JPH11103838A - Method for controlling automatic root-cutting apparatus for head-forming vegetable - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To control an automatic root-cutting apparatus for headforming vegetables and improve the quality, labor-saving performance and work efficiency by automatically controlling the cutting height of the cutting apparatus based on an approximate expression showing the head heights before and after cutting. SOLUTION: This automatic root-cutting apparatus A for head-forming vegetable is provided with a transfer apparatus 1 for transferring a head-forming vegetable B directing its root B1 upward, a head-height measuring device 17 to measure the height from the root part B1 to the top and a cutting apparatus 4 to cut the root part B1 of the vegetable B. The test measurements consisting of the measurement of the head-height xi before cutting the root B1, the cutting of the root part B1 by manual control and the measurement of the height yi after cutting are repeated several times. The cutting apparatus A is controlled by automatically controlling the cutting height Y of the cutting apparatus 4 based on an approximate expression showing head heights xi and yi before and after cutting, e.g. Y=aX+b [ (a), (b), the correlation coefficient (r), Mx and My are defined in the following sheet; X and Y are head height (automatic) before and after cutting; (i) is number of measurements].

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for controlling an automatic head vegetable cutting apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to save labor of finishing cutting of head vegetables, a transfer device for transporting head vegetables such as cabbage and lettuce with the base part upward is provided from a root part to a top part of the head vegetable. Ball height measuring device to measure the ball height, based on the measurement value of the ball height measuring device, equipped with a cutting device to cut the root of the head vegetable, cutting the root of the head vegetable after harvest There is an automatic head vegetable root cutting device that is designed to format for shipping.

[0003]

However, there is a problem that it is necessary to adjust the cutting height every time the head vegetables are cut, which is troublesome and labor saving cannot be achieved.

[0004] On the other hand, if various conditions such as varieties, production areas, producers, seasons, etc. are constant, the shape of head vegetables is similar, and there is also a certain tendency in the requirements of the shipping destination for the finished state. Therefore, it is conceivable that the root is automatically cut at an optimum height by controlling the cutting height using the similarity and the tendency.

[0005] However, since there is no method for rationally extracting the similarity and tendency, the operator must rely on the intuition and experience of the operator, and the finished state varies widely.
There is a problem that many defective products are generated.

[0006]

Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided a transporting device for transporting the head of a head vegetable upward, and a ball height measuring device for measuring the height of the head of the head vegetable from the root to the top. In an automatic head vegetable cutting device having a cutting device for cutting the head portion of a head vegetable, the ball height before cutting of the root portion is measured, the root portion is cut by manual control of the cutting device, and the ball after cutting. A plurality of trials to measure the height are performed, and an approximate expression indicating the relationship between the ball height before cutting and the ball height after cutting is calculated from these measured values, and the cutting height of the cutting device is automatically determined based on the approximate expression. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for controlling an automatic head vegetable cutting device characterized by controlling.

[0007] The present invention also has the following features.

[0008] A plurality of approximation formulas obtained by past operation results are stored, and the cutting height of the cutting device is controlled by one of these approximation formulas.

The above approximate expression is a linear regression equation derived by statistical processing of the sphere height before cutting and the sphere height after cutting.

The number of trials is determined based on a correlation coefficient derived by statistical processing of the ball height before cutting and the ball height after cutting.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the embodiment of the present invention, a head-mounted vegetable placing portion is provided at the most upstream portion of a transport device for transporting a head-mounted vegetable with the base portion upward, and the head-mounted vegetable placing portion is provided following the head-mounted vegetable placing portion. A ball height measuring unit for measuring the ball height of vegetables is provided, and a cutting device for cutting the head portion of the head vegetable is provided on the downstream side, and the head portion of the head vegetable is placed on the head portion of the head vegetable, and Next, the ball height of the head vegetable is measured by the ball height measuring unit, and the root part of the head vegetable is cut by the cutting device at a cutting height based on an approximate expression described later, and the head vegetable that has been finished and cut from the end point of the transport device is removed. The series of operations is controlled so as to be automatically performed by a control device having a computer.

The above approximation formula derives a linear regression formula and a correlation coefficient from the correlation between the measured value of the ball height before cutting and the measured value of the ball height after cutting, and uses the same regression formula as an approximation formula to obtain a cutting device. Is controlled, and the number of trials described later is determined from the correlation coefficient.

That is, prior to the automatic operation of the automatic head vegetable cutting device, head vegetables randomly selected from one lot are placed on a transporting device, and the height of the head before cutting is first measured and then sent to a computer. Remember. Next, the cutting device is manually controlled, the root portion is cut at an optimum cutting height for the head vegetables, the cutting height is input to a computer, and the cutting height is converted into a ball height after cutting, A plurality of trials of storing the post-cut ball height and the pre-cut ball height in pairs are performed.

From the ball height before cutting and the ball height after cutting obtained by the above-mentioned trial, the relationship between the ball height before cutting and the optimum finish cutting state is statistically processed to calculate a linear regression equation and a correlation coefficient. .

The linear regression equation is known as the most reasonable equation when there are many pairs of measured values and these measured values are approximated by a linear equation. It is substantially the same as a linear expression derived from the value by the least square method.

The correlation coefficient is a numerical value that serves as an index for approximation of the linear regression equation. The larger the absolute value is, the better the degree of approximation is.

A correlation coefficient is calculated for each trial, and the trial is repeated until the correlation coefficient reaches a preset value.
When the above set value is reached, switching to automatic control, simply placing the headed vegetables on the conveyor, automatically measures the ball height before cutting, and substitutes this measured value into the linear regression equation to reduce the cutting height. Then, by controlling the cutting device so as to cut the root portion at this cutting height, the root portion of the head vegetable is automatically cut at the optimum height.

[0018]

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

1 and 2 show an automatic head-cut vegetable root cutting device A according to the present invention. The root cutting device A measures a ball height xi before cutting, prior to automatic operation of root cutting work, Root cutting by manual control and a trial consisting of measurement of the ball height yi after cutting are performed a plurality of times, and based on the data obtained by these trials, based on the data obtained by these trials, the similarity of the shape of the rooted vegetable B,
An approximate expression indicating the tendency of the shape after root cutting is created, and the cutting height Y is determined by substituting the sphere height before cutting during automatic cutting into the approximate expression.

First, the structure of the automatic head vegetable cutting device A will be described. The root cutting device A comprises a placing section 2, a measuring section 3, The cutting devices 4 are arranged in the above order.

The conveying device 1 comprises a main conveyor 5 and a pair of left and right guide devices 6 arranged on both left and right sides of the main conveyor 5.
It is composed of The main conveyor 5 has a pulley (sprocket) 8 mounted on the start and end of a substantially rectangular frame-shaped main frame 7, and a pair of right and left transfer chains 9 is wound between the pulleys 8. Between the chains 9, a saucer 10 having a recess formed in the center for stably placing the head vegetable V is erected, and the head vegetable B placed on the tray 10 is placed with the root part B1 upward. The left and right guide device 6 has a guide frame 11 disposed on the left and right sides of the main conveyor 5, and a vertical end pulley 12 that supports the front and rear vertical pulleys 12 at the start end and end end of each guide frame 11. Along with the shaft 13 erected, a plurality of guide pulleys 14 urged inward are axially supported inside the middle part of the guide frame 11, and a guide belt 15 is provided outside the front-rear vertical pulley 12 and the plurality of guide pulleys 14. Winding the guide bell 15 has a configuration for synchronizing rotation with the main conveyor 5.

The left and right guide device 6 can adjust the vertical height. In other words, the shape of head vegetables B is
If the conditions such as the producer and the season are constant, they are similar. If the ball height is larger than the ball diameter, the ball cannot be stably placed on the saucer 10 and the conveyance posture is disturbed. May not be able to cut the root portion B1. Therefore, the vertical height adjustment 30 as shown in FIG. 6 is provided so that the left and right guide device 6 can be positioned beside the center of gravity of the head vegetable B.

The vertical height adjuster 30 has a spline or polygonal shaft on the outer peripheral surface of the vertical axis 13, and a spline boss or a polygonal pipe 31 is slidably fitted on the vertical axis 13. A longitudinal pulley 12 is fixed to the upper part of the pipe 31, and the lower part is supported by the guide frame 11 via a bearing. A support stay 3 is provided on the side of the guide frame 11.
2 is fixedly provided, a support pin 33 is protruded from the support stay 32, and the support pin 33 is inserted into an adjustment groove 34 a opened in the adjustment plate 34. The adjusting plate 34 is fixed on the main frame 7, and an adjusting groove 34 a is formed on the side surface of the adjusting plate 34 so as to have different heights in several steps, and each is connected to each other. Therefore, if the head vegetable B is conveyed in an unstable state, the engagement position of the support pin 33 with the adjustment groove 34a is changed, and the height of holding the side surface of the head vegetable B is changed. . However, the adjusting groove 34
Instead of a, a plurality of adjusting holes may be opened in the vertical direction, and a height may be adjusted by inserting a pin or a bolt into the adjusting hole.

The vertical height adjustment 30 can be configured as shown in FIG. That is, an L-shaped support stay 35 is fixed on the side of the guide frame 11, and an inverted L-shaped support plate 36 is fixed on the main frame 7, and one of the support plate 36 and the support stay 35 is provided. It is also possible to adjust the height by vertically moving the guide frame 11 by turning the bolt 37 by screwing a bolt 37 on the other end and abutting or rotatably supporting the other opposing surface. is there. However, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the actuator is moved up and down using an actuator such as a cylinder or a motor.

A guide rail 16 for slidingly contacting the lower surface of the tray 10 on the left and right sides thereof to guide the tray 10 is provided.
The head vegetables B on 0 are prevented from swinging at the time of measuring the ball height or cutting the root portion, which will be described later. The placing section 2 opens the upper part of the main conveyor 5 so that the operator can place the head vegetables B on the tray 10 with the base B1 facing upward.

The measuring section 3 is composed of a pair of left and right ball height measuring devices 17 arranged so as to sandwich the center line of the main conveyor 5, and the ball height measuring devices 17 are arranged as shown in FIGS. A pivot 18 extending in the left-right direction is provided above the main conveyor 5, and a base end of a measurement lever 20 urged downward by a spring 19 on the pivot 18 is attached rotatably about the pivot 18; A measuring roller 21 is rotatably supported at the tip of the measuring lever 20 so that the measuring roller 21 is brought into contact with the root portion B1 of the head vegetable B being conveyed, and a potentiometer type variable resistor or a differential A ball height sensor 22 such as a moving transformer is interlocked and connected to measure the ball height xi before cutting of the head vegetable V from the vertical movement of the measuring lever 20, and the measured values of both ball height measuring devices 17 will be described later. Computer 26 of the control device C Type, so that calculates and stores a cutting front ball high xi.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cutting device 4 has a cutting motor 24 connected to a lower end of an elevating mechanism 23 driven by a stepping motor, a DC servo motor, or the like. The sharp rotating blade body 25 is interlocked and connected so that the root portion B1 of the head vegetable B is horizontally cut at a cutting height based on a signal from the control device C.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of the control device C.
The control device C has a built-in computer 26. The computer 26 has a manual input device 27 for manually controlling the cutting height of the cutting device 4, two ball height sensors 22, The mechanism 23 is connected, and the ball height before cutting xi and the ball height after cutting yi obtained by trial are stored as a pair. The post-cutting ball height yi is set in advance in the elevating mechanism 23, and the amount of movement of the rotary blade 25 is detected from the output to the elevating mechanism 23 during manual control. The post-cut ball height yi can be easily calculated from the above reference.

The computer 26 has a program for calculating an approximate expression for determining the cutting height Y with sufficient accuracy from the pre-cutting ball height xi and the post-cutting ball height yi obtained by a plurality of trials. The program stores the pre-cut sphere height xi and the post-cut ball height yi statistically, and derives a linear regression equation and a correlation coefficient expressed by the following equation.

[0030]

(Equation 1)

The embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above, and as shown in the flow chart of FIG. 5, automatic heading for one lot of heading vegetable B having the same conditions such as varieties, production areas, producers, and seasons. Prior to the automatic operation of the vegetable root cutting device A, a trial for creating an approximate expression is performed.

In the trial, a ball before cutting was measured by the ball height measuring device 17 of the measuring unit 3 while placing the randomly picked head vegetables B from the lots on the plate 10 and transporting them by the transport device 1. The height xi is measured, and the root B1 is cut at an appropriate cutting height for the head vegetables B by manual control of an operator, and the post-cut ball height yi and the pre-cut ball height xi are substituted into the above equations. Then, a linear regression equation as an approximate equation is completed, and a correlation coefficient r is calculated.

This calculation is performed for each trial by the computer 26. When the absolute value of the correlation coefficient r reaches a preset value after a predetermined number of trials have been performed, sufficient accuracy is obtained. Automatic operation is started assuming that an approximate expression has been obtained, and if the correlation coefficient r does not reach the set value even after the preset number of trials, the lot is suitable for automatic cutting. If not, the root is cut by manual control.

In the automatic operation, the ball height X before cutting measured by the ball height measuring device 17 is substituted into the above-mentioned approximate expression to determine the cutting height Y, and the lift mechanism 23 is controlled using the cutting height Y as a target value. Then, the root part B1 of the head vegetable B is cut. Therefore, the operator simply places the head vegetables B on the tray 10 of the transporting apparatus 1 with the root B1 facing upward, and automatically raises the root B1 at an appropriate height corresponding to the ball height X before cutting. The cut head vegetables B are discharged from the end of the transport device 1.

A plurality of approximation formulas (substantially a and b) obtained based on the results of the root cutting work are attached to the computer 26 or an external storage with data such as a product type, a production area, a producer, and a season. It is stored in the device 28, and at the discretion of the worker,
By selecting and using an appropriate one of the plurality of approximation formulas for the lot of head vegetables B having similar data, the cutting operation by the manual control and the calculation of the approximation formula are omitted, and the calculation is automatically performed from the beginning. Cutting work can be performed.

[0036]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a transport device for transporting the head of a head vegetable upward, a ball height measuring device for measuring the height of the head of the head vegetable from the root to the top, In an automatic head vegetable root cutting device equipped with a cutting device that cuts the root portion, the ball height before cutting of the root portion is measured,
Performs cutting of the base by manual control of the cutting device, performs multiple attempts to measure the ball height after cutting, and calculates an approximate expression that indicates the relationship between the ball height before cutting and the ball height after cutting from these measured values. By automatically controlling the cutting height of the cutting device based on this approximation formula, it is possible to cut the root of the head vegetable at a reasonable height, and the finished state of the head vegetable as a product is improved. This has the effect of preventing the occurrence of defective products.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a plurality of approximation formulas obtained based on past work results are stored, and the cutting height of the cutting device is controlled by one of these approximation formulas, thereby obtaining a similar approximation. At the time of root cutting of a lot of head vegetables, the cutting operation by manual control and the approximation formula calculation can be omitted, and the automatic cutting operation can be started from the beginning, thereby greatly reducing labor.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the approximate expression is:
Since it is a linear regression equation derived by statistical processing of the ball height before cutting and the ball height after cutting, it is possible to calculate a reasonable approximation formula and improve the finish of head vegetables by automatic cutting work. .

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the number of trials is determined based on the correlation coefficient derived by the statistical processing of the ball height before cutting and the ball height after cutting, whereby sufficient accuracy can be obtained with a small number of trials. Can be obtained, so that it is possible to achieve both improvement in quality and improvement in work efficiency due to labor saving.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an automatic head vegetable cutting apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a measurement unit.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a control device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a root cutting operation.

FIG. 6 is a front sectional view and a side view of adjusting the vertical height.

FIG. 7 is a front view and a side view showing another embodiment of adjusting the vertical height.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A Automatic Head Vegetable Root Cutting Device B Head Vegetables B1 Root xi Ball height before cutting yi Ball height after cutting 1 Conveying device 4 Cutting device 17 Ball height measuring device

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A transport device 1 for transporting a head vegetable B with a base part B1 upward, a ball height measuring device 17 for measuring a ball height from the base part B1 of the head vegetable B to the top, and a head vegetable B. In the automatic head vegetable cutting device A including the cutting device 4 for cutting the root portion B1, the ball height xi before cutting of the root portion B1 is measured, and the cutting of the root portion B1 is performed by manual control of the cutting device 4. , Ball height yi after cutting
Is performed a plurality of times, and from these measured values, an approximate expression indicating the relationship between the ball height xi before cutting and the ball height yi after cutting is calculated, and the cutting height of the cutting device 4 is determined based on the approximate expression. Y
A method for controlling an automatic head-cut vegetable root cutting device, characterized in that the method is automatically controlled. 2. A plurality of approximation formulas obtained based on past operation results are stored, and one of these approximation formulas is used for the cutting device 4.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the cutting height is controlled. 3. The automatic head-cut vegetable root cutting device according to claim 1, wherein the approximate expression is a linear regression formula derived by statistical processing of a ball height xi before cutting and a ball height yi after cutting. Control method. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the number of trials is determined based on a correlation coefficient derived by statistical processing of the ball height before cutting xi and the ball height after cutting yi. Control method of automatic head-cut vegetable root cutting device.