KR810001765B1 - Sorting device - Google Patents

Abstract

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Description

Sorting device

1 is a schematic plan view of a fruit sorting apparatus including the sorting conveyor of the present invention.

2 is a plan view of the sorting conveyor.

3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG.

4 is an enlarged plan view of a part of the sorting conveyor at one discharge point.

5 is a side view of the same part of the sorting conveyor.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5 showing the structure of the individual fruit retainer and corresponding remote control tripper.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 6 showing the normal position of the latch for retaining the retaining tool in the upright position.

8 is a similar view showing how the latch is removed by the remote control tripper.

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view taken along line 9-9 of FIG. 6, which is similar to FIG. 7 but with the latch on the opposite side.

Fig. 10 is a partial view showing return of the holding tool from which the fixing cam is detached to the normal locked position.

11 is a partial cutaway plan view of the guide chute at the discharge point.

12 is a longitudinal sectional view of the guide chute taken along line 12-12 of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a cross sectional view of the guide chute as seen along line 13-13 of FIG.

The present invention relates to a device for continuously inspecting objects automatically and classifying the objects according to the grade. In such a device, the fruits are transported in a single row, passing the test points to classify the fruits according to their grades and to signal evaluation of these different grades. The fruits are then moved by the driving supports of the sorting conveyor with a series of discharge points corresponding to the different grades of fruit. The evaluation signal for a particular fruit is stored electronically and later sent to the discharge point when the special fruit retainer approaches the discharge point. The evaluation signal causes the fruit to be detached from the discharge point and sent to the corresponding transverse grade conveyor which transports the fruit to the collection point.

The present invention is directed to a selection conveyor structure with particular relevance to an apparatus for desorbing fruit and converting the fruit into a suitable grade conveyor.

In the sorting conveyor of the present invention, individually inspected fruit retainers are conveyed through successive discharge points by a pair of parallel sprocket chains. Each retainer is connected by a hinge to a pair of conveyor chains on a hinge axis that is biased to one side from the center of gravity, and each retainer is detachably connected to the pair of chains by a latch on the other side of the center of gravity. have. Each holding tool for conveying each fruit is thus biased by gravity to rotate from its normal latch position to its lower position and detach the fruit. When the holding tool conveying each fruit approaches the discharge point corresponding to the predetermined grade of each fruit, a tripper at the discharge point drives the holding latch to detach the fruit in response to the evaluation signal. .

It is another object of the present invention to provide an arrangement in which the latch and tripper have fail-free operating characteristics in accordance with the above object. This is accomplished by using a latch that can move from the non-operational position to the operating position to the retainer detachable position using a tripper operable from the non-operational position to the operating position to lock and move the latch from the locking position of the latch to the detachable position. With this arrangement the tripper should be locked in the operating position for any reason and the latch will be free to move when engaged by the tripper, thus preventing damage to the components.

Another object of the present invention is to place the detached fruit at the discharge point on the corresponding lower transverse grade conveyor. Detachable fast-moving fruit for this purpose is gently collected by an inclined guide chute that is placed at an acute angle to the sorting conveyor and inverted and oriented by gravity in a direction inclined downward relative to the direction of conveyor movement. do. The guide chute consists of a web of plastic plate-like material with a U-shaped cross section, which extends along opposite side sections from a suitable rigid framework, and a soft elastomer buffer is used for the fruit. It is stretched along a rigid frame to minimize impact damage to it.

It is another object of the present invention to solve the problem of minimizing the loss time involved in changing from one run of fruit to another. This problem occurs because a transverse grade conveyor leads the fruits to the corresponding collection point and the collection points have to be processed before the fruits are re-started for a new driving distribution of the fruit. The same problem of slightly different form arises when it is necessary to convert the fruit to another collection point to avoid interruption of the dispensing device at the collection point.

This last objective can be achieved by reversibly providing two solid collection points for each predetermined grade so that each transverse grade conveyor can selectively deliver graded fruit to the alternate collection point. Inclined guide chutes are likewise reversible.

Various features and advantages of the present invention will be understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a complete fruit sorting device including a conveyor, usually labeled 10, and other suitable devices for delivering fruit from the test point 11 to a sorting conveyor, generally designated as 14. 14 distributes the fruit to six transverse grade conveyors 15-20, respectively. The use of the conveyor 10 is merely for convenience of description and in some installations the conveyor 10 may be omitted and the fruit may be transferred directly by the sorting conveyor 14 from the inspection point. 3, each transverse grade conveyor consists of a belt 21 having upper and lower operating plates defined by an induction rotor 21a. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, five transverse grade conveyors (15)-(19) are located directly below the sorting conveyor from the front, while the last grade conveyor (20) is located in any of the preceding five grade conveyors. It is also located at the end of the grade conveyor to accommodate unconverted fruit.

Corresponding to the previous five grade conveyors (15)-(19), there are corresponding discharge points of the sorting conveyors, each of which collects fast-moving fruits from the sorting conveyor so that the five transverse grades are intact without damaging the susceptible fruits. It is indicated by the corresponding guide tube 22 which switches and orients one of the conveyors. Each guide chute 22 extends laterally with respect to one side of the sorting conveyor at an acute angle with respect to the snow conveyor to orient the fruit by gravity in a direction inclined downward with respect to the conveyor moving direction. Each of the five guide chutes 22 is reversible and can be moved to the opposite side of the classifying conveyor to a location where the guide tube is replaced, as indicated by the dashed line in FIG. 2.

In Figures 1 and 2, the six transverse grading conveyors move in the direction indicated by the arrow to transfer the fruit to the corresponding collection points 15a-20a, but if the orientation of the grading conveyors is reversed, the replacement collection point 15b Send to 20b. The final grade conveyor 20 has a baffle 24 arranged diagonally to convert the newly collected fruit into the direction of movement of the final grade conveyor, each position of the baffle is inverted the direction of movement of the final grade conveyor If it is reversible to reverse the fruit.

In this particular example of the invention, the fruit is classified into six grades according to the degree of fruit defects. The inspection point 11 consists of a suitable device for detecting and evaluating the special defect investigated.

According to US Pat. No. 3,763,645, the computer integrated the search of the inspection point 11 to evaluate each fruit and to evaluate the evaluation signal corresponding to the determination grade indicated by the preceding five transverse grade conveyors 15-19. Create The five evaluation signals cause the fruit to be discharged to the previous grade 5 conveyors (15)-(19) and the remaining fruit passing through all five discharge points to the final grade conveyor (20).

If the fruit on inspection point 14 is evaluated according to a grade 5 flaw, the evaluation signal is stored electronically and later transferred to the discharge point when each fruit approaches the discharge point corresponding to the evaluation signal. Allow one to discharge one of the five transverse grade conveyors (15)-(19).

As shown in FIG. 4, the sorting conveyor 14 has two seamless parallel sprocket chains 25 as shown in FIG. 6. The upper operating plate of these two sprocket chains has a corresponding longitudinal frame of the classifying conveyor. It moves along the rail 26 anchored by a metal block 28 attached to the member 30 by screws 29. As shown in FIG. 3, the sprocket chain pair 25 passes over the corresponding pair of sprocket pulleys 32 at the discharge end of the conveyor and passes over the corresponding pair of sprockets 34 at the input of the conveyor. The lower idler sprocket pairs 35 and 36 at the two ends of the conveyor form the lower operating plate 38 of the two sprocket chains. Two sprocket pulleys 32 at the discharge end of the sorting conveyor are mounted by sprockets and chains concealed by safety plates 42 on a common shaft driven by a motor 40 and the shaft is geared. Driven by starvation in the box 44. Two sprocket pulleys 34 at the input of the sorting conveyor are fixed to a common shaft 45 for moving the third sprocket pulley 46. When the conveyor 10 is used, the third sprocket pulley 46 drives the sprocket chain 48 to operate the conveyor 10 in synchronization with the sorting conveyor.

The sprocket chain pair 25 respectively moves a series of seamless holding tools 50 in the form of a top open receiving portion in a quadrangular planar structure. Each holding sphere is provided with a suitable elastic impact mitigating device to reduce the fruit falling in the holding sphere to minimize the impact damage to the fruit. Each retainer 50 is mounted on the sprocket chain pair 25 by a hinge, for which purpose each retainer is anchored on a corresponding cross-crossing rod 52 (FIG. 6), which is a combination of two sprocket chains. It is attached to the opposite ends for. The cross rod 52 is isolated forward from the gravity center of the holding tool so that the holding tool is biased in gravity so as to rotate downward to the position indicated by the dotted line 50a in FIG. In this downward position, the holding sphere detaches the fruit F to the guide chute 22 at the discharge point.

In order to limit the downward rotation of the holding tool toward the position shown in FIG. 5, the front upper corner of each viewing tool is provided with laterally extending stop projections 54 as shown in FIGS. When the holding tool 50 rotates downward, the stop protrusion 54 contacts the upper surface of one of the two sprocket chains 25.

In the bottom corners of each retaining sphere, the protrusions projecting laterally for engaging the detachable bite (56) in FIGS. 55) (sixth and seventh degrees) are formed. The structure of the latch 56 will be understood by FIGS. 6-9.

Each latch 56 has an upstanding plate-shaped metal base 58 having a pair of lower opposing ear portions 60, the base 58 of which is connected to the sprocket chain by an opposing ear portion 60. It is mounted on two pins 62 of the sprocket chain 25 at opposite ends of the engagement. The engine 56 of the latch 56 firmly carries a laterally extended pivot pin 64 for the latch lever 65, and the upper stop which cooperates with the latch lever. A flange 66 is also formed. A suitable helical spring 68 has a lower end 70 held against the base 58 and an upper arm of the latch lever 65 to bias the latch lever clockwise as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. It has an upper end 72 supported against it.

The lower arm of the latch lever 65 is cut off to form a latch shoulder 74 so as to engage the retaining projection 55 and the hook from the bottom as shown in FIGS. The upper actuating arm of the latch lever 65 extends upwardly to selectively operate by five remote control fixed trippers 75 located at five discharge points corresponding to the five guide chutes 22. As illustrated in FIG. 6, each tripper 75 is mounted to one of the aforementioned metal blocks 28 by a pair of screws 76 to fix the metal block to the corresponding frame member 30. Do it.

Each tripper 75 consists of a rotary solenoid 78 connected to a corresponding electric cable 80 for remote control. The rotary solenoid 78 entails and rotates the corresponding disk 82 located directly above the upper arm runway of the latch lever 65. This disc 82 has a tripping member in the form of a radial projection 84 located above the upper arm passage of the latch lever 65 in a steady state, as indicated by the dotted line 84a in FIG.

The upwardly protruding arm of each latch lever 65 is formed with an inclined end 85 facing forward, and a rotating solenoid is excited to lower the tripping member 84 of the tripper to the position indicated by the solid line in FIGS. 7-9. When rotated, a collision with the downwardly extending tripping member of the inclined upper end of the latch lever cams the latch lever to the open position shown in FIG. 8 so as to detach the holding protrusion 55. This downward rotation causes the fruit in the holding sphere to detach.

By the foregoing description, when the rotary solenoid is fixed with the tripping member in the latching operation position, it will be assured that the latch rotates to the holding container detachable position in accordance with engagement by the tripping member to provide a fail-free operation.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the sorting conveyor moves at a high speed such that 10 holding spheres 50 pass through a given point within 1 second, and each holding sphere rotates downward so that there is sufficient time for the fruit to detach therefrom. Each tripper 75 must be well positioned prior to the discharge point indicated by the guide chute 22 because it must be allowed. Thus, in FIG. 3, the first tripper 75 is spaced in front of the first guide pipe by about three times the length of the holding tool 50. 4, 5 and 11-13, each guide chute 22 is composed of a plastic plate 86 extending along the edge from the horizontal U-shaped frame 88. The plate 86 may be of a suitable plastic or of woven fibers containing a suitable plastic. A suitable cushioning piece 90 of rubbery material is embedded in the inner edge of the guide tube to minimize the impact on the fruit. In the illustrated structure, the upper edge of the plate material of the guide tube is folded over the U-shaped metal band 91 (12, 13 degrees), which is riveted to tighten the upper edge of the plate. The rivet 92 is mounted inside the U-shaped frame.

Guide chute 22 is generally supported at its opposite sides against two opposing upright arms 96 of a plate metal yoke, generally indicated at 98, with the yoke 98 pivoting downwardly. Has 100. The pivot pin is fitted in two straight vertical holes of the hollow frame member 102 extending longitudinally about the middle of the sorting conveyor between the two sprocket chains 25. As shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the pivot pin 100 extends through the bottom wall 104 welded to the plate metal yoke, and the upper end of the pivot pin is parallel to the bottom wall 104 for rigidity. It is welded to the transverse wall of the rack.

In order to fix each guide chute 22 to be selectively detachable at two replacement positions, the horizontal hollow frame member 102 is provided with a strut 107 protruding upward, as shown in FIG. The yoke 98 is provided with two perforated transversely extending ears 108 and 109 for selectively mating the posts 107. In FIG. 11, the ear portion 108 is mated with the strut 108, but the guide tube may be rotated to an opposite position for the mating of the strut and the ear portion 109.

When the detached retaining tool 50 suspended downward moves beyond the final guide pipe 22, the detached retaining tool is encountered with the inclined cam plate 110 as shown in FIGS. The cam plate 110 rotates the detached holding tool back to the locked position.

In order to facilitate the holding of the holding tool 50 again, the projection 55 of the holding tool 50 is provided with an inclined cam surface 111 as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, and the latch lever 65 is provided. The cooperative cam surface 112 is formed on the lower latch arm of the. The return upward rotation of the detached holding member 50 causes the cam surface of the holding protrusion 55 to come into active contact with the cam surface 112 of the latch lever, thereby moving the latch lever momentarily in a counterclockwise direction so that the holding protrusion Pass through the latch shoulder 74 of the latch lever.

It will be readily understood that the manner in which the above organization serves its purpose is described above. By synchronizing the sorting conveyor 14 with the conveyor 10, the conveyor 10 falls on the input end of the sorting conveyor, as indicated by the arrow 114 in FIG. An electronic circuit in the conveyor 10 generates an evaluation signal for each fruit that is delivered to the sorting conveyor, which signals to the tripper 75 at a particular discharge point for the fruit reservoir for the fruit rating. There is a delay until it is reached. The evaluation signal excites the rotary solenoid 78 of the tripper, causing the tripping member 84 of the tripper to rotate down into the passage of the latch to release the given holding tool to the normal upright position. The downwardly extended trip member 84 detaches the latch in the form shown in FIG. 8 to cause the retainer to drop the given fruit into the guide chute 22 corresponding to the fruit evaluation.

The guide tube converts the detached fruit laterally in the direction of movement of the corresponding lower transverse grade conveyor. Fruit passing through all discharge points reaches the final transverse grade conveyor 20.

In FIG. 2, the sorting conveyor moves in the direction indicated by the arrow 115, and the grade conveyors 15-20 move in the direction indicated by the arrow 116 to collect the sorted fruit 15a. Transfer to 20a. To change the delivery of the graded fruit to the replacement collection points 15b-20b, simply reverse the conveyors 15-20 and invert the position of the guide chute 22 and the grade conveyor 20a. It is sufficient to reverse the diagonal position of the baffle 24.

It will be appreciated that various modifications, changes, and the like are possible within the spirit and scope of the present invention in the above-mentioned preferred embodiments of the present invention.

Claims (1)

A sorting device that sequentially sorts goods by sorting conveyors from a test point that generates a rating signal in a series of discharge points according to a rating signal. Includes a series of interconnected retainers for finished goods that can be transported to a point, each retaining force to move the retainer to an inclined discharge position that transports the item and ejects the item from the retainer. In the classifying apparatus having a conveying position of the normal upright receiving; The retaining port is hinged at one end to swing in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor at the discharging position and the other end is installed under the conveyor, and also includes a corresponding series of latches, each of which is attached to the conveyor near the retaining port and is also discharged. Acts to hold the other end of the holding sphere freely with respect to the movement to the position, and also includes a tripper at each discharge point which operates in response to a corresponding evaluation signal to selectively operate the latch. In addition, the classification apparatus characterized in that the holding sphere is moved to the discharge position when the holding sphere reaches a suitable discharge point for each grade.

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