JPH10120162A - Fast assorting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform assorting work fast and reliably, concerning a high-speed assorting device suitable for assorting work for crops such as fruit and vegetables, toys, articles of clothing and general merchandise. SOLUTION: An assorting device for selecting the specified articles from an article group composed of a plurality of articles and performing assorting work is provided with a conveyor 2 for conveying articles, a judging device 4 for judging the assorting condition of articles, position detecting sensors 3A to 3E for detecting the positions of the articles 1, and compressed air injection nozzles 5A to 5E for injecting compressed air from the approximately perpendicular direction in relation to the advancing direction of the conveyor 2. When the judging device 4 judges the assorting condition of the articles 1, compressed air is injected form the compressed air injection nozzles 5A to 5E to the articles 1 on the basis of the detected information from the position detecting sensors 3A to 3E.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a high-speed sorting apparatus suitable for sorting agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables, toys, clothing and miscellaneous goods.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, a sorting apparatus has been developed and put into practical use for automatically sorting agricultural products or the like based on predetermined conditions and performing sorting work. FIG. 4 shows an example of a high-speed sorting apparatus that performs work at a relatively high speed among such sorting apparatuses. Hereinafter, this sorting apparatus will be described.

In this apparatus, a transport chain 12 is provided, and the transport chain 12 is provided with a shaft member 14. The transport chain 12 is driven by a driving force source (not shown). In this case, the article 11 is transported from right to left in the figure. Further, a rail 17 is extended above the transport chain 12 in parallel with the transport chain 12, and a groove 17a as shown is formed in the rail 17.

The above-mentioned groove 17a has a cam follower 16
The lever 15 is attached via the shaft member 14, and the lower end of the lever 15 is rotatably supported by the shaft member 14. A plate 13 as shown is supported on the shaft member 14. Here, the plate 13 and the lever 15 are configured so that there is no relative displacement, and the cam follower 1
When the plate 6 is located in the groove 17a of the rail 17, the plate 13 is configured to be substantially horizontal. Therefore, in the state shown on the right side of FIG.
The plate 13 is maintained in a substantially horizontal state, and the articles 11 to be sorted are placed on the plate 13 without falling.

[0005] On the other hand, although not shown, a sorting detection device is provided on the upstream side (right side in the figure) of the transport chain 12. This sorting detection device determines the size of an article placed on the plate 13 using, for example, an optical means. For example, when it is determined that the size of the article 11 is equal to or larger than a reference value. By operating the sorting mechanism 25 provided on the downstream side of the sorting detection device,
Is dropped, thereby sorting the articles 11.

Here, the sorting mechanism 25 mainly includes a wedge-shaped guide plate 18, a lever 20, a solenoid 22, and the like as shown in FIG. A lever 20 is connected to an iron core 21 of the solenoid 22.
, A return spring 23 as shown is attached. The lever 20 and the wedge-shaped guide plate 1
8 is configured to operate integrally with the lever 2.
The wedge-shaped guide plate 18 is configured to be rotatable around the shaft 18a in accordance with the operation of 0.

When the detection device determines that the size of the article 11 is equal to or larger than the reference value, the solenoid 22 is energized to excite the solenoid 22 and move the iron core 21 to the left in the figure. Let it. As a result, the wedge-shaped guide plate 18 rotates counterclockwise in FIG.
Is blocked by a wedge-shaped guide plate 18, and the cam follower 16, which has moved from the right side in the drawing, is guided to a detour 19 provided below the rail 17.

When the cam follower 16 is guided to the detour 19 by the wedge-shaped guide plate 18, the lever 15 swings, the plate 13 is inclined downward, and the article 11 falls downward. When the detection device determines that the size of the article 11 is smaller than the reference value, the power supply to the solenoid 22 is turned off. In this case, the iron core 21 moves rightward in the drawing due to the elastic force of the spring 23,
The wedge-shaped guide plate 18 rotates clockwise in the drawing.

Therefore, the cam follower 16 travels along the groove 17a of the rail 17 without being guided to the detour 19, so that the article 11 does not fall off the plate 13 and the plate 13 is maintained in a substantially horizontal state. It proceeds as it is.

[0010]

However, in such a conventional high-speed sorting apparatus, it is necessary to completely return the wedge-shaped guide plate 18 before the next cam follower 16 arrives. Even if a spring having a high spring constant is used, there is a problem that there is a limit in increasing the speed.

Further, in such a high-speed sorting apparatus, the cam follower 16 during high-speed running changes direction suddenly and rapidly rotates the plate 13, the article 11, etc., so that vibration occurs and the article 11 before and after dropping. Therefore, there is a limit to speeding up from such a viewpoint. Also, there is a problem that the operating noise of the solenoid 22, the cam follower 16, and the like increases with the speed, and such noise cannot be ignored.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a high-speed sorting apparatus capable of performing a sorting operation at a high speed, reliably and without a large noise. I do.

[0013]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a high-speed sorting apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, which sorts a predetermined product from a group of a plurality of products to perform a sorting operation. A conveyor for placing and transporting the articles at substantially equal intervals, a determination device for determining sorting conditions for the articles on the conveyor, a position detection sensor for detecting the position of the articles moved by the conveyor, A compressed air injection nozzle capable of injecting compressed air from a direction substantially perpendicular to the traveling direction, and when the determination device determines the sorting condition of the article, based on detection information from the position detection sensor. It is characterized in that compressed air is injected from the compressed air injection nozzle to the article.

Therefore, in the high-speed sorting apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the items to be sorted are transported by the conveyor, and the sorting condition of the items is determined by the determining device. Then, when the determination device determines the sorting condition of the item, compressed air is injected from the compressed air injection nozzle to the item based on the detection information from the position detection sensor,
Items are sorted by the compressed air. At this time, since the compressed air injection nozzle injects compressed air from a direction substantially perpendicular to the traveling direction of the conveyor, sorting is performed without affecting other articles before and after the article to be ejected.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a high-speed sorting apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the center axis of the compressed air flow jetted by the compressed air jet nozzle is adjusted to the center of gravity of the article. It is characterized in that it is set to be above the point. With this, when compressed air is injected from the compressed air injection nozzle to the item, the air pressure above the item is reduced to generate lift, and the item is moved with a small force in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction. Can be.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a high-speed sorting apparatus according to the present invention, wherein the compressed air injection nozzle has a large number of compressed air injection holes, Are characterized by being arranged in rows in the vertical direction. As a result, the compressed air injected from the compressed air ejection holes is formed in a film shape with respect to the article, and the sorting is performed without affecting other articles at all.

[0017]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an overall structure of a high-speed sorting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a compressed air injection nozzle as a main part thereof, (a) is a front view thereof, and (b) is a schematic sectional view thereof.

1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes an article such as fruits and vegetables to be sorted, 2 denotes a belt conveyor (conveyor), and the belt conveyor 2 is driven by a driving force source (not shown). The article 1 is transported in the direction of the arrow. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, in order to improve the stability of the transfer of the article 1 by the belt conveyor 2, the belt conveyor 2 has a cross-sectional shape in which both ends in the width direction are inclined upward. .

The articles 1 are placed on the belt conveyor 2 on the upstream side of the belt conveyor 2 at substantially equal intervals, and after passing through the detecting device 4A shown in FIG. The judging device 4 ranks the sorting conditions of the articles 1 (for example, the size of the articles). In this embodiment, the articles 1 are ranked, for example, in six stages from rank A to rank F according to the sorting conditions.

Below the belt conveyor 2,
A plurality of belt conveyors 2A, 2B,..., 2F are arranged in a direction substantially orthogonal to the direction in which the belt conveyor 2 is extended, and each article 1 is arranged according to the above-described ranking. On the belt conveyors 2A to 2F. Further, the present apparatus is provided with a plurality of injection nozzles (compressed air injection nozzles) 5A, 5B,..., 5E along the conveying direction of the belt conveyor 2, and from these injection nozzles 5A to 5E. Are configured to be able to inject high-pressure compressed air. The injection nozzles 5A to 5E are disposed at positions corresponding to the belt conveyors 2A to 2E, respectively.
-5E, compressed air is injected to the article 1.

For example, when it is determined that the sorting condition of a certain item 1 is rank A, when the item 1 reaches above the belt conveyor 2A (in this case, the item 1
(Corresponding to the case in which is located before the ejection nozzle 5A), the ejection nozzle 5A is operated, and the article 1 is dropped onto the belt conveyor 2A. By injecting the compressed air to the article 1 in this manner, the article 1 is transferred to the belt conveyors 2A, 2B,..., 2F corresponding to the respective ranks.
Sorted on top.

In this embodiment, the article 1 is moved from the end of the belt conveyor 2 without operating any of the injection nozzles 5A to 5E only when the sorting device 4 determines that the sorting condition is rank F. It falls on the conveyor 2F. Thus, the number of the injection nozzles 5A to 5E which is one less than the number of stages (six stages) of the sorting condition is obtained.
(5) for sorting.

Now, the above-described judging device 4 will be described. The judging device 4 includes an optical type detecting device 4A, an image processing device 4B, a computer (hereinafter, referred to as a controller) 4C, and the like. The detection device 4A is provided with, for example, a CCD camera (not shown). When the article 1 passes through the detection device 4A, the article 1 is imaged by the CCD camera, and the image information is taken into the image processing device 4B. Further, the controller 4C determines (ranks) the sorting condition of each item 1 based on the image information processed by the image processing device 4B, and ranks each item 1 for each item 1. They are stored in order.

The apparatus has position sensors (position detection sensors) 3A, 3B,... For detecting the position of each article 1.
.., 3E are provided. These position sensors 3A
To 3E are respectively provided at predetermined positions (sorting positions) above the belt conveyors 2A to 2E, and the ejection nozzles 5A to
Each of them is arranged near 5E. The articles 1 are ejected by the position sensors 3A to 3E.
Is detected before the controller 4C
To transmit information to

In the controller 4C, based on the judgment result stored as described above and the position information of the article 1 from the position sensors 3A to 3E, each article 1 is positioned before the nozzles 5A to 5E corresponding to the ranking. When transported, compressed air is ejected from the nozzles 5A to 5E to drop the article 1 onto the corresponding belt conveyors 2A to 2E.

It should be noted that, based on the conveying speed information of the conveyor 2 and the timing of passing the detecting device 4A (ie, the timing detected by the detecting device 4A), the conveyed goods 1
Is calculated, and the position of the article 1 is calculated using the position information of the injection nozzles 5A to 5E stored in the controller 4C in advance.
May be configured to operate the injection nozzles 5A to 5E according to the ranking.

On the other hand, each of the above-mentioned injection nozzles 5A to 5E
The compressor 5 is connected via the compressed air supply passages 52A to 52E.
1, solenoid valves 53A to 53E are provided on the compressed air supply paths 52A to 52E, respectively. Each of the solenoid valves 53A to 53E is connected to the controller 4
The open / closed state of each of the solenoid valves 53A to 53C is controlled independently based on the control signal from C.
When the compressor 53E is opened, compressed air pressurized to a high pressure by the compressor 51 is injected from the injection nozzles 5A to 5E, and when the solenoid valves 53A to 53E are closed, the injection of air is stopped. .

As shown in FIG. 3B, each of the injection nozzles 5A to 5E is formed in a flat shape. Further, as shown in FIG. 3A, a number of compressed air injection holes (compressed air injection holes) 54 are provided at the distal ends of the injection nozzles 5A to 5E. They are arranged in a line at equal intervals in the vertical direction. The port portions 54A of the air injection holes 54 are formed in parallel with each other, so that the air injected from the air injection holes 54 is injected in parallel without interfering with each other. I have.

The injection nozzles 5A to 5E are arranged so as to be vertical to the belt conveyor 2 (ie, so that the rows of the injection holes 54 are vertical). By configuring the injection nozzles 5A to 5E in this manner, a film-like airflow as shown in FIG. 2 can be formed at the time of air injection, and the airflow can be placed before and after the articles 1 to be sorted. It is possible to minimize the influence on other items placed.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 2, in the present apparatus, each of the injection nozzles 5A to 5E is arranged such that the center axis of the air flow injected from the injection nozzles 5A to 5E is higher than the center of gravity G of the article 1. The attachment position of 5E is set, whereby the articles 1 to be sorted can be given a lifting force, and the articles 1 can be dropped from the belt conveyor 2 with a small force.

That is, the injection nozzles 5A to 5
By setting the center axis of the airflow from E to be higher than the center of gravity G of the article 1, when the compressed air is injected,
An air flow as shown in FIG. 2 is generated. In this case, since the flow above the article 1 becomes faster, the pressure above the article 1 decreases, and the force (lift) Fy for floating the article 1 is obtained.
Occurs. As a result, the force (gravity) acting on the belt conveyor 2 of the article 1 is reduced, and the article 1 can be moved with a slight force.

In particular, when the cross-sectional shape of the article 1 is a shape that is easy to roll, such as a circle, air is blown above the center of gravity G, as shown in FIG.
Is applied in a direction (here, a counterclockwise direction) such that the object 1 rolls toward the edge that falls from the belt conveyor, and a force Fx that moves in the sorting direction (left direction) is generated. It easily moves in the sorting direction (left direction).

Even if the cross-sectional shape is not circular, the article 1 is not affected by the air pressure from the injection nozzles 5A to 5E.
, A force Fx pushing leftward in the figure is generated, and the article 1 easily moves leftward in combination with the above-described action of the lift Fy. In addition, when the article 1 has a solid difference and varies in size (for example, when the article 1 is a crop), the central axis of the air flow injected from the injection nozzles 5A to 5E is:
It is necessary to ensure that the position is above the center of gravity G of the article 1.

In such a case, the height of the center of gravity of the smallest article 1 is h ₁ , and the height of the center of gravity of the largest article 1 is h ₁ .
₂ , the height H of the center axis of the air flow injected from the injection nozzles 5A to 5E is two heights of the center of gravity h ₁ ,
It may be set to be larger than h _2. Since the high-speed sorting device according to one embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above, the sorting operation is performed as follows.

First, on the upstream side of the belt conveyor 2, the articles 1 are placed on the belt conveyor 2 at substantially equal intervals, and thereafter, the sorting apparatus 4 judges the sorting conditions of the articles 1. That is, when each item 1 passes through the detection device 4A of the determination device 4, the item 1 is imaged by the CCD camera, and the image information is taken into the image processing device 4B. Then, in the controller 4C, the image processing device 4B
Based on the image information processed in (1), the sorting condition of each item 1 is determined (ranked), and the ranking result of each item 1 is stored in the controller 4C in that order.

When the sorting condition (for example, the size of the item) of the article 1 is ranked by the judging device 4, the controller 4C judges the above judgment result and the position sensors 3A to 3A.
Based on the position information of the article 1 from 3E, it is determined whether each article 1 has been conveyed before the nozzles 5A to 5E corresponding to the ranking. Thereafter, when it is detected that the article 1 has been conveyed before the nozzles 5A to 5E corresponding to the ranking, the controller 4C controls the solenoid valves 53A to 53E of the corresponding injection nozzles 5A to 5E to open. Then, the compressed air pressurized by the compressor 51 is jetted toward the article 1.

Further, each of the injection nozzles 5A to 5E is formed in a flat shape, and each of the injection nozzles 5A to 5E is arranged in a vertical direction with respect to the belt conveyor 2 (that is, the rows of each of the injection holes 54 are vertical). 2) so that when the air is injected, a film-like air flow as shown in FIG. 2 is generated. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, each of the injection nozzles 5A to 5E is such that the center axis of the air flow injected from the injection nozzles 5A to 5E is higher than the center of gravity G of the article 1.
By installing E, a lift Fy is generated for the articles 1 to be sorted, and the force acting on the belt conveyor 2 of the articles 1 is reduced.

In the case where the cross-sectional shape of the article 1 has a shape that is easy to roll, such as a circle, air is blown above the center of gravity G so that the article 1 rotates counterclockwise as shown in FIG. Is applied, a force Fx that moves to the left is generated, and it can be easily moved to the left in the figure. Further, even when the cross-sectional shape is not circular, the air pressure from the injection nozzles 5A to 5E generates a force Fx that pushes the article 1 leftward in the figure, and easily combines with the action of the lift Fy described above. The article 1 moves to the left.

By injecting the compressed air onto the article 1 in this manner, the article 1 falls from the belt conveyor 2 and the belt conveyors 2A, 2B,... Corresponding to the rank determined by the determination device 4. .., 2E, and are conveyed to the subsequent processes. As described above, in the high-speed sorting apparatus according to the present invention, the injection nozzles 5A to 5E are used, and the items 1 are sorted by the compressed air from the injection nozzles 5A to 5E. There is an advantage in that it hardly affects the articles placed on the cradle. This also has the advantage that the sorting operation can be easily speeded up.

Further, the injection nozzles 5A to 5E are formed flat and these injection nozzles 5A to 5E are installed in the vertical direction, so that the influence of the compressed air on the articles located before and after the articles 1 to be sorted can be further reduced. Since the number of articles 1 can be reduced, the interval of placing the articles 1 on the belt conveyor 2 can be narrowed, and the operation can be speeded up and the efficiency can be increased.

Further, the present apparatus has an advantage that the number of mechanical working parts is small, so that there is almost no increase in noise and vibration due to the increase in speed. In the above-described embodiment, the sorting is performed by dropping the articles 1 directly onto the belt conveyors 2A to 2F. However, a hopper may be used instead of the belt conveyors 2A to 2F.

The sectional shape of the belt conveyor 2 is shown in FIG.
However, the shape is not limited to the shape shown in FIG.

[0043]

As described above in detail, according to the high-speed sorting apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, by using compressed air, it is possible to reduce the influence on the articles before and after on the conveyor. Thus, there is an advantage that the sorting operation of the articles can be performed easily and reliably. As a result, the interval between articles on the conveyor can be reduced, and high-speed operation and high efficiency can be achieved.
In addition, since there are few mechanical working parts, there is an advantage that there is almost no increase in noise due to speeding up.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, by setting the center axis of the compressed air above the center of gravity of the article, it is possible to generate a lift on the article by the compressed air. There is an advantage that articles can be moved in the sorting direction with a small force. Further, according to the high-speed sorting device of the present invention, the air injected from the compressed air injection nozzle can be formed into a film, and the air can be applied to the articles placed before and after the target article. The effect can be further reduced. Thereby, there is an advantage that the speed of the sorting operation can be further increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the overall configuration of a high-speed sorting device as one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a main part of a high-speed sorting device as one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a compressed air injection nozzle as a main part of a high-speed sorting device as one embodiment of the present invention,
(A) is a front view showing the shape, and (b) is a schematic sectional view thereof.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining an example of a conventional high-speed sorting device.

[Description of Signs] 1 Article 2 Conveyor (Belt Conveyor) 2A to 2F Belt Conveyor 3A to 3E Position Detection Sensor (Position Sensor) 4 Judging Device 4A Detecting Device 4B Image Processing Device 4C Computer (or Controller) 5A to 5E Compressed Air Injection Nozzle (injection nozzle) 51 Compressor 52A-52E Compressed air supply path 53A-53E Solenoid valve 54 Compressed air ejection hole (compressed air ejection hole) 54A Port

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Masanori Masumoto 4-6-22 Kannon Shinmachi, Nishi-ku, Hiroshima City Inside the Hiroshima Research Laboratory, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (72) Inventor Shozan Yamazaki 4-6-kannon Shinmachi, Nishi-ku, Hiroshima No. 22 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A sorting apparatus for performing a sorting operation by selecting a predetermined product from a product group consisting of a plurality of products, comprising: a conveyor for placing and transporting the products at substantially equal intervals; and the product on the conveyor. A determination device that determines sorting conditions of: a position detection sensor that detects a position of the article moved by the conveyor; and a compressed air injection nozzle that can inject compressed air from a direction substantially perpendicular to a traveling direction of the conveyor. When the sorting condition of the item is determined by the determination device, compressed air is injected from the compressed air injection nozzle to the item based on detection information from the position detection sensor. A high-speed sorting device, characterized in that: 2. The high-speed apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a center axis of the compressed air flow jetted by the compressed air jet nozzle is set to be higher than a center of gravity of the article. Sorting device. 3. The compressed air injection nozzle has a plurality of compressed air ejection holes, and the plurality of compressed air ejection holes are vertically arranged in a row. Or the high-speed sorting device according to 2.