JPH1190342A - Sorter for fruit vegetables - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sorter capable of obtaining exact image data to be used for judgment of characteristic sorting by photographing the upper surfaces entire circumference of flanks and bases of the articles to be sorted which are placed and transported. SOLUTION: This sorter for the fruit vegetables is constituted to obtain the information for discrimination of the characteristic sorting by each of the respective articles (w) to be sorted by photographing the upper surfaces and the entire circumference of the flanks while placing and transporting the articles (w) to be sorted. The transporting device 1 for placing and transporting the articles (w) to be sorted of the sorter described above comprises a front section transporting mechanism 2 which is equipped with a first photographic device 5, a rear section transporting mechanism 3 which is equipped with a second photographic device 6 and a relay transporting mechanism 4 between these mechanisms. This relay transporting mechanism 4 comprises a rotating body 8 which holds the articles (w) to be sorted arriving at the terminal of the front section transporting mechanism 2 from before and behind, rotates and transports these articles forward, turns the articles upside down and transfers the articles (w) turned upside down to the rear section transporting mechanism 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sorting apparatus for sorting fruits such as persimmons and mandarin oranges or spherical vegetables such as tomatoes based on properties such as size, color, presence or absence of scratches, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the above-mentioned sorting apparatus, while the fruits and vegetables to be sorted are placed and conveyed, the entire top and side surfaces of the fruits and vegetables are photographed to obtain information for distinguishing the properties of each of the sorted objects. I have to.

[0003]

Generally, an object to be sorted placed and transported by a transport device is placed with its bottom portion down, so that the lower surface of the object to be sorted cannot be photographed. Scratches and dirt may be overlooked. It has also been proposed that the bucket of the transport device be made of a transparent material and a transparent basket, and that the object to be sorted be photographed from below.
The transparent bucket becomes invisible due to the attachment of dirt and dust, and the basket-like bucket tends to obstruct the photographing of the bucket itself, and in any case, there is a problem in practical use.

The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and it is an object of the present invention to be able to monitor and photograph the entire peripheral surface of a sorting and placing object to be placed and transported.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 [Configuration, operation and effect of the invention according to claim 1]

(Structure) According to the first aspect of the present invention, fruits and vegetables are arranged such that an outer peripheral surface of a sorting object to be placed and conveyed is photographed to obtain information for property classification discrimination for each sorting object. A sorting device, comprising: a front transport mechanism equipped with a first photographing device; a rear transport mechanism equipped with a second photographing device; and an intermediate relay transport mechanism between the two. The relay transport mechanism is constituted by a rotating body having a plurality of concave portions on the outer periphery, and the sorting object reaching the end of the front transport mechanism is received in the concave portion of the rotating body and is rotated forward. The object to be sorted is turned upside down, and the sorted object turned upside down is transferred to the rear transport mechanism.

(Operation) According to the above configuration, the object to be sorted placed and transported by the front transport mechanism is, for example, photographed on the upper surface and the peripheral surface by the first photographing device during the transport, and the rotation of the relay transport mechanism is performed. The object to be sorted is turned upside down by being transferred to the rear transport mechanism through the body, and then the bottom surface, which could not be photographed earlier, can be photographed from above by the second photographing device. Here, in the relay transport mechanism,
It is possible to simply turn upside down and transfer it to the rear transport mechanism simply by sequentially receiving and rotating the sorted objects transported by the front transport mechanism in the respective recesses of the rotating body.

[0008] As means for inverting the object to be sorted during transport, the object to be sorted is gripped from the side using a multi-axis type robot hand or the like, picked up once, and turned upside down by rotation of the robot head. It is conceivable to return the sorting object to the transport device again, but expensive handling equipment is required, and complicated grasping control is required, which is disadvantageous in terms of cost.

(Effects) Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, not only the upper surface and the entire side surface but also the bottom surface can be photographed while the sorting object is placed and transported by the transport device. Accurate selection can be performed by accurately obtaining the information for determining the classification. In particular, the relay transport mechanism for reversing the object to be sorted up and down can be constituted by a rotating body that is simple in structure and can be manufactured at low cost, which is practically advantageous.

[Structure, operation and effect of the invention according to claim 2]

(Structure) According to a second aspect of the present invention, fruits and vegetables are arranged such that an outer peripheral surface of a sorting object to be placed and conveyed is photographed to obtain information for property classification discrimination for each sorting object. A sorting device, comprising: a front transport mechanism equipped with a first photographing device; a rear transport mechanism equipped with a second photographing device; and an intermediate relay transport mechanism between the two. The relay transport mechanism is configured to apply a rotation function forward to the sorted object that has fallen from the end of the front transport mechanism and turn it upside down, and the vertically inverted sorted object to the rear transport mechanism. It is characterized by being constituted by a rotating body to be delivered.

(Operation) According to the above configuration, the object to be sorted, which is placed and transported by the front transport mechanism, is photographed, for example, on the upper surface and the peripheral surface by the first photographing device during the transport, and is passed through the relay transport mechanism. The object to be sorted is turned upside down by being transferred to the rear transport mechanism, and then the bottom surface, which could not be imaged earlier, can be photographed from above by the second photographing device. In this case, the rotating body of the relay conveyance mechanism rotates in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction, so that the sorted objects falling and falling from the end of the front conveyance mechanism can be turned upside down by applying a pre-rotational action. .

(Effects) According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to take an image of not only the top surface and the entire side surface but also the bottom surface while placing and transporting the sorting object by the transport device. Accurate selection can be performed by accurately obtaining the information for determining the classification. In particular, since the sorting object is turned upside down by the forward rotation of the sorting object itself, it is simple without having to consider the timing of receiving the sorting object from the front transport mechanism and the size of the sorting object. There is an advantage that it can be turned upside down.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[First Example] FIG. 1 shows a persimmon as an example of fruits and vegetables.
1 shows a first example of the sorting device described above. The sorting apparatus takes images of the object to be sorted w from all around while placing and conveying the object to be sorted w by the conveying device 1, and obtains information such as size, color, presence or absence of scratches and dirt by image analysis, and obtains each object. Sorted item w
Each of the property sections (e.g., grade) is determined, and the boxing process is manually or automatically performed for each property section in the lower side of the conveyance.

The transport device 1 comprises a front transport mechanism 2, a rear transport mechanism 3, and a relay transport mechanism 4 located between them, and the front transport mechanism 2 includes a first photographing device 5. The rear transport mechanism 3 is equipped with a second photographing device 6.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the front transport mechanism 2 is constructed by attaching a pair of buckets 2b facing each other to each of a pair of wound left and right chains 2a in a cantilever manner. In addition, the rear transport mechanism 3 is also configured such that a pair of opposed buckets 3b are attached to each of a pair of wound left and right chains 3a in a cantilever manner, and both transport mechanisms 2 and 3 are synchronized. Have been driven.

The relay transport mechanism 4 is composed of an impeller-shaped rotating body 8 having a plurality of recesses 7 on the outer periphery, and is driven to rotate in the same direction as the transport direction in synchronization with the two transport mechanisms 2 and 3. ing. A cushioning material 9 made of a soft hair or sponge is provided on the inner surface of each of the recesses 7, so that each of the recesses 7 can hold the sorting object w without being damaged. ing. Further, the rotating body 8 is provided with a sorting object w.
And a space that allows the rotating body 8 to pass between a pair of opposed left and right buckets 2b or 3b.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the first photographing device 5 includes four inclined mirrors 10 disposed on both sides of the transport path, in front, rear, left and right, and a first photographing apparatus 5 disposed above the inclined mirrors.
Each of the tilt mirrors 10 is arranged toward one point on the transport path, and all the tilt mirrors 10 are included in a shooting area of the camera 11. Therefore, when the sorting object w which is placed and transported on the front transport mechanism 2 reaches a predetermined position, the upper surface and the front, rear, left and right side surfaces of the sorting object w are simultaneously photographed by one camera 11. . As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the second photographing device 6 is installed so that the camera 12 photographs only the upper surface of the transported sorting object w.

The sorting apparatus according to the present invention is configured as described above, and its operation will be described below.

First, in the front transport mechanism 2, the object to be sorted w is placed and transported across the left and right buckets 2b facing each other in a posture in which the bottom portion is turned down, and at a specific position during the transport. As described above, the camera 11 of the first photographing device 5 photographs the entire top surface and the side surface (the front, rear, left, and right side surfaces) of the object to be sorted w.

At the end of the front transport mechanism 2, the sorting object w is received in the concave portion 7 of the rotating body 8 in the relay transport mechanism 3, and the rotary body 8 is rotated and transported forward to sort the concave portion 7. The object w is turned upside down, and is delivered over the opposing left and right buckets 3b at the start end of the rear transport mechanism.

The sorting object w delivered to the rear transport mechanism 3
Is transported in a posture in which the bottom portion is directed upward, and the upper surface thereof is photographed by the camera 12 of the second photographing device 6 during the transportation, whereby the upper surface, the bottom surface, and the entire circumference of the side surface of the object to be sorted w are photographed. That is, the image analysis result is used as the property classification judgment data.

[Second Example] FIGS. 8 and 9 show a second example of the sorting apparatus. The sorting device has a basic configuration similar to that of the first example, in which the transport device 1 includes a front transport mechanism 2 including a first imaging device 5, a rear transport mechanism 3 including a second imaging device 6, and , The relay transport mechanism 4, and the front transport mechanism 2 and the rear transport mechanism 3 are each configured by a belt conveyor. The relay transport mechanism 4 for turning the sorting object w upside down is configured as follows.

The relay transport mechanism 4 of this embodiment is composed of a simple cylindrical rotating body 14 provided with a cushioning material 13 on the outer peripheral surface.
The rear transport mechanism 3 is disposed so as to be lower than the end of the front transport mechanism 2 and at substantially the same height as the upper surface of the rotating body 14. The rotating body 14 is driven to rotate in a direction opposite to the transport direction.

According to the relay transport mechanism 4, the sorting object w which has reached the end of the front transport mechanism 2 falls on the rotating body 14 from the front end thereof, and rotates from the rotating rotating body 14 rotating in the reverse direction. Under the action, it rotates forward and is turned upside down. The reversed sorting object w has its leading end resting on the starting end of the rear transport mechanism 3, is drawn forward and transported, and the bottom surface is photographed by the second photographing device 6 as described above. Here, since the rotating body 14 only needs to give the object to be sorted w that has fallen the opportunity to rotate in the forward direction, it is not necessary to rotate the rotating object 14 quickly and reversely for a long time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall side view showing a first example of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a main part of the first example.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a main part of the first example.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a first photographing device.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the first photographing device.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a second photographing device.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a second photographing device.

FIG. 8 is an overall side view showing a second example of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a side view showing a main part of the second example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 transport device 2 front transport mechanism 3 rear transport mechanism 4 relay transport mechanism 5 first photographing device 6 second photographing device 7 concave portion 8 rotating body 14 rotating body w

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for sorting fruits and vegetables configured to take an image of an outer peripheral surface of an object to be placed and conveyed and to obtain information for property classification discrimination for each of the objects to be sorted. A transport device for placing and transporting an object is configured by a front transport mechanism equipped with a first photographing device, a rear transport mechanism equipped with a second photographing device, and an intermediate transport mechanism therebetween.
The relay transport mechanism is constituted by a rotating body having a plurality of concave portions on the outer periphery, and the sorting object reaching the end of the front transport mechanism is received in the concave portion of the rotating body, is transported forward and is turned upside down. And an apparatus for sorting fruits and vegetables configured to transfer a material to be sorted upside down to a rear transport mechanism. 2. An apparatus for sorting fruits and vegetables configured to take an image of an outer peripheral surface of an object to be placed and conveyed and to obtain information for property classification discrimination for each object to be sorted. A transport device for placing and transporting an object is configured by a front transport mechanism equipped with a first photographing device, a rear transport mechanism equipped with a second photographing device, and an intermediate transport mechanism therebetween.
The relay conveying mechanism is a rotating body that imparts a rotation function forward to the sorted object that has fallen from the end of the front conveying mechanism and turns it upside down, and delivers the vertically inverted sorted object to the rear conveying mechanism. A structured fruit and vegetable sorter.