JPH0832324B2 - Sorting conveyor device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a sorting conveyor device for sorting articles, and more specifically, a lower surface of the articles for sorting by using an optical imaging means. The present invention relates to a sorting conveyor device capable of measuring.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, as a sorting conveyor device for sorting articles, on a conveyor for conveying articles for sorting, a conveyor device for sorting the conveyed articles laterally by using a scraper or the like, and a conveyer conveyor. Discharge to discharge the article conveyed above to the other side of the conveyor by using an air injection device that ejects air by ejecting air from one side of the conveyor, or an extrusion device that pushes and discharges air by a cylinder or the like. A conveyor device having a device is used.

On the other hand, there is a tilting bucket type conveyor device in which a receiving surface on which an article is placed and conveyed is tilted to slide or roll the article for sorting. This is to attach one side of a bucket (sauce) for loading articles one by one to a chain which is endlessly traveling and rotated by a mounting member so as to be tiltable downward, and a pin or a tongue piece on the side of the bucket. And the traveling rail or latch mechanism holds the bucket in a horizontal state for traveling, and when the bucket on which the article is traveling travels to the sorting and discharging position, the horizontal operation of the bucket is released. The device operates to sort the items on the bucket.

This tilting bucket type conveyor device is disclosed in JP-A-59-36.
Apparatuses such as those disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 020 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 61-27847 are used as known techniques.

Further, as another sorting conveyor device for sorting the articles by tilting the receiving surface on which the articles are placed and transported, the articles are received on a plurality of slats and transported, and according to the length of the articles at the time of sorting. A tilting slat type conveyor device for sequentially tilting a number of slats is disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 45-21774 and Japanese Utility Model No. 46-15126.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

The conventional sorting conveyor device having a discharging device such as a branching device such as a scraper or an extruding device is used to sort the articles on the conveying surface by laterally moving the articles to the discharging side. While branching or discharging at, the succeeding articles must be temporarily waited on the carrying conveyor until the preceding article is discharged, or must be transported at an interval that does not hinder the discharging. However, there is a drawback in that it cannot be shortened to improve the carrying capacity.

On the other hand, the conventional tilting bucket type conveyor device,
Since the articles are placed on the bucket one by one and conveyed, the amount to be conveyed is limited, and in order to put the articles one by one on the bucket, a method of manually supplying one by one or one article for each bucket pitch is used. There is a drawback in that an automatic supply device for automatically supplying each one is required. Further, since the device is configured by using a large number of buckets having a complicated latch mechanism, the entire device is expensive.

Further, the conventional tilting slats type conveyor device,
It is suitable when randomly conveyed articles are sorted according to their sizes. However, this tilting slat type conveyor device requires a complicated and expensive latch mechanism for the mechanism for holding the receiving surface of the article in the transporting state like the bucket type conveyor device, and improvement is desired. It was

Furthermore, the conventional tilting slat type conveyor device,
In the case where the slat-shaped carrier is arranged in close contact with the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction, and an optical image pickup device combining a camera device and a lighting device is used to inspect the state of the lower surface of the article. However, the lower surface of the article is blocked by the slat-shaped carrier which is arranged in close contact therewith, so that there is a drawback that imaging measurement cannot be performed.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to enable the lower surface of an article to be measured by using an optical imaging means while the article is randomly placed and conveyed, and the article can be placed, conveyed and sorted with a simple structure. An object of the present invention is to provide a sorting conveyor device that can perform such sorting.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is a conveyor device provided with a large number of narrow-width conveying members for placing articles to be sorted at equal intervals in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction, the traveling direction being The rotating endless chain, the extending portion extending upward from the endless chain, and the position provided at the upper portion of the extending portion and eccentric to the left and right sides by a predetermined distance with respect to the center of gravity of the conveying member. And a plurality of holders attached to the endless chain at predetermined intervals, each of which has a fulcrum portion that rotatably pivots the transport member to the left and right and a stopper portion that receives the pivotally supported transport member in a transport posture. A sorting conveyor device characterized by the above.

[Action]

According to the sorting conveyor device of the present invention configured as described above, the articles for sorting are spread over the narrow-width conveying member held in the conveying state with the longitudinal direction oriented in the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction. Can be placed and transported. Then, the lower surface of the article placed over the narrow conveying member can be imaged by using an optical imaging unit that is a combination of the illumination device and the camera device. At the sorting / discharging position, one side of the conveying member is lifted up or the center of gravity of the article is moved to the fulcrum side of the holder, whereby the center of gravity of the article moves to the outside of the fulcrum of the holder and the conveying member tilts. Then, the articles can be sorted and discharged.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings (FIG. 1 to FIG.
It will be explained based on FIG. 11).

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an outline of an article sorting apparatus configured by using the sorting conveyor apparatus 1 of the present invention.
The figure is a side view in which a part of the article sorting apparatus is omitted. In the embodiment, two sorting conveyor devices 1 are arranged side by side to form an article sorting device, but the present invention is not limited to this.

In the figure, to explain the overall outline, 1 is the sorting conveyor device, 2 is an article for sorting, 3 is a measuring device, 4 is the transfer of the sorting conveyor device 1 to the downstream side of the measuring device 3. It is a sorting section provided along the road.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the sorting conveyor device 1 taken along the line AA in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is the sorting conveyor device 1 shown in FIG.
It is the side view which abbreviate | omitted a part.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a conveyor chain, which is configured by using a known chain with side rollers. 111 is an attachment, which is the roller link plate 11a, 11a of the conveyor chain 11.
Is provided so as to project upward.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a holder, which includes a mounting portion 121 and an extending portion 122. Reference numeral 121a is a locking protrusion, which is provided in a part of the mounting portion 121, is fitted into the attachment 111 of the conveyor chain 11, and is attached to the conveyor chain 11.
That is, the holder 12 is integrally manufactured by a molding machine or the like using a synthetic resin member, for example, and the elasticity of the synthetic resin member allows the locking projection 121a of the mounting portion 121 to be hooked to the attachment 111. It is attached to the conveyor chain 11 so as to be locked. Also, this holder 12
The method of attaching the to the conveyor chain 11 is not limited to the example shown in the figure, and can be carried out by using a fixing means such as a screw or a rivet (not shown).

The extending portion 122 has a neck-shaped portion 122a that extends upward from the mounting portion 121 and has a predetermined length. Reference numeral 123 is a fulcrum portion provided on the upper part of the extending portion 122, and is configured so as to rotatably and axially support a conveying member 13 described later by a fulcrum pin 123a. The position of the fulcrum portion 123 is eccentrically provided on one side with respect to the center of gravity 13a of the conveying member 13 by a predetermined distance. 124 is a stopper portion provided on the upper portion of the extending portion 122,
A transport member pivotally supported by the support pin 123a.
The upper portion of the extended material portion 122 is shaped like a cradle so as to receive 13 in the transporting posture. Although the stopper portion 124 is provided on the upper portion of the extended material portion 122 in the illustrated embodiment, as another different method, the stopper portion 1 is attached to the stopper portion 1 of the holder 12.
It is also possible to construct by extending 24 upward. (Not shown) The transport member 13 is configured by using a narrow slat-shaped receiving plate. In this slat-shaped receiving plate, it is preferable to determine the shape of the receiving portion according to the shape of the article 2 to be sorted,
In the illustrated embodiment, the slat-shaped support plate is formed in a substantially V-shape by slightly denting the central portion in the longitudinal direction in order to mount the ball-shaped and easily rolled article 2. Further, when the articles 2 to be sorted are targeted at easily-damaged fruits and vegetables, foods, etc., it is preferable to protect the articles 2 by covering the upper surface of the conveying member 13 with an elastic member such as soft vinyl chloride or soft rubber. . In addition, when the device for obtaining the sorting information of the articles 2 uses an image pickup means such as a sensor camera, it is preferable that the conveying member 13 is formed in a black matte state in which the light from the lighting device is not reflected.

As shown in FIG. 4, each of the holders 12 has a configuration in which two extending portions 122 are arranged at a predetermined interval in the traveling direction to form one set, but the number of extending portions is not particularly limited. is not.

Further, the predetermined interval at which the extending portion 122 including the transport member 13 is arranged in the traveling direction refers to a gap that is slightly narrower than the articles 2 to be sorted.

14 is a chain guide rail, which is the conveyor chain
It is configured to hold 11 and run in a predetermined direction. The chain guide rail 14 may be manufactured by extrusion molding using an aluminum member, for example.

Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 3, the carrying member 13 has its center of gravity perpendicular 13a concentric with the center perpendicular 11b of the conveyor chain 11, but as another different method, the holder 12 is The sorting conveyor device 1 may be configured such that it is attached to the side of the attachment of the conveyor chain 11 and the conveying member 13 is arranged above a position eccentric to the central perpendicular 11b of the conveyor chain 11 by a predetermined distance. .

In the figure, 15 is a frame member for supporting the chain guide rail 14.

The measuring device 3 is provided at a predetermined distance from the starting end portion 16 of the sorting conveyor device 1, and the configuration of the measuring device 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

Reference numeral 31 is a sensor camera provided above the measurement position, 32 is a mirror, and 33 is a lighting device.

As the sensor camera 31, a camera having a linear image sensor using a fixed image sensor is used. The arrangement of the sensor camera 31 is the scanning line of the sensor camera 31.
311 is provided in a direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the sorting conveyor device 1 and at a position where the left and right visual fields are equally distributed with respect to the center of the sorting conveyor device 1.

The mirrors 32 are provided on both outer sides of the sorting conveyor device 1 below the conveying surface of the sorting conveyor device 1 so as to reflect the reflected light from the lower surface of the article 2 to the sensor cameras 31 above. .

The illuminating device 33 is configured so that a large number of small lamps 331 are arranged and the lower surface of the article 2 to be measured is evenly illuminated.
Although the small lamp 331 is arranged and illuminated in the embodiment, for example, an optical fiber (not shown) for transmitting light is used.
It is also possible to construct a lighting device by irradiating the lower surface of the article 2 by applying the above.

The measuring device shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 has been described as a device that images only the lower surface of the article 2, but the invention is not particularly limited and, for example, the appearance inspection of the article previously proposed by the applicant. When used in combination with the method and the apparatus (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-61105), six surfaces of the article 2, that is, the entire peripheral surface of the article 2 can be imaged.

The sorting unit 4 is configured by combining a discharge actuating device 41 at a predetermined sorting stage downstream of the measuring device 3.

The discharge operation device 41 is configured as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. That is, 411 is a rail that contacts the lower portion of the transport member 13, and 412 is an operating rod that holds the rail 411. Reference numeral 413 is an actuator such as a cylinder or a solenoid, and an actuator 413a of the actuator 413 is mounted in a direction in which it moves up and down. The operating rod 412 is attached to the operating portion 413a. 414 is a bracket, which is attached to the frame member 15 by receiving the actuator 413.

FIG. 9 is a view showing another embodiment of the discharge actuating device 41, which is provided for each of the predetermined sorting steps and has the conveying member.
Actuator 415 such as a cylinder or a solenoid so that the article 2 placed on 13 is pushed out directly from the side and discharged.
And a pressing member 416 such as rubber or sponge attached to the actuating portion 415a of the actuator 415 are combined so as to be retractable.

Returning to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, 42 is a discharging device provided corresponding to the discharging operating device 41, and 43 is a discharging device.

The discharging device 42 is provided so as to receive the articles 2 discharged from the sorting cover device 1 by the discharging operating device 41 and transfer the articles 2 in a predetermined direction.

It is preferable that the discharging device 42 be configured according to the type of the article 2. For example, in the case of an article 2 such as foods or fruits and vegetables that is easily scratched, rubber, sponge or a fiber member may be used to protect the article 2 and may be configured by a chute, a conveyor or the like.

Further, the discharging device 42 can be provided by directly connecting a storage device such as a receiving box or turntable (not shown).

The carry-out device 43 is the article 2 discharged from the discharge device 42.
A belt conveyer, a roller conveyer, etc. are provided so that the sorting conveyer device 1 is carried out and carried out.

In the figure, reference numeral 5 is a drive device of the sorting conveyor device 1, which is configured by using a motor or the like.

Reference numeral 6 is a synchronous clock generator for generating a predetermined pulse with respect to a predetermined movement amount of the sorting conveyor device 1.

According to the sorting apparatus configured as described above, the articles 2 supplied one by one from the previous process onto the sorting conveyor apparatus 1 are colored, scratched, and shaped by the measuring apparatus 3 while being transferred. ， Measurements such as dimensions. Then, the measurement data of the article 2 measured by the measuring device 3 is sent to an arithmetic processing device (not shown) to be discriminated into predetermined sorting stages and combined with a synchronization signal output from the synchronization clock generation device 6. And outputs a sorting signal. When the articles 2 conveyed on the sorting conveyor device 1 reach the sorting and discharging position, the corresponding discharge actuating device 41 is activated by the sorting signal sent in synchronization with the articles 2 and the sorting conveyor device. The article 2 can be discharged from above 1.

FIG. 10 shows a sorting conveyor device 1 capable of traveling in a curved shape, which is implemented by using a conveyor chain 11 capable of traveling in a curved shape. FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. The sorting device shown in the figure forms a curved conveying path so that the sorting conveyor device 1 capable of running on a curved line is curved so as to draw a gentle trajectory from a starting end 101 toward a predetermined direction, and the sorting conveyor device 1 is also provided. The starting end portions 101 of the above are adjacent to each other to form a wide receiving portion 102.

The above description and the accompanying drawings are merely examples of the embodiment, and do not limit the invention, and needless to say, the invention may be applied to other shapes and arrangements as long as it is the content described in the claims. Is.

〔The invention's effect〕

The sorting conveyor device of the present invention, as described above,
An endless chain that rotates and travels, an extending portion that extends upward from the endless chain, and an eccentric position on the left and right sides with respect to the center of gravity of the conveying member that is provided above the extending portion. And a plurality of holders attached to the endless chain at predetermined intervals, each of which has a fulcrum portion that rotatably pivots the transport member to the left and right and a stopper portion that receives the pivotally supported transport member in a transport posture. The transport member rotatably supported on the fulcrum of the holder can hold the article receiving surface in the transport posture without requiring a complicated latch mechanism.

Further, the fulcrum portion of the holder for axially supporting the carrying member for placing the articles to be sorted is located at a position eccentric to the perpendicular of the center of gravity of the carrying member by a predetermined distance, and the article placed on the carrying member. In the discharging operation, the center of gravity of the placed article is laterally moved to the discharge side to the extent that the eccentric distance slightly exceeds, or the conveyance member is slightly tilted to the fulcrum member side to laterally move the center of gravity of the article. Can be discharged at.

Further, according to the sorting conveyor device of the present invention, the mechanism for holding the receiving surface of the article in the transporting posture has a simple structure in which the fulcrum portion is eccentric, and the mechanism for discharging the article has a gravitational center of gravity. Since a simple mechanism for discharging by moving the center of gravity slightly beyond the core distance is provided, there is an effect that the entire sorting conveyor device can be provided at low cost and easily handled.

Furthermore, the sorting conveyor device of the present invention has a gap, which is slightly narrower than the articles to be sorted, including the space between the extending portions of the holder, and conventionally, illumination is achieved by contacting the transport surface of the transport conveyor or the like. It is possible to illuminate the lower surface of an article that has not been moved through the gap during transportation, and it is possible to accurately obtain imaging information of the lower surface portion, which has not been conventionally obtained due to insufficient illumination.

That is, according to the sorting conveyor device of the present invention, since the conveyed article can image the entire peripheral surface including the lower surface portion of the article, the degree of coloring of fruits and vegetables, scratches, and scars,
The appearance quality such as sunburn and chemical damage is automatically measured, and the effect of automating the visual inspection is extremely large.

[Brief description of drawings]

The drawings each show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an outline of an article sorting apparatus configured by using the sorting conveyor apparatus 1 of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view in which a part of the article sorting apparatus is omitted. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the sorting conveyor device 1 taken along the line A-A in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a side view in which a part of the sorting conveyor device 1 is omitted, and FIGS. Explanatory drawing of the measuring device, FIGS. 7 and 8 are explanatory views of the discharge actuating device, FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing another embodiment of the discharge actuating device, and FIG. 10 is a sorting conveyor device capable of running on curved lines. And FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 1 …… Conveyor device for sorting 11 …… Conveyor chain, 111 …… Attachment 11a, 11a …… Roller link plate 11b …… Center perpendicular 12 …… Holder 121 …… Mounting part, 121a …… Locking projection 122 …… Extended Existing part, 122a ...... Neck part 123 …… Support point part, 123a …… Support point pin 124 …… Stopper part 13 …… Transport member, 13a …… Center of gravity line 14 …… Chain guide rail 15 …… Frame member 16 …… Starting part 2 …… Article 3 …… Measuring device 31 …… Sensor camera, 311 …… Scan line 32 …… Mirror 33 …… Lighting device, 331 …… Small lamp 4 …… Sorting part 41 …… Ejection actuating device 411 …… … Rail, 412 …… Actuating rod 413 …… Actuator, 413a …… Actuating part 414 …… Bracket 415 …… Actuator, 415a …… Actuating part 416 …… Pushing member 42 …… Ejecting device 43 …… Unloading device 5 …… Drive device 6 ... Synchronous clock generator

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A conveyor device in which a large number of narrow-width conveying members for placing articles to be sorted are provided at equal intervals in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction, the endless chain being traveling and rotating. An extending portion that extends upward from the endless chain and a portion that is provided on the upper portion of the extending portion and is eccentric to a right and left side with respect to a center of gravity of the conveying member by a predetermined distance is rotated left and right. A plurality of holders, each of which has a fulcrum-supported fulcrum portion and a stopper portion which receives the rotatably supported conveying member in a conveying posture, and is attached to the endless chain at predetermined intervals; Conveyor device. 2. The sorting conveyor device according to claim 1, wherein the endless chain is a chain that travels in a curved shape. 3. The sorting conveyor device according to claim 1, wherein each of the holders attached to the endless chain pivotally supports a plurality of conveying members. 4. The gap, which is slightly narrower than the articles to be sorted, above the extension parts of the respective holders attached to the endless chain including the extension parts thereof. Conveyor device for sorting.