JP3500283B2 - Transmitted light detector for agricultural products - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transmitted light detecting device for agricultural products, which is used for measuring the internal quality of agricultural products by using the light transmitted through the agricultural products for the selection of agricultural products.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Agricultural product sorting apparatus generally examines agricultural products by class such as size and shape, or grade such as appearance quality such as color and scratches, and makes a comprehensive evaluation judgment. Although they are sorted and sorted separately, it has recently been desired to adopt internal qualities such as sugar content and maturity as sorting items for agricultural products in line with the diversifying needs of the market and consumers and improvement of measurement technology. The number of cases is increasing.

Regarding the measurement of such internal quality, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-84740, JP-B-58-253.
45, JP-A-4-83148, JP-A-3-
The detection principle of transmitted light is described in Japanese Patent No. 160344 and the like.

However, these do not specifically propose an apparatus capable of efficiently performing transmitted light detection. That is, the light obtained through the agricultural product is 1 with respect to the illumination light.
Since it is attenuated to 0 ^-4 to 10 ^-6, it is not easy to measure the internal quality with high sensitivity and accuracy, and even if a small amount of ambient light enters, the information of transmitted light is overwhelmingly large in the ambient light. This is because it is impossible to configure the transmitted light detection device by simply applying the conventional selection conveyor because there is a problem that the above is buried.

Further, according to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-288903, a vertical through hole is provided in the center of a tray having a recess for placing agricultural products, and the agricultural products are illuminated above the transportation path of the tray to convey the agricultural products. An apparatus has been proposed in which a light-receiving device installed below the sensor detects transmitted light. According to this device, transmitted light can be detected without stopping the transport line of agricultural products that moves continuously, but the light-shielding property prevents illumination light above the transport path from entering the light receiving device below the transport path. In order to secure the pan without stopping the movement of the pan, the structure of the pan tends to be constrained, and other measurement items (for example, imaging of the appearance of agricultural products) and sorting methods may be limited, or There is a problem that it needs to be transferred to a conveyor.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a light-shielding property between an agricultural product and a light-receiving means for detecting transmitted light. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transmitted light detection device that is suitable for securing and can realize transmitted light detection with high accuracy and high sensitivity.

Another object of the present invention is to secure a state of transport of agricultural products suitable for detection of transmitted light, to transport agricultural products at the time of measurement of other selection items such as appearance imaging, and to collect agricultural products by assortment classification. Regarding the transportation at the time of sorting, it is an object of the present invention to provide a transmitted light detection device capable of realizing the above-mentioned highly accurate and highly sensitive transmitted light detection while being able to adopt a transportation state suitable for each.

[0008]

The above object can be achieved by the invention described in each of the claims of the present application.

The invention of the transmitted light detecting device for agricultural products according to claim 1 of the present invention is one agricultural product for detecting transmitted light of agricultural products.
Agricultural product transporting means for transporting each at a constant interval, an illumination system optical means for irradiating the agricultural produce on the agricultural produce transporting means with illumination light, and a transport path of the agricultural produce transporting means for receiving light transmitted through the agricultural produce. A transmitted light detection device for agricultural products, comprising: transmitted light detection system optical means, wherein the transmitted light detection system optical means transmits transmitted light receiving means in which a light receiving port is fixedly arranged upward, and the transmitted light. A light-receiving auxiliary cylinder having a light-shielding property, in which light is incident from the upper-end opening and is emitted from the lower-end opening to the light-receiving opening of the transmitted-light receiving means, and a plurality of these light-receiving auxiliary cylinders are continuously separated along an endless rotation trajectory. And a light receiving auxiliary tube rotating means for endlessly rotating the light receiving auxiliary tube rotating means, the light receiving auxiliary tube rotating means is moved at the same speed with the light receiving auxiliary tube facing the agricultural product conveyed by the agricultural product conveying means. While letting its bottom By rotating guides to pass the light receiving Prompt of the transmitted light receiving unit and it said. In order to run in parallel while facing each other, it is sufficient to synchronize the phases of the moving agricultural product and the light receiving auxiliary cylinder, and to match the moving speeds.

In the above construction, the agricultural product transporting means is generally of the type that transports the saucer having a structure for placing the agricultural products one by one, and the saucer is connected to the conveyor or connected to the conveyor. Any of the free tray formats that are not available can be used. However, the present invention is not limited to these, and the agricultural product placing portions may be provided at predetermined intervals in the carrying direction on the conveyor without using a saucer.

Since the illuminating system optical means is arranged above the conveying path, it is preferable that the illuminating system optical means is provided in a dark room box in which the outside and the outside of the agricultural products are shielded by curtains or the like to prevent external light from entering as much as possible. Since the detection system optical means is arranged below the transportation path, it is preferable that the detection system optical means is a dark room box that completely blocks external light without interfering with the transportation of agricultural products.

In the above structure, the auxiliary light-receiving cylinder which constitutes the transmitted light detection system optical means together with the fixedly arranged light receiving means is
Most simply, it can be configured as a cylindrical body formed of a light-shielding material, and is preferably suitable for preventing the entry of ambient light into the light receiving opening of the transmitted light receiving means at the time of detecting transmitted light. It is preferable to provide the light-shielding seals at the upper and lower ends. As such a light-shielding seal portion, for example, at the lower end, an outward flange-like flat surface is provided at the edge of the light-receiving opening of the light-receiving means, and a ring-type elastic seal that elastically slides on this flat surface to exhibit light-shielding properties. A configuration in which the member is attached to the lower end of the cylinder can be exemplified.

According to the present invention, since the auxiliary light-receiving cylinder moves in a state in which it is aligned with the agricultural product such that the phase and the moving speed are the same, there is no relative movement in the carrying direction with the agricultural product on the carrying path. It becomes easy to secure the light shielding property. In addition, the fixed light receiving means and the rotating light receiving auxiliary cylinder have a relative moving relationship, but these are mechanical elements that are different from agricultural products whose shapes are not always constant, and therefore the members are The accuracy of the contact part can be guaranteed to be sufficiently high, including the dimensions, the positional relationship, and the mutual relationship between them, and highly sensitive and highly accurate detection of transmitted light from agricultural products can be realized.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the above-mentioned invention, the agricultural product transporting means transports the agricultural products by placing the agricultural products on the trays which are transported at a constant interval. It is characterized by having an opening. Further, the invention according to claim 4 has an annular light-shielding seal portion for annularly engaging with an agricultural product placed on the through-opening of the tray to prevent disturbance light from entering the up-down through-opening. It is characterized by

According to these inventions, the agricultural products can be stably held by the saucer, and the detection of the transmitted light of the agricultural products can be obtained with higher sensitivity and accuracy. The tray may be a bucket conveyor type connected to the transfer conveyor or a free tray type not connected to the transfer conveyor.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention using the above-mentioned tray, the auxiliary light-receiving cylinder rotating means for rotating and guiding each auxiliary light-receiving cylinder so as to pass over the light receiving opening of the transmitted light receiving means,
In the orbital range of a certain length including the transmitted light detection area that passes over the light receiving port, the auxiliary light receiving cylinder is moved upward so that the upper end portion of the auxiliary light receiving cylinder is engaged with the bottom surface of the saucer, or inside the through opening of the saucer. It is characterized in that it is provided so as to be fitted and shielded from light.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the invention, the upper end portion of the auxiliary light-receiving cylinder is elastically engaged with the peripheral edge of the through-opening of the bottom surface of the tray due to the upward movement in the transmitted light detection area.
8. An annular light-shielding seal portion for preventing the entry of disturbance light into the cylinder by fitting the upper end portion into the pan through opening and elastically engaging with the inner wall of the through opening. In the invention of claim 1, the light receiving auxiliary cylinder is provided so that it can be fitted into the through-opening of the saucer so that the upper end portion can engage with the agricultural product on the saucer. It is characterized in that it has an annular light-shielding seal portion for preventing the intrusion into the cylinder.

According to these aspects of the invention, the light-shielding property can be enhanced by moving the auxiliary light-receiving cylinder in the vertical direction by utilizing the fact that the receiving tray and the auxiliary light-receiving cylinder do not move relative to each other. . In particular, according to the invention of claim 7, since the light-receiving auxiliary cylinder and the agricultural product are directly engaged with each other to obtain the light-shielding property, there is an advantage that a structure for ensuring the light-shielding property does not have to be provided on the tray.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the above-mentioned seventh aspect, the saucer is formed so as to approach from both sides in the lateral direction of the conveying direction to form the agricultural product placement recessed portion, and to be retracted on both sides so as to be retracted. It is characterized in that it is provided in the middle cracking type that drops down.

According to the present invention, since the agricultural products on the tray can be easily transferred to the next conveyor, it is possible to secure different transportation states suitable for measuring the elements of different sorting items, and the sorting / boxing process. It becomes easy to secure a transport state suitable for.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 Hereinafter, the transmitted light detecting apparatus for agricultural products of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 as an example of the case where a free tray type tray 6 which is not connected to a conveyor or the like is used. It will be explained based on.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an overall outline of an agricultural product sorting facility including the transmitted light detecting device 5 of this example, FIG. 2 is a front view showing an outline configuration of the transmitted light detecting device 5, and FIG. 3 is FIG. A-
It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of line A.

In these figures, reference numeral 1 is a supply stage of agricultural products, which is an empty tray 6 from the return conveyor 101.
A supply conveyor 10 in which are supplied in a line and at regular intervals.
On 2, the worker carries out the work of placing the agricultural products P on the saucer 6 one by one. The supply stage is provided with a main container conveyor for sending a container accommodating a large number of agricultural products to a worker's work position, a distribution container conveyor for distributing and supplying the container to each worker, but not shown. A pitching screw conveyor or the like can be used to supply the tray 6 from the return conveyor 101 to the supply conveyor 102 at regular intervals.

Reference numeral 2 is a measuring stage, which is a supply conveyor 1.
02 and a series of measurement conveyors 201 (the supply conveyor and the measurement conveyors in this example are a single series, but the supply stage and the measurement stage have different signs). The transmitted light is passed through a transmitted light detecting device 5 provided on the way to detect and measure the transmitted light including the information about the internal quality. It is used to determine the classification of agricultural products. Further, in this example, the appearance image pickup device 7 including the appearance image pickup camera 702 is provided in the next stage of the transmitted light detection device 5, and the imaged appearance information is sent to the assortment classification determination device in the same manner as the transmitted light information. It is used to determine the classification of agricultural products. The appearance imaging device 7 of the present example is arranged on the upper side of the measurement conveyor 201, and the appearance imaging camera 702 of the agricultural product P illuminated by the illumination lamp 703 is disposed in the dark room box 701 whose entrance is shielded from the outside by a curtain. It is provided so that it may be imaged.

Further, the measuring conveyor 201 (supplying conveyor 102) of this example has a crosspiece structure so that disturbance light can be more effectively prevented from entering the light receiving system when transmitted light is detected. It has a characteristic structure. That is, the measurement conveyor 201 (supply conveyor 102) that is endlessly rotated by the pair of sprockets 202, 202 has a predetermined width spanning the chain links 2031 of the pair of left and right conveyor chains 203, as shown in FIG. Conveyor plate 204 (width in the conveying direction)
Are formed in a row in the carrying direction to form a conveyor surface on which the tray 6 is placed, and rising bars 205 are provided on the conveyor plate 204 at regular intervals in the carrying direction and are supplied from the return conveyor 101. Set the saucer 6 to this cross 2
By pressing with 05, the tray is conveyed with a constant interval in the conveying direction. Further, a circular opening 206 facing a through-opening 603 of the tray 6 described later is provided at a position of the conveyor plate 204 on which the tray 6 is placed. 207 is a chain attachment for connecting the conveyor plate 204 and the chain link 2031, and 208 is a track rail on which the conveyor chain 203 travels. Reference numeral 209 denotes a pair of left and right guide rails for positioning the tray 6 in the lateral transport direction, and extends along the transport path at a constant height position on the transport path. It should be noted that the gap between the front and rear of the consecutively installed conveyor plates 204 can be shielded by installing a flexible sheet such as a rubber sheet across the front and rear plates, and by doing so, the gap above the transport path can be increased. It is possible to effectively shield the light from the illumination chamber 5011 from leaking to the lower side of the transport path.

Further, in the present example, each tray 6 is provided with an identification mark such as a bar code, and a bar code reader (not shown) arranged near the entrance of the transmitted light detecting device 5 reads the bar code of each tray. , The bar code information is sent to the assortment classification determination device by linking with the above-mentioned measurement information (transmitted light and appearance information), and the sorting work can be performed by simply reading the bar code of the tray 6 at the subsequent sorting stage 3. I have to.

3 is a sorting stage, which is a sorting conveyor 301 which is continuously installed so as to be transferred from the measuring conveyor 201. A large number of sorting discharging devices 302 are arranged in the sorting direction along the conveying direction. At the same time, the bar code reader (not shown) provided on the starting end side of the sorting conveyor 301 reads the bar code of the tray 6,
When the sorting discharge device 302 corresponding to the sorting category of the agricultural products on it is reached, the sorting discharge device 302 is operated, and the agricultural products are distributed to the branch conveyor 303 branched in a direction perpendicular to the sorting conveyor 301. P is discharged together with the saucer 6. Such a sorting device 3
For 02, for example, the device described in JP-A-6-278848 can be used.

A packaging stage 4 is provided with a predetermined number of trays 6 arranged in two rows at a standby position connected to the end of the branch conveyor 302, and the trays 40 are stacked.
1, the agricultural products on the tray 6 in the standby state are packed in a packaging box. The saucer 6 after taking out the agricultural products is
It is sent from the standby position to the return conveyor 101 and returned to the above-described supply conveyor 102 of the supply stage 1.
A known appropriate one can be used for the boxing device 401. For example, six agricultural products P that are made to stand by in two rows on the waiting position are hoisted together by a hoisting rod (not shown),
It is possible to use, for example, a device in which the hoisting rod is moved up and down and horizontally to be moved from the packing standby position to the packing position, and is inserted into a cardboard packaging box with the top flap open.

The details of the tray 6 are shown in FIG. 3. The tray main body 601 is made of an opaque rigid material (synthetic resin material), has a flat plane circular shape with a shallow depth as a whole, and has a flat center. An inverted conical recess 602 is formed, and a vertical through opening 603 is formed at the center of the recess.
Are formed.

Further, a plurality of elastic supporting members 604 having elastic fin-shaped pieces 605 which are easily bendable are attached to the slope of the inverted conical recess 602 so as to be circumferentially spaced from each other.
When the agricultural product is placed, it is deformed as shown in FIG. 3 so that the mounted agricultural product can be supported in a stable posture. In this example, the light receiving auxiliary cylinder 506, which will be described later, is directly engaged with the agricultural product to reliably prevent the ambient light from being mixed into the transmitted light. However, it is of course possible to provide an annular light-shielding seal portion for light-shielding the produce on the saucer 6. In this case, the light-receiving auxiliary cylinder is not directly engaged with the produce, but the light-receiving auxiliary cylinder is received on the saucer. It can be engaged with the tray so as to have a light shielding property around the lower end edge of the through opening or in the through opening.

Next, the transmitted light detecting device 5, which is a characteristic configuration of this example, will be described.

The apparatus 5 of this example forms an illumination chamber 5011 by providing a dark room box 501 provided above the transportation path so as to cover the transportation path, and the illumination chamber 5011 is formed on both sides of the transportation path in the illumination chamber 5011. A plurality of illumination lamps 502 arranged in an arc shape are provided so as to irradiate the agricultural product passing through the arc-shaped substantially central position with the illumination light. Note that in order to keep the amount of illumination light constant, it is preferable to shield the entrance and exit of the illumination chamber 5011 with a curtain or the like.

Further, in the transmitted light detecting device 5 of this example, a light receiving device 503 for detecting transmitted light is arranged in the dark chamber box 504 below the conveyance path of the illumination chamber 5011, and the agricultural product is transmitted. It is said that an endless rotation mechanism 505 of the auxiliary light-receiving cylinder is provided for endlessly rotating the auxiliary light-receiving cylinder 506 for preventing the external light from entering the light-receiving device 503 so that the received light is received by the light-receiving device 503 without the external light entering. There are features. In the present example, the light receiving auxiliary cylinder 506 is provided with a main body made of an opaque rigid material (plastic material) in a shape having a cylinder portion 5061 and an outward flange 5062 at the lower end of the cylinder portion. An upper annular lip member 5064 described later is assembled and fixed to the outward flange 5063 at the upper end of the tubular portion 5061, and the inward flange provided at the opening inner edge of the outward flange 5062 at the lower end is
A lower annular lip member 5065 described later is assembled and fixed.

The light receiving device 503 is constructed by combining elements such as a condenser lens, a bandpass filter for selectively detecting light of a predetermined wavelength, a light receiving element such as a CCD, and the like. The light receiving port is arranged vertically below the position where 206 passes.

Another feature of the endless rotation mechanism 505 of the present example for rotating the light receiving auxiliary cylinder 506 in an endless manner is that a pair of sprockets 5052 and 5052 are provided so as to run in parallel at a constant speed in synchronization with the measurement conveyor 201. A plurality of light-receiving auxiliary cylinders 506 are connected to the wound link chain 5051 at regular intervals, and the upper ends of the light-receiving auxiliary cylinders 506 are arranged in parallel while the openings 206 of the conveyor plate 204 and the through-holes of the tray 6 are penetrated. The upper annular lip member 5064 is provided so that the upper annular lip member 5064 can be engaged with the bottom surface of the agricultural product P, and the lower end passes over the light receiving opening of the light receiving device 503. After passing over the light-receiving device 503, the light-receiving auxiliary cylinder 506 is moved downwardly away from the agricultural product P to be pulled out downward from the opening 206 and the through-opening 603. It is adapted to the operation of the end rotation. Reference numeral 5053 is a chain attachment for connecting the link chain 5051 and the flange 5062 of the light receiving auxiliary cylinder 506.

According to the endless rotation mechanism 505 of the light-receiving auxiliary cylinder 506 thus provided, the light-receiving auxiliary cylinder 506 provided so as to have a vertically penetrating cylinder shape is attached to the upper end of the upper annular lip. The member 5064 can be engaged with the bottom surface of the agricultural product P in an annular shape to form a close-contact sealed state in which disturbance light is prevented from entering, and the lower annular lip member 5065 attached to the lower end portion is on the case of the light receiving device 503. By sliding on the outward flange 5031 provided on the edge, it is possible to relatively easily perform relative movement in a tightly sealed state in which ambient light does not enter. As a result, when the agricultural product P reaches directly above the light receiving device 506, the light receiving auxiliary cylinder 5
Through 06, the incident light of the agricultural product transmitted light to the light receiving device 503 can be surely prevented from entering the ambient light, and the attenuation from the illuminating light is as extremely low as 10 ^-4 to 10 ^-6. The work of detecting the transmitted light with high sensitivity and accuracy is realized.

Here, the endless rotation mechanism of the auxiliary light-receiving cylinder 506 is configured so that the auxiliary light-receiving cylinder 506 is moved up along the trajectory before reaching the transmitted light detection position, and is moved down after passing through the transmitted light detection position. Explaining the guide mechanism of 505, the link chain 5051 is provided in a structure slidably fitted to a plate-shaped guide rail 5055 which is fixed to a frame 5054 and is installed along the conveying direction in a vertical posture. The rotation path of the link chain is determined according to the shape of the plate-shaped guide rail 5055, and in this example, as shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG.
The transport trajectory of is an upslope trajectory that gradually moves upward from the height position on the upstream side of the light receiving device 503 (the position shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 3), and at the position of the light receiving device 503, The light receiving auxiliary cylinder 506 is set to a horizontal orbit which horizontally moves for a fixed distance at the upper moving position indicated by the solid line 3 in FIG.
After passing 03, it is a downward slope orbit that gradually descends toward the terminal end. As a result, the above-described operation of fitting the upper end portion of the light receiving auxiliary cylinder into the opening 206 and the through opening 603 and removing the lower part of the fitted light receiving auxiliary cylinder 506 is given.

With the above configuration, in this example, the light transmitted through the agricultural product P conveyed by the measuring conveyor 201 is
The ambient light can be detected without being mixed, and therefore the internal quality information of the agricultural products contained in the weak transmitted light can be measured with high sensitivity and accuracy.

Embodiment 2 In this example shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the bucket 61 which is a saucer is used.
The transmitted light detection device 5 of the present example is applied to a bucket conveyor type agricultural product sorting apparatus in which the bucket 61 is connected to the chain conveyor 21, and the structure of the bucket 61 is such that the bucket 61 is connected to the chain conveyor 21. Others have the same structure as the free tray type tray 6 of the first embodiment described above.

That is, in the bucket type agricultural product sorting apparatus of this embodiment, the buckets 61 are connected to the chain conveyor 21 at regular intervals in the carrying direction, and the sprocket 22,
22, the bucket 61 is endlessly rotated from the agricultural product supply stage 1 to the measurement stage 2 and the sorting stage 3. Then, the measurement stage 2 is provided with the same transmitted light detection device 5 and external appearance imaging device 7 as in the first embodiment, and the transmitted light information and external appearance imaging information of agricultural products are detected and measured.

Further, in the sorting stage 3 of this example, a plurality of sorting discharge conveyors 31 for each sorting classification determined by the above information are arranged side by side below the transport path of the chain conveyor 21 so as to discharge agricultural products in the lateral direction. The sorting discharge conveyor 3 to which the agricultural products for which the predetermined sorting classification has been determined correspond
1, when the bucket 61 is tilted downward by the discharging device 311, the agricultural products on the bucket 61 are dropped and discharged.

The transmitted light detecting device 5 of this example has the same structure as that of the first embodiment, but is different in that the tray 6 is not a free tray type but a bucket 61 connected to the chain conveyor 21. Therefore, the different configuration will be briefly described. In the bucket 61 of the present example, the pivot shaft 211 installed across the pair of left and right chain conveyors 21 is fitted through the transport front end side portion, whereby the transport rear end. The side portion is tiltable around the pivot shaft 211, and a pin 616 that is normally extended laterally from the conveyance rear end side portion of the bucket 61 is provided on the pivot shaft 211. When the agricultural product is discharged, the pin receiver 212 is operated (disengaged) by a pin receiver rotating device (discharging device 11) arranged along the conveying path to maintain the horizontal posture. 616 to release the engagement, and is configured so as to tilt the bucket 61 to the pivot axis 211 about. As described above, it is possible to carry the agricultural product P by maintaining the horizontal posture of the bucket and discharge the agricultural products assorted at a predetermined position.

In FIG. 5, 218 is a guide rail of the chain conveyor 21, 611 is a bucket body, and 612.
Is a central recess of the bucket, 613 is a vertical through opening provided at the center of the recess, 614 is an elastic support member, 61
5 is an elastic fin-shaped piece.

Also with the agricultural product sorting apparatus of this example, the same transmitted light detecting apparatus 5 as in the first embodiment can be applied as it is to obtain the same effect.

Embodiment 3 The present example shown in FIGS. 6 to 11 shows an example in which an intermediate cracking type bucket conveyor is used as the agricultural product conveying means of the transmitted light detecting apparatus.

Medium-breaking bucket conveyor 8 in this example
On the start end side, the drum-shaped rollers 821 are connected to the pair of chains 822 on both sides and endlessly rotated, and the agricultural products P (apples in this example) are accommodated in one bucket 801 one by one. The transfer relay conveyor 83 (which is a part of the sorting conveyor in a broad sense) is provided on the trailing end side so as to be placed in a drop form.
It is provided so that agricultural products can be transferred to the sorting conveyor 84 via the.

Each of these conveyors will be described below. In the supply conveyor, as shown in FIGS. 6, 7 and 9, a large number of hourglass rollers 821 whose diameter gradually decreases toward the central portion in the axial direction are slightly provided. It is rotatably connected to a pair of synchronously endlessly rotating link chains 822 at both ends thereof with a gap therebetween, and is rotatable along a predetermined endless track. Reference numeral 823 is a cover of the link chain 822. Therefore, the spherical agricultural product P placed on the supply conveyor 82 is brought to the central portion between the front and rear hourglass rollers 821 by the shape in which the diameter gradually decreases toward the central portion of the hourglass roller 821. It is transported in the middle of the bucket conveyor 8 with a fixed pitch from its end.
The agricultural product P is dropped on the starting end side of the. Then, when the agricultural product P drops from the supply conveyor 82,
Bucket 801 of the medium-breaking bucket conveyor 8 described below
By synchronizing the rotation of the above, one agricultural product P is dropped and carried in one bucket 801.

In this example, the medium-breaking bucket conveyor 8 is a medium-breaking member 8011 in which a dish-shaped bucket member is equally divided into both sides (both sides in the lateral direction perpendicular to the conveying direction) with a vertical plane including the diameter line. By having a pair of 8011 and facing each other at their dividing surfaces, the dish-shaped bucket 801 having a substantially mortar-shaped recess 8012 that is wide open upward is formed. By separating these middle-split members 8011 and 8011 on the left and right sides, it is possible to drop the carried agricultural products downward. Reference numeral 802 denotes the above-mentioned medium crack member 8011.
Which is a support plate of the pair of medium crack members 8011, 8011
The pair of intermediate cracking members 8011 and 8011 are provided in each of them and are connected to the link chains 803 and 803 that rotate endlessly in synchronization, so that the pair of intermediate split members 8011 and 8011 are endlessly rotated. Reference numeral 804 denotes a sprocket for rotating the link chain 803, and as shown in FIG. 8, a sprocket-chain mechanism 806, 80.
The rotary drive force is transmitted from the common drive shaft 805 by 6 to rotate synchronously. Reference numeral 8014 is an opening vertically provided at the center of the bucket 801.

Reference numeral 807 denotes a guide rail which guides the rotation of the link chain 803, which is assembled to the frame 808 and shown in FIGS. A pair of intermediate cracking members 8011, 8011 are in a closed bucket forming state and linearly move linearly, and
The pair of intermediate cracking members 8011, 8011 are inclined from the straight track portion toward the terminal end portion and have inclined track portions 8072 which are symmetrically separated on both sides in the lateral direction. The guide rail 807 is provided with an inclined track portion (not shown) that brings the pair of intermediate cracking members 8011 and 8011 separated from each other closer to each other in the lower track portion of the rotation.

The bucket-forming medium cracking member 8011 of this example has a step-like shape along the mortar-shaped inclined surface of the recess 8012 so as not to damage agricultural products (apples) dropped when the bucket 801 is formed. In addition, a plurality of short fins 8013 made of an elastic material such as rubber are provided in the circumferential direction at a distance (for example, four locations at equal intervals in the circumferential direction).

Next, the transfer relay conveyor 83 and the sorting conveyor 84, which are provided subsequent to the intermediate cracking type bucket conveyor 8, will be described. The transfer relay conveyor 83 is provided for the convenience of transfer in this example, and the start end side of the sorting conveyor 84 can be omitted by extending it to the side of the intermediate cracking type bucket conveyor 8. It is a part of the sorting conveyor.

In this example, the transfer relay conveyor 83 is composed of an endlessly rotating belt conveyor, and the starting end thereof is located below the inclined track portion 8072 of the intermediate cracking type bucket conveyor 8. Medium cracking member 80
By separating 11 and 8011, when the agricultural product P stored in the bucket 801 falls, it can be received. This state is shown in FIGS. 7 and 11, and the pair of middle-splitting members 8011 and 8011 that contained and carried the agricultural product P in the state of the two-dot chain line in FIG. The agricultural product P is placed on the conveyor belt 831. Reference numeral 832 is a guide frame of the conveyor belt 831 and 833 is a rotating pulley.

The sorting conveyor 84 is constituted by a slat-shaped keyboard type conveyor (see Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 2-247) in this example, and the starting end thereof is from the end of the transfer relay conveyor 83 to the agricultural products. They are connected so that P can transfer. Reference numeral 841 is a keyboard type conveyor, and 842 is a sprocket. Further, reference numeral 843 is a pressing roll made of an elastic roller arranged above the starting end portion of the sorting conveyor 84, and is provided to stop the shaking of the agricultural products at the time of transfer.

At the end of the sorting conveyor 84,
For example, a discharge device (not shown) capable of discharging a corresponding agricultural product for each sorting section is provided for a plurality of sorting conveyors branched in the horizontal direction.

Next, the transmitted light detecting device 5 provided in the middle of the straight track portion of the intermediate cracking type bucket conveyor 8 will be explained. This device 5 of this example is the same as that of the first and second embodiments, Illumination chambers 501 are provided on both sides of the transportation path on both sides of the transportation path.
A plurality of illumination lamps 502 arranged in 01 are provided so as to irradiate the illumination light toward the substantially central direction. In order to keep the amount of illumination light constant, a dark room box 501 including the illumination room 501 is shielded from the outside by a curtain or the like at the entrance and exit. On the other hand, a light receiving device 503 for detecting transmitted light is arranged in the dark room box 504 below the transport path at the center position of the illumination chambers 5011 and 5011, and the light transmitted through the agricultural products is not disturbed by ambient light. In this state, a light receiving auxiliary cylinder 506 is provided with an intrusion prevention cylinder endless rotation mechanism 505 for allowing the light receiving device 503 to receive light. This endless rotation mechanism 5
05 is a link chain 5051 that is provided so as to run in parallel at a constant speed in synchronization with the intermediate cracking type bucket conveyor 8,
A plurality of light receiving auxiliary cylinders 506 are connected to each other, and while running side by side with the agricultural product P, the tip thereof is fitted into the opening 8014 of the bucket 801 to engage with the bottom surface of the agricultural product P, and the lower end passes over the light receiving optical device 503. After that, the engagement with the agricultural product P is released and the endless rotation is performed. According to the endless rotation mechanism 505 thus provided, the light receiving auxiliary cylinder 506 provided so as to form a vertically penetrating cylinder is annularly engaged with the bottom surface of the agricultural product P at the tip thereof and the disturbance light enters. It is possible to form a close contact state in which the disturbance light is blocked, and it is relatively easy to move the lower end with the light receiving optical device 503 without the disturbance light entering, so that the disturbance light entering It is possible to detect transmitted light without light, and the attenuation from illumination light is 1
The work of detecting extremely weak transmitted light with a sensitivity of ^0-4 to ^10-6 with high accuracy is realized. In particular, with the method of transporting agricultural products by the medium cracking type bucket conveyor 8 as in this example, it is difficult to secure the light-shielding sealing property between the bucket 801 and the agricultural products P, but the light receiving auxiliary cylinder 506 is directly connected to the agricultural products P. According to the method of this example that can be engaged to ensure the light-shielding sealability, transmitted light detection can be performed using this medium-breaking bucket conveyor 8.
The advantage can be used effectively.

That is, in addition to being able to detect with high sensitivity and accuracy the light transmitted through the agricultural product P conveyed by the medium-breaking bucket conveyor 8 with the above-mentioned configuration, in the case of this example, the agricultural product is the next conveyor. Therefore, there is an advantage that the appearance imaging can be suitably performed.

Explaining the appearance imaging device 7 of this example, this appearance imaging device 7 of this example is not a portion corresponding to the installation position of the first and second embodiments shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG.
It is characterized in that it is arranged above a belt conveyor type sorting conveyor 84. In addition, in the dark room box 701 in which the entrance and exit is shielded from the outside by a curtain, the agricultural product P illuminated by an illumination lamp (not shown) is imaged on the exterior imaging camera 70.
The structure that is provided so as to capture an image in 2 is similar to that in the above-described first and second embodiments.

According to the structure in which the appearance image pickup device 7 is arranged on the belt conveyor type sorting conveyor 84 as described above, the appearance image of the agricultural product P stored in the bucket 801 of the medium-breaking type bucket conveyor 8 is picked up. The surface of the agricultural product P conveyed on the flat surface of the conveyor belt 841 can be imaged over a wide area by using a reflecting mirror or the like. Adopting a desirable configuration for each of the types, in which the transmitted light of agricultural products can be detected with high sensitivity and precision by using the type bucket conveyor 8, while the appearance of a large area can be imaged on the belt conveyor type sorting conveyor 84. In addition, the sorting conveyor 84 can have a simpler structure than that of the intermediate cracking type bucket conveyor 8. Therefore, the entire equipment can be constructed at low cost. Also obtained advantage of that.

In addition, by additionally installing an intermediate cracking type bucket conveyor 8 and a transfer relay conveyor 3 to the existing equipment having a keyboard type sorting conveyor having the appearance image pickup device 7, the internal quality of agricultural products can be improved. There is also an advantage that the equipment can be changed to a measuring equipment.

Although the sorting conveyor 84 is described as a keyboard type conveyor, it may be a belt type, a bucket type, a slat type, a free tray type, etc., as described above.
Appropriate ones can be appropriately adopted according to the type of agricultural products.

[0061]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the auxiliary light receiving cylinder moves in phase and speed with the agricultural products, there is no relative movement in the transportation direction with the agricultural products on the transportation path. The light-shielding property can be ensured relatively easily. Further, the fixedly arranged transmitted light receiving means and the rotating light receiving auxiliary cylinder have a relative moving relationship, but unlike agricultural products whose shapes are not constant, these can be mechanically manufactured with high precision. Since it is an element, the mutual positional relationship and the accuracy of the contact part can be guaranteed high, and the effect that the sufficient transmitted light can be secured and the highly sensitive and accurate detection of the transmitted light of agricultural products can be realized, The effect is played.

According to the third and fourth aspects of the present invention, the agricultural product can be stably held by the saucer, and the detection of the transmitted light of the agricultural product can be obtained with higher sensitivity and accuracy.

According to the fifth, sixth and seventh aspects of the invention, by utilizing the fact that the receiving tray and the light receiving auxiliary cylinder do not move relative to each other, the light receiving auxiliary cylinder moves vertically to block light. You can improve your sex. Particularly, according to the invention of claim 7,
Since the light-receiving auxiliary cylinder and the agricultural product are directly engaged to obtain the light-shielding property, it is possible to obtain an effect that it is not necessary to provide a structure for securing the light-shielding property on the tray.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, the recesses for placing the agricultural products are formed so as to approach from both sides in the lateral direction of the conveying direction, and the agricultural products are dropped on both sides so that the agricultural products are dropped downward. By using the trays that are provided, it is possible to easily transfer the agricultural products on the trays to the conveyors in the next stage. Therefore, it is possible to secure different transport states suitable for measuring the elements of different sorting items, and the sorting / boxing process. The effect of facilitating the securing of a suitable transport state is achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an overall outline of an agricultural product sorting facility including a transmitted light detection device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a transmitted light detecting device 5 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing an overall outline of an agricultural product sorting facility including a transmitted light detecting device according to a second embodiment.

5 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a partial configuration outline of a sorting apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a plan view including a partial cross-section for explaining a mechanism for endlessly rotating the middle-breaking member of the middle-breaking bucket conveyor according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a side view of a portion where agricultural products are transferred from the supply conveyor of the third embodiment to the medium-breaking bucket conveyor.

FIG. 10 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line 6C-C of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a side view of a portion where the agricultural product is transferred from the medium-breaking bucket conveyor of the third embodiment to the relay conveyor.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Supply stage 101 ... Return conveyor 101 ... Supply conveyor 2 ... Measuring stage 201 ... Measuring conveyor 202 ... sprocket 203 ... Conveyor chain 2031 ... Chain link 204 ... Conveyor plate 205 ... 206 ... Aperture 207 ... Chain attachment 208 ... Track rail 209 ... Guide rail 3 ... Sorting stage 301 ... Sorting conveyor 302 ... Sorting device 303 ... Branch conveyor 4 ... Packaging stage 401 ... Boxing device 5: Transmitted light detection device 501 ... Dark room box 5011 ... Lighting room 502 ... Lighting lamp 503 ... Receiving optical device 5031 ... Outward flange 504 ... Dark room box 505 ... Endless rotation mechanism 5051 ・ ・ ・ Link chain 5052 ... Sprocket 5053 ... Chain attachment 5054 ... Frame 5055 ... Plate-shaped guide rail 506 ... Receiving auxiliary cylinder 5061 ... Cylinder 5062 ... Outward flange 5063 ... Outward flange 5064 ... Upper annular lip member 5065 ... Lower annular lip member 6 ... saucer 601 ... saucer body 602 ... recess 603 ... Through opening 604 ... Elastic support member 605 ... Elastic fins 606 ... 607 ... 608 ... 7. Appearance imaging device 701 ... Dark room box 702 ... CCD camera 8: Medium-breaking bucket conveyor 801 ... Bucket 8011 ... Medium cracking member 8012 ... recess 8013 ... Short fin 8014 ... Aperture 802 ... Support plate 803 ... Link chain 804 ... Sprocket 805 ... Drive shaft 806 ... Sprocket-chain mechanism 807 ... Guide rail 8071 ... Straight track part 8072 ... Inclined track part 808 ... Frame 21 ... Chain conveyor 211 ... pivot axis 212 ・ ・ ・ Pin holder 218 ... Guide rail 22 ... sprocket 31: Sorting discharge conveyor 311 ... Ejection device 61 ... bucket 611 ... Bucket body 612 ... central recess 613 ... Through opening 614 ... Elastic support member 615 ... Elastic fins 616 ... pin 82 ... Supply conveyor 821: drum-shaped roller 822 ... Link chain 823 ... Cover 83 ... Transfer relay conveyor 831 ・ ・ ・ Conveyor belt 832: Guide frame 833 ... pulley 84 ... Sorting conveyor 841 ... Keyboard type conveyor 842 ... sprocket 843 ... Presser roll

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-11-114504 (JP, A) JP-A-7-253397 (JP, A) JP-A-10-90189 (JP, A) JP-A-6- 288903 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01N 21/00-21/61 G01N 21/84-21/958 PATOLIS

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. An agricultural product is used for detecting transmitted light of the agricultural product.
Agricultural product transporting means for transporting one by one at a constant interval, an illumination system optical means for irradiating the agricultural produce on the agricultural produce transporting means with illumination light, and a transporting path below the agricultural produce transporting means for receiving light transmitted through the agricultural produce. A transmitted light detection device for an agricultural product, comprising: provided transmitted light detection system optical means, wherein the transmitted light detection system optical means transmits transmitted light receiving means with a light receiving opening fixedly arranged and an agricultural product. Light is incident from the upper end opening and the incident light is emitted from the lower end opening to the light receiving opening of the transmitted light receiving means, and a plurality of light receiving auxiliary cylinders are separated along the endless rotation trajectory. And a light-receiving auxiliary cylinder rotating means for rotating endlessly, wherein the light-receiving auxiliary cylinder rotating means opposes the light-receiving auxiliary cylinder to the agricultural product conveyed by the agricultural-product conveying means at the same speed. That while moving Transmitted light detection device for agricultural products, characterized in that the end is pivoted guides to pass through the light receiving Prompt the transmitted light receiving unit. 2. The light receiving auxiliary tube according to claim 1, wherein a lower end of the light receiving auxiliary cylinder has a light shielding seal portion which prevents disturbance light from entering the light receiving port of the transmitted light receiving means when detecting the transmitted light. A transmitted light detection device for agricultural products. 3. The agricultural product carrying means according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the agricultural product carrying means carries the agricultural product on a saucer which is carried at a constant interval, and each saucer has a vertical through opening in a substantially central portion thereof. A transmitted light detection device for agricultural products, characterized by having. 4. The annular light-shielding seal according to claim 3, wherein each of the trays annularly engages with an agricultural product placed on the through-opening and prevents disturbance light from entering the through-opening in the vertical direction. A transmitted light detection device for agricultural products, characterized by having a part. 5. The light receiving auxiliary tube rotating means for rotating and guiding each light receiving auxiliary tube so as to pass over the light receiving opening of the transmitted light receiving means according to claim 3 or 4, Provided so that the light receiving auxiliary cylinder is moved upward in a certain range of the orbital range including the region so that the upper end of the light receiving auxiliary cylinder is engaged with the bottom surface of the tray or is fitted into the through opening of the tray to shield the light. A transmitted light detection device for agricultural products, which is characterized in that 6. The light receiving auxiliary tube according to claim 5, wherein the upper end of the light receiving auxiliary cylinder is elastically engaged with the peripheral edge of the through opening of the bottom surface of the saucer by the upward movement in the transmitted light detection area, or the upper end portion is within the through hole of the saucer. A transmitted light detection device for agricultural products, characterized in that it has an annular light-shielding seal portion which is fitted into and elastically engages with the inner wall of the through-opening to prevent disturbance light from entering the cylinder. 7. The light-receiving auxiliary cylinder according to claim 5, wherein the light-receiving auxiliary cylinder is provided so as to be fitted into the through-opening of the tray so that an upper end portion thereof can be engaged with an agricultural product on the saucer. A transmitted light detection device for agricultural products, comprising an annular light-shielding seal portion for preventing disturbance light from entering the cylinder by engagement. 8. The medium-breaking type tray according to claim 7, wherein the saucer is provided with recesses for placing agricultural products which are approached from both sides in the lateral direction of the conveying direction, and is retracted on both sides to drop the agricultural products downward. A transmitted light detection device for agricultural products, which is provided.