JP7424622B2 - Pasta serving device for bento containers - Google Patents

Description

Application of Article 30, Paragraph 2 of the Patent Act Published on the company's website from January 27, 2020. It was exhibited and made public at the Delicatessen Trade Show 2020, which was held from February 12, 2020 to February 14, 2020. It was exhibited and made public at the International Hotel and Restaurant Show (HOTERES JAPAN 2020), which was held from February 18, 2020 to February 21, 2020.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for serving pasta in a lunch container, which is necessary for serving pasta in the lunch container in a series of work steps for filling the lunch container with food.

Conventionally, in the process of plating various foods into bento containers, there are cases where the plating is done primitively by hand, and where a portion of the food is placed on the bento containers transported by a conveyor belt during a series of assembly operations to produce large quantities of bento. In some cases, the necessary food is plated using a commercial machine.

In particular, when plating foods such as rice and side dishes into bento containers using some plating machines, pasta is first placed at the bottom of the bento container, and then the main bento side dishes are layered on top of it. There are different types of work.

However, in the plating work of laying out the pasta, it is complicated to accurately arrange a certain amount of pasta, and it is difficult to use a machine to perform the work, so the only way to do this work is to perform the plating by hand.

In order to mechanize the working form of pasta serving, a robot hand mechanism is used to rotate a plurality of rod-shaped members conventionally arranged in a circle in an arc toward the center of the circle to wind up linear pasta. A food gripping mechanism configured as described above is disclosed (see Patent Document 1).

However, this robot hand mechanism is configured to grip linear food such as pasta while rotating the inscribed circle of a rod-shaped member arranged in a circular direction toward the center and reducing the size of the inscribed circle. Pasta whose surface is coated with olive oil tends to slip on the gripping mechanism, and there is a risk of spilling the pasta while transporting it to the lunch container.

In other mechanical devices, a pair of gripping mechanisms each having a curved central part and shaped like a comb are opened and closed so that the comb blades can engage with each other, and a linear food such as pasta is held between the comb blades. A robot hand device configured to hold the robot hand is disclosed (Patent Document 2).

In addition, in order to accurately grasp the amount of food gripped by such a robot hand device, that is, the amount to be served, it is necessary to detect the gripped amount, and the detection method is to use a detection plate installed between the gripping members. The amount of food in contact with the detection plate is detected through vertical movement. In other words, when the gripping member grips food, the detection plate is pushed up by the gripped food and rises, making it possible to detect the gripped amount based on the rate of rise. .

However, in many cases, the amount of pasta laid out in a lunch container is small, and the above -mentioned detection method may not be able to accurately detect the amount of grasped pasta. Since the opposite sides of the curved comb blades are open, there is a risk that the pasta may leak and slip from the open sides.

JP2017-47481A JP2019-25565A

Therefore, in a series of bento manufacturing processes in which food is placed one after another in bento boxes conveyed by a conveyor belt to produce large quantities of bento, a special method is used in which pasta is placed in advance at a predetermined position in the bento container conveyed by a conveyor belt. A mechanical device that can arrange food in a variety of ways is desired.
In other words, it is desirable to have a mechanical device that can continuously and accurately place and serve food in a linear form, such as pasta, in a small amount, continuously, in a predetermined place in a lunch container as an underlay before placing the main side dish. was.

The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and involves rolling up pasta while rotating using a spiral pasta winding tool, and then accurately measuring the weight of the rolled pasta to ensure that a small amount is always available. To provide a pasta serving device configured to be able to serve a certain amount of pasta in a bento container.

The present invention relates to a pasta winding device configured to freely rotate a spiral wire rod, a pasta winding device moving mechanism that moves the pasta winding device toward a lunch container conveyed on a conveyor belt, and a pasta winding device. a part for measuring the weight of the pasta rolled up with ingredients; a rotatable bowl placement part disposed below the pasta winding tool; a pasta stacking detection part for detecting the stacking state of the pasta stacked in the bowl; It is characterized by comprising a pasta leveling mechanism for leveling the pasta stored in the bowl to an even surface.

In addition, in order to detect the conveyance posture of the lunch containers conveyed on the conveyor belt, a distribution inclination detection section is installed on the upstream side of the conveyor belt, and the distribution inclination detection section is installed above the conveyor belt. It consists of a camera, a position calculation means that calculates accurate filling position information of pasta based on the detection result of the distribution inclination, and an instruction unit that sends a filling position instruction to the winder moving mechanism from the calculated filling position information. It is also characterized by the fact that

Another feature is that the measuring section is configured to measure the weight of the pasta winding tool together with the pasta weight, and subtract the weight of the former pasta winding tool from the measured weight to measure the weight of the rolled pasta. has.

According to the present invention, there is provided a pasta winding tool configured to be rotatable with a spiral wire rod, a pasta winding tool moving mechanism that moves the pasta winding tool toward a lunch container conveyed on a conveyor belt, and a pasta winding tool moving mechanism that moves the pasta winding tool toward a lunch container conveyed on a conveyor belt. A part that measures the weight of pasta rolled up with a winding tool, a rotatable bowl placement part placed below the pasta winding tool, and a pasta stacking detection part that detects the stacking state of the pasta stacked in the bowl. and a pasta leveling mechanism for leveling the pasta stored in the bowl to an even surface, the pasta can be reliably rolled up by the rotating action of the spiral wire rod, and the rolled up pasta is It is possible to accurately and quickly transport the winding device to a predetermined position on the lunch container, and to place the main ingredients such as hamburger steak under the predetermined position of the lunch container in advance, Furthermore, in preparation for rolling up the pasta for the next serving, the pasta leveling mechanism smoothes the remaining pasta in the bowl, ensuring that the pasta is not cluttered and is evenly layered, always in a spiral shape. The wire rod has the effect of accurately and reliably serving a predetermined amount of pasta.

In addition, in order to detect the conveyance posture of the lunch containers conveyed on the conveyor belt, a distribution inclination detection section is installed on the upstream side of the conveyor belt, and the distribution inclination detection section is installed above the conveyor belt. It consists of a camera, a position calculation means that calculates accurate filling position information of pasta based on the detection result of the distribution inclination, and an instruction unit that sends a filling position instruction to the winder moving mechanism from the calculated filling position information. As a result, the position and inclination of the lunch containers flowing on the conveyor belt are taken into consideration by the distribution inclination detection unit, and the position and inclination information is fed back to the winding tool moving mechanism, so that the lunch containers are placed in the correct predetermined position. It has the effect of allowing you to arrange the food on a plate.

In addition, the measuring section is configured to measure the weight of the pasta winding tool together with the pasta weight, and subtract the weight of the former pasta winding tool from the measured weight to measure the weight of the rolled pasta. When winding up, it is necessary to detect the amount of rolled pasta and measure the weight of the rolled pasta so that the exact set amount of pasta is always rolled up, so the amount of rolled pasta must be converted into weight. This has the effect of making it possible to obtain a predetermined and accurate serving amount of pasta.

It is a typical perspective view showing the whole pasta serving device of a present example. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing the positional relationship of the pasta serving device of this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view illustrating a method of detecting a distribution inclination of a lunch container according to the present embodiment. It is a typical front view showing the pasta grasping tool concerning the pasta serving device of a present example. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II shown in FIG. 4. FIG. FIG. 7 is a schematic front view showing another example of the spiral wire rod related to the pasta serving device of the present example.

The gist of the present invention is to provide a pasta winding tool configured to be rotatable with a spiral wire rod, a pasta winding tool moving mechanism that moves the pasta winding tool toward a lunch container conveyed on a conveyor belt, and a pasta winding tool moving mechanism that moves the pasta winding tool toward a lunch container conveyed on a conveyor belt. A part that measures the weight of pasta rolled up with a winding tool, a rotatable bowl placement part placed below the pasta winding tool, and a pasta stacking detection part that detects the stacking state of the pasta stacked in the bowl. and a pasta leveling mechanism for leveling the pasta stored in the bowl to an even surface.

In addition, in order to detect the conveyance posture of the lunch containers conveyed on the conveyor belt, a distribution inclination detection section is installed on the upstream side of the conveyor belt, and the distribution inclination detection section is installed above the conveyor belt. It consists of a camera, a position calculation means that calculates accurate filling position information of pasta based on the detection result of the distribution inclination, and an instruction unit that sends a filling position instruction to the winder moving mechanism from the calculated filling position information. It is also characterized by the fact that

Another feature is that the measuring section is configured to measure the weight of the pasta winding tool together with the pasta weight, and subtract the weight of the former pasta winding tool from the measured weight to measure the weight of the rolled pasta. has.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the pasta serving device for serving pasta in this lunch container will be described in detail based on the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the entire pasta serving apparatus of this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing the positional relationship of the pasta serving device of this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing the method of detecting the distribution inclination of the lunch container according to this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a schematic front view showing a pasta gripping tool according to the pasta serving device of this embodiment. FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line II in FIG. 4. FIG. 6 is a schematic front view showing another embodiment of the spiral wire rod related to the pasta serving device of this embodiment.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a pasta serving device M for serving pasta on a lunch container T according to the present invention includes a pasta winding tool 1 disposed on the side of a conveyor belt C that conveys the lunch container T, and A winding device moving mechanism 2 for placing the taken pasta in a lunch container T on a conveyor belt, and the remaining pasta in the bowl 5a after winding are leveled and maintained, and the next winding work is performed accurately. The pasta leveling mechanism 6 is designed to be more proactive.

The conveyor belt C is continuously moving, and the lunch container T is placed on its upper surface to handle the pasta serving work.

Various side dishes are stored inside the bento container T, and in the present pasta serving device M, especially when storing the main ingredient, for example, Hahnburg steak, the bottom of the container serves as a cushion for the ingredients. The following explanation assumes that the bento container T has a side dish configuration in which a hamburger is placed as a base and a hamburger is placed on top of the base.

Above the most upstream part of the conveyor belt C, a distribution inclination detection section 4 is provided to detect the posture of the lunch container T in distribution.

The distribution inclination detection section 4 is composed of a detection camera 4a, a calculation means 4b, and an instruction section 4c.The detection camera 4a photographs the lunch container T from above, detects the presence of the lunch container T and the distribution inclination, and performs calculation. The means 4b calculates the serving position in the tilted lunch container T, and the instruction unit 4c transmits the tilt information of the lunch container T and the serving position calculation information to the winding tool moving mechanism 2, and the winding tool Instructs the moving mechanism 2 to perform pasta serving work.

As shown in FIG. 3, the distribution inclination detection unit 4 first detects the apex a of the approximately rectangular shape of the lunch container T, using the center line (represented by a dashed line in the figure) that equally divides the width of the conveyor belt C in the distribution direction as a reference. , b, c, and d, which are the four line segments formed by sides ab, bc, cd, and da, and the position that bisects each of the opposing sides are assumed to be the correct position, and the position information is It is detected and memorized (in the figure, side ab and side cd located opposite to it).

Next, the side that is equally divided by the center line and the side that is equally divided by the center line have a common point with either side that has a curved shakute relationship (in the figure, the line segment that has a curved shakute relationship is the side da, the common point The point a) detects and stores information on the filling position of the pasta P using the distance x in the flow direction of the conveyor belt C and the distance y in the direction perpendicular to the flow of the conveyor belt C, starting from a).

The above-mentioned normal position information of the lunch container T and filling position information of the pasta P are stored in the distribution inclination detection section 4 in advance. Then, based on the above two pieces of information, the distribution inclination of the lunch container T conveyed on the conveyor belt C and the filling position of the pasta P in the lunch container T are calculated.

In other words, when the detection camera 4a detects an image of the lunch container T with the detection camera 4a deviated from the normal position as shown in FIG. 3(b), the calculation means 4b calculates Calculate the respective distances to the four points a', b', c', and d' of the lunch container T that was actually transported, and calculate the distances to the four points a', b', c', and d', and , derive the approximate rectangle a'b'c'd' of the lunch container T formed by the line segment of side d'a', and calculate the deviation of the position and posture of the approximate rectangle a'b'c'd' from the normal position. calculate.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3(c), the calculated approximate rectangle a'b'c'd' is adapted to the distance x and distance y from the curved shakuten, which have been stored in advance, and the calculating means 4d Even if the container T is displaced on a conveyor belt C, the position and posture displacement of the lunch container T and the filling position of the pasta P are accurately calculated.

The tilt information of the lunch container T and the serving position calculation information calculated as described above are transmitted to the winding tool moving mechanism 2 by the instruction section 4c of the distribution tilt detection section 4, and the pasta plating information of the winding tool moving mechanism 2 is transmitted to the winding tool moving mechanism 2. Direct work.

On the downstream side of the distribution inclination detection unit 4, which is the next process, a bowl placement unit 5 disposed on the side of the conveyor belt C and a pasta winding tool 1 disposed above the bowl placement unit 5 are disposed. .

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the pasta winding tool 1 is configured to be universally movable in order to place the rolled pasta in a predetermined location of the lunch container T. That is, a first moving mechanism 2a that moves the pasta winding tool 1 up and down, a second moving mechanism 2b that moves the pasta winding tool 1 back and forth, and a second moving mechanism 2b that moves the pasta winding tool 1 in the width direction of the conveyor belt C. It is configured so that it can be accurately displaced to a predetermined location on the lunch container T by a winder moving mechanism 2 comprising a third moving means 2c.

As described above, the winding tool moving mechanism 2 enables the pasta winding tool 1 to perform a series of operations from winding pasta to serving it in the lunch container T by various operations such as raising and lowering, moving forward and backward, and crossing. It is for displacing and moving the pasta winding tool 1, and as mentioned above, when serving, it automatically adjusts the posture of the lunch container T upon receiving instructions from the calculation section 4c of the distribution inclination detection section 4. In response to the displacement, it operates so that a small amount of pasta can be placed under the ingredients at a predetermined location of the lunch container T.

The pasta winding tool 1 is provided on a first moving means 2a so as to be movable up and down, and the winding function part includes a spiral wire rod 11 and a rotation mechanism 13 that rotates the spiral wire rod 11, as shown in FIG. It is composed of. The upper end of the spiral wire 11 is connected to the output shaft of the rotation mechanism 13. The helical diameter of the spiral wire 11 is about 50 mm to 70 mm, and the helical pitch is about 2 to 3 times the cross-sectional diameter of the pasta.

The spiral wire rod 11 is inserted into the pasta stored in the bowl 5a from above and rotated, thereby gradually winding the pasta upward along the spiral from the tip of the spiral wire rod 11 through the helical pitches. The structure is such that it is finally incorporated into the spiral.

In addition, the lower tip of the spiral wire rod 11 is the starting point when the pasta winding tool 1 is inserted into the pasta stored in the bowl 5a from above and rotated to wind up the pasta. As shown in FIG. 4, the lower end of the pasta holding plate 11 is exposed below the lower end of the pasta holding plate 12, which will be described later, by about twice the diameter of the pasta.

Furthermore, as shown in another embodiment of FIG. 6, the spiral wire 11 may have a protrusion 11a formed at the exposed portion of the lower tip.

The protrusion 11a is provided at the lower tip, which is the starting point when rolling up the pasta, so that when the tip gets into the pasta stored in the bowl 5a, the protrusion 11a holds the pasta so as to catch it; It is possible to prevent the pasta from sliding along the spiral formed by the spiral wire 11.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, four thin plate-shaped pasta holding plates 12 are arranged at regular intervals on the outer periphery of the spiral wire 11. The plate 12 functions to prevent the pasta lump wound around the helical wire 11 from leaking between the pitches of the helical wire 11 and hold it within the helical wire 11.

As described above, the pasta winding tool 1 is inserted into the pasta stored in the bowl 5a from above and gradually winds it upward along the spiral from the tip of the spiral wire 11 between the spiral pitches. A holding plate 12 provided to surround a spiral wire rod 11 prevents leakage and securely holds the pasta.

In addition, the amount of pasta rolled up by the pasta winding tool 1 can be made more reliable by adjusting the amount of pasta rolled up by the measuring unit 3, which will be described later. The depth to which the pasta is to be sunk is determined by the depth of the pasta winding tool 1 into the stored pasta, and the number of revolutions of the rotation operation performed during winding, and it is possible to obtain an approximately constant amount of pasta each time. can.

The pasta can be released from the spiral wire 11 by rotating it in the opposite direction to the direction in which the pasta was wound.

Further, in this embodiment, the pasta holding plate 12 is composed of four plate-like members as shown in FIG. 5, but it is not limited to this. It suffices if it has the following. Moreover, it goes without saying that having a plurality of slit portions improves the efficiency of winding up the pasta.

Further, the bowl placing part 5 is configured to be rotatable, and pasta is stored in the bowl 5a placed on the bowl placing part 5, and the spiral wire rod 11 of the pasta winding tool 1 is transferred from the stored pasta to the bowl 5a placed on the bowl placing part 5. The scheduled amount of pasta is taken out.

As shown in FIG. 1, the bowl mounting section 5 is composed of a main body case 5b for mounting the bowl 5a and a drive section 5c provided inside the main body case 5b, and the bowl 5a is mounted by the drive section 5c (motor). Rotate the bowl 5a.

Further, on the upper part of the main body case 5b of the bowl placement section 5, a pasta leveling mechanism 6 and a pasta stacking detection section 7 are arranged.

The pasta leveling mechanism 6 consists of two stirring rods 6a at the front and back, and by rotating the bowl 5a, the two stirring rods 6a inserted into the heaped pasta are raised and lowered and stirred to gradually disperse the pasta evenly. Level it to prepare for the next pasta rolling process.

The pasta stacking detection unit 7 consists of a laser sensor, which detects the unevenness on the top surface of the pasta collection stored in the bowl and transmits the posture information of the stacked pasta to the pasta leveling mechanism 6 and the bowl mounting for bowl rotation. The information is transmitted to the drive unit 5c of the unit 5 to control the pasta leveling mechanism 6 so that the pasta in the bowl is evenly layered.

Further, a measuring section 3 is provided at the upper part of the pasta winding tool 1 to measure the amount of rolled pasta.

That is, the measuring unit 3 measures and detects the weight of the pasta winding tool 1 in a state of rolling up and holding pasta, and the weight of the pasta winding tool 1 itself before winding the pasta is measured as a predetermined weight. The weight of the pasta winding tool 1 after winding the pasta is compared with the weight of the pasta winding tool 1 itself to detect the weight of the rolled pasta itself. It consisted of measuring instruments such as:

The measurement unit 3 measures the weight of the pasta rolled up by the pasta winding tool 1. When the amount of pasta rolled up is large, it is possible to measure the weight of the pasta by sending a rotation instruction opposite to the winding operation. It may be a mechanism that releases pasta until the pasta is rolled up, or a structure that rolls up the insufficient amount after filling the lunch container T when the amount of pasta rolled up is small.

The present invention has been explained through examples as a method of filling pasta into a lunch container T, but the material to be rolled up and filled is not limited to pasta, but may be anything that is long and thin.
For example, it can be used for udon noodles, soba noodles, etc. At that time, it is preferable to change the shape of the pasta winding tool 1, such as its size, as necessary.

Further, the various effects described above are only a list of the most preferable effects resulting from the present invention, and the effects according to the present invention are not limited to those described in this example.

M... Pasta serving device, T... Lunch box container, C... Conveyor belt, 1... Pasta winding tool, 2... Winding tool moving mechanism, 3... Measuring section, 4... Distribution tilt detection section, 5... Bowl mounting section, 6...Pasta leveling mechanism, 7...Pasta stacking detection unit

Claims (3)

A pasta winding tool made of a spiral wire that can be rotated freely, a winding tool moving mechanism that moves the pasta winding tool toward a lunch container conveyed on a conveyor belt, and a pasta winding tool that moves the pasta winding tool toward the lunch container being conveyed on a conveyor belt. a part for measuring the weight of pasta, a rotatable bowl placement part disposed below the pasta winding tool, a pasta stacking detection part for detecting the stacking state of pasta stacked in the bowl, and a pasta stacking detection part for detecting the stacking state of pasta stacked in the bowl; A pasta serving device for a lunch box, which includes a pasta leveling mechanism that evenly forms pasta in layers. In order to detect the conveyance posture of the lunch containers conveyed on the conveyor belt, a distribution inclination detection section is installed on the upstream side of the conveyor belt, and the distribution inclination detection section is connected to a detection camera installed above the conveyor belt. , comprising a position calculation means for calculating accurate filling position information of the pasta based on the detection result of the distribution inclination, and an instruction unit that sends a filling position instruction to the winder moving mechanism from the calculated filling position information. The pasta serving device according to claim 1, characterized by: Claim characterized in that the measuring unit is configured to measure the weight of the pasta winding tool together with the weight of the pasta, and subtract the weight of the former pasta winding tool from the measured weight to measure the weight of the rolled pasta. The pasta serving device according to claim 1 or claim 2.

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