JP7274727B2 - Fruit and vegetable packaging equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus. More specifically, it comprises a hopper that guides fruits and vegetables put in from the top to a packaging bag attached at the bottom, and a blower that supplies air to the bottom of the hopper with a blower, and the packaging bag has a bag opening. A plurality of packaging bags are joined and bundled at the protrusion to form a bag bundle, and the protrusion is attached to the outer surface of the hopper. The present invention relates to a fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus mounted so that the bag opening is positioned at the lower end of the hopper.

As a fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus, those described in the following Patent Documents 1 and 2 are known. According to the apparatus of Document 1, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 9, one pin is passed through the locking hole 305 of the holding portion 303 to support the bag. Then, air is sent from the opening 302 to inflate the bag, the product is thrown into the bag from the opening 302, and the bag is torn off at the perforations 304 to complete the encapsulation. Patent Document 2 also has two pins, but the same is true.

If the wind is too strong, the bag will protrude obliquely and the movement of the bag will not be stable due to the wind, making it difficult to throw in fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, if the wind is too weak, it will be difficult for the bag to inflate sufficiently, and if the fruits and vegetables are put in when the bag is not sufficiently inflated, the bag will break before the introduction of the fruits and vegetables is completed due to friction between the bag and the fruits and vegetables. Therefore, in order to improve work efficiency, it was a dedicated machine with a fixed hopper diameter and air volume according to the type of fruits and vegetables.

In addition, since the bag is torn off from the perforations 304 and many holding portions 303 remain as ears, it is difficult for the wind to enter the opening 302 of the bag, and the above-mentioned inconvenience is likely to occur. Therefore, a large number of bags cannot be held, and there is room for improvement in terms of work efficiency.

JP 2011-168280 A JP 2016-88615

In view of such conventional circumstances, the present invention provides a fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus capable of improving the work efficiency of enclosing in bags while making it possible to exchange hoppers with different calibers to accommodate various fruits and vegetables. intended to provide

In order to achieve the above object, the packaging apparatus for fruits and vegetables according to the present invention is characterized by a hopper that guides fruits and vegetables put in from the top to a packaging bag attached at the bottom, and a blower that blows air toward the bottom of the hopper. The packaging bag has a projecting portion projecting from the bag opening and an easy-to-cut portion above the bag opening, and the projecting portion joins and bundles a plurality of packaging bags. In a configuration in which a bundle of bags is formed, the projecting portion is attached to the outer surface of the hopper and the bag opening is positioned at the lower end of the hopper, the hopper is detachably replaceable with a hopper having a different diameter, An adjuster for adjusting the wind force of the blower is provided, the hopper has a ventilation cutout at the lower end on the side of the blower that receives the wind from the blower, and a ventilation path is formed from the blower to the vicinity of the ventilation cutout. Further, a lateral opening is provided in the vicinity of the ventilation notch for discharging the wind in the lateral direction from the ventilation path.

According to this configuration, the hopper is detachably replaceable with a hopper having a different diameter, so a bag corresponding to the diameter is attached. As the size of the bag increases, the diameter of the bag increases and the volume also increases. In the present invention, since an adjuster for adjusting the air force of the blower is provided, it is possible to increase or decrease the air volume by the adjuster so that the bag spreads quickly but is not torn before the fruits and vegetables are completely put in. .

Moreover, in the conventional device, the number of bags is limited because it is difficult to supply the air if a large number of lugs remain. Even if it drops, the bag can be inflated by increasing the air volume so as to compensate for this. At this time, even if the air volume is increased, it takes extra time for the bag to swell due to the obstruction of the ears. It exerts a compound effect that the work can be completed by Therefore, the number of times of bag addition can be reduced, contributing to efficiency.

Furthermore, according to the conventional structure, since a side opening is already formed near the air blowing section, that is, from the middle of the hopper, the air blows out in the horizontal direction, so that the air can efficiently reach the entrance of the bag. could not. According to this feature, a ventilation path is formed from the blowing section to the vicinity of the ventilation notch, and a lateral opening for discharging the air from the ventilation path in the lateral direction is also provided in the vicinity of the ventilation notch. The air is supplied to the ventilation cutout without the air escaping laterally at the top. As a result, the opening of the bag is close to the ventilation notch from the ventilation notch and can receive wind efficiently.

As a result, it has become possible to adjust the air volume more easily by easing the need to finely adjust the airflow from the two viewpoints of preventing the bag from tearing and reducing the problem of obstruction by the ears.

In addition, the ventilation path includes a wide hanging part that continues from the air blowing part and forms a cylindrical space together with a part of the hopper, and a narrow hanging part that continues below the vicinity of the ventilation notch, A lateral opening may be formed between the narrow depending portion and the hopper.

According to this feature, since the ventilation path is composed of the hopper and the hanging part, the structure is simple. can be sent.

Further, in some of the plurality of hoppers, the worker side portion of the hopper is substantially vertical, and the upper opening of the upper portion of the hopper is formed in an inclined shape that descends toward the worker side portion. good too.

According to this feature, even if the diameter of the hopper is large, the upper opening of the hopper is formed in an inclined shape that descends toward the operator side, so that it is easy to throw in large fruits and vegetables from the front. Since the fruits and vegetables are guided downward along the substantially vertical portion of the operator side portion, the fruits and vegetables can be thrown into the bag more reliably.

Further, the attachment means for detachably replacing the hopper has notches formed in at least two upper and lower locations in a pair of attachment portions, respectively, and fastening means provided in at least four locations near the air blower, It is preferable that the notch portion is composed of an elongated hole along the top and bottom and a transverse notch leading to the lower part of the hole.

According to this feature, the hopper is fastened at a total of four points, top, bottom, left, and right. At this time, the notch can be installed quickly with a horizontal notch, and the long hole is stable in a state where it does not come off due to its own weight. It has become possible to perform more reliably.

According to the characteristics of the fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the working efficiency of enclosing the fruit and vegetables in a bag while making it possible to replace the hopper with a hopper having a different diameter so as to correspond to various fruits and vegetables. We have come to be able to provide a packaging device for

Other objects, configurations and effects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention.

1 is an exploded perspective view of a fruit and vegetable packaging device according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1; FIG. The small diameter hopper is shown, (a) is a side view, (b) is a rear view, and (c) is a bottom view. The large-diameter hopper is shown, (a) is a side view, (b) is a rear view, and (c) is a bottom view. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a packaging bag attached to the fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus of FIG. 1, (a) is a partially enlarged plan view of the packaging bag, (b) is a cross-sectional view along the line AA of (a), and (c) is the packaging bag. is a view corresponding to (b) in the opened state. 1. It is a perspective view of the fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus of FIG. 1, (a) shows the state where the packaging bag was latched by the hopper, (b) shows the state where the packaging bag was pressed by the support and the air was supplied. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view in the vicinity of the ventilation notch of the hopper.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described in more detail with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 6, the fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus 1 according to the present invention includes a hopper 2 that guides the fruit and vegetables V input from the upper part 21 to the packaging bag 10 attached to the lower part 22, and and a blowing unit 3 for blowing wind (airflow, air) as a gas. The air blower 3 communicates with the apparatus main body 4 inside, and the air taken in from the air inlet 6 is supplied and blown by the air blower 5 built in the apparatus main body 4 . A support 40 is provided below the air blower 3 to press the packaging bag 10 toward the hopper 2 near the lower end of the hopper 2 .

In the present embodiment, the fruits and vegetables V to be put in include, for example, long fruits and vegetables such as chives, green onions, and white onions, and leafy vegetables such as spinach and bok choy. In such a case, the fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus 1 is installed at a predetermined height using a tripod 100A or the like, and is also attached to a table or the like using the fixing plate 7 .

As shown in FIG. 5, the packaging bag 10 is formed by welding a protruding portion 11a protruding from the bag opening 10a and, in this embodiment, a strip-shaped first film 11 and a strip-shaped second film 12 at their peripheral portions. formed in the shape of Further, by forming the first film 11 longer than the second film 12, the protruding portion 11a that protrudes from the bag opening 10a is formed integrally with the first film 11. As shown in FIG. A pair of through-holes 14 through which mounting pins 25 of the hopper 2 pass, and a perforation 15 as an easy-to-cut portion are formed in the vicinity of the bag opening 10a in the projecting portion 11a. Although the material of the first and second films 11 and 12 is not particularly limited, in this embodiment, for example, a biaxially stretched polypropylene film is used.

A plurality of packaging bags 10 are fused together at the projecting portion 11a to form a packaging bag bundle 10x. When the bag bundle 10x is torn at the perforations 15, the projecting portions 11a are laminated and remain as ear portions 11ax, which hinder the ventilation of the wind B to the bag opening portion 10a. An object of the present invention is to solve this problem.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the blower section 3 takes in air from an air intake port 6 and discharges air B downward from a discharge port 31 by a blower 5a of a blower means 5. 4 is provided. The regulator 5b of the air blowing means 5 is a variable resistor connected to the motor of the blower 5a, etc., and adjusts the amount of air blown by the blower 5a by changing the resistance value by rotating the knob 5b1. A side surface 32a of the communicating portion 32 is formed with a screw hole 33 into which a fixing means 24a, which will be described later, is screwed. Further, the blowing unit 3 is provided with a plate-shaped hanging portion 34 that hangs down along the vertical direction Z. As shown in FIG.

The hopper 2 has a cylindrical shape that gradually narrows from the upper portion 21 toward the lower portion 22, as shown in FIGS. The upper part 21 has an upper opening 21a and a substantially square notch 23 formed by cutting out a part of the outer peripheral surface 20, and a pair of plate-like mounting parts 24 are provided on both sides in the width direction thereof. . The attachment portion 24 is attached to the side surface 32a of the blower portion 3 by means of fixing means 24a such as screws and bolts, and the air B blown from the blower portion 3 is supplied to the packaging bag 10 through the notch portion 23. As shown in FIG. A pair of mounting pins 25 for mounting the packaging bag 10 are erected on the outer peripheral surface 20 of the hopper 2 .

The hoppers 2 having different diameters are appropriately selected and used by detachable replacement. Long fruits and vegetables are used in the small-diameter hopper 2A, and foliage and the like are used in the large-diameter hopper 2B, and the bag size is also changed according to the diameter.

In the hopper 2 (2A, 2B), the blower side portion 22a of the hopper lower portion is inclined closer to the lower outer portion 22b than the operator side portion 22b of the hopper lower portion. A ventilation notch 28 is provided at the lower end of the blower side portion 22a that receives the wind. In addition, it has two mounting pins for penetrating and supporting the ears of the bundle of bags on the outer surface on the same side. The ears 11ax are aligned along the curve of the air blower side portion 22a, and are attached by pressing with a supporting member to be described later.

A ventilation passage W that guides the wind B from the discharge port 31 of the blower 5 to the ventilation notch 28 is formed by the ventilation section side portion 20a of the hopper 2 and hanging sections 34a and 34b. The wide drooping portion 34a forms a tubular vent passage in cooperation with the ventilation portion side portion 20a of the hopper 2, and a narrow drooping portion 34b is provided in the vicinity of the vent cutout 28. As shown in FIG. A lateral opening 34c is formed between the narrow drooping portion 34b and the ventilation portion side portion 20a of the hopper 2. As shown in FIG. The horizontal opening 34c supplies air in the horizontal direction at the same time as the downward air is supplied, and supplies the air B to the entire hopper. Conventionally, the range L1 in FIG. 3 is a wide hanging part, and the range L2 below it is a narrow hanging part. did not arrive. In the present application, the range L3 in FIG. The wind reached the notch 28 sufficiently.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 6, the support member 40 includes an upper support member 41 and a lower support member 42 attached to a rod-shaped portion 43 whose one end is rotatably fixed to the apparatus main body 4 via an elastic member or the like. Be prepared. The upper support 41 bypasses the outer peripheral surface 20 of the hopper 2 and has pressing portions 41a, 41a at the bent corners of the forked ends. The two pressing portions 41a, 41a press two locations P, P in the vicinity of the lateral end of the ear portion 11ax in the vicinity of the perforations 15, thereby realizing close contact of the ear portion 11ax. . A pressing portion 42a is also provided at the tip of the lower support 42 along the direction of inclination of the bag 10, and the pressing portion 42a lightly presses the outside of the arc of the bag 10, thereby assisting the close contact of the ears 11ax. .

Mounting means for detachably replacing the hopper are screwed into notch portions 24b formed in at least two upper and lower portions of the pair of mounting portions 24 and threaded holes 33 provided at four locations in the vicinity of the blower portion. It has fixing means 24a such as screws and bolts. The notch portion 24b consists of a long hole 24b1 along the top and bottom and a horizontal notch 24b2 leading to the bottom thereof.

In the large-diameter hopper 2B shown in FIG. 4, the upper opening 21a of the hopper upper portion 21 is formed in an inclined shape that descends toward the operator side portion 22b. Since the small-diameter hopper 2A shown in FIG. 3 is for long fruits and vegetables such as green onions, even if the upper opening 21a is substantially horizontal, there is no problem in loading. Since the large-diameter hopper 2B is loaded with large leafy materials such as spinach, the inclination of the upper opening 21a facilitates the loading. Easy to drop.

Each hopper 2 has one large flap 71 and two small flaps 72 for guiding the fruits and vegetables V from the hopper 2 to the bag 10. - 特許庁The hopper 2 is formed with one first slit 26 and two second slits 27, into which a large flap 71 and a small flap 72 are inserted. The large flap 71 has a stepped neck 71c between the body 71a and the weight 71b. The small flap 72 also has a partially constricted notch 72c between the body 72a and the weight 72b. The main bodies 71a and 72a are always lifted by weights 71b and 72b, but when they come into contact with the fruits and vegetables V, they swing down and act as a bridge between them and the bag. Both the neck 71c and the notch 72c prevent both flaps 71 and 72 from falling out of the slits 26 and 27. FIG.

Here, the process of packaging the fruits and vegetables V will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, as shown in FIG. 6(a), with the supporting member 40 separated from the hopper 2, the plurality of packaging bag bundles 10x are attached to the mounting pins 25 of the hopper 2 through the through holes 14 of the projecting portion 11a. Install by hanging each. At this time, the packaging bag 10 is suspended in the vertical direction Z by the first film 11 , and the bag opening 10 a is positioned directly below the lower opening of the hopper 2 . Here, the packaging bag 10 is tilted so as to be in close contact with the blower side portion 22a of the outer peripheral surface 20 of the hopper 2, and the support 40 is rotated toward the hopper 2 as shown in FIG. drive. As a result, the upper support member 41 presses and holds the portions P, P near the ends of the ear portions 11ax of the bundle of packaging bags 10x at the lower portion 22 of the hopper 2 by pressing the previous pressing portions 41a, 41a against the blower side portion 22a. do. A pressing portion may be further provided inside between P and P.

Next, the fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus 1 is turned on, and the blower 5 a of the air blowing means 5 supplies the air B to the air blowing section 3 and discharges it from the discharge port 31 toward the lower portion 22 of the hopper 2 . The relationship between the lower part 22 of the hopper, the ears 11ax, the bag opening 10a and the perforations 15 is as shown in FIG. A ventilation cutout 28 is provided, and the ventilation path continues from the discharge port 31 of the air blowing part 3 and forms a cylindrical space in cooperation with a part of the hopper, and the ventilation cutout 28 and below. and a horizontal opening 34c is formed between the narrow hanging portion 34b and the hopper 2. Therefore, as shown in FIG. After blowing, the packaging bag 10 is obliquely inflated.

Then, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 6B , when the worker puts (drops) the fruits and vegetables V from the upper portion 21 of the hopper 2 , the fruits and vegetables V are guided in the vertical direction Z by the hopper 2 . Directly below the lower part 22 of the hopper 2, the bag opening 10a is opened by the wind B and guided by the two flaps 71 and 72, so that the packaging bag 10 can be smoothly filled with fruits and vegetables V. Then, the packaging bag 10 is cut at the perforations 15 by the weight of the fruits and vegetables V, and the next packaging bag 10 is opened by the wind B. In this way, if the worker puts in the fruits and vegetables V from the upper part 21 of the hopper 2, the put-in fruits and vegetables V are almost automatically put into the packaging bag 10, and the packaging is completed.

As shown in FIG. 7, when a large number of packaging bags 10 are detached from a state in which a large number of packaging bags 10 are set, ear portions 11ax become large, making it difficult for wind B to blow into bag openings 10a. In this case, the air volume of the blower 5a should be increased by the adjuster 5b. However, since the vent cutout 28 is provided and the lateral opening 34c is located close to the vent cutout 28, the wind can enter the bag opening 10a more easily, freeing the user from fine adjustment. Further, once the packaging bag 10 begins to inflate, the slanted posture is maintained by the force of the wind force, and the close contact of the ear portions 11ax is maintained.

When replacing the hopper 2, the fixing means 24a shown in FIG. 1 is loosened to remove the small diameter hopper 2A. Then, the hopper 2 as a whole is pushed into the notch 24b of the large-diameter hopper 2B from the horizontal notch 24b2 to the fixing means 24a, and is slid to the top of the elongated hole 24b1 along the top and bottom by its own weight, and the fixing means 24a is tightened. exchange is completed quickly. After that, the adjuster 5b is adjusted to adjust the air volume suitable for the diameter of the large-diameter hopper 2B.

Reference will now be made to the possibilities of other embodiments of the invention.
In the above-described embodiment, the two pressing portions 41a, 41a press the upper side of the perforations 15 at two locations P, P near the lateral ends of the ear portions 11ax. However, the bundle of packaging bags 10x may be pressed under the perforations 15 at two locations near the lateral ends, provided that the cut of the perforations 15 is not affected in the vicinity of the perforations 15 .
In the above embodiment, the fixing means 24a is composed of screws and bolts, but the same parts may be composed of a spring mechanism.
In addition, various modifications can be made to the elements of the present invention without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used not only for a fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus but also for packaging long objects other than fruits and vegetables, such as foliage and lumps.

1, 1′: fruit and vegetable packaging device, 2: hopper, 2A: small diameter hopper, 2B: large diameter hopper, 3: air blower, 4: device main body, 5: air blower, 5a: blower, 5b: regulator, 5b1: knob, 6: intake port, 7: fixing plate, 10, 10': packaging bag, 10x: packaging bag bundle, 10a: bag opening, 10b: inner surface, 11: first film, 11a: protrusion, 11ax : Selvage 12: Second film 14: Through hole 15: Perforation 20: Peripheral surface 21: Upper part 21a: Upper opening 22: Lower part 22a: Blower side part 22b: Operator Side portion 23: Notch 24: Mounting portion 24a: Fixing means (screw, bolt) 24b: Notch 25: Mounting pin 26: First slit 27: Second slit 28: Ventilation notch 31: outlet, 32: communicating portion, 32a: side surface, 33: screw hole, 34: hanging portion, 34a: wide hanging portion, 34b: narrow hanging portion, 34c: lateral opening, 34': projecting portion, 40 : support 41: upper support 41a: pressing portion 42: lower support 42a: pressing portion 43: bar-shaped portion 50: bag holding member 51: placement portion 51a: protrusion 51b: Notch portion 51z: straight side portion 52: holding portion 52a: notch portion 52b: mounting portion 52c: fixing means 52z: straight side portion 53: connecting portion 60: dispersion member 60a: opening 61 : main body portion 62: bent portion 63: slope 64: gap 71: large flap 71a: main body 71b: weight 71c: neck 72: small flap 72a: main body 72b: weight 72c: Incision, B: wind (airflow), V: fruits and vegetables, W: ventilation path, X: horizontal direction, Z: vertical direction

Claims (4)

A hopper that guides fruits and vegetables put in from the top to a packaging bag attached at the bottom, and a blower that supplies air to the bottom of the hopper with a blower, and the packaging bag protrudes from the bag opening. It has a projecting portion and an easy-to-cut portion above the bag opening, joins and bundles a plurality of packaging bags at the projecting portion to form a bag bundle, and attaches the projecting portion to the outer surface of the hopper to form the bag. In a fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus in which the opening is located at the lower end of the hopper,
The hopper is configured to be detachable and replaceable with one having a different diameter,
A regulator for adjusting the wind force of the blower is provided,
The hopper has a ventilation cutout at the lower end on the side of the blowing section that receives the wind from the blowing section, and forms a ventilation passage from the blowing section to the vicinity of the ventilation cutout, through which the wind is directed laterally. A fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus, wherein a lateral opening for discharging also is provided in the vicinity of the ventilation notch. The ventilation passage includes a wide hanging portion that continues from the air blowing portion and forms a cylindrical space together with a part of the hopper, and a narrow hanging portion that continues below the vicinity of the ventilation notch, and the width 2. The fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a lateral opening is formed between the narrow hanging portion and the hopper. In some of the plurality of hoppers, a worker-side portion of the hopper is substantially vertical, and an upper opening of the upper portion of the hopper is formed in an inclined shape that descends toward the worker-side portion. Item 3. The fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus according to Item 1 or 2. The attachment means for detachably replacing the hopper has ventilation notches formed in at least two upper and lower locations in a pair of attachment portions, respectively, and fixing means provided in at least four locations near the air blower. The fruit and vegetable packaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the notch comprises an elongated hole along the top and bottom and a transverse notch leading to the lower part of the notch.

Images