JPH09327661A - Cucumber take-out device and cucumber sorting device using this device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [PROBLEMS] To reduce the manufacturing cost of a vegetable picking device and a sorting device using this device. SOLUTION: A pair of suction nozzles 12 for adsorbing cucumber,
A downward support rod 22 held by the nozzle holding portion 23 on the tip end side and an elevating mechanism 25 for raising and lowering the supporting rod 22 are supported by an apparatus frame 26, and the nozzle holding portion 23 is rotated around the vertical axis. A rotating mechanism 40 is provided to allow the rotation mechanism 40 to rotate.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cucumber take-out device and a cucumber selecting device using this device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as the above-mentioned cucumber take-out device, there has been one in which a robot hand having a plurality of fingers that are bent by fluid pressure is provided so that its position can be freely changed [JP-A-57-144687]. Gazette].

However, in the above-mentioned conventional structure, it is difficult to say that the structure and control of the robot hand, which is the cucumber take-out portion, and its position changing mechanism are complicated, and it can be manufactured at low cost. There was room for improvement in terms of sex.

An object of the present invention is to reduce the manufacturing cost of a vegetable picking device and a sorting device using this device, and to improve economic efficiency.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

[Structure] The characteristic structure of the invention according to claim 1 is: a support rod in a downward posture that holds a pair of suction nozzles that adsorb cucumber with a nozzle holding portion on the tip side; and an elevating mechanism that drives the support rod up and down. Is supported by an apparatus frame, and a rotation mechanism for rotating the nozzle holding portion around the vertical axis is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a belt conveyor for transporting cucumber, and a grade determination mechanism for determining the grade when the cucumber is located at a predetermined determination position on the transport path of the belt conveyor. The cucumber take-out device according to claim 1 is arranged on the lower side of the conveyor direction of the belt conveyor, and the position of the cucumber is laterally changeable. It is configured such that the cucumbers are taken out one by one by the cucumber taking-out device and loaded into a predetermined part of the loading part according to grade.

[Operation] [a] According to the structure of claim 1, the support rod in the downward position positioned above the cucumber is lowered by the drive of the lifting mechanism, and the pair of suction nozzles on the tip side thereof is The cucumber is adsorbed to the cucumber, and the cucumber is lifted by driving the lifting mechanism to take out the cucumber. In other words, the pair of suction nozzles picks up and removes cucumber in the central part in the longitudinal direction, so the structure of the cucumber take-out part can be simplified, and the cucumber is taken out only by raising and lowering the suction nozzle and the suction operation. The structure and control of the mechanism can be simplified.

If one suction nozzle is provided, the support balance may be poor when the cucumber is adsorbed and supported by the cucumber. If three or more suction nozzles are provided, the cucumber is long and bends. Since there are many cases, there is a problem that it is difficult to adsorb all the adsorption nozzles to cucumber,
In the above configuration, since a pair of suction nozzles is provided, the above-mentioned inconvenience does not occur, and any one of the pair of suction nozzles can be adsorbed on the cucumber and stably taken out and supported.

Further, since the rotating mechanism for rotating the nozzle holding portion for holding the pair of suction nozzles about the vertical axis is provided, the position of the pair of suction nozzles about the vertical axis is targeted before the suction. The position of the suction nozzle can be changed and adjusted to suit the posture of the cucumber, and also when it is placed at a predetermined location after suction, the posture of the suction nozzle is also adjusted to the posture of the cucumber placed in advance and the posture of the loading section. Can be changed and adjusted.

[B] According to the configuration of claim 2, when the cucumber is located at a predetermined discriminating position on the conveying path of the belt conveyor, the grade discriminating mechanism discriminates the grade, and the grade is conveyed by the belt conveyor. After determining, the cucumbers are taken out one by one by the cucumber take-out device, and are loaded in predetermined places according to grades of the loading section. In this case, the cucumber take-out device can exhibit the same action as the above action [a], and the cucumber can be accurately arranged at a predetermined position according to the grade of the loading section as desired.

[Effect] Therefore, according to the configuration of claim 1, the above operation [a] makes it possible to reduce the manufacturing cost of the cucumber take-out device and improve the workability.

According to the structure of claim 2, the above-mentioned action [b]
As a result, the manufacturing cost of the cucumber sorting device can be reduced and the workability can be improved.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 show a cucumber sorting device. This cucumber sorting device is provided with a first take-out and conveying device 2 for taking out a large number of cucumbers arranged one by one in a shipping container 1 as a shipping section, and the cucumber is supplied from the first take-out and conveying device 2. And the belt conveyor 4 that conveys in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the first take-out conveying device 2, and when the cucumber is located at a predetermined discrimination position on the conveyance path of the belt conveyor 4, the cucumber is monitored and the shape is discriminated. A shape determining device 3 including an image processing type shape determining mechanism 5 (an example of a grade determining mechanism) is provided, and a loading section 6 including four loading containers 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D as loading sections. Is provided, and the cucumbers after the shape determination are taken out one by one, and the second take-out / conveying device 7 for loading the cucumbers into the respective loading containers 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D is provided, and the first and second take-out and conveying devices 2, 7 And shape discriminator To control the control unit 8
(Corresponding to control means) is provided and configured.

The first unloading and conveying device 2 is provided with a loading table 9 for the unloading container 1 on the lower end side of the support frame 10.
A nozzle mechanism 11 provided with a single suction-type suction nozzle 12 for picking up and picking cucumber in the longitudinal center thereof, and a nozzle mechanism 11 in a state where the suction nozzle 12 is lifted are provided for the length of each cucumber in the shipping container 1. A reciprocating mechanism 13 for linearly reciprocating so as to pass above the central portion in the direction is supported by the support frame 10, and a cucumber supply unit 14 for the belt conveyor 4 is formed on the lower side in the moving direction of the nozzle mechanism 11. Next, the details of each mechanism of the first take-out transfer device 2 will be described (the structures of the nozzle mechanism 11 and the reciprocating movement mechanism 13 are the same as those of the reciprocating movement mechanism provided in the second take-out transferring device 7). Since the structure is almost the same as that of the nozzle mechanism, the latter reciprocating mechanism will be described with reference to FIG. 8).

As shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 8, the reciprocating mechanism 13 is arranged so that the nozzle mechanism 1 is in a posture along the conveyance width direction.
A pair of round pipes 15 for suspending and supporting 1; a pair of guide rails 16 for supporting the round pipe 15 so as to be capable of rectilinear reciprocating movement; and a posture along the guide rails 16 by the first electric motor M1 (see FIG. 1). A first rubber belt 17 that is rotationally driven in the forward and reverse directions is provided, and the first rubber belt 17 is configured so that the round pipe 15 moves linearly and reciprocally integrally with the nozzle mechanism 11 in accordance with the forward and reverse rotation of the first rubber belt 17. 17 is connected to the round pipe 15 side.

That is, a pair of rectangular outer flanges 18 are welded and fixed to both ends of the round pipe 15, and a pair of inner flanges 19 thinner than the outer flanges 18 are provided on the inner sides of the outer flanges 18, respectively. The round pipes 15 are welded and fixed to each other, and the guide rails 16 are sandwiched between the upper and lower guide rollers 20 provided on both outer flanges 18 from above and below.
The round pipe 15 is configured to move straight forward and backward via the. The first rubber belt 17 is biased closer to one guide rail 16 side than the central portion of the round pipe 15 so that the nozzle mechanism 11 can be arranged at the central portion of the round pipe 15 without interfering with the first rubber belt 17. It is arranged and connected to one inner flange 19 on the lower side of the round pipe 15.

In the nozzle mechanism 11, the support rod 22, which holds one suction nozzle 12 (see FIGS. 4 and 5) by the nozzle holding portion 23 on the tip side, is vertically lowered by the posture holding means 24. An elevating mechanism 25 that holds and holds the support rod 22 is provided, and an air flow passage R that connects the suction nozzle 12 and an air suction portion (not shown) is formed in the support rod 22. 22, a ceiling plate 27 is fixed to a device frame 26 that holds the posture holding means 24, the lifting mechanism 25, and the like, and both ends of the ceiling plate 27 are supported and connected by bolts to the upper ends of the inner flanges 19 on the round pipe 15 side. Is configured.

As shown in FIG. 8, the device frame 26
Is composed of a vertically split structure in which the first split frame 26A on one side in the radial direction and the second split frame 26B on the other side are separable from each other, and both the support rod 22 and the lifting mechanism 25 are It is provided on the side of one of the first divided frames 26A. The first and second divided frames 26A, 26
B is a channel member shape, the concave portions are opposed to each other and their side plates are connected via a connecting plate 28.
A first height detection sensor 29 for detecting the position in the height direction of the vegetables that have been sucked up by the suction nozzle 12 is attached (see FIG. 4).

As shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, the posture holding means 24 is constructed so that the guide rod 30 fixed to the lower end of the apparatus frame 26 is inserted in and supports the support rod 22 in a vertical direction. The guide hole 30a is formed to support the support rod 22.
The upper support portion 31 that supports the upper end side flexibly so as to allow the upper end side of the guide hole 30a to be displaced from the axial center of the guide hole 30a to the outer side in the radial direction and be inclined. The second rubber belt 3 in a vertical posture along the support rod 22 in order to configure the elevating mechanism 25.
2 is rotatably supported by the device frame 26, and
A second electric motor M2 for rotating and driving a second rubber belt is mounted and fixed on the ceiling plate 27, and the second rubber belt 32 is moved so that the support rod 22 moves up and down with the forward and reverse rotation of the second rubber belt 32. And the upper end of the support rod 22 in plan view U
They are connected via a support bracket 33 having a V shape. The second rubber belt 32 is also supported by the first divided frame 26A.

The back side of the support bracket 33 is superposed and fixed on the front side surface of the second rubber belt 32.
Then, the support rod 22 is inserted into the concave portion between the both side walls of the support bracket 33, the upper end portion of the support rod 22 is fixed to the both side walls, and the roller 34 is provided at the free end portion of the both side walls.
Is rotatably supported around the horizontal axis, and this roller 34 is
The vertical guide groove 35 formed on the second divided frame 26B side is fitted so as to be vertically engaged and guided. The upper support portion 31 has a structure in which the support bracket 33 is supported by the second rubber belt 32 and the vertical guide groove 35.

As shown in FIG. 2, the cucumber that has been sucked by the suction nozzle 12 and conveyed to the front side of the belt conveyor 4 of the shape determining device 3 is located at a position higher than the cucumber receiving portion 4A of the belt conveyor 4. The second height detection sensor 36, which is an optical sensor for detecting whether or not the cucumber is higher than the receiving portion 4A, is provided based on the detection information of the second height detection sensor 36. If it is not in the position (see FIG. 20B), the control device 8 controls (see FIG. 15) to stop the movement of the nozzle mechanism 11 to the receiving portion 4A side, raise the suction nozzle 12, and remove the cucumber. When the second height detection sensor 36 detects that the height is higher than that of the receiving portion 4A (see FIG. 20A), the nozzle mechanism 11 to the receiving portion side 4A is detected based on the detection information. It is configured so as to resume the motion.
As shown in FIG. 2, the suction nozzle 12 supplies the cucumber to the belt conveyor 4 so that the cucumber has a posture along the conveying direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, the shape discriminating device 3 has its shape discriminating mechanism 5 straddled over the belt conveyor 4 via the legs so that the shape discriminating mechanism 5 and the conveyor conveying surface are connected. A pair of side light-shielding covers 37 are provided to cover the discrimination space S between the both sides, and the pair of side light-shielding covers 37 are provided.
The lower end portion 37a of the belt conveyor 4 is bent so as to enter the inner side in the width direction of the conveyor operation surface below the conveyor operation surface of the belt conveyor 4, and the front light-shielding cover 38 that covers the discrimination space S from the upstream side of the conveyor. Is provided in the shape of a hot-shelter so as to allow the cucumber to enter the discrimination space S while maintaining the posture along the conveying direction.

As described above, the second take-out and conveying device 7 has substantially the same structure as that of the first take-out and conveying device 2, and is similar to that shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 3, the sheet is arranged in parallel with the first take-out / conveying device 2 so as to straddle the conveying end portion of the belt conveyor 4 of the shape determining device 3. The first unloading and conveying device 2 includes a loading table 39 for a plurality of loading containers 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D (corresponding to respective lengths LL, L, M, S of cucumber) on the lower end side of the support frame 10. The structure is different in that it is provided in a tilted state, that two suction nozzles 12 are provided, and that a rotation mechanism 40 that rotates the support rod 22 around the rod axis is provided. Next, the structure of this different portion will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3, the loading table 39 for the loading container 6 includes a plurality of loading containers 6A, 6B, 6
C and 6D are distributed to both sides of the cucumber taking-out position A from the belt conveyor 4 by the suction nozzle 12 of the second taking-out carrying device 7 in a posture along the carrying direction of the first taking-out carrying device 2 and sandwich the cucumber taking-out position A. In addition, the loading containers 6A and 6B located on one side and the corresponding loading containers 6C and 6D on the other side are arranged so as to be located at the same distance from the cucumber unloading position A, and the loading container The cucumber receiving surface of No. 6 is set so as to incline in the direction in which the cucumbers are lined up, and as shown in FIG. 14, its inclination angle can be changed and adjusted via the interchange mechanism 49 including a bolt, a bolt insertion slot, etc. I am doing it.

As shown in FIGS. 9, 10, and 11, the rotation mechanism 40 is supported by the support bracket 33 on the support rod 2.
The upper end of 2 is held rotatably around the rod axis so as not to move up and down relatively, the long hexagonal shaft 41 is along the support rod 22, and the round bar portions 41a formed at the upper and lower ends of the hexagonal shaft 41 are ceiling-mounted. The third electric motor M3, which is rotatably supported around the axis of the hexagonal shaft 41 by the plate 27 and the guide plate 30 and drives and rotates the hexagonal shaft 41, is mounted and fixed on the ceiling plate 27, and the support bracket 33 On the upper side, a first gear 42 is fitted onto the upper end portion of the support rod 22 so as not to be vertically movable relative to each other, and a second gear 4 is fitted on the hexagonal shaft 41 via a hexagonal hole so as to be relatively movable vertically.
3 is occluded, and the first and second
Both gears 4 are moved so that the second gears 42 and 43 move up and down as a unit.
A gear holding plate 44 is provided to hold the gears 2 and 43 from above and below.

As shown in FIG. 2, a belt tension mechanism 21 for adjusting the tension of the first rubber belt 17 is provided on one end side of the first rubber belt 17 (this belt tension mechanism 21 is the first take-out and transport device 2). It is also provided on the side).

The cucumber sorting apparatus described above operates as follows under the control of the control unit 8. [1] The nozzle mechanism 11 of the first unloading and conveying device 2 is located above the shipping container 1, the suction nozzle 12 comes into contact with the central portion of the end cucumber in the longitudinal direction, and air is sucked by the air suction portion. Adsorb to cucumber. The support rod 22 rises to take out the cucumber, the first rubber belt 17 is rotated by the driving of the first electric motor M1, and the nozzle mechanism 11 advances straight above the longitudinal center portion of each cucumber in the shipping container 1.

When the second height detecting sensor 36 detects that the cucumber transferred to the front side of the belt conveyor 4 of the shape determining device 3 is not at a position higher than the cucumber receiving portion 4A of the belt conveyor 4 ( (See FIG. 20B), as the movement of the nozzle mechanism 11 to the receiving portion 4A side stops, the suction nozzle 12 rises, and the cucumber receives the receiving portion 4A.
When the second height detection sensor 36 detects that the nozzle height is higher than that (see FIG. 20A), the movement of the nozzle mechanism 11 to the receiving portion 4A side is restarted. The nozzle mechanism 1
An alarm buzzer sound or an alarm lamp may blink when the movement of 1 to the receiving portion 4A side is stopped.

The suction nozzle 12 is located above the belt conveyor 4 on the lower side in the straight-ahead direction, the support rod 22 is lowered, and the suction of air by the air suction section is released to bring the cucumber to the starting end of the belt conveyor 4. Place and supply (see FIG. 2). The cucumber is in a posture along the carrying direction of the belt conveyor 4 as described above.

[2] The belt conveyor 4 is driven to rotate, and the cucumber enters the discrimination space S between the shape discrimination mechanism 5 and the conveyor conveying surface, and as shown in FIGS. 19 (a) and 19 (b).
When the set number of pixels 45 of the predetermined pixel row B located on the lower side in the transport direction among the many pixel rows B along the conveyor width direction of the image pickup unit 5A of the shape determination mechanism 5 capture the image of the tip of the cucumber. , The data of the entire image of the cucumber is fetched and sent to the shape determining unit 46 (see FIG. 15), and the cucumber is LL.
・ Determine which of the four grade lengths L, M and S.

[3] When the cucumber is located at the cucumber take-out position A by the suction nozzle 12 of the second take-out and conveying device 7, the belt conveyor 4 is stopped. As shown in FIG. 16, based on the image of the cucumber by the shape determination mechanism 5, the control device 8 sets a minimum rectangle 47 surrounding the cucumber in a plan view as a plane shape of the cucumber, and sets a reference line 48 for the setting reference line 48. The inclination angle θ of the rectangle 47 is calculated as the inclination angle detection storage unit 50.
Is detected and stored at (the tilt angle θ may be zero). Then, as shown in FIGS. 17A and 17B, the rotation mechanism 40 of the second take-out transporting device 7 is driven based on the inclination angle θ, and the nozzle holding portion 23 removes the cucumber before taking out the cucumber. In order to correspond to the posture, the angle change adjustment rotation is performed around the axis of the support rod 22.

[4] The suction nozzle 12 of the second take-out and conveying device 7 takes out and raises the cucumber in the same manner as the first take-out and conveying device 2, and the loading container 6C (6A, 6A, 6B, 6D) moves straight to the upper side of the lower end of the inclination, the rotation mechanism 40 is driven based on the inclination angle θ, and the nozzle holding portion 23 moves the support rod 22 of the support rod 22 to correspond to the posture of the loading container 6. After rotating by changing the angle around the axis, the cucumber is placed and supplied on the lower end side (Fig. 17).
(C)).

[5] Cucumbers are loaded into the loading container 6 according to the length thereof by repeating the above [1] to [4]. As shown in FIG. 18 (a), the control device 8 stores the loading position of the cucumber in each loading container 6, calculates it by the loading position calculation unit 51, and the suction nozzle 12 takes out and holds it. In the state where the cucumbers are loaded from the loading position of the cucumbers loaded in front of the loading container 6 to the position shifted by the set amount, and the cucumbers are loaded from one end side of the loading container 6 to the vicinity of the other end side,
When it is determined that the cucumber rectangle 47 that the suction nozzle 12 has taken out and held next overlaps the other end of the loading container 6 (see FIG. 18B), the suction nozzle 12 is lowered by a set amount. Shorten and sequentially load on the previously loaded one-step cucumber.

[Other Embodiments] The grade discrimination device 3 may discriminate another grade such as the degree of bending of cucumber.

[Brief description of drawings]

1] Overall perspective view of a cucumber sorting device

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a part of a cucumber sorting device.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway front view showing a second unloading and conveying device and a loading section.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a first take-out transfer device.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a nozzle mechanism of the first take-out transfer device.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional plan view of an upper end side of a nozzle mechanism of the first take-out transfer device.

FIG. 7 is a transverse plan view of the lower end side of the nozzle mechanism of the first take-out transfer device.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view showing a nozzle mechanism and a reciprocating mechanism of the second take-out transfer device.

FIG. 9 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a nozzle mechanism of a second take-out transfer device.

FIG. 10 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a rotating mechanism of a second take-out and conveying device.

FIG. 11 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the nozzle mechanism of the second take-out transfer device.

FIG. 12 is a vertical sectional front view of the shape determining device.

FIG. 13 is a vertical side view of the shape determination device.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a main portion of a shipping section.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a control system.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a cucumber posture detection method.

17A is a plan view showing the attitude control of the suction nozzle of the second take-out transfer device. (B) A plan view showing the attitude control of the suction nozzle of the second take-out transfer device. (C) The suction of the second take-out transfer device. Plan view showing how to load cucumbers into a loading container with a nozzle

Fig. 18 (a) Vertical side view showing how to load cucumbers into the loading container by the suction nozzle of the second unloading and conveying device (b) Loading of cucumber in the loading container by using the suction nozzle of the second unloading and conveying device Vertical side view showing the method

[Fig. 19] (a) A plan view showing a method for determining the grade of cucumber. (B) A plan view showing a method for determining the grade of cucumber.

FIG. 20 (a) A diagram showing a state in which the position of cucumber in the height direction is detected. (B) A diagram showing a state in which it is detected that the cucumber is not higher than a predetermined position.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Belt Conveyor 5 Grade Discrimination Mechanism 6 Loading Section 12 Adsorption Nozzle 22 Support Rod 23 Nozzle Holding Section 25 Lifting Mechanism 26 Equipment Frame 40 Rotation Mechanism

Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Isao Oku 2-5-21 Tenjinbashi, Kita-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Matsubara Building 3FA No.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A support frame in a downward posture for holding a pair of suction nozzles for adsorbing cucumber by a nozzle holding portion on the tip side, and an elevating mechanism for vertically moving the support rod are supported by an apparatus frame to hold the nozzle. Cucumber take-out device equipped with a rotating mechanism that rotates the part around the vertical axis. 2. The cucumber according to claim 1, further comprising a belt conveyor for conveying the cucumber, and a grade determination mechanism for determining the grade of the cucumber when the cucumber is located at a predetermined determination position on the conveyance path of the belt conveyor. The take-out device is arranged on the lower side of the belt conveyor in the conveying direction, and the position of the take-out device is configured to be laterally changeable. A cucumber sorting device configured to take out one by one and load it at a predetermined place according to the grade of the loading section.