JP5838854B2 - Free tray selection equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a fruit selection facility for selecting fruits and the like using a free tray.

  Conventional free tray selection equipment includes a receiving device for receiving fruits received from a producer, a loading unit for packing the fruits one by one in a tray, and a detection device such as a camera for measuring the equal class of the fruits, And a main transport device that transports the detected fruit together with the tray, and two or more equal-class transport devices that receive the fruit-containing trays extruded by the direction changing device in the main transport device for each equal class. . In the transport equipment by class, the tray with fruits is always transported by a transport conveyor, and the tray with fruits is temporarily stopped near the end of the transport by the entrance gate to the boxing section. Each time the box is packed, the gate is opened and the tray is transported to the boxing section, where the fruit is taken out from the holding tray by the entry gate from the boxing section and boxed.

JP2008-120492A

  In the conventional free tray selection equipment, the upper surface of the transport device by equal class is horizontal, so a motor for driving the entire conveyor constituting the device is required, and the drive device including the drive motor is large. It was. In addition, the configuration is complicated, for example, gates are provided at two entrances / exits of the boxing portion.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has taken the following technical means.
That is, the invention according to claim 1 receives the main transport device (5) for transporting the fruit-containing tray (T) and the fruit-containing tray (T) from the main transport device (5) for each equal class. A classifying transport device (21), and a boxing part (6) for receiving the fruit-containing tray (T) transported by the equal class transporting device (21). Conveyor including a conveyor start end (21d) that receives the fruit-containing tray (T) from the conveyor (5) and a conveyor terminal (21e) that supplies the fruit-containing tray (T) to the boxing section (6) And the position of the transfer start end (21d) of the equal class transfer device (21) from the position of the transfer end portion (21e) of the equal rank transfer device (21). Also made up high,
An elevating device (31) for raising and lowering the terminal end conveyor (23) including the conveying terminal portion (21e) of the equal-class conveyor device (21) among the conveyors is provided,
The end conveyor (23) can be moved up and down around a lifting and lowering fulcrum (31b) provided on the upstream side of the conveyance, and the tray cradle (6c) of the boxing unit (6) and the conveyance end (21e) The downstream end of the transport is the same height position or the transport downstream side of the transport end portion (21e) is higher than the tray rest (6c), and the transport end is higher than the tray rest (6c) of the boxing portion (6). A drive device (32) configured to be movable up and down at a position where the conveyance downstream side of the section (21e) is low, and capable of being driven by a user's operation is provided in the terminal end conveyor (23). This is a free tray selection facility characterized by

In the invention according to claim 2, the end conveyor (23) is constituted by a free roller (21f), and the driving device (32) is constituted by an endless belt (31a).
It is a free tray selection equipment of Claim 1 which drives the said terminal part conveyor (23) by the said endless belt (31a) contacting the lower surface of a free roller (21f) by a user's operation .

According to invention of Claim 1, the raising / lowering apparatus (31) which raises / lowers the termination | terminus part conveyor (23) containing the conveyance termination | terminus part (21e) of an equal class conveyance apparatus (21) is provided, and termination | terminus conveyor (23) Can be moved up and down around a lifting / lowering fulcrum (31b) provided on the upstream side of the conveyance, and the tray receiving base (6c) of the boxing portion (6) and the conveyance downstream side of the conveyance end portion (21e) have the same height. The position at which the downstream end of the transport end portion (21e) is higher than the position or tray cradle (6c), and the transport of the transport end portion (21e) than the tray cradle (6c) of the packaging portion (6) By making it possible to move up and down at a position where the downstream side is low, the conveyance downstream side of the conveyance termination part (21e) is raised to convey the fruit-containing tray (T) to the boxing part (6), or the conveyance termination part transportable simply lowering the conveyance downstream side of (21e) Terminating portion to convey the fruit-filled trays from (21e) boxing section to (6) (T) can be regulated. That is, it is not necessary to provide a gate as in the conventional selection facility, and the configuration of the selection facility can be simplified.

Further, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the position of the transport start end portion (21d) of the equal class transport apparatus (21) is more than the position of the transport end section (21e) of the equal class transport apparatus (21). The fruit tray (T) extruded by the direction changing device (11) is transported to the terminal end conveyor (23) by gravity without requiring any driving force because of its high configuration. Further, the end conveyor (23) is provided with a drive device (32) that can be driven by a user's operation, so that it is not necessary to provide a drive device for driving the entire equal-class transport device (21). The part can be made compact.

According to invention of Claim 2, the free roller drive device (32) of the terminal part conveyor (23) is comprised by the endless belt (31a), and an endless belt (31a) is free roller ( 21f) is configured to drive the end conveyor (23) by abutting against the lower surface of 21f), so that the rotation of the conveyor roller can be restricted when the driving device (32) is not operated. . That is, it is possible to prevent the fruit-containing tray (T) from being naturally transferred to the tray support (6c) of the boxed portion (6).

It is a layout figure of the free tray fruit selection equipment concerning the present invention. It is sectional drawing of the direction change apparatus in the main conveying apparatus of the free tray fruit selection equipment of FIG. It is an enlarged plan view of the conveyance apparatus classified by equal class of the conventional free tray selection equipment. It is an enlarged view of the isoclassical conveying apparatus which concerns on 1st embodiment of this invention. It is an enlarged view of the equal class conveyance apparatus which concerns on 2nd embodiment of this invention. It is an enlarged view of the direction change apparatus extrusion part of the free tray fruit selection equipment of FIG. It is a top view of the equal class conveying apparatus at the time of using the direction change apparatus of FIG. It is a perspective view of the free tray concerning another embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the free tray of FIG.

Embodiments specifically configured based on the above technical idea will be described below with reference to the drawings.
The layout of one embodiment of the free tray selection equipment according to the present invention is shown in FIG. The arrows shown in the figure indicate the feeding direction of the part. The fruit selection equipment includes a load receiving device 2 for receiving fruits received from a producer, a placement unit 4 for packing the fruits one by one in a tray, and a detection device 13 such as a camera for measuring an equal class of the fruits, A main transport device 21 that transports the fruit-containing tray T after the detection is completed, and two or more equal-class transport devices 21 that receive the fruit-containing tray T from the main transport device 21 for each equal class, Connected to the transfer terminal end 21e of the equal-class transfer device 21, the boxing unit 6 for packing the fruits placed on the tray, the shipping device 3 for discharging the boxed products, and the fruit after removing the fruits A recirculation device 7 that recirculates the empty tray T ′ is provided, and the main transport device 5 between the cargo receiving device 2 and the shipping device 3 performs sorting of equal classes using a free tray for transport. The number of sorting categories by the main transport device 5 can be set within the range of the number of installation rows of the equal class transport devices 21. The empty tray T ′ on which no fruit is placed is returned to the reflux device 7 via the bypass device 8. In this document, the “apparatus” is a concept including a single conveyor or a combination of a conveyor having no power, such as a free roller conveyor, in addition to a conveyor having power.

  In FIG. 2, sectional drawing of the direction change apparatus 11 in the main conveying apparatus 5 of the free tray selection equipment of FIG. 1 is shown. After detecting the equal class with a camera or the like, the fruit-containing tray T is transported on the main transport device 5 at a constant speed, and is perpendicular to the main transport device 5 by two or more direction changing devices 11 adjacent to the main transport device 5. The fruit-containing tray T is pushed out to the plurality of equal class conveying devices 21 provided in. The direction changing device 11 is driven with high accuracy by the servo motor 5b.

  Here, with reference to the enlarged plan view of FIG. 3, the structure of the equal-class transport device in the conventional free tray selection facility will be described. The fruit-containing tray T extruded by the classifying unit by the pushing operation by the direction changing device 11 reaches the boxing unit 6 via the uniform class conveying device 21 connected to each side of the main conveying device 5. The upper part of the uniform class conveying device 21 is held horizontally and is always driven to convey the fruit-containing tray T to the boxing unit 6. The packaging unit 6 reaches the reflux device 7 via the empty tray deriving device 22 and returns the empty tray T ′ to the placement unit 4.

  The packaging unit 6 includes a front entrance gate 6a and a rear entrance gate 6b so that a predetermined number (two in the illustrated example) of fruit-containing trays T can be controlled in flow. The entrance gate 6a receives a predetermined number (two in the illustrated example) of fruit trays T in the boxing unit 6 by operating the switches S and S for each of the two rows of equal-class transport devices 21 and 21, and enters the entrance gate 6a. 6 b passes the empty tray T ′ to the deriving device 22 by opening the empty tray T ′ after the fruit picked up by the user of the fruit selection facility is opened according to the detection of the sensor D. With this flow control, after the fruit-containing tray T to be boxed by the user's intention is taken out from the isochronous transport device 21 to the boxing unit 6 and the fruit W is taken out by this flow control. The empty tray T ′ is automatically detected and supplied to the derivation device 22.

  In this way, in the conventional uniform class transporting device 21, the fruit-containing tray T is transported by the constantly driven uniform class transporting device, and the fruit-containing tray T is moved by the entrance gate 6a to the boxing unit 6 in the vicinity of the transport end portion. The user of the fruit selection facility opens the gate 6a every time the box is packed and transports the fruit tray T to the boxing unit 6, where the fruit is also boxed by the entry gate 6b from the boxing unit 6. To do.

  FIG. 4 shows an enlarged view of the isoclass-specific transport device 21 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. (A) is a top view, (b) is a front view. FIG. 4 is a diagram in which two equal class conveying devices 21 are installed in parallel. The fruit changing tray 11 is appropriately pushed out from the right side of the figure by the direction changing device 11, and the equal class conveying device 21 receives them. , And sent to the boxing unit 6 at the left end of FIG. In the present embodiment, one uniform class conveying device 21 is constituted by two conveyors using free rollers. Here, the one conveyor is one in which the rollers of the conveyor are integrated using a support plate on the side, and two or more conveyors are those in which the one conveyor is coupled to each other, A part of one conveyor formed integrally includes a part that is separately movable from other parts. Further, the transport start end portion 21d of the equal class transport device 21 refers to a portion facing the main transport device 5, and the transport end portion 21e refers to a portion facing the boxing portion 6. In the present embodiment, the transport start end portion 21d. Is set so as to be higher than the position of the conveyance end portion 21e.

  Of the two conveyors constituting the equal class conveying device 21, a free roller driving device 32 that drives the free roller 21 f of the terminal end conveyor 23 to the terminal end conveyor 23 including the conveying terminal end 21 e of the equal class conveying device 21; A lifting device 31 is provided. The elevating device 31 elevates and lowers both the free roller driving device 32 and the terminal end conveyor 23. The free roller driving device 32 winds the end belt 23 by winding a V belt, which is an endless belt 31a, around a plurality of pulleys and bringing the endless belt 31a into contact with the free roller 21f. The elevating device 31 is a hydraulic cylinder, and the terminal end conveyor 23 rotates around a fulcrum 31b on the upstream end side of the terminal end conveyor 23 by expansion and contraction of the hydraulic cylinder. In this embodiment, there is one hydraulic cylinder, and both the free roller driving device 32 and the lifting device 31 in the two equal class conveying devices 21 are moved up and down simultaneously by expansion and contraction of the hydraulic cylinder. In addition, an electric motor (not shown) which is a driving source of the free roller driving device 32 is provided at the fulcrum 31b, and can drive both of the two terminal end conveyors 23 provided in each of the two equal class conveying devices 21. It is also possible to drive.

  When the user performs an operation with a lift button provided in the vicinity of the equal class transport device 21, the hydraulic cylinder as the lifting device 31 extends, and the free roller drive device 32 rotates around the fulcrum 31 b to move the terminal end conveyor 23. When the hydraulic cylinder continues to extend, the conveying terminal end 21e rises. Then, when the conveyance end portion 21e rises and the position of the conveyance end portion 21e becomes equal to or higher than the position of the tray receiving base 6c of the boxing portion 6, the end portion conveyor 23 is automatically driven by the electric motor. Further, when the user performs an operation with the lowering button, the free roller driving device 32 stops and the hydraulic cylinder as the lifting device 31 contracts. Then, the terminal end conveyor 23 is lowered together with the free roller driving device 32, and the position of the conveying terminal end 21e is made lower than the tray receiving base 6c of the boxing unit 6. If the hydraulic cylinder continues to contract, the driving device 32 is separated from the free roller 21f of the end conveyor 23. These operations are controlled using a programmable logic controller (not shown).

  When the end conveyor 23 is raised by the user's operation and the position of the transport end 21e is equal to or higher than the position of the tray support 6c of the boxing section 6, the end conveyor 23 is inclined. The angle A is configured to be smaller than the inclination angle B of the other conveyors that constitute the isoclassical transport device 21. Here, the inclination angle refers to the angle formed by each conveyor with respect to the horizontal plane, and the angle formed by the conveyor refers to the angle formed between the straight line formed by connecting the center points of the rollers constituting the conveyor and the horizontal plane.

  In accordance with the user's operation, the conveyance end portion 21e is lowered and its position can be made lower than the position of the tray receiving base 6c of the boxing portion 6, so that the fruit-containing tray T is transferred from the transfer end portion 21e to the boxing portion 6. This makes it possible to regulate the selection, and it is not necessary to provide a gate as in the conventional selection facility, so that the configuration of the selection facility can be simplified.

  Since the uniform class conveying device 21 is constituted by a conveyor using a free roller and the position of the conveying start end portion 21d is set to be higher than the position of the conveying terminal end portion 21e, it is pushed out by the direction changing device 11. The fruit required tray T is transported to the terminal end conveyor 23 by gravity without requiring any driving force.

  The free roller 21f of the end portion conveyor 23 is provided with a free roller driving device 32 that can be driven in accordance with a user's operation, and it is not necessary to provide a driving device that drives the entire equal class conveying device 21. The part can be made compact.

  The free roller driving device 32 is composed of an endless belt 31a, and the endless belt 31a can be brought into contact with the lower surface of the free roller 21f by the operation of the user, and the free roller driving device 32 is not operated. In this case, the rotation of the conveyor roller can be restricted. That is, it is possible to prevent the fruit-containing tray T from being naturally transferred to the tray holder 6 c of the boxing unit 6.

  When the end conveyor 23 is raised in accordance with the user's operation and the position of the transport end 21e is equal to or higher than the tray receiving base 6c of the boxing section 6, the inclination angle A of the end conveyor 23 is increased. However, since it is smaller than the inclination angle B of the other conveyor which comprises the equal class conveyance apparatus 21, it can transfer to a boxing part at the speed which can be controlled with the free roller drive device 32. FIG. That is, the fruit-containing tray T can be transferred at a speed lower than the transfer speed by gravity.

  In FIG. 5, the enlarged view of the conveying apparatus 21 classified by equal rank which concerns on 2nd embodiment of this invention is shown. (A) is a top view, (b) is a front view. The difference from the first embodiment is the form of the end conveyor 23. The terminal end conveyor 23 according to the present embodiment uses two wooden plates on both sides of the endless belt 31a constituting the driving device 32 without using a free roller. When the drive device is driven, the fruit-containing tray T is conveyed by friction with the endless belt 31a, and normally stops by friction with the two plate members. Other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  The extrusion part 5a of the direction changing device 11 used in the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6A is a plan view of the extruded portion, and FIG. 6B is a sectional view seen from the front. The extrusion part 5a has two extrusion heads 5c and 5d. The extrusion surface of one extrusion head 5d is parallel to the conveyance direction of the main conveyance device 5, but the other extrusion head 5d has an angle. Then, the pusher 5a pushes the pusher head 5c or 5d back and forth through the planetary mechanism 5e by the drive motor 5b, thereby pushing the fruit-containing tray T to the equal class conveying device 21.

  FIG. 7 is a plan view showing how the fruit-containing tray T is pushed out to the equal class conveying device 21 when the direction changing device 11 of FIG. 6 is used. The tray T containing fruit flowing in the direction indicated by the arrow on the main transport device 5 is pushed out by the direction changing device 11 to the transport device 21 classified by class according to the information from the camera 13. At this time, when the drive motor 5b rotates in one direction, for example, the extrusion head 5d moves forward toward the equal class conveying device 21, and the fruit-containing tray T flowing through the main conveying device 5 is conveyed on the left in FIG. Extrude to apparatus 21. On the other hand, when the drive motor 5b rotates in the other direction, the other extrusion head 5c moves forward toward the equal class conveying device 21 and pushes the fruit-containing tray T to the right class classified conveying device 21 in FIG. . Since the two extrusion heads 5c and 5d are used in the above configuration as compared with the conventional method using a pneumatic cylinder, sorting can be performed efficiently.

  A free tray T ′ according to another embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. The free tray T ′ is provided with a depression R1 for placing fruit on the top surface, and a mark for distinguishing the grade and variety of the placed fruit by the sensor S on the side surface in accordance with the height of the sensor S. Prepare. The free tray T ′ according to the present embodiment is provided with depressions R1 and R2 for placing fruits on both the upper surface and the lower surface, and two mark portions on the side surface for storing the information. With the above configuration, it is not necessary to prepare a plurality of free trays when sorting fruits of different varieties or handling fruits of different sizes.

  In the first embodiment, a hydraulic cylinder is used as the elevating device 31. However, an air cylinder may be used because of utilities such as a place where a selection facility is installed.

  The free tray sensor equipment according to the present invention is often applied to fruits whose appearance is not damaged, such as none, peaches, and apples, but can also be used in crops such as vegetables.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Free tray selection equipment 5 Main conveyance apparatus 6 Packing part 6c Tray receiving base 21 Conveyor apparatus 21d according to equal classes Conveyance start end part 21e Conveyance termination part 21f Free roller 23 Termination part conveyor 31 Elevating apparatus 31a Endless belt 31b Elevating rotation Support point 32 Free roller drive device T Fruit tray

Claims (2)

A main transport device (5) for transporting the tray with fruits (T), a transport device (21) according to equal classes for receiving the tray with fruits (T) from the main transport device (5) for each equal class, and the like A packaging unit (6) for receiving a tray (T) containing fruits transported by the class-specific transport device (21) is provided, and the class-specific transport device (21) is moved from the main transport device (5) to the fruit-containing tray ( Comprising two or more conveyors including a conveyor starting end (21d) that receives T) and a conveyor terminal (21e) that supplies a tray (T) containing fruit to the boxing part (6), and , the position of the conveying starting end (21d) of said equal rank another feeder (21), raised structure than the position of said equal rank another conveying device conveying terminal end of (21) (21e),
An elevating device (31) for raising and lowering the terminal end conveyor (23) including the conveying terminal portion (21e) of the equal-class conveyor device (21) among the conveyors is provided,
The end conveyor (23) can be moved up and down around a lifting and lowering fulcrum (31b) provided on the upstream side of the conveyance, and the tray cradle (6c) of the boxing unit (6) and the conveyance end (21e) The downstream end of the transport is the same height position or the transport downstream side of the transport end portion (21e) is higher than the tray rest (6c), and the transport end is higher than the tray rest (6c) of the boxing portion (6). on the conveyance downstream side is lower position of the part (21e), the lifting operably configured and wherein the terminal end conveyor (23), providing the driving device (32) which can be driven by operation of the user off Ritorei election result equipment it said. The end conveyor (23) is composed of free rollers (21f),
The drive device (32) is composed of an endless belt (31a),
By the user's operation, the endless belt (31a) comes into contact with the lower surface of the free roller (21f),
Free tray election results installation according to claim 1 which drives the terminal end conveyor (23).

Images