Garbage sorting system

Abstract

To provide a garbage sorting system which can easily change the processing capacity of sorting of garbage according to an amount of garbage.SOLUTION: A garbage classification system of the present invention comprises: an alignment device for aligning pieces of garbage to discharge them into two or more transportation passages; and sorting devices arranged each on the two or more transportation passages to sort the discharged garbage.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a waste sorting system. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, at garbage collection sites, garbage sorting for recycling has been mainly done manually. Garbage sorting is a very time-consuming task, and there is also a labor shortage problem. For this reason, prior inventions have proposed wind-powered garbage sorting devices that use wind power to separate garbage. In a wind-powered sorting device, mixed waste is continuously transported by a conveying device and falls from the conveying device one after another, and air is blown directly from the side onto the falling mixed waste, blowing the lighter pieces farther away, thereby separating the mixed waste into heavy and light pieces. Furthermore, conventional waste sorting equipment is large and expensive, making it difficult to install in existing small waste treatment plants. It is also difficult to easily adjust the waste sorting capacity to match the amount of waste. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 4667015 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] As described above, conventional sorting devices have the problem that it is difficult to easily change the capacity of sorting garbage according to the amount of garbage.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a garbage sorting system that can easily change the garbage sorting processing capacity in accordance with the amount of garbage. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above problems, the garbage sorting system of the present invention comprises an alignment device that aligns garbage and discharges it onto two or more conveying paths, and a sorting device that is positioned on each of the two or more conveying paths and sorts the discharged garbage. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a garbage sorting system that can easily change the garbage sorting processing capacity in accordance with the amount of garbage. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a waste separation system according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a combination of separation devices in a waste separation system according to an embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a combination of separation devices in a waste separation system according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a combination of separation devices in a waste separation system according to an embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a lifting mechanism of the waste sorting system according to the embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an alignment device of the waste sorting system according to the embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 6. [Figure 8] 1 is a side view showing an example of the configuration of a waste separation system according to an embodiment. [Figure 9] 1 is a plan view showing an example of the configuration of a waste separation system according to an embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a server of the waste separation system according to the embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a server of the waste separation system according to the embodiment. [Figure 12]FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of information processing in the waste sorting system according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] [Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a waste sorting system 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the waste sorting system 1 includes a lifting mechanism 3 for lifting waste G on an existing belt conveyor 2A to the same height as a new belt conveyor 2B placed on the existing belt conveyor 2A, an alignment device 4 for aligning the waste G and discharging it onto a new belt conveyor 2B (hereinafter simply referred to as a conveying path 2B), which is a conveying path, a sorting device 5 placed on each of the two or more conveying paths 2B for sorting the discharged waste G, and a server 6 (information processing device) communicatively connected to the sorting device 5 via a communication network 7. Note that, in this embodiment, the waste is assumed to be solid objects of a predetermined size, such as bottles, cans, and plastic bottles, but the waste is not limited to these.

[0010] 2 to 4 are diagrams showing examples of combinations of the sorting devices 5. A plurality of the sorting devices 5 can be used in combination, and as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, they can be combined and placed on the conveying path. For example, in Fig. 2, two sorting devices 5A and 5B are installed in series on the conveying path 2B of 1. In the example shown in Fig. 2, the downstream sorting device 5B is configured to sort the garbage G that could not be sorted by the upstream sorting device 5A. 3, a further conveying path 2C is arranged on the conveying path 2B, two sorting devices 5C and 5D are installed in series on the conveying path 2B, and two sorting devices 5E and 5F are installed in series on the conveying path 2C. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the downstream sorting devices 5D and 5F are configured to sort the garbage G that could not be sorted by the upstream sorting devices 5C and 5E installed on each of the conveying paths 2B and 2C. As shown in FIG. 4, it is also possible to combine the configuration shown in FIG. 2 with the configuration shown in FIG. In this way, in the garbage sorting system 1 of this embodiment, multiple transport routes can be arranged, and by installing multiple sorting devices 5 on each transport route, it is possible to sort more garbage G than the sorting processing capacity of a single sorting device 5 can handle. As mentioned above, the transport path 2B can be placed on the existing belt conveyor 2A at the waste disposal facility, which eliminates the need to remove the existing belt conveyor 2A, making it economical. Furthermore, the height and width of the sorting device 5 are adjustable, making it possible to install it on any size of existing belt conveyor. It is also possible to use multiple sorting devices arranged side by side (across the conveying direction of the existing belt conveyor at the waste disposal facility). One sorting device may have two or more conveying paths 2B branching to the left and right.

[0011] Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the lifting mechanism 3. As shown in Fig. 5, the lifting mechanism 3 includes a rotor 3A having four blades 3A1 for scooping up debris G on the existing belt conveyor 2A and two disks 3A2 supporting the blades 3A1, a lifting platform 3B for guiding the debris G scooped up by the rotor 3A to the aligning device 4, and a power source (not shown) such as a motor for rotating the rotor 3 about a central axis C. The number of blades 3A1 is not limited to four, and may be one or more.

[0012] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the alignment device 4. FIG. 6 is a plan view. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 6. The alignment device 4 includes a rotor 41 and a partition plate 42 for aligning the waste G lifted by the lifting mechanism 3 in a line by centrifugal force and discharging the waste G to the conveying path 2B, a power source (not shown) such as a motor for rotating the rotor 41, and a cover 43 for preventing the waste G from flying out. As shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 7, the rotor 41 has a conical shape, and the waste G on the rotor 41 is pushed toward the cover 43 by gravity and centrifugal force and aligned along the cover 43. The cover 43 does not rotate.

[0013] FIG. 8 is a side view showing an example of the configuration of a waste sorting system 1 according to an embodiment. FIG. 9 is a plan view showing an example of the configuration of a waste sorting system 1 according to an embodiment. As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the sorting device 5 includes a camera 51 that captures images of waste G on the transport path, a transmitter 52 that transmits image data captured by the camera 51, a receiver 53 that receives determination information transmitted from the server 6, and a removal unit 54 that removes waste G from the transport path based on the determination information received by the receiver 53. The image data transmitted from the transmitter 52 is assigned at least a timestamp indicating the date and time of transmission and an ID (unique identifier) ​​of the sorting device 5. The removal unit 54 (sorter) may have any configuration that can remove waste G from the transport path. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 9, the removal unit 54 may be configured to remove waste G from the transport path by blowing compressed air, or may be configured to remove waste G from the transport path by mechanically pushing it out using a rod-shaped member. Multiple methods of removing waste may be combined. For example, the method of blowing compressed air and the method of mechanically pushing out the garbage with a rod-shaped member or the like may be used in combination. By mechanically pushing out relatively heavy garbage and removing relatively light garbage with compressed air, which has a high processing speed, the amount of garbage that can be processed per hour can be efficiently increased. In addition, the gap between the alignment devices 4 (see Figure 9) is blocked by an inclined metal plate T, and this metal plate T is configured so that the garbage G dropped from the lifting mechanism 3 falls into either the left or right alignment device 4. In addition, in this embodiment, garbage is removed toward the outside of the sorting device 5, but this is because garbage disposal plants are usually designed so that workers drop garbage on the conveyor belt into trash bins or chutes placed outside the conveyor belt (there is a conveyor on the lower floor or at the workers' feet, and when specific items of garbage are dropped there, the garbage to be sorted goes to the next process), and by removing garbage toward the outside of the sorting device 5, when it is placed on an existing conveyor belt at the garbage disposal plant, it can be dropped into trash bins or chutes placed outside the conveyor belt. 9, the sorting device 5 is provided with two cameras 51 that capture images of the debris G on the transport path and two removal means 54 that remove the debris G from the transport path based on determination information received by the receiving unit 53, but as can be seen from the fact that there is only one transmitting unit 52 and one receiving unit 53, one sorting device 5 is provided with two cameras 51 and two removal means 54. The transport path 2B also branches, but this corresponds to the transport path 2B 1 in FIGS.

[0014] The server 6 distinguishes the types of garbage based on image data of the garbage transmitted from the sorting device 5. FIGS. 10 and 11 are diagrams showing an example of the configuration of the server 6. FIG. 10 shows an example of the main hardware configuration of the server 6. The server 6 has, for example, a communication IF 6A, a storage device 6B, and a CPU 6C connected via a bus. Although not shown in FIG. 10, the server 6 may also include an input device (for example, a mouse, keyboard, touch panel, etc.) and a display device (CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), liquid crystal display, organic EL display, etc.).

[0015] The communication IF 6A is an interface for communicating with other devices (for example, the sorting device 5).

[0016] The storage device 6B is, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD) or a semiconductor storage device (solid state drive (SSD)). The storage device 6B stores image data of dust, a trained model that has learned the types of dust, various information, an information processing program, and the like. Note that some or all of the trained model and various information stored in the storage device 6B may be stored in an external storage device such as a universal serial bus (USB) memory or an external HDD, or in a storage device of another information processing device connected via the communication network 7. In this case, the server 6 refers to or acquires the trained model and various information stored in the external storage device or the storage device of the other information processing device.

[0017] The CPU 6C controls the server 6 and includes a ROM and a RAM (not shown).

[0018] (Pre-trained model) The trained model is a model that has learned the types of garbage using the following data as training data. (1) Image data (2) Coordinate information corresponding to image data (3) Type of object to be identified (in this embodiment, dust) In practice, the above training data is divided into training data (textbooks) and validation data (tests with answers), and an inference model is repeatedly constructed based on the training data, with the inference model being used each time to infer the validation data. The model with the highest accuracy rate for inference on the validation data is then adopted as the model to be used when actually identifying garbage. The trained model is designed to be updatable, and can be updated at any time or as needed. Specifically, the training data is updated periodically based on the accumulated daily data of photographed garbage, and the trained model is also updated based on the updated training data.

[0019] Fig. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the server 6. The server 6 has functions such as a receiving unit 61, a transmitting unit 62, a determining unit 63, and a storage device control unit 64. The functions shown in Fig. 11 are realized by the CPU 6C executing an information processing program stored in the storage device 6B.

[0020] The receiving unit 61 receives image data transmitted from the sorting device 5 via the communication network 7.

[0021] The discrimination unit 63 inputs the image data of the dust received by the receiving unit 61 into a trained model that has learned the image data of the dust and the type of the dust, and discriminates the dust based on the type of dust output by the trained model.

[0022] The transmitting unit 62 transmits the discrimination result by the discriminating unit 63 to the separating device 5.

[0023] The storage device control unit 64 controls the storage device 6B. The storage device control unit 64, for example, writes and reads information to and from the storage device 6B.

[0024] (Information Processing) Fig. 12 is a flowchart showing an example of information processing in the waste sorting system 1 according to the embodiment. Hereinafter, the information processing in the waste sorting system 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 12. In the following description, the same components as those described with reference to Figs. 1 to 11 will be assigned the same reference numerals, and duplicated description will be omitted.

[0025] (Step S101) The camera 51 of the sorting device 5 captures images of the garbage.

[0026] (Step S102) The transmission unit 52 of the sorting device 5 adds information such as a timestamp and the ID of the sorting device 5 to the image data of the garbage captured by the camera 51 and transmits the image data to the server 6.

[0027] (Step S103) The receiving unit 61 of the server 6 receives the image data transmitted from the sorting device 5.

[0028] (Step S104) The discrimination unit 63 of the server 6 inputs the image data of the dust received by the receiving unit 61 into a trained model that has learned the image data of the dust and the type of the dust, and discriminates the dust based on the type of dust output by the trained model.

[0029] (Step S105) The transmitting unit 62 of the server 6 transmits the discrimination result by the discriminating unit 63 to the sorting device 5 that transmitted the image data based on the ID of the sorting device 5.

[0030] (Step S106) The receiving unit 53 of the sorting device 5 receives the discrimination result transmitted from the server 6.

[0031] (Step S107) The sorting device 5 determines whether the captured dust is a type of dust to be removed based on the received determination result. If it is to be removed (YES), the sorting device 5 executes the process of step S108. If it is not to be removed (NO), the sorting device 5 ends the process.

[0032] (Step S108) The removal means 54 of the sorting device 5 removes the target waste from the transport path.

[0033] After step S107 or step S108 is completed, the process returns to step S101.

[0034] As described above, the waste sorting system 1 according to this embodiment includes an alignment device 4 that aligns waste and discharges it onto two or more transport paths, and a sorting device 5 that is disposed on each of the two or more transport paths and sorts the discharged waste. In this way, because waste is sorted by multiple sorting devices 5, the waste sorting processing capacity can be easily changed according to the amount of waste.

[0035] The waste sorting system 1 according to this embodiment also includes an alignment device 4 that aligns waste and discharges it onto the conveying path (belt conveyor 2B), and a sorting device 5 that is arranged on the conveying path and sorts the discharged waste. Two or more sorting devices 5 are arranged on one conveying path. In this way, since two or more sorting devices 5 are arranged on one conveying path, the waste sorting processing capacity can be easily changed according to the amount of waste.

[0036] Furthermore, the sorting device 5 of the waste sorting system 1 according to this embodiment is placed on an existing conveyor, which makes it easy to introduce into existing waste treatment plants.

[0037] The waste sorting system 1 according to this embodiment also includes an information processing device (server 6) equipped with a discrimination unit 63 that discriminates waste based on image data of the waste transmitted from the sorting device 5. The sorting device 5 further includes an imaging device (camera 51) that captures images of the waste, a transmission unit 52 that transmits image data of the waste captured by the imaging device to the information processing device, a reception unit 53 that receives the discrimination results of the waste that are transmitted from the information processing device, and a sorter (removal means 54) that separates the waste based on the discrimination results received by the reception unit 53. In this way, the system separates waste through learning, making it possible to handle the separation of various types of waste.

[0038] Furthermore, the discrimination unit 63 of the server 6 of the waste sorting system 1 according to this embodiment inputs image data of the waste captured by the imaging device (camera 51) into a trained model that has learned image data of the waste and the type of waste, and discriminates the waste based on the type of waste output by the trained model. Discriminating the waste in this way enables real-time waste sorting.

[0039] [Modification of the embodiment] In the above embodiment, the sorting device 5 may have a function for identifying the type of garbage based on image data of the captured garbage. In this case, the sorting device 5 includes a discrimination unit 63 that discriminates the type of garbage based on image data of the garbage captured by the imaging device (camera 51), and a sorter (removal means 54) that separates the garbage based on the discrimination results made by the discrimination unit 63. In other words, since the installation location of the sorting device 5 may not necessarily have a perfect communication environment, the sorting device 5 can be configured as a stand-alone type not connected to the communication network 7 or a type connected only to a network within a factory by including the discrimination unit 63 that discriminates the type of garbage and the sorter (removal means 54) that separates the garbage based on the discrimination results made by the discrimination unit 63.

[0040] Furthermore, the above-described embodiments and modifications are merely examples of specific embodiments of the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited thereby. In other words, the present invention can be embodied in various forms without departing from the gist or main characteristics thereof. [Explanation of symbols]

[0041] 1: Garbage sorting system 2A: Existing belt conveyor 2B: Newly installed conveyor belt 3: Lifting mechanism 3A: Rotating body 3A1: Feather 3A2:Disc 3B: Lifting platform C: Central axis 4: Alignment device 41: Rotating body 42: Partition board 43: Cover 5:Separation device 51: Camera 52: Transmitter 53: Receiving unit 54 :Removal means 6: Server 6A: Communication IF 6B:Storage device 6C: CPU 61: Receiving unit 62: Transmitter 63:Discrimination part 64: Storage device control unit 7: Communication network

Claims

1. an alignment device that aligns the waste and discharges it onto two or more conveyance paths; A sorting device is disposed on each of the two or more conveying paths and sorts the discharged waste; A garbage sorting system comprising:

2. an alignment device that aligns the waste and discharges it onto a conveyance path; a sorting device that is disposed on the transport path and sorts the discharged waste, The sorting device comprises: Two or more are arranged on one transport path, A waste sorting system.

3. The sorting device comprises: placed on an existing conveyor, 3. The waste sorting system according to claim 1 or 2.

4. an information processing device including a discrimination unit that discriminates the garbage based on the image of the garbage transmitted from the sorting device; The sorting device comprises: an imaging device that images the dust; a transmission unit that transmits the image of the dust captured by the imaging device to the information processing device; a receiving unit that receives a result of the dust discrimination transmitted from the information processing device; a sorter that sorts the garbage based on the discrimination result received by the receiving unit; The waste sorting system according to claim 1, further comprising:

5. The sorting device includes: an imaging device that images the dust; a determination unit that determines whether the dust is present based on an image of the dust captured by the imaging device; a sorter that sorts the garbage based on the discrimination result determined by the discrimination unit; The waste sorting system according to claim 1, further comprising:

6. The determination unit an image of dust captured by the imaging device is input to a trained model that has learned images of dust and types of dust, and the dust is identified based on the type of dust output by the trained model; 6. The waste sorting system according to claim 4 or claim 5.

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