Grain sorter

Abstract

To provide a bag-sized grain sorter which can be rented and easily be carried by a manufacturer of edible Perilla in a small amount of annual production of 30 kg to 150 kg per house.SOLUTION: A grain sorter for sorting and removing foreign materials mixed in grains, comprises: a screw 23 (the inside of a pipe 7) which discharges grains from a hopper 5 in a rotary shaft direction; shooters 11, 12 which each have a slide face equipped with an oscillating function; and a space which separates grains from foreign materials in the air between the shooters 11, 12, thereby it is possible to perform sorting by utilizing a flying distance difference between the grains and the foreign matters without using a wide area and a complicated mechanism.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a grain sorter for removing impurities mixed in grains.

Background Art

[0002] In the conventional grain sorting method using an inclined conveyor, spherical grains roll down on the conveyor and impurities are carried upward. However, in order to reduce mis-sorting due to the overlap of grains and impurities, a machine with a wide width is required for the material discharge section from the hopper and the conveyor (see Patent Document 1). Also, in another grain sorting method, a method of sorting based on the difference in floating when grains are placed on a net and uniformly blown upward from below the net, a machine with a sufficient constant area is known in order to obtain uniformity of floating (see Patent Document 2).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, among grain producers, edible perilla producers with an annual production of only 30 kg to 150 kg per household use a grain sorter only for a few days a year. Therefore, there is a need to rent a grain sorter that can be easily carried in a bag. The object of the present invention is to provide a bag-sized grain sorter that could not be achieved with the conventional structure.

[0005] Also, when using a grain sorter in a rental business, mistakes associated with complicated procedures during rental must be prevented. The object of the present invention is to provide something that addresses this.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The invention according to claim 1 is a grain sorter for sorting and removing impurities mixed in grains, comprising a screw 23 that discharges grains from a hopper 5 in the axial direction of a rotating shaft, shooters 11, 12 having a sliding surface with a vibration function, and a mechanism of bag size that enables sorting by the difference in flying distances of grains and impurities by providing a space for separating grains and impurities in the air between the shooters 11, 12.

[0007] The invention according to claim 2 is such that the above-mentioned grain sorter is provided with a wireless communication function for accessing internal data from the outside, a serial number stored in the internal data, and a setting data area for performing function limitation according to rental conditions, thereby preventing misappropriation of the rented grain sorter by collating the serial number, and making it unusable by restricting the rotation of the motor that has exceeded the rental period based on the setting data to prevent overdue return.

Advantages of the Invention

[0008] According to the invention according to claim 1, rental is facilitated by miniaturization that can be carried by handbag and low power consumption that can also operate with a mobile battery for smartphones. Also, the processing capacity can obtain 1.3 kg or more per hour, which is sufficient for edible perilla producers.

[0009] According to the invention according to claim 2, when a rental company rents, since the serial number and the printed display that the grain sorter has as internal data are collated, misappropriation can be prevented, and since the motor of the grain sorter that has exceeded the rental period can be automatically stopped, the occurrence of unnecessary operations related to overdue return can be prevented, and use in case of theft can also be prevented.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0010]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0011] Regarding the embodiments for carrying out the present invention, a mechanism enabling miniaturization will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. Assuming the prerequisite of the required processing capacity is 1.3 kg / hour (about 0.36 g / Sec), the target grains have a diameter of less than 3 mm. In the mechanism of dropping from the hopper modules 4 to 7 in FIG. 1 to the shooter modules 9 to 12, the inner diameter of the outlet at the bottom of the hopper 5 is sufficient at 14 mm. Also, the screw 23 in FIG. 2 is arranged at the center of the pipe 7, and by rotating with the discharge motor 4, the grains are pushed out in the left direction of the screw rotation axis. To ensure that no strong pressure is applied to the grains and they are not damaged, the screw is made of a flexible material with rubber as the standard, and a gap larger than the diameter of the grains is provided between the pipe 7 and the screw blades. Incidentally, a rotation speed of 80 rpm for the screw is appropriate.

[0012] When the grains fall into the shooter modules 9 to 12 in FIG. 1, they all scatter downward, so a horizontally long rotating brush or a wide conveyor for avoiding the overlapping of materials due to the action of the conveyor shown in Patent Document 1 for transporting materials upward is unnecessary. Also, when the grains jump from the first stage 11 of the shooter to the middle stage 12 of the shooter and at the same time the contaminants fall into the NG case 22 by gravity, the blowing and rectifying mechanism shown in Patent Document 2 is not required, enabling structural miniaturization.

[0013] When grains are fed into the hopper 5, the grains are continuously discharged from the left end of the pipe 7. The discharged grains are accelerated at the first stage 11 of the shooter, fly out into the air, and reach the middle stage 12 of the shooter. However, the foreign matter with a non-uniform shape cannot reach the middle stage 12 of the shooter due to the large friction at the first stage 11 of the shooter and falls into the NG case 22. (※In Fig. 1, the notations are omitted for easy understanding of the functions, but guards for preventing scattering are installed on both sides of the shooter.) The inclination angles of the shooter modules 9 to 12 are set to as shallow an angle as possible for the grains to start rolling, generally 15° to 20°, so that the speed difference from the foreign matter becomes extremely large. However, if there is a lot of stagnation of foreign matter at the first stage 11 of the shooter, the probability that the sesame seeds flowing in later will hit the foreign matter and decelerate increases. Therefore, the vibration modules 13 to 17 assist in quickly removing the foreign matter. The middle stage 12 of the shooter performs the same function, and the grains finally reach the final stage 21 of the shooter and are discharged outside the grain sorter. Incidentally, the widths of the first and middle stages of the shooter are appropriately 30 to 40 mm, and the lengths are 50 to 80 mm. Also, the space distance and step difference between the first, middle, and final stages of the shooter are appropriately a distance of 20 to 50 mm and a step difference of 30 to 60 mm.

[0014] The vibration modules 13 to 17 in Fig. 3 are attached to the left side near the lower end of the aluminum frame 10 that connects the entire shooter modules 9 to 12 in Fig. 1, with respect to the outer periphery of the bearing 13. The inner peripheral shaft of the bearing 13 can rotate freely and is connected to the vibration motor 14 (a brushless motor that rotates at a low speed by electronic control). A gear 15 is fixed to the rotating shaft of the vibration motor 14 and rotated clockwise. When the teeth of the gear 15 hit the corner of the fixed nut 17 (either a square nut or a hexagonal nut is acceptable), the entire vibration motor 14 and the bearing 13 are pushed leftward with the bearing 13 as a fulcrum. However, when it reaches the valley of the gear teeth, it returns to the right due to the effect of the tension spring 16. With that impact, it gives sufficient lateral vibration to prevent the stagnation of foreign matter in the entire shooter modules 9 to 12 with a small amount of energy.

[0015] Figure 4 shows the process of separating the grains 24 and the impurities 25. At the left end of the first stage 11 of the shooter, the impurities 25 fall towards the NG case 22, and the impurities 25 that reach the middle stage 12 of the shooter with a low probability also do not reach the final stage 21 of the shooter and fall into the NG case 22. On the other hand, the sesame seeds reach the final stage 21 of the shooter and are discharged outside the grain separator 1. In addition, when the NG case 22 is full, the power is stopped by the function of the full amount sensor 20, and the electrical equipment unit 18 notifies the stop.

[0016] Next, regarding the embodiments for implementing the present invention, the parts with functional limitations according to the rental conditions will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8. FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the electrical equipment unit 18, and the printing of the serial number (S / N) 26 can be visually observed. However, since rental companies usually own multiple grain separators, there is a risk of misidentifying the actual product when setting the data of the grain separator using a PC. Therefore, the S / N is also provided in the non-volatile memory inside the CPU so that it can be compared with the printed S / N. As a tool for comparison, the rental company uses a PC with a wireless communication function connected to the Internet. In addition, it is a condition that the management software provided by the grain separator manufacturer is installed on the PC. When the printed S / N is input into the grain separator using the management software, the management software reads and compares the S / N of the internal data of the grain separator. If they match, the data setting of the functional limitation is permitted.

[0017] Also, in the rental business, there are many problems with non-return. Therefore, as shown in the table of FIG. 6, a function limitation flag is provided in the built-in non-volatile memory, and after the number of days of the rental contract has elapsed, or after the cumulative limit of the motor rotation time has elapsed, a limit is imposed so that it cannot operate. If the machine does not move, there is nothing you can do even if you possess it, so an effect of prompt return can be expected. If the return of the machine is delayed, useless work such as making inquiries or declining the next reservation and apologizing can be prevented at the system level. As an operation example, the cumulative limit of the motor rotation time described in the fifth row of the upper table in FIG. 6 is counted by the CPU of the grain separator itself and automatically stops, so it can function without using an external PC.

[0018] Figure 7 shows the overall picture of the mechanism for renting grain sorters. The manufacturer of the grain sorter prints the S / N on all the machines it produces and at the same time writes it into the non-volatile memory in the CPU. Furthermore, the grain sorter manufacturer sets up a homepage 101 equipped with a database 108 and records the S / N in that database 108 as well. When a rental company registers as a user on the homepage 101, it obtains a user ID and password for logging in to the homepage 101. Then, the management software 109 and user software 110 can be downloaded from the homepage 101, and using the management software, the data settings of the function limit flag of the grain sorter to be lent out are set and lent to the edible perilla producers. (Since a grain sorter without the function limit flag set does not operate in the initial state, it also helps prevent theft.) Also, the user software is used when the rental company rents out the grain sorter on an hourly basis within the business office. The grain sorter can be used alone without the user software, but when the user software is used, there are advantages such as being able to change the speed of the motor, sending email notifications of stops and errors due to detection by the full amount sensor, and being able to cooperate with external option functions. Edible perilla producers do not have the right to use the management software, but they can use the user software in the same way as the rental company.

[0019] In Figure 8, the data access rights are presented in a list. In the management software used by the rental company, it is possible to write to the function limit flag inside the CPU of the machine, but in the user software used by the edible perilla producers, only reading is possible, so it is a mechanism to prevent unauthorized use.

Explanation of Signs

[0020] 1 Grain sorter 2 Aluminum frame 3 Stay 4 Discharge motor 5 Hopper 6 Fixture 7 Pipe 8 Aluminum frame 9 Bearing 10 Aluminum frame 11 First stage of the shooter 12 Middle stage of the shooter 13 Bearing 14 Vibration motor 15 Gear 16 Tension spring 17 Nut 18 Electrical equipment section 19 Bearing 20 Full - amount sensor 21 Final stage of the shooter 22 NG case 23 Screw 24 Grain 25 Foreign matter 26 Serial number 27 Warning LED 28 CPU 29 Motor controller 101 Homepage 102 Rental company a 103 Rental company b 104 Edible perilla producer a 105 Edible perilla producer b 106 Edible perilla producer c 107 Edible perilla producer d 108 Database 109 Management software 110 User software

Claims

1. This grain sorting machine is characterized by comprising a screw 23 for discharging grain from a hopper 5 in the direction of the rotation axis, shooters 11 and 12 having a sliding surface with a vibration function, and a space for separating the grain from the impurities in the air between the shooters 11 and 12, thereby making it possible to reduce the size of a bag.

2. The grain sorting machine of claim 1, characterized in that it is equipped with a wireless communication function for accessing internal data from outside, a serial number based on the internal data, and a setting data area for restricting functions according to rental conditions.

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