An automatic method for sorting cut tobacco
By employing a four-blade, five-segment cutting method, leaf moistening treatment, and an automated sorting system combining multiple devices, the problems of low efficiency and high cost in tobacco leaf sorting have been solved, enabling the efficient production of high-quality tobacco leaves.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Patents(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- CHINA TOBACCO SHANDONG IND
- Filing Date
- 2023-04-21
- Publication Date
- 2026-07-31
AI Technical Summary
In existing technologies, tobacco flakes are inefficient to sort and are fragile, resulting in high sorting costs and low yields of sorted tobacco flakes.
An automated sorting system is used, employing a combination of equipment including a four-blade, five-segment cutting method, leaf moistening treatment, star roller loosening machine, vibrating screen air separator, laser sorter, and spectral sorter, to remove impurities and separate superior and inferior tobacco leaves.
It improves sorting efficiency, reduces tobacco leaf fragments, ensures the yield of high-quality tobacco leaves, and reduces sorting costs.
Smart Images
Figure CN116268512B_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This invention belongs to the field of tobacco sorting and manufacturing technology, and more specifically, relates to an automated sorting method for tobacco flakes. Background Technology
[0002] Tobacco flakes are the raw material for cigarettes, but they often contain impurities such as weeds, feathers, and hemp fibers. Furthermore, some flakes are of poor usability, including those with undesirable green color, severely dark color, or thin, low-quality flakes. To improve the quality and competitiveness of high-grade cigarettes, some China Tobacco companies, while using high-grade raw materials, generally employ manual sorting to further select high-grade finished tobacco flakes, removing impurities and less usable leaves. However, this manual sorting process has been found to be inefficient, prone to breakage, resulting in high sorting costs and low yields of high-quality tobacco flakes.
[0003] To overcome the above problems, this invention optimizes and integrates existing equipment such as vertical slitting machines, leaf loosening machines, belt scales, star roller loosening machines, laser sorting machines, and spectral sorting machines to achieve automated sorting of tobacco leaves. On the one hand, it further removes impurities such as weeds, feathers, and hemp fibers, and on the other hand, it selects and discards unsuitable tobacco leaves, such as green mixed tobacco, severely dark-colored tobacco leaves, and thin tobacco leaves of poor quality, which are of poor usability. Summary of the Invention
[0004] In view of this, the automated tobacco leaf sorting method provided by the present invention can solve the problems of low sorting efficiency, easy breakage, high sorting cost, and low yield of selected tobacco leaves that exist in manual tobacco leaf sorting.
[0005] This invention is implemented as follows:
[0006] This invention provides an automated sorting method for tobacco flakes, comprising the following steps:
[0007] S1: The raw tobacco leaves are cut into sections using a four-cut, five-segment method to obtain the cut raw tobacco leaves;
[0008] S2: The cut raw tobacco leaves are moistened to make them unfold, resulting in moistened raw tobacco leaves.
[0009] S3: The raw tobacco leaves after leaf moistening are conveyed to the storage cabinet via a conveyor belt for temporary storage. The flow rate of the discharge belt scale is adjusted, and the raw tobacco leaves after leaf moistening are output from the storage cabinet in sequence to obtain the raw tobacco leaves that need to be preliminarily screened.
[0010] S4: The raw tobacco flakes that need to be pre-screened are conveyed to the star roller loosening machine for loosening and fragment screening to obtain the pre-screened raw tobacco flakes.
[0011] S5: The pre-screened raw tobacco leaves are sent to the laser sorting machine via conveyor belt for impurity removal, and the impurity-removed raw tobacco leaves are obtained.
[0012] S6: The cleaned raw tobacco leaves are conveyed to the spectral separator via a conveyor belt for upper and lower separation to obtain upper and lower selected tobacco leaves;
[0013] S7: Store the raw tobacco leaves of different grades after screening and sorting for later use.
[0014] Based on the above technical solution, the automated tobacco sorting method of the present invention can be further improved as follows:
[0015] The specific steps for cutting the raw tobacco slices using the four-cut, five-segment method to obtain the cut raw tobacco slices are as follows: after removing the packaging from the finished raw tobacco slices, place them on a cutting machine and cut the tobacco slices evenly into 5 parts to obtain the cut raw tobacco slices.
[0016] The beneficial effects of adopting the above-mentioned improvement scheme are as follows: by using a slitting machine to slit the raw tobacco leaves using a four-blade, five-segment method, compared with the traditional manual processing method of tobacco leaves, it can reduce the breakage of tobacco leaves and produce high-quality tobacco products more efficiently.
[0017] The specific steps for processing the chopped raw tobacco leaves into a moistened state to obtain moistened raw tobacco leaves are as follows: First, preheat the moistening machine for 15-20 minutes. When the temperature inside the moistening machine cylinder reaches 60℃, put the chopped raw tobacco leaves into the moistening machine cylinder. Set the rotation speed inside the cylinder to 8-10 rpm. The resulting raw tobacco leaves have a surface temperature between 50-55℃, a moisture content of 16±1%, a leaf loosening rate of ≥98%, and no water stains or dampness on the surface.
[0018] The beneficial effects of adopting the above-mentioned improvement scheme are as follows: by moistening the cut raw tobacco leaves, the moisture content of the tobacco leaves in the flue-cured tobacco is made uniform, avoiding cracking and breakage of the tobacco leaves, and at the same time reducing the generation rate of fragments in the raw tobacco leaves.
[0019] The specific steps for conveying the treated tobacco leaves to a storage tank via a conveyor belt, adjusting the flow rate of the discharge belt scale, and sequentially outputting the treated tobacco leaves from the storage tank to obtain the tobacco leaves that need to be preliminarily screened are as follows: the treated tobacco leaves are separated by reciprocating feeding, keeping the tobacco leaves in the storage tank in a uniform and loose state, and each tank holds 400 kg of tobacco leaves before sequentially discharging them. The flow rate of the discharge belt scale is set according to the quality characteristics of the tobacco leaves, usually set to 350-450 kg / h. The tobacco leaves output by the conveyor belt are the tobacco leaves that need to be preliminarily screened.
[0020] The specific steps for conveying the raw tobacco flakes that need to be preliminarily screened to the star roller loosening machine for loosening and fragment screening to obtain the preliminarily screened raw tobacco flakes are as follows: the raw tobacco flakes that need to be preliminarily screened are conveyed to the star roller loosening machine via a conveyor belt, the agglomerated tobacco cakes are loosened, and the fragments of the loosened raw tobacco flakes are screened by a vibrating screen air classifier to obtain the preliminarily screened raw tobacco flakes.
[0021] Furthermore, the vibrating screen air classifier includes a housing, with a feeding conveyor belt extending into the housing through the feeding port to transport the raw tobacco flakes that need to be preliminarily screened into the air duct. The raw tobacco flakes that need to be preliminarily screened continuously fall inside the air duct. The middle section of the air duct is spiral-shaped, and a fan is installed in the recessed part of the inner wall on the inlet side of the spiral section of the air duct. A first cavity is provided on the outlet side of the spiral section of the air duct. A first screening screen is fixedly installed between the first cavity and the air duct. The first screening screen has mesh holes with a diameter of 5mm evenly distributed. The fan continuously blows air to preliminarily screen the raw tobacco flake fragments smaller than 5mm inside the air duct. The raw tobacco flake fragments inside the first cavity fall into the tobacco flake fragment temporary storage box through the screen at the bottom of the first cavity.
[0022] The beneficial effects of adopting the above-mentioned improved scheme are as follows: through the air duct, fan, first cavity and first screening screen, the raw tobacco flakes with a diameter of less than 5mm in the raw tobacco flakes that need to be preliminarily screened can be preliminarily screened, and the raw tobacco flakes can be easily taken out through the tobacco flake fragment storage box.
[0023] Furthermore, raw tobacco flakes with a diameter greater than 5mm inside the air duct fall into the vibrating screening assembly at the bottom of the air duct. The vibrating screening assembly is inclinedly arranged inside the housing and is equipped with a second screening screen plate. The second screening screen plate has evenly distributed mesh holes with a diameter of 12.7mm. The bottom of the vibrating screening assembly is provided with a second cavity. Small raw tobacco flakes with a diameter less than 12.7mm fall into the second cavity after being screened by the vibrating screening assembly and are discharged from the first discharge port by the conveyor belt. The raw tobacco flakes that have undergone secondary screening by the vibrating screening assembly are discharged from the second discharge port by the conveyor belt. The discharged raw tobacco flakes are the raw tobacco flakes after preliminary screening.
[0024] The beneficial effects of adopting the above-mentioned improved scheme are as follows: through the vibration screening component, the second screening screen, and the second cavity, small pieces of raw tobacco with a diameter of less than 12.7 mm can be screened and exported, and the raw tobacco after secondary screening can be exported through the second discharge port.
[0025] The specific steps for conveying the pre-screened raw tobacco leaves to a laser sorting machine via a conveyor belt for impurity removal to obtain the cleaned raw tobacco leaves are as follows: the pre-screened raw tobacco leaves are conveyed into the laser sorting machine via a conveyor belt, and the laser is used to identify and detect the tobacco and impurities based on their colors. Then, the impurities are blown away by a pneumatic system, and the cleaned raw tobacco leaves are then discharged via a conveyor belt.
[0026] The specific steps for conveying the cleaned raw tobacco leaves to the spectral sorting machine via a conveyor belt to obtain upper and lower quality raw tobacco leaves are as follows: The cleaned raw tobacco leaves are conveyed into the spectral sorting machine. First, qualified and unqualified raw tobacco leaf samples are manually selected. The spectral sorting machine is used to color-calibrate the samples, so that the three primary color spectrum appears on the display screen. After determining the color gamut values of qualified and unqualified raw tobacco leaves, the tobacco leaves are screened for upper and lower quality to obtain upper quality raw tobacco leaves and lower quality raw tobacco leaves.
[0027] The specific steps for storing the sorted and classified raw tobacco leaves for later use are as follows: the selected high-quality raw tobacco leaves, the lower-quality raw tobacco leaves, small raw tobacco leaves, and raw tobacco leaf fragments are packed into boxes for later use, each with a specification of 80 kg / box; they are temporarily stored in an indoor environment with a temperature of 25±2℃ and a humidity of 50±10%, and will be re-dried at low temperature and packaged and labeled in a later stage.
[0028] Compared with existing technologies, the beneficial effects of the automated tobacco leaf sorting method provided by this invention are as follows: The raw tobacco leaves are slit using a four-blade, five-segment method via a slitting machine, which reduces leaf breakage and produces higher-quality tobacco products more efficiently compared to traditional manual processing methods. Moistening the slit tobacco leaves ensures uniform moisture content, preventing cracking and breakage, and also reduces the rate of fragmentation. During the initial screening of the raw tobacco leaves in a vibrating screen air classifier, the air duct, fan, and first... The cavity and the first screening screen enable preliminary screening of tobacco flakes with a diameter of less than 5mm in the raw tobacco flakes. The tobacco flakes are then easily removed through a temporary storage box. The vibrating screening component, the second screening screen, and the second cavity enable screening and export of small raw tobacco flakes with a diameter of less than 12.7mm in the raw tobacco flakes. The second discharge port then exports the raw tobacco flakes after secondary screening. Combined with laser impurity removal and spectral sorting, automated tobacco flake sorting is achieved, ensuring sorting quality while completely eliminating the drawbacks of manual selection. Attached Figure Description
[0029] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments of the present invention will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.
[0030] Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating the steps of an automated tobacco leaf sorting method;
[0031] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a vibrating screen air classifier, which is a method for automated sorting of tobacco flakes;
[0032] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of a vibrating screen air classifier, which is part of an automated tobacco flake sorting method.
[0033] The attached diagram lists the components represented by each number as follows:
[0034] 10. Vibrating screen air separator; 11. Housing; 12. Feed conveyor belt; 13. Feed inlet; 14. Air duct; 15. Fan; 16. First cavity; 17. First screening screen; 18. Temporary storage box for tobacco fragments; 19. Vibrating screening assembly; 20. Second screening screen; 21. Second cavity; 22. First discharge port; 23. Second discharge port. Detailed Implementation
[0035] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.
[0036] Therefore, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention provided in the accompanying drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed invention, but merely to illustrate selected embodiments of the invention. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the invention without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of the invention.
[0037] It should be noted that similar labels and letters in the following figures indicate similar items. Therefore, once an item is defined in one figure, it does not need to be further defined and explained in subsequent figures.
[0038] In the description of this invention, it should be understood that the terms "center," "longitudinal," "lateral," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "clockwise," and "counterclockwise," etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are only for the convenience of describing this invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on this invention.
[0039] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of this invention, "a plurality of" means two or more, unless otherwise explicitly specified.
[0040] like Figure 1 The diagram shown is a flowchart of the automated tobacco sorting method provided by the present invention, including the following steps:
[0041] S1: The raw tobacco leaves are cut into sections using a four-cut, five-segment method to obtain the cut raw tobacco leaves;
[0042] S2: The cut raw tobacco leaves are moistened to make them unfold, resulting in moistened raw tobacco leaves.
[0043] S3: The raw tobacco leaves after leaf moistening are conveyed to the storage cabinet via a conveyor belt for temporary storage. The flow rate of the discharge belt scale is adjusted, and the raw tobacco leaves after leaf moistening are output from the storage cabinet in sequence to obtain the raw tobacco leaves that need to be preliminarily screened.
[0044] S4: The raw tobacco flakes that need to be pre-screened are conveyed to the star roller loosening machine for loosening and fragment screening to obtain the pre-screened raw tobacco flakes.
[0045] S5: The pre-screened raw tobacco leaves are sent to the laser sorting machine via conveyor belt for impurity removal, and the impurity-removed raw tobacco leaves are obtained.
[0046] S6: The cleaned raw tobacco leaves are conveyed to the spectral separator via a conveyor belt for upper and lower separation to obtain upper and lower selected tobacco leaves;
[0047] S7: Store the raw tobacco leaves of different grades after screening and sorting for later use.
[0048] In the above technical solution, the specific steps for cutting the raw tobacco into 5 sections using the four-cut, five-segment method are as follows: after removing the packaging from the finished raw tobacco, place it on a slitting machine and cut the tobacco into 5 parts evenly to obtain the cut raw tobacco.
[0049] In the above technical solution, the specific steps for humidifying the chopped raw tobacco leaves to achieve the desired effect are as follows: First, the humidifying machine is preheated for 17 minutes. When the temperature inside the humidifying machine reaches 60°C, the chopped raw tobacco leaves are placed into the humidifying machine. The rotation speed inside the machine is set to 9 revolutions per minute. The resulting raw tobacco leaves have a surface temperature between 50 and 55°C, a moisture content of 16±1%, a leaf looseness rate ≥98%, and no water stains or dampness on the surface.
[0050] In the above technical solution, the raw tobacco leaves after leaf moistening are conveyed to a storage cabinet via a conveyor belt for temporary storage. The flow rate of the discharge belt scale is adjusted, and the raw tobacco leaves after leaf moistening are sequentially output from the storage cabinet to obtain the raw tobacco leaves that need to be preliminarily screened. The specific steps are as follows: the raw tobacco leaves after leaf moistening are separated by reciprocating feeding, so that the tobacco leaves in the storage cabinet are kept in a uniform and loose state. Each cabinet holds 400 kg of tobacco leaves and then circulates them out sequentially. The flow rate of the discharge belt scale is set according to the quality characteristics of the raw tobacco leaves, usually set to 350-450 kg / h. The tobacco leaves output by the conveyor belt are the raw tobacco leaves that need to be preliminarily screened.
[0051] Preferably, the flow rate of the discharge belt scale is 400 kg / h.
[0052] It should be noted that the appropriate steep-angle belt speed should be selected according to the flow rate and raw material characteristics; the flow rate should be kept constant, and the flow rate variation coefficient should be controlled within 0.25%.
[0053] like Figure 2 As shown in Figure 3, in the above technical solution, the specific steps for conveying the raw tobacco flakes that need to be preliminarily screened to the star roller loosening machine for loosening and screening the tobacco flakes to obtain the preliminarily screened raw tobacco flakes are as follows: the raw tobacco flakes that need to be preliminarily screened are conveyed to the star roller loosening machine by a conveyor belt, the agglomerated tobacco cakes are loosened, and the fragments of the loosened raw tobacco flakes are screened by the vibrating screen air classifier 10 to obtain the preliminarily screened raw tobacco flakes.
[0054] It should be noted that after 10 sieves in the vibrating screen air classifier, the content of small raw tobacco flakes with a diameter of less than 12.7 mm in the raw tobacco flakes shall not exceed 2%.
[0055] Furthermore, in the above technical solution, the vibrating screen air classifier 10 includes a housing 11. The feeding conveyor belt 12 extends into the housing 11 through the feeding port 13, conveying the raw material tobacco flakes that need to be preliminarily screened to the air duct 14, so that the raw material tobacco flakes that need to be preliminarily screened continuously fall inside the air duct 14. The middle section of the air duct 14 is spiral-shaped. A fan 15 is provided in the recessed part of the inner wall on the inlet side of the spiral section of the air duct 14. A first cavity 16 is provided on the outlet side of the spiral section of the air duct 14. A first screening screen 17 is fixedly provided between the first cavity 16 and the air duct 14. The first screening screen 17 has mesh holes with a diameter of 5mm evenly distributed on it. The fan 15 continuously blows air to preliminarily screen the raw material tobacco flakes smaller than 5mm inside the air duct 14. The raw material tobacco flakes inside the first cavity 16 fall into the tobacco flake fragment storage box 18 through the screen plate at the bottom of the first cavity 16.
[0056] When the vibrating screen air classifier 10 is working, the raw material tobacco flakes that need to be preliminarily screened enter the air duct 14 through the feed conveyor belt 12. During the falling process, they are blown into the spiral section of the air duct 14 by the blower 15. During the process, the raw material tobacco flakes always move close to the inner wall of the air duct 14. When they reach the outlet of the spiral section, the raw material tobacco flakes smaller than 5mm pass through the first screening screen 17 and enter the first cavity 16. They fall into the tobacco flake fragment temporary storage box 18. The raw material tobacco flakes larger than 5mm are blocked by the first screening screen 17 and fall into the vibrating screening component 19 at the bottom of the air duct 14.
[0057] Furthermore, in the above technical solution, raw tobacco flakes with a diameter greater than 5mm inside the air duct 14 fall into the vibrating screening component 19 at the bottom of the air duct 14. The vibrating screening component 19 is inclinedly arranged inside the housing 11. A second screening mesh plate 20 is installed on the vibrating screening component 19. The second screening mesh plate 20 has evenly distributed mesh holes with a diameter of 12.7mm. A second cavity 21 is provided at the bottom of the vibrating screening component 19. Small raw tobacco flakes with a diameter less than 12.7mm fall into the second cavity 21 after being screened by the vibrating screening component 19 and are discharged from the first discharge port 22 by the conveyor belt. The raw tobacco flakes that have undergone secondary screening by the vibrating screening component 19 are discharged from the second discharge port 23 by the conveyor belt. The discharged raw tobacco flakes are the raw tobacco flakes after preliminary screening.
[0058] When the vibrating screen air classifier 10 is working, the vibrating screening component 19 performs reciprocating vibration motion, which filters out the small pieces of raw tobacco flakes smaller than 12.7mm through the second screening screen 20, and the parts of the raw tobacco flakes larger than 12.7mm are discharged through the second discharge port 23.
[0059] In the above technical solution, the specific steps for conveying the pre-screened raw tobacco leaves to a laser sorting machine via a conveyor belt for impurity removal to obtain the impurity-removed raw tobacco leaves are as follows: the pre-screened raw tobacco leaves are conveyed into the laser sorting machine via a conveyor belt, and the laser is used to identify and detect the tobacco and impurities based on their colors. Then, the impurities are blown away by a pneumatic system, and the raw tobacco leaves are discharged via a conveyor belt to obtain the impurity-removed raw tobacco leaves.
[0060] It should be noted that the debris includes weeds, bird feathers, etc.; and a small amount of raw material smoke will be mixed in with the debris after it is blown out, so it needs to be manually sorted offline.
[0061] The laser sorting machine must achieve a debris rejection rate of over 95%; if this is not met, the machine parameters need to be fine-tuned.
[0062] In the above technical solution, the specific steps for conveying the cleaned raw tobacco flakes to the spectral sorting machine via a conveyor belt to obtain the upper and lower selected tobacco flakes are as follows: The cleaned raw tobacco flakes are conveyed into the spectral sorting machine via a conveyor belt. First, qualified and unqualified raw tobacco flake samples are manually selected. The spectral sorting machine is used to color-calibrate the samples, so that the three primary color spectrum appears on the display screen. After determining the color gamut values of qualified and unqualified raw tobacco flakes, the tobacco flakes are screened for upper and lower quality to obtain the upper and lower quality raw tobacco flakes.
[0063] It should be noted that spectral sorting is a machine vision recognition technology that uses a high-resolution color camera to perform full-color sorting.
[0064] The quality standards for the top and bottom selections are: top selection compliance rate ≥ 95% and bottom selection error rejection rate ≤ 10%. Both top and bottom selections must be compared with the quality of standard samples. In specific judgment, each piece needs to be judged, and then the top selection pass rate and bottom selection error rejection rate are calculated by weighing. After confirming that the top selection pass rate and bottom selection error rejection rate are qualified, mass production can be carried out. If the quality inspection fails, the color gamut of the unqualified products needs to be finely adjusted by manually calibrating the spectral sorting machine.
[0065] In the above technical solution, the specific steps for storing raw tobacco leaves of different grades after screening and classification are as follows: the top-quality raw tobacco leaves, the lower-quality raw tobacco leaves, small raw tobacco leaves, and raw tobacco leaf fragments are packed into boxes for later use, with each box containing 80 kg; they are temporarily stored in an indoor environment with a temperature of 25±2℃ and a humidity of 50±10%, and will be re-dried at low temperature and packaged and labeled separately in the later stage.
[0066] It should be noted that the terms "top-quality raw tobacco slices," "low-quality raw tobacco slices," "small raw tobacco slices," and "raw tobacco slice fragments" refer to four different specifications of raw tobacco slices. The top-quality raw tobacco slices are re-dried and packaged to become the top-quality finished product. The low-quality raw tobacco slices and small raw tobacco slices are evenly mixed and re-dried to become the low-quality finished product. The raw tobacco slice fragments are re-dried and packaged separately.
[0067] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be determined by the scope of the claims.
Claims
1. A method of automatically sorting cut tobacco, characterized by, Includes the following steps: S1: The raw tobacco leaves are cut into sections using a four-cut, five-segment method to obtain the cut raw tobacco leaves; S2: The cut raw tobacco leaves are moistened to make them unfold, resulting in moistened raw tobacco leaves. S3: The raw tobacco leaves after leaf moistening are conveyed to the storage cabinet via a conveyor belt for temporary storage. The flow rate of the discharge belt scale is adjusted, and the raw tobacco leaves after leaf moistening are output from the storage cabinet in sequence to obtain the raw tobacco leaves that need to be preliminarily screened. S4: The raw tobacco flakes that need to be preliminarily screened are conveyed to the star roller loosening machine for loosening and fragment screening to obtain the preliminarily screened raw tobacco flakes. The specific steps include: conveying the raw tobacco flakes that need to be preliminarily screened to the star roller loosening machine via a conveyor belt, loosening the clumps of tobacco cake, and then screening the fragments of the loosened raw tobacco flakes by a vibrating screen air classifier (10) to obtain the preliminarily screened raw tobacco flakes. The vibrating screen air classifier (10) includes a housing (11), and the feeding conveyor belt (12) extends to the housing (11) through the feeding port (13). Inside, the raw tobacco flakes that need to be preliminarily screened are conveyed into the air duct (14), so that the raw tobacco flakes that need to be preliminarily screened continuously fall inside the air duct (14). The middle section of the air duct (14) is spiral-shaped. A fan (15) is installed in the recessed part of the inner wall on the inlet side of the spiral section of the air duct (14). A first cavity (16) is provided on the outlet side of the spiral section of the air duct (14). A first screening screen (17) is fixedly installed between the first cavity (16) and the air duct (14). The first screening screen (17) is evenly distributed with a diameter of 5mm. The mesh is used to continuously sift the raw tobacco flakes smaller than 5mm inside the air duct (14) by the fan (15). The raw tobacco flakes inside the first cavity (16) fall into the tobacco flake storage box (18) through the mesh plate at the bottom of the first cavity (16). The raw tobacco flakes with a diameter greater than 5mm inside the air duct (14) fall into the vibrating screening assembly (19) at the bottom of the air duct (14). The vibrating screening assembly (19) is inclined inside the box (11) and a second screen is installed on the vibrating screening assembly (19). The second screening screen (20) has a mesh with a diameter of 12.7 mm evenly distributed on it. The bottom of the vibration screening component (19) is provided with a second cavity (21). Small raw material tobacco pieces with a diameter of less than 12.7 mm fall into the second cavity (21) after being screened by the vibration screening component (19) and are discharged from the first discharge port (22) by the conveyor belt. The raw material tobacco pieces after being screened twice by the vibration screening component (19) are discharged from the second discharge port (23) by the conveyor belt. The discharged raw material tobacco pieces are the raw material tobacco pieces after preliminary screening. S5: The pre-screened raw tobacco leaves are sent to the laser sorting machine via conveyor belt for impurity removal, and the impurity-removed raw tobacco leaves are obtained. S6: The cleaned raw tobacco flakes are conveyed to the spectral sorting machine via a conveyor belt for upper and lower selection and sieving to obtain upper and lower selected tobacco flakes. The specific steps include: the cleaned raw tobacco flakes are conveyed into the spectral sorting machine via a conveyor belt; first, qualified and unqualified raw tobacco flake samples are manually selected; the spectral sorting machine is used to color-calibrate the samples, so that the three primary color spectrum appears on the display screen; after determining the color gamut values of qualified and unqualified raw tobacco flakes, the tobacco flakes are sieved to obtain upper and lower selected tobacco flakes. S7: Store the raw tobacco leaves of different grades after screening and sorting for later use.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The specific steps for cutting the raw tobacco slices using the four-cut, five-segment method to obtain the cut raw tobacco slices are as follows: After removing the packaging from the finished raw tobacco slices, place them on a cutting machine and cut the tobacco slices evenly into 5 parts to obtain the cut raw tobacco slices.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The specific steps for processing the chopped raw tobacco leaves into a moistened state to obtain moistened raw tobacco leaves are as follows: First, preheat the moistening machine for 15-20 minutes. When the temperature inside the moistening machine cylinder reaches 60℃, put the chopped raw tobacco leaves into the moistening machine cylinder. Set the rotation speed inside the cylinder to 8-10 rpm. The resulting raw tobacco leaves have a surface temperature between 50-55℃, a moisture content of 16±1%, a leaf loosening rate ≥98%, and no water stains or dampness on the surface.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein, The raw tobacco leaves after leaf conditioning are conveyed to a storage tank via a conveyor belt for temporary storage. The flow rate of the discharge belt scale is adjusted, and the raw tobacco leaves after leaf conditioning are sequentially output from the storage tank to obtain the raw tobacco leaves that need to be preliminarily screened. The specific steps are as follows: the raw tobacco leaves after leaf conditioning are separated by reciprocating feeding, so that the tobacco leaves in the storage tank are kept in a uniform and loose state. Each tank holds 400 kg of tobacco leaves and then circulates them out sequentially. The flow rate of the discharge belt scale is set according to the quality characteristics of the raw tobacco leaves, and the set value is 350~450 kg / h. The tobacco leaves output by the conveyor belt are the raw tobacco leaves that need to be preliminarily screened.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of automatically sorting the tobacco pieces is performed by a tobacco piece sorter. The specific steps for conveying the pre-screened raw tobacco leaves to a laser sorting machine via a conveyor belt for impurity removal to obtain the cleaned raw tobacco leaves are as follows: the pre-screened raw tobacco leaves are conveyed into the laser sorting machine via a conveyor belt, and the laser is used to identify and detect the tobacco and impurities based on their colors. Then, the impurities are blown away by a pneumatic system, and the cleaned raw tobacco leaves are discharged via a conveyor belt.
6. The automated tobacco leaf sorting method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The specific steps for storing the different grades of raw tobacco after screening and classification are as follows: the selected tobacco, the lower grade tobacco, the small raw tobacco pieces, and the raw tobacco fragments are packed into boxes for later use, each with a specification of 80 kg / box; they are temporarily stored in an indoor environment with a temperature of 25±2℃ and a humidity of 50±10%, and will be re-dried at low temperature and packaged and labeled in a later stage.