JPH1090189A - Saucer for agricultural-product sorting machine and sorting apparatus using it - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect the transmitted light of many agricultural products continuously, with high accuracy and with high sensitivity and to evaluate and judge them precisely and quickly by providing a light-shielding member which guides radiant light from a detection face downward and which excludes the entrance of disturbance light. SOLUTION: An agricultural product P, on a chain conveyor, which is passed through an outward-appearance imaging process is rolled on a rail part 142 for horizontal rolling guidance so as to continue its movement on a horizontal position (an upward movement position) in a transmitted-light detection process while a rolling roller 125 at the lower part of a light-shielding member 123 is rolled on a tilted rail part 141 for introducing guidance in the upward inclination of a rail mechanism 140 for light-shielding-member guidance so as to move the light-shielding member 123 gradually upward against a springy force for contact release. In the light-shielding member 123 which is moved upward to an upward movement position, an elastic body at its upper end comes into contact with the agricultural product P, the entrance of disturbance light from a contact part is prevented, and only transmitted light is detected with good accuracy and with good sensitivity. Then, at a point of time when the agricultural product P agrees with a light-receiving system 146, its transmitted light is detected, its detection information is sent to a signal processor, and the agricultural product is evaluated and judged by a prescribed computing and processing operation. After the transmitted light has been detected, the light-shielding member is moved downward along a tilted rail part 143 for transport guidance.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a saucer for a sorter which can be suitably used for sorting agricultural products such as citrus fruits (such as oranges of Unshu, oranges, etc.), kiwis, persimmons, apples and pears, in particular, spherical products. , And a sorting device using the tray.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, the trade price of agricultural products in the market is affected by the quality thereof. Therefore, agricultural products are usually sorted and sorted according to predetermined quality items at a sorting place and then shipped.

[0003] The quality items of such sorting are generally class elements such as size and weight, and grade elements such as scratches, color, sugar content and ripeness. In order to perform the evaluation automatically without visual observation, a mechanical device for detecting the evaluation information is required, and recently, optical means has been frequently used as this detecting means.

Various element detection methods using such optical means have hitherto been known, and one of the representative methods is an imaging means such as a camera for detecting appearance information of agricultural products.
Another representative means is a transmitted light detecting means for detecting internal information such as sugar content of agricultural products. The optical information detected in these manners is subjected to processing such as image processing, arithmetic processing, comparison processing, sorting processing, and the like by computer technology, and an evaluation judgment is performed on a predetermined quality item. In performing such information processing, the processing of appearance information and the processing of transmitted light information are basically common. However, the optical means for detecting optical information serving as data for processing is significantly different. For example, in the case of the transmitted light method, the amount of transmitted light is very small, so that the detection is compared with the detection of optical information having an external appearance. It is known to be extremely difficult.

[0005] Here, a conventionally known transmitted light detection method will be described. The principle configuration of transmitted light detection is described as follows. Agricultural products are placed on a mounting table provided in a test box and transmitted light is detected. Detector (JP-A-4-84740);
One that detects transmitted light of agricultural products placed in the through-holes using a turntable having through-holes that are spaced apart in the circumferential direction (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 58-25345), and transmission of agricultural products placed on a mounting table. A device that detects light through a filter (JP-A-4-83148), and a device that detects transmitted light of agricultural products using a rubber light shield and a rubber disturbance light shield (JP-A-3-160344). There is also a sorting and sorting device that uses a transport tray.The agricultural product is placed on a flat, tray-shaped, perforated tray with a vertically-opening opening in the center, and the agricultural product is stopped and opened from below. A method of detecting transmitted light by vertically moving an optical fiber forming a light receiving system therein (JP-A-6-288903);
Similarly, a system in which a perforated tray on which agricultural products are placed is stopped, and a sugar content sensor is moved up and down to detect sugar content information (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-25397) is known.

In an actual apparatus, in order to accurately perform evaluation judgment using light information of a transmitted light amount having a very small light amount as described above, it is only important that the information can be detected with high accuracy and sensitivity. It is important that detection can be performed promptly to continuously sort and sort a large number of agricultural products, and that detection can be performed in the middle without stopping conveyance of a conveyor or the like. Are not suitable for detecting transmitted light information of each agricultural product without stopping continuously moving lines. Specifically, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-288903 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
Although the system of -253397 is excellent in detecting weak light, it is extremely difficult to perform detection while continuously moving a conveyor or the like.

Note that a proposal for detecting transmitted light while continuously moving the transport line has been conceptualized. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-80557, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 7-26709.
In Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-72712, Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 7-72712, the proposal of Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-80557 mentions transmitted light as one of a plurality of pieces of information to be evaluated in combination. However, there is no disclosure of means for detecting the transmitted light information with high accuracy and sensitivity. Also, the proposal of Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 7-26709 merely conceptually discloses a light receiving system. Tokuho 7
The proposal of -72712 also discloses only the principle of reducing the influence of noise by lock-in amplification synchronized with the chopping frequency, and is capable of accurately detecting transmitted light, which is extremely weak light.
There is no specific proposal for an actual device required to detect with high sensitivity.

[0008] As described above, there has not been proposed any industrial-scale apparatus capable of realizing detection of weak transmitted light with high accuracy and sensitivity and imaging of the appearance of agricultural products on one transport line.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, in order to detect the transmitted light of agricultural products having a very small amount of light with high accuracy and sensitivity under the above-mentioned prior art, the present invention is designed to reduce the influence of disturbance light. The transmitted light receiving system, in which the light-shielding member is brought into contact with the agricultural product so that it can be made as small as possible, is adopted, and the transmitted light can be detected without stopping the movement of the agricultural product while adopting this light receiving system contact method. It was made.

That is, the present invention provides a sorter tray for sorting agricultural products, which is capable of detecting the transmitted light having a very small amount of light in agricultural products with high accuracy and sensitivity and performing accurate evaluation judgment. And a sorting apparatus using the tray.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a tray for a sorting machine suitable for continuously and quickly sorting and sorting a large number of agricultural products, and a sorting device using the tray.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a tray for a sorter which realizes detection of transmitted light of agricultural products without stopping transport while the agricultural products are continuously transported on a conveyor or the like, and using the trays. To provide a sorting device.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tray for a sorting machine devised so that the detection of transmitted light of agricultural products and the imaging of the entire appearance can be performed, respectively, and a sorting device using the tray. Where you do it.

[0014]

The features of the present invention made in order to achieve the above object are as described in each claim of the claims.

The invention of a saucer for an agricultural product sorting machine according to claim 1 of the present application is a saucer for an agricultural product sorting machine that moves an agricultural product on a conveying path, and supports a saucer main body to be transported and a mounted agricultural product. Agricultural product supporting means which is provided on the saucer main body and is not in contact with the detection surface so that a predetermined range directed downwardly of the supported agricultural product is a transmitted light detection surface, and is opposed to below the detection surface. A light-shielding member for guiding light emitted from the detection surface downward and eliminating intrusion of disturbance light, the light-shielding member being brought into contact with the transmitted light detection surface of the mounted agricultural product to cause disturbance. It is provided so as to be able to move up and down between an upper moving position for eliminating the invasion of light and a lower moving position separated from the detection surface, and is always provided so as to be kept at the lower moving position.

In the above construction, the tray body is a member having an appropriate shape such as a flat plate which is connected to a chain conveyor or the like and turned, and does not mean that it has a so-called dish shape.

If the agricultural product is spherical, the transmitted light detection surface to which the agricultural product support means does not contact is generally formed as a circular area around the center of the surface of the mounted spherical agricultural product facing the lower side and its periphery. It is often appropriate to do so.

As the light-shielding member, for example, a member having a vertical cylindrical body made of a rigid material and a mortar-shaped contact portion formed of a soft material such as rubber on the periphery of its upper end may be used. it can. The light-shielding member is supported by, for example, a pan body (or a bracket assembled to the pan body) so as to be movable in a vertical direction by a fixed length, and is pressed to a lower limit position by a spring. A mechanism that moves up and down can be configured, but is not limited to this.

According to the present invention, the light-shielding member is normally pushed up to the upper position while the agricultural product placed on the agricultural-product supporting means is being transported while the tray is being transported. This makes it possible to detect transmitted light with high accuracy and sensitivity by preventing the intrusion of disturbance light by bringing the part into close contact with the mounted agricultural product.

[0020] The invention of claim 2 of the present application is characterized in that, in the above configuration, the agricultural product supporting means is configured by arranging a pair of rotatable drum-shaped rollers on both sides of a vertically movable light shielding member in parallel. I do.

According to the present invention, the agricultural product placed so as to span a pair of parallel drum-shaped rollers in which both ends of the shaft are thick and the middle portion of the shaft is narrow is naturally brought to the middle of the shaft. Stable support. In addition, by rotating the pair of drum-shaped rollers in the same direction, the supported agricultural products can rotate around a horizontal axis parallel to these drum-shaped rollers, thereby controlling the mounting posture of the agricultural products. Can be.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, an agricultural product sorting apparatus uses the above-mentioned tray and transports a plurality of transport conveyors connected endlessly in the transport direction and a tray on which agricultural products are placed. A light-shielding member pushing-up means for pushing up the light-shielding member of each tray placed and conveyed below the conveying path in the predetermined area from the lower position to the upper position, and a lower end of the light-shielding member pushed up in the predetermined area. Light receiving system optical means for receiving the transmitted light emitted from the light-shielded detection surface of the agricultural product in close proximity.

According to the invention of the sorting device, the light shielding member is brought into close contact with the agricultural product by the light shielding member lifting means,
The lower end of the vertically moving portion of the light shielding member can be accurately positioned, whereby the optical means of the transmitted light receiving system can be arranged as close as possible to the lower end of the light shielding member,
The effect of disturbance light can be reduced. The light-shielding member pushing-up means is not limited, but a roller is attached to the lower end of the light-shielding member, and a rail of a predetermined height is arranged in a predetermined area of the tray conveying path, and the roller moves on this rail. An example of a mechanism configured to guide the user in a state in which the roller is pushed up above normal time by rolling can be exemplified.

[0024] The invention of claim 4 of the present application is characterized in that there is provided imaging means arranged above the transport path for transporting the tray on which the agricultural products are placed, and for imaging the appearance of the agricultural products.

According to the present invention, optical information indicating the appearance of agricultural products and optical information of light transmitted through agricultural products can be detected on the transport path.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transport conveyor which connects the trays many in the transport direction and rotates endlessly,
Light-shielding member pushing-up means for pushing up the light-shielding member of each tray placed and transported below the transport path in the predetermined area for transporting the tray on which the agricultural product is placed from the lower position to the upper position, and pushing up the light in the predetermined area A light-receiving system optical means for receiving transmitted light emitted from the light-shielded detection surface of the agricultural product as close as possible to the lower end of the light-shielding member; Imaging means for imaging the appearance of the agricultural product, which is disposed on the upper side of the transport path of the position, and a drum-shaped roller which is provided between the two positions and which is the agricultural product support means so as to invert the agricultural product on each pan. And a drum-shaped roller rotating means.

According to the invention, after the appearance of the agricultural product is imaged at the first position, the appearance of the agricultural product can be imaged again at the second position after the agricultural product is turned over by rotating the drum roller.
Thereby, it is possible to detect all the light information on the entire appearance of the agricultural product.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the drum-shaped roller rotating means, a rail provided along the conveyor is rotated in contact with the rail, and the driven rotation is applied to the drum-shaped roller. It is characterized by being constituted by a driven rotary roller mechanism provided on the tray so as to transmit.

According to the present invention, the rail arranged below the transport path can be used to rotate the drum roller, and the agricultural product can be turned over while being transported.

The invention according to claim 7 of the present application is characterized in that
Discharge means for discharging the agricultural products supported by the agricultural product support means to the side in the transport direction is provided.

According to the present invention, a plurality of discharge devices are provided along a transport path for detecting transmitted light or light information on the appearance together with the transmitted light and sorting agricultural products based on the detected light information. By sending a signal and operating this discharging device, the agricultural product can be discharged to the side of the transport path by the operation of the discharging means provided on the tray.

[0032]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 shows an example of a configuration outline of an agricultural product sorting apparatus according to the present embodiment in a first example.
2 is a front view showing a series of steps in the order of appearance imaging-reversal-second appearance imaging-transmitted light detection-sorting / discharging. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a tray on which agricultural products P are placed. Details of the structure and movement of the tray are shown in FIGS.

The present embodiment is provided with a flat plate-shaped receiving body 101 having an opening 102 in a part thereof. Both ends in the width direction of the receiving body 101 are endlessly run (rotated) as a pair in parallel along the conveying direction. And connected to the attachment 201 of the conveyor chain 2 provided so as to perform the following operations. Reference numeral 202 denotes one of sprockets for rotating the conveyor chain 2 endlessly (the other is not shown). Reference numeral 3 denotes a guide mechanism for rotating the conveyor chain 2 endlessly. A guide rail 302 for transporting and guiding the conveyor chain 2 is fixed to an inwardly facing surface of a pair of opposed fixed frames 301. A discharge device 4 for sorting and discharging the paper is fixedly provided at a predetermined position (see FIG. 1) of the conveyor path of the conveyor chain 2.

Reference numeral 103 denotes a pair of drum-shaped rollers arranged near both ends of the tray main body 101 in the transport direction, and a pair of brackets 104, 10 erected on the tray main body 101.
5 and the bracket 1
04 and 105 are rotatably supported. As shown in the figure, the drum-shaped roller 103 has a shape in which both ends in the axial direction are thick and the middle portion is thin, and the agricultural product P (for example, a spherical mass) is placed over the pair of drum-shaped rollers 103. ) Is stably supported by being moved to the intermediate portion.

Reference numerals 107 and 108 denote the drum-shaped rollers 103.
The upper roller 107 is pivotally mounted on the shaft 106, and the lower roller 108 is rotatably supported by brackets 104, 109. 107 so as to rotate in contact with each other, and the lower end of the roller is
It is provided so as to protrude downward by a certain length below 1 (see FIG. 5).

Reference numeral 120 denotes a light-shielding mechanism of a transmitted light receiving system.
0 is also used. That is,
A pivotally mounted bridge between the bent portions 1051 of the pair of brackets 105 disposed on the tray main body 101 near one end (the left end in FIG. 2) in the width direction orthogonal to the transport direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. A shaft 131, a tilting arm 132 having one end pivotally connected to the pivot shaft 131, and the other end of the tilting arm 132 extending to near the other end in the width direction of the tray main body 101 (the right end in FIG. 2). ) And the tilting arm 13
Agricultural product discharging spring 13 which always exerts a spring force in a direction (counterclockwise direction in FIG. 2) in which the other end side of 2 is tilted and flipped up.
4 and the tilt locking shaft 1 which is provided on the other end side in the width direction of the tray main body 101 and is always operated by the spring force of a spring (not shown).
A hook member 135 for hooking the tilting arm 33 to prevent the tilting arm 132 from tilting and releasing the tilting prevention when the solenoid of the discharging device 4 is illustrated as an example.
30 are formed.

At the middle of the tilting arm 132, an outer cylinder 121 for guiding the light shielding member is fixed.
A light-shielding member 123 as a cylindrical inner cylindrical body is inserted into the light-shielding member 123 so that the light-shielding member 123 can move freely within a certain length in the vertical direction. The light shielding mechanism 120 is configured by being biased. Preferably, an annular elastic body 122 is attached to the upper end of the light-shielding member 123 so that the light-shielding member 123 can be in close contact with the agricultural product to obtain a high light-shielding property. In addition, driven rollers 125 are mounted so as to form a pair on both sides in the transport direction on the side surface near the lower end of the light shielding member 123, and the rotation axis of the driven rollers 125 is aligned with the width direction orthogonal to the transport direction. Contact release spring 12
In the present example in which the pan 1 is rotated endlessly as shown in FIG. It is good to use force.

Reference numeral 140 designates the light shielding member 123 as the driven roller 12
5 is a light-shielding member guiding rail mechanism that guides upward and downward movements by the rolling guide 5. As shown in FIG.
The driven roller 125 is provided in front of the position for detecting the transmitted light, and rolls along the transfer guide inclined rail portion 141 whose height is gradually increased, so that the spring of the contact release spring 124 is formed. The light shielding member 123 is gradually moved upward against the force, and the horizontal rolling guide rail portion 142 at the transmitted light detection position is provided.
Then, the light-shielding member 123 is horizontally moved while being maintained at the upper movement position, and the driven roller 125 is moved along the transfer guide inclined rail portion 143 provided at the subsequent stage of the transmitted light detection position and having a gradually lower height. , The light shielding member 123 is moved downward by the spring force of the contact release spring 124. The light-shielding member guiding rail mechanism 140 may be provided at the transmitted light detection position and before and after the transmitted light detection position, and a rail that rolls the driven roller 125 at the lower limit position may be provided in other transport areas. Yes, but it can be free without rails.

The details of the agricultural product transmitted light detection mechanism provided in connection with the light shielding member guide rail mechanism 140 are shown in FIGS. That is, an illumination lamp 144 and a reflection hood 145 are provided on the upper side of the transport path in order to increase the amount of transmitted light, and on the lower side of the transport path, the lower end of the light shielding member 123 that moves horizontally at the upward position. The transmitted light receiving system should be as close as possible (for example,
The end face of an optical transmission body such as an optical fiber, a lens, a liquid crystal shutter, etc.)
2 is fixedly installed. The agricultural product transmitted light received by the light receiving system 146 is sent to the detection unit 147 shown in FIG. 1 and is converted into, for example, a light intensity signal, and the signal processing device (computer or the like) 148 performs predetermined sorting for sorting agricultural products. The signal processing is performed, and a signal for sorting agricultural products is output to the discharging device 4. Reference numeral 149 denotes a rotation position detection device for the sprocket 202, which synchronously controls transmitted light detection and the operation of the agricultural product discharge device by detecting the rotation position.

Details of the imaging mechanism 150 for imaging the entire circumference of the agricultural product P are shown in FIGS. In this example, at the stage before the transmitted light detection step, the agricultural product P, which is initially supported downward (for example, with the bottom down as shown) on the tray conveyed in the direction of the arrow in FIG.
The second imaging camera 152 is provided so as to take an image of the agricultural product P supported by being imaged by the imaging camera 151 and turned upside down (finger is turned up) after being inverted while being transported. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the agricultural product reversing mechanism of this example includes a horizontal surface 155 along the transport direction, an upwardly inclined surface 154 on the upstream side in the transport direction, and a downwardly inclined surface 1 on the downstream side in the transport direction.
And a truncated trapezoidal drum-shaped roller rotating base 153 having
Is fixedly arranged below the transport path between the first and second imaging cameras 151 and 152. That is, the lower roller 108 on the tray main body 101 is rotated by contact with the horizontal surface 155 of the drum-shaped roller rotating base 153 by the movement of the tray according to the rotation of the chain conveyor, and this rotation is upward. By being transmitted to the roller 107, the pair of drum-shaped rollers 103 rotates (rotates 180 °),
The produce is inverted as shown in FIG. Therefore, the lower surface of the agricultural product is imaged by the first imaging camera 151, and after being inverted, the upper surface of the agricultural product is imaged by the second imaging camera 152. Note that the amount of rotation of the drum-shaped roller 103 due to the rotation of the pair of rotating rollers is equal to the pair of upper and lower rotating rollers 1.
The engagement between the gears 07 and 108 and the drum-shaped roller rotating base 153 can be made exactly 180 ° by using gears and a gear and a rack.

Next, a description will be given of the agricultural product discharging mechanism 160 for discharging the agricultural products P for sorting. In this example, the discharging devices 4 of FIG. 1 are installed on one side of the chain conveyor by the number of sorting for sorting. A discharge slope 161 for receiving the agricultural products discharged to the opposite side of the discharge device 4 and a discharge belt conveyor 162 which contacts the lower end of the discharge slope 161 and sends the agricultural products to a box packing device or the like (not shown). It is configured. The features of these agricultural product discharging mechanisms 160 are shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. In the predetermined discharging device 4 that has received the signal for agricultural product sorting from the signal processing device 148 described above, the solenoid 41 is excited. The projection 42 swings the lever 43, and the swing of the lever 43 pushes the lever engaging arm 1351 of the tilt preventing hook member 135 of the tilt arm 132 downward in FIG. To release the hook of the tilt locking shaft 133 by the tip hook 1352. Thereby, the tilting arm 132 is flipped up and tilted counterclockwise in FIG. 7 by the spring force of the agricultural product discharging spring 134 (see FIG. 8). In addition, 1353 is a rotation center axis of the hook member.

Next, the operation of the agricultural product sorting apparatus of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.

In a chain conveyor type transfer mechanism constructed by assembling the tray 1 having the above-described structure to the endlessly rotating conveyor chain 2 so as to be continuous in the transfer direction,
At the start end of the transport mechanism, for example, an operator puts the agricultural products P such as globular tangerines on each tray 1 one by one manually or by an automatic supply device (not shown). Thereby, the agricultural product P is supported across the pair of drum-shaped rollers 103.
In this case, the agricultural product P is separated from the light shielding member 123.

The agricultural product P conveyed by the chain conveyor in the downward state is firstly imaged by the first imaging camera 151 at a portion corresponding to the hatched portion of the agricultural product in the appearance imaging step as the first stage. The signal is sent to the signal processing device 148.

Next, the agricultural product P is conveyed and passed through a reversing step in which a truncated trapezoidal drum-shaped roller turning table 153 shown in FIG. 4 is provided. When the sheet passes through the reversing process, the lower roller 108 of the pair of upper and lower rotating rollers 107 and 108 is moved to the horizontal surface 15 of the drum-shaped roller rotating base 153.
5 is rolled on the lower roller 1.
08 to the upper roller 107 rotating in contact with
Thus, the drum-shaped roller 103 passes through the shaft
Is rotated. At this time, since the agricultural product P and the light shielding member 123 are separated from each other as described above, the agricultural product P does not affect the rotation of the agricultural product P. When the drum-shaped roller 103 is rotated by a predetermined angle, the agricultural product P is inverted by approximately 180 ° and passes through the inversion step.

The agricultural product P that has passed through the reversing step is
The second imaging camera 152 is used in an appearance imaging process as a stage.
The other half of the agricultural product (the half on the side with the bulge in FIG. 1) is imaged, and the imaging information is sent to the signal processing device 148. By these external appearance imaging, an image of the entire circumference of the agricultural product P is taken into the signal processing device 148, and a grade evaluation (size, shape, etc.) and a grade evaluation (scratch, color, etc.) of the external appearance of the agricultural product are performed by predetermined arithmetic processing or the like. ) Is determined.

Next, the agricultural product P is transported to the transmitted light detection step, which is the third stage. In this transmitted light detection step, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the rolling rollers 125 assembled to the lower part of the light shielding member 123 are moved up and down by the light shielding member guiding rail mechanism 140. Rolling on the portion 141 to gradually move the light blocking member 123 up against the spring force of the contact release spring 124, and then rolling on the horizontal rolling guide rail portion 142 to maintain a horizontal position at a certain height. Continue moving at (upward position). As described above, the light shielding member 123 moved up to the upward movement position prevents the disturbance light from entering from the contact portion by the elastic body 122 attached to the upper end thereof coming into contact with the agricultural product P, and the light transmitting member 123 transmits light. It is intended to realize high-accuracy detection of only light and high sensitivity. Then, the transmitted light transmitted through the agricultural product P is detected at the time when the transmitted light coincides with the transmitted light receiving system 146 including the end face of an optical transmission body such as an optical fiber, a lens, a liquid crystal shutter (see FIG. 6). The information is sent to the signal processing device 148, and the grade evaluation is determined based on the sugar content, for example, for the agricultural production department P by a predetermined arithmetic processing or the like based on the transmitted light information. Agricultural products for which transmitted light detection is completed are
The lower rolling roller 125 rolls on the downwardly inclined transfer guide inclined rail portion 143 whose height gradually decreases, moves down to the lower limit position, and thereafter maintains that position.

The class and class are determined by the signal processing device 148 based on the optical information obtained by the above-described appearance imaging and transmitted light detection.
The sorting information determined in step 1 is the signal processing device 1
From 48, the corresponding agricultural products P are sent to the corresponding discharge device 4, and when the relevant agricultural products P are transported, the agricultural products P are discharged.
In the example of FIG. 1, since the transport position of each tray 1 is detected in synchronization with the rotation of the sprocket 202 detected by the rotation position detecting device 149, the corresponding discharge device 4 is determined based on the transport information and the sorting information. The solenoid 41 is excited to discharge agricultural products to the discharge belt conveyor 162. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, when the solenoid 41 of the discharge device 4 is excited, the projection 42 swings the lever 43, thereby rotating the hook member 135 clockwise in FIG. The hook of the shaft 133 is released, and the tilting arm 132 is moved to the agricultural product discharging spring 13.
With the spring force of No. 4, it is flipped up and tilted counterclockwise in FIG. As a result, the elastic body 122 of the light shielding member 123 attached to the tilt arm 132 comes into contact with the agricultural product P and is discharged to the discharge belt conveyor 162 via the discharge slope 161 as shown in FIG. Tilt arm 1 in tilted state after ejection is completed
32 is returned to an initial position by a return guide rail (not shown) or the like, and is locked in an initial state by engaging the hook member 135 with the tilt locking shaft 133.

According to the saucer for an agricultural product sorting machine of the present embodiment configured as described above, and the sorting apparatus using the same, it is possible to detect the transmitted light of the agricultural product with good accuracy and sensitivity, and with good accuracy. In this way, there is an advantage that the entire appearance of the agricultural product can be imaged and transmitted light can be detected satisfactorily during the transportation of one transportation line.

[0050]

According to the present invention, it is possible to detect the transmitted light of agricultural products having a very small amount of light with high accuracy and sensitivity, and to accurately perform the evaluation judgment.
The following effects are obtained.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the agricultural product placed on the agricultural product support means is pushed up by the light shielding member during transportation, so that the light shielding member is brought into close contact with the agricultural product to prevent the penetration of disturbance light. This has the effect of enabling transmitted light detection with high sensitivity.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the agricultural products supported in the form of a pair of parallel drum-shaped rollers in which both ends of the shaft are thick and the middle portion of the shaft are thin are naturally brought to the middle of the shaft to be stable. By rotating the pair of drum-shaped rollers supported in the same direction, the supported agricultural products can be easily inverted, and the effect of capturing the entire appearance of the agricultural products can be obtained. .

According to the invention of the third aspect of the present invention, the light-shielding member can be brought into close contact with the agricultural product by the light-shielding member pushing-up means, and at the same time, the lower end of the vertically moving portion of the light-shielding member can be accurately positioned. Accordingly, the optical means of the transmitted light receiving system can be arranged as close as possible to the lower end of the light blocking member, and the effect of reducing the influence of disturbance light can be achieved.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, optical information indicating the appearance of agricultural products can be detected on the transport path for detecting transmitted light, and the agricultural products can be continuously transported on a conveyor or the like while traveling. Thus, it is possible to realize the detection of the transmitted light of the agricultural product without stopping the transportation.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, by taking an image of the appearance before and after the reversal of the agricultural product, it is possible to obtain an effect that the entire appearance of the agricultural product can be imaged without fail.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the rail arranged below the transport path can be used to rotate the drum-shaped roller, and the agricultural products can be inverted while being transported, so that a large number of agricultural products can be removed. This has the effect of continuously and quickly sorting and sorting.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, a plurality of light beams are provided along a transport path for detecting transmitted light or optical information relating to the appearance together with the transmitted light and sorting and sorting agricultural products based on the detected light information. By sending a signal to the discharge device and activating the discharge device, an effect is produced that the agricultural product can be easily discharged to the side of the transport path by the operation of the discharge means provided on the tray.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an outline of the configuration of an agricultural product sorting apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention in a series of processes in the order of first appearance imaging, inversion, second appearance imaging, transmitted light detection, and sorting and discharging. FIG.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged plan view for explaining a saucer of the agricultural product sorting device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional side view taken along line AA of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view showing an outline of the agricultural product reversing step of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional side view taken along line BB of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a front view showing an outline of the agricultural product transmitted light detection step of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a side view showing the outline of the agricultural product discharging step of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a side view showing the outline of the agricultural product discharging step in FIG. 1 when agricultural products are discharged.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Receiving tray 101 ... Receiving tray main body 102 ... Opening 103 ... Hourglass roller 104 ... Bracket 105 ... Bracket 1051 ... Bending part 106 ... Shaft 107 ... Upper roller Reference numeral 108: Lower roller 109: Bracket 120: Light shielding mechanism 121: Outer cylindrical body 122: Elastic body 123: Light shielding member 124: Contact release spring 125: Follower Roller 130 ... Discharge mechanism 131 ... Pivot shaft 132 ... Tilting arm 133 ... Tilting locking shaft 134 ... Spring for discharging agricultural products 135 ... Hook member 1351 ... Lever engagement Arm 1352 ··· Tip hook 1353 ··· Rotation center axis 140 ··· Rail mechanism for guiding light shielding member 141 ··· Slant rail section for transfer guide 142 ··· Rail section for horizontal rolling guide 1 Reference numeral 3 denotes a transfer guide inclined rail section 144 an illumination lamp 145 a reflection hood 146 a light receiving system 147 a detection section 148 a signal processing device 149 a rotational position detection device 151 ······························· 1st imaging camera 152 ··· second imaging camera 153 ··· drum-shaped roller rotating base 154 · · · up slope 155 · horizontal plane 156 · down slope 160 Agricultural product discharge mechanism 161 ... discharge slope 162 ... discharge belt conveyor 2 ... conveyor chain 201 ... attachment 202 ... sprocket 3 ... guide mechanism 301 ... fixed frame 302 ... guide Rail 4 ・ ・ ・ Ejecting device 41 ・ ・ ・ Solenoid 42 ・ ・ ・ Protrusion 43 ・ ・ ・ Lever

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A saucer for an agricultural product sorting machine that moves on a transport path with agricultural products placed thereon, the saucer body being transported, and the saucer body provided on the tray body for supporting the mounted agricultural products, and the supported agricultural product. Agricultural product support means not in contact with the detection surface so that a predetermined range facing downward is the transmitted light detection surface, and is provided on the saucer body facing the lower side of the detection surface,
A light-shielding member for guiding light emitted from the detection surface downward and eliminating intrusion of disturbance light, wherein the light-shielding member contacts the transmitted light detection surface of the mounted agricultural product to eliminate the intrusion of disturbance light. A saucer for an agricultural product sorter, wherein the saucer is provided so as to be vertically movable between an upper movement position and a lower movement position separated from the detection surface, and is always held at the lower movement position. 2. The agricultural product supporting means according to claim 1,
A saucer for an agricultural product sorter, wherein a rotatable drum-shaped roller is arranged in parallel on both sides of a vertically movable light shielding member. 3. The tray according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a plurality of trays are connected in the transport direction and are endlessly rotated, and are disposed below the transport path in a predetermined area for transporting the trays on which the agricultural products are placed. A light-shielding member pushing-up means for pushing up the light-shielding member of each tray to be moved from the lower movement position to the upper movement position, and the agricultural product is shielded as close as possible to the lower end of the light-shielding member pushed up in the predetermined area. An agricultural product sorting device, comprising: a light receiving system optical unit that receives transmitted light emitted from a detection surface. 4. An apparatus for sorting agricultural products according to claim 3, further comprising an image pickup means arranged above a transport path for transporting a tray on which the agricultural products are placed and imaging the appearance of the agricultural products. 5. The tray according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of trays are connected to each other in a transport direction, and the transport conveyor rotates endlessly, and is disposed below a transport path in a predetermined area for transporting the tray on which the agricultural products are placed. A light-shielding member pushing-up means for pushing up the light-shielding member of each tray to be conveyed from the lower movement position to the upper movement position, and a light-shielded detection surface of the agricultural product as close as possible to the lower end of the light-shielding member pushed up in the predetermined area A light receiving system optical means for receiving the transmitted light emitted from the camera; and an imaging means for imaging the appearance of the agricultural product, which is respectively arranged on two upper transport paths separated in the transport direction of the tray on which the agricultural product is placed, and And a drum-shaped roller rotating means for rotating a drum-shaped roller serving as agricultural product support means so as to turn over the agricultural product on each pan, provided between the positions. 6. The drum-shaped roller rotating means according to claim 5, wherein the drum-shaped roller rotating means rotates along with the rail provided along the conveyor and is driven to rotate, and transmits the driven rotation to the drum-shaped roller. And a driven roller mechanism provided on a tray. 7. The method according to claim 3, wherein
An apparatus for sorting agricultural products, comprising a tray body provided with discharge means for discharging the agricultural products supported by the agricultural product support means to the side in the transport direction.