JPH11347498A - Agricultural product classifying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive and highly efficient agricultural product classifying device. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a sorting conveyor 1 for conveying agricultural products, fixed hoppers 2 receiving the agricultural products from the conveyor 1 by many dischargers 103 arranged along the conveyor until a specified number of products are accumulated, moving hoppers 3 endlessly circulated inclusive of a track below the many fixed hoppers 2 and receiving a bunch of the products from the fixed hoppers 2 and at least one discharge conveyor 4 arranged below the endless circulating track of the moving hoppers 3 orthogonally to the sorting conveyor 1, and the products collected to the packing unit are transferred to a packing position by the discharge conveyor 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for sorting agricultural products, and more particularly, to sorting and sorting of agricultural products such as eggplant, cucumbers, carrots and peppers (hereinafter sometimes collectively referred to as "eggplants"). The present invention relates to a sorting apparatus suitable for efficiently performing a work of grouping these into a predetermined number when packed in a box.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, agricultural products brought in by producers are sorted and packed (boxed, bagged) according to grades and ranks such as size and quality, so that the purchase of agricultural products of uniform quality in the distribution market. Be able to
Sorting and sorting work is being carried out at agricultural sorting stations in various places so that producers can be appropriately paid.

[0003] The operation of sorting and sorting agricultural products often differs greatly depending on the type of target agricultural product. For example, the packaging form required for the eggplant or the like includes apples, peaches, pears (hereinafter, referred to as "apples"). It is very different from fruits and vegetables.

[0004] For example, in apples, it is common that predetermined numbers selected according to sorting categories are arranged in a plurality of rows in a plane and packed in a box. In many cases, a boxing work position provided at the end side of a sorting apparatus is provided. A predetermined number of apples are aligned at the boxing standby position, and are lifted all at once by a lifting device or line by line and packed in a box. On the other hand, in the case of agricultural products such as peppers, a predetermined number of agricultural products are packed in a bag or box without
Alternatively, it is common practice to carry out work to the extent that the ends of long agricultural products such as eggplant, carrots, cucumbers, and green onions are aligned, and similarly pack them in a bag or box, or bundle them together.

[0005] For this reason, conventional sorting and packaging (bagging, boxing, bundling) performed on agricultural products such as eggplant.
In general, the operation of dropping and discharging the agricultural products of the corresponding sorting section from the sorting conveyor to a drawer for sorting according to the sorting section provided below the sorting conveyor, and carrying the product in the lateral direction of the sorting conveyor. It is often packaged by work. This operation is performed manually because the above-mentioned discharge is performed randomly (randomly), so that it is necessary to count the number of units.

[0006] In place of the above semi-automated device, there has been proposed a device in which a number of operations are mechanized for the purpose of labor saving (for example, JP-A-2-4488, JP-B-6-30).
743).

[0007] In these proposed devices, two sets of drawer conveyors are arranged for each sorting section in the horizontal direction for each sorting section, and agricultural products in the sorting section are kept until a predetermined number of agricultural products are stored in one of the drawer conveyors. Are dropped on this one drawer conveyor, and when the predetermined number has been collected, the fall of the agricultural products of the same sorting category is stopped and switched to the other drawer conveyor, and at the same time, the agricultural products that have been collected in the predetermined number on the one of the sorting conveyors. It is designed to be carried out horizontally.

However, in these proposed apparatuses, the number of draw-out conveyors arranged for each sorting section becomes extremely large, and this is arranged along the conveying direction of the sorting conveyor, so that the sorting conveyor can be prevented from becoming long. However, this causes a problem that the installation area becomes large. In addition, the number of devices such as motors and chain conveyors for each drawer conveyor that is driven intermittently increases, and furthermore, a large number of sensors and control devices necessary for drive control of these devices are required, so that equipment is required. There is a problem that the cost increases.

[0009] As a proposal similar to the above-mentioned apparatus, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-31 is disclosed.
No. 0220 is known. This means that agricultural products are dropped from the sorting conveyor onto a drawer conveyor provided for each predetermined sorting section, and the agricultural products are drawn out in the lateral direction of the sorting conveyor by moving the drawer conveyor, and arranged at the end of the drawer conveyor. Are sequentially accumulated on the fixed hoppers, and when the number of accumulations reaches a predetermined number,
These fixed hoppers are dropped onto buckets of a transfer conveyor below and transferred to a packaging device.

[0010] This apparatus is excellent in that a series of processes from the sorting to the agricultural products are taken out from the sorting and sorted out, and then the packaging process is performed by mechanization. Therefore, the number of devices such as motors and chain conveyors for each drawer conveyor increases, and the problem of increased equipment cost is unavoidable.

[0011]

As described above, all of the conventional devices for sorting and sorting some agricultural products such as eggplants and the like, which have been proposed for packaging a predetermined number of such products, are all provided. As a result of the evaluation, agricultural products are discharged from the sorting conveyor according to the sorting category (generally dropped and discharged) and are drawn out laterally by the drawer conveyor for each sorting category, so the agricultural products discharged by the sorting category are sorted and sorted. A drawer conveyed out from underneath in the lateral direction is required for each sorting section, so that the above-described problems cannot be avoided. In addition, it is considered that one drawer that pulls out agricultural products from the sorting conveyor in a horizontal direction is shared by a plurality of agricultural product discharging positions from the sorting conveyor by interposing a hopper (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-313).
No. 943, etc.) Even in this case, the number of agricultural product discharge positions on the sorting conveyor that can share one drawer conveyor is at most two or three, so equipment for quickly sorting and processing a large amount of agricultural products is required. It is inevitable that the size will increase. Further, since a considerable number of devices such as a motor and a chain conveyor for the drawer conveyor are required, the above-mentioned problems cannot be avoided.

Incidentally, the above-described conventional device configurations requiring a large number of draw-out conveyors are derived solely from the mechanization of sorting when sorting and discharging from the sorting conveyor, and are directly related to the capacity of the packaging device. However, in order to perform high-speed sorting using a high-capacity packaging device, a large number of discharge positions for the same sorting section are provided, and the packaging device can collectively produce a batch of agricultural products in the packaging device without interruption. It is considered desirable to send in. However, if the number of discharge positions in each sorting section is increased for this reason, the problem that the number of the draw-out conveyors described above is further increased is caused.

As described above, the conventional apparatus has a problem that a large number of draw-out conveyors are required, which leads to an increase in equipment costs required for a drive mechanism, a drive control sensor, and the like. No suggestions yet.

However, an inexpensive and high-sorting sorting equipment is required universally.

The inventor of the present invention has conducted intensive studies for the purpose of solving such problems, and has changed the idea from the above-mentioned concept to increase the number of pull-out conveyors for extracting agricultural products from the sorting conveyor in the horizontal direction to the sorting conveyor. The present invention has been developed by developing a device devised so that it can be determined independently of the number of provided discharge devices (that is, the number of discharge positions).

[0016]

The object is achieved by an apparatus for sorting agricultural products according to the claims of the present application.

The invention of the agricultural product sorting apparatus according to claim 1 of the present application provides a sorting conveyor for transporting agricultural products whose sorting classification has been determined, and a plurality of sorting conveyors arranged along the sorting conveyor, each of which discharges agricultural products of a predetermined sorting category downward. A discharging device to be disposed, a number of which are arranged below the sorting conveyor along the conveying direction thereof, and a predetermined number of agricultural products of the same sorting section discharged downward from the sorting conveyor by the operation of the discharging device are collected. A fixed hopper for receiving and discharging agricultural products received and discharged downward after the accumulation, and a group of agricultural products discharged from the fixed hopper while being endlessly circulated including a track along the lower side of these fixed hoppers, and then received at a predetermined position. And a series of endlessly circulating mobile hoppers provided to discharge And a discharge conveyor for receiving a group of agricultural products discharged downward from the moving hopper and discharging the agricultural products in a lateral direction of the sorting conveyor, and a transfer hopper from the sorting conveyor to the fixed hopper. Discharge timing control means for controlling the discharge of agricultural products, the discharge of agricultural products from the fixed hopper to the mobile hopper, and the discharge of agricultural products from the mobile hopper to the carry-out conveyor;

In the above-mentioned configuration, the sorting conveyor is not limited, but is preferably of a type that is connected to a conveyor of a bucket (pan) type, a keyboard type, or the like and that rotates. Agricultural products conveyed on this sorting conveyor have, for example, size, weight,
The classification element has already been determined by measuring a class element such as a shape or a class element such as a color or a scratch. In addition, as for the elements of class and grade for sorting, appropriate elements are adopted according to agricultural products.

[0019] Examples of a large number of discharge devices disposed along the sorting conveyor include, for example, a bucket type sorting conveyor in which agricultural products are dropped downward by tilting a bucket. it can. The operation control of discharging the agricultural products of a predetermined sorting category in each discharge device can be performed using a conventionally known method, and for example, is managed by a distance from a predetermined transport position to a corresponding discharge device and a transport speed. Can be done by any method.

Each fixed hopper is disposed at a position below and along the transport direction of the sorting conveyor in a relationship to receive agricultural products from the discharging device. Agricultural products received by the fixed hopper from the sorting conveyor are a predetermined number of batches (for example, the number of packaging units), and the accumulation is controlled, for example, by counting the number of times of operation of a discharge device associated with one fixed hopper. And a counter resetter for resetting the counter by the agricultural product discharging operation of the fixed hopper. As a configuration of the fixed hopper, a configuration in which the upper side is opened upward and the bottom is generally opened left and right downward is generally adopted, but is not limited thereto. The number of fixed hoppers can be appropriately determined according to the processing capacity of the equipment.

This fixed hopper can be used as it is for agricultural products (eg, peppers) that do not require edge alignment, and can be used for agricultural products (for example, ginseng) that are not likely to be damaged even if edge alignment is performed in a state where a plurality of them are accumulated. For ()), edge alignment may be performed, and an appropriate edge alignment means is provided for this purpose.

The moving hopper is generally suspended from an endlessly circulating link chain, is opened upward, and the bottom is opened right and left downward at the time of discharge, but is not limited thereto. Absent. The endless circulation of the moving hopper can be of the continuous moving type, and in order to accurately position and receive and discharge agricultural products, it is necessary to temporarily move the unit every moving distance (for example, the distance between adjacent fixed hoppers). It may be an intermittent moving type that stops at a certain point.

The unloading conveyor receives the collective agricultural products discharged in the course of the endless circulation of the moving hopper, and receives the collected products in a horizontal direction (a direction deviating orthogonally or obliquely from the conveying direction of the sorting conveyor). ) Can be carried out, but the carry-out conveyor may have a receiving portion such as a bucket or a hopper.
This unloading conveyor transports a batch of agricultural products discharged from the moving hopper to a packaging operation unit (manual operation unit or packaging machine operation unit) provided on the side of the sorting conveyor. One unloading conveyor or a plurality of unloading conveyors can be provided for the movable hoppers linked to endless circulation.

The discharge timing control means controls the discharge timing of the discharge device, as described above, in such a manner that the agricultural products of the corresponding sort division are conveyed on the sorting conveyor to the discharge apparatus prepared for the predetermined sort division. Control to operate when The discharge timing of the fixed hopper is
Agricultural products received from the sorting conveyor in such a manner that a predetermined number of them are accumulated are processed as necessary, such as edge alignment, and the discharge is controlled to be performed when an empty moving hopper moves downward. The discharge timing from the moving hoppers to the unloading conveyor is controlled such that the collective agricultural products are discharged onto the unloading conveyor when each of the moving hoppers rotates and moves to the discharging position to the unloading conveyor. The above-described discharge timing control means can be generally configured using computer technology and various switches, sensors, and the like.

The apparatus of the present invention is applied to agricultural products in a packing form in which a predetermined plurality of predetermined ones are made into one lot (one bundle or one bag or one box bundled with tape or the like), Examples of such products include agricultural products that are generally packaged in a bag or a box, such as eggplant, cucumbers, carrots, and peppers, or agricultural products that are bundled together with tape such as asparagus or onion. can do.

According to the present invention, the conveyor device includes a conveyor device for a movable hopper that is endlessly circulated along a fixed hopper below the sorting conveyor, and a batch of agricultural products discharged from the movable hopper. One (or more depending on the productivity) unloading conveyor device for unloading is sufficient, and the drawer conveyor corresponding to this unloading conveyor is basically different from the conventional device provided for each sorting section. Device can be provided. That is, even if the equipment has a large number of discharge devices arranged along the transport direction of the sorting conveyor, the unloading conveyor for unloading a predetermined number of a batch of agricultural products in the transport direction of the sorting conveyor has a large number of these discharges. The number of installed hoppers is substantially independent of the number of devices and the number of fixed hoppers associated therewith. Rather, the number of installed hoppers can be determined according to the processing capacity of the packaging work unit to which the terminal side of the unloading conveyor is connected. Therefore, since the mechanism driven by the conveyor requires only one moving hopper and at least one unloading conveyor, the installation area of the equipment should be reduced as compared with a conventional apparatus that required a drawer for each sorting section. In addition, since the number of operating conveyors is small, the number of motors and chain link mechanisms can be reduced, so that equipment costs can be reduced and conventional problems can be greatly improved.

Further, as described above, the number of fixed hoppers and carry-out conveyors to be installed can be determined according to the capacity of the packaging work section, so that a high utilization rate of the apparatus and an efficient sorting apparatus can be provided. .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the above invention, a series of movable hoppers that endlessly circulate, and a group of a group of discharge devices, fixed hoppers, and unloading conveyors associated with the series of movable hoppers are transported by a sorting conveyor. A plurality of sets are arranged along the direction, and each of these sets is assigned so as to sort agricultural products in a single sorting category.

According to the present invention, one endless circulation set composed of a series of endlessly circulating moving hoppers and a group of discharge devices, fixed hoppers, and unloading conveyors associated with the series of hoppers forms one sorting section. Since it is used for sorting agricultural products, there is an advantage that the discharge timing control can be made substantially only by controlling the receiving state and the accumulation state of the agricultural products, and the control can be simplified. The setting of the sorting section for the discharge device, the fixed hopper, and the moving hopper can always be set in a fixed relationship, or the setting can be changed as needed. The setting of the discharge device and the fixed hopper can be easily changed because they are fixedly arranged. The setting change of the sorting category for the mobile hopper is performed by, for example, adding an identification mark such as a barcode to each mobile hopper, and recording the sorting category in a memory or the like of the control device so that the sorting category can be updated and changed.
A method of determining which sorting section each mobile hopper is used for by reading the identification mark at a predetermined position of the endless circulation path by a barcode reader or the like can be cited. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a series of endlessly circulating moving hoppers and a set of a group of discharging devices, fixed hoppers, and unloading conveyors associated with the series of moving hoppers are provided. A plurality of sets are arranged along the conveying direction of the sorting conveyor, and at least one of the sets is assigned to sort agricultural products of different sorting categories.

In the above, in order to sort agricultural products of different sorting categories into a series of endlessly circulating series of moving hoppers, the sorting sections to be received by each of the series of moving hoppers may be configured in advance. For example, a moving hopper for receiving agricultural products of size L;
The movable hoppers for receiving the agricultural products of the size M may be alternately arranged adjacent to each other. In addition, a group of fixed hoppers and discharge devices on the sorting conveyor are also determined and set in number and position so as to discharge agricultural products in the sorting section corresponding to the moving hopper in which different sorting sections are set in advance.

As another method of sorting agricultural products of different sorting categories into a series of moving hoppers, for example, the agricultural products are discharged from the fixed hopper to the nearest moving hopper, and the received sorting categories of the agricultural products are stored for each moving hopper. It can be configured as follows. In this case, the information on the sorting categories assigned to the moving hoppers can be sent to a predetermined discharge position by adopting shift feed control, or each mobile hopper is given unique information, and this unique information is used as information on the sorting categories. Alternatively, a method may be adopted in which the stored data is temporarily stored in an external storage unit and sent, and the storage is deleted when the discharge of the collective agricultural products is completed.

According to the present invention, it is possible to sort agricultural products in two (or more) sorting categories within one endless circulation set. Can be adopted.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in each of the above-mentioned inventions, each fixed hopper has an end aligning means for positioning one end of the received and accumulated agricultural product at a predetermined position.

According to the present invention, it is possible to carry out an end aligning operation for an agricultural product such as a ginseng which does not substantially hurt even when the end portions are pressed and aligned in a piled state. Sorting can be performed promptly, including that.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in each of the above-mentioned inventions, a series of endlessly circulating movable hoppers is provided with an endless circulation path so as to rotate endlessly in a horizontal plane.

The endless circulation of the moving hopper can be carried out in a vertical plane or in a horizontal plane. According to the present invention in which the endless rotation is carried out in a horizontal plane, the height of the equipment is reduced. it can.

[0038]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiment 1 The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows a sorting apparatus having a unit configuration constituted by a group of a group of movable hoppers 3 linked so as to endlessly circulate and a group of a number of fixed hoppers 2 corresponding thereto. FIG. 1 is a front view showing one of the outlines, and the entire sorting apparatus having the unit configuration is indicated by reference numeral 10. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state in which a series of moving hoppers 3 endlessly circulate, and FIG. 3 shows a plurality of sorting apparatuses 10 having the unit configuration shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 arranged along the conveying direction of the sorting conveyor. It is the top view which showed the whole outline of the agricultural product sorting equipment.
FIG. 4 is a view showing the sorting conveyor 1, the fixed hopper 2, the moving hopper 3, and the unloading conveyor 4 in a vertical sectional view.

The entire group of the movable hoppers 3 and the mechanism for circulating the movable hoppers 3 endlessly will be referred to as a "mobile hopper conveyor" hereinafter.

In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a sorting conveyor, in which a large number of agricultural products (peppers) support bases 102 connected to a pair of left and right link chains 101 and rotating endlessly are provided continuously in the transport direction. Each of the pepper supports (hereinafter simply referred to as “support”) 102
As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, at the forward end of the sorting conveyor 1, the left and right link chains 101 are pivotally supported so as to be rotatable around the above-mentioned transverse axis. In addition, in the normal state, the support surface is held by a locking means (not shown) in a posture in which the support surface is substantially horizontal, and when the lock by the locking means is released by the operation of the discharge device 103 provided along the sorting conveyor 1, The transport rear side rotates downward from the horizontal posture, and the peppers P supported thereon are discharged downward. The support base 102 of the present example is formed of a bent flat plate, and, in a horizontal state in a normal state, rises vertically upward from the pivot portion and is bent and extended to the rear side of the conveyance. ,
An intermediate portion of the extension is provided so as to form a shallow concave portion so that the placement of the pepper P is stabilized. 104 is a guide rail for guiding the traveling of the chain conveyor, 105 is a vertical frame as an apparatus frame for assembling the guide rail 104 and the discharge device 103 and the like, and 106 is various horizontal frames. It should be noted that the lock means and the discharge device 103 can employ known and appropriate ones.

The peppers P conveyed on the support table 102 of the sorting conveyor 1 are necessary for sorting by the measuring device 9 shown in FIG. The class elements are measured, the sorting division is determined by using a determination means (microprocessor unit (MPU) or the like) (not shown), and a predetermined support table 102 (for example, first Of the peppers P on the support base 102) that has reached the discharge device of the type, and the operation of the discharge device 103 arranged for a predetermined classification is understood. It is provided to be able to.
Such information management of the sorting of the peppers P on each support base 102 during the conveyance can be performed using a known feed control system.

As shown in FIG. 1, a large number of discharge devices 103 are continuously arranged in the sorting conveyor 1 along the transport trajectory with little space therebetween, as shown in FIG. Discharge device 103 in one set (unit configuration) of sorting device 10 composed of a series of circulating movable hoppers 3 and corresponding fixed hoppers 2 and the like.
Can be set, for example, all of them for sorting of size L, or for example, a set of sorting devices 10
It is also possible to use a part of the discharge device inside for agricultural products of size L and the rest for agricultural products of size M. According to the latter setting, one sorting device 10 can be used for sorting agricultural products in a plurality of sorting categories.

In the case where the above-mentioned sorting apparatus 10 of each structural unit is set for each single sorting section, for example, among the plurality of sorting apparatuses 10 provided in the entire sorting apparatus shown in FIG. Sorting device 1 at the most upstream side of sorting conveyor 1
An example is given in which 0L is used to sort the peppers P for the size L, the next-stage sorting device 10M is used for the size M, and the next-stage sorting device 10S is used for the size S. In this example, as can be seen from FIGS. 2 and 3, two sorting conveyors 1 are juxtaposed, and a fixed hopper 2 and a moving hopper 3, which will be described later, are arranged in correspondence with each other. The parallel sorting conveyor 1 is a sorting device of the same configuration that performs sorting work independently, except that an unloading conveyor 4 described later is shared by two parallel sorting conveyors.

As shown in FIG. 1, below the sorting conveyor 1 having the above-described structure, a fixed hopper 2 is disposed along the conveying direction in a one-to-one correspondence with the discharging device 103 in an upper / lower positional relationship. Are arranged, and the detailed structure is shown in FIGS.
Is shown in

The fixed hopper 2 of the present embodiment normally has a closed bottom, receives and holds the peppers P discharged downward from the support 102 on the sorting conveyor 1, and accumulates a predetermined number of peppers P. When discharging this downward,
A pair of bottom pieces 20 that open like a double door when viewed from below.
1, a bottom opening / closing drive mechanism 202 for switching the bottom piece 201 between the closed state and the open state, and the one end of the pepper P held in the fixed hopper 2 at the predetermined position in the transport lateral direction. And an end alignment mechanism 203 provided for positioning. The edge alignment mechanism 203 will be described later.

That is, the pair of bottom pieces 201, 201 of the fixed hopper 2 provided along the conveying direction of the sorting conveyor 1 are arranged symmetrically with respect to the vertical plane at the intermediate position in the same direction. The main body is formed of a plate that is long in the horizontal direction. The upper ends of the main bodies are horizontal horizons for a fixed hopper in the horizontal direction, which is one of the horizontal frames 106. The lower end of the frame 1062 is rotatably supported by a pivot (2011 denotes a pivot shaft at the upper end of the bottom piece 201). Normally, the swinging tips of the lower end are swung in directions approaching each other to close the bottom. At the time of discharge, the pepper P is swung so as to separate the lower end around the pivot shaft 2011 so as to drop the pepper P vertically downward. In addition, the horizontal frame 1062 for the fixed hoppers extends over the main horizontal frame 106 extending in the transport direction of the sorting conveyor on both outer sides of the two parallel sorting conveyors 1, and at the lower portion thereof,
At the position of each fixed hopper 2, it is assembled and fixed via a frame 1061.

The bottom opening / closing drive mechanism 202 is assembled to a bracket 1063 fixed to a horizontal surface of the fixed frame 1061 to form a piston rod 2021.
Discharge control cylinder device 2 that extends and retracts 2 downward
021 and one end of the piston rod 20212 is rotatably connected to one end of the piston rod 20212, and the other end is freely rotatable to flanges 2012 and 2012 provided at the ends of the pair of bottom pieces 201 and 201 in the transporting lateral direction. , And a pair of links 2022 connected to each other. The pair of rotatable links 2022 at both ends are configured to have the above-mentioned plane-symmetric relationship, and the normal state in which the piston rod 20212 of the cylinder device 2021 is retracted into the cylinder body 20211 ( In the state of the fixed hopper 2 on the right and center in FIG. 6), the bottom is closed by the pair of bottom pieces 201, 201, and the cylinder device 2021 extends the piston rod 20212 downward (FIG. (See the state of the fixed hopper 2 on the left side of
In this configuration, a pair of bottom pieces 201, 201 are separated from each other to open the bottom. Note that 2021
3 is each link 2022 and the piston rod 20212
A pin 2013 rotatably connects the lower end of the link 202, and a pin 2013 rotatably connects each link 2022 and each of the flanges 2012 described above.

For the fixed hopper 2 as described above,
In addition to the above-described configuration, a configuration for minimizing the damage due to the impact when receiving the peppers P (agricultural products) discharged from the sorting conveyor 1, for example, the bottom piece 20.
1 itself or an inner surface thereof, a shock-absorbing member having a low coefficient of restitution can be laminated, and the bottom piece 201 itself or the laminate is used as a configuration for preventing scratches on the surface of agricultural products that move during edge alignment. It is possible to adopt a configuration in which a low-friction coefficient coating for minimizing the friction coefficient on the inner surface of the shock absorbing member is applied.

Next, the structure of the moving hopper 3 of this embodiment and the moving hopper conveyor 301 for linking a large number of them in an endless cycle will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the moving hopper conveyor 301 of this embodiment is composed of a group of a large number of moving hoppers 3 and a linear portion extending along the lower part of the conveying path of the sorting conveyor 1 and the moving hopper 3. A trajectory is set in a horizontal plane that is turned and endlessly circulated between a side portion of the conveyance trajectory and a straight portion that is shifted laterally. That is, the moving hopper 3 is connected to the suspension rod 303 protruding on one side (inside of the circulation track) of the link chain 3013 circulating in a horizontal plane by a pair of the driving sprocket 3011 and the driven sprocket 3012 rotating around the vertical axis. The other side of the movable hopper 3 (outside the circulation path)
Is provided with a pair of front and rear rollers 304 running on an elliptical guide rail 3014 set and arranged at the same height as the link chain 3013. Note that 3015
Is a motor for driving the drive sprocket 3011 to rotate. Thereby, the movable hopper 3 is endlessly circulated in the horizontal plane.

The movable hopper 3 which has received a predetermined number of peppers P while being endlessly circulated by the movable hopper conveyor 301 is circulated and rotated to a linear portion shifted to the side of the conveying path of the sorting conveyor 1. When the movable hopper 2 reaches the position indicated by hatching (hereinafter referred to as "pepper discharging position S"), the bottom is opened and the hopper is discharged to the discharge conveyor 4 arranged below. The configuration of the moving hopper 3 for
This is shown in detail in FIG.

That is, the moving hopper 3 has an upper hopper main body 302 forming a highly rigid rectangular four-sided frame, to which the above-mentioned hanging rod 303 and the roller 304 are assembled and the hopper main body 302 is mounted. The shaft 3021 is provided at the lower part of each of the front and rear in the hopper circulation moving direction. Each of these shafts 3021 has a substantially “U-shaped” hopper piece that can be swung by being wound in a circular shape with a cylindrical portion 30221 formed at the upper end of a predetermined length portion at the center in the movement lateral direction. 3022 are assembled and assembled. The hopper piece 3022 forms a bottom portion from the side walls of the front and rear hoppers by bending and forming a long plate-like body in the lateral direction of the hopper circulation movement direction.
The hopper piece 3022 has, in addition to the above-described tubular part 30221 at the upper end, a flange part 30222 obtained by bending one end in the lateral direction of the hopper piece 3022 by approximately 90 °, and is fixed to an upper outer surface of the flange part 30222. The discharge operation driven piece 302 which receives the pressing force of the bell pepper discharge mechanism to be described later
23 and a cut-and-raised flange 3022 for assembling a return spring cut and raised from the flange portion 30222
4 are provided. This raised flange 3022
Reference numeral 4 is for extending a return spring 3023 between the pair of hopper pieces 3022 in order to hold and return the pair of hopper pieces 3022 in a normal state with the bottom closed. Have been.

The bell pepper discharging mechanism 305, which is provided at the bell pepper discharging position S and causes the movable hopper 3 to perform a discharging operation, is configured as follows. That is, the device fixing portion 107 integrated with the vertical frame 105, the horizontal frame 106, and the like.
A bifurcated operating piece 3053 is assembled to the lower end of a piston rod 3052 that is formed and extended downward and retracted by a cylinder body 3051. The roller 3054 fixed to the moving hopper 3 is configured to engage with the discharge operation driven piece 30223 provided on the hopper piece 3022 of the movable hopper 3. As a result, when the operation piece 3053 is moved downward by the operation of the discharge operation cylinder device 305, each roller 3054 at the tip thereof moves the discharge operation driven piece 30223 of the hopper piece 3022 inside the pair of shafts 3021 to the return spring 3023. 8, the lower end of the hopper piece 3022 is separated to open the bottom of the moving hopper 3 in the state shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 8, and the peppers P held are discharged downward. Will do.

In the present embodiment, another mechanism is provided at the bell pepper discharging position S together with the bell pepper discharging mechanism. This is shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 7 and FIG. 10. Specifically, when a group of peppers P is dropped and discharged from the moving hopper 3 to the discharge conveyor 4, the peppers P jump up on the discharge conveyor 4. A flip-up prevention mechanism 306 for preventing the alignment state from being disturbed.

In the present embodiment, this jump-up preventing mechanism 3
06 is configured as follows. That is, with respect to the circulation direction of the moving hopper conveyor, it is disposed at the same position as the above-mentioned bell pepper discharge mechanism 305 (that is, the bell pepper discharge position S). The flip-up prevention mechanism 306 is disposed above the central portion of the movable hopper 3 while being disposed above.

Then, the bouncing prevention mechanism 306
Are fixedly assembled with the cylinder body 3061 of the cylinder device for preventing the upward movement to the device fixing portion 107, and are attached to the lower end bracket 3063 of the piston rod 3062 extending and retracting downward from the sponge roller, for example, as a shock absorber. The sponge roller 3064 is moved down to a predetermined position at a speed enough to match the spontaneous fall of the object when the bell pepper P is dropped and discharged, so that the bell pepper P discharged to the unloading conveyor 4 is softened. An example of such a configuration can be exemplified. In this example, the sponge roller 30
Although a plurality of 64 are provided so as to extend over the entire length of the pepper P, the number is not limited to a sponge roller, and the number of installation is not particularly limited to that shown in this example. In short, when the bell peppers P held in the moving hopper 3 are dropped and discharged to the carry-out conveyor 4 with the ends thereof aligned, it is sufficient that the bellows can be prevented from disturbing the alignment state. Reference numeral 3065 shown in FIG. 10 is a guide bar for guiding the vertical movement of the lower end bracket 3063, and reference numeral 3066 is a guide sleeve for accurately maintaining the vertical movement posture of the guide bar 3065.

Next, the moving hopper conveyor 301 of the moving hopper 3 configured as described above is
A description will be given of the unloading conveyor 4 disposed below the bell pepper discharge position S. The layout of the unloading conveyor 4 is shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, and the specific structure is shown in FIGS. Is shown in

That is, the unloading conveyor 4 is orthogonal to the conveying direction of the sorting conveyor 1 from below the pepper discharging position S of the moving hopper conveyor 301 (in this example, shared by the two parallel sorting conveyors 1). The conveyor trajectory is set in a direction in which the conveyor belt 401 is endlessly rotated while intermittently intermittently moving and stopping by a drive mechanism (not shown). The partition 402 is divided into areas for receiving the peppers P, and the guide rails 403 on both sides for preventing the peppers P to be sorted out from jumping out of the system path. In this example, the end of the unloading conveyor 4 is linked to the small bag packing work section (manual work or mechanical work) 5 shown in FIG. 3. 6 and is sent to a working unit 7 for packing in a large cardboard box or the like. In addition, in the vicinity of the end of the sorting conveyor 1 in FIG. 3, the unloading conveyor 8 provided below the sorting conveyor 1 so as to be in the conveyance horizontal direction is a method for separating the peppers and the extraordinary peppers in a relatively low distribution ratio. It is for carrying out.

The fixed hopper 2 of this embodiment can have the end aligning mechanism 203 as described above, which is configured as follows. That is, when ginseng is to be sorted by the apparatus of the present example, the length of ginseng is often one of the factors that determine the sorting category. In many cases, it is desired that the packaging has a form in which the ends are aligned in distribution business. However, it is not always technically easy to set the position of placing the ginseng P on the support base 102 at the start end side of the sorting conveyor 1 with the ends aligned in the transporting lateral direction. Even if it is possible to align the edges when placing ginseng, the position may shift due to the influence of vibration etc. during the relatively long conveyance after that,
There is no guarantee that the positions of the ginseng P discharged from the support base 102 to the fixed hopper 3 are aligned. Therefore, in this example,
The above-described end alignment mechanism 203 is provided. Specifically, the end alignment mechanism in which the piston rod 20312 extends and contracts in the horizontal direction on the vertical surface 10612 of the frame fixed to the horizontal frame 106 described above. A cylinder body 20311 of the cylinder device 2031 is fixed, and a pressing plate 2032 in a vertical posture for moving the ginseng P held in the fixed hopper 2 is attached to a tip of the piston rod 20312. As a result, immediately after the carrots P are received one by one from the sorting conveyor 1, the end aligning cylinder device 203 is immediately received by a command from a control device (not shown).
1 can be operated to position the end of one side of the held bell pepper P at a predetermined position. In this example, in order to stabilize the horizontal movement posture of the pressing plate 2032, the vertical surface 1
The pressing plate 2032 is provided with a guide bar 2033 for guiding the horizontal advance / retreat by passing through the through-holes of the guide plate 0612 and the guide plate 10613 fixed thereto.

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

The pepper P placed on the support 102 is
It is conveyed by the movement of the sorting conveyor 1, and its size and other necessary sorting items of the same class are measured by the measuring device 9, and the sorting section is determined by a determining means (not shown). When the sorting section is the size L, the sorting is performed by the sorting apparatus 10L in FIG. 3, and when the sorting section is the size M, the sorting apparatus 10M is used.
The sorting process is performed at 0S.

The unit sorting apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
Is arranged so as to sort the peppers in the sorting section having a size of. Therefore, when the size is L, the number of pieces collected in the fixed hopper 2 is three, and when the size is M, the fixed hopper 2 is The number to be accumulated was four.

In the above state, the state of the number of fixed hoppers 2 that are arranged along the lower part of the conveyor track of the sorting conveyor 1 is sequentially updated and recorded in the counter of each fixed hopper 2 and the measuring device One of the fixed hoppers 2 that receives the support table 202 on which the peppers P of the sorting section L or M that have passed through 9 is placed is determined. And the corresponding support 2
When 02 reaches the position of the discharge device 103 corresponding to the fixed hopper 2, the discharge device 103 operates to swing the support base downward, and the loaded peppers P are dropped and discharged to the fixed hopper 2. .

Each of the fixed hoppers 2 of this embodiment for receiving the peppers P receives the peppers P until a predetermined number (for example, the number of packaging units) is accumulated, and after reaching the predetermined number, until the discharged peppers P are discharged. You will not be allowed to accept another. In addition, in the case of agricultural products which may be aligned in a plurality of accumulation states such as carrots, the end alignment is performed after a predetermined number is accumulated, that is, the cylinder device of the fixed hopper 2 which receives the agricultural products. By operating 2031, the pressing plate 2032 assembled to the tip of the piston rod 20312 is extended to a predetermined position in the horizontal direction of the fixed hopper 2. Thus, the pressing plate 2032 can push the agricultural product to position one end of the agricultural product at a constant position.

Next, among the movable hoppers 3 that are endlessly rotated including the linear trajectory along the lower part of the fixed hoppers 2 that are continuously arranged, the empty movable hopper 3
When a predetermined number of peppers have come to a position below the fixed hopper 2 on which the accumulation has been completed, the cylinder device 2021 of the bottom opening / closing drive mechanism of the fixed hopper 2 thereon is moved by the piston rod 20212.
Is moved down, and the bottom piece 20 is moved through a pair of links 2022.
The bell peppers P held by swinging the lower ends of the peppers 1 away from each other are dropped and discharged downward, and the movable hopper 3 receives the peppers P, and is circulated. The movement of the endless circulation of the movable hopper may be a continuous movement at a relatively low speed, or may be an intermittent stop movement that stops at each lower position of each fixed hopper 2. In addition, the sorting of the peppers received by the individual moving hoppers 3 may be performed by connecting the moving hoppers 3 for L and M alternately and moving them, or from the fixed hopper 2 to the nearest empty moving hopper. The agricultural products may be discharged, and the sorting of the received agricultural products may be stored for each moving hopper 3.

The counter of the fixed hopper 2 from which the agricultural products have been discharged is reset, and returns to a state where the next agricultural product can be received.

The movable hopper 3 is moved along a linear path below the fixed hopper of the oval endless circulation path, turns and turns to a linear path shifted laterally from the path below the fixed hopper 2. When the green pepper is moved to the position S where the peppers are discharged to the unloading conveyor 4, the cylinder device 305 of the pepper discharging mechanism is operated to move the bifurcated operating piece 3053 downward via the piston rod 3052, thereby moving the bottom of the movable hopper 3 from the side wall. The lower ends of the pair of hopper pieces 3022 forming the hoppers are opened, and the peppers P accumulated and held are dropped and discharged downward. When the peppers fall from the moving hopper 3 to the unloading conveyor 4 and are discharged, the bouncing prevention mechanism 3
By operating 06, the peppers can be stably discharged on the unloading conveyor 4 in an aligned state.

In this example, one unit of sorting apparatus 1
The two conveyors 0 are linked to each other, and the first conveyor that intersects the upstream conveyor of the sorting conveyor 1 is used to carry out the three stacked L units as a packaging unit. A second unloading conveyor intersecting with the second conveyor downstream of the conveyor 1 is used to unload four stacked M units as packing units.

The peppers P dropped to the receiving position defined by the partition 402 on the conveyor belt 401 of the unloading conveyer 4 as described above are conveyed out of the sorting conveyor 1 by the rotation of the unloading conveyer 4, and are conveyed out in the horizontal direction in FIG. The bagging operation is performed manually in the small bagging section 5 shown in FIG.

The peppers P packed in the bag are further sent to the boxing work section 7 by the transfer conveyor 6 and packed in a box.

According to the sorting of agricultural products (peppers in this example) performed as described above, a large number of agricultural products conveyed by the sorting conveyor 1 are discharged by the discharge device 103 provided in a large number for the same sorting category. Since it can be discharged to the fixed hopper 2 fixedly arranged, there is an advantage that sorting can be performed quickly. In addition, since each fixed hopper 2 receives agricultural products until a predetermined number is reached, and the agricultural products are sequentially discharged to the unloading conveyor 4 at predetermined positions via the moving hopper 3 that circulates them endlessly, each fixed hopper 2 (Or every two or three groups)
The configuration of the operating part can be reduced as compared with the conventional apparatus which requires a drawer conveyor, and the equipment can be configured at low cost.

Further, in this embodiment, since the endlessly circulating moving hopper conveyor 301 is discharged from the fixed hopper 2 and the sorting conveyor 1 to the unloading conveyor 4 in the middle of the track shifted sideways, There is also an advantage that there is room in the space, and the discharge mechanism 305 and the mechanism for preventing the falling agricultural product (peppers) from jumping up can be easily installed.

Further, since the unloading conveyor can be shared with the two (or more) sorting conveyors arranged side by side as in this embodiment, the advantage of reducing the number of operating parts of the apparatus is realized more advantageously. it can.

Further, as shown in this example, although not shown, a plurality of unloading conveyors can be provided for one sorting apparatus. The number of unloading conveyors is determined, for example, according to the capacity of the packaging work unit. If the packing capacity is inferior to the sorting amount, it is necessary to install multiple packing work units capable of processing the sorting amount. Then the number is determined.
This provides an advantage that the operation efficiency of the entire facility can be appropriately controlled.

[0076]

As described above, according to the present invention, the number of pull-out conveyors for extracting agricultural products in the horizontal direction from the sorting conveyor is independent of the number of discharge devices provided on the sorting conveyor (that is, the number of discharge positions). Therefore, the conveyor device is a conveyor device for a moving hopper that is endlessly circulated along a fixed hopper below the sorting conveyor, and collectively outputs a batch of agricultural products discharged from the moving hopper. Thus, it is sufficient to provide only one conveyor (or a plurality of conveyors depending on productivity or the like) for carrying out.

Therefore, even if the equipment has a large number of discharge devices arranged along the transport direction of the sorting conveyor, the unloading conveyor for unloading a predetermined number of batches of agricultural products in the horizontal direction of the sorting conveyor is required. The number of discharge devices and the number of fixed hoppers associated therewith are not substantially related to the number of installations, but rather can be determined according to the processing capacity of the packaging work unit to which the end side of the unloading conveyor is connected, Since the installation area of the equipment can be reduced, and the number of operating conveyor mechanisms is small, the number of motors and chain link mechanisms can be reduced, and the overall equipment cost can be reduced.
Conventional problems can be greatly improved.

Further, as described above, the number of fixed hoppers and unloading conveyors to be installed can be determined according to the capacity of the packaging work section, so that a high utilization rate of the apparatus and an efficient sorting apparatus can be provided. .

According to the invention of claim 2, one endless circulation set composed of a series of endlessly circulating moving hoppers and a group of discharge devices, fixed hoppers, and unloading conveyors associated with the hoppers is one. Since it is used for sorting agricultural products in the sorting category, there is an advantage that the discharge timing control can be substantially performed only by controlling the receiving state and the accumulation state of the agricultural products, and the control can be simplified.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, two (or more) agricultural products can be sorted in one set in which the moving hopper is endlessly circulated. It can be preferably used for sorting of sections.

According to the invention of claim 4, agricultural products, such as ginseng, which do not substantially hurt even if the action of pressing the end portions in an accumulated state and giving the action of aligning the end portions, such as ginseng, are removed. Sorting can be performed quickly, including alignment work.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the movable hopper is rotated endlessly in a horizontal plane, the height of the equipment can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an outline of a configuration of a sorting apparatus having a unit configuration according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view for explaining a state in which a series of movable hoppers endlessly circulates.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the entire sorting equipment in which a plurality of sorting devices are installed on a sorting conveyor.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a sorting conveyor, a fixed hopper, a moving hopper, and a carry-out conveyor, as viewed from a vertical side surface.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side view showing a range from a sorting conveyor to a moving hopper in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a fixed hopper.

FIG. 7 is a side view for explaining the pepper discharging mechanism of the movable hopper.

FIG. 8 is a front view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a moving hopper.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing a flip-up prevention mechanism when peppers are discharged from a moving hopper to a carry-out conveyor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Sorting conveyor 101 ... Link chain 102 ... Support stand (agricultural (pepper) support stand) 103 ... Discharge device 104 ... Guide rail 105 ... Vertical frame 106 ... Horizontal frame 1061 ··· Frame 10612 ··· Vertical surface part 10613 ··· Guide plate 1062 ··· Horizontal frame 1063 ··· Bracket 107 ··· Device fixing part 2 ··· Fixed hopper 201 ··· Bottom piece 2011 ・ ・ ・ Pivot shaft 2012 ・ ・ ・ Flange 2013 ・ ・ ・ Connection pin 202 ・ ・ ・ Bottom opening / closing drive mechanism 2021 ・ ・ ・ Cylinder device (for discharge control) 20211 ・ ・ ・ Cylinder body 20212 ・ ・ ・ Piston Rod 20213 Connection pin 2022 Link 203 End aligning mechanism 2031 (for end aligning) Der device 20311 Cylinder body 20312 Piston rod 2032 Press plate 2033 Guide bar 3 Moving hopper 301 Moving hopper conveyor 3011 Drive sprocket 3012 Follower Sprocket 3013 link chain 3014 guide rail 3015 motor 302 hopper body 3021 shaft 3022 hopper piece 30221 tubular part 30222 flange part 30223 ..Discharge driven driven piece 30224 Cut-and-raised flange 3023 Return spring 303 Suspended rod 304 Roller 305 Eggplant discharge mechanism (discharge operation cylinder device) 3051 Cylinder body 3052 ... Piston rod 3053 ...・ Working piece 3054 ・ ・ ・ Roller 306 ・ ・ ・ Bounce prevention mechanism 3061 ・ ・ ・ Cylinder body 3062 ・ ・ ・ Piston rod 3063 ・ ・ ・ Bracket 3064 ・ ・ ・ Sponge roller 3065 ・ ・ ・ Guide bar 3066 ・ ・ ・ Guide sleeve 4 ... Conveyance Conveyor 401 ... Conveyer Belt 402 ... Partition 403 ... Guide Rail 5 ... Pouch Packing Work Unit 6 ... Transfer Conveyor 7 ... Box Packing Work Unit 8 ... ( Unloading conveyor 9) Measuring device 10 ... Sorting device 10L ... Sorting device for size L 10M ... Sorting device for size M 10S ... Sorting for size S apparatus.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A sorting conveyor for transporting agricultural products for which sorting classification has been determined, a plurality of discharge devices arranged along the sorting conveyor for discharging agricultural products in predetermined sorting categories downward, respectively, and a transport direction of the sorting conveyor. A plurality of agricultural products having the same sorting category discharged downward from the sorting conveyor by the operation of the discharging device are received until a predetermined number of batches are collected, and are discharged downward after the stacking. A fixed hopper for receiving a group of agricultural products discharged from the fixed hopper while endlessly circulating including a track along the lower side of these fixed hoppers, and then being provided at a predetermined position to be discharged downward. A series of moving hoppers that circulate, and at least one line that is arranged so as to cross below the endless circulation path of the moving hopper. And a carry-out conveyor for receiving a group of agricultural products discharged downward from the moving hopper and discharging the agricultural products in a lateral direction of the sorting conveyor, discharging the agricultural products from the sorting conveyor to a fixed hopper, and moving the hopper from the fixed hopper. And a discharge timing control means for controlling the discharge of agricultural products to the conveyor and the discharge of agricultural products from the moving hopper to the carry-out conveyor. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a series of endlessly circulating moving hoppers, a group of discharge devices, a fixed hopper, and an unloading conveyor linked to the series of moving hoppers are provided.
An agricultural product sorting apparatus, wherein a plurality of sets are arranged along a conveying direction of a sorting conveyor, and at least one of the sets is assigned to sort agricultural products in a single sorting category. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a series of endlessly circulating moving hoppers, a group of a discharge device, a fixed hopper, and an unloading conveyor linked to the series of moving hoppers are provided.
An agricultural product sorting apparatus, wherein a plurality of sets are arranged along a conveying direction of a sorting conveyor, and one or more of these sets are assigned to sort agricultural products of different sorting categories. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein
An apparatus for sorting agricultural products, wherein each fixed hopper has end aligning means for positioning one end of the received and accumulated agricultural products at a predetermined position. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein
An apparatus for sorting agricultural products, wherein a series of endlessly circulating movable hoppers is provided with an endless circulation track so as to rotate endlessly in a horizontal plane.