JPH09254918A - Automatic casing apparatus for fruit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify equipment to reduce the number of facilities for reducing a facility cost and also eliminate need for a large installation space, and also eliminate need for placing a casing apparatus having an exclusive suction pad array for each of different casing arrays. SOLUTION: An automatic casing apparatus for fruit comprises a sorting conveyer E for sorting and carrying fruits placed in a plurality of rows in parallel into respective classes, a mold supplier 15 for attaching a mold 11 supplied by a mold supply conveyer into an empty box 9 supplied by an empty box supply conveyer 7, and a plurality of casing devices G having a plurality of suction cups placed in a single row on a support member with variable intervals between the cups and a moving device for moving these cups for taking the fruits on the sorting conveyer E which have been carried in respective classes for casing, wherein these devices are installed for each class.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic fruit packaging system for packaging fruits and vegetables (hereinafter referred to as fruits) in equal ranks.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 shows the general layout of a general automatic fruit-sorting facility. As shown in the figure, a typical automatic tuning fruit equipment, the fruits that are shipped housed in the container, and discharged to the automatic damper A _1, A _2, and send the aligning and feeding device B _1, B ₂ After they are placed on the tray one by _one , they are conveyed at a constant interval by the sorting conveyors C ₁ and C ₂ , and the sorting device D 1
A plurality of sorting conveyors E ₁ , E by distinguishing the equal class one by one
After being sorted into equal ranks (classified by quality, sorted by size) by discharging to ₂ respectively, they are packed by the packing machines G ₁ , G ₂ or manually by the packing pretreatment parts F ₁ , F ₂ and carried out. Is configured.

FIG. 7 shows an example of arrangement of a conventional automatic fruit-packing apparatus in the automatic fruit-picking equipment. As shown in the figure, when the fruit n placed on the tray 10 and transported on the transport conveyor 1 comes to the determined equal rank (for example, AL ₂ ) position, the fruit n is transferred to the sorting conveyors E ₁ and E ₂ . Discharged
It is sent to the end through the transport path divided into a plurality of parts, and is arranged and stored here. Next, the boxing devices G ₁ and G ₂
A predetermined number of fruits n arranged on the sorting conveyors E ₁ and E ₂ are collectively picked up and transferred, and packed in a box 9 separately supplied via the empty box supply conveyors 7 and 5. The product 9 ′ that has been boxed is the product unloading conveyors 4 and 6
Is carried out by

Further, FIG. 8 (a) shows a side surface of the suction portion of the conventional boxing devices G ₁ and G ₂ , and FIG. 8 (b) shows an arrow VIIIb of FIG. 8 (a). As shown in the figure,
The suction part of the boxing devices G ₁ and G ₂ has a plurality of suction cups 3
a is arranged on the support member 3b according to the arrangement of the fruits n on the sorting conveyors E ₁ and E ₂ . The suction cups 3a are configured such that the distances a and b between them are variable, and the fruits n picked up by these suction cups 3a are moved to a predetermined distance during transfer and then packed in a box. It

[0005]

However, usually, the fruit n has a plurality of grades (for example, A, B, C, D ...) And a plurality of grades (for example, L ₂ , L ₁ , L, M, S ... ), While the conventional automatic fruit packaging system described above,
For each combination (as shown in FIG. 7, AL ₂ , B
(Each L ₂ , CL _2, ...) Each has dedicated sorting conveyors E ₁ and E ₂ , box packing devices G ₁ and G ₂ , empty box supply conveyor 5, discharge conveyor 4, etc. In addition to being expensive, it requires a large installation space.

Further, in the conventional boxing devices G ₁ and G ₂ described above, since a predetermined number of fruits n are collectively picked up from the sorting conveyors E ₁ and E _{2 in a} predetermined arrangement and are packaged at once, the fruit n to be packaged is n. Each time the arrangement and the number of the boxes are different, the boxing devices G ₁ and G ₂ having a dedicated suction cup array corresponding thereto are required, and the boxing efficiency is improved, but the equipment cost is increased.

Therefore, in view of the above-mentioned prior art, the present invention simplifies the equipment, reduces the number of equipment, reduces the equipment cost, eliminates the need for a large installation space, and has a dedicated suction pad arrangement for each different packaging arrangement. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic fruit packaging box that does not require a box packaging machine.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An automatic fruit packing apparatus according to the present invention for solving the above problems discharges fruits placed on a tray, sorted, and continuously supplied from a sorting line to a sorting line. Then, in the automatic fruit packaging machine that sorts the products into equal ranks and then sends them to the cartoning line for cartoning, the fruit is supplied by a sorting conveyor that is installed in multiple rows in parallel and sorts and conveys the fruits by grade, and an empty carton conveyor. A mold supply device for mounting the mold supplied by the mold supply conveyor in the empty box, and a plurality of boxing devices for picking up the fruits on the sorting conveyor conveyed according to grades and packing them into boxes, respectively Is characterized by.

[0009] Further, the boxing device, a plurality of suction cups arranged in a single row on the support member with a variable mutual spacing,
A moving device for moving these suction cups is provided, and fruits picked up from the sorting conveyor are sequentially packed in boxes in a row unit.

Therefore, according to the automatic fruit packing apparatus of the present invention, the fruits on the tray supplied from the sorting line are discharged to the sorting conveyor of the corresponding class among the sorting conveyors installed for each class. The sorting conveyor sorts the products into grades, arranges them in a line, and conveys them to a predetermined position.

Next, the fruits are collectively picked up by each row by the boxing device and transferred, and are sequentially boxed in empty boxes in row units. For example, in the boxing device having a single row of suction cups as described above, a predetermined number of fruits are picked up and transferred by this single row of suction cups, and the prepared empty boxes are sequentially boxed in a row unit.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a layout view of an automatic fruit packaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a line III-III of FIG. FIG.

As shown in these figures, a sorting conveyor E is connected to a plurality of rows of conveyors 1 constituting a sorting line (for each device in the sorting line, see FIG. 6), and the fruit conveyors are classified according to each fruit class. (For example, as shown in FIG. 1, for each class L ₂ , L ₁ ... Of fruit n).

These sorting conveyors E are arranged such that the fruits n conveyed by the respective conveyors 1 to the fruits n of the same rank are
Sorting section 12a for sorting the fruits into grades, and a gathering section 12b for gathering the fruits n sorted by each sorting section 12a for each grade
And a transfer unit 12c that transfers and stores the collected fruits n to a predetermined position at the terminal end, and has a grade (for example, A, B,
According to C), a plurality of columns (A in FIG. 1, 3 columns, B in 2 columns, C in FIG. 1)
Are installed in parallel.

The transfer section 1 of the sorting conveyor E
Adjacent to 2c, a plurality of boxing devices G corresponding to the above-mentioned number of rows are installed, a discharge conveyor 4 for transferring the packed products 9'is installed along a transfer section 12c, and an empty box supply conveyor 7 A mold supply device 15 for mounting the mold 11 supplied by the mold supply conveyor is installed in the empty box 9 supplied in step 1.

As shown in FIG. 3, the boxing device G includes a plurality of suction cups 3a arranged on the support member 3b in a single row at predetermined intervals, and these suction cups 3a on the guide rail 30 together with the support member 3b. And a moving device (not shown) for moving the suction cups 3a along with each other, and the distance between the suction cups 3a can be arbitrarily changed.

4 (a) and 4 (b) show the shape of the mold 11 mounted in the empty box. As shown in the figure, on the surface of the mold 11, depressions 11a for mounting the fruits n are formed in a predetermined arrangement. FIG. 5A shows the case of 6 × 4 columns, and FIG. 5B shows the case of 4 × 3 columns.

Further, FIG. 5 shows a packing condition by the packing device G. As shown in the figure, the boxing device G lowers the adsorption cups 3a to adsorb the fruits n arranged in a line on each transfer section 12c of the sorting conveyor E, and picks up a predetermined number of them in a batch. The mold 1 in the box 9
The boxes are packed so as to be placed on the substrate 1. At this time, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the boxes are sequentially packed in columns (in the illustrated example, the packing is sequentially performed from the left side).

In FIG. 1, 6 is a product discharge conveyor installed along the end of the discharge conveyor 4, and 8 is a tray carry-out conveyor installed along the end of the sorting conveyor.

Next, the operation of the automatic fruit packaging apparatus having the above-mentioned structure will be described.

The fruits n on the tray 10 that have been sorted and sent on the transport conveyor 1 are discharged to a dedicated sorting conveyor E for each class. That is, for example, the fruit n of the class L ₂ is
At the L ₂ position shown in FIG. 1, the sorting unit 12a of the sorting conveyor E sorts the products into grades (for example, grades A, B, and C), then collects the grades into a collecting unit 12b, and transfers them to a terminating end of the conveying unit 12c. They are transferred and stored in a single row.

On the other hand, the empty box 9 supplied by the empty box supply conveyer 7 has the mold 11 having the depressions 11a of a predetermined arrangement attached therein and is sent to the predetermined position on the discharge conveyer 4. To be

Then, the boxing device G is operated, and a predetermined number of fruits n (for example, fruits n of equal rank AL ₂ ) arranged on the transfer section 12c are collectively picked up by the suction pad 3a and transferred. After the fruit intervals are narrowed to a predetermined interval during transfer, they are packed in boxes 9 on the discharge conveyor 4 in rows. The packing operation is sequentially repeated for the second and third rows to continue the packing.

The above-mentioned boxing operation is carried out for the fruits n on the other rows.
With respect to (for example, equal ranks BL ₂ and CL ₂ ), the same process is performed by each boxing device G.

The products 9 ′ thus completed in the box are sent from the discharge conveyor 4 to the product unloading conveyor 6 and are carried out by the product unloading conveyor 6. Further, the empty tray 10 ′ after picking up the fruit n is carried out by the tray carry-out conveyor 8 and is separately collected.

As described above, the automatic fruit packing apparatus according to the present embodiment is configured as described above, and thus the fruits n on the tray 10 supplied from the sorting line are installed for each rank. The sorting conveyor E is discharged to a sorting conveyor E of a corresponding class, sorted by the sorting conveyor E according to grades, arranged in a row, respectively, and conveyed to a predetermined position. It is to be transferred and packed sequentially in an empty box in units of rows. Therefore, the sorting equipment and the packing equipment can be simplified, the number of equipment can be reduced, the equipment cost can be reduced, and the installation space can be reduced. You can

Further, since the packing can be performed in units of columns, it is not necessary to dispose a packing apparatus having a dedicated suction pad arrangement for each different packing arrangement as in the conventional case, and it can be applied to all or various kinds of packing products. can do.

[0029]

As described above in detail with the embodiments of the invention, according to the automatic fruit packing apparatus of the present invention, the fruits on the tray supplied from the sorting line are classified according to the rank. It is discharged to the sorting conveyor of the appropriate class among the sorting conveyors installed for each, sorted by grade by this sorting conveyor, arranged in a row and transported to the predetermined position, and then picked up in a row by the boxing facility It will be transferred and packed in the empty boxes one after another in a row unit, which simplifies the sorting equipment and the boxing equipment, reduces the number of equipment and reduces the equipment cost, and also reduces the installation space. be able to.

Further, since the packing can be performed in a row unit, it is not necessary to dispose a packing apparatus having a dedicated suction pad arrangement for each different packing arrangement as in the conventional case, and it is applicable to all or various kinds of packing products. can do.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a layout view of an automatic fruit packaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view taken along the line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view taken along the line III-III of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the shape of a mold to be mounted in the empty box.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a packing situation by the packing device.

FIG. 6 is an overall layout diagram of a general automatic fruit sorting facility.

FIG. 7 is a layout view of a conventional automatic fruit packaging machine in the automatic fruit sorting equipment of FIG.

FIG. 8A is a side view showing the structure of a suction unit of a conventional boxing device, and FIG. 8B is a view taken in the direction of arrow VIIIb in FIG. 8A.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Transport Conveyor 3a Suction Cup 3b Supporting Member 4 Discharge Conveyor 6 Product Carry Out Conveyor 7 Empty Box Supply Conveyor 8 Tray Carry Out Conveyor 9 Empty Box 9'Product 10 Tray 11 Mold 12a Sorting Section 12b Collecting Section 12c Transfer Section 15 Mold Supply Device 30 Guide Rail E Sorting conveyor G Boxing device n Fruit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An automatic fruit box for fruits, which are placed on a tray, sorted, and continuously fed from a sorting line, discharged to a sorting line and sorted into equal ranks, and then sent to a packaging line for packaging. In the packing device, a sorting conveyor that is installed in parallel in multiple rows and sorts and conveys fruits according to grade, and a mold feeding device that attaches the mold fed by the mold feeding conveyor into the empty box fed by the empty box feeding conveyor, An automatic fruit boxing machine, wherein a plurality of boxing machines for picking up and packing the fruits conveyed on the sorting conveyor according to grades are installed for each rank. 2. The boxing device comprises a plurality of suction cups which are arranged in a single row on a support member so that the distance between the suction cups is variable, and a moving device which moves the suction cups. The fruits picked up from the conveyor are sequentially packed in boxes in units of rows.
Automatic fruit packaging machine described.