JPS63250528A - Combination weighing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently perform combination weighing operation at high speed by providing weight sensors in two upper and lower stages and arranging plural hoppers for weighing articles. CONSTITUTION:Weight data obtain a weight sensor 1a for a weighing hopper and a weight sensor 2a for a pool hopper are converted by A/D converters 8a and 9a into digital values, which are inputted to a control part 10a. The control part 10a consists of a computer, etc., and is connected to a RAM 11a, and the control part receives a driving signal from an arithmetic part 13 consisting of a host computer to open and close a gate 3a for the weighing hopper, a weighing-hopper side gate 4a for the pool hopper, a gathering-chute side gate 5a for the pool hopper D, a shutter 6a, and a radiation feeder 7a. Then weight data obtained by control parts 10a-10n for respective measuring instruments are read in the arithmetic part 13 in order through a multiplexer 12 and combinational arithmetic operation is performed by a specific pattern. Consequently, the fast, efficient combinational weighing operation is enabled.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Use) The present invention relates to a combination weighing device that improves weighing speed and reduces costs.

(Prior Art) As a conventional combination weighing device, one having a configuration as shown in FIG. 6, for example, is known. In this example, a large number of weighing hoppers (WH) E, each equipped with a weight sensor F using a load cell or the like, are arranged in a circular shape around a distributed feeder A, and a corresponding one is placed above the weighing hopper E. Place pool hopper (PH) D. The items to be weighed that have been transported by a conveyor etc. are
It is sent to the radiation feeder B, the shutter C is opened in the direction (A) at a predetermined timing, and it is temporarily immersed in the pool hopper D. When the gate of the pool hopper is opened in the (b) direction, the articles are supplied to the liver hopper E, and a signal measured by the weight sensor F is sent to a control device (not shown). No. 43, the control device executes a combination calculation in a predetermined pattern, selects the weighing instruments that are the optimal combination for the target weight, and opens the gate of the weighing hopper E of the corresponding weighing instrument in the (c) direction. is output, the items are discharged to a collection chute G, and sent to a post-processing process such as packaging.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) In such a conventional example, while the weighing hopper E is weighing the articles, the articles are put into the pool hopper D and are in a waiting state, and the articles are collected from the weighing hopper. Since the weighing device does not perform the weighing operation until the gate is returned to its original position after being discharged into the chute, there is a problem in that there is loss time during this period and the processing speed is reduced.

Therefore, the present invention provides a combination weighing device aimed at solving the problems of the prior art.

(Means for solving the problems) The combination weighing device of the present invention is configured as follows. That is, in a combination weighing device in which a plurality of weighing hoppers each having a weight sensor and a function of measuring the weight of an article and discharging the article are provided, and the weights obtained from each weighing hopper are combined and calculated, the weighing hopper is a weighing hopper. An upper hopper having a weight sensor is provided above the lower hopper, and the upper hopper is provided with a gate for inputting articles into the lower hopper and a gate for discharging articles directly into a chute, and the combined participation of each hopper is The present invention is characterized by the provision of control means for selecting three patterns: simultaneous selection of a pair of upper and lower hoppers, selection of only the upper hopper, and selection of only the lower hopper.

(Function) The combination weighing device of the present invention is provided with a plurality of units each consisting of a pair of upper and lower hoppers, and the upper hopper has a gate for inputting the article into the lower hopper and a gate for discharging the article directly into the chute. In addition, it has a control means that allows each hopper to participate in combination in three ways: simultaneous selection of a pair of upper and lower hoppers, selection of only the upper hopper, and selection of only the lower hopper. can be done at high speed and reduce costs.

(Example) Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the present invention. The present invention is characterized in that a weight sensor F1 is also provided in the pool hopper D so that weighing can be performed also in the pool hopper, and the other configurations are the same as the conventional example shown in FIG. omitted. The gate of the pool hopper is (b)
It can be opened in the (d) direction to load items into the weighing hopper, or it can be opened in the (d) direction to discharge items into the collection chute. Therefore, in addition to weighing by the weighing hopper, weighing and discharging can be performed by the pool hopper, and the weighing speed is improved.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention.

Next, this block diagram will be explained. In the combination weighing device of the present invention, a plurality of scales a, b, . . . n are arranged. To explain the configuration of each weighing device using the example of weighing device a, the weights obtained by the weight sensor 1a for the weighing hopper and the weight sensor 2a for the pool hopper are converted into digital values by A/D converters Ba and 9a, respectively. The controller 10
It is manually operated by a. The control unit consists of a computer etc.
It is connected to a memory (RAM) 11a, and in response to a drive signal from a calculation unit 13 composed of a host computer, the gate 3a of the weighing hopper, the gate 4a on the weighing hopper side of the pool hopper, and the collecting chute side of the pool hopper are connected. Opening/closing control of the gate 5a, shutter 6a, and radiation feeder 7a is performed.

The weight data obtained by the control units 10a, 10b, . 14 is a memory (RA/M), and 15 is external line equipment such as a packaging machine.

FIG. 3 is an operation timing chart, and FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram. The operation of the combination weighing device of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. In the present invention, (a) a pattern in which the pool hopper (PH) and the weighing hopper (WH) are simultaneously selected for combined weighing, (b) a pattern in which only the weighing hopper (WH) is selected for combined weighing, (C) The combination weighing device is operated in three patterns, in which only the pool hopper (PH) is selected for combination weighing.

■ Simultaneous selection pattern of pool hopper and weighing hopper [Figure 3 (a)] (1) Time 1. The interlocking signal from the packaging machine and internal timer is input, and the calculation section calculates the time! A combinational operation is performed between IItI and t2.

(2) The gate of the selected weighing hopper is opened for 12 hours after the end time t2 of the combination calculation for 12 hours to discharge the goods.

(3) The chute side gate of the selected pool hopper is similarly opened for a time T2' with a delay of T, and the articles are discharged.

The weighing hopper side gate of this pool hopper is opened for 14 hours with a delay of T5 hours from the combination weighing end time t.

(4) The feeder starts T1 after a T9 delay from the end of the combination calculation.
Goods are supplied to the pool hopper through a shutter that operates for ゜ hours and opens for Ts hours after the same <''rs delay,
At this time, the weighing hopper side gate of the pool hopper is open, so the articles are directly thrown into the weighing hopper.

(5) When the feeder operates for TI2 hours in the next cycle and the shutter operates for T8 hours in the next cycle, the gates on the chute side and weighing hopper side of the pool hopper are closed, so the products are supplied to the pool hopper. be done.

Il, pattern in which only the weighing hopper is selected [Fig. 3 (
b)] In this case, the operation is delayed by T17 after the end of the combination calculation for Tla time, and the shutter is opened for 718 hours, and the weighing hopper side gate of the pool hopper has already been opened for 714 hours after T13 delay. The articles pass through the pool hopper and are fed to the weigh hopper.

III, a pattern in which only the bunyl hopper is selected [Figure 3 (C)] In this case, the feeder and shutter are Tea, respectively.
It operates for Ta hours and supplies items to the pool hopper.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the operation of each part of the measuring instrument according to the timing chart of FIG. 3, and in FIG. 0, times such as T2 and 74 correspond to those in FIG.

(a) Simultaneous selection of pool hopper and weighing hopper When the combination calculation is completed, the gate of the weighing hopper and the chute-side gate of the pool hopper are opened, and the weighed items are discharged into the collecting chute. In addition, feeder (TIo
), when the shutter (T6) operates, the weighing hopper side gate of the pool hopper is opened (T4), so the product is supplied to the weighing hopper.6 Next, the feeder (T12)
, when the shutter (T8) is operated, the gates on both sides of the pool hopper are closed, and the goods are supplied to the pool hopper. Note that the symbol * in the figure indicates that a weighing hopper and a pool hopper are selected as a combination.

(b) The weighing hopper selection combination calculation is completed, the gate of the weighing hopper is opened (T2), the article is discharged into the chute, and the gate is closed. When the weighing hopper side gate of the pool hopper is closed (T14), the articles in the pool hopper move into the weighing hopper. In addition, feeder (Tea), shutter (TI
When 6) is activated, the items are fed into the pool hopper.

Note that the 0 mark on the pool hopper side indicates that no combined weighing is performed and only the 'items are supplied.

(c) After the pool hopper selection combination weighing is completed, the chute side gate of the pool hopper is opened (T2') and the items are discharged. Also, the feeder (T, .) and shutter (T6) are operated to supply the articles to the pool hopper.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the present invention. Next, this flowchart will be explained.

(1) At the start of the program, it is assumed that items are loaded into the weighing hoppers and pool hoppers of all scales, and the output values of the respective weight sensors are stable.

First, read the weight of the weighing hopper of the scale a-n.
A read flag indicating that the output of the D converter is valid is turned on (step p+). Next, check the presence or absence of interlocking signals of the external packaging machine or internal timer (step P2),
If it is determined that there is an interlocking signal, then the stability flag is read (step P3). This stability flag is provided in each of the weighing hoppers (a to n) and the pool hoppers (a to n), and is configured so that interrupt processing can be performed by an instruction to turn off the stability flag from the calculation unit 13, which is a host computer. The provided control units 10a to 10a-Ion generate an interrupt based on the stability determination and turn on the stability flag, thereby performing the process of step P3.

Next, the stability flag and the read flag of the weighing hopper are on, and the weight data of the weighing device whose stability flag of the pool hopper is on is stored in step P4).
A combination calculation is performed for the weighing hoppers and pool hoppers whose stability flags are enabled (step p
s). Next, index i=1 is processed (step P6), and then i>n is determined (step P
7). If the condition i>n is satisfied, the process returns to step P2 and the combination calculation is performed again, but this condition is not satisfied at first and the process goes to the next process 13 lines.

(2) Check whether the pool hopper of the i-th scale is selected for the combination (Step P8). If it is selected, then output the pool hopper selection and shutter-on signal. Step P9) A feeder-on signal at the time of selection is output (step P1°). Next, a gate-on signal on the chute side of the pool hopper is output, and the stability flag of the i-th scale is turned off (step P12).

(3) Check whether the weighing hopper of the i-th weighing instrument has been selected for the combination (step p+3); if not, increment the index i by 1 (step pa), and return to step P7. . When the weighing hopper of the i-th weighing instrument is selected, the shutter-on signal when the pool hopper and weighing hopper are simultaneously selected (step P14), the feeder-on signal (step Pu5), and the gate-on signal on the weighing hopper side of the pool hopper ( Step P16) are sequentially output, the stability flags of all the hoppers are turned off (step P17), the index is incremented by 1, step P+a), and the process returns to step P7.

(4) In the process of step P6, if it is confirmed that the pool hopper of the i-th scale is not selected for the combination, then it is determined whether the weighing hopper of the i-th scale is selected for the optimal combination. Check step PI9
), if the determination is NO, the process proceeds to step pHl and the index i is incremented by 1. Judgment is YES
If S, output the gate-on signal for the weighing hopper (Step P2.), output the gate-on signal for the weighing hopper side of the pool hopper (Step P2.), output the shutter open signal (Step P22), and output the feeder-on signal (Step P23), respectively. Then, it is checked whether the pool hopper of the i-th scale is stable (step P24). If the determination is NO, index i is incremented by 1 through the process of step P18, and if the determination is YES,
The process advances to step P2S. In this process, the weight of the pool hopper ljX W p l is determined by the weight of the weighing hopper WW+
, the stability flag of the first weighing hopper is turned on, the lead flag is turned off, and the stability flag of the first pool hopper is turned off, and the process proceeds to step P1♂.

Thereafter, the inch tx i is sequentially incremented and the processes from step P1 onwards are executed. If the relationship between i and the number of measuring instruments n satisfies the condition of i>n, the process returns to step P2 and the presence or absence of the interlocking signal is determined. To check.

The present invention is not limited to the configuration in which the pool hopper having a weight sensor and the weighing hopper are arranged in two stages, upper and lower, as in the above embodiment, but the weighing hopper is arranged in two stages, upper and lower, and the weighing hopper is arranged in upper and lower stages. The weighing hopper can also be configured to receive items from a pool hopper.

Although the gist of the present invention has been described above with reference to specific embodiments thereof, it is clear that various modifications or modifications of the present invention based on what has been described above are possible.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the present invention has a plurality of hoppers each having weight centimeters on the upper and lower levels to measure the weight of the product, and includes only the upper hopper, only the lower hopper, and both the upper and lower hoppers. Since the configuration is such that the optimal combination can be selected based on the standard hopper, combination weighing can be performed quickly and efficiently. Moreover, the number of pool hopper and weighing hopper units can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a hopper layout diagram of the present invention, and FIG. 3(a). (b), (c) are timing charts, Fig. 4 (a),
(b) and (c) are explanatory diagrams, FIG. 5 is a flowchart, and FIG. 6 is a hopper layout diagram of a conventional example. A... Distributed feeder, B... Radiation feeder, C...
・Shutter, D... Pool hopper, E... Weighing hopper, Fl, F2... Weight sensor, G... Collection chute. Patent applicant: Ishida Koki Seisakusho Co., Ltd. Agent: Minoru Tsuji, patent attorney Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 6 Figure 3 Figure 5 (Part 1)

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a combination weighing device in which a plurality of weighing hoppers are each provided with a weight sensor and each has a function of measuring the weight of an article and discharging the article, and the weight obtained from each weighing hopper is combined and calculated, the weighing hopper is An upper hopper having a weight sensor is provided above a certain lower hopper, and the upper hopper is provided with a gate for inputting articles into the lower hopper and a gate for discharging articles directly into a chute, allowing combination participation of each hopper. A combination weighing device characterized by being provided with a control means for selecting three patterns: simultaneous selection of a pair of upper and lower hoppers, selection of only the upper hopper, and selection of only the lower hopper. (2) The combination weighing device according to claim (1), wherein the upper hopper is a pool hopper and the lower hopper is a weighing hopper. (3) The combination weighing device according to claim (1), wherein both the upper and lower hoppers are used as weighing hoppers, and a pool hopper is provided above the upper weighing hopper.