JP2000157937A - High-speed sorting device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a high-speed sorting apparatus which requires a relatively small site area for sorting and is capable of sorting and collecting even heavy articles. A transport device (22) for transporting articles (21) individually.
An article detection sensor 27 that detects that the article 21 has been put into the transport device 22; an article property inspection sensor 28 that inspects at least one property of the article 21; The compressed air from the compressed air injection nozzles 24a to 24f and the compressed air from the compressed air injection nozzles 24a to 24f arranged to inject compressed air to the article 21 from a direction substantially perpendicular to the transport direction of the transport device 22. A collection chute 23a to 23g for discharging and sorting the articles;
Based on the property information of the article 21 detected by the article property inspection sensor 28, the compressed air injection nozzles 24a to 24f are selected, and based on the position detection signal of the article position detection sensor 27, the compressed air injection nozzle And a control device 33 that controls to inject compressed air at a predetermined timing and sort the collected chutes into collection chutes corresponding to the properties of the articles.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a high-speed sorting apparatus for sorting articles according to the properties of the articles, and more particularly to an apparatus for sorting waste bottles by color and type, and a high-speed sorting apparatus for sorting waste plastic bottles by material. The present invention relates to a sorting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional examples of this kind of high-speed sorting apparatus include, for example, JP-A-10-120162 and JP-A-9-220532. FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional high-speed sorting apparatus. In the figure, items 1 such as fruits and vegetables are placed on a conveyor 2 at equal intervals and conveyed, and after passing through a detection device 4c, the judgment device 4 ranks the items 1 according to sorting conditions. The ranked articles 1 are conveyed by a conveyor 2 and are sorted into conveyors 2a to 2f by rank on conveyors 2a to 2f arranged substantially orthogonal to the conveyor 2. I have. A plurality of injection nozzles 5a to 5e are arranged along the conveying direction of the conveyor 2 so as to correspond to the conveyors 2a to 2f. Injection nozzle 5a ~
By opening and closing the solenoid valves 6a to 6e corresponding to 5e, the compressed air is injected above the center of gravity of the article 1 through the compressor 7, and is jetted to the article 1 and dropped from the conveyor 2, and Items 1 are sorted according to the ranking.

[0003] The determination device 4 comprises a computer (controller) 4a, an image processing device 4b, and a detection device 4c for picking up an image of the article 1 with a CCD camera. Image information from the detection device 4c is taken into the image processing device 4b. The controller 4a stores the ranking of each article 1 in the order corresponding to each article 1 based on the image information obtained by processing the image information in the image processing device 4b. Based on the stored ranking information, compressed air is injected from the selected injection nozzle, and the selected conveyor sorts the articles.

FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view of a conventional plastic bottle sorting apparatus. In the figure, as shown by an arrow Y1, a plastic bottle is conveyed to a high place by a supplier conveyor 8, and a rotary suction frame 9 is provided circumferentially with respect to a rotation axis. When the plastic bottles are held in the suction grooves of the control bottles and flow down the control downflow gutter 12 one by one, and pass through the detection head 13, the plastic bottles are irradiated with near-infrared rays to detect the absorption spectrum of the plastic bottles. Is an apparatus that sorts plastic bottles for each material by the air separator 11 in the process of detecting the material of the plastic bottle and transporting the plastic bottle in the direction of the arrow Y2 by the belt conveyor 10. When a large number of plastic bottles are put into the rotary suction frame 9, the excess plastic bottles are returned as shown by the arrow Y3.
A controller 15 for controlling these is provided.

[0005]

In the prior art, the compressed air injection nozzle is arranged along the conveyor 2 so that the center axis of the compressed air is located higher than the center of gravity of the article 1. In this apparatus, since the compressed air injection nozzles cannot be installed facing each other, the length of the conveyor 2 must be increased to correspond to the articles 1 of various properties to be sorted. Therefore, one direction of the device becomes long, and one direction of the installation space becomes uselessly long, which is not preferable, and it is necessary to secure the installation space, and the cost of the equipment itself becomes expensive. There is.

The prior art can solve the problem that the length in one direction of the conventional apparatus becomes redundant. However, in the conventional example, plastic bottles are sorted by the air separator 11 using the compressed air injection nozzle provided on the upper part of the belt conveyor 10, and there is a disadvantage that a gap through which the plastic bottles can pass must be provided. Therefore, the distance between the compressed air injection nozzle and the plastic bottle becomes longer, and the plastic bottle is arranged so as to pass below the compressed air injection nozzle, so that the compressed air is blown to the upper part of the article. Become. Therefore, there is a disadvantage that the air pressure of the compressed air is increased or a large amount of compressed air is required. This becomes even more problematic if the sorting target article is an article heavier than a plastic bottle. Further, there is a drawback that if an article is to be discharged using a large amount of compressed air, noise is also a problem.

[0007] Further, a slight displacement of the plastic bottle placed on the belt conveyor 10 may cause the plastic bottle to jump up abnormally and come into contact with the compressed air injection nozzle, making subsequent processing impossible. There is. In other words, this device has a drawback that it can only handle the sorting of lightweight articles to be sorted, considering the arrangement position of the compressed air injection nozzles.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a high-speed sorting apparatus which requires a relatively small site area for sorting and can sort and collect heavy articles. And

[0009]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and the invention of claim 1 has the following features.
In a high-speed sorting apparatus that sorts and sorts articles, a transport device that transports the articles one by one, an article detection sensor that detects that the articles are loaded into the transport apparatus, and inspects at least one property of the articles. Means for inspecting the property of the article, and compressed air jets provided adjacent to both sides of the conveying apparatus and arranged to jet compressed air to the article from a direction substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveying apparatus. A nozzle, a collection chute for sorting articles to be discharged by compressed air injected from the compressed air injection nozzle, transport position information of the article by a detection signal from the article detection sensor, and an article property inspection unit. Based on the property information, the compressed air injection nozzle is selected, and compressed air is injected at a predetermined timing to place the article corresponding to the property. A control device for controlling so as sorting the collection chute, a high-speed sorting apparatus characterized by comprising a. According to the present invention, the collection chutes are provided on both sides of the transfer device, and the compressed air injection nozzle is disposed at a position close to the transfer device. Since the distance to the bottle is short, the jet is efficiently injected, so that the injection time of the compressed air can be shortened and the consumption of the compressed air can be reduced. Each time from the time when the article is detected by the article detection sensor to the article property inspection sensor and each collection chute is known. Further, the article property inspection means detects the property of the article by the article property inspection sensor, transmits a detection signal to the control device, and determines the property of the article. In addition, depending on the article, the property of the article can be detected based on the output from the article detection sensor.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the compressed air injection nozzles are arranged below the collecting chutes provided along both sides of the transfer device so as to face each other with the transfer device therebetween. The high-speed sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: According to the present invention, the compressed air injection nozzle is arranged below the collection chute, and when discharging the article to the collection chute, the article (for example, a waste bottle) does not come into contact with the compressed air injection nozzle, so that a large article Can be discharged.

The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the compressed air injection nozzles are arranged below the collecting chutes provided along both sides of the transfer device so as to face each other with the transfer device therebetween. The injection direction of the compressed air injected from the compressed air injection nozzle is substantially parallel to or slightly above the inclined surface of the conveyor on the side from which the articles on the conveyor of the transport device are discharged. A high-speed sorting apparatus according to claim 1. According to the present invention, the article (for example, a waste bottle) is pressed by the compressed air and is efficiently discharged to the collection chute along the inclined surface of the conveyor, so that high-speed sorting performance is maintained.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the compressed air injection nozzle has a large number of compressed air injection ports forming rows in a horizontal direction. It is a high-speed sorting device. According to the present invention, the compressed air injection nozzle is provided with a large number of compressed air injection ports in the horizontal direction, and efficiently injects compressed air to a horizontally long article (for example, a waste bottle) to transfer the compressed air. From the conveyor can be discharged to the collection chute.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the conveying device is provided with a belt conveyor having a V-shaped cross section in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the articles or a V-shaped crosspiece in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction. The high-speed sorting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the belt conveyor is a resin, a metal plate, or a mesh type. According to the present invention, it is a conveyor having a slope that is substantially parallel to the compressed air injection direction,
Alternatively, a bar is provided on the conveyor and the goods (for example,
When discharging the waste bottle), if the friction with the conveyor is reduced and the mesh type is used, even if compressed air is blown on the conveyor, the wind pressure is not hindered by the conveyor, and the articles can be discharged. If it is a mesh type, noise due to compressed air can be further suppressed.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the width of the conveyor surface of the belt conveyor is about the same or about half the diameter or width of the article.
2. A high-speed sorting apparatus according to item 1. According to the present invention, since the compressed air injection nozzle can be made as close as possible as the minimum width on which an article (for example, a waste bottle) can be placed, the consumption of compressed air can be suppressed.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the compressed air layer sprayed from the compressed air spray nozzle is blown below the center of gravity of the article conveyed by the conveying device. Item 7. A high-speed sorting apparatus according to any one of Items 1 to 6. According to the present invention, the compressed air can be blown below the center of gravity of the article to discharge the article (for example, a waste bottle), and the compressed air is injected so as to always push up the article. Even objects can be efficiently discharged.

The invention of claim 8 is characterized in that the injection time of the compressed air injected from the compressed air injection nozzle is set by estimating the weight of the article by the article property inspection means. A high-speed sorting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7. According to the present invention, the article property inspection means includes:
Articles (eg, waste bottles), eg, by CCD camera
Image, process the photographed image, estimate the weight of the article, set the compressed air injection time, open the solenoid valve based on the injection time, and compress the compressed air from the compressed air injection nozzle. Injecting air.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the compressed air injection nozzle is arranged in a large number on a side portion of the conveying device, and estimates the total length of the article by the article property inspection means. The high-speed sorting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the number of used units is determined and control is performed so as to inject compressed air. According to the present invention, the article property inspection means shoots an article (for example, a waste bottle) by, for example, a CCD camera, performs image processing on the shot image, measures the total length of the article, and outputs the compressed air jet nozzle. Has been set.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a high-speed sorting apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG.
FIG. 4 to FIG. 4 are diagrams showing one embodiment of the high-speed sorting apparatus of the present invention. The high-speed sorting apparatus 20 shown in FIG. 1 is provided on a side of the conveyor 22 such as a conveyor for conveying an article (a container of a waste bottle or a PET bottle or the like) 21 and a side of the conveyor 22. Partition wall 2 that guides discharge
9 are provided below the collecting chutes 23a to 23f, and the conveying device 22 is provided below the collecting chutes 23a to 23f.
Compressed air injection nozzles 24a-2
4e and a solenoid valve 25 for selectively sending compressed air from the compressor 26 to the compressed air injection nozzles 24a to 24e.
a to 25e, and the transport device 22 includes an article 21
, An optical type article detection sensor 27 in which a light-emitting device and a light-receiving device are combined, and an encoder that outputs a rotation amount for detecting a transport position of the article 21 to be transported 19 are provided. Output signals of the position detection sensor 27, the article property inspection sensor 28, and the encoder 19 are input to the control device 33. The control device 33 includes a CPU (central processing unit) and includes a storage device.

This high-speed sorting device is used, for example, as a sorting device for waste bottles. As a pretreatment process device of the high-speed sorting device, a waste bottle supply device 30, a waste bottle size sorter 31 sent from the waste bottle supply device 30 and sorted into the same size, and a waste bottle from the waste bottle size sorter 31 are disposed. A waste bottle aligning device 32 for supplying the high speed sorting device 20 one by one is provided. As the apparatus used in this pretreatment step, various known facilities may be used, and it is clear that the supply method is different for other articles and articles.

Next, the sorting operation of the high-speed sorting apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described. The articles 21 to be sorted will be described with the same reference numeral 21 given as, for example, a waste bottle. The waste bottles 21 are put into the high-speed sorting device 20 one by one from the waste bottle alignment device 32 at an appropriate interval. The waste bottle 21 is transported by being transferred to the transport device 22 and, when passing through the article detection sensor 27, it is detected that the waste bottle 21 has passed. A position detection signal is input to the control device 33 and a waste bottle number is assigned. Is stored.

The transfer device 22 is constituted by a conveyor driven by a motor, and outputs an amount of rotation from an encoder 19 provided on a rotating body interlocked with the motor.
3 has been entered. The operation speed of the transport device 22 is calculated and monitored by the control device 33 from the rotation amount, and the time when the waste bottle 21 reaches the article property inspection sensor 28 is calculated, and at that time, the color of the waste bottle 21 is calculated. And shape are measured. In the embodiment of FIG.
3a to 23f are provided and can be separated into seven properties. This measurement result is input to the control device 33, and the properties (A to F) of the waste bottle corresponding to the waste bottle number obtained earlier.
The collection chute number to be sorted is determined according to the
A collection chute number corresponding to the waste bottle number is determined.

The distance from the article property inspection sensor 28 to each of the collection chutes 23a to 23f is known, and if the operating speed of the transfer device 22 is fixed, the article property inspection sensor 2
The time from 8 to each of the collection chutes 23a to 23f is known. On the other hand, according to the properties (A to F) of the waste bottle 21,
Each of the collection chutes 23a to 23f is determined. The property (A to F) of the waste bottle 21 by the article property inspection sensor 28
Is determined, the time to each of the collection chutes 23a to 23f is automatically determined. That is, the properties (A to F)
Are stored in the storage device, and when the property A to F of the waste bottle is detected by the article property inspection sensor 28, the time corresponding to the property (A to F) of the waste bottle is stored. , Time to each collection chute 23a to 23f (Ta to Tf)
Is read from the storage device, and the solenoid valves 25a to 25e are operated in accordance with the time (Ta to Tf) to inject compressed air from the compressed air injection nozzles 24a to 24e, and according to the properties A to F Then, the waste bottle 21 is discharged to a collection chute and collected.

The article property inspection sensor 28 may take an image of the waste bottle 21 with a CCD camera or the like, perform image processing on the photographed image, and determine the properties A to F of the waste bottle 21, The bottle 21 may be irradiated with infrared rays to make a determination based on the absorption rate. In this way, an optimum article property inspection sensor may be selected according to the sorting target article, and a combined article property inspection sensor may be provided.

The storage device of the control device 33 may be provided with a property-time conversion table corresponding to, for example, the operation speed of the transfer device 22. In that case, the properties (A to F) of the waste bottle 21 are detected, the time (Ta to Tf) corresponding to the property is read out from the property-time conversion table, and the waste bottle number given by the article detection sensor 27. Corresponding to
The properties (A to F) and the time (Ta to Tf) are stored, and the waste bottles 21 are sorted by operating the solenoid valves 25a to 25f based on the waste bottle information.

Further, the high-speed sorting apparatus for waste bottles according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is an XY cross-sectional view of FIG.
The cross section orthogonal to the transport direction has a V-shape. Collection chute 23a, 23b is provided near the side, and conveyor frame 22g is provided on the side of the conveyor. The slopes 22a and 22b of the conveyor are
It is preferable that the inclination is such that 1 does not fall down when it is placed, and the width D is approximately equal to the diameter of the waste bottle 21 to about half. The slope 22a of the conveyor 22 is substantially parallel to the extension surface of the collection chute 23a, and similarly, the slope 22b is substantially parallel to the extension surface of the collection chute 23b (indicated by chain lines (a) and (b)). is there. The compressed air injection nozzles 24a and 24b are arranged close to the conveyor so as to face each other across the conveyor, and are arranged below the collecting shooters 23a and 23b, respectively.
The injection direction of the compressed air discharged from the compressed air injection nozzles 24a and 24b is determined by the slopes 22a and 22b of the conveyor 22.
Parallel to or slightly above the respective extension surfaces of the waste bottles 21
Below the center of gravity.

The conveyor of the transfer device 22 has a V-shaped cross section as shown in FIG. 2, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but may be any of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 4 (a) to 4 (c). There may be. FIG. 4A shows that a bar 22f is provided on a belt having a concave cross section to reduce the friction between the waste bottle 21 and the conveyor,
FIG. 4B shows an example in which the discharge is facilitated.
FIG. 4 (c) is an example of a mesh-shaped belt, in which the cross section is a concave belt, in which a crosspiece is provided in a V-shaped 22f and the side surface is formed in a wire mesh shape. 4 (b) and 4 (c) show that the mesh is in a mesh shape, so that the compressed air can easily pass therethrough, and the compressed air can be sufficiently pressed against the waste bottle 21.
1 can be easily discharged. The slope formed by the crosspiece 22f is substantially parallel to the jetting direction.

The V-shaped conveyor belt shown in FIG.
The main body may be made of a resin or a metal plate.
Similarly, the main body may be a resin or a metal plate. In the V-shaped conveyor belt shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of ridges are further provided on the mounting surface of the resin V-shaped belt in the discharge direction of the waste bottle, so that the crosspiece 22f shown in FIG. The friction between the waste bottle and the conveyor can be reduced (not shown), as in the case of the above.

Further, by forming the belt conveyor with a mesh-like material, the injected compressed air passes through the belt conveyor and is sprayed on articles such as waste bottles placed on the belt conveyor. Since the waste bottle can be sprayed from below, the waste bottle can be efficiently discharged from the belt conveyor to the collection chute. Further, by disposing the compressed air injection nozzle close to the side surface of the belt conveyor, it is possible to apply a stronger pressing force by compressed air to an article such as a waste bottle.

Further, in the above embodiment, two compressed air injection nozzles may be arranged as shown in FIG.
Two or more may be arranged. In that case, the number of nozzles ejected each time may be changed according to the size of the article.
The size of the waste bottle is detected by the article property inspection sensor 28,
The number of nozzles for injecting compressed air is determined.

The compressed air injection nozzle 2 shown in FIG.
4b, a large number of compressed air injection ports are provided in the transport direction in the horizontal direction in the transport direction, and the compressed air blown out in the horizontal direction is compressed by a horizontally long article (a waste bottle). It can be efficiently applied to an article.
Of course, the compressed air injection nozzles 24a, 24b to 24 in FIG.
f may have the same configuration.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, when sorting various kinds of articles, it is possible to reduce the conveyor length to about half the conventional length, and to install the articles in a relatively small site area. There is an advantage that a high-speed sorting device can be provided.

Further, according to the present invention, the compressed air injection nozzle is disposed at a position where the discharge of the article is not hindered, and it is possible to dispose the nozzle in close proximity regardless of the size of the articles to be sorted. This has an effect that a relatively heavy article can be easily discharged with the amount of compressed air, and the amount of compressed air is small, so that noise can be reduced. Further, when the belt of the conveying device is formed in a mesh shape, the compressed air passes through the mesh-shaped conveyor and is blown onto the articles, so that the compressed air can be discharged with a relatively small amount of compressed air. Noise due to noise can be reduced.

Further, according to the present invention, the inclination of the V-shaped belt conveyor or the crosspiece on the side from which articles are discharged is made substantially parallel to the direction in which the compressed air is jetted, so that it can be used like a waste bottle. There is an advantage that even relatively heavy articles can be easily discharged. Furthermore, when the belt of the conveying device is formed in a mesh shape, compressed air injected from below is passed through the mesh-shaped belt conveyor and blown onto the articles, so that there is no waste and the injection time can be shortened. There is an advantage that the amount of compressed air used can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a high-speed sorting apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an XY cross-sectional view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a side surface of another sorting section of the high-speed sorting apparatus of the present invention.

FIGS. 4A to 4C are schematic diagrams of an embodiment of a conveyor.

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of a conventional sorting device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view showing an example of a conventional sorting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 21 Article (for example, waste bottle) 22 Conveying device 23a-23g Collection chute 24a-24f Compressed air injection nozzle 25a-25f Solenoid valve 26 Compressor 27 Position detection sensor 28 Article property inspection sensor 19 Encoder 30 Waste bottle supply device 31 Waste bottle size classification Machine 32 Waste bottle alignment device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3F015 AA08 CA02 HA01 JC02 JC06 3F079 AD11 AD12 BA12 BA13 CA23 CA32 CB25 CB29 CC03 DA11 EA01 EA11

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A high-speed sorting apparatus that sorts and sorts articles, a conveying apparatus that conveys the articles one by one, an article detection sensor that detects that the articles are put into the conveying apparatus, and at least one of the articles. An article property inspection means for inspecting one property, provided so as to be close to both sides of the conveyance device, and arranged so as to inject compressed air to the article from a direction substantially perpendicular to a conveyance direction of the conveyance device. Compressed air injection nozzle, a collection chute for sorting articles to be discharged by compressed air injected from the compressed air injection nozzle, article transport position information based on a detection signal from the article detection sensor, and the article property Based on the property information of the article by the inspection means, the compressed air injection nozzle is selected, and compressed air is injected at a predetermined timing, and the article is A high-speed sorting device, comprising: a control device that controls so as to sort into predetermined recovery chutes corresponding to properties. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the compressed air injection nozzles are arranged below the collecting chutes provided along both sides of the transfer device so as to face each other across the transfer device. 2. The high-speed sorting device according to 1. 3. The compressed air injection nozzles are arranged under the collecting chutes provided along both sides of the transfer device so as to face each other across the transfer device, and are injected from the compressed air injection nozzles. 2. A high-speed injection device according to claim 1, wherein the direction of the compressed air is substantially parallel to or slightly above the inclined surface of the conveyor on the side from which the articles on the conveyor of the conveyor are discharged. Sorting device. 4. The high-speed sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the compressed air injection nozzle has a large number of compressed air injection ports forming a row in a horizontal direction. 5. The conveyor according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor is a belt conveyor having a V-shaped cross section in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the articles are transported, or a belt conveyor having a V-shaped crosspiece in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction. The high-speed sorting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the belt conveyor is any one of a resin, a metal plate, and a mesh type. 6. The high-speed sorting apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the width of the conveying surface of the belt conveyor is substantially the same or about half the diameter or the width of the article. 7. The compressed air layer jetted from the compressed air jet nozzle is blown downward from the center of gravity of an article conveyed by the conveying device. 2. A high-speed sorting device according to claim 1. 8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the injection time of the compressed air injected from the compressed air injection nozzle is set by estimating the weight of the article by the article property inspection means.
8. The high-speed sorting device according to any one of claims 7 to 7. 9. A plurality of compressed air injection nozzles are arranged on a side portion of the conveying device, and the number of compressed air injection nozzles to be used is determined by estimating the total length of an article by the article property inspection means, The high-speed sorting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the apparatus is controlled to inject compressed air.