JPH042314B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a color sorting machine that eliminates defective products from rice grains and other granular raw materials to be sorted.

Examples of conventional color sorting machines include those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. That is, this color sorter 1 mainly uses raw materials to be sorted (hereinafter simply referred to as raw materials) 2.
an inlet hopper 3 for feeding raw materials, an electromagnetic feeder (conveyor) 4 for adjusting and averaging the flow rate, a gutter-shaped first chute 5 for dropping raw materials, a lamp house section 6 for inspection and sorting, and a second chute for taking out non-defective products. It consists of chute 7, etc. The inner surface of the lamp house section 6 is painted white, and inside there is a lamp 8, a photo sensor 9 as an optical detection means, an ejector 10 as a high-speed air gun, and a back ground for reference color determination for determining good and defective products. 11 etc. are provided. Reference numeral 12 denotes a control box for electronically controlling the operation of the entire apparatus.

In such a conventional color sorter 1, the raw material 2 is first charged into the inlet dropper 3, and then fed to the first chute 5 at a predetermined speed by the electromagnetic feeder 4. The raw material 2 slides down the first chute 5 and becomes a falling flow F that passes between the photo sensor 9 and the background 11 and advances toward the second chute 7 while being gradually accelerated. Lamp 8 in lamp house section 6
illuminates the falling raw material 2, the photo sensor 9 detects the reflected light from both the front and back surfaces of the raw material 2, and the electronic circuit in the control box 12 compares the light with the reference color of the background 11 to determine the color of the raw material 2. I am trying to judge whether it is good or bad. As a result of the determination, compressed air is blown from the ejector 10 to the particles 2a in the raw material 2 that are determined to be defective, and the defective particles 2a are blown out of the falling flow F of the raw material 2. The defective product is removed from the defective product outlet 13.
On the other hand, the grains 2b determined to be non-defective pass through the front of the ejector 10 as they are and are taken out from the second chute 7.

However, such a conventional color sorter 1
In this case, an ejector 10 using compressed air is used to remove the defective particles 2a from the falling flow F of the raw material 2.
The number of times that the ejector 10 can be operated per unit time is considerably smaller than the number of times that the photo sensor 9 as an optical detection means can be detected per unit time. Since there were cases where the parts were overlooked, it was not possible to greatly increase the sorting efficiency in one sorting operation. Further, the compressed air blown out from the ejector 10 may contain moisture, and the raw material 2 may absorb this moisture and deteriorate in quality.

Therefore, the present applicant has separately applied for a technology for color sorting using an electrostatic field, but this invention was developed with the intention of further improving the sorting efficiency, and specifically, it is aimed at improving the sorting efficiency. an optical detection means for detecting defective raw materials to be sorted from a falling flow of the sorting raw materials; a plurality of acicular discharge electrodes that discharge electricity in conjunction with the optical detection means to charge the defective raw materials to be sorted; Equipped with a plate-shaped electrode that faces the electrode to form an electrostatic field, attracts electrically charged defective raw materials to be sorted, and removes them from the falling flow, and detects defective raw materials to be sorted and removes them from the falling flow. In the color sorter, the falling flow is faced with partition walls dividing each row in the width direction of the flow, and the needle-shaped discharge electrode and the plate-shaped electrode are respectively provided between each partition wall. It is an object of the present invention to provide a color sorter that can selectively form an electrostatic field between partition walls.

The details of this invention will be explained below based on the drawings. In the following description, parts that are the same or similar to those in the prior art are given the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

FIGS. 3 to 6 are diagrams showing an embodiment of the present invention. First, to explain the configuration, the feeder 4 is provided with a plurality of passages T at the end thereof, which allow the raw material 2 to pass one grain at a time so that the raw material 2 falls in a substantially straight line. The raw materials 2 fall freely in a substantially aligned state, become a falling flow F, and enter the lamp house section 6. Inside the lamp house section 6, an image sensor 20 as an optical detection means and a plurality of partition walls 21 that partition the falling flow F into rows of raw materials 2 in the width direction W of the flow are arranged. The existence of this partition wall 21 is a major feature of this invention, and each partition wall 2
1, a discharge occurs in conjunction with the detection of the defective particles 2a by the image sensor 20, and the defective particles 2a
a needle-like discharge electrode 22 for charging the particles, and a plate-like electrode 2 facing the needle-like discharge electrode 22 for attracting the charged defective particles 2a and discharging them out of the falling flow F.
3 are provided respectively. These needle-shaped discharge electrodes 22 and plate-shaped electrodes 23 are connected to the image sensor 20 via the control box 12 and connected to a high-voltage power source 24 that applies a high voltage for discharging to the needle-shaped discharge electrodes 22. The electrodes 22 are connected to each other so that an electrostatic field S can be selectively formed between the plurality of partition walls 21 by the discharge of the needle-like discharge electrodes 22.

The image sensor 20 is a so-called CCD image sensor equipped with a phototube or a photomultiplier using a photoelectronic semiconductor device (CCD), for example, and senses the "color" of the raw material 2, and detects the falling flow using the control box 12. This is to detect defective particles 2a in F. This image sensor 20
The detection of the defective particles 2a by
The detection is performed on a plurality of raw materials 2 (hereinafter referred to as detected raw materials group A).
Note that the sensing operation period of this image sensor 20 is performed in an extremely short period of several milliseconds.

The partition walls 21 face the falling flow F on the downstream side of the image sensor 20, and each row of falling raw materials 2 passes between these partition walls 21. In addition, the partition walls 21 are made of a conductive resin material with antistatic property, and the influence of the electrostatic field S formed between the needle-shaped discharge electrodes 22 and the plate-shaped electrodes 23 between the partition walls 21 is suppressed by the other partition walls. It is divided into sections so that it does not extend over 21 days.

A needle discharge electrode 22 provided between each partition wall 21
are held by an insulator wall 25 attached to the partition wall 21, and when the image sensor 20 detects the defective particles 2a, a high voltage is applied from the high-voltage power source 24 to instantly detect the defective particles 2a. grains 2a of
It is something that charges up. Under the control of the control box 12, the application from the high voltage power supply 24 is applied only to the needle-shaped discharge electrodes 22 provided between the partition walls 21 through which the defective particles 2a pass.
This is done at the same time that the defective particles 2a enter between the partition walls 21. That is, detected raw material group A
No voltage is applied to the acicular discharge electrodes 22 provided between the partition walls 21 through which the particles 2b determined to be non-defective pass through, and the particles 2b which are non-defective are allowed to pass between the partitions 21 as they are. It is set as.

The plate-shaped electrode 23 faces the needle-shaped discharge electrode 22 as described above, and the plate-shaped electrode 23 attracts the defective particles 2a that have been charged by the discharge of the needle-shaped discharge electrode 22. The falling direction is changed in order to eliminate the falling flow F. In addition, the plate-shaped electrode 23 is made of a conductive resin material with antistatic properties, similar to the partition wall 21, to prevent it from being charged with static electricity due to the discharge of the needle-shaped discharge electrode 22, and to prevent it from being charged with static electricity by the discharge of the needle-shaped discharge electrode 22. etc. adhesion is prevented as much as possible.

Next, the action will be explained.

The raw material 2, which has become a falling flow F through the passage T of the electromagnetic feeder 4, freely falls into the interior of the lamp house section 6. When the raw material 2 enters the lamp house section 6, the image sensor 20 senses the "color" of the raw material 2 in the detected raw material group A, and outputs a sensing signal to the control box 12.

When the control box 12 receives the sensing signal from the image sensor 20, the control box 12 detects the detected raw material group A.
It is determined whether or not defective particles 2a exist in the detected raw material group A before the particles reach between the partition walls 21.
When a defective particle 2a is detected, the high-voltage power source 24 is driven, and a high voltage is applied to the needle discharge electrode 22 provided between the partition walls 21 through which the detected defective particle 2a is to pass. is applied selectively. Then, the selected acicular discharge electrode 22 discharges and charges the defective particles 2a. At the same time as the needle discharge electrode 22 discharges, an electrostatic field S is instantaneously formed between the partition walls 21 where the needle discharge electrode 22 is provided, and the charged defective particles 2a move towards the plate electrode 23 side. , the falling direction changes, and it is removed outside the falling flow F. The rejected defective particles 2a are
The grains 2b that are taken out from the defective product outlet 13 and determined to be good, continue to fall freely,
It is taken out from the second chute 7.

In the illustrated example, four rows of falling flows F ₁ , F ₂ ,
There are F ₃ and F ₄ , and in the detected raw material group A in the detection zone Z, defective particles 2a are present only in the falling flow of F ₂ and F ₃ , and in the case of the partition wall 21. falling current
The needle-shaped discharge electrode 22 and plate-shaped electrode 23 corresponding only to F ₂ and F ₃ function to form an electrostatic field S between the partition walls 21 as shown in FIG.
They are excluded from F ₂ and F ₃ respectively.

With the configuration described above, this invention enables removal of defective materials to be sorted by electrical processing, and greatly increases the number of times defective materials can be removed in one sorting process. Of course, only the material to be sorted that has entered between the partition walls dividing each falling flow in the width direction of the flow is charged by the discharge of the needle-shaped discharge electrode and sucked by the plate-shaped electrode.・Since we have made it possible to eliminate non-defective products,
It is possible to eliminate only the raw materials to be sorted that are defective from the group of raw materials to be detected, without eliminating the entire group of raw materials to be detected within the detection zone by mixing them with defective products, resulting in accurate, highly efficient, and high-yield sorting. This has the effect of greatly increasing the sorting function. Of course, since compressed air is not used, it is impossible for the raw material to be sorted to absorb moisture, and there is no deterioration due to moisture.Furthermore, the raw material to be sorted can be accurately detected by simply dropping and entering between the partition walls. Since only the raw material to be sorted can be removed, the large number of chute that would have been required in the past to achieve the same effect is no longer necessary, which also has the effect of making the equipment more compact. It will be done.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a conventional color sorter, Fig. 2 is an enlarged explanatory view of the main parts in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3
FIG. 4 is an enlarged explanatory view of the main part corresponding to FIG. 2 showing an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a perspective explanatory view showing a state in which defective materials to be sorted are removed in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3; FIG. 5 is an enlarged explanatory diagram showing the sensing of the raw material to be sorted by an image sensor, and FIG. 6 is an enlarged explanatory diagram showing the suction state of the defective raw material to be sorted as seen from the direction of the arrow in FIG. be. 1...Color sorter, 2...Raw material to be sorted, 2a...
...Defective particles, 5... Shoot, 20... Image sensor [optical detection means], 21... Partition wall, 2
2...Acicular discharge electrode, 23...Plate electrode, F...Falling flow, S...Electrostatic field.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Optical detection means for detecting defective materials to be sorted from a falling flow of granular materials to be sorted, and a plurality of optical detection means for discharging in conjunction with the optical detection means and charging the defective materials for sorting. comprising a needle-shaped discharge electrode, and a plate-shaped electrode that faces the needle-shaped discharge electrode to form an electrostatic field, attracts charged defective materials to be sorted, and expels them out of the falling flow;
In a color sorter that detects defective materials to be sorted and removes them from the falling stream, the falling stream is faced with partition walls dividing each row in the width direction of the flow, and between each partition wall, A color sorting machine characterized in that the needle-shaped discharge electrode and the plate-shaped electrode are respectively provided so that an electrostatic field can be selectively formed between the partition walls.