JPH11275929A - Harvester for leaf vegetables - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a harvester for leaf vegetables by judging whether leaf vegetables in a planted state are immature or mature, cutting only mature leaf vegetables, transporting and storing them. SOLUTION: This apparatus holds a leaf vegetable in a nipped state by nipping belts 3 by arbitrary force and the size of the leaf vegetable is detected by the space between the belts to judge whether the leaf vegetable is immature or mature. The apparatus is equipped with a detecting means 4 for discovering the size of the leaf vegetable, a judging means for judging whether the leaf vegetable is immature or mature from the detected value of the detecting means 4, a cutting means 5 for cutting only a mature leaf vegetable and a transporting means for transporting the cut leaf vegetable. The cutting means 5 cuts only the rhizome part of the mature leaf vegetable while continuously traveling by moving in the direction perpendicular to a ridge in the cutting and at a position parallel with the ridge furrow. The tip parts of the nipping belts are moved to action positions for the cut leaf vegetable by the judged result of the judging means, the cut leaf vegetable is transported and the tip parts of the nipping belts for transportation are opened for an uncut leaf vegetable and moved to nonoperation positions.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for determining whether a leafy vegetable is immature or ripe when transporting and accommodating the leafy vegetable by holding the planted leafy vegetable between a pair of left and right holding belts and cutting the rhizome. The present invention relates to a leaf vegetable harvesting apparatus that cuts and harvests only the mature leaf vegetables.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a leaf vegetable harvesting apparatus that cuts a rhizome by sandwiching leaf vegetables in a well-known state of planting with a pair of left and right holding belts and transports and stores the leaf vegetables, the crops planted in a field are simultaneously collected. Most of them were harvested in the form.

On the other hand, a harvesting apparatus for judging whether or not leafy vegetables in a planted state are immature or ripe is harvested by the present applicant and the inventors in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-191747. In this harvesting device, a pair of left and right sandwiching belts are opened and closed for each leaf vegetable, and the size of the leaf vegetables when closed and the clamping force at that time are detected, and it is determined whether it is immature or ripe. there were.

[0004]

As described above, if the pair of left and right sandwiching belts is opened and closed to determine whether the leafy vegetables are immature or ripe, it takes a long time for the determination and the efficiency of the harvesting operation is reduced. , There was a problem. In particular, when judging whether the leafy vegetables are immature or ripe, then cutting the ripe rhizome, and transporting the cut leafy vegetables to the rear of the machine to accommodate them, determine whether they are immature or ripe. Needed to be done quickly. The present invention has been made to solve the above problems.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides: In a harvesting device that holds the leafy vegetables in the planted state with a pair of left and right sandwiching belts, cuts the rhizome, and transports and accommodates the leafy vegetables, the leafy vegetables are held with an arbitrary force with the holding belt, and the leaf interval of the leafy vegetables is determined from the belt interval at that time. It is characterized by detecting the size and determining whether the leaf vegetables are immature or ripe.

B. In a harvesting device that holds the leafy vegetables in the planted state with a pair of left and right sandwiching belts and cuts the rhizome, and conveys and stores the leafy vegetables, the leafy vegetables are clamped with an arbitrary force with the clamping belt, and the leaf interval of the leafy vegetables is determined from the belt interval at that time. Detection means for detecting the size, determination means to determine whether the leaf vegetables are immature or ripe from the detection value of the detection means, immature leaf vegetables are left in the field, cutting means to cut only the ripe leaf vegetables, It is characterized by comprising transport means for transporting the cut leafy vegetables.

C. By moving the cutting means in a direction perpendicular to the ridge at the time of cutting, and at a position parallel to the ridge groove direction at the time of non-cutting, immature leafy vegetables are left in the field while running continuously, and only It is characterized in that the rhizomes are cut.

D. From the determination result of the determining means, for the cut leafy vegetables, move the tip of the conveying holding belt to the operation position, and transport the cut leafy vegetables toward the rear upper side of the machine, and for the uncut leafy vegetables. It is characterized in that the front end portion of the transfer holding belt is opened and moved to a non-operating position.

[0009]

According to the above construction, the leaf vegetable harvesting apparatus of the present invention comprises:
The following operations are performed.

[0010] By pinching the leafy vegetables with an arbitrary force with a clamping belt, detecting the size of the leafy vegetables from the belt interval at that time, judging whether the leafy vegetables are immature or ripe, it is possible to determine whether the leafy vegetables are immature or ripe in a short time It is possible to make a quick determination, and it is possible to efficiently select and harvest only the mature leafy vegetables.

[0011] Holding means for holding leafy vegetables with an arbitrary force with a holding belt, detecting means for detecting the size of leafy vegetables from the belt interval at that time, determining means for determining whether the leafy vegetables are immature or ripe from the detection value of the detecting means, The immature leafy vegetables are left in the field, by providing a cutting means for cutting only the ripe leafy vegetables and a transporting means for transporting the cut leafy vegetables, it is determined from the detection value of the detection means whether the leafy vegetables are immature or ripe. In addition, the immature leafy vegetables are left in the field, and only the ripe leafy vegetables are cut in the rhizome, and the continuous operation of transporting and storing the cut leafy vegetables can be efficiently performed.

[0012] By moving the cutting means in a direction perpendicular to the ridge at the time of cutting, and at a position parallel to the direction of the ridge at the time of non-cutting, immature leafy vegetables are left in the field while running continuously, and only suitable By cutting the rhizome, the cutting operation of the cutting means is efficient, and the rhizome of only the proper leafy vegetables is cut quickly. Further, by fixing the cutting means in the state at the time of cutting, simultaneous harvesting in which continuous harvesting is performed is enabled.

[0013] From the determination result of the determining means, for the cut leafy vegetables, move the leading end portion of the conveying holding belt to the operating position, and transport the cut leafy vegetables toward the rear upper part of the body,
For the uncut leafy vegetables, by opening the front end of the transporting holding belt and moving it to the non-operating position, the transporting holding belt transports only the cut leafy vegetables upward and rearward of the machine. Cut leafy vegetables are not transported.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.
This will be specifically described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, reference numeral 1 denotes a leaf vegetable harvester provided with a mechanism according to the present invention, which is used in this embodiment to harvest a leaf vegetable lettuce A planted in a ridge N of a field F. Can be The leafy vegetable harvesting machine 1 includes a pair of left and right crawlers 2 and 2, and a pair of left and right detection sandwiching belts 3 and 3 apply arbitrary force to a front portion of the machine body, as shown in detail in FIGS. And a potentiometer 4 as a detecting means for detecting the size of the leafy vegetables A from the interval between the belts 3 and 3 at that time, and judging whether the leafy vegetables A is immature or mature based on the detection value of the potentiometer 4 A programmable controller (not shown) as a judging means, and a cutting means comprising a cutting blade 5 for cutting only the immature leaf vegetables A while leaving the immature leaf vegetables A in the field are provided.

The detection clamping belt 3 is wound endlessly around pulleys 3b, 3b which are pivotally supported at the front and rear ends of a support frame 3a arranged in the front-rear direction. The inner tension pulley 3c that applies tension to the inside and the outer tension pulley 3d that applies tension to the outside are tensed, and the tension pulley 3c side always works strongly.
The interval of 3 is smaller than the size of the minimum leafy vegetable A. The potentiometer 4 is attached to the rotation base of the inner tension pulley 3c. When the nipping belts 3 and 3 for detection pass on both sides of the leafy vegetables A due to the advance of the airframe, whether the size of the leafy vegetables A is appropriate or not is detected by the potentiometer 4 and determined by the programmable controller. You.

The cutting blade 5 (cutting means) is a knife-shaped blade body, the base end of which is rotatably supported in the horizontal direction by a rotating shaft 5a, and the leafy vegetables held by the holding belts 3 and 3 for detection. The size of A is rotatable between a cutting position for cutting the rhizome of lettuce A, which has been determined to be appropriate from the detection result of the potentiometer 4, and a non-cutting position for retreating from the row of lettuce A. A rotary actuator 5b is attached to the rotating shaft 5a, and the cutting blade 5 moves to a position perpendicular to the ridge N at the time of cutting and to a position parallel to the ridge groove direction at the time of non-cutting. While running continuously, the immature lettuce A is left in the field, and the rhizome of only the appropriate lettuce A is cut off.

That is, when the lettuce A pinched by the detection pinching belts 3 and 3 is detected by the potentiometer 4 as suitable, the rotary actuator 5b is operated by a command from the programmable controller to cut the cutting blade 5a.
Is moved to the cutting position, and when it is determined that the leafy vegetables A are immature, the cutting blade 5 is moved to the non-cutting position. These holding belts 3 and 3 for detection, potentiometer 4, cutting blade 5, etc.
It is supported by the link mechanism 6 so as to be vertically movable with respect to the body.

A lettuce A cut by the cutting blade 5 and discharged backward from the detection holding belts 3, 3 is received behind the detection holding belts 3, 3 and held thereat. , A pair of right and left transport holding belts 7
7 is provided.

The transfer holding belts 7, 7 are shown in FIG.
As shown in (a) and (b), a front pulley 7b pivotally supported by the front and rear ends of a support frame 7a disposed in the front-rear direction, and a rear pulley 7c also serving as a rotating shaft are endless. It is wound around. A tension spring 7d is interposed between the support frames 7a, 7a, and the distance between the front sides of the transport sandwiching belts 7, 7 against the tension force of the tension spring 7d is adjusted by a command from the programmable controller. A
The conveyor belt rotation cylinder 7e is opened to be larger than the size of the conveyor belt and is in the non-operating state, and is in the free state and is narrowed by the elastic force of the tension spring 7d to be in the operating state.

The lettuce A cut by the cutting blade 5 according to a command from the programmable controller and discharged backward from the holding belts 3 and 3 for detection is transferred by the transfer belt rotating cylinder 7e according to a command from the programmable controller. The leading ends of the holding belts 7, 7 are moved to the operation position, and the lettuce A is received and transported rearward and upward of the machine body. The leading ends of the transport holding belts 7, 7 are opened by the cylinder 7e and moved to the non-operating position, and the lettuce A is not transported.

Behind the conveying nipping belts 7, 7, a conveyor that receives the lettuce A conveyed and discharged by the conveying nipping belts 7, 7 and conveys the lettuce A to the rear obliquely upward. 8 are provided. The transport conveyor 8 includes a pair of left and right nipping transport belts 8a, 8a, and a lower transport belt 8b disposed below the nipping transport belts 8a, 8a. Nipping conveyance belt 8a
Are wound endlessly around pulleys 8d, 8d pivotally supported at the front and rear ends of a support frame 8c disposed in the front-rear direction, and apply two tensions to the inside of the nipping and conveying belt 8a. Are tensioned by an inner tension pulley 8e and one outer tension pulley 8f that applies tension to the outside.

The conveying holding belts 7, 7 and the conveying conveyor 8 are moved when the detecting holding belts 3, 3, the potentiometer 4, the cutting blade 5 and the like are moved up and down by the link mechanism 6.
The rotating shaft 9 is rotated with respect to the body so as to rotate up and down in conjunction with this.
Is pivoted through. A loading platform 10 for accommodating the lettuce A transported by the transport conveyor 8 and the lower transport belt 8b is provided below the end portions of the nipping transport belts 8a, 8a and the lower transport belt 8b of the transport conveyor 8.

Next, the operation of the leaf vegetable harvesting machine 1 having the above configuration will be described.

The leafy vegetable harvesting machine 1 is introduced into the row of lettuce A planted in the row N of the field F with the detection sandwiching belts 3 and 3 facing each other, to drive each section and to make the machine run forward. . Then, each lettuce A in the ridge row is held by the detecting holding belts 3, 3 with an arbitrary force, and the size of the lettuce A is detected from the interval between the belts 3, 3 at that time, that is, the rotation angle of the potentiometer 4. If the rotation angle (detected value) is equal to or smaller than a predetermined angle, lettuce A is determined to be immature, and if the rotation angle is equal to or larger than the predetermined angle, lettuce A is determined to be appropriate. When the lettuce A is suitable, the rotary blade 5b is operated by a command from the programmable controller to move the cutting blade 5 to the cutting position and cut the rhizome. If the lettuce A is judged to be immature, the cutting is performed. The blade 5 is moved to the non-cutting position and left in the field.

The lettuce A, which has been cut by the cutting blade 5 and discharged rearward from the detection holding belts 3, 3, is fed to the tip of the transfer holding belts 7, 7 by a transfer belt rotating cylinder 7e according to a command from a programmable controller. Is moved to the operation position and is transferred to the rear and upper side of the machine after being inherited. For the uncut leafy vegetables A, the transfer holding cylinders 7, 7 are moved by the transfer belt rotating cylinder 7e according to a command from the programmable controller. The tip is opened and moved to the non-operating position, and the lettuce A is not transported. The lettuce A conveyed by the conveying nipping belts 7, 7 is taken over by the nipping conveying belts 8a, 8a, further conveyed obliquely rearward and upward, and discharged, and stored in the carrier 10 via the lower conveying belt 8b. .

The leaf vegetable harvester 1 according to the present invention can be widely applied to not only lettuce A but also other leaf vegetable harvesters.

[0028]

As described above, according to the leaf vegetable harvesting apparatus of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

[0029] The leafy vegetables are pinched by an arbitrary force with the holding belt, and the size of the leafy vegetables is detected from the belt interval at that time, and it is determined whether the leafy vegetables are immature or ripe. The leafy vegetables are sandwiched, and it is possible to quickly and quickly determine whether the leafy vegetables are immature or ripe from the size at that time, and it is possible to efficiently select and harvest only the ripe leafy vegetables efficiently.

[0030] Holding means for holding leafy vegetables with an arbitrary force with a holding belt, detecting means for detecting the size of leafy vegetables from the belt interval at that time, determining means for determining whether the leafy vegetables are immature or ripe from the detection value of the detecting means, The immature leafy vegetables are left in the field, and the cutting means for cutting only the ripe leafy vegetables and the transporting means for transporting the cut leafy vegetables determine whether the leafy vegetables are immature or ripe from the detection values of the detection means, The immature leafy vegetables can be left in the field, and only the appropriate leafy vegetables can be cut in the rhizome, and the continuous operation of transporting and storing the cut leafy vegetables can be performed efficiently.

[0031] By moving the cutting means in a direction perpendicular to the ridge at the time of cutting, and at a position parallel to the ridge groove direction at the time of non-cutting, immature leafy vegetables are left in the field while running continuously, and only suitable Since the rhizome is cut, there is no waste in the cutting operation of the cutting means, and the rhizome of only suitable ripe vegetables can be cut quickly. Further, by fixing the cutting means in a state at the time of cutting, simultaneous harvesting in which continuous harvesting is performed is also possible.

[0032] From the determination result of the determining means, for the cut leafy vegetables, move the leading end portion of the conveying holding belt to the operating position, and transport the cut leafy vegetables toward the rear upper part of the body,
For the uncut leafy vegetables, the front end of the transporting holding belt is opened and moved to the non-operating position, so the transporting holding belt transports only the cut leafy vegetables toward the rear and upper part of the machine. No leaf vegetables are transported. Further, since the leaf vegetables can be clamped at the tip of the transport clamping belt, the leaf vegetables can be clamped with a suitable force at a position close to the ground and at a low position as compared with a method in which the tip of the transport clamping belt is not opened and closed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view (a) and a side view (b) of a holding belt for detection and a cutting device.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are a plan view and a side view, respectively, of a holding belt for conveyance.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of the whole leaf vegetable harvester according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of the same.

[Description of Signs] 1 Leafy vegetables harvesting machine 2 Crawler 3 Nipping belt for detecting the size of leafy vegetables 3a Support frame 3b Pulley 3c Tension pulley that applies tension inside 3d Tension pulley that applies tension outside 4 Potentiometer (detection means) 5 Cutting blade (Cutting Means) 5a Rotary Shaft 5b Rotary Actuator 6 Link Mechanism 7 Conveying Nipping Belt 7a Support Frame 7b Front Pulley 7c Rear Pulley 7d Also Used as Rotating Shaft 7d Tension Spring 7e Conveying Belt Rotating Cylinder 8 Conveying Conveyor 8a Nipping Conveying Belt 8b Lower conveyor belt 8c Support frame 8d Pulley 8e
Inner tension pulley 8f Outer tension pulley 9 Rotation axis 10 Loading bed A Lettuce (leaf vegetables) F Field N ridge

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Hideo Kainuma 1-40-2 Nisshin-cho, Omiya-shi, Saitama Pref.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A harvesting device for holding a leafy vegetable in a planted state with a pair of left and right sandwiching belts, cutting a rhizome, and transporting and accommodating the leafy vegetables. An apparatus for harvesting leafy vegetables, wherein the size of leafy vegetables is detected from the belt interval to determine whether the leafy vegetables are immature or ripe. 2. A harvesting apparatus for cutting a rhizome by holding a leafy vegetable in a planted state with a pair of left and right holding belts and transporting and accommodating the leafy vegetable, wherein the holding belt is used to hold the leafy vegetable with an arbitrary force. Detecting means for detecting the size of leafy vegetables from the belt interval, determining means for judging whether the leafy vegetables are immature or ripe from the detection value of the detecting means, leaving the immature leafy vegetables in the field, cutting only the ripe leafy vegetables A leaf cutting device, comprising: a cutting means for cutting the leaf vegetables; and a transport means for transporting the cut leaf vegetables. 3. The cutting means is moved in a direction perpendicular to the ridge at the time of cutting, and at a position parallel to the direction of the ridge at the time of non-cutting, so that immature leafy vegetables are left in the field while running continuously. The leaf vegetable harvesting device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a rhizome portion of only a mature leaf vegetable is cut. 4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: moving the leading end of the transporting holding belt to the action position for the cut leafy vegetables, and transporting the cut leafy vegetables toward the rear and upper direction of the machine body; 3. The leafy vegetable harvesting device according to claim 1, wherein the transporting holding belt tip is opened for the leafy vegetables and moved to a non-operating position.