JPH0228298B2 - KONBEYAGATANOCHANAMAHAKANRISOCHINIOKERUSEIYOSEKISAIHOHOOYOBISOCHI - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for loading green tea leaves in a conveyor-type tea leaf management device that stores a large amount of fresh tea leaves while maintaining their freshness and sequentially feeds the leaves to a tea manufacturing line. be.

Conventionally, the loading method was disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 58-193621,
In addition, the loading device is Utility Model No. 58-12522, Utility Model Application No. 58
-There is one disclosed in No. 170945.

However, with these loading methods and loading devices, fresh leaves are loaded from one point at the rear end of the storage surface conveyor, and the fresh leaves are stored in the order they arrive at the tea factory, and the tea leaves are processed in the order in which they are stored first. It was based on a first-in, first-out philosophy.

This first-in, first-out concept focused on producing high-quality tea by sequentially processing fresh leaves before they lost their freshness, and was extremely effective for producing high-priced tea leaves during the first tea season. As green tea leaf management devices became more widespread, it became clear that the first-in, first-out approach alone could not cope with the bancha season, when extremely large quantities of fresh leaves were brought in all at once.

The first is that when an unexpected large amount of fresh leaves arrives at the same time, the storage surface conveyor already has a stacked layer of fresh leaves that arrived earlier, so it is necessary to move this back and forth. Therefore, it is not possible to immediately increase the amount of fresh leaves that have arrived.

Second, during the first tea season, the tea price can be kept higher by carefully adjusting the tea manufacturing conditions according to the characteristics such as the variety and quality of the fresh leaves. It could be said that it was a highlight, but during the bancha season, the amount that needs to be processed is extremely large and concentrated at one time, so there is not enough time, and no matter how much you adjust the tea manufacturing conditions, it does not contribute much to the rise in tea prices. Therefore, during this period, all tea production tends to be processed under the same conditions.

However, if all the fresh leaves sent sequentially from the storage surface conveyor are processed under the same tea-making conditions, if the fresh leaves happen to have properties that match the tea-making conditions, then a product tea can be made, but if the fresh leaves do not meet the tea-making conditions, the result will be poor. The result will be extremely poor.

In other words, adjusting the tea manufacturing conditions during the bancha season is unlikely to pay off, and yet, once such efforts are neglected, tea prices will plummet.

Furthermore, large-scale tea factories that have many conveyor-type tea leaf management devices are operated jointly by a large number of tea farmers, and the characteristics of the fresh leaves collected differ from those picked at the same time. This problem is becoming more and more serious as there are a wide range of differences.

Therefore, the present invention was made to solve the above-mentioned two major drawbacks of the conventional method, and is based on a completely different idea from the first-in, first-out idea. This idea is based on the idea of actively mixing the leaves, storing them, and feeding them as fresh leaves with average properties.

Therefore, first, the apparatus of the present invention will be explained, and then the method of the present invention will be explained.

1 is the main body of the tea leaf management device, 2 is a machine frame thereof, 3 is an air-permeable storage surface conveyor that circulates at the lower side of the machine frame and is constructed by connecting a large number of caterpillar plates 4, and 5 and 6 are Longitudinal side walls and a rear end wall erected on the storage surface conveyor to constitute a storage tank;
7 is a humidifying blower device that sends air to the blower case 8 provided at the lower side of the storage surface conveyor 3; 9 is a leveling device; 1
0 is a scraping device, and 11 is a drive unit that drives the storage surface conveyor 3.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a transport machine that continues to the next process, a tea steamer, and is arranged below the inclined front end of the storage surface conveyor 3.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a gate-shaped rail support installed at several locations on the machine frame, and reference numeral 14 represents a rail suspended from the support 13 above the central longitudinal direction of the storage surface conveyor 3 extending from the rear end to the front end.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a running frame having a length approximately half that of the storage surface conveyor 3, and a running roller 1 pivotally supported on its upper side.
6 engages the rail 14 and depends thereon.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a relatively narrow distribution transport belt, similar to a normal transport belt, which is stretched over the front and rear ends of the traveling frame 15, and is driven by a deceleration motor 18 so as to freely circulate in forward and reverse directions.

Reference numeral 19 denotes an underframe suspended from the lower side of the traveling frame 15 below both the front and rear delivery ends of the distribution transport belt 17. Both underframes 19
In this case, the swing frame 20 is pivoted 21 slightly ahead of the delivery end of the distribution transport belt 17.

22 is a small crank rod that is pivotally attached to the output shaft of the reducer fixed on the oscillating frame 20 that is slightly eccentric from the pivot point 21; 23 is a small crank rod that has its swinging end pivoted to the small crank rod 22; A large crank rod whose swinging center end is pivotally attached to the underframe 19.

Reference numerals 24a and 24b are spreading transport belts stretched over the front and rear ends of the oscillating frame 20, which have approximately the same width as the distribution transport belt 17, and both rise slightly toward the front. The delivery end of the transport belt 24a is connected to the transport belt 1 for distribution so as to fold back the transport belt 17 for distribution.
Located below 7.

Reference numeral 25 denotes a motor that circulates the dispersing transport belt downward and rotates the small crank rod 22 to swing the dispersing transport belts 24a, 24b together with the swing frame 20 from side to side.

Reference numeral 26 denotes a chain installed over the half-way down of the rail 14, and one point of the chain is locked to one point of the traveling frame 15 26'.

27 is the traveling frame 1 by driving the chain 26.
5 is a motor that reciprocates back and forth.

Reference numeral 28 indicates a tea leaf sensing switch that detects the fresh leaf layer hanging down from the rear lower end of the underframe 19, and 29a and 29b are limit switches provided at the front and rear ends of the rail 14, respectively.

Reference numeral 30 denotes a leaf feeding transport belt disposed approximately in the center of the rail 14, which supplies fresh leaves one after another to the sorting transport belt 17.

Therefore, first, to explain each movement individually, when the motor 27 is rotated in the normal direction, the chain 26 is rotated in the normal direction.
The traveling frame 15, which is locked at one point 26', advances integrally with both underframes 19. When a part of the traveling frame 15 comes into contact with the front limit switch 29a, the electric circuit is switched and the motor 27.
The chain 26 is reversed and the traveling frame 15 is moved backward.
Then, when it comes into contact with the rear limit switch 29b, the rail 14 moves forward again, repeating this operation, thereby reciprocating the rail 14 back and forth together with both underframes 19.

When the deceleration motor 18 is rotated forward, the distribution transport zone 1
7 circulates forward to transport the fresh leaves to the forward transport zone 24a for dispersion, and when reversed, circulates in the reverse direction to transport the fresh leaves to the transport belt 24b for dispersion at the rear.

When the motor 25 is rotated, the small crank rod 22 rotates, and as a result, the large crank rod 23 swings.
The swinging frame 20 swings left and right, and the transportation belt 24 for spraying
It circulates downward, that is, backward.

Therefore, each motor 18, 25, 27 is started, and the fresh leaves are transferred from the leaf feeding transport belt 30 to the transport belt 1 for sorting.
7, the fresh leaves are first conveyed onto the front or rear spreading conveyor belts 24a, 24b, and then are conveyed in the width direction of the storage surface conveyor 3 so as to water the road with water from the spreading conveyor belt. While being spread out, it is distributed in a thin layer in the longitudinal direction of the storage surface conveyor 3.

Traveling frame 15 is limit switch 29a, 29b
By repeatedly moving forward and backward in contact with
The sheets are stacked one after the other on top of each other.

Furthermore, if there is a place where fresh leaves are already loaded to a desired height, the tea leaf sensing switch 28 detects this, and the leaf feeding conveyance belt 30 motors 18, 25 are stopped, and only the scattering and feeding of fresh leaves is stopped. .

In other words, the relatively narrow spreading transport belt is circulated and swung from side to side to spread the fresh leaves in the width direction of the storage surface conveyor, and at the same time, the entire belt is reciprocated along the central longitudinal axis of the storage surface conveyor. The leaves are spread and fed in such a way that they are sequentially folded in the longitudinal direction, and the fresh leaves are stacked so that they are stacked one above the other to form layers with the fresh leaves thrown in at as different times as possible.

According to this loading method, in the vertical direction at the same longitudinal position of the storage tank, the possibility of loading fresh leaves with different properties increases by the difference in time it takes for the swing frame 20 to go there and return. Therefore, fresh leaves of the same species and quality that arrive at the same time are not put in all at once, but instead, fresh leaves of different species and different types are stacked in layers one above the other, resulting in a wide variety of fresh leaves arriving at the same time. When the fresh leaves are delivered from the storage surface conveyor, they are delivered as fresh leaves with average properties. Therefore, even if the subsequent tea manufacturing conditions are the same, a homogeneous product tea that is completely satisfactory can be produced.

In addition, since the transportation belt for dispersion reciprocates on the storage surface conveyor and spreads the leaves in a folded manner, as long as the fresh leaves do not overflow from the longitudinal side walls 5, any number of fresh leaves can be piled up on the previous loading surface. Can be done.

The above is the explanation of the first invention. However, in this loading method, it is not necessarily necessary to use a device provided with transport belts 24a and 24b for dispersion at the front and rear as in the above-mentioned embodiment of the device of the present invention. Even if there is only one scattering transport belt 24c as shown in the figure, it is possible to reciprocate back and forth between the feeding area on the storage surface conveyor 3 and to receive fresh leaves from the leaf feeding transport belt 30. Of course it's a good thing.

Next, two loading methods that specifically develop the first invention will be introduced using embodiments of the apparatus of the invention.

First, the traveling frame 15 is positioned at the front end of the forward and backward reciprocating range of the storage tank, and the deceleration motor 18 is rotated in the normal direction to circulate the fresh leaves in the direction in which the sorting transport belt 17 transports the fresh leaves to the forward spreading transport belt 24a. At the same time, motor 2
5 to swing the dispersion transport belts 24a and 24b left and right and circulate them.The motor 27 and chain 26 are reversed to integrally retreat the traveling frame 15 together with both underframes 19, and the leaf feeding transport belts are rotated. Fresh leaves are supplied from 30 to the sorting transport belt 17.

Then, the sorting transport belt 17 transports the fresh leaves to the forward spreading transport belt 24a, and
4a spreads and throws in the storage surface conveyor 3 while spreading in the width direction of the storage surface conveyor 3 while retreating from the front end of the input area to approximately the center.

When the traveling frame 15 reaches the rear end and a portion thereof contacts the rear limit switch 29b, the motor 27 rotates normally and the traveling frame 15 begins to move forward. Then, the spreading transport belt 24a folds back the fresh leaves to be spread from approximately the center toward the front end of the feeding area so as to be folded back at the center. Then, when the traveling frame 15 reaches the front end and contacts the front limit switch 29a,
The motor 27 reverses again and the traveling frame 15 retreats to continue loading by further folding.
This is repeated alternately, and the tea leaf sensing switch 28
When it senses that fresh leaves have been loaded to the desired height in the first half of the feeding area, it reverses the deceleration motor 18,
The sorting transport belt 17 transfers fresh leaves to the rear spreading transport belt 2.
It is circulated in the direction of conveyance to 4b. Then, the rear spraying transport belt 24b performs spraying while swinging from side to side, and during this time, the motor 27 continues to rotate forward and reverse alternately due to contact with the limit switches 29a and 29b, so that the rear spraying transport belt 24b The belt 24b is the front spraying transport belt 24 in the first half of the loading area.
Load fresh leaves into the second half of the feeding area as in a.

That is, the input area of the storage surface conveyor is divided into the first half and the second half, and fresh leaves are loaded in the order of arrows ~ in Fig. 5.

According to this loading method, even if the fresh leaves have not yet been collected enough to fill the entire storage tank, the fresh leaves can be mixed and averaged appropriately, and the fresh leaves can be easily received later. can also be dealt with with ease.

Next, to explain another specific method, first, the traveling frame 15 is positioned at the front end, and the deceleration motor 1
8 is rotated in the normal direction to circulate the fresh leaves in the direction in which the sorting transport belt 17 transports the fresh leaves to the forward spreading transport belt 24a. At the same time, the motor 25 is started to swing and circulate the dispersion transport belts 24a and 24b left and right, the motor 27 and the chain 26 are reversed, and the traveling frame 15 is integrally retreated together with both underframes 19.
Fresh leaves are supplied from the leaf feeding transport belt 30 to the sorting transport belt 17.

Then, the sorting transport belt 17 transports the fresh leaves to the forward spreading transport belt 24a, and
4a spreads and throws in the storage surface conveyor 3 while spreading in the width direction of the storage surface conveyor 3 while retreating from the front end of the input area to approximately the center.

When the traveling frame 15 reaches the rear end and contacts the rear limit switch 29b, the motor 27 rotates normally and the traveling frame 15 begins to move forward. At the same time, motor 18
is reversed so that the sorting transport belt 17 circulates the fresh leaves in the direction in which they are transported to the rear dispersing transport belt 24b.

Then, the rear scattering transport belt 24b receives fresh leaves from the sorting transport belt 17, and moves them forward from the rear end of the input area of the storage surface conveyor 3 to approximately the center, while spreading them across the width of the storage surface conveyor 3. Scatter and introduce while spreading in the direction. When the traveling frame 15 reaches the front end and comes into contact with the forward limit switch 29a, the motor 18 rotates normally again and the forward spreading transport belt 24a
The particles are again thrown back from the front end of the feeding area of the storage surface conveyor 3 to approximately the center, and are further spread and fed in a folded manner to continue loading. This is repeated alternately every time the traveling frame 15 contacts the limit switches 29a, 29b.

That is, fresh leaves are loaded successively in the first half and the second half of the input area of the storage surface conveyor in the order of arrows ~ in Fig. 6.

According to this loading method, when an extremely large amount of fresh leaves arrive at once, the loading height can be made the same over the entire input area of the storage surface conveyor, and the fresh leaves can be mixed and averaged most efficiently. Can be done.

By the way, if one scattering transport belt 24c reciprocates back and forth across the entire loading area of the storage tank surface conveyor 3 as shown in FIG. 4, fresh leaves can be loaded seamlessly into the longitudinal center of the storage tank. In the case of a method in which the sorting transport belt is supplied with fresh leaves from the leaf feeding transport belt and conveys them to the front and rear spraying transport belts, and then the front and rear spraying transport belts feed the leaves, a storage surface conveyor is used. If the storage tank is not moving, it will be impossible to load fresh leaves seamlessly in the longitudinal center of the storage tank.

To explain this based on FIG.
5 moves to the front end, its position is A, the rear limit is when the traveling frame 15 moves to the rear end, its position is B, and the forward limit where the rear spraying transport belt 24b can spray is the traveling frame 15. When the traveling frame 15 moves to the front end, the position is C, and the rear limit is the position D when the traveling frame 15 moves to the rear end.

In other words, fresh leaves are sprayed in sections I-Ro and H-A-N by either the front or rear spray transport belt, but fresh leaves are not sprayed into section Ro-Ha from any of the spray transport belts.

Therefore, in the second invention, in particular, the leaf feeding transport belt 30 is arranged approximately in the center of the forward and backward reciprocating range of the traveling frame 15, and when the traveling frame 15 reaches the front and rear ends, the spreading transport belts 24a, 24b The above-mentioned problem is solved by configuring the leaf feeder to directly face the delivery end of the leaf feeding transport belt 30.

This is because the action while the traveling frame 15 is reciprocating back and forth is exactly the same as the above-mentioned action in the first invention, but when the traveling frame 15 reaches the front and rear ends, the scattering transport belts 24a, 24b The fresh leaves are directly supplied from the leaf feeding transport belt 30 without going through the distribution transport belt 17, and the fresh leaves are scattered in the central area.

To explain this step by step with the drawings, in FIG. 8-1, the front spraying transport belt 24a, which receives fresh leaves from the sorting transport belt 17, sprays the leaves into the first half of the storage tank.

When the traveling frame 15 approaches the front end and a part of the rear spreading transport belt 24b faces the delivery end of the leaf feeding transport belt 30, as shown in FIG. 8-2, the front spreading transport belt 2
4a scatters some of the fresh leaves into the front end of the storage tank, and the rear spreading transport belt 24b spreads the remaining fresh leaves into the center of the storage tank.

When the traveling frame 15 reaches the front end as shown in FIG. 8-3, the rear scattering transport belt 24b scatters all the fresh leaves into the center of the storage tank.

In FIG. 8-4, the rear spraying transport belt 24b, which has received fresh leaves from the sorting transport belt 17, carries out the spraying in the latter half of the charging area of the storage tank.

When the traveling frame 15 approaches the rear end and a part of the front spreading transport belt 24a faces the delivery end of the leaf feeding transport belt 30, as shown in FIG. 8-5, the rear spreading transport belt 2
4b scatters some of the fresh leaves into the rear end of the storage tank, and the forward spreading transport belt 24a spreads the remaining fresh leaves into the center of the storage tank.

When the traveling frame 15 reaches the rear end as shown in FIG. 8-6, the spreading transport belt 24a in the front scatters all the fresh leaves into the center of the storage tank.

At this time, the fresh leaves to be sprayed are continuous with the fresh leaves stacked in the state shown in Fig. 8-3.

Therefore, according to the second invention, fresh leaves can be continuously loaded even in the center of the storage tank. This loading method is effective when the storage surface conveyor is not loaded at all yet.

In addition, in the device of the present invention, a rail is installed above the central longitudinal direction of the storage surface conveyor, and the rail has a relatively narrow width that is approximately half the length of the storage surface conveyor and is capable of free circulation in forward and reverse directions. A traveling frame with a distribution transport belt stretched thereon is provided so as to be able to reciprocate back and forth, and an underframe is suspended from the lower side of the traveling frame below both the front and rear delivery ends of the distribution transport belt, and an oscillating frame is attached to the underframe. It is supported by a shaft so that it can freely swing from side to side, and a relatively narrow transportation belt for dispersion is provided on the swing frame extending in front and behind the pivot point, and a swinging mechanism is linked to the swing frame.
On the other hand, since a fresh leaf loading device in a conveyor-type tea leaf management device is configured such that the delivery end of the leaf feeding transport belt faces the sorting transport belt, each of the methods of the present invention can be carried out, and fresh leaves can be mixed. It can be loaded as much as possible, it can be multiplied, and it can be loaded anywhere on the storage surface conveyor.

Moreover, since the traveling frame reciprocates only above the storage surface conveyor, the apparatus can be configured compactly.

As described above, according to the present invention, at the same position in the longitudinal direction of the storage surface conveyor, the fresh leaves that are introduced at different times as much as possible are folded to form vertical layers, and each tea producing farmer A mixture of fresh leaves brought in from different varieties and properties such as quality can be stacked on one side of the storage surface conveyor, and the leaves can be fed to the tea manufacturing line as fresh leaves with average properties.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 to 3 show examples of the apparatus of the present invention, where Figure 1 is a front view, Figure 2 is a plan view, Figure 3 is a perspective view of the main part, and Figure 4 is an example of the method of the first invention. 5 and 6 are explanatory diagrams showing the specific effects of the method of the first invention, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the effects solved by the method of the second invention. ,
8-1 to 8-6 are explanatory views for explaining the operation of the second invention method. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Main body, 3...Storage surface conveyor, 14...Rail, 15...Traveling frame, 17...Transportation belt for distribution, 19...
Underframe, 20... Swing frame, 21... Pivot support, 24a, 2
4b...Transportation zone for spraying, 30...Transportation zone for leaf feeding.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. When loading fresh leaves into a storage tank whose storage surface is a long and wide air permeable conveyor as long as the depth of the fresh leaf chamber of a tea factory, a relatively narrow transportation zone for dispersion is used. While circulating, the fresh leaves are swung from side to side to spread them in the width direction of the storage surface conveyor, and at the same time, the entire strip is reciprocated over the central longitudinal direction of the storage surface conveyor to be spread and thrown into the storage surface conveyor so as to be folded one after another in the longitudinal direction. , a method for loading fresh leaves in a conveyor-type tea leaf management device in which fresh leaves are loaded at different times as much as possible to form layers above and below. 2. When loading fresh leaves into a storage tank whose storage surface is a long and wide air permeable conveyor that is approximately the depth of the fresh leaf chamber of a tea factory, a relatively narrow conveyor that is approximately half the length of the storage surface conveyor is used. A sorting conveyance belt is arranged reciprocatingly on the central longitudinal axis of the storage surface conveyor, and spreading conveyance belts that swing left and right are provided below both the front and rear delivery ends of the sorting conveyor belt. The distribution conveyor belt and both dispersion conveyor belts are integrally reciprocated over the center longitudinal side of the storage surface conveyor while circulating and swinging from side to side, and the distribution conveyor belt is circulated forward or backward. Fresh leaves are supplied to the sorting conveyor belt from the leaf feeding conveyor belt located approximately in the longitudinal center of the storage surface conveyor, and the sorting conveyor conveys the fresh leaves to the front or rear spreading conveyor belt, where the fresh leaves are transported to the front or rear spreading conveyor belt. In the transportation zone, the fresh leaves are spread in the width direction of the storage surface conveyor and are spread in the longitudinal direction of the storage surface conveyor so that they are folded over one another in order, so that fresh leaves that are introduced at different times as much as possible form layers above and below. A conveyor-type fresh tea leaf management device that directly supplies fresh leaves from the leaf-feeding transportation zone to the dispersion transportation zone when loading and the integral movement direction of the sorting transportation zone and both spreading transportation zones is switched back and forth. Fresh leaf loading method. 3. A rail is erected above the central longitudinal axis of the storage surface conveyor, and a relatively narrow sorting transportation zone that is approximately half the length of the storage surface conveyor and capable of forward and reverse circulation is stretched over the rail. A running frame is installed so that it can freely reciprocate back and forth, and an underframe is suspended from the lower side of the running frame below both the front and rear delivery ends of the distribution transport belt, and a swinging frame is attached to the underframe on a shaft that can freely swing left and right. A relatively narrow transport belt for dispersing is provided on the oscillating frame, extending in front and behind the pivot point, and a swinging mechanism is linked to the swing frame. A fresh leaf loading device in a conveyor-type tea leaf management device with the delivery end facing out. 4. A patent in which the transport belt for leaf feeding is arranged approximately in the center of the forward and backward reciprocating range of the traveling frame, and the transport belt for dispersing directly faces the delivery end of the transport belt for leaf feeding when the traveling frame reaches the front and rear ends. A fresh leaf loading device in a conveyor-type tea leaf management device according to claim 3.