JPH05228445A - Apparatus for sorting vegetable and fruits - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce an installation area and the cost required in installation by simplifying a feed route while utilizing a vegetable and fruit sorting apparatus in the sorting of various vegetables and fruits. CONSTITUTION:In the case of high grade citrus fruits, a reversible conveyor D is forward operated (from the left to the right in a drawing) and the fruits from the pretreatment lines A parallelly arranged under a shape type fruit sorting line B are subjected to sorting treatment in the route of conveyor 46 - reversible conveyor D - wt. type fruit sorting line C - feed-out conveyor 35. In the case of medium-grade citrus fruits, the reversible conveyor D is reversely operated and the fruits from the pretreatment line A are subjected to sorting treatment in the route of vertical lifter 7 -shape type fruit sorting line B - taking-out conveyors 15, 19-reversible conveyor D - feed-out conveyors 33, 35. Since the reversible conveyor D is used in common, various sorting treatments can be performed in a small area.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for selecting fruits and vegetables for selecting various received fruits and vegetables according to color, scratch, shape, weight and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional vegetable and fruit sorting apparatus employs different configurations depending on the type of fruits and vegetables to be selected. For example, a sorting device for high-grade citrus fruits such as navel (hereinafter referred to as “high-grade citrus”) is connected to a pre-treatment line where the received fruits and vegetables should be washed and waxed, and a weight type sorting line for sorting fruits and vegetables by weight. In addition, another general citrus (hereinafter referred to as "normal citrus") sorting device has a configuration in which a pre-treatment line similar to the above is connected to a shape-type sorting line for sorting fruits and vegetables according to the shape. As described above, conventionally, since a separate sorting device is configured according to the type of fruits and vegetables to be sorted, it is not possible to handle various types and the device cannot be used efficiently, which causes a problem of unnecessarily increasing the sorting cost. was there.

[0003]

In order to solve this problem, therefore, all of the pretreatment lines, the shape-type sorting line and the weight-type sorting line similar to those described above are provided, and the discharge end of the pretreatment line is provided. It is conceivable that a switching device is provided in the device and selectively connected to the shape type selection line or the weight type selection line. However, in that case, in addition to the conveyors that feed the shape-type fruit selection line and the weight-type fruit selection line, it is necessary to also provide respective carry-out conveyors for the shape-type fruit selection line and the weight-type fruit selection line. The problem remains that the equipment construction cost is high.

[0004] Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve these problems and to provide a fruit and vegetable sorting apparatus which can be used for sorting various kinds of fruits and vegetables and which can further reduce the installation area and the installation cost by simplifying the transportation route. And

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object,
The fruit and vegetable sorting apparatus of the present invention is provided with a forward / reverse conveyor in parallel with the shape-type sorting line, the discharge end of the sorted fruit and vegetables of the shape-type sorting line is connected to the forward / reverse conveyor, and the forward / reverse conveyor is connected. The end side of the fruit and vegetable pretreatment line and the carry-out conveyor are switchably connected to one end, and the unsorted fruit and vegetable supply end of the weight type fruit selection line is connected to the other end of the forward and reverse rotation conveyor.

[0006]

In the present invention, when high-quality citrus is selected, the forward / reverse conveyor is normally rotated, and the fruits and vegetables discharged from the pretreatment line are supplied to the weight type sorting line by the forward / reverse conveyor. Further, in the case of selecting ordinary citrus, the forward / reverse conveyor is reversed, for example, and the fruits and vegetables discharged from the shape selection line are carried out by the same conveyor.

As described above, according to the present invention, by rotating a single forward / reverse conveyor in the forward / reverse direction, the conveyor can be commonly used for supplying to the weight type sorting line and carrying out from the shape type sorting line. Therefore, the installation area can be reduced and the installation cost can be reduced by simplifying the transportation route.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The fruit sorting facility for carrying out the present invention includes a first floor portion (not shown) including a cargo receiving area and a shipping area, and a second floor portion in which a shape type weight selecting line B and a weight type weight selecting line C are provided (see FIG. 1). According to the present invention, the apparatus for selecting fruits and vegetables according to the present invention is configured such that the shape-type fruit-sorting line B and the weight-type fruit-sorting line C are connected by a forward / reverse conveyer D or the like as described later. Further, the pretreatment line A is arranged in parallel below the shape selection line B (see FIG. 2).

In FIG. 1, a cargo receiving conveyor 42 extends from a cargo receiving area on the first floor (not shown) to the second floor. As shown in FIG. 3, an automatic damper 38 is connected in a cross shape to the middle of the cargo receiving conveyor 42, and
A box pushing device 45 for pushing the upper container toward the automatic damper 38 is provided.

A pretreatment line A is connected to the upper discharge side of the auto damper 38 via a conveyor 50 or the like. As shown in FIG. 2, the pretreatment line A includes a washing machine 2 for washing fruits and vegetables, a first dryer 3 including a blower fan, a waxing machine 4 for waxing fruits and vegetables, and a second drying machine for waxing fruits and vegetables. The dryer 5 is connected in order. At the end of the pretreatment line A, a vertical elevator 7 for raising the fruits and vegetables toward the starting end of the shape selection line B, and a conveyor 8 for conveying the fruits and vegetables in a direction orthogonal to the pretreatment line A. And a switching device 6 that is selectively connected to the vertical elevator 7 or the conveyor 8.

In FIG. 1, a shape-type sorting line B is a conveyor 1 in which a large number of keyboard-like rollable base plates are connected in series.
It is a so-called keyboard type consisting of 0 and 11 and an upper conveyor 12 which is parallel to above the conveyors 10 and 11, and a sorting work section 9 as a working space of a sorting worker is formed at the starting end thereof. The shape determining device 1 is provided in the vicinity of the end of the sorting work unit 9. This shape discrimination device 1
Is for photographing and outputting fruits and vegetables by image processing and grading the fruits and vegetables according to their shapes and sizes.

The upper end of the vertical elevator 7 is connected to the starting end of the shape-type sorting line B. .. are parallel product input ports, and the ends of the parallel product input ports 13, 13 ... Reference numerals 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 are drawer conveyors.

The end of the upper conveyor 12 is the conveyor 1.
0 and 11 are projected to the right side in the figure longer than the end portions, and drawer conveyors 23, 23 ... Are arranged below the protruding end portions, and the shape discrimination device 1 is provided near the drawer conveyors 23, 23. The same shape determination device 22 is installed in a span. In the shape-type sorting line B, the base plates of the conveyors 10 and 11 roll according to the discrimination output of the shape discriminating apparatus 1, and the upper conveyor 12 according to the discrimination output of the shape discriminating apparatus 22.
Each base plate of the rolls rolls the fruits and vegetables according to their ranks and shapes according to their shapes.
It is configured to discharge to one of the ... The weighing machines 20, 20 ... Are arranged at the end portions of the drawer conveyors 15 to 19.

The weight type selection line C provided in parallel with the shape type selection line B is a so-called column in which a plurality of rows of cups 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 on which individual fruits and vegetables are to be placed are arranged in parallel. It is of a cup type, and a sorting work section 25 is formed at the starting end thereof as a working space for a sorting operator. The weight type sorting line C individually measures the weight of fruits and vegetables by a weight detection unit (not shown) equipped in each cup,
According to the detected weight value, by rolling the cup at any position of the accommodating portions 44, 44 ... Formed around the weight type selection line C, the fruits and vegetables are discharged for each rank and for each weight. To configure.

Sorting work sections 9 and 25 for the respective sorting lines B and C
Then, the sorting workers visually check the supplied fruits and vegetables according to the appearance of the fruits and vegetables.
The grade selection work is performed by replacing each of the conveyors 10, 11, 12 or the cups 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 with each grade.

The weight receiving line C is connected to the starting end of the load receiving conveyor 42 and the load receiving conveyor 4 is connected.
An automatic damper 39 is provided to take out fruits and vegetables from the container above 2 and feed them to the weight type sorting line C.

Shape selection line B and weight selection line C
And a forward / reverse conveyer D, which is a drive type roller conveyer capable of forward / reverse, are provided in parallel, and in the middle of the forward / reverse conveyer D, the pull-out conveyer 1 of the shape-type sorting line B is provided.
5 to 19 and 23, 23 ...
At one end (left end in the drawing) of the forward / reverse conveyer D, a carry-out conveyer 33 that should carry out the fruits and vegetables after selection toward the shipping place on the first floor, and a conveyer 46 that reaches the vicinity of the end of the pretreatment line A, The switching device 51 enables selective connection.

On the other hand, the other end (right end in the figure) of the forward / reverse conveyer D is merged with the load receiving conveyer 42, and the load receiving conveyer 4 is connected.
It can be connected to the weight type sorting line C via 2. Around the vicinity of the right end of the forward / reverse conveyer D in the figure, temporary storage areas 37 and 38 for temporarily storing the transported containers are formed.

An empty container carrying conveyor 32, to which the empty container whose fruits and vegetables have been discharged by the automatic damper 38 should be transferred, is connected to the upper discharge side of the automatic damper 38. The empty container conveyor 32 is parallel to the upper side of the forward / reverse conveyor D, and its end portion 47 is arranged near the conveyor 46. Further, the empty container transfer conveyor 32 can be selectively connected to the container recovery conveyor 43 by the switching device 49.

Reference numerals 34 and 35 denote carry-out conveyors for carrying out the fruits and vegetables classified by the weight-type fruit-picking line C. The ends of the carry-out conveyors 34 and 33 are merged with the carry-out conveyor 35, and the carry-out conveyor 35 is also provided. The terminal part is connected to a shipping place (not shown) provided on the first floor.
36 is a box sealing machine.

Next, an example of a usage state of the fruit and vegetable sorting apparatus of this embodiment will be described. The fruit and vegetable sorting apparatus of this embodiment can perform the sorting work of high-grade citrus fruits, ordinary citrus fruits, and deciduous fruits such as persimmons and peaches, and the usage method thereof varies depending on the type of fruits and vegetables as follows. ..

First, the sorting process for sorting high-grade citrus will be described. For the selection of high-grade citrus, pretreatment line A
And the weight type selection line C is used for the selection step, and the shape type selection line B is not used. In FIG. 2, the switching device 6 preliminarily connects the end portion of the secondary dryer 5 and the conveyor 8 to each other, and in FIG. 1, the switching device 51 previously connects the conveyor 46 and the forward / reverse conveyor D to each other. Further, the forward / reverse conveyer D is driven in the forward direction, that is, the conveying direction is from left to right in FIG.

First, on the first floor, the fruits and vegetables that have been received are stored in a container, and the container is transferred to the receiving conveyor 42.
Is transported to the second floor, and the fruits and vegetables are taken out of the container by the box pushing device 45 and the auto damper 38 and supplied to the pretreatment line A. The empty container is carried by the empty container carrying conveyor 32 separately from the fruits and vegetables.

In the pretreatment line A, fruits and vegetables are washed by the washing machine 2, dried by the first dryer 3, waxed by the wax machine 4 and dried by the second dryer 5. The fruits and vegetables whose pretreatment process in the pretreatment line A is thus finished are
It is discharged by the conveyor 8. Here, as shown in FIG. 4, the worker 52 (see FIG. 1) standing by near the terminal end portion of the conveyor 8 moves to the terminal end portion 47 of the empty container transfer conveyor 32.
The container 48 conveyed to the container 8 is placed at the end of the conveyor 8 so that the fruits and vegetables discharged from the conveyor 8 are transferred to the container 4.
Store in 8. Next, the worker 52 places the container 48 containing fruits and vegetables on the conveyor 46. Therefore, the container 48 containing the fruits and vegetables is the conveyor 46 and the switching device 5.
It is supplied to the forward / reverse conveyer D via 1 and transferred. The containers transferred to the end of the forward / reverse conveyer D are temporarily accumulated in the temporary storage sites 40 and 41 manually.

Next, the containers are taken out from the temporary storage sites 40 and 41, placed on the cargo receiving conveyor 42, and the auto-damper 39
Transport to. The automatic damper 39 discharges fruits and vegetables from each container and supplies the fruits and vegetables to the sorting work section 25 of the weight type sorting line C. In the sorting work unit 25, a manual sorting work is performed, and the sorting worker sorts the fruits and vegetables into “normal” and “good”.
Classify into “excellent” and “excellent”, and place one on each of the cups 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 of each row according to the class. Each cup on which fruits and vegetables are placed rolls at a predetermined position for each rank and according to the weight of “S”, “M”, “L”, “2L”, and “3L”, and as a result, the fruits and vegetables are stored in each of the accommodating units 4
4, 44 ...

The fruits and vegetables thus stored according to class and weight are manually boxed in the storage sections 44, 44, ..., Transferred by the carry-out conveyors 34, 35, and sealed by the box-sealing machine 36. It is carried out to the shipping area (not shown) on the first floor, and the sorting process is completed.

Next, the sorting process when sorting ordinary citrus fruits other than high-grade citrus fruits will be described. In the selection of ordinary citrus, the pretreatment line A and the shape-type fruit selection line B are used, and the weight-type fruit selection line C is not used. Figure 2
In the above, the switching device 6 is used to connect the terminal end of the secondary dryer 5 and the vertical elevator 7 to each other in advance, and as shown in FIG.
And are connected. The forward / reverse conveyor D is driven in reverse, that is, the conveying direction is from right to left in FIG.

First, as in the case of the above-mentioned high-grade citrus, the received fruits and vegetables are supplied to the pretreatment line A through the cargo receiving conveyor 42 and the automatic damper 38 to perform the pretreatment process.

Next, the fruits and vegetables that have undergone the pretreatment process are supplied to the vertical elevator 7 via the switching device 6, and after being raised, are transferred to the starting end of the shape-type fruit sorting line B.

Next, in the selection work section 9, a manual class selection work is performed. In this sorting work unit 9, a sorting worker classifies fruits and vegetables into “average”, “good”, “excellent”, and “excellent”, and the “good” ones are classified by the conveyor 10,
The "excellent" ones are placed on the conveyor 11, the "excellent" ones are placed on the upper conveyor 12, and the "normal" ones are placed on the normal product inlet 1.
Throw in 3.

Conveyors 10 and 11 on which vegetables and fruits are placed,
12 is "S""M""L""2" for each class
Each of the L and "3L" shapes rolls at a predetermined position, and as a result, fruits and vegetables are stored in each of the drawer conveyors 15 to 19 or the drawer conveyors 23, 23, ....

The fruits and vegetables thus stored in each class and shape are manually weighed and boxed, and the forward / reverse conveyer D which is reversed as described above is used to carry out the conveyer 3
Transfer to 5. The transferred box is sealed by the sealing machine 36 and then carried out to the shipping site (not shown) on the first floor to complete the sorting process.

Next, a selection process for selecting deciduous fruits such as persimmons and peaches will be described. In the selection of the deciduous fruits, the selection process is performed using only the weight type selection line C, and the pretreatment line A and the shape type selection line B are not used.

That is, the fruits and vegetables that have been received on the first floor and housed in the container are transferred to the weight type sorting line C by the load receiving conveyor 42. The fruits and vegetables stored in the container are taken out to the sorting work section 25 by the throwing machine 39. In the sorting work unit 25, as in the case of the above-mentioned high-grade citrus, a manual sorting work is performed. That is, when a sorter classifies fruits and vegetables into “normal”, “good”, “excellent”, and “excellent” and places them one by one in each row of cups, the cups on which the fruits and vegetables are placed are For each rank, "S""M"
Each of the weights of “L”, “2L”, and “3L” rolls at a predetermined position, and as a result, fruits and vegetables are stored in any of the storage portions 44, 44 ,.

The fruits and vegetables thus stored according to class and weight are manually boxed in the storage sections 44, 44 ... And transferred by the carry-out conveyors 34, 35, and the box-sealing machine 36.
After sealing in, the product is carried out to the shipping place (not shown) on the first floor, and the sorting process is completed.

As described above, in the vegetable and fruit sorting apparatus of this embodiment, when sorting high-quality citrus, the forward / reverse conveyor D is normally rotated and the fruits and vegetables discharged from the pretreatment line A are forwarded by the forward / reverse conveyor D. Supply to the weight type sorting line C. Further, in the case of selecting ordinary citrus, the forward / reverse conveyer D is reversely rotated, and the fruits and vegetables discharged from the shape selection line B are carried out by the forward / reverse conveyer D and the carry-out conveyers 33 and 35.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the single forward / reverse conveyer D is normally / reversely rotated so that the single feed / reverse conveyer D can be used for both feeding to the weight type sorting line C and discharging from the shape type sorting line B. Therefore, the installation area can be reduced and the cost required for installation can be reduced by simplifying the transportation route.

Further, in the present embodiment, as described above, it can be used for the selection work of deciduous fruits such as persimmons and peaches, and it is possible to further effectively utilize the facility.

[0039]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the single forward / reverse conveyer is rotated in the forward direction and the reverse direction so that the weight type sorting line can be supplied and the shape type sorting line can be carried out. Since it can be shared, the installation area can be reduced and the cost required for installation can be reduced by simplifying the transfer route.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a second floor portion of a fruit and vegetable sorting facility for carrying out the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a pretreatment line.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a shape selection line and a pretreatment line.

FIG. 4 is a left side view of the fruit and vegetable sorting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A Pre-treatment line B Shape selection line C Weight selection line D Forward / reverse conveyor 7 Vertical elevator 33,34,35 Carry-out conveyor 38,39 Auto damper

Claims (1)

[Claims] A forward / reverse conveyor is provided in parallel with the shape selection line, the discharge end of the selected fruits and vegetables of the shape selection line is connected to the forward / reverse conveyor, and one end of the normal / reverse conveyor is a fruit / fruit pretreatment line. A fruit and vegetable sorting device in which a terminal side and a carry-out conveyor are switchably connected, and an unsorted fruit and vegetable supply end of a weight type sorting line is connected to the other end of the forward and reverse conveyor.