed air in the label applying unit 14. It is attached to a predetermined position of the product placed on the upper surface of the attaching conveyor 4.

In addition, in the console unit 8 shown in FIG. 2, reference numeral 15 denotes a CPU (central processing unit) which is provided in the console 8 and controls each unit of the apparatus. Reference numeral 16 denotes a ROM, in which a control program used in the CPU 15 is stored. At the same time, the characteristic (described later) of the allowable deviation d with respect to the average weight shown in FIG. 3 is stored in the form of a table or an arithmetic expression.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a RAM, as shown in FIG. 4, a flag / register area 18 in which various flags and registers are secured,
A preset data area (product file) 19 in which data such as a product name and a unit price according to the product code is stored, and a total data area (to store total data of sales quantity, sales weight, and sales amount) according to the product code ( Achievement file) 20.

Further, Hulagu Khan register area 18, the weight register 18a latest 50 weight data w ₁ to w _50, which is sampled at a predetermined time is stored, the average weight of the weight data w ₁ to w ₅₀ is stored average weight register 18b, weight data w ₁ ~w
_The maximum weight register 18c in which the maximum weight data w _{max in 50} is stored, the minimum weight data w _{min in the} weight data w _{1 to} w ₅₀
Is stored in the minimum weight register 18d, and the allowable deviation register 18e stores the allowable deviation d obtained from the average weight based on the characteristic of the allowable deviation d stored in the ROM 16 with respect to the average weight (see FIG. 3). It is composed of

Among them, the weight register 18a is always operated by a first-in first-out method as shown in FIG.
It is configured to store ₅₀ latest weight data (w _{1 to} w ₅₀ ). That is, now, new when the latest data is stored in the area 18a _n as a weight data w _n being sampled, this time sampled weight data w _n
Is stored in the area 18a _(n-1) , and the weight data w _n-1 is stored in the area
18a _(n-2) , etc.
Weight data w ₁ which has been stored in the area 18a ₁ is discarded.

In the console unit 8 shown in FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 denotes an operation unit disposed on the front of the console unit 8, and a unit price, a product name, a commercial message, and the like can be input by an operator's operation. Reference numeral 22 denotes a display unit on which a product name, a unit price, and the like are displayed, and reference numeral 23 denotes a weighing unit interface through which the CPU 15 exchanges data with the weighing unit 9.

Reference numeral 24 denotes a motor control interface. When the CPU 15 controls the motor control circuit 25 via the motor control interface 24, the motors 5 to 7, which respectively drive the carry-in conveyor 2, the weighing conveyor 3, and the attaching conveyor 4, are rotationally driven. Is done.

Reference numeral 26 denotes a sensor interface, and the CPU 15 controls the sensors 27 to 30 to be described later through the sensor interface 26.
Input signal. In FIGS. 1 and 2, the sensor 27 detects that the product has reached the end of the unloading conveyor 2 on the weighing conveyor 3 side, and the sensor 28 detects that the unloading of the product from the weighing conveyor 3 is started. Is detected.
These sensors 27 and 28 are provided to prevent two or more products from being carried into the weighing conveyor 3 during the weighing of the products.
It is provided to control the transport of the product. That is, when the start of unloading of the product from the weighing conveyor 3 is detected by the sensor 28, the carry-in conveyor 2 is driven to load one product into the weighing conveyor 3. Further, before the sensor 28 detects the start of unloading of goods from the weighing conveyor 3, the sensor
When the commodity is detected by the operation 27, the carry-in conveyor 2 is stopped.

The sensor 29 is a sensor that detects immediately before a product is carried out from the weighing conveyor 3 to the attaching conveyor 4. When a product is detected by the sensor 29, a process of determining a weight value to be printed on a label described later is started. This is because the vibration of the weighing value is most attenuated immediately before the product is carried out of the weighing conveyor 3 and is stable.

The sensor 30 is a sensor that detects a product in order to attach a label to the product. As shown in FIG. 6, after the product 31 is detected by the sensor 30, the label printing / attaching section 12 blows air toward the product 31 and affixes the label 32 after a certain period of time, whereby the product 31 is always detected. A label 32 is attached to a position determined from the end of 31.

In such a configuration, in order to attach a label corresponding to a product to a product, the operator first inputs the product number (product number) of the product from the operation unit 21 of the console unit 8 and Set data such as unit price and product name. Then, when the worker places the product on the carry-in conveyor 2, the product is transported by the carry-in conveyor 2 and delivered to the weighing conveyor 3. The weighing conveyor 3 receives the goods,
The weighing unit 9 provided at the lower part of the weighing conveyor 3 measures the weight and transfers the weight data to the CPU 15. Specifically, the CPU 15 constantly samples the weight data transferred from the weighing unit 9 at predetermined time intervals (for example, about once every 10 msec), and constantly samples the latest 50 weight data (w ₁ to w ₁ ).
w ₅₀ ) is stored in the weight register 18 a of the flag register area 18 of the RAM 17.

It will now be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 7 for CPU15 of operation of determining the weight value to be printed on a label on the basis of the weight data w ₁ to w _50. When the sensor 29 detects a product, that is, when the product on the weighing conveyor 3 is transported until just before unloading is detected, CPU 15 proceeds to step S1, the additive of the weight data w ₁ to w ₅₀ After calculating the average based on the following equation and storing it in the average weight register 18b of the flag register area 18 of the RAM 17, the process proceeds to step S2.

In step S2, the permissible deviation d is determined from the average weight based on the characteristic of the permissible deviation d with respect to the average weight stored in the ROM 16 (see FIG. 3), and the permissible deviation register in the flag register area 18 of the RAM 17 is determined. After storing it in 18e, the process proceeds to step S3.

In step S3, looking for a maximum weight data w _max and the minimum weight data w _min from the weight data w ₁ to w _50, and stored into the maximum weight registers 18c and minimum weight register 18d of the flag register area 18 of each RAM17 Then, the process proceeds to step S4.

In step S4, the differences d 'and d "between the average weight and the maximum weight data w _max and the minimum weight data w _min are calculated based on the following equations, and then the process proceeds to step S5.

d ′ = w _max −... d ″ = − w _min ... In step S5, it is determined whether or not the difference d ′ is equal to or smaller than the allowable deviation d. S
Proceed to 6.

In step S6, it is determined whether or not the difference d ″ is equal to or smaller than the allowable deviation d. If the determination result is “YES”, that is, all the weight data w _{1 to} w ₅₀ have the values (−) as shown in FIG. d)
If it is between the value and the value (+ d), the process proceeds to step S7. Note that in Figure 8, time t ₁ indicates the time the product is detected by the sensor 29.

In step S7, it is determined that an accurate weighing value has been obtained, the average weight is determined as the weight value of the product, and the process returns to the main routine.

On the other hand, when the determination result of step S5 is “NO”, that is,
If the difference d 'is larger than the allowable deviation d, the process proceeds to step S8.

Further, when the determination result of step S6 is “NO”, that is,
If the difference d ″ is larger than the allowable deviation d, the process proceeds to step S8.

In step S8, as shown in FIG. 9, since one of the differences d 'and d "is larger than the allowable deviation d, there is an error in the calculated average weight, and an accurate calculation value is obtained. determines that did not, after setting a flag indicating that metering has failed (provided in the flag register area 18 of RAM17 described above), the flow returns to the main routine. Note that in FIG. 9, the time t ₁ is 8, the time when the product is detected by the sensor 29 is shown.

Next, the CPU 15 calculates the price of the product based on the weight value and the unit price of the product obtained by the above-described processing. Then, the CPU 15 displays the weight value on the display unit 22 and transfers the print command and the print data including the weight value to the label print attaching unit 13.

Next, the commodity 31 is transferred from the weighing conveyor 3 to the attaching conveyor 4 and is conveyed by the attaching conveyor 4. And
After a lapse of a predetermined time from the detection by the sensor 30, the light reaches the position immediately below the label printing / sticking unit 12.

On the other hand, the label print attaching section 12 receives the print command and print data transferred from the CPU 15 and
Is performed on the label 32 based on the print data transferred from the CPU 15.

Then, the label attaching section 14 detects the product 31 by the sensor 30.
When a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the detection of is performed, air is blown toward the product 31 to attach the label 32.

On the other hand, if the weighing failure flag is set in the process of step S8 described above, the label printing / sticking process is not performed.

For this reason, the operator can determine that the weighing has failed if any of the products has no label attached after the label printing / attaching process is completed for all the products. When the weighing failure flag is set in the processing of step S8 described above, the operation of the apparatus may be stopped and an alarm to that effect may be issued.

As described above, according to the present invention, when a weighing error occurs, the vibration of the sampled weight data is disturbed as shown in FIG. At least one of them is based on the presumption that it should deviate significantly from the average weight (final weight value) obtained by averaging a plurality of weight data and the experimental results supporting it. .

In the above-described embodiment, the weighing device is described, but the present invention is not limited to this. In short, the present invention is applicable to any electronic weighing device that averages the sampled weighing values to obtain the final weight value.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which the sampling interval of the weighing value is a fixed time is shown, but as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. You may make it do.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the characteristic diagram with respect to the average weight of the permissible deviation d is obtained by the experiment shown in FIG. 3, but is not limited thereto. It is also conceivable to calculate a permissible deviation d by obtaining a second-order or higher polynomial.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the characteristic of the allowable deviation d with respect to the average weight in FIG. 3 is stored in the ROM 16 in the form of a table or an arithmetic expression. You may make it.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, when an error greater than or equal to an allowable value occurs in an averaged measured value (it is highly probable that an error has occurred), the fact is determined by the apparatus itself. Can be determined.

 Therefore, accurate measurement can be performed.

For this reason, the inconvenience of displaying more than the actual content of the product is solved.

In addition, in the case of miscalculation, label printing and sticking are not performed by the label sticking device, so after finishing the label printing and sticking process, the worker looks at the product and if there is no label attached, It can be easily and reliably determined that the product has failed weighing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing the external configuration of a weighing device to which an electronic weighing device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a characteristic with respect to the average weight of the RAM1.
7 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the weight data area 18a of the flag register area 18 of the RAM 17, FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the role of the sensor 30, FIG. Figure is a flow chart showing the operation of the CPU15 determining the weight value to be printed on a label on the basis of the weight data w ₁ to w _50,
8 and 9 are diagrams each showing an example of the waveform of the vibration of the sampled weight data. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Conveying device, 2 ... Carry-in conveyor, 3 ... Measuring conveyor, 4 ... Sticking conveyor, 5-7 ... Motor, 8 ...
Console part, 9 ... Measurement part, 10 ... Load cell, 11 ...
… A / D converter, 12… Label printing part, 13… Label printing part, 14… Label pasting part, 15… CPU, 16… ROM,
17 ... RAM, 18 ... Flag register area, 18a ... Weight register, 27-30 ... Sensor.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G01G 11/00 G01G 23/37 G01G 23/42

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A carry-in conveyor, a weighing conveyor, and a carry-out conveyor are arranged in order, and the goods being transported are weighed by the weighing conveyor, and a weighing value of the goods carried out by the carry-out conveyor is printed on a label. In an electronic weighing device equipped with a label sticking device that sticks the label to the product, the weighing data is sampled until the goods to be carried one by one from the carry-in conveyor to the weighing conveyor are transferred to the carry-out conveyor. A storage unit that stores a plurality of sampled latest weighing data; a detection unit that detects the start of unloading of the product from the weighing conveyor to the unloading conveyor; and the unloading of the product is detected by the detection unit. Average value calculating means for calculating an average value by averaging a plurality of immediately preceding weighing data, based on the average value An allowable deviation value determining means for determining the allowable deviation value by using the following formula: determining means for determining whether all of the plurality of weighing data are within the allowable deviation value; and If it is within the value, the average value is a weighing value, otherwise, the weighing value determining means to be incorrectly weighed, and if the weighing value determining means is incorrectly weighed, the Control means for controlling not to print and affix a label. 2. The electronic weighing device according to claim 1, wherein said determination means determines a maximum and a minimum of the plurality of weighing data.