JPH0812103B2 - Food dispenser - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is preferably used by incorporating it into a food automatic weighing device capable of automatically weighing foods having a certain degree of viscosity, such as boiled vegetables or prepared foods, and containing solids inside. Regarding food dispenser.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When making a large amount of foods such as Tsukudani, prepared foods and boiled beans, and selling them as products, first boil the ingredients in a pot, season them appropriately, and then take out the boiled ingredients in predetermined amounts , Perform the work of packing the measured items individually. By the way, the so-called weighing work of weighing the stewed material and dividing it into predetermined amounts among the above-mentioned works has hitherto relied on manpower.

However, the manual weighing work has a drawback that the cost is high and the material is increased or decreased while looking at the scale of the weighing machine, and the productivity is poor. Further, when trying to increase the weighing speed, before the fluctuation of the scale of the measuring instrument is subsided, it is unavoidable to judge the excess or deficiency of the material from the state of the fluctuation of the scale, which causes a problem such as a large error.

[0004]

By the way, the present applicant plans to automate the weighing in order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and as a result of keen research on the automation, the following problems to be solved are found. It turned out to be. After automatic weighing, it is necessary to transfer the food dispensed from the automatic food weighing device main body to the bagging device, but when transferring the weighed food from one container to another container, it becomes a weighing target Due to the viscous nature of the food, some of the food sticks to the inner surface of the bottom and sides of the container, and it takes a lot of time to dispense the food, or even when normal weighing is performed. Regardless, when the food is transferred to the bagging device, the weight of the food varies, resulting in a reduction in the weighing accuracy.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to increase the speed at which foods are transferred.
Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide a food dispenser that can prevent deterioration of weighing accuracy.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a bucket having a cylindrical shutter having an openable and closable shutter at its lower end and filled with food, and a bucket for receiving the food. Transfer means for transferring from the position to the food dispensing position, a rod vertically provided above the food dispensing position, and a flexible material attached to the lower end of the rod and having a diameter larger than the inner diameter of the bucket And a rod up / down moving means for vertically moving the rod.

[0007]

According to the food dispenser of the present invention, the bucket is filled with the food at the food receiving position and is transferred as it is to the food discharging position by the transfer means. And
At this food dispensing position, the rod located above the bucket is lowered by the rod up-and-down moving means, and along with this, the scraper attached to the lower end of the rod abuts the food in the packet and moves the food downward. Press.
At the same time, the shutter at the lower end of the bucket is opened, and the food in the bucket is discharged downward. At this time, since the outer peripheral portion of the scraper moves from the upper end portion to the lower end portion of the bucket while sliding on the inner surface of the bucket, the phenomenon that food remains attached to the inner surface of the bucket can be avoided.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the entire automatic food weighing device. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a food automatic weighing apparatus main body for automatically weighing foods such as boiled or prepared foods, 2 is attached to the food automatic weighing apparatus main body 1, and the food automatic weighing apparatus main body 1
It is a food dispenser according to the present invention for transferring the food measured in 1. to the bag filling device 3.

The food automatic weighing apparatus main body 1 includes a pedestal 10 and
A hopper 11 that is supported by the gantry 10 and temporarily stores food to be weighed, and food that is stored in the hopper 11 that is provided below the side of the hopper 11 and that is stored in the hopper 11 are supplied in predetermined amounts via a shooter 12. Case 13 for dispensing food
And a pair of spiral coil screws 14 and 14 incorporated in the housing 13. Here, the hopper 11 and the scraping machine 20 and the like provided on the upper part of the hopper are the food supply means 1 for supplying food to the housing 13 for food discharge.
Make up 5.

The hopper 11 has a substantially box-like shape with an open top, and a bottom plate 16 is adjusted up and down by a jack 17 as shown in FIG. The bottom plate 16 is
The motor 19 is driven by the output signal from the level sensor 18 provided on the upper part of the hopper 11, and the driving force of the motor 19 is transmitted to the jack 17 via the chain 19a and the sprocket 19b to be adjusted up and down.

At the upper part of the hopper 11, there is provided a scraping machine 20 for scraping the food stored in the hopper 11 toward the shooter 12 by a predetermined amount. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the scraping machine 20 includes a pair of shafts 2 that are provided so as to penetrate the sidewalls of the hopper 11 in the left and right directions, respectively.
2, 22 are rotatably supported by bearings 21, 21 on a frame 10a provided upright on the gantry 10, and sprockets 23, 23 at the left and right ends of the pair of shafts 22, 22, respectively.
The chains 24, 24 are wound around the left and right chains 2.
A large number of rods 25 are attached to the bar 25a that is stretched over the rods 4, 24.
b ... are planted at predetermined intervals and scraping forks 25 are attached at intervals of 180 degrees, and a chain 27 is attached to a sprocket 26 attached to one end of one of the pair of shafts 22. The drive motor 28 is connected via the. The drive motor 28 is a level sensor 28 provided in the food delivery housing 13.
It is turned on / off based on the output signal from a. In addition, a shaft 22 that constitutes the hopper 11 and the scraping machine 20,
Members such as the sprocket 23, the chain 24, and the scraping fork 25 are made of stainless steel having excellent corrosion resistance.

The food-discharging housing 13 is provided substantially in the center of the front end of the gantry 10 so as to connect to the shooter 12. In the case 13 for dispensing food,
The pair of coil screws 14 and 14 are provided so as to penetrate the lower side wall of the front end portion, and the food transferred from the shooter 12 is clogged in the housing 13 at the upper part of the food delivery housing 13. Scraping machine 32 to prevent
Is provided.

The pair of coil screws 14 and 14 are formed in a spiral shape and twisted in opposite directions, as described above, and have no shaft in the center. The coil screw 14 has guides 33, 3 at both ends.
3, the cylindrical food dispensing members 34, 34 rotatably supported by the rotary shaft 3 are attached to the rear end of the rotary shaft 3.
The left and right motors 36, 36 which are connected to the left and right shafts 35, 35 and are arranged below the rotary shafts 35, 35
7 and 37, whereby the coil screw 14 is forcibly rotated in opposite directions so as to transfer the food forward at a predetermined speed.

The front ends of the coil screws 14, 14 are covered with cylindrical members 38, 38 which form the food passage.
A tapered portion 38a is formed on an upper portion of a connecting portion of the cylindrical members 38, 38 to the food delivery casing 13, and this portion and a scraping device 32 described later cooperate with each other, that is, the cylindrical member 38. Food is hard to collect at the base end of the.

The scraping machine 32 comprises a scraping hawk 40 in which a large number of rods 40b are planted at predetermined intervals on a bar 40a, and a cylinder 42 for reciprocating the hawk 40 in the front-rear direction. . As shown in FIG. 3, the length of each rod 40b is set such that the curve connecting the lower ends of the plurality of rods 40b draws an arc having a diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the coil screws 14,14. Has been done. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the cylinder 42 has a U-shaped connecting member 43 attached to a frame 10 a erected on the frame 10 and is supported by a bracket 44 fixed to the connecting member 43. .

At the tip of the cylindrical member 38, a box-shaped food dispensing member 47 having an opening 47a for dispensing food at the bottom is attached. A pair of shutters 46, 46 are attached to the lower end of the food dispensing member 47 to prevent food from dripping downward from the food dispensing opening 47a after the coil screw 14 is stopped. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the shutters 46, 46 are hinged to the lower ends of the left and right side walls of the food dispensing member 47. Specifically, the shutters 46, 46 are attached to the hinged left and right bars 46a. A plurality of bar-shaped members 46b are arranged at predetermined intervals along the length direction. The shutter 46 is connected to a cylinder 49 via a link mechanism 48, and the cylinder 49 resists the urging force of the spring 50 and the link mechanism 48.
The shutter 46 is closed by pushing the pin 48a of the shutter upward, and conversely, when the pressing force of the cylinder 49 is released, the pin 48a is pushed downward by the urging force of the spring 50, and the shutter 4 is released.
6 is in an open state as shown by a chain double-dashed line in FIG. The food dispenser case 13, the coil crow 14, the scraper 32, the cylindrical member 38, the food dispenser member 47, the shutter 46, etc. are also made of stainless steel.

Further, a bucket 52 supported by the food dispenser 2 is provided at the front of the gantry 10, and the food dispenser 4 is provided with the bucket 52.
A bucket positioning means 53 for accurate positioning is mounted directly below 7. Bucket positioning means 53
Is the upper and lower cylinders 54 assembled to the pedestal 10 and the piston rod 5 of the upper and lower cylinders 54, as shown in FIG.
4a, and a bucket hook 57 attached to the piston rod 55a of the front and rear cylinder 55 via a connecting member 56.

When the bucket 52 conveyed by the food dispenser 2 reaches a predetermined position (food receiving position) in front of the food automatic weighing apparatus main body 1, the front-rear cylinder 55 extends and the bucket hook 57 is moved to the position shown in FIGS. The bucket 52 is positioned directly below the weighing pins 52a, 52a shown in FIG. Then, as the upper and lower cylinders 54 extend, the bucket hooks 57 are moved upward and the weighing pins 52 on the upper portion of the bucket 52 shown in FIG. 6 and FIG.
Then, the bucket 52 is further moved to a predetermined upper position. As a result, the bucket 52 is positioned directly below the food dispensing member 47 as shown by the solid line in FIG. In this state, food is dispensed from the food dispensing member 47 to the bucket 52. A load cell 58 is attached to the bucket hook 57, and the weight of the food dispensed to the bucket 52 is measured by the load cell 58, and a display unit 59 on the pedestal 10 is installed.
Is displayed in.

In the food dispenser 2, as shown in FIG. 1, left and right arms 61, 61 are supported in parallel on a pedestal 60, and the arms 61, 61 have endless chains 6 respectively.
2, 62 are wound, and a plurality of ring-shaped bucket receivers 63 are supported on the left and right rods 63a so that the left and right chains 62, 62 are crotch, so that the chains 62 are arranged at predetermined intervals in the winding direction. Attached (see FIG. 7), the bucket 52 is supported by these bucket receivers 63,
Further, the gantry 60 is provided with a drive means (not shown) for intermittently rotating the chain 62 in a predetermined direction. The chain 62 and a drive means (not shown) for rotating the chain 62 constitute a transfer means 64 for transferring the bucket 52 from the food receiving position to the food dispensing position.

Here, the bucket 52 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the bucket 52 has a cone-shaped bucket body 65 whose lower portion is tapered.
And an upper diameter expanding portion 66 provided on the upper portion of the bucket body 65 and to which the measuring pin 52a is attached, and left and right shutters 67, 67 hinged to the lower end of the bucket body 65. There is. The shutter 67 is constantly urged in the closing direction by a spring (not shown).

Further, a food delivery cylinder 69 is attached to the upper portion of the food delivery machine 2, and the bucket 5 is attached to the lower end of a piston rod 70 of the cylinder 69.
A scraper 71 for pushing the food filled in 2 downward is attached. The scraper 71 is a disc-shaped one made of a flexible material of rubber, and its diameter is set to be approximately the same as the diameter m of the upper end of the bucket body 65. Further, the scraper 71 is formed with a large number of radial slits 71a ... Which extend from the middle portion in the radial direction to the outer peripheral edge.

In the scraper 71, when the bucket 52 filled with food is stopped at a predetermined position above the food dispenser 2 (food dispense position) as shown in FIG. 1, the food dispense cylinder 69 extends. This moves it downwards. At this time, the food in the bucket 52 is pressed downward, and when the pressing force reaches a predetermined value or more, the shutter 67 is pushed open against the spring, and the food in the bucket 52 is moved downward by the bagging device 3 side. Transfer to bucket 72.

Further, in the automatic food weighing device, the above-mentioned cylinders 42, 49, 54, 55 and the motors 19, 3 are included.
A control device 73 for driving and controlling the 6, 6 is provided. The configuration of the control device 73 will be clarified in the description of the operation of this embodiment described later, and thus the description thereof is omitted here.

Next, the operation of the food automatic weighing apparatus having the above structure will be described with reference to FIG. First, a main switch (not shown) attached to the control device is pushed to start the control system (step 1). Next, the applicable work category is selected from the work categories classified into several types based on the food to be weighed (step 2). It should be noted that the viscosity and the properties of solid matter contained in the food differ depending on the food, and the rotation speed of the coil screw 14 and the moving speed of the scraping forks 25, 40 must be suitable for the food to be weighed. . The coil screw speed or the like suitable for each food is obtained in advance by experiments or the like, and the rotation speed of the coil screw 14 or the moving speed of the scraping forks 25, 40 is determined according to the selected work segment.

Then, select automatic operation or manual operation,
When automatic operation is selected, various conditions such as measured values are set on the operation panel, and then initial setting is performed to return to the origin (steps 3 to 5).

Next, a food to be weighed, such as Tsukudani, is put into the hopper 11 (step 6). In addition,
At this time, the bottom plate 16 of the hopper 11 has been lowered to the lower end position in advance.

Then, the start button provided on the operation panel of the control device is pushed. Then, the food delivery from the hopper 11 to the food delivery housing 13 and the coil screw 14 in the food delivery housing are activated. That is, the motor 19 is started and the jack 17 is operated via the chain 19a and the like to raise the bottom plate 16 of the hopper 11 (step 7). This rise of the bottom plate 16 is caused by the hopper 11
The process is performed until the sensor 18 provided at detects food.

On the other hand, when the sensor near the lower end of the shooter 12 of the food delivery casing 13 does not detect the food, the motor 28 is activated and the scraping machine 20 is operated via the chain 27 and the sprocket 26. As a result, the scraping hawk 25 moves forward, and along with this, the food in the hopper 11 is pushed forward and is transferred to the food delivery casing 13 via the shooter 12. Then, the food transferred to the food dispensing housing 13 communicates with the front tubular member 33 and the tubular member 33 by the coil screw 14 rotated via the chain 37 when the motor 36 is activated. It is filled in the food dispensing member 47. With the above operation, the preparation for weighing is completed.

Next, the actual measurement is performed in the following procedure. That is, first, the bucket 52, which is a weighing container, is placed at a predetermined position. Specifically, with respect to the bucket 52 placed at a predetermined position on the rear end of the food dispenser 2, the cylinder 55 extends to position the bucket hook 57 directly below the weighing pins 52a, 52a of the bucket 52. .
Then, the upper and lower cylinders 54 extend and the bucket hook 5
7 is moved upward and locked to the measuring pins 52a and 52a, and the bucket 52 and the bucket 52
Is moved upward to reach the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 2 (step 9).

When the bucket 52 reaches the predetermined position as described above, the left and right motors 36, 36 are operated based on the output signal from the sensor (not shown) for detecting the packet,
The pair of coil screws 14 and 14 are rotated in opposite directions via the chains 37 and 37 and the rotating shafts 35 and 35, respectively. With the rotation of the coil screws 14, 14, the food in the food delivery housing 13 is pushed forward, and the food in the food delivery member 47 is pushed downward accordingly. At the same time that the motors 36, 36 operate, the cylinder 49 also operates, and the link mechanism 48
The pin 48a is pushed downward to open the shutters 46, 46.

As described above, the food is pushed downward from the lower end opening of the food dispensing member 47 with the shutter 46 opened, and the pushed food is put in the bucket 52 placed directly under the food dispensing member 47. Be received.
The forced rotation of the coil screw 14 by the motor 36 is performed for a preset time (steps 11 to 12).
It should be noted that the rotation time of the coil screw 14 and the amount of food dispensed from the food dispensing member 47 are in a substantially proportional relationship, and the coil is determined by the measured value of the food input when various conditions are input on the operation panel in step 4 above. The rotation time of the screw 14 is automatically calculated and set.

After the coil screw 14 has rotated for a predetermined time, the motor 36 is stopped and the dispensing of the food from the food dispensing housing 13 is stopped (steps 13, 1).
4). At the same time, the pin 49a is pulled upward by the cylinder 49, and the shutter 46 is closed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the food from dripping from the food dispensing member 47 after the coil screw 14 is stopped,
Therefore, highly accurate weighing can be performed.

At this time, the weight of the bucket 52 and the food discharged to the bucket 52 is measured by the load cell 58 attached to the bucket positioning means 53, and the bucket 52 is measured in advance by the controller 73 from the measured value.
Is calculated, and the subtracted value, that is, the weight of only the measured food product is displayed by the display unit 59.

When the weighing is completed as described above, the cylinders 54 and 55 of the bucket positioning means 53 are then shortened and returned to their original state, and the bucket 52 filled with food is again returned to the bucket of the food dispenser 2. Return to the receiver 63. When the bucket 52 is returned to the original position on the food dispenser 2 in this way, the drive motor of the food dispenser 2 is activated to move the bucket 52 filled with the food through the chain 62 to the food dispenser 2 It is moved to the payout position of the front end portion of, ie, the position below the scraper (steps 15 and 16).

Then, the cylinder 69 extends to move the scraper 71 downward. The scraper 71 abuts the food filled in the bucket 52 and presses the food downward. When the pressing force on the food reaches a predetermined value or more, the shutter 67 is pushed against the spring to open the shutter 67.
To open. At the same time, the food in the bucket 52 is transferred to the lower bucket 72 on the side of the bag filling device 3 (step 17). After that, the cylinder 69 is shortened to return the scraper 71 to the original position, and at the same time, the shutter 67 returns to the original closed state by the urging force of the spring. A plurality of buckets 52 are incorporated in the food dispenser 2. As described above, one of the buckets 52 reaches the dispensing position and the food filled therein is transferred to the bucket 72 on the bagging device side. At this time, one of the other buckets reaches the weighing position facing the food dispenser 2 and the weighing operation is performed.

The series of weighing operations shown in steps 9 to 17 are repeated until the lot end signal is issued. In this measuring operation, the coil screw 1
4, the food is dispensed from the food dispensing housing 13 one by one, but when the food stored in the food dispensing housing 13 is reduced to a predetermined amount or less, the food dispensing housing 13 is released. Level sensor 28a provided in the
Based on the output signal from the hopper 11, the scraping machine 20 attached to the hopper 11 is actuated, and the food in the hopper 11 is fed to the shooter 1.
It is replenished to the housing 13 for food delivery via 2. Therefore, continuous metering operation is possible.

During the food replenishing operation from the hopper 11, if the food height in the hopper 11 becomes less than or equal to a predetermined height, the motor 19 operates based on the output signal from the level sensor 18 in the hopper 11, The bottom plate 16 of the hopper 11 is raised by a predetermined amount via the jack 17. As a result, the food height of the hopper 11 is always maintained at a height at which the scraping machine 20 can scrape the food.

Further, since the scraping machine 32 of the food-discharging casing 13 also operates in conjunction with the operation of the scraping machine 20 attached to the hopper 11, the tapered portion 38a is formed at the rear end of the cylindrical member 38. Together with this, it is possible to prevent food from accumulating at the base end of the cylindrical portion 38 of the food delivery housing 13. In addition, the scraper 32 of the housing 13 for dispensing food is operated in conjunction with the operation of the scraper 20 on the side of the hopper 11 as in the present embodiment, and is also reciprocated in conjunction with the operation of the coil screw 14. Alternatively, a sensor may be provided in the front portion of the food dispensing housing 13 and the sensor may be operated based on an output signal from the sensor.

After the above-described series of weighing operations are repeatedly performed, the level sensor 2 in the housing 13 for food delivery
When 8a detects that there is no food in the housing, and further detects that there is no food even after the operation of the scraping machine 20, the lot end signal is output based on the output signal from the level sensor 28a. It is issued and the automatic operation is stopped based on this (step 18).

After that, if necessary, foods of the same type or other types are put into the hopper 11, and the above-mentioned automatic weighing operation is performed again. When another kind of food is put into the hopper 11, the hopper 11 and the scraper 2
The main components of the automatic food measuring device, such as 0, the food dispensing housing 13, the scraping machine 32, and the bucket, which come into direct contact with food, are removed and washed in advance.

FIG. 9 shows another example of the food dispenser 2. That is, although the chain type food dispenser 2 is used in FIG. 1 described above, the rotary food dispenser 2 is used here. In the food dispenser 2 shown here, the pedestal 80 prevents the prismatic member 81 from
It is rotatably supported at regular intervals, the bucket support portion 83 is supported on the prismatic member 81 via the arm 82, and the food dispenser 2 is attached to the food automatic weighing device body 1 at a proper position. At this time, an arm 84 extends from the rod 83 so as to penetrate through the upper end of the prismatic member 81 so as to extend to the side opposite to the food automatic weighing apparatus body 1, and a scraper 71 is vertically arranged at the tip of the arm 84. It is provided at the lower end of the cylinder 69.

According to the food dispenser 2, the food weighed by the food automatic weighing device main body 1 can be moved in the horizontal direction 90.
It is possible to receive the food by the bucket 52 that is intermittently rotated at regular intervals, and dispense the received food to a bag filling device (not shown) arranged on the side opposite to the food automatic weighing device main body 1.

In the above embodiment, the scraper 71 is moved up and down by the cylinder 69. However, the invention is not limited to this, and other means, for example, a gear driven by a motor and a combination of a worm and a worm wheel is used. The scraper 71 may be moved up and down by a device. Further, in the above embodiment, the shutter 67 at the lower end of the bucket 52 is held in the closed state by the urging force of the spring, but the invention is not limited to this, and the shutter is forcibly opened / closed by an electrical means. You may

[0044]

According to the food dispenser of the present invention, since the scraper comes into contact with the food in the packet and forcibly discharges the food downward, as compared with the case where the food is dispensed by gravity dropping using weight. High-speed payout becomes possible.
Further, since the outer peripheral portion of the scraper moves from the upper end portion to the lower end portion of the bucket while sliding on the inner surface of the bucket, the food can be prevented from adhering to the inner surface of the bucket.
As a result, the accuracy of weighing can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of an automatic food weighing device in which a food dispensing machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention is assembled.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a food automatic weighing device main body which is a component of the food automatic weighing device.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the main body of the automatic food weighing device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main part of the main body of the automatic food weighing device.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the bucket.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a bucket.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a weighing method by the automatic food weighing device.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Food Automatic Measuring Device Main Body 2 Food Dispensing Machine 3 Bag Packing Device 11 Hopper 12 Shooter 13 Food Dispensing Housing 14 Coil Screw 15 Food Supply Means 16 Bottom Plate 18 Level Sensor 20 Scraping Machine 28a Level Sensor 32 Scraping Machine 38 Cylindrical Member 38a Taper portion 46 Shutter 48 Link mechanism 52 Bucket 53 Bucket positioning means 57 Bucket hook 58 Load cell 59 Display section 64 Transfer means 67 Shutter 69 Cylinder (rod up / down moving means) 70 Piston rod (rod) 71 Scraper 71a Slit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A bucket which is formed in a tubular shape and has a shutter which can be opened and closed at the lower end and which is filled with food, a transfer means for transferring the bucket from a food receiving position to a food dispensing position, and the food dispensing. A rod vertically provided above the position, a disk-shaped scraper made of a flexible material attached to the lower end of the rod and having a diameter larger than the inner diameter of the bucket, and vertically moving the rod. A food dispenser comprising a rod up-and-down moving means.