JPH08121965A - Flowering plant bulb drying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent a bulb from being overdried and hereby improve drying efficiency by automatically controlling drying conveyor conveying means with use of control means based upon the degree of drying of the bulb detected by a drying degree detection sensor in a ventilation tank. CONSTITUTION: A bulb supplied from a supply port 41 located at the upper portion of a ventilation tank 8 is ventilated and dried with ventilation drying means while being forced to move down toward a lower exhaust port 42. There are provided in the ventilation tank 8a sensor 43a for measuring the water content of the bulb when it is supplied to the tank and a sensor 43b for measuring the water content of the bulb when it is discharged as drying degree detection means 43 for the bulb in a storage time. There are provided a variable control motor 44 and control means 45 at a proper location in a primary drying part for variably controlling conveyance speeds of drying conveyors 9a to 9e. The control means 45 variably controls the variable control motor 44 based upon water content difference detection information by the sensors 43a, 43b such that conveyance speeds of the conveyors 9a to 9e are increased and decreased.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a drying apparatus for flower bulbs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a flower bulb drying apparatus of this type, the bulbs washed in the washing section B are transferred to a primary drying section C and supplied to the drying section, where the initial moisture content of the bulbs is from about 80% to 50%.
I try to dry it to about%. The primary drying unit C includes an upper buffering tank, a drying conveyor having a zigzag inclined guide surface in the drying chamber, a dehumidifier, and the like, and can be slowly dried by dehumidifying air or warm air appropriately supplied to the drying chamber. It is configured as follows.

The conventional buffering tank has no means for air-drying the bulbs at the time of storage, and moreover, means for controlling the conveying speed of the drying conveyor according to the degree of drying of the bulbs in this tank, or dehumidifying air drying. No control means for controlling the means or the hot air drying means was also provided.

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a tank for temporarily storing washed bulbs is provided with ventilation drying means for air-drying the bulbs at the time of storage, and the bulbs are dried in the tank. Depending on the degree, for example, by controlling the transfer speed of the drying conveyor to prevent overdrying of the bulbs,
This is intended to improve the drying efficiency. Therefore, the following technical measures were taken.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] That is, the technical means according to the present invention includes a ventilation tank device 8 equipped with a ventilation drying device 35 for temporarily storing washed bulbs, and a bulb from the tank device. A variable speed drying conveyor carrying means 9 for receiving and drying while carrying and a primary drying device equipped with dehumidifying air or warm air drying means for drying with dehumidified air or warm air, and a storage time of bulbs in a ventilation tank. A drying degree detecting means 43 for detecting the degree of dryness in the inside is provided, and based on the detection information of this detecting means, control for controlling the carrying speed of the drying conveyor carrying means or for controlling the dehumidifying air or warm air drying means It is characterized in that means 45 is provided.

[0006]

According to the above construction, for example, the control means automatically controls the drying conveyer conveying means based on the dryness degree of the bulb detected by the dryness degree detecting sensor in the ventilation tank to obtain the dryness degree. When the degree of dryness is large, the conveyor conveyance speed is increased, and when the degree of dryness is small, the conveyor conveyance speed is decreased.

[0007]

Therefore, according to the present invention, when the degree of dryness of the bulb in the ventilation tank is small, for example, the conveyor speed in the primary drying chamber is slowed down and slowly conveyed until the predetermined dryness is reached. However, when drying is performed and the degree of dryness in the ventilation tank is large, the conveyor speed can be increased to achieve a predetermined set dryness.

In short, the conveyor speed is automatically changed according to the dryness of the bulbs during the storage time in the ventilation tank, or the dehumidifying air or the warm air is automatically controlled, so that the bulbs are prevented from being overdried. And can be efficiently dried.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 is an outline of the flower bulb dry sorting facility.
The facility is an automated process for commercializing the flower bulbs shipped from the producer, and includes a receiving section A, a cleaning section B, a primary drying section C,
It comprises a pretreatment section D, a sorting and sorting section E, a main drying section F, a shipping and sorting section G, and auxiliary equipment.

The load receiving section A is composed of a ventilation duct 3 having a placing section 2 for stacking the containers 1 containing the bulbs, and the loading section 2 is placed on the placing section 2 from the truck 4 through an appropriate lifting device. The containers 1 are sequentially stacked and provided so that the container 1 can be ventilated arbitrarily during the mounting period. The washing section B dips and transfers all the flower bulbs supplied while reversing the bulb storage container 1 sequentially transferred from the cargo receiving section A via the container transport conveyor 2A by the container damper-5. It is a structure that can remove adhered mud. 7
Is a draining conveyor for supplying and transferring these washed products to the temporary drying section C.

The primary drying section C is carried out in order to smoothly carry out the root removing action in the subsequent process, and the moisture content is 50%.
It is configured to dry to a certain degree. That is, the primary drying section C includes an upper ventilation tank 8, a drying conveyor 9 having a zigzag inclined guide surface formed inside the drying chamber, and a dehumidifier 1.
0, etc., and can be slowly dried by dehumidifying air appropriately supplied to the apparatus.

The ventilation tank device 8 is provided with ventilation drying means 35. The tank 8 is a windpipe 8 arranged vertically.
a, 8a and air ducts 8b, 8b adjacent to it,
These are arranged with their phases shifted vertically. The air ducts 8a, 8a are connected to the dry air intake duct via a triangular opening 8c that opens on the side wall. The air ducts 8b, 8b are connected to an exhaust duct via an air exhaust port 8d formed on the rear side wall. Exhaust air from the exhaust port 8d can be discharged to the outside of the machine through an exhaust duct. Both of the wind pipes 8a and 8b are provided so as to extend right above, and the extending plate 8e is provided close to the bottom of the wind pipe located immediately above, and the bulb flows down. It is a configuration that can prevent the zigzag route from separating to the adjacent route side. The bulb is ventilated and dried by the ventilating and drying means 35 configured as described above.

The bulbs discharged from the primary drying section C are
It is adapted to be transferred and stored in the relay tank 11 which also serves as tempering. Next, the pretreatment unit D is a stock separator 12,
A coarse sorter 13, a root remover 14, a wax machine 15, and a wax dryer 16 are arranged in this order, and pretreatment for selection, main drying, and storage is performed.

A moisture detector (not shown) is provided in the preceding stroke of the root removing machine 14, that is, in the middle of the route from the rough screening 13 to the root removing machine 14. The detection result of this moisture detector is taken into the control unit, and a drive command signal is output to a humidifier (not shown) provided above the entrance of the root remover 14 in order to drive the humidifier or calculate the amount of supplied water. I am doing it. The small balls and the root-free shipping balls are collected and put into the wax machine 15. Here, the bulbs on the surface of the conveyor belt can be waxed by the upper wax coating nozzle. The wax dryer 16 is configured to receive dehumidified air from a connected dehumidifier and gradually dry it.

The sorting / sorting section E has a sorting machine 17 and pull-out conveyors 18, 18 provided corresponding to each sorting class. The sorting machine 17 employs a belt-conveying type sorting section having sorting holes. It is a structure in which the rank is sorted into 4 ranks of 2S, S, M, and L. Each pull-out conveyor 18 provided for each class is provided with a ball number counter 20, and the grade-specific bulbs discharged from the end of the conveyor 18 are stored in a fixed quantity in a container transferred by a container transfer conveyor 21. It is designed to be possible. The bulb storage container is loaded in the container. Unloading conveyor 22 and palletizing robot 2
3 is moved to the unmanned forklift 24 and stored in the main drying section F.

The main drying section F is mainly intended to prevent spoilage at the distribution stage because of its high water content. In this embodiment, the main drying section F is divided into three chambers, and is arbitrarily divided according to the shipping time, the type of product, and the like. Although it can be selectively housed, dehumidified air from a dehumidifier can be introduced in any case, and cooling storage can be performed subsequent to drying by controlling the cooling air.

The shipping and sorting section G includes an unmanned forklift 24.
Inversely, the product transfer conveyor 2 that receives the storage containers returned to the transfer conveyor 22 by distinguishing them into small balls and shipping balls
5, or relay conveyor 26 is provided, and each conveyor 25,
Semi-automatic dampers 27 and 28 are provided at the terminal end of 26. The bulbs discharged from the shipping ball damper 27 are subjected to a ball number counting process by a ball number counter 30 via a final inspection table conveyor 29, molded by a box making machine 31, and descended by an empty box supply shoe 32. It is configured to be housed in a corrugated ball box. Reference numeral 33 is a storage portion for storing a container, and 34 is a sealing machine for sealing a corrugated ball box in which shipping balls are stored.

The equipment provided between the cleaning section B and the sorting / sorting section E is provided in each of two lines so that the processing can be expanded. Among the auxiliary equipment, the main one is a management computer, which stores information such as the producer code, the amount of goods received, and the sorting result in association with each other, and also reaches the cleaning section B to the sorting / sorting section E. It has functions such as operation control of each part of operation and calculation of payment amount to the producer, and the necessary information is printed out.

The dehumidifier 10 is provided below the drying chamber 36 of the primary drying section C, and the dehumidifying air is sent into the drying chamber by the air duct 37. An exhaust duct 38 equipped with a blower (not shown) is provided above the drying chamber 36 on the side opposite to the dehumidifier 10 so that room air containing dehumidified moisture in the drying chamber is discharged, and below the drying chamber 36. A bulb outlet 39 for taking out the dried bulbs is provided, and the dried bulbs are carried out by the discharge conveyor 40.

The bulbs supplied from the supply port 41 in the upper part of the ventilation tank 8 are dried by the ventilation drying means 35 while flowing down toward the discharge port 42 at the lower side. It depends on the storage time in the tank, and it increases proportionally as the storage time becomes longer. Therefore, as an example of the bulb dryness detection means 43 within the storage time in the ventilation tank, a sensor-43a for measuring the water content of the bulb during supply to the tank and a water content of the bulb during discharge are measured. A sensor-43b is provided. A variable control motor 44 for variably controlling the conveyance speed of the drying conveyor 9 and a control means 45 are provided at appropriate places in the primary drying section. Then, the control means 45 variably controls the variable control motor 44 on the basis of the moisture difference detection information by the two sensors 43a and 43b so as to increase or decrease the conveying speed of the conveyor 9. Control.

For example, the initial moisture content of the bulb is 8 in the ventilation tank.
If it is dried from 0% to 70%, 70% to 50% of drying is sufficient in the primary drying section.
It is necessary to suppress drying by 0%. That is, in this embodiment, automatic control is performed to increase the conveying speed of the conveyor 9 to prevent overdrying. Immediately below the outlet 42 of the ventilation tank 8, the starting end of the uppermost first conveyor 9a is provided, and the end is obliquely arranged so as to descend at a predetermined inclination angle. The second conveyor 9b communicates with the starting end of the second conveyor 9b, and the second conveyor 9b descends in the opposite direction at a predetermined inclination angle and communicates with the starting end of the third conveyor 9c at the end. Similarly, the fourth conveyer 9d and the fifth conveyer 9e are arranged in a zigzag pattern in order, and communicate with the bulb outlet 39 at the end of the fifth conveyer 9e.

In the present embodiment, the even-numbered conveyors, that is, the second conveyor 9b and the fourth conveyor 9d, are provided with tunnel-shaped heat insulating material panels 46 on the upper and lower surfaces of the conveyor belt on which the bulbs are placed. A tempering part 4 for covering and blocking the dehumidifying air of the dehumidifier 10 to keep the inside at a constant temperature.
7 is formed to make the water content in the placed bulb uniform. Further, the dehumidifier 10 is provided below each conveyor.
A drain gutter 48 for receiving dehumidified water droplets adhering to a conveyor or the like is provided in a state where the flow of the dehumidifying air is not disturbed, and the dewatering gutter 48 concentrates and discharges it outside the drying chamber.

In this embodiment, the conveying speed of the drying conveyor conveying means is controlled on the basis of the detection information of the sensor 43, but the dehumidifying air drying means (or the warm air drying means) is controlled, that is, The operation of the dehumidifier 10 may be controlled. For example, initial water content of bulbs: M ₀ (about 80%), finishing water content: 50% Storage time in tank; A / (H), primary drying passage time;
B / (H) Drying loss rate; α% / (H) Drying in the ventilation tank (α · A%), The rate is determined and the required operating humidity can be determined.

Therefore, if there is a storage time which is worth drying to a certain extent in the ventilation tank, the operating humidity within this storage time is calculated and the operation of the dehumidifier 10 is controlled on the basis of the calculated operating humidity. You can switch to the mode. Further, when there is not enough storage time for performing drying in the ventilation tank, it is possible to return to the normal standard drying mode and switch to the drying control only in the primary drying section.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the entire facility.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway side view of the ventilation tank device.

FIG. 3 is a side cross-section of a flower bulb drying device.

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart.

[Explanation of symbols]

A cargo receiving section B washing section C primary drying section D pre-treatment section E sorting section F main drying section G shipping sorting section 1 bulb storage container 2 loading section 3 ventilation duct 4 truck 5 container damper-6 water tank 7 draining conveyor 8 ventilation Tank 9 Drying conveyor 10 Dehumidifier 11 Relay tank that also serves as tempering 12 Stock separator 13 Saw sorter 14 Root remover 15 Wax machine 16 Wax dryer 17 Sorter 18 Drawer conveyor 20 Ball counter-21 Container transfer conveyor 22 Container unloading Conveyor 23 Palletizing robot 24 Unmanned forklift 25 Product transfer conveyor 26 Relay conveyor 27 Semi-automatic damper 28 Semi-automatic damper 29 Final inspection table conveyor 30 Ball counter 31 Box making machine 32 Empty box supply shunt 33 Storage section 34 Sealing Box machine 35 Ventilation drying hand 36 drying chamber 37 the air duct 38 exhaust duct 39 bulbs outlet 40 discharge conveyor 41 feed port 42 discharge port 43 drying degree sensing unit 44 variably controls motor - motor 45 Control unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A ventilation tank device 8 provided with a ventilation drying means 35 for temporarily storing washed bulbs, and a variable speed conveyor conveyor 9 for receiving and transporting the bulbs from the tank apparatus and drying them. And a primary drying device provided with a dehumidifying air or warm air drying means for drying with dehumidifying air or warm air, and a drying degree detecting means 43 for detecting the drying degree within the storage time of the bulbs is provided in the ventilation tank. A flower bulb drying apparatus characterized in that a control means 45 is provided for controlling the carrying speed of the drying conveyor carrying means or controlling the dehumidifying air or warm air drying means based on the detection information of the detecting means. .