JPH11267595A - Separation device for agricultural product - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an agricultural product separation device for separating accurately agricultural products according to the weight even when the positions of the agricultural products held by a holder are dispersed, in which the agricultural products dropped from the holding body are hard to be damaged by the impact at the time of dropping. SOLUTION: A holder 3 of agricultural products P is cantileveredly supported rotatably on a supporting member 10 through a rotating shaft 15. The supporting member 10 is made to travel by an endless rotating chain 1. The agricultural products P are weighed by a weighing means 40, and when the set weight is provided, a supplementary section 41a of the weighing means 40 is jumped up by a slider 21 to rotate the holder 3 downward and drop the agricultural products P onto an inclined plate 50. Another endless rotating chain 31 rotated together with the endless rotating chain 1 is provided, and the end of an extended member 30 extended from the supporting member is fitted on the endless rotating chain 31 to hold the posture of the supporting member 10 and make the supporting member 10 travel stably.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an agricultural product sorting apparatus for sorting agricultural products such as potatoes, potatoes, carrots and kiwis by weight using a weight-type weighing means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a device for sorting agricultural products, agricultural products are weighed by weight-type weighing means provided on a transport path while the agricultural products are held by a holder and transported by an endless rotating chain. When an object has a set weight, it is widely practiced to rotate the holder downward to drop agricultural products from the holder.

[0003] As described in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-33991 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 7-32494, a conventional sorting device for agricultural products of this kind is equipped with a pair of left and right endless rotating chains parallel to each other. And a holder for agricultural products is rotatably mounted on the rotating shaft in a vertical direction. A guide rail parallel to the endless rotating chain is provided, and a slider extending from the holder is slid along the guide rail, so that a load applied from the slider to the weighing means provided at an appropriate position on the transport path is heavy. When the load is larger than the weight set by the weight, the holding body is rotated downward to drop the agricultural products downward to be sorted.

[0004]

In the above-described conventional agricultural product sorting apparatus, the holding body is located between a pair of left and right endless rotating chains, and the holding body is lowered about a rotating shaft that is bridged between these endless rotating chains. In such a case, the agricultural products are dropped to a collecting section immediately below the holder, and the agricultural products that have fallen into the collecting section are taken out of the collecting section by some means.

However, in the conventional structure, the load applied to the weighing means is slightly varied due to the variation in the position of the agricultural product held by the holding body, and the weighing result is also likely to vary. There was a point.

[0006] Further, there has been a problem that the distance over which the agricultural product falls from the holder is considerably long, and therefore, the agricultural product is easily damaged by an impact when dropped into the collecting section.
In particular, when the agricultural product has a weak skin, such as potatoes and potatoes, the impact at the time of dropping causes considerable damage.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for sorting agricultural products that can accurately sort agricultural products by weight, even if the positions of the agricultural products held by the holder vary. Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for sorting agricultural products that are less likely to be damaged by the impact of the falling of the agricultural products from the holder.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided an endless rotating band tuned to a rotating wheel, a supporting member mounted on the endless rotating band, and a cantilever mounted on the supporting member via a rotating shaft. A holder for agricultural products that is pivotally supported and rotates in a direction orthogonal to the running direction of the endless rotating band, a collection unit that collects agricultural products that have fallen from the holding body, a guide rail parallel to the endless rotating band, and a holding body A slider extending along the guide rail and sliding along the guide rail, and a complementary portion for complementing the missing portion of the guide rail, and the complementary portion is retreated from the lacking portion by a load applied from the slider sliding on the complementary portion. Weight type weighing means for rotating the holding body about the rotation axis to drop the agricultural product from the holding body, and a supporting member posture holding means for preventing the posture of the supporting member from being collapsed by the load of the holding body. Agricultural product sorting equipment characterized by having That.

Preferably, the attitude holding means extends from a second endless rotation band disposed below the guide rail and coaxially rotates with the endless rotation band, and the support member. An extension member, and the extension member was attached to the second endless rotation band.

Preferably, the posture holding means is a guide member disposed below the guide rail in parallel with the endless rotating band and an extension member extending from the support member. Is moved along this guide member.

[0011] Preferably, the collecting section is an inclined plate obliquely inclined at a downward slope to the side of the endless rotating belt on which the support member is mounted, and the agricultural product dropped from the holding member on the inclined plate. And a stopper for defining a rotation limit of the holding member is provided above the inclined plate.

[0012] Preferably, a spring is mounted on a mounting body extending from the holding body toward the guide rail, while the slider is pivotally mounted at the time of horizontal rotation, and a spring for resiliently moving the slider in the horizontal rotation direction.

[0013] Preferably, a weight for adjusting the weight of the holding body is attached to the mounting body.

[0014]

In the above construction, when the agricultural product held by the holding body has a weight set by the weight of the weighing means, the holding member rotates in a direction perpendicular to the running direction of the endless swivel belt, and the agricultural product is removed. Sort by dropping it to the collection unit.

The holding member is cantilevered and supported by a support member mounted on the endless swivel band via a rotating shaft. Therefore, a load is applied to the support member in a direction for rotating the support member. Therefore, the posture of the supporting member is held by the posture holding means, whereby the weighing and sorting by the weighing means can be performed while the holding member is transported in a stable posture by the endless rotating band.

The agricultural products dropped from the holding member roll on the inclined plate and accumulate below the inclined plate. At this time, since the inclined plate is provided with the partition member, the agricultural products are classified by weight. Accumulate.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a plan view of an apparatus for sorting agricultural products, FIG. 2 is a side view thereof, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the vicinity of weighing means, FIG. 4 is a side view of the vicinity of weighing means, and FIG. FIG. 6 and FIG. 6 are partial plan views of the slider and the guide rail.

First, the overall structure of the agricultural product sorting apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, an endless rotating chain 1 as an endless rotating band is horizontally adjusted to a rotating wheel 2 composed of a sprocket, and rotates in the direction of arrow A. The endless rotating chain 1 has a holder 3 for agricultural products P
Are mounted on a pitch. The agricultural product P of the present embodiment is a potato. The holding body 3 is an endless rotating chain 1
It is a long box that is long in the direction of travel.

Next, referring to FIG. 3 and FIG.
The mounting structure and the weighing means will be described. A large number of support members 10 are mounted on the endless rotating chain 1 at a pitch (see also FIG. 1). As shown in FIG.
Numeral 0 is a key-shaped angle material, and is attached to the endless rotating chain 1 via a key-shaped bracket 11 and a screw 12. The support member 10 is elongated in the running direction of the endless rotating chain 1, but only the center portion thereof is fixed to the metal fitting 11 on the endless rotating chain 1 side by a screw 12 in a spot-like manner. As shown in positions a and b, both ends a and b in the front-rear direction are endlessly rotated.
, And can be smoothly rotated along the rotating wheel 2. Note that FIG. 2 is simply shown because the drawing becomes complicated.

In FIG. 3, angle members 14 are mounted on both sides of the back surface of the support member 10, and the angle members 1 are provided.
4 is provided with a horizontal rotating shaft 15. Bearings 4 are integrally provided on both sides of the side end of the holder 3,
The rotating shaft 15 is inserted through the bearing 4. The rotating shaft 15 is parallel to the endless rotating chain 1 and therefore the holder 3
, One end of the endless rotating chain 1
And is rotatably supported in the vertical direction in a direction B (FIG. 4) orthogonal to the running direction (arrow A) of the endless rotating chain 1.

3 and 4, a plate-like mounting body 20 having a substantially triangular planar shape extends laterally from the holding body 3 toward the guide rail 6 (described later). This mounting body 20
A long plate-shaped slider 21 is axially mounted on the upper surface of the tip end of the slider so as to be rotatable in the horizontal direction by a pin 22 made of a screw rod. FIG. 5 shows the mounting body 20 turned upside down. The pin 22 protrudes from the lower surface of the mounting body 20, and the coil 22 is mounted on the pin 22. One end 23a of the spring 23 is engaged with a pin-shaped stopper 24 protruding from the lower surface of the mounting body 20, and the tip 23b of the spring 23 is bent to engage with the side surface of the slider 21. ing. The spring 23 springs the slider 21 in the horizontal rotation direction by the spring force. In addition, a pin-shaped stopper 25 (FIGS. 3 and 4) that defines a rotation limit of the slider 21 protrudes from an upper surface of the attachment body 20.

In FIG. 4, a disc-shaped weight 26 is detachably mounted on the pin 22, and a spring 23 is externally mounted on the weight 26 (see also FIG. 5). Reference numeral 27 denotes a nut which prevents the weight 26 from coming off by being screwed onto the pin 22 formed of a threaded rod. The weight on the side of the holding body 3 varies due to errors in processing and molding. Therefore, by attaching a weight 26 for adjusting the weight of the appropriate weight to the pin 22, the weight of the holder 3 is adjusted, thereby improving the weighing accuracy of agricultural products by weighing means (described later).

In FIG. 4, the extending member 30 extends horizontally from the supporting member 10 to the side. The extension member 30 has a long plate shape (see also FIG. 3), and is located below the attachment body 20. In FIG. 1 and FIG.
Is provided with an endless rotating chain 31 which is a second endless rotating band parallel to this. Endless rotating chain 31
Is a rotating wheel 2 ′ coaxial with the rotating wheel 2 of the endless rotating chain 1.
(FIG. 3) and is driven by a motor (not shown) to run in the same direction and at the same speed as the endless rotating chain 1.

In FIG. 4, the tip of the extension member 30 is
It is attached to the endless rotating chain 31 by a key-shaped fitting 32 and a screw 33. The endless rotation chain 31 and the extension member 30 serve as a posture holding unit of the support member 10,
Next, the operation will be described.

In FIG. 4, the holding member 3 is cantilevered by a support member 10 via a bearing 4 and a rotating shaft 15.
Therefore, the load of the holding member 3 in which the agricultural product P is stored acts on the support member 10 as a rotational moment in the direction of arrow B. Due to this load (rotational moment), the support member 1
A rotational force acts on 0 to rotate it in the direction of arrow C. When the support member 10 rotates in the direction of arrow C and its posture collapses, an unnecessary rotational force in the same direction (direction of arrow C) also acts on the endless rotating chain 1 on which the support member 10 is mounted, and as a result, The smooth running of the endless rotating chain 1 and the support member 10 is hindered. Therefore, by extending the extending member 30 from the supporting member 10 and attaching the distal end thereof to the second endless rotating chain 31, the rotating member 30 opposes the rotational force in the above-described direction (the direction of the arrow C), and The posture is maintained at the correct posture shown in FIG.

Next, the weighing means will be described. In FIG. 1, a guide rail 6 is provided in parallel with the endless rotation chain 1. The guide rail 6 is made of a rod-shaped steel material having a circular cross section. The guide rail 6 is provided with a plurality of partial cutouts 7, and the cutouts 7 are provided with weighing means 40. In addition, the endless rotation chain 31 is the guide rail 6
It is provided below.

3 and 4, weighing means 40
A rotating member 41 having a rod shape, a horizontal rotating shaft 42 fixed to the lower surface on the rear end side of the rotating member 41, a support frame 43 having a substantially U-shaped cross section for bearing the rotating shaft 42, and a rotating member 41. A pin-shaped upper stopper 44 that regulates the upper rotation limit of the rotary member 41, a lower stopper 45 that defines a lower rotational limit of the rotary member 41, and a plurality of disc-like discs that are interchangeably mounted on the rotary member 41. Weight 46.

The rotating member 41 comprises a complementary portion 41a for complementing the notched portion 7 of the guide rail 6, and a substantially U-shaped main portion 41b extending rearward from the complementary portion 41a. The lower surface on the rear end side of the portion 41 b is fixed to the rotating shaft 42. The weight 46 is connected to the rotating member 4 as follows.
1 is attached. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 47 denotes a vertical screw rod inserted at a center interval of the main body portion 41b bent in a substantially U-shape. 48 is screwed to the upper end side and the lower end side of the screw rod 47 to sandwich the weight 46 from above and below. On the lower side of the main body portion 41b, a small and lightweight disk-shaped weight 49 as a weight fine adjustment means is inserted into the screw rod 47 and is sandwiched by a nut 48.

According to the weighing means 40 having the above-described structure, the weight 48 and the weight 49 can be freely replaced by adjusting the set weight by detaching the nut 48 from the screw rod 47. If the nut 48 is slightly loosened, the screw rod 47 can be moved in the longitudinal direction of the rotating member 41 (arrow D in FIG. 4), whereby the positions of the weights 46 and 49 can be adjusted to the optimum positions. it can. Of course, the positions of the weights 46 and 49 may be fixed.

In FIG. 1 and FIG. 4, an inclined plate 50 serving as a collecting portion for agricultural products is provided obliquely downwardly at a lower side of the side of the holder 3 conveyed by the endless rotating chain 1. I have. The inclined plate 50 is divided into a plurality of blocks a, b, c,. The collection unit may be a box, a conveyor for carrying out, or the like. However, if the inclined plate 50 is provided as in the present embodiment, the distance of the agricultural product P falling from the holder 3 is shortened, and the agricultural product P is damaged by the impact at the time of dropping. Can be reduced.

When the slider 21 slides along the lower surface of the guide rail 6 and moves to the lower surface of the complementary portion 41a,
Complementary part 4 due to rotational moment due to load on holder 3 side
A load (force) in the direction of flipping 1a upward is applied. Here, in FIG. 4, when the agricultural product P has a set weight, the holder 3 rotates downward (arrow B), and the agricultural product P in the holder 3 falls from the holder 3 onto the inclined plate 50 (arrow). F) Roll the inclined plate 50 (arrow G) and accumulate it below. At this time, the partitioning part 51 prevents the agricultural products having different set weights weighed by the adjacent weighing means 40 from being mixed with each other, and the blocks a, b, c,.
The agricultural products P of the same set weight sorted by the same weighing means 40 accumulate in. In FIG. 4, a stopper 52 made of a plate is vertically provided on the support member 10. The stopper 52 is located above the inclined plate 50, and the holder 3 rotated in the direction of the arrow B stops on the stopper 52. In the present embodiment, the stopper 52 is integral with the holder 3 and moves together with the holder 3. However, the stopper may be provided separately from the holder 3 and fixedly provided above the inclined plate 50.

This agricultural product sorting apparatus has the above-described configuration. Next, a method of sorting agricultural products will be described. In FIG. 2, the worker puts the agricultural product P into the holder 3 (arrow H). The holder 3 is moving in the direction of arrow A by the rotation of the endless rotation chain 1. In FIG. 1, the slider 21 slides on the lower surface of the guide rail 6. The weighing means 40 is provided at a plurality of locations on the transport path, and the set weight is determined by the weight 46, and the agricultural products P are sorted by weight in descending order.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the slider 2
1 is a complementary part 4 of the weighing means 40 from the lower surface of the guide rail 6.
Move to the lower surface of 1a. When the weight of the agricultural product P held by the holder 3 is heavier than the set weight, the slider 2
Numeral 1 flips up the complementary portion 41a (arrow E in FIG. 4), the holder 3 rotates downward (arrow B), and the agricultural product P falls from the holder 3 (arrow F) and is collected on the inclined plate 50. (Arrow G).

The agricultural product P held by the holding body 3
Positions vary. In FIG. 3, agricultural products P indicated by chain lines and broken lines indicate agricultural products P whose positions vary. In the conventional agricultural product sorting apparatus disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-33991 or the like, the magnitude of the rotational moment applied to the weighing means side is slightly varied due to the variation in the position of the agricultural product held by the holder. The results of weighing also vary considerably, making it difficult to accurately sort the agricultural products P by weight. On the other hand, in the present sorting apparatus, even if the position of the agricultural product P varies as shown in FIG. 3, the distance (arm length of the rotational moment) L from the agricultural product P to the weighing means 40 does not change and Since the magnitude of the applied rotational moment does not change, the agricultural product P
Can be accurately weight sorted.

When the slider 21 slides on the lower surface of the complementary portion 41a, it may be considered whether the complementary portion 41a jumps upward. This idea is when the weight of the agricultural product P is substantially balanced with the weight set by the weight 46. In such a case, the complementary portion 41a is slightly pushed up by the slider 21, and as a result, the leading edge of the slider 21 may collide with the leading end 6a of the next guide rail 6 as shown in FIG. In this case, the slider 6 can rotate in the direction of arrow I against the spring force of the spring 23 and escape from the distal end portion 6. If the slider 21 cannot escape from the distal end portion 6a, the holder 3 cannot move in the direction of arrow A, and the subsequent sorting operation cannot be performed.

FIG. 7 is a side view of a posture holding means according to another embodiment of the present invention. A rod-shaped extension member 60 extends laterally from the support member 10, and a roller 61 is axially attached to a tip end thereof. The roller 61 is fitted on a guide rail 62 having a U-shaped cross section. The guide rail 62 is provided below and parallel to the guide rail 6. The extension member 60, the roller 61, and the guide rail 62 are
Is the posture holding means. Therefore, the roller 61 moves along the guide rail 62 and prevents the support member 11 from rotating in the direction of arrow C due to the load on the holding body 3 side.
The posture of the support member 10 is maintained. The configuration other than FIG. 7 is the same as the above-described embodiment shown in FIGS.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, agricultural products such as potatoes and potatoes can be sorted accurately and without damage.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an agricultural product sorting device.

FIG. 2 is a side view of an apparatus for sorting agricultural products.

FIG. 3 is a plan view near the weighing means.

FIG. 4 is a side view near the weighing means.

FIG. 5 is a front and back inverted perspective view of a slider portion of the holder.

FIG. 6 is a partial plan view of a slider and a guide rail.

FIG. 7 is a side view of a posture holding unit according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Endless rotating chain 2 Rotating wheel 3 Holding body 6 Guide rail 7 Deletion part 10 Support body 15 Rotating shaft 20 Mounting body 21 Slider 22 Screw bar 23 Spring 26 Weight 30 Extension member 31 Endless rotating chain 40 Weighing means 41 Rotation Member 41a Complementary part 41b Main body part 42 Rotating shaft 46 Weight 50 Inclined plate (recovery part) 52 Stopper 60 Extension member 61 Roller 62 Guide rail P Agricultural product

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An endless rotating band adjusted to a rotating wheel, a supporting member mounted on the endless rotating band, and an endless rotating band which is supported by the supporting member by a cantilever via a rotating shaft. A holder for agricultural products that rotates in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the vehicle, a collection unit that collects agricultural products that have fallen from the holder, a guide rail that is parallel to the endless rotating belt, and extends from the holder along the guide rails. A slider that slides along the guide rail, and a complementary portion that complements the missing portion of the guide rail. The load that is applied from the slider that slides on the complementary portion causes the complementary portion to retreat from the lacking portion and center the holder around the rotation axis. A weight-type weighing means for rotating the agricultural product from the holding body by rotating the holding member, and a supporting member posture holding means for preventing the posture of the supporting member from being collapsed by the load of the holding body. Produce sorting equipment. A second endless rotation band disposed below the guide rail and rotated coaxially with the endless rotation band; and an extension extending from the support member. The agricultural product sorting device according to claim 1, wherein an extension member is attached to the second endless rotating band. 3. The posture holding means is a guide member disposed below the guide rail in parallel with the endless rotation band and an extension member extending from the support member. The agricultural product sorting device according to claim 1, wherein the agricultural product is moved along a guide member. 4. The collecting section is an inclined plate which is inclined downward at a side of the endless rotating belt on which the support member is mounted, and the weight of the agricultural product dropped from the holding member on the inclined plate is reduced. The agricultural product sorting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a partition member is provided separately, and a stopper that defines a rotation limit of the holding member is provided above the inclined plate. 5. A mounting body extending from the holding body toward the guide rail, wherein the slider is axially mounted at the time of horizontal rotation, and a spring for resiliently moving the slider in the horizontal rotation direction is mounted. The agricultural product sorting device according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 6. The agricultural product sorting apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a weight for adjusting the weight of the holder is attached to the attachment.