JPH01317583A - Fruit and vegetable selector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make classified sorting easy by providing a transparent sheet which spreads over an optical detection section consisting of a light projection and a light receiving part in such a manner that said sheet is fed to the optical detection section. CONSTITUTION:Burdocks to be supplied from conveyors 2, 3 are placed on the receiving trays 9, 9 of a selection conveyor 1. In a measurement section 14, the diameter and length of each burdock are measured and are compared with prestored classification data. Thus classification positions 34, 34... can be designated in a discharge section 33. The burdock immediately after measurement has the head and root part cut by a disk cutter, and the leaf and part of the head and root part removed by cutting. If the dirt sticking to the burdock in the measurement section 14 falls and piles up on the transparent sheet 20 during selection operation, the rotation of a takeup motor 22 is automatically control led by the output of a detector itself while any abnormal condition is estimated. Consequently, measurement for selection can be continued and the selection be performed efficiently.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a vegetable sorting machine, and can be used for a sorting machine for long vegetables such as burdock.

[Prior Art and Problems to be Solved by the Invention] For example, the burdock sorter detects the length and thickness using an optical detector or the like, sorts the burdock into predetermined classes, and discharges the burdock to a predetermined discharge location. At this time, the photoelectric detector, which consists of a light projecting part and a light emitting part, must be placed above and below the object to be measured. It was difficult to obtain satisfactory measurement results because continuous measurements could not be maintained because they were easily soiled due to exposure to the like.

[Means to solve the problem]

For this reason, the present invention provides a method for receiving a classification command signal based on a total of 81 results from the class measurement unit 14 such as length or thickness while transporting fruits, vegetables, etc., and taking out the fruits and vegetables to a specified position. Light projecting parts L1 to L and light receiving parts Q□ to Q, which are located above and below the measuring part 14, sandwiching vegetables etc. to be transferred.
A transparent sheet 20 is stretched between the vegetables, etc. to be measured and the lower detection section so as to be extendable in a direction perpendicular to the direction of conveying the vegetables, etc. It is configured as a vegetable sorting machine.

[Operation and effect of the invention]

When vegetables, etc. on the sorting conveyor reach a measuring section during transport, their length, thickness, etc. are detected by an optical detector consisting of a light projecting section and a light receiving section. That is, it can be determined which range corresponds to the preset length range depending on which range the object to be measured is detected by the detectors arranged at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction.
Sorted into length classes such as L, M, and S. Also, check with the above detector.

The thickness can be measured based on the time known, and this is also LL-S.
Class selection can be done.

In the detection operation of such an optical detector, the irradiated light from the light emitter can pass through the transparent sheet and reach the light receiver, but if mud, etc. from the object to be measured falls and accumulates, the passage of light is blocked. be done. If there is a risk of this light being blocked, it is a good idea to move the transparent sheet arbitrarily or based on the abnormality detection results and set a new sheet surface below the object to be measured. Measurements for sorting can be continued within a range that does not interfere with target detection operations.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of this invention will be described based on the drawings.

On the supply side of the longitudinally long sorting conveyor 1, inclined conveyors 2 and 3 for conveying burdock are provided in two upper and lower strips aligned with the transport direction of the sorting conveyor 1.

Of these, the lower inclined conveyor 2 has a guide frame 4 connected to the transfer start end of the sorting conveyor 1.

The upper inclined conveyor 3 is connected with a guide frame 5 that can be connected to a slightly lower side of the sorting conveyor 1 in the transport direction, and has a structure in which burdock is placed and supplied at two locations on the supply side of the sorting conveyor 1. Incidentally, these inclined conveyors 2 and 3 are constituted by a plurality of V-belt conveyors.

The sorting conveyor 1 has receivers 9, 9, formed in a V-shaped rim at appropriate intervals on the left and right, on support shafts 8, 8, which hang between the transfer chenos 6°7 at both ends, and collars 10. They are disposed at appropriate intervals through the holes 10 and 10, so that the object to be sorted (in this embodiment, burdock) can be placed and transferred sideways. Support pins 11 and 12 are provided protruding from the support shaft 8 and the support 9 at the end, and the support pins 11 and 12 are moved along the rails 13 and 13 fixed to the frame side.
．． 9 is a configuration capable of maintaining a horizontal posture.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a measuring section, which includes an outer diameter detecting section 15 that measures the diameter at two locations at a certain distance from a reference point of the root head that is in contact with the leaf part of the burdock that is transferred on the sorting conveyor 1; The length detecting section 16 detects to which range of a plurality of preset lengths the dimension from . Of these, the outer diameter detection section 15 includes a light emitting section L□lL2 fixed to the upper frame 17 and a light receiving section QltΩ2 fixed to the lower frame 18 so as to be located below the burdock transfer line of the sorting conveyor 1. Constructed as a pair,
Each pair of detection units is configured to be able to detect the thickness of a burdock according to the cutoff time of one passing burdock. In addition, a reference detector 19 consisting of a transmitter/receiver of the same type and Q is arranged in the range where the burdock cannot pass, and the time required for the reference length is detected by interrupting the support shaft 8. The thickness of the burdock can be calculated from the relationship between the axis 8 cutoff time and the burdock cutoff time.

The length detector 16 includes projector/receiver units L3 to L, Q, to L (six pairs in case of rotation) which are set apart from the burdock at a predetermined interval.
The upper and lower frames 17 and 18 are similar to the thickness detector 15 above.
It is fixedly installed. The length range is determined depending on which light receiver receives the irradiated light from the light projector.

They are ranked as 3L, 2L, L, M, S, and so on.

20 is a transparent sheet stretched so as to cover the upper surfaces of the lower light receivers a, ~Q, and Q, and is supported by left and right rollers 21, 21, and one end is connected to the winding motor 22, and the base The end portion is wound and held on a take-up roller 23 over a predetermined length. The winding motor 22 is connected to the length or thickness detector 15.
Or, if any of the 16 light receivers continues to be unable to receive the irradiated light from the projector, that is, if an abnormal state caused by staining of the transparent sheet 20 continues, for a predetermined period of time 1, for example, between the left and right rollers 21, 21. It is configured to automatically rotate in the normal direction for the time it takes to reel out the appropriate length.

24 is a cutter portion which is configured to cut the leaf portion by acting on a position corresponding to the reference point of the root head;
The disk cutter 26 fixedly provided at the end of the drive shaft 25 is positioned between the receptors 9a and 9b, which have a short distance between them, so as to be able to act on the root head of the burdock root. Receptor 9,9
Two places 9b and 9c near the inside of the disk cutter 26 of...
A suppressing belt 27, 27 having a circular cross section and moving at substantially the same speed as the sorting conveyor 1 is disposed at. This belt 27.27 is attached to the front and rear drive pulleys 28. It is tensioned by the driven pulley 29 and tension pulleys 31, 31 located above and below, which are both integrally swingable around the support shaft 30 of the driving pulley 28. Reference numeral 32 denotes a pressing spring that always urges the belt 27 toward the burdock pressing side.

Reference numeral 33 denotes a discharge section which receives the classification command signal from the measuring section and takes out the burdock for each class.
It consists of a classification solenoid (not shown) installed at 16 locations (for rotation) and a rail (not shown) supported immovably and reversibly. The solenoid is activated, the rail supporting the support bin 11 is lowered, the receivers 9 are rotated in the direction of the arrow, and the burdock, which is the object to be transported, is dropped downward.

The action of the upper side will be explained.

The burdock with leaves supplied from the inclined conveyor 2.3 is placed one by one on the receptacles 9, 9 of the sorting conveyor 1 by a worker on the workbench, with the root end facing you and the tail end facing you. It will be posted as

The measuring section 14 measures the diameter and length of each burdock, and a control section (not shown in Figure 1) compares this data with pre-stored class divisions to specify the classification position 34, 34, etc. in the discharge section 33.

Immediately after measurement, the root part of the burdock root is cut off by a disc cutter 26, and the leaf and part of the root part are cut off and removed. By the suppressing belts 27, 27, the burdock root is held in two places on the root side, making it easy to cut with the disc cutter 26, and it is also possible to easily follow objects with different diameters.

The control unit monitors the distance traveled by the burdock from the measurement unit 14, and when it detects that it has reached a predetermined discharge position, it outputs a classification command signal and operates a predetermined classification solenoid to move the burdock to the receiver 9.9. ... rotates about 90'.

The burdock falls downward and the amount of inclination is received by the frame 38 in a state where the root part side is partially removed.

During the above-mentioned sorting work, if mud etc. adhering to the burdock falls down and accumulates on the transparent sheet 20 in the measuring section 14, the light receiver will not be able to receive the prescribed irradiation light continuously, that is, it will not be properly irradiated. However, this situation is automatically detected and the first winding section 22 is rotated in the normal direction for a predetermined period of time, and a new sheet section is fed out from the winding roller 23 to prevent detection. It is possible to return to a state where there is no.

In this embodiment, the rotation control of the take-up motor 22 is automatically performed while estimating an abnormal state based on the output of the detector itself. Alternatively, separate drive switches may be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figures show one embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a front sectional view of the main part, Fig. 2 is a side view thereof, Fig. 3 is an overall side view,
FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of a portion thereof, FIG. 5 is a front sectional view of the cut portion, and FIG. 6 is a side view thereof. In the figure, 1 is a sorting conveyor, 4 and 5 are transfer chenos, and 9.9
. . . is the receiver, 11.12 is the support pin, 14 is the measurement section, 15 is the outer diameter detection section, 16 is the length detection section, 20 is the transparent sheet, 21 and 21 are the rollers, and 22 is the winding motor. , 23 is a take-up roller, 33 is a discharge section, and 34, 34, . . . are classification positions.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a device that receives a classification command signal based on measurement results such as length or thickness from the class measuring section 14 while loading and transporting fruits, vegetables, etc., the measuring section 14
The light emitting part L_ is located above and below the vegetables etc. that are being transferred.
1 to L_8 and light receiving parts l_1 to l_8, and between the vegetables, etc. to be measured and the lower detection part, there is a transparent sheet that can be fed out in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the vegetables, etc. are transported. Fruit/vegetable sorting machine with 20 installed.