JP4880283B2 - Weight sorter - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a weight sorting apparatus. More specifically, the present invention relates to a weight sorting apparatus using RFID.

  In general, a weight sorting apparatus that measures a weight of a package such as food and sorts a package that does not meet the weight standard generally measures a package to obtain a weight value of the package, and the weighing A sorting unit that sorts the packaged product, a transport unit that transports the package from the weighing unit to the sorting unit, and a control device that controls the weighing unit, the sorting unit, and the transport unit. Configured.

  Generally, a weighing device such as a weighing conveyor in which a load cell is mounted on a support of the conveyor is used for the weighing unit. For the sorting unit, a device that discharges the package moving on the conveyor to a position different from the carry-out position of the conveyor, for example, a sorting conveyor in which a movable arm, a damper, an air jet, and a pusher are mounted on the conveyor is used. Yes. A conveyor device on which a package is placed and transported is used in the transport unit. And these are arrange | positioned so that a conveyance part may convey the said package from a measurement part to a distribution part. The control device is configured to acquire the measurement value of the package acquired in the measurement unit, control the sorting unit based on the measurement value of the measurement unit, and exclude the non-weight standard package. .

  Here, since the package moves in the transport unit between the weighing unit and the sorting unit, the control device needs to accurately recognize the measured value of the package that has reached the sorting unit and control the sorting unit. . That is, in order to prevent misidentification of the measurement value of the package that has reached the distribution unit, it is necessary to configure the package so that the package is conveyed to the distribution unit in the order of measurement by the measurement unit. Therefore, in the conventional weight sorting apparatus, it is preferable to configure the weighing unit and the sorting unit close to each other and to shorten the transport unit, or omit the transport unit as in Patent Document 1, and there is a restriction on the structure of the transport unit. It was.

  In addition, when the package is removed or added for some reason in the transport unit, or the tact time required for the distribution process of the package in the distribution unit is temporarily less than the tact time required for the measurement process in the measurement unit. When the order of the goods has changed, there is a problem that the memory of the control device and the package that has arrived at the sorting unit do not match and a sorting problem occurs. To solve this problem, the weighing unit is configured to affix a barcode in which the weight value is written to the package after weighing, and the barcode reading device reads the weight value in the sorting unit and distributes the weight. It can be considered that it can be solved by a sorting device. However, in the use of such a barcode, there have been practical problems such as the trouble of sticking the barcode and removing the barcode after sorting, and the reading error of the barcode.

On the other hand, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) has an RFID tag read / write device having an antenna and a controller, and a chip or card-like RFID tag configured to be able to store information in an electronic circuit, for example. It is a technology that can be configured to perform data communication by wireless communication, can read information in an RFID tag, and can write information in an RFID tag, and has recently been put into practical use. As for the use of RFID in this production line, RFID is used by using household electric appliances (Patent Document 2) in which information at the time of process inspection is written in set RFID tags, and weighing data obtained by a weighing device. An egg information management system (Patent Document 3) in which data is written to a tag and a product production and operation management method (Patent Document 4) in which information is written to an RFID tag in relation to product processing have been proposed. Yes.
JP 2002-307020 A. JP-A-2005-173985. JP2003-325074A. JP 2002-536726 gazette.

  However, no positive proposal has yet been found for a method of effectively using RFID for solving the peculiar problems in the weight sorting apparatus for packages including the above-mentioned patent documents.

  In particular, in the package production line, a plurality of types of packages by weight or content are produced, and it is necessary to install or configure a weight sorter for each type of package. However, some of the old manufacturing companies have small offices, and there are restrictions on the arrangement of production lines, and it may be difficult to install a weight sorting device for each type of package. In addition, it is difficult to secure a space for placing the weighing unit and the sorting unit of the weight sorting device close to each other, and it may be necessary to separate them.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and can arbitrarily set the length and arrangement of the conveyance unit, and can perform automatic weight selection for a plurality of types of packages. It is an object of the present invention to provide a weight sorting apparatus that can be performed automatically.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the weight sorting apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention receives and weighs a package with an RFID tag in which product information of the package is written , and obtains the weighing information of the package. And a weighing conveyor for delivering a weighed package ,
It feed transportable said package sent from the measuring conveyor, a conveyor for delivering from its delivery end,
A sorting unit that sorts the package delivered from the delivery end of the conveyor ;
A weight selection device having a control device for controlling the sorting unit,
An RFID tag writing device that is disposed near the delivery end of the weighing conveyor and writes the weighing information to an RFID tag of a package corresponding to the weighing information;
An RFID tag reader that is disposed near the delivery end of the conveyor and reads the product information and the weighing information written on the RFID tag,
The control device controls the distribution unit to perform the distribution according to the product information and the measurement information. With this configuration, the weight sorting device recognizes the product information and the weighing information of each package regardless of the type of package and the separation distance between the weighing conveyor and the sorting unit, and the sorting unit is configured to recognize the sorting unit. Since it can control, the length and arrangement | positioning of a conveyance conveyor can be set arbitrarily, and weight selection can be performed substantially automatically with respect to several types of package.

  In the weight sorting apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention, the control device has a sorting standard corresponding to the type of the package, determines the type of the package based on the product information, and corresponds to the type of the package. The sorting unit may be controlled so as to perform the sorting by comparing the sorting criteria to be performed and the measurement information. If comprised in this way, the effect of this invention can be implement | achieved more reliably.

  As described above, according to the weight sorting apparatus of the present invention, the length and arrangement of the transport unit can be arbitrarily set, and weight sorting is performed almost automatically on a plurality of types of packages. Can do.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a weight sorting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, a weight sorting apparatus 100 includes a conveyor (conveyor) 1, a weighing conveyor (metering unit) 2, a sorting conveyor group (sorting unit) 3, a control device 5, an RFID tag writing device 6, and an RFID tag reading device 7. It is comprised.

  Here, the conveyor 1 is arranged so as to receive two types of packages P1 and P2 from the weighing conveyor 2 and to transport the packages P1 and P2 to the sorting conveyor 3.

  The weighing conveyor 2 measures the weight of the packages P1 and P2 while conveying the packages P1 and P2. The weighing conveyor 2 is configured to instruct the transfer conveyor with a support member via a load cell.

  The distribution conveyor group 3 includes a plurality of distribution conveyors. Here, the first sorting conveyor 3A, the second sorting conveyor 3B, and the third sorting conveyor 3C are connected in series. Thus, the packages P1 and P2 can be distributed to the seven distribution destinations B1 to B7. On the sorting conveyors 3A, 3B, and 3C, a movable arm 3D is mounted so as to advance and exit on the conveyor, and the package on the conveyor is retracted to the side of the conveyor. In addition, you may use the sorting conveyor with which various apparatuses, such as a damper, an air jet, and a pusher, were mounted | worn.

  The RFID tag writing device 6 is configured to acquire the weighing information of the weighing conveyor 2 and write the weighing information to the RFID tags T of the packages P1 and P2 sent from the weighing conveyor 2 after weighing. The RFID tag writing device 6 is configured so that information can be written to the RFID tag T without contact with the packages P1 and P2 using RFID. Therefore, the RFID tag writing device 6 may be disposed near the sending end of the weighing conveyor 2 in consideration of the communication distance of the RFID tag writing device 6.

  The RFID tag reading device 7 is configured to read the product information and the weighing information of the RFID tags T of the packages P1 and P2 on the transport conveyor 2 and transmit the read information to the control device 5. The RFID tag reading device 7 is configured to be able to read information in the RFID tag T using the RFID without contacting the packages P1 and P2. Here, the product information is information indicating whether the packages P1 and P2 are different.

  Further, since the sorting conveyor group 3 is controlled by the control device 5 in accordance with the product information and the weighing information read by the RFID tag reading device 7, the RFID tag reading device 7 is connected to the communication distance of the RFID tag reading device 7 and the sorting conveyor. In consideration of the timing of the packages P1 and P2 that reach the group 3, it may be arranged in the vicinity of the delivery end of the conveyor 1.

  Here, the configuration and operation of the RFID including the RFID tag T, the RFID tag writing device 6 and the RFID tag reading device will be briefly described.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the RFID tag.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the RFID tag T is a storage medium having an IC circuit unit 30 and an antenna unit 31 for storing information. The RFID tag is generally formed in a chip shape or a sheet shape from synthetic resin, glass or the like.

  Here, the IC circuit unit 30 includes a CPU 34, a rectifying unit 35, a modem unit 36, a memory unit 37, and a smoothing unit 38.

  The antenna unit 31 includes an antenna coil 32 and a resonance capacitor 33. The resonance capacitor 33 is connected in parallel with the antenna coil 32 and constitutes a resonance circuit. As a result, when a radio wave signal having a predetermined frequency at which the resonance circuit resonates is transmitted around the RFID tag T, the antenna coil 32 receives the signal and the received radio signal is transmitted to the IC circuit unit 30. .

  In the IC circuit unit 30, the radio wave signal is input to the rectifying unit 35. The rectifying unit 35 rectifies and smoothes the radio signal together with the smoothing unit 38 to generate DC power (power supply power) having a constant voltage. The generated power supply power is supplied to a given part such as the CPU 34 in the RFID tag T.

  Here, a signal is superimposed on a radio wave signal transmitted from the RFID tag writing device 6. The radio signal is demodulated by the modem 36 and separated, and the signal is input to the CPU 34. The CPU 34 executes processing according to the signal input from the modem unit 36 in accordance with the operation program stored in the memory unit 37. That is, the CPU 34 writes the received value in the memory unit 37 as necessary.

  Alternatively, the CPU 34 reads data from the memory unit 37 and sends it to the modem unit 36 as necessary. The modem unit 36 modulates the radio signal using the received data. The data is superimposed on the radio signal as a signal by the modulation, and is transmitted from the antenna coil 32 to the RFID tag reader 7 as a radio signal.

Next, the configuration of the RFID tag writing device 6 and the RFID tag reading device 7 will be described. The RFID tag writing device 6 and the RFID tag reading device 7 are generally put into practical use as an RFID tag reading / writing device in which the functions of both are integrated. Therefore, in this embodiment, RFID tag read / write devices are used for the RFID tag writing device 6 and the RFID tag reading device 7. Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, the RFID tag writing device 6 and the RFID tag reading device 7 will be described with reference to the RFID tag read / write devices 6 and 7. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the RFID tag read / write device.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the RFID tag read / write devices 6 and 7 include a CPU 40, a memory unit 41, a transmission unit 42, a transmission antenna 43, a reception unit 44, and a reception antenna 45. Further, the CPU 40 can exchange signals with the control board 14 in both directions.

  First, data writing to the RFID tag T, which is a function of the RFID tag writing device 6, will be described. The CPU 40 receives data from the outside. The data is stored in the memory unit 41. Next, the CPU 40 transmits a radio wave signal from the transmission unit 42 and transmits it from the transmission antenna 43. As a result, power for electric power is generated in the RFID tag T. Next, the data is read out from the memory unit 41, and is also superimposed on the radio signal by the transmission unit 42 through modulation, and transmitted from the transmission antenna 43.

  Next, data reading from the RFID tag T, which is a function of the RFID tag reading device 7, will be described. The CPU 40 transmits a radio signal from the transmission unit 42 and transmits it from the transmission antenna 43. As a result, power for electric power is generated in the RFID tag T. Next, a transmission instruction signal of the RFID tag storage data in the memory unit 37 of the RFID tag T is superimposed on the radio signal by the transmission unit 42 and transmitted from the transmission antenna 43. The radio wave signal sent from the RFID tag T is received by the receiving antenna 45, demodulated by the receiving unit 44, and the RFID tag storage data is separated and sent to the CPU 40. Then, the CPU 40 sends the received data to the outside.

  The control device 5 determines the distribution destinations B1 to B7 of the packages P1 and P2 based on the product information and measurement information acquired from the RFID tag reader 7 and the determination criteria stored in the determination criterion storage unit 5D in advance. The determination unit 5C, the determination reference storage unit 5D that stores the determination criteria for determining the distribution destinations B1 to B7 according to the product information and the weighing information, and the distribution conveyor group 3 based on the determination result of the distribution determination unit 5C A control unit 5E that controls the operation, a count unit 5F that counts the determination result of the distribution determination unit 5C, an output unit 5G that outputs the count result of the count unit 5F, and a determination criterion that is input and set in the determination criterion storage unit 5D And an input unit 5H.

  The distribution determination unit 5C and the control unit 5E are configured by a general arithmetic device such as a CPU, and the functions thereof are realized by predetermined software.

  The determination reference storage unit 5D and the count unit 5F are configured by a general storage device such as a memory.

  The input unit 5H includes a general input device such as a touch panel and a keyboard.

  The output unit 5G includes a general output device such as a display and a printer.

  Here, as the determination criterion, a selection criterion to be compared with the weighing information is set according to the product information, and distribution destinations B1 to B7 are allocated according to the selection criterion.

FIG. 4 is a table showing an example of determination criteria. The product information P is identification information of the packages P1 and P2, and the measurement information W is the measurement value W of the packages P1 and P2. When the product information P = P1, the weighing value W is compared with the lower limit value W _LOW1 and the upper limit value W _HIGH1 a selection criteria, in the case of W <W _LOW1 is determined to be the distribution destination B = B1 In the case of W _LOW1 ≦ W ≦ W _HIGH1 , it is determined that the distribution destination B = B3, and in the case of W _HIGH1 <W, the determination is made such that the distribution destination B = B5. Similarly, if product information P = P2, weighing value W is compared with the lower limit value W _LOW2 and the upper limit value W _HIGH2 a selection criterion, as in the case of W <W _LOW2 the distribution destination B = B2 When W _LOW2 ≦ W ≦ W _{HIGH 2} , it is determined that the distribution destination B = B4, and when W _HIGH2 <W, the determination is performed such that the distribution destination B = B6. Further, when the product information P or the measured value W is not readable or cannot be determined, it is determined that the distribution destination B = B7.

Information on the product information P1, P2, the lower limit value W _LOW1 , the upper limit value W _HIGH1 , the lower limit value W _LOW2 , the upper limit value W _HIGH2 , and the sorting destinations B1 to B7, which are selection criteria, is input from the input unit 5H and stored as a judgment criterion. Stored and set in section 5D.

Alternatively, the reference weight value and the allowable width of the packages P1 and P2 are input from the input unit 5H, stored in the determination reference storage unit 5D, and the distribution determination unit 5C automatically adds or subtracts the allowable width to the reference weight value. has been lower limit W _LOW1 a selection criteria, the upper limit value W _HIGH1, may be the lower limit value W _LOW2 and the upper limit value W _HIGH2 is configured for use in computed allocation decision.

  Thereby, the control device 5 acquires the product information P and the weighing information W read by the RFID tag reading device 7, determines the distribution destinations B1 to B7 of the packages P1 and P2 according to these information, and distributes them. The conveyor groups 3 can be controlled to sort the packages P1 and P2. In other words, when the weighing information is within the proper range, it is sorted as an appropriate product, when the weighing information is above the proper range, it is sorted as an overdose, and when the weighing information is below the proper range, it is sorted as an underweight product. Sort out. If the product information or the weighing information cannot be discriminated, it is sorted as a non-measurable product.

  The control device means not only a single control device but also a control device group in which a plurality of control devices cooperate to execute control. Therefore, the control device 5 does not need to be configured by a single control device, and a plurality of control devices are distributed and configured to control the operation of the weight selection device 100 in cooperation with each other. You can also. For example, the count unit 5F may include a communication terminal, the output unit 5G may be a mobile device, and the count result may be transmitted from the count unit 5F to the output unit 5G. Further, the control unit 5E can be configured to be incorporated in the sorting conveyor group 3.

  Next, the operation of the weight sorting apparatus 100 of the present embodiment will be described.

  Two types of packages P1 and P2 to which RFID tags in which product information P of packages are written are attached are supplied to the weighing conveyor 2 in random order. Here, the conveying device 10 is disposed close to the weighing conveyor 2. Then, the packages P1 and P2 conveyed in random order by the conveying device 10 are supplied to the weighing conveyor 2.

  After the packages P1 and P2 are manufactured by a packaging device (not shown), an RFID tag in which product information P of the packages P1 and P2 is written is mounted by an RFID tag mounting device (not shown), or an RFID tag is mounted. After the packages P1 and P2 are manufactured using the packaged material, the product information P is written on the RFID tag and manufactured.

  The weighing conveyor 2 measures the weight of the packages P1 and P2 while conveying the packages P1 and P2.

  The RFID tag writing device 6 acquires the weighing information W in the weighing conveyor 2 and writes the weighing information W to the RFID tags T of the packages P1 and P2 sent from the weighing conveyor 2 after weighing.

  The RFID tag reading device 7 reads the product information P and the weighing information W of the RFID tag T of the packages P1 and P2 on the transport conveyor 1 in the vicinity of the RFID tag reading device 7.

  The control device 5 acquires the product information P and the weighing information W read by the RFID tag reading device 7, and controls the sorting conveyor group 3 according to these information to distribute the packages P1, P2 to the sorting destinations B1 to B7. Sort and sort.

  As described above, the weight sorting apparatus 100 according to the present invention is not limited to the product information P of each package P1, P2 regardless of the type of the packages P1, P2 and the separation distance between the weighing conveyor 2 and the sorting conveyor group 3. Since the control device 5 can recognize the weighing information W and control the sorting conveyor group 3, the length and arrangement of the transport conveyor 1 can be arbitrarily set, and a plurality of types of packages P1, Weight selection can be performed almost automatically on P2.

  Further, since product information P and weighing information W are written in the RFID tag T, even if the order of the packages P1 and P2 on the transport conveyor 1 changes, the control device 5 can control the packages P1 and P2. Can be sorted accurately. For example, the packages P1 and P2 transported on the transport conveyor 1 are visually inspected by a visual inspector. Even if the packages P1 and P2 that the visual inspector recognizes as inappropriate are removed from the transport conveyor 1 at any time, weight sorting is performed. There is no problem in the sorting operation of the apparatus 100.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described in detail, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment.

  The weight sorting apparatus of the present invention is useful as a weight sorting apparatus that can arbitrarily set the length and arrangement of the transport section and can perform weight sorting for a plurality of types of packages substantially automatically. It is.

It is a block diagram which shows roughly the structure of the weight selection apparatus of embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of a RFID tag. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of an RFID tag reading / writing apparatus. It is a table | surface which shows an example of a criterion.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 10 Conveyor 2 Weighing conveyor 3 Sorting conveyor group 3A, 3B, 3C Sorting conveyor 3D Movable arm 5 Control device 5C Sorting judgment part 5D Judgment reference | standard calculation part 5F Count part 5G Output part 5H Input part 6 RFID tag writing apparatus 7 RFID Tag reading device 30 IC circuit section 31 antenna section 33 resonant capacitor 34 CPU
35 Rectifier 36 Modulator / Demodulator 37 Memory 38 Smoother 40 CPU
41 Memory Unit 42 Transmitting Unit 43 Transmitting Antenna 44 Receiving Unit 45 Receiving Antenna 100 Weight Sorter B1-B7 Destination W Measurement Information (Measurement Value)
W _LOW1 , W _LOW2 lower limit value W _HIGH1 , W _HIGH2 upper limit value P Product information P1, P2 Package

Claims (2)

RFID tag product information is written in the package is weighed receive packages mounted, a metering conveyor for delivering package was weighed acquires the weighing information of the package,
It feed transportable said package sent from the measuring conveyor, a conveyor for delivering from its delivery end,
A sorting unit that sorts the package delivered from the delivery end of the conveyor ;
A weight selection device having a control device for controlling the sorting unit,
An RFID tag writing device that is disposed near the delivery end of the weighing conveyor and writes the weighing information to an RFID tag of a package corresponding to the weighing information;
An RFID tag reader that is disposed near the delivery end of the conveyor and reads the product information and the weighing information written on the RFID tag,
The weight selection device, wherein the control device controls the sorting unit to perform the sorting according to the product information and the weighing information.    The control device has a selection standard corresponding to the type of the package, determines the type of the package based on the product information, and compares the selection standard corresponding to the type of the package with the weighing information. The weight sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sorting unit is controlled to perform the sorting.

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