WO2010151127A1

WO2010151127A1 - Apparatus for arranging substantially elongate products

Info

Publication number: WO2010151127A1
Application number: PCT/NL2010/050390
Authority: WO
Inventors: Albertus Johannes Ruigrok
Original assignee: Fps Food Processing Systems B.V.
Priority date: 2009-06-24
Filing date: 2010-06-23
Publication date: 2010-12-29

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for, with at least one brush (10) arranging fruit or vegetables such as pears, mangos or avocados, located on carriers of an endless conveyor (1) wherein the carriers form at least one row with a fixed center distance or pitch between successive carriers, wherein the conveyor is located in a substantially horizontal plane and is moved with a settable conveying speed in a conveying direction (T), wherein the at least one brush (10) comprises substantially a cylinder- shaped circumferential surface, with its rotation axis substantially parallel to the conveying direction. The products, when passing under the brush rotating, are at least oriented with their longitudinal axis substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction (T). Optionally, the brush has a brush surface having a helical configuration.

Description

Apparatus for arranging substantially elongate products

The present invention relates to an apparatus for, with at least one brush, arranging, which includes, though not exclusively, guiding, singulating, and orienting, substantially elongate products, for example, fruit or vegetables such as pears, mangos or avocados, located on carriers of an endless conveyor, wherein the carriers form at least one row with a fixed center distance or pitch between successive carriers, wherein the conveyor is located in a substantially horizontal plane and is moved with a settable conveying speed in a conveying direction T.

JP61111222 shows a configuration where a brush is placed under a transition between two conveyor belts in order for products that have not been singulated on the first conveyor to be separated from each other and to be guided with the brush to the second conveyor placed in direct alignment. Use of a roller conveyor is described in US5195628. With such a generally known construction, products are conveyed and sorted. The rollers function as carriers, with each product generally located on and carried by a pair of two successive rollers. Often, the rollers are rotated in a defined part of the conveying path in order that the products be rotated as well, especially when passing along a camera for inspection purposes.

With any conveyor for fruit, problems of placing, singulating and rotating present themselves. For the very reason that many fruits are inherently irregular in shape, and also may greatly differ in shape mutually, it is particularly difficult to take general measures that will remedy each and all of these problems at the same time and adequately so. For example, the problem of singulating is often solved by installing in the supply path to such a roller conveyor so-called V-belts where, for one thing, different speeds can be set for these two guiding belts. It is thus tried to separate mutually overlying and closely abutting products from each other to thereby enable each product at the end of the V-belts to be supplied separately to the roller conveyor and to be transferred to such a pair of rollers. A similar problem occurs with a so-called cup sorter, where the successive carriers are formed by cups or small trays. A general measure towards solving such problems is to employ brushes, for example above the V-belts mentioned, or also at a transition, for the purpose of further guiding and singulating the fruits. Particularly for brushes, appropriate materials can be chosen that will not damage the fruits.

With brushes, furthermore, the products are brought in a suitable position at their place between two successive rollers. In such cases the brushes always rotate around axes that are directed substantially perpendicularly with respect to the direction of travel of such a conveyor. Depending on the direction of rotation and the speed of rotation of such a brush, several effects can be accomplished and set, namely, from guiding, to stopping, or conversely, accelerating.

In the case of elongate products such as pears, mangos, or avocados, the above problems also occur, but to an increased extent at that. Not only guiding and singulating present a major problem, but equally so does subsequent orienting of the products. These products too are typically intended to be inspected, for example for damage. To do so, these products too will need to be rotated, either when they are located between two rollers as elucidated above, or when they are located in a cup or tray in which a rotating mechanism is arranged for each cup or tray. To those skilled in the art it will be clear that it is then desired, in most cases, for the long axis of such products to be in the direction transverse to the conveying direction. In order for the products to be rotated in the proper direction as contemplated, indeed many types of cladding for such rotating mechanisms have been used to thereby influence friction in a suitable manner. It has been found, however, that fruits then readily start to bounce, can contact each other and can collide, or can actually fall off the conveyor. To remedy the above problems and furthermore to improve existing solutions, the apparatus according to the invention is characterized in that the at least one brush comprises substantially a cylinder-shaped circumferential surface, with its rotation axis substantially parallel to the conveying direction and disposed near the conveyor, wherein the products when passing, with the brush rotating, are at least oriented with their longitudinal axis substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction T.

With great advantage, the fruits are not only brought into the right position to be rotated. In a very suitable manner, furthermore, the possibility is prevented that the products can damage each other or can push each other away from the rollers. By the use of suitably chosen dimensions and speeds (of the brush and the conveyor) it can be achieved, for example, that non-round and elongate products position themselves with their long axis perpendicular to the conveying direction (from a different previous position). The invention can also be defined, for example, as follows: conveying apparatus for conveying substantially elongate products, for example, fruit or vegetables such as pears, mangos or avocados, wherein the apparatus is provided with an endless conveyor with carriers to carry the products, wherein the carriers form at least one row with a fixed center distance or pitch between successive carriers, wherein the conveyor is movable with a settable conveying speed in a conveying direction T, wherein the apparatus is provided with at least one rotatable brush, characterized in that the at least one brush comprises substantially a cylinder-shaped circumferential surface, and is disposed with its rotation axis substantially parallel to the conveying direction T near the conveyor, such that the brush during use can engage products located on the conveyor to orient the products with the longitudinal axis substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction T. In a further embodiment of the invention, the apparatus has one or more of the following features: that a control is included for setting the speed of rotation of the brush; that the brush has a brush surface that has a helical configuration; that the helical brush surface has a lead that is substantially equal to the center distance or pitch between the successive carriers; that the speed of rotation is chosen in agreement with the conveying speed; and/or that in line with the brush a second brush is disposed having an opposite lead and correspondingly opposite direction of rotation. With these measures, in a very advantageous manner, it is achieved that specifically with a high degree of filling substantially all fruits are brought in the correct position.

Further features and details will be described hereinafter on the basis of a drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a schematic side view of an exemplary embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention;

Fig. 2 shows a schematic view of the apparatus according to Fig. 1 from a viewpoint obliquely above it; and

Fig. 3 shows a similar view to Fig. 1 of an alternative exemplary embodiment.

In this application the same reference numerals refer to the same parts or components.

Figs. 1-2 show an exemplary embodiment of a conveying apparatus for conveying substantially elongate products P, for example, fruit or vegetables such as pears, mangos or avocados. The apparatus is provided with an endless conveyor 1 with carriers 2 to carry the products. In the example, the carriers form different parallel rows, with a fixed center distance or pitch p in each row. The conveyor 1 (at least, the product carriers 2 thereof) is movable with a settable conveying speed, to convey the products P in a substantially horizontal conveying direction T. The apparatus is further provided with a rotatable brush 10, which is provided with a substantially cylinder-shaped circumferential surface (i.e., the outer surface of the rotatable brush substantially coincides with a virtual surface of cylinder). The brush is rotatable about an axis 11, which axis is substantially parallel to the conveying direction T. The brush 10 is moreover disposed so close to the conveyor 1 that the brush 10 during use can engage products P located on the conveyor 1 (i.e., on the carriers). Thus, the brush can bring the products P to an attitude where the products have their longitudinal axis oriented substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction T (in particular from a previous different attitude, for example, as shown in the drawing, a substantially upright attitude of products approaching the brush). As follows clearly from the drawing, the products located on the conveyor 1 can, during engagement by the brush, for example, extend partly into the brush 10 (i.e., are received between bristles of the rotating brush). An underside of the rotating brush 10 facing the conveyor 1 may be disposed, for example, at a relatively short distance from the conveyor, for example, at a distance in the range of 0.1 cm and 3 cm.

In particular, Fig. 1 shows schematically a side view of an endless roller conveyor 1 having thereon products P, for example, pears. A return part or a drive at end pulleys are not shown in this schematic Fig. 1. Such a conveyor conveys the products P in the conveying direction T, with the products P located on rollers 2, each rotatable around a roller axis 3. Such a conveyor can comprise a single row of such rollers, or a number of juxtaposed rows, as shown, likewise schematically, in Fig. 2. The rollers 3 are well-known and commonly used diabolo-shaped rollers. Each product P is located on and between two successive rollers 3. In a conventional manner, the rollers 3 themselves may be rotated, for example in a direction R, to thereby cause the products themselves to rotate, for example for inspection while passing a camera system intended for creating an image of the surface of such a product. The thus inspected products may be sorted during conveyance further downstream in accordance with, for example, such detection and characterization, more specifically be off-loaded onto packaging tracks intended for that purpose. In a generally known manner, the rollers may, for example, be rotated over a limited part of the conveying path, for example by guiding them over a subjacent belt where, furthermore, the speed of the belt can be set from a defined speed forward to a defined speed backward, or also a speed of 0 m/s. The direction of rotation R as indicated is obtained, for example, by stopping the subjacent belt, the speed of 0 m/s mentioned. The mutual distance between the roller axes, also called pitch, is indicated with p. One of the many examples of such a roller conveyor 1 is described in US5195628.

The brush body 10 of the present exemplary embodiment of the invention has as a purpose that products P that upon rotation of the rollers 3 might butt against adjacent products or could even fall off the rollers 3 be rotated in the proper direction (i.e., towards a desired lying position, with the longitudinal axis at right angles to the conveying direction T). Especially non- round and elongate products, for example, paprikas and pears, exhibit this deficiency. As shown in Fig. 1, the brush body 10 has a cylinder-shaped circumferential surface and a rotation axis 11 (which is concentric with the circumferential surface). This rotation axis will be connected with a drive, for example an electric motor, for example with transmission by a belt or chain, which, for reasons of clarity, is not shown in the drawing, to rotate the brush around this rotation axis 11, in the direction B in the figure. As soon as the products P have been guided on the rollers 3 in the right direction by the brush body 10 the products P can be safely rotated about their longitudinal axis by the rollers 3.

In the example shown in Fig. 1, the brush body 10 is helical, having a brush profile 12. Alternatively, the brush body may be cylinder-shaped, see Fig. 3. For a cylindrical body 10' a rotation in clockwise or counterclockwise direction may be chosen. For the screw 10 drawn in Figs. 1-2 the indicated direction B will be used to thereby bring the products P having the wrong attitude gradually towards a correct attitude. Furthermore, the helical line is so chosen that the lead thereof matches the pitch of the roller conveyor. As represented in Fig. 1, the lead may be equal to the pitch p. Moreover, in a suitable exemplary embodiment, the position of the screw and of the rollers will correspond to that shown in Fig. 1. More particularly, the screw edges on the lower side will always be in alignment with the upper edge parts of the rollers, so that the fruits suitably end up between the rollers and remain there. This is accomplished by positioning the screw in the proper manner during assembly and also by setting the speed of rotation of the screw and the traveling speed of the roller conveyor in proper agreement with each other.

When the brush in Fig. 1 rotates, notably the projecting parts of a product will be engaged (by the brush) and pushed in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction T. In general, that will also be the direction of such a product's own longitudinal axis, so that upon rotation of the rollers 3 a suitable rotation of such a product is obtained. Furthermore, it has been found that the brush body, understood to include the helix according to the exemplary embodiment shown, suitably extends to a point just above the roller track. Preferably, the distance to an imaginary plane covering the roller track will be between 0.1 cm and 3 cm, depending on the products P to be guided and to be aligned.

In Fig. 2 there is shown a view of a roller conveyor 1 as mentioned above from a viewpoint obliquely above this conveyor 1. There are shown a number of rows with rollers next to each other. For the sake of clarity, a single brush body 10 is shown. Furthermore, a few construction elements of such a conveyor 1 are represented, viz. guide bars 4 and a frame section 5 on the side of such a conveyor 1. In general, the conveying direction T is in a horizontal plane. To equip all rows of rollers with such a brush body 10, options to be considered include a staggered positioning, or also a brush having a circumferential surface such that two juxtaposed rows can be reached with it. In a further exemplary embodiment, two brush bodies may be placed one directly behind the other, a first one with a first helical line rotating in a first direction of rotation B, and a second one with a second, opposite helical line and rotating in a second direction of rotation -B (i.e., opposite to the first direction of rotation B). In this way, any possibly unaligned products P will yet be guided and aligned. It will be clear to those skilled in the art that there are many possible ways of rotating these brush bodies in mutually opposite directions with the same motor.

Furthermore, several sections of brushes may be arranged one after the other. Each brush may comprise, for example, two or more spaced-apart brush sections (each having a cylinder-shaped circumferential surface). The different brush sections may, for example, be driven in the above-indicated manner, for example, in combination with or geared to the speed of the conveyor 1, and/or with varying speeds with respect to a speed of the conveyor, and/or with mutually varying or different speeds of the different brush sections.

To those skilled in the art it will be clear that further variants and modifications are possible, which are to be understood to be within the scope of the appended claims. For example, traveling speeds of the conveyor 1 and the speeds of rotation of the one or more brush bodies may be suitably set according to a fixed ratio, depending on the products to be processed.

In a further embodiment, the materials for the brush bristles may be adapted for different products P, for example, different ones for pears and paprikas, with the brush bodies being exchangeable in a simple manner. Also to be considered are brushes (with helical brush surfaces) having helical lines of different thicknesses.

Claims

1. An apparatus for, with at least one brush, arranging, which includes, though not exclusively, guiding, singulating, and orienting, substantially elongate products, for example, fruit or vegetables such as pears, mangos or avocados, located on carriers of an endless conveyor, wherein the carriers form at least one row with a fixed center distance or pitch between successive carriers, wherein the conveyor is located in a substantially horizontal plane and is moved with a settable conveying speed in a conveying direction T, characterized in that the at least one brush comprises substantially a cylinder-shaped circumferential surface, with its rotation axis substantially parallel to said conveying direction and disposed near said conveyor, wherein said products when passing, with the brush rotating, are at least oriented with their longitudinal axis substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction T.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that a control is included for setting the speed of rotation of said brush.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the brush comprises a cylinder-shaped brush body.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the brush has a brush surface having a helical configuration.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that the helical brush surface has a lead that is substantially equal to the center distance or pitch between the successive carriers.

6. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the speed of rotation is chosen in agreement with the conveying speed.

7. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in line with said brush a second brush is disposed with opposite lead and correspondingly opposite direction of rotation.

8. Use of an apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims for arranging, which includes, though not exclusively, guiding, singulating, and orienting, substantially elongate products.