A refined sorting and recycling assembly for discarded plastic bottles

Abstract

The present invention discloses a refined sorting and recycling assembly for waste plastic bottles, including: an abnormal specification screening device arranged in sequence in front and back order, including a screening conveying line for conveying waste plastic bottles, a screening mechanism arranged on the screening conveying line, and an abnormal specification collection line; a multi-stage sorting conveying device, including a plurality of front and rear end-to-end planar sorting conveying mechanisms; an identification and classification device, including an identification and classification conveying line for conveying waste plastic bottles, the identification and classification conveying line is provided with a line scanning infrared camera and a line scanning camera; a sorting device, including a sorting conveying line for conveying waste plastic bottles, and a plurality of sorting stations corresponding to different final classifications arranged along the sorting conveying line. The beneficial effect of the present invention is to improve the efficiency and refinement of sorting and recycling.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a sorting and recycling assembly, in particular to a refined sorting and recycling assembly for discarded plastic bottles. Background Art

[0002] With the continuous strengthening of awareness of garbage classification and environmental protection, governments of various countries have vigorously introduced policies and regulations on garbage classification and resource recycling, prompting major international and domestic brands with social influence to join the ranks of advocating the use or partial use of recycled materials to replace original materials in the production of product packaging. Because brand owners control the safety and hygiene of their own products, they also strictly refer to the quality standards of original raw materials in the selection and use of recycled materials. The original traditional plastic bottle recycling industry, due to historical, market, on-site management, the characteristics of the raw materials themselves and technical reasons, is mostly designed with the idea of ​​reducing costs. Most practitioners and companies use floor scales to perform simple physical weighing of incoming materials, and manually rely on experience to perform simple material classification and color classification of plastic bottle recycling, and use simple mechanical transmission and compression equipment to perform classification, compression and packaging operations. Therefore, the following problems exist:

[0003] Lack of uniform recycling standards;

[0004] Because recycled plastic bottles contain residues and carry a lot of debris during the recycling process, and the diversity and complexity of packaging materials, there is a lack of unified standards and reasonable inspection methods during the recycling process;

[0005] Low degree of automation, large operation area, high labor and transportation and warehousing costs, chaotic site, and great pressure on safety and environmental protection;

[0006] Plastic bottles are recycled in many varieties, with complex materials, large volumes, a lot of plastic, and light weight (about 40,000 bottles in 1 ton of beverage bottles). Currently, most of them rely on semi-mechanized conveyor belts, balers and other equipment for manual baling operations. The operation yard is large, resulting in increased transportation and recycling costs. For this reason, the operation site is chaotic, and the odor and equipment noise caused by the garbage and residues carried by each other pose a major threat to the safety of the workers and the on-site environmental protection.

[0007] Accurate classification is difficult, quality is not guaranteed, sorting costs are high, and recycling added value is low;

[0008] Due to the lack of equipment for automatic classification and sorting of original bottles (unflattened), most of them are manually sorted by skilled workers based on experience. Due to the complexity of recycling plastic bottles and the instability of manual sorting, serious quality risks have been caused, hindering the development of high-quality utilization by downstream production enterprises. The industrial beverage bottle recycling spectrum automatic sorting machine currently on the market can only be adapted to the color and material sorting of plastic bottles after flattening and removing labels. It cannot identify and sort the recycling of urban plastic original bottles and recycled plastic bottles of the same material, different brands and different aging degrees. Summary of the invention

[0009] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a refined sorting and recycling assembly for discarded plastic bottles, thereby improving the efficiency and refinement of sorting and recycling.

[0010] The present invention is achieved through the following technical solutions.

[0011] A refined sorting and recycling assembly for discarded plastic bottles, comprising:

[0012] The abnormal specification screening device comprises a screening conveying line for conveying discarded plastic bottles, a screening mechanism arranged on the screening conveying line, and an abnormal specification collection line; the screening mechanism is used to capture the abnormal specification classes conveyed on the screening conveying line and send them to the abnormal specification collection line;

[0013] The multi-stage arranging and conveying device comprises a plurality of plane arranging and conveying mechanisms connected end to end; the plurality of plane arranging and conveying mechanisms are arranged in a front-to-back order, and their heights gradually decrease and their conveying speeds gradually increase;

[0014] The identification and classification device comprises an identification and classification conveying line for conveying waste plastic bottles, wherein the identification and classification conveying line is provided with an infrared detection camera and an identification camera; the infrared detection camera photographs the waste plastic bottles passing by to detect whether there are sundries in the waste plastic bottles; the identification camera photographs the waste plastic bottles to identify the final classification of the waste plastic bottles;

[0015] The sorting device comprises a sorting conveying line for conveying waste plastic bottles, and a plurality of sorting stations corresponding to different final classifications arranged along the sorting conveying line; the sorting stations comprise a sorting collection line arranged crosswise with the sorting conveying line, and a pushing mechanism for conveying waste plastic bottles on the sorting conveying line to the sorting collection line.

[0016] As a further improvement of the present invention, the abnormal specification screening device also includes a first climbing conveyor line, which is connected end to end with the screening conveyor line; the height of the rear end of the first climbing conveyor line is higher than that of the screening conveyor line.

[0017] As a further improvement of the present invention, the screening conveying line includes two screening conveying channels arranged in parallel, and a screening gap is provided in the middle of the two screening conveying channels for abnormal specifications to fall; a diverter plate is provided between the front ends of the two screening conveying channels, and the diverter plate is inclined downward from the middle to the left and right sides, so that the discarded plastic bottles falling on the diverter plate from the first climbing mechanism slide to the left / right into the screening conveying channel; the abnormal specification collection line is located below the screening gap to receive abnormal specifications.

[0018] As a further improvement of the present invention, the screening mechanism includes a capture camera and a screening robot arranged at the rear end of the screening conveyor line; the capture camera is used to identify abnormal specifications in the waste gas plastic bottles on the screening conveying channel, and the screening robot is used to throw the found abnormal specifications into the screening gap; the screening robot includes a planar rotating motor arranged at the rear end of the screening conveyor line, a robotic arm connected to the planar rotating motor, a lifting rod installed on the robotic arm, and a vacuum suction cup arranged at the bottom end of the lifting rod.

[0019] As a further improvement of the present invention, the multi-stage sorting and conveying device also includes a second climbing conveyor line; the second climbing conveyor line and the first plane sorting and conveying mechanism are connected end to end, and the height of the rear end of the second climbing conveyor line is higher than that of the first plane sorting and conveying mechanism.

[0020] As a further improvement of the present invention, guardrails are provided on both sides of the plane finishing and conveying mechanism and at least one dividing fence is provided in the middle, and the guardrails and the dividing fences divide the conveying surface of the conveying mechanism into a plurality of side-by-side finishing and conveying channels.

[0021] As a further improvement of the present invention, the identification and classification conveyor line is also provided with a high-brightness infrared light source and a high-brightness light source; the high-brightness infrared light source is used to penetrate and irradiate the discarded plastic bottles passing by, and cooperate with the line scanning infrared shooting; the high-brightness light source is used to illuminate the discarded plastic bottles passing by, and cooperate with the shooting of the identification camera.

[0022] As a further improvement of the present invention, the sorting and collecting line is arranged below the sorting conveyor line, with its front end located on one side of the sorting conveyor line for receiving fallen discarded plastic bottles, and the other end extending toward the other side of the sorting conveyor line; baffles are provided on both sides of the sorting and collecting line to prevent discarded plastic bottles from falling.

[0023] As a further improvement of the present invention, bottle falling baffles are provided on both sides of the sorting conveyor line, and the bottle falling baffles block the waste plastic bottles that fall off from the side of the sorting conveyor line due to the push mechanism, so that they fall on the sorting conveyor line.

[0024] As a further improvement of the present invention, the pushing mechanism is configured as an air jet structure or a mechanical pushing structure.

[0025] Beneficial effects of the present invention:

[0026] The present invention realizes an intelligent inspection, price verification, classification, and sorting automated processing device for recycled plastic bottles. It uses standardized, intelligent, and automated means to solve the problems of batch inspection and price verification in the current garbage classification and comprehensive resource recycling and reuse fields. In the recycling process, the recycled plastic bottles can be finely classified and graded, providing raw material guarantees for subsequent high-quality material regeneration, especially strict traceability of food-grade and non-food-grade recycled plastic bottles, laying a solid digital raw material certification condition and foundation for the raw material source of recycled plastics for food-grade packaging in the future, and improving the added value of recycled materials. At the same time, the industrialized, integrated, intelligent, and environmentally friendly design is adopted to improve the recycling efficiency, greatly reduce the labor intensity and area of ​​recycling sites, and solve the labor and environmental protection problems that are prevalent in the current recycling industry while greatly reducing the recycling cost; at the same time, the system is attached with a receiving and inspection warehouse management system, which is digitally connected with the equipment, effectively solving the problem of financial accounting on the recycling site, and laying a technical foundation for recycling enterprises to pay taxes and operate legally in accordance with the law. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings to help understand the purpose and advantages of the present invention, wherein:

[0028] Figure 1 This is a front view of the refined sorting and recycling assembly for discarded plastic bottles;

[0029] Figure 2 It is a structural schematic diagram of the first climbing conveyor line;

[0030] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the abnormal specification collection line;

[0031] Figure 4 It is a structural schematic diagram of the second climbing conveyor line;

[0032] Figure 5 It is a structural diagram of the plane finishing conveyor line;

[0033] Figure 6 It is a top view of the plane finishing conveyor line;

[0034] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the structure of the identification and classification device;

[0035] Figure 8 It is a structural schematic diagram of a sorting device;

[0036] Fig. 9 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the sorting and collection line. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] The present invention is further described in detail below based on the accompanying drawings and implementation examples.

[0038] The directional terms such as up, down, left, right, front, back, front, back, top, bottom, etc. mentioned or may be mentioned in this specification are defined relative to the structures shown in the drawings. The words "inside" and "outside" refer to the direction toward or away from the geometric center of a specific component, respectively. They are relative concepts, and therefore may change accordingly according to different locations and different usage conditions. Therefore, these or other directional terms should not be interpreted as restrictive terms.

[0039] Reference Figure 1-Figure 9 A refined sorting and recycling assembly for discarded plastic bottles includes: an abnormal specification screening device 1, a multi-stage sorting and conveying device 2, an identification and classification device 3, and a sorting device 4, which are arranged in sequence.

[0040] The abnormal specification screening device 1 is used to input discarded plastic bottles and screen out those of abnormal specifications. The abnormal specifications are mainly large-sized daily chemical products, whose width and thickness dimensions except height exceed 10CM, such as laundry detergent bottles, large shampoo bottles, washing powder buckets, etc.

[0041] The multi-stage sorting and conveying device 2 adjusts the direction of the discarded plastic bottles after being screened out, and sorts them at intervals. The discarded plastic bottles passing through the multi-stage sorting and conveying device 2 are adjusted to the front-to-back direction, and are arranged in a queue with a certain interval between the front and the back.

[0042] The identification and classification device 3 detects and identifies the discarded plastic bottles passing in an orderly manner, detects whether there are sundries in the discarded plastic bottles (for example, whether there are metal objects such as screws and bolts in the bottles), and identifies the specific models of the discarded plastic bottles and finally classifies them.

[0043] The sorting device 4 sorts and recycles the discarded plastic bottles after identification and classification according to their final classification.

[0044] The abnormal specification screening device 1 comprises a first climbing conveyor line 11, a screening conveyor line 12, an abnormal specification collection line 13, and a screening mechanism arranged on the screening conveyor line 12, wherein the first climbing conveyor line 11 and the screening conveyor line 12 are connected front to back. The first climbing conveyor line 11 is inclined upward from front to back, the screening conveyor line 12 is set as a horizontal conveyor line, and the height of the rear end of the first climbing conveyor line 11 is higher than the screening conveyor line 12. The discarded plastic bottles are transported by the first climbing conveyor line 11 and fall from its rear end into the screening conveyor line 12. The screening mechanism is used to capture the abnormal specification types in the discarded plastic bottles and send them to the abnormal specification conveyor line.

[0045] The inclined setting of the first climbing conveyor line 11 can make the stacked waste plastic bottles shake off, so that the waste plastic bottles pressed below after entering the screening conveyor line 12 cannot be identified by the screening mechanism, thereby leaking the abnormal specifications into the multi-stage sorting conveyor device 2. While completing the delivery of waste plastic bottles, the first climbing conveyor line 11 can effectively control the input unit quantity by controlling its running speed to adapt to the unit identification and sorting capabilities of the production line.

[0046] The first climbing conveyor line 11 can use roller conveyors, chain conveyors, and belt conveyors. Considering the need to avoid landslides of discarded plastic bottles that meet specifications during transportation, roller conveyors are preferably used. Moreover, by setting an appropriate inclination angle, some abnormal specifications with a diameter greater than 10 cm will slide off the first climbing conveyor line 11, which plays a pre-screening role and reduces the working pressure of the subsequent screening mechanism. In addition, a placement platform 111 can be set at the front end of the first climbing conveyor line 11 to specifically stack discarded plastic bottles to wait for transportation by the first climbing conveyor line 11.

[0047] The screening conveying line 12 includes two screening conveying channels 121 arranged in the front-to-back direction. The screening conveying channels 121 can use a belt conveyor or a chain conveyor. There is a screening gap 122 between the two screening conveying channels 121. The screening gap 122 leads to the bottom of the screening conveying channels 121 for the abnormal specifications to fall. A plurality of inclined slides 123 are arranged along the inner side of the two screening conveying channels 121. The abnormal specifications falling from the screening gap 122 can slide down along the inclined slides 123. The abnormal specifications collection line 13 is installed below the screening conveying channels 121 and directly opposite to the screening gap 122, and is used to receive the abnormal specifications falling from the screening gap 122. The abnormal specifications collection line 13 can use a belt conveyor or a chain conveyor.

[0048] A diverter plate 124 is provided in the middle of the front ends of the two screening conveying channels 121. The left and right sides of the diverter plate 124 are respectively close to the inner sides of the corresponding screening conveying channels 121. The diverter plate 124 is tilted downward from the middle to the left and right sides, thereby forming two landslides that slide down to the two screening conveying channels 121 respectively. The discarded plastic bottles that fall from the first climbing conveying line 11 on the screening conveying line 12 can directly fall on the two screening conveying channels 121 if they fall from the left or right. If they fall from the middle, they will fall on the diverter plate 124, and can slide along the diverter plate 124 to one of the screening conveying channels 121 to avoid falling directly into the screening gap 122. In addition, the front-to-back length of the diverter plate 124 is greater than the length of the discarded plastic bottle, so as to avoid sliding forward from the diverter plate 124 into the screening gap 122.

[0049] The screening conveying line 12 also includes two drop hoppers 125, the upper end openings of the two drop hoppers 125 are connected to the rear ends of the two screening conveying channels 121, and the discarded plastic bottles enter the upper end openings of the drop hoppers 125 through the screening conveying channels 121, and fall from the lower end openings into the subsequent multi-stage sorting device.

[0050] The screening mechanism includes a capture camera 14 and a screening robot, wherein two capture cameras 14 are provided, respectively located at the rear ends of the two screening conveying lines 12. Specifically, the capture camera 14 can be installed on the drop hopper 125. The capture camera 14 identifies abnormal specifications in the discarded plastic bottles on the screening conveying channel 121, and then the abnormal specifications are thrown from the screening conveying channel 121 into the screening gap 122 through the action of the screening robot. The screening robot includes a plane rotating motor 151, a robot arm 152, a lifting rod 153, and a vacuum suction cup 154, wherein the plane rotating motor 151 is installed between the rear ends of the two screening conveying channels 121, the robot arm 152 is horizontally arranged, and its root is installed on the plane rotating motor 151, the plane rotating motor 151 can drive the robot arm 152 to rotate on the plane, the lifting rod 153 is vertically installed at the end of the robot arm 152, and a motor that can drive the lifting rod 153 to move up and down is arranged in the robot arm 152, and the vacuum suction cup 154 ​​is installed at the bottom end of the lifting rod 153, and the vacuum suction cup 154 ​​is opened or closed by electromagnetic drive, and is used to absorb or release abnormal specifications.

[0051] The multi-stage sorting and conveying device 2 includes a second climbing conveyor line 21 and a plurality of front and rear plane sorting conveyor lines 22 connected end to end, wherein the front end of the second climbing conveyor line 21 is connected to the two drop hoppers 125 of the abnormal specification screening device 1, and the rear end is connected to the front end of the first plane sorting conveyor line 22. The second climbing conveyor line 21 has the same function as the first climbing conveyor line 11, and is also a preferred roller conveyor. The plurality of plane sorting conveyor lines 22 are arranged in a front-to-back order, and their heights gradually decrease and their conveying speeds gradually increase. The height of the rear end of the second climbing conveyor line 21 is higher than that of the first plane sorting conveyor line 22. The discarded plastic bottles transported by the second climbing conveyor line 21 are all horizontal. When they fall on the first plane sorting conveyor line 22, due to the height difference, the discarded plastic bottles will jump. When the plane sorting conveyor line 22 is started and running, the discarded plastic bottles will rotate a certain angle. After falling multiple times, the discarded plastic bottles will be adjusted from horizontal to front and back through rotation, and the differential speed adjustment of the plurality of plane sorting conveyor lines 22 makes the discarded plastic bottles line up in an orderly queue with a certain interval in front and back.

[0052] The plane finishing conveyor line 22 is preferably a belt conveyor, with guardrails 221 on the left and right sides, and at least one partition fence 222 in the middle of the plane finishing conveyor line 22. The guardrails 221 and the partition fence 222 divide the conveying surface of the plane finishing conveyor line 22 into a plurality of finishing conveying channels 22-1 arranged side by side. In this embodiment, one partition fence 222 is provided, and the specific number is determined according to the specifications of the waste plastic bottles and the width of the plane finishing conveyor line 22.

[0053] When discarded plastic bottles fall from the second climbing conveyor line 21 to the first flattening conveyor line 22, the horizontal discarded plastic bottles will jump, and their bottle caps or bottle bottoms will collide with the partition fence 222 or the guardrail 221. In conjunction with the started flattening conveyor line 22, the discarded plastic bottles will rotate, and the lighter discarded plastic bottles will basically be adjusted from the horizontal direction to the front-to-back direction, while the heavier discarded plastic bottles or discarded plastic bottles still containing liquids will be adjusted from the horizontal direction to the diagonal direction. These diagonal discarded plastic bottles will eventually be adjusted to the front-to-back direction after multiple adjustments of the flattening conveyor line 22.

[0054] The discarded plastic bottles on the last plane sorting conveyor line 22 are all front-to-back and arranged in a queue with a certain interval, so the width of the partition bar 222 of the last plane sorting conveyor line remains unchanged from back to front, that is, the width of the plane sorting conveying channel 22-1 is consistent. The width of the partition bars 222 of the remaining plane sorting conveyor lines 22 gradually decreases from back to front. When the discarded plastic bottles fall from the rear end of the previous plane sorting conveyor line 22 to the front end of the next plane sorting conveyor line 22, they will collide with the partition bar 222 or the guardrail 221, and continue to be transported forward after turning a certain angle. At this time, the bottle cap or the bottle bottom will gradually change from contact with the partition bar 222 to separation, so that there will be no resistance to the transportation of the discarded plastic bottles, which will slow down their forward movement speed.

[0055] When a discarded plastic bottle falls on the plane sorting conveyor line 22, if it happens to fall on the dividing bar 222, the discarded plastic bottle will jump and finally fall on the sorting conveying channel 22-1. However, since it does not fall on the sorting conveying channel 22-1 for the first time, there will be a lag phenomenon, causing the discarded plastic bottle to go side by side with the discarded plastic bottles that fall later. Therefore, except for the last plane sorting conveyor line 22, the width of the dividing bar 222 of the first to the second to last plane sorting conveyor line 22 is not less than the width of two side-by-side discarded plastic bottles, so as to avoid the two side-by-side discarded plastic bottles being stuck when the above situation occurs. Since the discarded plastic bottles that fall on the last plane sorting conveyor line 22 have been sorted, the width of the dividing bar 222 of the first to the second to last plane sorting conveyor line 22 is greater than the width of the dividing bar 222 of the last plane conveyor, making the sorting conveying channel 22-1 of the last plane conveyor line narrower.

[0056] In order to allow discarded plastic bottles to fall onto the sorting and conveying channel 22-1 as soon as possible after colliding with the dividing bar 222 and the guardrail 221, the left and right sides of the dividing bar 222 and the inner side of the guardrail 221 have a slope surface 22-A, and the bottom edge of the slope surface 22-A extends to the sorting and conveying channel 22-1. After colliding with the dividing bar 222 and the guardrail 221, the discarded plastic bottles will quickly slide down along the slope surface 22-A, thereby reducing the conveying delay time.

[0057] In addition, the partition bar 222 of the first to the second to last plane finishing conveyor line 22 extends from the front end to the middle and rear part of the plane finishing conveyor line 22. The length of the partition bar 222 extending to the middle and rear part is sufficient to adjust the direction of the discarded plastic bottles, and the length can be reduced to reduce the dead weight. The partition bar 222 of the last plane finishing conveyor line 22 extends from the front end to the rear end of the plane finishing conveyor line 22, and cooperates with the narrow finishing conveying channel 22-1 of the last plane finishing conveyor line 22 to play the role of maintaining the position of the discarded plastic bottles.

[0058] The last plane sorting conveyor line 22 has ramp plates 223 on both sides of the rear end of the sorting conveying channel 22-1. The bottom edge of the ramp plate 223 extends to the sorting conveying channel 22-1. The width between the bottom edges of the two ramp plates 223 is smaller than the width of the conveying channel and is not less than the width of a single discarded plastic bottle.

[0059] If there are two discarded plastic bottles dropped from the second-to-last plane sorting conveyor line 22 that are connected end to end or are not in the center, when they fall onto the last plane sorting conveyor line 22, the discarded plastic bottles will collide with the ramp plate 223, causing the first discarded plastic bottle to fall onto the sorting and conveying channel 22-1 first. Due to the accelerated conveying speed of the sorting and conveying channel 22-1, the first sorting and conveying channel 22-1 is transported backwards first. At this time, the second sorting and conveying channel 22-1 is still on the second-to-last plane sorting conveyor line 22 or is still in the process of falling, thereby separating the two discarded plastic bottles that are connected end to end.

[0060] Even if the discarded plastic bottle is not in the middle position before falling, it will slide down along the ramp plate 223 when it falls on one of the ramp plates 223. Since the width between the two ramp plates 223 is smaller than the width of the conveying channel, the discarded plastic bottle is finally adjusted to the middle position of the sorting conveying channel 22-1. Therefore, after passing through the multi-stage sorting conveying device 2, the discarded plastic bottles will not only be adjusted into an orderly queue with a certain interval in the front and back direction, but also remain in the middle position of the conveying channel, so that the subsequent identification and classification device 3 can accurately identify and classify.

[0061] In addition, the front side of the ramp plate 223 is a bevel, so that the front and rear length of the ramp plate 223 gradually decreases from top to bottom. Therefore, when the waste gas plastic bottle falls on the ramp plate 223, only the middle and rear part will contact the ramp plate 223, and its front end is suspended. When sliding down the ramp plate 223, the front end of the waste gas plastic bottle will first contact the sorting and conveying channel 22-1 and be driven forward to be conveyed, so as to quickly detach from between the two ramp plates 223, which can reduce the conveying lag and avoid being rear-ended by the discarded plastic bottles behind.

[0062] In this implementation case, two rows are set up, each row has three flat finishing conveyor lines, which are respectively recorded as the first-level flat finishing conveyor line, the second-level flat finishing conveyor line, and the third-level flat finishing conveyor line. The height difference between each level is about 10cm, and the speed difference is about 0.2m / s. The number of flat finishing conveyor lines depends on the actual application requirements and is not limited to three in this implementation case.

[0063] In this implementation case:

[0064] First-level plane sorting conveyor line: the plastic bottles transported by the recycled plastic bottle track sorting device are divided into four sorting conveying channels. Due to the height difference, the discarded plastic bottles will jump, and one end of the discarded plastic bottles will fall onto the sorting conveying channel first. Driven by the sorting conveying channel and blocked by the guardrail and the partition fence, the discarded plastic bottles will rotate a certain angle. Most of the discarded plastic bottles will be adjusted to rotate 90° in the front and back direction.

[0065] Secondary plane finishing conveyor line: Some of the discarded plastic bottles conveyed by the primary conveyor belt are parallel to the left and right or diagonal. Due to the height difference between the primary plane finishing conveyor line and the secondary plane finishing conveyor line, the discarded plastic bottles will fall again, and one of the two parallel discarded plastic bottles will hit the inclined baffle in the middle of the secondary discarded plastic bottles. This discarded plastic bottle will fall later than the other one, and the speed of the secondary discarded plastic bottles is greater than that of the primary discarded plastic bottles. Through the differential speed, the two plastic bottles are sorted front and back and continue to adjust their directions. The directions of some oblique discarded plastic bottles are also adjusted. The discarded plastic bottles passing through the secondary plane finishing conveyor line are basically adjusted to the front and back direction;

[0066] Three-level plane sorting conveyor line: The discarded plastic bottles passing through the two-level plane sorting conveyor line will automatically return to the center position through the touch of the ramp plate of the three-level plane sorting conveyor line. The speed of the three-level plane sorting conveyor line is faster than that of the two-level plane sorting conveyor line, which will further increase the distance between the discarded plastic bottles and complete the final adjustment.

[0067] The identification and classification device 3 includes an identification and classification conveyor line 31 for conveying discarded plastic bottles, an infrared detection camera 32, an identification camera 33, a high-brightness infrared light source 34, and a high-brightness light source 35. The identification camera 33 can be a recognition camera or a plane camera, and the high-brightness infrared light source 34 can be an infrared detection camera or an infrared plane camera. The front end of the identification and classification conveyor line 31 is connected to the last plane sorting conveyor line 22, and the rear end is connected to the sorting device 4. Similar to the plane sorting conveyor line 22, the identification and classification conveyor line 31 is provided with guardrails 311 on both sides and at least one partition fence 312 in the middle, which divides the identification and classification conveyor line 31 into multiple side-by-side identification and classification conveying channels 31-1. In this embodiment, two identification and classification conveyor lines 31 are set, and one partition fence 312 of the identification and classification conveyor line 31 is set, forming four identification and classification conveying channels 31-1 connected to the sorting conveying channel 22-1 of the last plane sorting conveyor line 22.

[0068] The dividing fence 312 and the guardrail 311 of the identification and classification conveying line 31 are used to prevent discarded plastic bottles from falling, so they have a certain height. However, the discarded plastic bottles need to be sorted after being identified and classified by the identification and classification device 3, and the higher dividing fence 312 and the guardrail 311 will hinder the sorting. Therefore, the guardrail 311 and the dividing fence 312 extend from the front end to the middle of the identification and classification conveying line 31, and blocking bars 313 are provided on both sides of the identification and classification conveying channel 31-1 from the middle to the rear end to connect the guardrail 311 and the dividing fence 312. The height of the blocking bar 313 is lower than the guardrail 311 and the dividing fence 312.

[0069] In this embodiment, the identification and classification conveying channel 31-1 is preferably a chain conveyor. The high-brightness infrared light source 34 is set at the front end of each identification and classification conveying channel 31-1, and the high-brightness infrared light source 34 is located below the conveying surface of the identification and classification conveying channel 31-1, and the infrared light source is emitted upward to penetrate and irradiate the discarded plastic bottles. The infrared detection camera 32 is set above the front end of the identification and classification conveying channel 31-1, and is used to shoot the discarded plastic bottles downward. A high-brightness light source 35 is set above the middle or middle rear part of the identification and classification conveying channel 31-1, and the light source is emitted downward to illuminate the discarded plastic bottles. The recognition camera 33 is set above the middle or middle rear part of the identification and classification conveying line 31 and is located above the high-brightness light source 35, and is used to shoot the discarded plastic bottles downward. For the convenience of installation, a rack 36 is set up at the identification and classification conveying line 31, and the infrared detection camera 32, the recognition camera 33, and the high-brightness light source 35 are all installed on the rack 36. The scanning infrared camera is used to detect whether there are sundries in the discarded plastic bottles, and the recognition camera 33 is used to identify the final classification of the discarded plastic bottles.

[0070] The specific classification and recognition steps are as follows:

[0071] S1: The high-brightness infrared light source 34 penetrates and illuminates the discarded plastic bottles, and the recognition camera 33 photographs the discarded plastic bottles to detect whether there are sundries in the discarded plastic bottles. If there are sundries, the final classification is determined; if there are no sundries, proceed to S2.

[0072] S2: The high-brightness light source 35 illuminates the discarded plastic bottles, and the recognition camera 33 photographs the discarded plastic bottles. The photographed pictures are compared with the models in the model library for appearance features to determine the final classification of the discarded plastic bottles.

[0073] The steps of establishing the model library in step S2 include:

[0074] S21: Create a list of different discarded plastic bottles, classify the discarded plastic bottles, and determine the final classification;

[0075] S22: Collect multiple images of each discarded plastic bottle at different angles and with different degrees of damage;

[0076] S23: calibrating different images of each type of discarded plastic bottle;

[0077] S24: Perform self-learning on the calibrated images of each type of discarded plastic bottle to generate a model.

[0078] Step S21: Discarded plastic bottles are classified according to at least three different attributes, including food grade or non-food grade, the type of liquid originally contained in the discarded plastic bottles, the material of the discarded plastic bottles, and the color of the discarded plastic bottles. For example, according to the above three attributes, the following final classifications can be formed: food-grade PET tea beverage juice bottle white (hundreds of raw materials from different manufacturers such as Master Kong tea beverage, Uni-President tea beverage, Minute Maid juice, Powerade beverage, etc.), food-grade PET carbonated beverage white (hundreds of raw materials from different manufacturers such as Coca-Cola soda, Yuanqi Forest soda sparkling water, Nongfu Spring soda natural water, Pepsi-Cola, etc.), food-grade PET mineral water pure water white (hundreds of raw materials from different manufacturers such as Coca-Cola drinking water, Uni-President mineral water, Master Kong drinking water, Nongfu Spring natural water, etc.), food-grade PET pure blue (Danone Pulse, etc.), food-grade PET pure green (Sprite Food grade PET white and blue (a few carbonated beverages), food grade PET assorted colors (plastic bottles from some manufacturers), food grade HDPE large white with aluminum mouth (white translucent milk bottle with aluminum seal), food grade HDPE large white without aluminum mouth (white translucent milk bottle without aluminum seal), food grade HDPE two white (white opaque milk bottle), non-food grade HDPE large white (white translucent daily chemical plastic bottle), non-food grade HDPE two white (white opaque daily chemical plastic bottle), HDPE assorted colors (HDPE plastic bottles other than white), PP beverage bottles (plastic bottles from a few manufacturers such as Yilibao purified water).

[0079] Here’s how it works:

[0080] Image acquisition: The list of discarded plastic bottles needs to include as many different discarded plastic bottles as possible (including carbonated beverages, mineral water, purified water, tea, fruit juice drinks, dairy products, cooking oil, etc.). At least 50 samples of each product are collected, and images of each sample of discarded plastic bottles are collected (only recognition camera 33 works in this part). For each plastic bottle, approximately 200-400 images of different angles and degrees of damage are collected.

[0081] Raw material (sample) calibration: Classify the collected images by brand and model, and number and annotate the plastic bottle materials of the same model. Use dedicated calibration software such as Cognex ®'s VisionPro ® 7.0 system or Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics' OpenCV to depict the plastic bottle body in each image, and save the depicted plastic bottle body part to a designated folder;

[0082] Deep learning and modeling: Learning and modeling software, such as Baidu's PaddlePaddle or Google's TensorFlow, are installed on a dedicated computer for deep learning. The software imports calibrated sample images for self-learning and model generation. Principle of deep learning: The calibrated images are segmented, sliced, and color-recognized. Through training, a model for a plastic bottle of different models is obtained. Basic process of deep learning: Model building > data preprocessing > training model > result visualization > testing.

[0083] When the image taken by the recognition camera 33 is compared with the model, the compared information includes the brand, model, capacity, appearance, size, trademark, color, presence or absence of bottle cap, barcode, raw material and other information of the discarded plastic bottle.

[0084] In addition, there is a sorting station 42 in the subsequent sorting device 4 that is specifically used to sort out debris in discarded plastic bottles. Therefore, debris detected in step S1 will be directly sorted by the sorting station 42, and only those without debris will be determined in step S2 and then enter other different sorting stations 42 for sorting.

[0085] The sorting device 4 includes a sorting conveyor line 41 for conveying waste plastic bottles, a sorting station 42 arranged along the sorting conveyor line 41, the sorting station 42 includes a sorting collection line 421 arranged crosswise with the sorting conveyor line 41, and a pushing mechanism (not shown in the figure) for conveying the waste plastic bottles on the sorting conveyor line 41 to the sorting collection line 421, and each sorting station 42 corresponds to the final classification of each waste plastic bottle.

[0086] Specifically, the sorting and collecting line 421 is arranged below the sorting conveying line 41, with its front end located on one side of the sorting conveying line 41 for receiving dropped discarded plastic bottles, and the other end extending toward the other side of the sorting conveying line 41. Baffles 4211 are arranged on both sides of the sorting and collecting line 421 to prevent discarded plastic bottles from falling.

[0087] Taking into account that the pushing mechanism is likely to knock waste plastic bottles away when sorting them, bottle falling baffles 422 are provided on both sides of the sorting conveyor line 41. The bottle falling baffles 422 block the waste plastic bottles that fall off from the side of the sorting conveyor line 41 due to the action of the pushing mechanism, so that they fall onto the sorting conveyor line 41.

[0088] The pushing device can be set as a jet structure or a mechanical pushing structure, which belongs to the prior art and will not be described in detail here.

[0089] Finally, it should be noted that the above implementation cases are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned implementation cases, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions recorded in the aforementioned implementation cases, or make equivalent replacements for some of the technical features therein. However, these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the implementation cases of the present invention.

Claims

1. A refined sorting and recycling assembly for discarded plastic bottles. It is characterized in that Including those set in order of front and back: The abnormal specification screening device comprises a screening conveying line for conveying discarded plastic bottles, a screening mechanism arranged on the screening conveying line, and an abnormal specification collection line; the screening mechanism is used to capture the abnormal specification classes conveyed on the screening conveying line and send them to the abnormal specification collection line; A multi-stage sorting and conveying device comprises a plurality of plane sorting and conveying mechanisms connected end to end; the plurality of plane sorting and conveying mechanisms are arranged in a front-to-back order, with their heights gradually decreasing and their conveying speeds gradually increasing; guardrails are arranged on both sides of the plane sorting and conveying mechanisms, and at least one dividing fence is arranged in the middle, and the guardrails and the dividing fences divide the conveying surface of the conveying mechanism into a plurality of side-by-side sorting and conveying channels; the width of the dividing fences of the first to the second-to-last plane sorting and conveying lines gradually decreases from back to front, so that when the discarded plastic bottles fall from the rear end of the previous plane sorting and conveying line to the front end of the next plane sorting and conveying line, they collide with the dividing fence or the guardrail, and continue to be conveyed forward after turning a certain angle, and the bottle caps or bottle bottoms of the discarded plastic bottles and the dividing fence gradually change from being in contact to being separated; the width of the dividing fence of the last plane sorting and conveying line remains unchanged from back to front; The identification and classification device comprises an identification and classification conveying line for conveying waste plastic bottles, wherein the identification and classification conveying line is provided with an infrared detection camera and an identification camera; the infrared detection camera photographs the waste plastic bottles passing by to detect whether there are sundries in the waste plastic bottles; the identification camera photographs the waste plastic bottles to identify the final classification of the waste plastic bottles; The sorting device comprises a sorting conveying line for conveying waste plastic bottles, and a plurality of sorting stations corresponding to different final classifications arranged along the sorting conveying line; the sorting stations comprise a sorting collection line arranged crosswise with the sorting conveying line, and a pushing mechanism for conveying waste plastic bottles on the sorting conveying line to the sorting collection line.

2. The refined sorting and recycling assembly for discarded plastic bottles according to claim 1, It is characterized in that The abnormal specification screening device also includes a first climbing conveyor line, which is connected end to end with the screening conveyor line; the height of the rear end of the first climbing conveyor line is higher than that of the screening conveyor line.

3. The refined sorting and recycling assembly for discarded plastic bottles according to claim 1, It is characterized in that The screening conveying line includes two parallel screening conveying channels, and a screening gap is provided in the middle of the two screening conveying channels for abnormal specifications to fall; a diverter plate is provided between the front ends of the two screening conveying channels, and the diverter plate is inclined downward from the middle to the left and right sides, so that the discarded plastic bottles that fall from the first climbing mechanism onto the diverter plate slide to the left / right into the screening conveying channel; the abnormal specification collection line is located below the screening gap to receive abnormal specifications.

4. The refined sorting and recycling assembly for discarded plastic bottles according to claim 3, It is characterized in that The screening mechanism includes a capture camera and a screening robot arranged at the rear end of the screening conveyor line; the capture camera is used to identify abnormal specifications in the waste gas plastic bottles on the screening conveying channel, and the screening robot is used to throw the found abnormal specifications into the screening gap; the screening robot includes a planar rotating motor arranged at the rear end of the screening conveyor line, a robot arm connected to the planar rotating motor, a lifting rod installed on the robot arm, and a vacuum suction cup arranged at the bottom end of the lifting rod.

5. The refined sorting and recycling assembly for discarded plastic bottles according to claim 1, It is characterized in that The multi-stage sorting and conveying device also includes a second climbing conveying line; the second climbing conveying line and the first plane sorting and conveying mechanism are connected end to end, and the height of the rear end of the second climbing conveying line is higher than that of the first plane sorting and conveying mechanism.

6. The refined sorting and recycling assembly for discarded plastic bottles according to claim 1, It is characterized in that The identification and classification conveyor line is also provided with a high-brightness infrared light source and a high-brightness light source; the high-brightness infrared light source is used to penetrate and illuminate the discarded plastic bottles passing by, cooperating with the infrared detection camera to shoot; the high-brightness light source is used to illuminate the discarded plastic bottles passing by, cooperating with the identification camera to shoot.

7. The refined sorting and recycling assembly for discarded plastic bottles according to claim 1, It is characterized in that The sorting and collecting line is arranged below the sorting conveying line, with its front end located on one side of the sorting conveying line for receiving dropped discarded plastic bottles, and the other end extending toward the other side of the sorting conveying line; baffles are arranged on both sides of the sorting and collecting line to prevent discarded plastic bottles from falling.

8. The refined sorting and recycling assembly for discarded plastic bottles according to claim 7, It is characterized in that Bottle falling baffles are arranged on both sides of the sorting conveying line, and the bottle falling baffles block the waste plastic bottles that fall off from the side of the sorting conveying line due to the push mechanism, so that they fall on the sorting conveying line.

9. The refined sorting and recycling assembly for discarded plastic bottles according to claim 1, It is characterized in that The pushing mechanism is configured as an air jet structure or a mechanical pushing structure.

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