JPH06178607A - Apparatus for harvesting head-forming vegetable - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] When mechanizing the harvest of cabbage, prevent the cabbage from being damaged when the cabbage extracted from the field is put into the storage box from the loading conveyor or when the stored cabbage is discharged. , Considering that the cabbage can be discharged satisfactorily [Structure] In the side peripheral wall 50 of the storage box 42, on the side corresponding to the end of the loading conveyor 39, an input port 53 extending from the upper part to the lower part is formed, and A bottom part is constructed so that it can be opened in a double-opened manner, and a lift cylinder 52 for raising and lowering the storage box 42 is further provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention mainly relates to a heading vegetable storage device used in a harvester for harvesting heading vegetables such as cabbage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, cabbage has been manually harvested.

[0003]

Like the above-mentioned conventional ones, the manual work of picking cabbage requires a great deal of labor and time. There is an attempt to mechanize the cabbage harvest. Then, in the mechanization, outer leaves and stems of cabbage extracted from the field were removed,
It is considered to be loaded into a storage box via a loading conveyor.

However, if the cabbage is simply dropped from the end of the loading conveyor into the storage box, there is a problem that the introduced cabbage will hit the bottom of the storage box or the already stored cabbage and be damaged. Also, the stored cabbage is once discharged onto a vinyl sheet laid in the field, after final check adjustment, it is packed in a cardboard box, but the storage box is rotated around the lower pivot. In order to release the cabbage from the upper opening of the storage box, there is a problem that the cabbage falls from a relatively high position and the cabbage is damaged, and the cabbage rolls and cannot be released well on the vinyl sheet. There is a problem called.

Therefore, the present invention has an object to prevent the headed vegetables from being damaged and to release the headed vegetables well when the headed vegetables extracted from the field are put into the storage box from the loading conveyor. And

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The technical means taken by the present invention to achieve the above-mentioned object is to put the heading vegetables 6 extracted from the field into the storage box 42 via the loading conveyor 39. In the storage device for headed vegetables described above, on the side corresponding to the end of the loading conveyor 39 of the side peripheral wall 50 of the storage box 42, an input port 53 extending from the upper part to the lower part is formed, and the bottom part of the storage box 42 is opened. It is configured such that it can be opened, and is further provided with lifting means 52 for lifting the storage box 42.

[0007]

[Function] When storing the bulb vegetables in the storage box,
First, the storage box is lifted by the elevating means, the bottom of the storage box is brought close to the end of the loading conveyor, and the storage box is gradually lowered according to the amount of headed vegetables to be loaded into the storage box. This prevents the head vegetables falling from the end of the loading conveyor from being damaged by hitting the bottom of the storage box or the head vegetables already stored.

Further, in order to release the stored headed vegetables,
The bottom of the storage box can be opened like a double door from the state where the bottom of the storage box is close to the ground, and the storage box is gradually raised. As a result, the bottom of the storage box opens in a double-opened manner, and the stored headed vegetables are discharged from the bottom of the storage box.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a self-propelled cabbage harvesting machine, which is provided at the front with a sampling section 2 for sampling cabbage 6 existing in a field. This extractor 2 is a rotary two-shaft screw auger 3 that is facing the left and right and is inclined upward toward the rear.
And the feed belts 5 above the screw auger 3 and the holding belts 4 on the left and right sides of the screw auger 3, and the stem portion 7 of the cabbage 6 is sandwiched by the screw auger 3 and the bulb of the cabbage 6 is formed. Belt holding part 8
The cabbage 6 is pulled out from the field by sandwiching it with 4, and then the cabbage 6 is transferred to the rear.
The position of 6 is controlled by the feed belt 5 while being transferred backward.

A ball cutting processing section 9 is provided at the rear of the extracting section 2, where the main part 8a of the head section 8 of the cabbage 6 is separated from the stem section 7 and the outer leaf 8b. The ball cutting unit 9 includes an outer leaf expanding device 10, a cutting position detecting device 11, and a cutting device 12
And a sandwiching belt 13. Outer leaf expansion device
Reference numeral 11 is provided with a transfer device 14 arranged behind the screw auger 3 of the extracting section 2, and the transfer device 14 is composed of a pair of left and right screw augers 15 having a longitudinal center axis. Above the front part of the transfer device 14, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, an elevating frame supported so as to be vertically movable on the machine side.
At (not shown), a support cylinder 16 that is supported so as to be able to move up and down is provided. A rod 17 is fitted into the support cylinder 16 so as to be relatively movable in the vertical direction, the rod 17 is supported on the lifting frame side, and a pressing portion 18 is provided at the lower end of the rod, and a contact sensor is provided. 19 are provided.

A bracket 20 is provided on the upper part of the support cylinder 16 so as to project outward in the radial direction, and an expanding arm 21 is pivotally supported on the bracket 20 so as to be swingable in the radial direction of the support cylinder 16. A roller 22 is rotatably provided at the lower end of the roller 22.
Is made of sponge or rubber-like elastic material.
The expansion arms 21 are made of a plate material or the like, and are arranged around the support cylinder 16 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction around the axis of the support cylinder 16.
It is arranged in this way, and is urged toward the center by a tension coil spring 37 (or a torsion coil spring provided at the pivotal support at the upper end of the expanding arm 21) provided between the expanding arms 21.

The upper part of each expansion arm 21 is inclined outward from the upper end and is bent in the middle to be inclined inward, and this inwardly inclined part serves as the first cam portion 23. There is. Further, the middle portion is inclined downward from the lower end of the first cam portion 23 and bent downward in the middle, and the outward inclined portion is the second cam portion 24, and the lower portion is the roller 22. Is curved so that it is located at the center.
Two or four or more expansion arms 21 may be provided.

At the bent portion in the middle of each expansion arm 21,
The guide roller 25 is in contact with the guide roller 25.
Is rotatably attached to a projecting end of a support 27 that projects radially outward from a fixed cylinder 26 that is fixed to the lifting frame. The support cylinder 16 can be inserted into the fixed cylinder 26. As shown in FIG. 5, the cutting position detecting device 11 comprises a TV camera 28 for picking up the cabbage 6 and a CPU 29 for image-processing the video signal picked up by the TV camera 28.

The cutting device 12 is arranged behind the transfer device 14, and as shown in FIG. 6, a disk-shaped cutter 30, a motor 31 for rotating the cutter 30, and a vertical position adjusting means 32 for the cutter 30. The motor 31 is supported so as to be vertically movable and non-rotatable around the vertical axis, and the vertical adjusting means 32 has a nut body 33 fixed to the motor 31, and a screw rod 34 screwed to the nut body 33. And a motor 31 for rotating the screw rod 34 about its axis.

The holding belts 13 are arranged on the left and right sides of the upper side of the cutting device 12. In the ball cutting processing section 9, the cabbage 6 is processed as follows. First, the sampling unit 2
The cabbage 6 transferred from the stem part 7 is the transfer device.
It is sandwiched by 14 and transferred to the rear, the transfer is temporarily stopped below the expansion arm 21, and then the elevating frame is lowered, and the support cylinder 16, the rod 17, and the guide roller 25 are integrally lowered. . Then, as shown in FIG. 3, when the contact sensor 19 at the lower end of the rod 17 comes into contact with the top of the ball head 8, the lowering of the support cylinder 16 and the like is stopped. At this time, the pressing portion 18 is brought into contact with the top of the ball head 8 to lightly press the ball head 8, and the roller 22 at the lower end of the expanding arm 21 is positioned slightly above the head of the ball head 8.

Next, the support cylinder 16 is lowered. Then the first
2 Since the cam portion 24 is inclined downward toward the outside, the expanding arm 21 is guided by the guide roller 25 and resists the urging force of the spring 37, as shown by the phantom line in FIG. Spread
When the guide roller 25 is positioned at the lower end of the first cam portion 23 while swinging (swinging from the center to the outside around the pivotal support portion at the upper end), the first cam portion 23 moves downward. Since it is tilted slightly inward, the expanding arm 21 descends slightly closer to the center, as shown by the solid line in FIG. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 7, the roller 22 at the lower end of the spreading arm 21 is provided between the main portion 8a of the bulb portion 8 and the outer leaf 8b.
From the top of the bulb 8 to the sides and down,
The main part 8a is lowered almost along the outer surface of the main part 8a to spread the outer leaf 8b to expose the main part 8a.

At this time, it is preferable to lower the roller 22 until the base of the outer leaf 8b is sufficiently bent. And
When the roller 22 descends to the set position, the support cylinder 16, the rod 17, the expanding arm 21 and the like are returned to the initial position by the operation reverse to the above operation. Next, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the main part 8a of the exposed bulb 8 and the stem 7 are exposed.
Etc. are imaged by the TV camera 28, and the imaged image signals of the head 8 etc. are input to the CPU 29 where they are image processed and the cutting position (the root part of the main part 8a of the stem 7) is detected. At the same time, the vertical distance H between the cutting position and the reference line (axis of the screw auger 15) O is calculated. Then, this calculated value is input to the controller 36 which controls the vertical position adjusting means 32, whereby the cutter 30 is adjusted to the position corresponding to the cutting position of the stalk 7.

At this time, it is desirable that the inclination α of the head 8 with respect to the vertical line P is also detected and the cutter 30 is tilted in accordance with the inclination α. Next, the transfer device 14 is driven again to transfer the cabbage 6 backward,
The side portions of the main portion 8a of the bulb portion are clamped by the clamping belt 13, and the stalk 7 is cut by the cutter 30. The stem
7 is dropped on the field at the rear end of the transfer device 14.

An elevator device is provided behind the ball cutting processing unit 9.
38 is provided, and the elevator device 38 is composed of a pair of upper and lower belt conveyors that are inclined upward and rearward. At the rear of the upper side of the elevator device 38, a loading conveyor 39 composed of a belt conveyor is provided, and the head portion 8a of the cabbage 6 transferred by the elevator device 38 is transferred to the rear storage box 42 by the loading conveyor 39. Be transferred. A pair of left and right sensors 40 for detecting the main portion 8a of the head portion 8 of the cabbage 6 being transferred are provided in the middle of the loading conveyor 39 in the front-rear direction. The detection signal detected by this sensor 40 is input to the CPU 41, as shown in FIG. 8, where the ball diameter is calculated to determine whether the size of the main portion 8a of the ball head is within the standard or outside the standard. At the same time, the number of standard sizes is counted. And the non-standard size is the exclusion plate located behind the sensor 40.
It is pushed to the side of the loading conveyor 39 by 43 and discharged to the field through the chute 44.

The CPU 41 has a control panel 45 and a buzzer 46.
Connected to the control panel 45, the display section 47 of the control panel 45 displays the number of the head portions 8a of the cabbage 6 to be loaded in the storage box 42, and the head portion of the cabbage 6 inside the storage box 42. When the number of 8a reaches the set storage number, the buzzer 46 sounds, and the set storage number is set by the input keys 48 and 49 of the control panel 45.

The storage box 42 is a side peripheral wall composed of front, rear, left and right walls.
An upper opening 50 is formed from the pair of front and rear bottom plates 51, and is vertically movably supported, and is lifted and lowered by a lift cylinder 52. Also, the side peripheral wall of the storage box 42
On the front surface side of 50, a charging port 53 into which the main part 8a of the cabbage portion 6 of the cabbage 6 transferred from the loading conveyor 39 is charged is cut out from the upper end to the lower part. The front edge of the bottom plate 51 on the front side of the storage box 42 and the rear edge of the bottom plate 51 on the rear side are attached to the lower ends of the side peripheral walls 50 by hinges 54 so as to be rotatable about the left and right axial centers, and the bottom of the storage box 42 is It can be opened like a double door. Also, a vinyl sheet 55 is stored in the storage box 42.
Is stored. It should be noted that the vinyl sheet 55 is also formed with a notch corresponding to the input port 53.

When the main portion 8a of the cabbage portion of the cabbage 6 is stored in the storage box 42, first, as shown by a phantom line in FIG. 1, the lift cylinder 52 is extended to lift the storage box 42. Then, the bottom plate 51 is brought close to the end of the loading conveyor 39, and the storage box 42 is gradually lowered in accordance with the amount of the main portion 8a of the cabbage portion of the cabbage 6 that is put into the storage box 42. This is to prevent the main portion 8a of the cabbage portion 6 of the cabbage 6 falling from the end of the loading conveyor 39 from being damaged by hitting the bottom plate 51 or the main portion 8a of the cabbage portion 6 of the cabbage 6 which is already stored.

Then, when the main portion 8a of the head portion 8a of the cabbage 6 reaches the set number of storages, the buzzer 46 sounds to notify.
Here, the harvest is temporarily stopped, and the main portion 8a of the head portion of the stored cabbage 6 is released to the field. In order to release the main part 8a of the head portion of the stored cabbage 6, as shown in Fig. 9, the bottom plate 51 of the storage box 42 is brought close to the ground (shown on the left side of Fig. 9) and the bottom plate 51 is rotated around the hinge 54. The storage box 42 is gradually lifted (as shown in the center and right side of FIG. 9). As a result, the head portion 8a of the cabbage 6 that has been housed is discharged together with the vinyl sheet 55, and the head portion 8a of the cabbage 6 that has been placed on the vinyl sheet 55 can be discharged. After that, the main portion 8a of the cabbage 6 heading portion is finally checked and adjusted and packed in a box.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the one adopted as the own vehicle loading type harvester is exemplified, but it may be adopted as the trailing vehicle loading type in which harvesting and storage are separate. 10 and 11 show a modified example, in which the storage box 42 is arranged on the side of the loading conveyor 39, and the storage box 42 is divided into three storage chambers A, B, and C along the transfer direction of the loading conveyor 39. Storage plates 56, 57, 58 corresponding to the respective storage chambers A, B, C are swingably provided on the side opposite to the storage box 42 of the loading conveyor 39.

Then, similarly to the above-mentioned embodiment, the CPU 59 calculates the ball diameter by the detection signal detected by the sensor 40, and whether the size of the head portion 8a of the cabbage 6 is within or outside the standard. Is determined, and the size within the standard is further set to three types of sizes LL, L, LA (L
(L>L> LA) is determined, and the number is counted for each of the determined sizes.

In the control panel 60, the storage chambers A, B, C, and the main portion 8a of the bulb portion of the cabbage 6 stored in each storage chamber A, B, C.
And the size of the main part 8a of the cauldron of the cabbage 6 stored in each of the storage chambers A, B, and C are displayed.
The size of the main part 8a of the bulb portion of the cabbage 6 housed in is selectable with the size selection button. Then, a command signal is sent from the CPU 59 to the control devices 61, 62, 63 for controlling the swinging of the storage plates 56, 57, 58, and the set size is put into the storage chambers A, B, C. It is supposed to be done. In addition, non-standard items fall from the end of the loading conveyor 39 and are discharged to the field.

FIG. 12 is a table showing an example of a combination of sizes of the main portion 8a of the head portion 8a of the cabbage 6 stored in the storage chambers A, B and C. 13 and 14 show a comparative example, where 71 is a loading conveyor, 72 is a storage plate, 73 is a storage box, and 74 is a lift cylinder. A discharge port 76 is formed on the side opposite to the input port 75 of the storage box 73, and the discharge port 76 is closed by an opening / closing door 77 so as to be openable and closable.
The opening / closing door 77 is opened / closed by a hydraulic cylinder 78. Further, the storage box 73 is provided with a hook 80 that is engaged with a pin 79 provided on the opening / closing door 77 when the opening / closing door 77 is closed.

In the above-mentioned one, when discharging the main portion 8a of the cabbage head portion of the cabbage stored in the storage box 73 onto the sheet 81 laid in the field, from the position shown by the phantom line A in FIG.
By opening 77 and gradually raising the storage box 73, it is discharged onto the sheet 81 from the discharge port 76 via the opening / closing door 77. The above-mentioned ones have drawbacks that it takes a lot of time to spread the sheet 81 and that the main portion 8a of the cabbage head portion of the cabbage is likely to be damaged.

[0029]

According to the present invention, a charging port extending from the upper part to the lower part is formed on the side peripheral wall of the storage box corresponding to the end of the loading conveyor, and the bottom of the storage box can be opened in a double-opened manner. In addition, since an elevating means for elevating and lowering the storage box is provided, when storing the heading vegetables in the storage box, the storage box is lifted by the elevating means and the bottom of the storage box is brought close to the end of the loading conveyor. By gradually lowering the storage box according to the amount of headed vegetables to be loaded into the box, the headed vegetables falling from the end of the loading conveyor collide with the bottom of the storage box or the headed vegetables already stored. It can prevent damage.

Further, when releasing the stored headed vegetables, the bottom of the storage box can be opened in a double-opened manner from the state where the bottom of the storage box is close to the ground, and the storage box is gradually raised to lower the storage box bottom. Is opened in a double-sided manner, and the stored headed vegetables are released from the bottom of the storage box, and the headed vegetables can be satisfactorily released onto the vinyl sheet without being damaged and rolling.

Further, in particular, since the bottom of the storage box can be opened in a double-opened manner and the storage box can be raised and lowered, it is necessary to attach a vinyl sheet to the inside of the storage box. By storing it, when releasing the heading vegetables,
The cabbage is discharged together with the vinyl sheet, and there is an advantage that the headed vegetable can be discharged in a state in which the headed vegetable is placed on the ground and covered with the vinyl sheet.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a cabbage harvester.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a cabbage harvester.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an outer leaf expanding device.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of an operating state of the outer leaf expanding device.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a cutting position detection device.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a cutting device.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an outer leaf expanded state of cabbage.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a counting and ball diameter determining device.

FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory view showing a cabbage discharging operation.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a modified example of the cabbage storage device.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of a control system showing a modified example of the cabbage storage device.

FIG. 12 is a table showing an example of inserting cabbage into a divided storage box.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a cabbage storage device showing a comparative example.

FIG. 14 is a side sectional view of a cabbage storage device showing a comparative example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 6 Cabbage (bulb vegetables) 39 Loading conveyor 42 Storage box 50 Side wall 52 Lift cylinder (lifting means) 53 Input port

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A heading vegetable (6) extracted from a field,
A storage device for heading vegetables that is loaded into a storage box (42) via a loading conveyor (39), which corresponds to the end of the loading conveyor (39) on the side peripheral wall (50) of the storage box (42). On the side, an inlet (53) extending from the upper part to the lower part is formed, and the bottom of the storage box (42) is configured to be openable in a double-opening manner. A storage device for heading vegetables, which is characterized by being provided.