JPH0858718A - Harvest-collecting/selecting/sorting/boxing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To automatically and efficiently select, sort and box harvest such as vegetables and fruit, etc., and drastically reduce the number of workers and the installation area of a device. CONSTITUTION: For a harvest-collecting/selecting/sorting/boxing device 1, at an intermediate location of a carrying device 12 which carries harvest, an automatic ranging device 13 which ranges the harvest in a line at every appropriate interval in the carrying direction is provided. Then, on the downstream side in the carrying direction, a judging device 14 which automatically judges the grade of the harvest, and transmits a judging signal in response to the grade of the harvest is provided. On the downstream side in the carrying direction of the judging device 14, a plurality of robots 16 which respectively correspond with the classifications of the grades of the harvest, and transfer the harvest by gripping from the carrying device 12 to a boxing device 15 are provided. Each robot 16 has functions to take out the harvest which receives the judgement, when receiving an applicable judging signal, from the carrying device, transfer and pack the harvest in a box.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a picking / picking / selecting / boxing device for automatically picking vegetables such as vegetables and fruits in equal grades according to difference in quality (grade) and size (class). .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, vegetables, fruits, and other crops that have been brought to a dumping site are placed on a conveyor and conveyed by a plurality of workers in equal ranks based on differences in size and quality. It was sorted according to, and packed in boxes of equal rank. However, such selection and packaging of harvested products requires a large number of personnel, is time-consuming, and is inefficient.

[0003] Therefore, as an apparatus for sorting and sorting fruits, which is capable of remedying such drawbacks and drastically reducing manual work, an automatic aligning device provided in the middle part of the conveyor is used to move the harvested products along the conveying direction. A camera that arranges the harvested products in a line at appropriate intervals and then transports the harvested products one by one in a bucket and discriminates the equal rank of the harvested products by a so-called image processing method on the downstream side in the transport direction of the automatic alignment device. Provided with a discriminating device, further provided on the downstream side in the conveying direction of the discriminating device a plurality of sorting units corresponding to the division of equal classes at appropriate intervals, according to the equal class discriminated by the discriminating device, There has been proposed a device in which the bucket is turned over when the corresponding sorting part is reached to take out the harvested product, and the harvested product is conveyed by a conveyor belt to a boxing device for each equal rank.

However, in this product, the sorting section and the boxing device are connected by the transport conveyors for each equal class, so that the transport line becomes long and complicated, and a vast floor area is required for installation. However, there is a drawback that the construction cost of the collection site increases.

[0005]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention is capable of automatically and efficiently packing harvested products such as vegetables and fruits in a sorting box, and significantly reducing the number of personnel and the installation area. An object is to provide a fruit selection box packing device.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention relates to a device for collecting and selecting fruits and vegetables. An automatic arranging device for arranging the harvested products in a line at appropriate intervals along the transportation direction is provided at an intermediate portion of a transportation device that transports harvested products such as vegetables and fruits. A discriminator that automatically discriminates the equal grade of the harvest and transmits a discrimination signal according to the equal grade of the harvest is provided on the downstream side of the automatic alignment device in the transport direction.

Further, downstream of the discriminating apparatus in the conveying direction, a plurality of robots corresponding to one of the equal-class divisions of the harvest and for holding the collected luggage and transferring it from the conveying apparatus to the boxing apparatus are installed.

Each of the robots is provided with means for operating the harvesting unit discriminated in the equal rank when receiving the discrimination signal corresponding to the equal rank designated by itself. A posture determination device for determining the posture of the harvested product is provided on the upstream side in the conveyance direction of the robot, and the robot is provided with a posture control means for changing the orientation of the harvested product gripping portion according to the posture of the harvested product determined by the posture determination device. There is. It is desirable for the robot to be able to grip multiple crops at once. Connect the container transport device that transports the container containing the unsorted harvest to the starting point of the transport device, and remove the unsorted harvest from the box and place it on the transport device at the communication part between the transport device and the container transport device. A take-out robot may be installed.

[0009]

In the structure in which the automatic aligning device for arranging the harvested products in a line at an appropriate interval along the carrying direction is provided in the middle of the carrying device, the subsequent work can be accurately and accurately judged and sorted. make it easier. On the downstream side of the automatic alignment device in the transport direction,
The configuration provided with the discriminating device for automatically discriminating the equal class of the harvest improves the efficiency of the uniform class discrimination work, enhances the accuracy of the discrimination, and reduces the number of workers.

A plurality of robots, which are arranged on the downstream side of the discriminating device in the conveying direction, respectively correspond to one of the equal-class divisions of the harvested product, and grip the harvested product and transfer it from the transporting device to the boxing device, The number of personnel required is reduced, and the conventional conveying device from the sorting unit to the boxing device is unnecessary.

A posture determination device for determining the posture of the harvested product is provided on the upstream side of the robot in the conveying direction, and the robot changes the orientation of the harvested product gripping portion according to the posture of the harvested product determined by the posture determination device. With the configuration having [1], there is no need to adjust the posture of the harvested product on the transport device when the harvested product having an elongated shape is packed in the sorting box. The configuration of the robot capable of gripping a plurality of harvested products at one time eliminates waste of time and energy for transporting each harvested product to the boxing device. Connect the container transport device that transports the container containing the unsorted harvest to the starting point of the transport device, and remove the unsorted harvest from the box and place it on the transport device at the communication part between the transport device and the container transport device. By installing a take-out robot, it is possible to reduce the number of workers required to take out the crops.

[0012]

EXAMPLE 1 FIG. 1 shows a collection and sorting box for picking and harvesting a harvested product. In this example, cucumber is packed in a sorting and sorting box. The collection and sorting box packing device 1 is installed inside the collection site, and the receiving line 3 that collects the harvested products packed in the container 11 and the harvested products are sorted by equal rank based on the difference in size and quality. Sorting and boxing line 4 for packing and boxing, and shipping line 5 for sending out the boxed harvest
Is provided.

The receiving line 3 has a plurality of parallel receiving conveyors 7 each having a receiving port 6 at one end, a container conveying conveyor 8 connected to an end of the receiving conveyor 7, and a weighing unit provided at an intermediate portion of the container conveying conveyor 8. The machine 9 and the unstacker 10 provided on the downstream side of the weighing machine 9 in the transport direction.

At the receiving port 6 of each of the receiving conveyors 7, the containers 11 packed with the harvested products are stacked in three layers, and these containers 11 are carried by the receiving conveyor 7 and received by the container carrying conveyor 8. Handed over, weighing machine 9
The weight of the harvested product is measured as it is in the container 11, and the measurement result is totaled for each producer. And the containers 11 stacked in three stages are the unstacker 1
Sorting box packing line 4 separated by 1 by 0
Are transported by the container transport conveyor 8 in a state of being stacked one by one.

The sorting and packing line 4 is a conveyor 12 composed of a belt conveyor, an automatic arranging device 13 provided in the middle of the conveyor 12 for arranging the harvested products in a line at appropriate intervals along the conveying direction, and A discriminating device 14 which is provided on the downstream side of the aligning device 13 in the conveying direction and automatically discriminates the equal class of harvested products, and a discriminating device 14 which is installed at an end portion of the conveying device 12 at an appropriate interval and discriminates A plurality of boxing devices 15 for boxing the harvested products in each classification of the classes, and a plurality of robots 1 for transferring the harvested products conveyed by the transfer device 12 to the boxing device 15 corresponding to the equal classification of the harvested products.
6 is provided. In addition, the number of each of the automatically determined equal classes is totaled for each producer.

The starting point of the transfer device 12 is connected to the end of the container transfer conveyor 8, and the harvested product in the container 11 is grabbed and taken out at the connection part between the transfer device 12 and the container transfer conveyor 8 and is transferred onto the transfer device 12. A plurality of take-out robots 17 to be mounted on is installed. The empty container 11 from which the harvested product has been taken out is placed and collected on the empty container collecting conveyor 18 provided adjacent to the end of the container carrying conveyor 8.

The automatic aligner 13 is, as shown in FIG.
Two wavy conveyors 13 ', 1 having a wavy belt in which convex portions 19 and groove portions 20 are alternately arranged in the transport direction.
3'is connected in the transport direction so as to overlap the ends thereof. Then, the harvested products sent to the automatic aligning device 13 enter the respective groove portions 20 and are aligned, and when sent out from the automatic aligning device 13, they are arranged at intervals corresponding to the pitch of the groove portions 20.

The discriminating device 14 is installed above the carrying device 12 and has a camera for grasping the shape and size of the harvested product (cucumber), and the image of the harvested product captured by the camera is stored in advance. The equal class of the crop is automatically determined by a so-called image processing method of comparing the standard shape and size, and a determination signal is transmitted to the control device of the robot 16.

The harvested products are classified into grades such as A, B and C according to the difference in quality such as color, gloss and shape, and ranks such as LL, L, M and S according to the difference in size. Are classified into a plurality of groups such as ALL, AL, AM ... Depending on the combination of the grade and the rank. The robot 16 employs Super Boy (product name: Nikko Co., Ltd.). This robot has a horizontally rotating arm and a grip portion 28 attached to the tip of the arm so as to be movable up and down. The posture of the grip portion 28 can be changed. It can be pivoted, moved and released in place. (See Figure 2). Furthermore, each of these robots 16 is equipped with a posture determination device based on an image processing method, and the camera can detect the posture of the harvested product on the conveyor and can recognize the deviation of this posture and the angle of the harvested product with respect to a preset reference posture. It is like this. This deviation is transmitted to the control device so that the orientation of the grip portion 28 of the robot 16 can be changed according to the posture of the harvested product. Also,
Each of the robots 16 corresponds to one of the equal classes of harvested products, and is installed on both sides of the transfer device 12 at appropriate intervals along the transfer direction, and the control device of each robot 16 is the determination device 14. Connected with. That is, the discrimination signal is used by the robot 1 for taking out the discriminated harvested products of equal rank.
6 is an operation signal for activating 6, and when the determined harvested product reaches the gripping point of the robot 16 corresponding to its equal rank, it is activated to grip the harvested product and take it out from the transport device. ing.

A robot 1 in which the harvested products correspond to the equal ranks
Whether or not the grip point 6 has been reached is determined by counting the number of passing main objects. The means for performing the above-mentioned operation is configured by an input / output circuit in the control device of the robot 16, a sensor for counting, an arithmetic circuit, a storage means such as RAM or ROM, and a servo mechanism for driving the arm or the grip. ing.

The gripping portion 28 of the robot 16 can grip and transfer a plurality of crops at once. For example, the gripper 28 has five independently operated crop holding means, and each crop holding means holds the crops of the same class to be pinched when they are transferred. Each time it is gripped, and when all the five crop holding means grip the crop, it is transferred to the boxing device 15.

The boxing device 15 has a receiving part 21 for receiving the harvested product transferred by the robot 16, a boxing part 22 for packaging the harvested product in a box 25, and a boxed harvested product conveyer 29.
And a lid-hanging machine 30 and a box-sealing machine 31, which are sequentially provided in the middle of the box-shaped harvested product conveyer 29. Also, FIG.
Box 25 assembled by automatic box making machine 23 as shown in
The inner bag filled with the inner bag by the inner bag filling machine 24 is transported by the empty box transporting device 26, and is supplied from the empty box transporting device 26 to each box packing unit 22.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the receiving portion 21 has a box-like shape with an open top, and a plurality of support rods 2 are provided on the bottom surface thereof.
7 are arranged in parallel so that the ones closer to the central portion are sequentially higher than those closer to the end portions, and one end portion is closer to the packing portion 22. Further, a pressing piece 37 that is slidable along the support rod 27 is provided on the inner surface of the receiving portion 21 on the side opposite to the boxed portion 22. The robot 16 transfers the harvested product to the receiving part 21, and then places it on the support rod 27 so as to intersect with it. Then, no matter what direction the curved harvested product is placed on the support rod 27, the posture is changed so that both ends of the curved harvested product face downward along the inclination of the support rod 27.

When a predetermined number of the harvested products are lined up on the support rods 27, the pressing pieces 37 are slid to push the harvested products in the direction of the box 25 prepared in the boxing section 22, and the boxes 25 are packed at intervals. To store in. At this time, since all the harvested products are arranged so as to be convexly curved upward, the curvature of the harvested products is not noticeable when viewed from above the box 25. After packing a predetermined number of crops in the box 25 (in the case of cucumber, 9 pieces x 2 rows x 3 layers, 54 pieces in total), it is transferred from the boxing part 22 to the boxed crops transfer conveyor 29, and the box is covered. After the lid is covered by the machine 30, it is fixed by the box-sealing machine 31 and conveyed to the shipping line 5.

It should be noted that non-standard crops for pickles and the like (CM, CS, etc. as equal rank) are not transferred by the robot 16 and are transferred to a not-shown container provided at the end of the transfer device 12. In addition, an independent robot 16 does not transfer harvested products of equal rank having a low appearance rate, but one robot 16 transfers a plurality of harvested products of equal rank, unlike the robot 16 at the end of FIG. May be.

The shipping line 5 has a packing section conveyor 32 and an unloading conveyor 36. The packing section conveyor 32 is provided with a combination pool 33, a stacker 34 and a packing machine 35 in order from the front in the conveying direction. A plurality of parallel carry-out conveyors 36 corresponding to the equal rank divisions of the crops are connected to the end of the product at appropriate intervals.

Then, in the combination pool 33,
Waiting for two or three boxes 25 packed with the same class of harvest to be collected, the boxes 25 are continuously conveyed to the stacker 34, and stacked in two or three stacks by the stacker 34. The stacked boxes 25 are packed by the packing machine 35 and conveyed to the end of the packing section conveyor 32, and the carry-out conveyor 3 is sorted for each equal rank.
Put on 6.

In the case of substantially spherical harvested products such as onions and tomatoes, a gripping section dedicated to these is used, but the orientation of the posture determination device for determining the posture of the harvested product and the orientation of the gripping portion 28 of the robot 16 are changed. There is no need to provide a posture control device. The support bar 27 for aligning the curved direction of the harvested product in the receiving portion 21 is peculiar to cucumber and the like.

[0029]

[Effects of the Invention] Since the harvested goods are automatically conveyed, aligned, sorted and sorted in equal ranks, and packed, the work of the workers can be extremely supplementary such as carrying in and out of the harvested goods and repairing the equipment. It is limited, and the required personnel can be reduced to about 1/10.

Since the robot takes out the harvested products according to the equal ranks and transfers the selected harvested products to the boxing device, the conventional equal-class sorting device and the conveyor for each equal-class are not required. , The line is simplified, the length of the conveyor is short, and the occupied floor area is reduced to less than half. Since the gripping portion of the robot can be variously changed depending on the shape of the item, it is possible to handle various kinds of harvested products on the same line. Even if the robot is installed, the construction cost of the device does not increase as compared with the conventional one. further,
Since the robot can be centrally and remotely controlled at one place, the burden on workers is greatly reduced.

If a posture discriminating device for discriminating the posture of the harvested product is provided on the upstream side in the conveying direction of the robot, and the robot is provided with a posture control means for changing the posture of the gripping portion, harvesting of an elongated shape such as cucumber or the like is possible. No matter what posture the object is transported on the transport device, the robot will surely grasp it and
It can be transferred to a boxing machine. As a result, it is possible to reduce the number of personnel required to adjust the posture, which has been conventionally required.

If the robot is capable of gripping a plurality of crops at a time, crops of the same class can be collectively gripped and transferred, so that each time one crop is gripped, it is packed in a box. It is possible to eliminate waste of time and energy for transferring to the device.

The starting point of the transfer device is connected to the container transfer device for transferring the container containing the unsorted harvested product, and the unsorted harvested product is taken out of the box and transferred to the connecting part between the transporting device and the container transporter. If a take-out robot to be placed on the device is installed, it is not necessary to manually take out the harvested product, so that the number of workers can be further reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall plan view of an apparatus for collecting and selecting fruits and vegetables according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of an essential part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the automatic alignment device.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a receiving portion of the boxing device.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the above.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Picking and Sorting Selection Box Packing Device 3 Receipt Line 4 Sorting Box Packing Line 5 Shipping Line 6 Receiving Port 7 Incoming Conveyor 8 Container Transport Conveyor 9 Weighing Machine 10 Unstacker 11 Container 12 Transport Device 13 Automatic Aligning Device 13 'Wavy Conveyor 14 Discriminating Device 15 Boxing device 16 Robot 17 Take-out robot 18 Empty container recovery conveyor 19 Convex part 20 Groove part 21 Receiving part 22 Boxing part 23 Automatic box making machine 24 Inner bag filling machine 25 Box 26 Empty box transfer device 27 Support bar 28 Grasping part 29 Boxed harvest Conveyor 30 Covering machine 31 Boxing machine 32 Packing section conveyor 33 Combination pool 34 Stacking machine 35 Packing machine 36 Unloading conveyor 37 Pressing piece

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An automatic arranging device for arranging the harvested products in a line at an appropriate interval along the carrying direction is provided at an intermediate portion of the carrying device for carrying the harvested products such as vegetables and fruits, and the automatic arranging device is downstream in the carrying direction. On the side, a discriminator that automatically discriminates the equal grade of the harvest and sends a discrimination signal according to the equal grade of the harvest is provided. A plurality of robots that correspond to one of the categories and that grip the harvested product and transfer it from the transport device to the boxing device are installed, and when each robot receives a discrimination signal corresponding to the equal class designated by itself, An apparatus for packing and sorting containers for picking and selecting fruits, which is provided with means for operating the harvested products classified into the equal ranks. 2. The robot has an attitude discriminating device for discriminating the posture of the harvested product on the upstream side in the conveying direction, and the posture control means for changing the posture of the harvested product gripping portion according to the posture of the harvested product discriminated by the posture discriminating device. The packing and sorting machine according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The picking and sorting box according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the robot is capable of gripping a plurality of crops at once. 4. A container carrying device for carrying a container containing harvested products before sorting is connected to a starting point of the carrying device, and the harvested product before sorting is taken out from the box to the connecting part between the transporting device and the container carrying device. The picking and sorting box packing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a take-out robot installed on the conveying device.