WO2017017750A1

WO2017017750A1 - Fruit and vegetable gripper

Info

Publication number: WO2017017750A1
Application number: PCT/JP2015/071204
Authority: WO
Inventors: 信輔飯野; 眞治林; 鈴木　勇人
Original assignee: 株式会社ニレコ
Priority date: 2015-07-27
Filing date: 2015-07-27
Publication date: 2017-02-02
Also published as: JPWO2017017750A1; JP6184594B2

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a fruit and vegetable gripper that uses a non-contact chuck for generating an area of negative pressure by ejecting air, can stably grip fruits and vegetables even if the fruits and vegetables have an uneven surface, and is configured such that clogging due to garbage or rotten pieces of fruits and vegetables also does not occur. [Solution] A fruit and vegetable gripper (10) is formed from: a non-contact chuck (11) that generates an area of negative pressure at the center section of a lower surface thereof by ejecting air from around the lower surface outward; and a cylindrical body (12) which is made of a flexible material and is bellows-shaped, in which an upper end section (12a) thereof is mounted to the non-contact chuck (11) so as to be in close contact with an outer peripheral surface (11c) of the non-contact chuck (11), and in which a lower end section (12b) thereof is open.

Description

Fruits and vegetables

The present invention relates to a fruit and vegetable gripping tool for gripping fruits and vegetables such as mandarin orange, eggplant, cucumber, potato and pepper.

The collected fruits and vegetables A such as mandarin oranges are put into a fruits and vegetables sorting apparatus 100 as shown in FIG. In the fruit and vegetable sorting apparatus 100, the fruit and vegetables A that is put into the belt conveyor 110 and conveyed is imaged by the imaging device 130 while being illuminated by the lighting device 120, and the image of the fruits and vegetables A obtained by this imaging is processed by the processing device 140. Thus, it is possible to discriminate rotten rotted fruits and vegetables or nonstandard size fruits and vegetables. Then, the determination result is sent to the robot controller 150, and the robot controller 150 controls the robot 160 so that the rotted fruits and vegetables and the non-standard fruits and vegetables are picked up by the fruits and vegetables gripper 162 attached to the lower end of the bending arm 161. , And put into the waste box 170. As a result, the rot and non-standard fruits are prevented from flowing into the downstream process. Reference numeral 180 denotes an operation unit, and 190 denotes a monitor for image confirmation and operation confirmation.

As the gripping tool 162 of the robot 160, a vacuum suction type having a suction pad at the tip is used. As shown in Patent Documents 1 to 4, such a vacuum suction-type gripping tool 162 sucks air in the suction pad by a vacuum pump to generate a negative pressure, and sucks fruits and vegetables.

JP 08-02509 JP 09-123080 A JP-A-11-165708 JP 2012-232823 A

However, the vacuum suction type gripper 162 that sucks air to generate a negative pressure needs to make the suction pad 1621 closely contact with the fruits and vegetables A as shown in FIG. Yes, as shown in FIG. 10 (b), when the fruits and vegetables A have irregularities, they cannot be completely adhered. Since many fruits and vegetables A have many unevenness | corrugations on the surface, it is necessary to raise attraction | suction power in order to obtain required adsorption power.

Further, since the gripping tool 162 sucks air, as shown in FIG. 10C, when the dust B or the like adhering to the fruits and vegetables A is adsorbed, clogging occurs and the adsorbing power is reduced.

Further, since the adsorption pad 1621 adsorbs a part (upper part) of the fruits and vegetables A, adsorbing a soft rot portion may separate and suck the rot pieces of the rot portion, which similarly causes a problem of clogging. .

An object of the present invention is to use a non-contact chuck that generates a negative pressure region by injecting air, so that fruits and vegetables can be stably gripped even if the surface of the fruits and vegetables is uneven, and garbage and fruits and vegetables It is intended to provide a fruit and vegetable gripping tool that is prevented from being clogged with spoiled pieces.

In order to achieve the above object, a fruit and vegetable gripping tool according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a non-contact chuck that generates a negative pressure region in the center of the lower surface by injecting air from the periphery of the lower surface, and an upper end that is not in the non-contact state. A fruit and vegetable gripping tool configured to be attached to the non-contact chuck so as to be in close contact with the periphery of the contact chuck and having a lower end opened, wherein the tubular body is at least a part of the vertical direction. The circumferential direction is formed of a flexible material.

The invention according to claim 2 is the fruit and vegetable gripping tool according to claim 1, wherein the cylindrical body has a bellows shape.

The invention according to claim 3 is the fruit or vegetable gripping tool according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a plurality of the non-contact chucks are arranged in a horizontal direction to form a non-contact chuck group, and the periphery of the non-contact chuck group Further, the upper end portion of the cylindrical body is attached in close contact with or without a spacer.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the fruit and vegetable gripping tool according to any one of the first to third aspects, the tubular body has an inner transverse area set such that the lower end is larger than the upper end. It is characterized by being.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fruit and vegetable gripping tool according to any one of the second to fourth aspects, in the cylindrical body, the groove formed in the inner wall is continuous in a spiral shape from the upper part to the lower part. It is characterized by that.

The invention according to claim 6 is the fruit and vegetable gripping tool according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the cylindrical body is made of a non-breathable material.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the fruit and vegetable gripping tool according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the non-contact chuck has an air inlet into which compressed air is injected formed on the upper surface, and the periphery of the lower surface. A plurality of air injection ports are formed, and internal passages are formed between the air injection ports and the respective air injection ports.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the fruit and vegetable gripping tool according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the non-contact chuck includes a lower end open cup having a plurality of openings formed on the top surface and a motor. It is comprised with the fan which rotates in the said cup and injects the air suck | inhaled from the said opening to the lower surface circumferential direction.

According to the fruit and vegetable gripping tool of the present invention, since the periphery of the lower surface of the non-contact chuck that generates a negative pressure region by injecting air is surrounded by a flexible cylindrical body, the surface of the fruit and vegetable is uneven. Even if there is a gap, gripping can be performed. Further, even when garbage is attached to the fruits or vegetables, or when rot sites are generated, they are not sucked and clogging does not occur. For this reason, it is possible to stably hold fruits and vegetables that have many irregularities on the surface, have various shapes, and have rots, holes, or rot sites.

It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the fruit and vegetables holding tool of 1st Example of this invention. (A) is a top view of the fruit and vegetable gripping tool of the first embodiment, and (b) is a bottom view. (A) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the state which hold | gripped the fruit and vegetables with the fruit and vegetables holding tool of 1st Example, (b) is sectional drawing along the bb line of (a). It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the state which hold | gripped the fruit and vegetables with garbage with the fruit and vegetables holding tool of 1st Example. It is explanatory drawing of the drive device of the fruit and vegetable holding tool of 1st Example. (A) is a longitudinal sectional view of the fruit and vegetable gripping tool of the second embodiment of the present invention, (b) is a sectional view taken along line bb of (a), and (c) is a sectional view taken along line cc of (a). It is. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the fruit and vegetables holding tool of 3rd Example of this invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the fruit and vegetables holding tool of the 4th Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of a structure of the fruit and vegetables sorting device. (A), (b), (c) is explanatory drawing in the case of holding fruit and vegetables with a vacuum adsorption type fruit and vegetables holding tool.

<First embodiment>
FIG. 1 shows a fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10 is composed of a disc-shaped non-contact chuck 11 and a cylindrical body 12 that is mounted so that the upper end portion is in close contact with the periphery of the non-contact chuck 11.

The non-contact chuck 11 includes an upper surface 11a, a lower surface 11b, and an outer peripheral surface 11c, and an air injection port 11d for injecting compressed air supplied from an air hose 20 (FIGS. 3 to 5) is formed in the center of the upper surface 11a. It is formed as shown in (a). Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, a plurality of air injection ports 11e communicating with the air injection ports 11d are formed in the lower surface 11b at a predetermined pitch in the circumferential direction of the edge portion.

The non-contact chuck 11 is formed such that each internal passage extending from the air injection port 11d to the plurality of air injection ports 11e is curved, for example, counterclockwise when viewed from the lower surface 11b, and the air injection port 11e is inclined downward. When facing the direction (not shown), when compressed air is injected from the air injection port 11d, the air from the air injection port 11e is counterclockwise as viewed from the lower surface 11b as shown in FIG. 2B. It injects in the direction, turns around the inner wall of the cylindrical body 12 and reaches downward. As a result, a negative pressure region by the cyclone method is generated in the central portion of the lower surface 11b of the non-contact chuck 11.

In the non-contact chuck 11, each internal passage extending from the air injection port 11 d to the plurality of air injection ports 11 e is formed in a radial direction, and the air injection port 11 e is directed obliquely downward and outward (not shown). Z), when compressed air is injected from the air inlet 11d, air is injected radially from the air outlet 11e. As a result, a Bernoulli-type negative pressure region is generated at the central portion of the lower surface 11 b of the non-contact chuck 11.

The cylindrical body 12 is formed of a non-breathable flexible material such as rubber, and its upper end portion 12a has a ring shape, and its inner peripheral surface is in close contact with the outer peripheral surface 11c of the non-contact chuck 11. Except for the upper end portion 12a of the cylindrical body 12, the concave and convex surfaces of the inner surface and the outer surface are formed in a bellows shape along the vertical direction (axial direction), and the lower end portion 12b is opened and expanded.

When compressed air is injected from the air injection port 11d of the non-contact chuck 11 of the fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10, the air injected from the air injection port 11e is ejected from the lower end 12b to the outside while turning the inner periphery of the cylindrical body 12. As a result, the negative pressure region described above is generated at the central portion of the lower surface 11b of the non-contact chuck 11.

Therefore, if the fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10 is lowered and brought close to the fruit and vegetable A and surrounds the fruit and vegetable A inside the lower end portion 12b of the cylindrical body 12, the negative pressure in the negative pressure region causes As shown in FIG. 3, the fruits and vegetables A are lifted upward. At this time, the fruits and vegetables A are in a state in which the upper central portion is lifted and the peripheral portions are pushed downward by the jet air, and a part thereof is in contact with the inner wall of the cylindrical body 12. The non-contact chuck 11 is gripped in a non-contact state.

The non-contact chuck 11 can hold the fruits and vegetables A in a non-contact manner. However, since the blown air is released downward to the periphery of the fruits and vegetables A, the uppermost part of the fruits and vegetables A is the lower surface of the non-contact chuck 11. It may be in contact with the center.

As described above, even if there are irregularities around the fruits and vegetables A and there is a gap between them, the fruits and vegetables A are suspended and held in the tubular body 12. Since air is not sucked when this suspending force is exerted, even if dust or the like is attached around the fruits and vegetables A or soft parts such as rots are present, the trash or spoiled pieces B are sucked in. Rather, as shown in FIG. 4, they only float in the vacuum region. For this reason, the suction force does not decrease and clogging does not occur.

If the compressed air injected into the air inlet 11d of the non-contact chuck 11 is stopped, the negative pressure region generated at the center of the back surface 11c disappears, so the fruits and vegetables A naturally fall by their own weight. At the same time, garbage and spoiled pieces B naturally fall.

FIG. 5 shows an apparatus configuration for driving the fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10. 20 is an air hose, 30 is an air compressor that creates compressed air, 40 is a pressure reducing valve that adjusts the pressure of the compressed air created by the

compressor

30, and 50 is a fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10 for compressed air that is output from the pressure reducing valve 40. It is a solenoid valve that turns on / off the flow of the. The electromagnetic valve 50 is controlled by the control device 60.

When the electromagnetic valve 50 is turned on by the control device 60, the compressed air is injected into the fruits and vegetables gripping tool 10, so that the fruits and vegetables A can be gripped by the fruits and vegetables gripping tool 10. When the solenoid valve 50 is turned off, the fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10 stops gripping the fruit and vegetables A being gripped, and the fruit and vegetables fall under its own weight.

Note that the cylindrical body 12 has a bellows shape in which the groove 12c formed in the inner wall is continuous in a spiral shape from the upper part to the lower part, and the air ejected from the air ejection port 11e of the non-contact chuck 11 can be obtained. When turning downward, it is possible to guide the turning of the air. As a result, the resistance component against the air ejected from the air ejection port 11e can be reduced, and the negative pressure generated at the center of the lower surface of the non-contact chuck 11 can be increased.

<Second embodiment>
FIG. 6 shows a fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10A of the second embodiment. The fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10A of this embodiment has a non-contact chuck group 11A configured by combining two non-contact chucks 11 side by side, and two spacers 13 interposed on the outer peripheral surface of the non-contact chuck group 11A. And a single cylindrical body 12A attached thereto. The cross section of the cylindrical body 12 </ b> A has an elliptical shape corresponding to the planar shape of the non-contact chuck group 11 </ b> A including the spacer 13.

In this way, the non-contact chuck group 11A in which two non-contact chucks 11 are arranged side by side can generate a negative pressure region independently for each non-contact chuck 11, so that the fruits and vegetables A are elongated. Even in the case of an indefinite shape (eg eggplant, cucumber, potato, etc.), the fruits and vegetables A can be reliably gripped.

The number of combinations of the non-contact chucks 11 constituting the non-contact chuck group 11A is not limited to two, but can be three or more. The larger the number, the higher the gripping force. When the spacer 13 is not used, the planar shape of the cylindrical body 12A is a shape corresponding to the combined shape of the non-contact chuck 11. For example, when two non-contact chucks 11 are combined, the shape is glasses.

<Third embodiment>
FIG. 7 shows a fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10B of the third embodiment. The fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10B of the present embodiment has a configuration in which an upper end portion 12a of a cylindrical body 12B having a narrow upper side and a lower lower side is mounted on the outer peripheral surface 11c of the non-contact chuck 11.

Although the size of the outer shape of the fruit and vegetables A to be gripped in the fruit and vegetable sorting area is often various, if the fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10 is replaced according to the size of the fruit and vegetables A, it takes a lot of trouble.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, when the tubular body 12B having an inner shape whose upper side is narrower and the lower side is widened is adopted as the tubular body, the fruits and vegetables A1 having a small outer size are gripped inside the tubular body 12A. However, the fruits and vegetables A2 having a large outer size can be gripped inside the lower side, and the fruits and vegetables A of various sizes can be gripped by the single cylindrical body 12B.

<Fourth embodiment>
FIG. 8 shows a fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10C of the fourth embodiment. The fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10 </ b> C of this embodiment uses a non-contact chuck 14 including a fan 141, a cylindrical cup 142, a motor 143 that rotates the fan 141 at a high speed, and a protective net 144 as a non-contact chuck. Although the cylindrical body 12 is the same as that described in FIG. 1, the cylindrical body 12B described in FIG. 7 can also be used. The cylindrical cup 142 has a plurality of air injection holes 142a formed in the circumferential direction of the top surface, and the lower surface is open.

When the fan 141 is rotated at a high speed by the motor 143, the air injected from the air injection hole 142a is jetted in the lower circumferential direction at a high speed by the rotation of the fan 141, thereby generating a negative pressure region on the central lower surface of the fan 141. As a result, a suction force is generated.

In this fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10C, as the fruit and vegetable A to be gripped, a relatively light pepper or the like is preferable.

The fruit and vegetable gripping tool 10C of the present embodiment creates high-pressure air by the non-contact chuck 14 itself to generate a negative pressure region. Therefore, in actual use, the air hose 20, the compressor 30, the pressure reducing valve 40, the electromagnetic valve 50, etc. There is an advantage that is not necessary.

<Other examples>
The non-contact chuck 11 described above has a circular planar shape, and the non-contact chuck 14 also has a circular shape using the cylindrical cup 142. However, the planar shape of the non-contact chuck is not limited to a circular shape, but an elliptical shape, Alternatively, it may be a polygonal shape such as a triangular shape or a rectangular shape. In this example, the

cylindrical bodies

12, 12A, and 12B may have shapes corresponding to the external shapes of these non-contact chucks.

Also, the

cylindrical bodies

12, 12A, 12B may have a shape in which no bellows are formed. Further, the

cylindrical bodies

12, 12A, 12B are formed of a flexible material only in the upper and lower circumferential directions, only in the central circumferential direction, and only in the lower circumferential direction, and the other parts are formed of a non-flexible material. Also good. That is, it is only necessary that at least one circumferential direction in the vertical direction is formed of a flexible material.

10, 10A, 10B, 10C: Fruit and vegetable gripper 11: Non-contact chuck, 11A: Non-contact chuck group, 11a: Upper surface, 11b: Lower surface, 11c: Outer peripheral surface, 11d: Air injection port, 11e:

Air injection port

12, 12A, 12B: cylindrical body, 12a: upper end, 12b: lower end, 12c: groove 13: spacer 14: non-contact chuck, 141: fan, 142: cylindrical cup, 143: motor, 144: protective net 20: air hose , 30: Air compressor, 40: Pressure reducing valve, 50: Solenoid valve, 60: Control device 100: Fruit and vegetables sorting device, 110: Belt conveyor, 120: Illumination device, 130: Imaging device, 140: Processing device, 150: Robot controller , 160: robot, 161: bending arm, 162: vegetable gripping tool, 1621: suction pad, 170: drainage Box, 180: operation unit, 190: monitor

Claims

A non-contact chuck that generates a negative pressure region at the center of the lower surface by injecting air from the periphery of the lower surface, and the non-contact chuck is attached so that the upper end closely contacts the periphery of the non-contact chuck, and the lower end is opened A fruit and vegetable gripping tool composed of a cylindrical body,
The fruit and vegetable gripping tool, wherein the cylindrical body is formed of a flexible material in at least a part of the circumferential direction in the vertical direction.
In the fruit and vegetable gripping tool according to claim 1,
The fruit and vegetable gripping tool, wherein the cylindrical body has a bellows shape.
In the fruit and vegetable gripping tool according to claim 1 or 2,
A non-contact chuck group is formed by combining a plurality of the non-contact chucks in the horizontal direction, and the upper end portion of the cylindrical body is in close contact with or without a spacer around the non-contact chuck group. A fruit and vegetable gripping tool, characterized by being mounted as
In the fruit and vegetable gripping tool according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The fruit and vegetable gripping tool, wherein the cylindrical body has an inner transverse area set to be larger at the lower end than at the upper end.
The fruit and vegetable gripping tool according to any one of claims 2 to 4,
The cylindrical body is a fruit and vegetable gripping tool characterized in that grooves formed on the inner wall are continuous in a spiral shape from the upper part to the lower part.
In the fruit and vegetable gripping tool according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The fruit and vegetable gripping tool, wherein the cylindrical body is made of a non-breathable material.
In the fruit and vegetable gripping tool according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
In the non-contact chuck, an air injection port into which compressed air is injected is formed on the upper surface, a plurality of air injection ports are formed around the lower surface, and each inside the air injection port from the air injection port. A fruit and vegetable gripping tool characterized in that a passage is formed.
In the fruit and vegetable gripping tool according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The non-contact chuck is composed of a cup with an open lower end formed with a plurality of openings on the top surface, and a fan that rotates in the cup by a motor and injects air sucked from the openings in the circumferential direction of the lower surface. A fruit and vegetable gripping tool characterized by that.