Granular material conveying device

Abstract

To provide a granular material carrying device capable of efficiently aligning granular materials.SOLUTION: A granular material carrying device 1 for carrying granular materials while aligning them comprises: a housing plate 2 including a plurality of housing recessed parts, capable of individually housing the granular materials, on an upper surface side; carrying means 3 for carrying the housing plate 2; granular material supply means 4 capable of supplying the plurality of granular materials onto the housing plate 2; and a rotary brush 5 arranged on a downstream side of a carrying direction of the housing plate 2 than the granular material supply means 4. The rotary brush 5 comprises a brush body 52 rotating in contact with the upper surface of the housing plate 2. The brush body 52 blocks the plurality of granular materials supplied onto the housing plate 2 and carried toward the downstream side in the carrying direction by the carrying means 3, to retain the granular materials on the upstream side in the carrying direction of the housing plate 2 of the brush body 52, and rotates in the direction of sweeping and returning the retained granular materials toward the upstream side in the carrying direction of the housing plate 2.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a granular material conveying device. [Background technology]

[0002] Confectionery products in which granular food materials such as nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, cashews, macadamia nuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts) or granular dried fruit are coated with chocolate have been known. As shown in Fig. 7, such chocolate-coated confectioneries can be produced, for example, by pouring a predetermined amount of liquid chocolate into a lower mold 10 having a recess 11 formed in a predetermined shape, and then cooling the mold while inserting a protrusion 13 formed in an upper mold 12 into the recess 11 to form a chocolate shell C2. Liquid chocolate C3 is then poured again into the chocolate shell C2, and granular material Z (e.g., nuts) is placed therein. Liquid chocolate C4 is then poured in and the chocolate is allowed to solidify.

[0003] To mass-produce chocolate confectioneries containing such granular materials, a lower mold 10 is used in which recesses 11, each of which is shaped like the chocolate-coated confectionery to be produced, are arranged in a grid pattern, as shown in Figure 8. To efficiently produce the chocolate confectioneries, it is necessary to efficiently supply granular materials such as nuts one by one into each recess 11 of the lower mold 10. To achieve this, a conventional method involves pre-setting granular materials such as nuts in a storage plate having storage recesses formed in the same arrangement as the recesses of the lower mold 10, and then using a suction means to adsorb the granular materials to be set in the storage recesses and supply them into the recesses of the lower mold.

[0004] Here, as a method for previously setting granular materials in each storage recess of a storage plate, for example, a method using a granular material conveying device having a rotating turret 15 as shown in Fig. 9 is known. Specifically, as shown in Fig. 9, granular materials Z are conveyed one by one from a hopper 16 in which the granular materials Z are stored and placed into pockets 17 of the rotating turret 15, and the turret 15 moves the granular materials Z to directly above the storage plate 18, where they drop into the storage recesses 19 of the storage plate 18, thereby previously setting the granular materials Z in each storage recess 19 of the storage plate 18. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, in order to more efficiently supply granular material into the storage recess of the storage plate using the granular material conveying device having the above-mentioned rotating turret, it is necessary to increase the rotation speed of the turret.However, if the rotation speed of the turret is increased, the accuracy of supplying granular material from the hopper to the pockets of the turret will decrease, resulting in multiple granular materials being placed in one pocket or no granular material being placed in the pocket, resulting in a problem of decreased accuracy of supplying granular material to the lower mold.

[0006] Furthermore, the above-described granular material conveying device having a rotating turret has a problem in that it is difficult to supply granular materials, such as nuts and dried fruits, which have irregular shapes and different aspect ratios, into each storage recess in a uniform orientation. Specifically, the above-described granular material conveying device having a turret supplies the granular materials by dropping them into the storage recesses, so the granular materials supplied into the storage recesses are arranged in various orientations, making it difficult to align the orientations of the granular materials placed in each storage recess. As a result of this difficulty in aligning the orientations of the granular materials placed in each storage recess, when the suction means adsorbs and transfers the granular materials from the storage plate to the lower mold, the granular materials may not be adsorbed by the adsorption means and may remain in the storage recess, or may fall during adsorption and transfer, thereby reducing the accuracy of supplying the granular materials to the lower mold. In particular, when the granular material has a large aspect ratio, such as almonds, the granular material is often stored in an upright state within the storage recess, making it extremely difficult to adsorb and transfer such upright almonds (granular material) from the storage plate to the lower mold using the adsorption means, resulting in an even lower accuracy in supplying the granular material to the lower mold.

[0007] The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and its object is to provide a granular material conveying device that can efficiently align granular materials, and also to provide a granular material conveying device that can effectively align the postures of granular materials. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The object of the present invention is to provide a granular material conveying device for conveying food granules in an aligned state, the device comprising: a storage plate having a plurality of storage recesses on its upper surface that can individually accommodate food granules; conveying means for conveying the storage plate in a horizontal direction; granular material supplying means for supplying a plurality of food granules onto the storage plate; and a rotating brush arranged downstream of the granular material supplying means in the conveying direction of the storage plate, the rotating brush having a brush body that rotates in contact with the upper surface of the storage plate, the brush body intercepting a plurality of food granules that have been supplied onto the storage plate and are being conveyed horizontally downstream in the conveying direction by the conveying means, causing the food granules to accumulate on the upstream side of the brush body in the conveying direction of the storage plate, and rotating in a direction that sweeps the accumulated food granules back toward the upstream side of the storage plate in the conveying direction, the rotating brush having a brush body that rotates in contact with the upper surface of the storage plate, the brush body intercepting a plurality of food granules that have been supplied onto the storage plate and are being conveyed horizontally downstream in the conveying direction by the conveying means, causing the food granules to accumulate on the upstream side of the brush body in the conveying direction of the storage plate, and the rotating brush The cleaning device includes a pair of rotating shafts spaced apart from each other, a rotating belt stretched by the rotating shafts, and the brush body provided on the outer surface of the rotating belt, This is achieved by a granular material conveying device characterized in that the brush body is arranged at an angle so as to form a gap between the brush body and the upper surface of the storage plate on the upstream side of the storage plate in the conveying direction.

[0010] It is also preferable that the storage plate further includes a groove formed on the upper surface thereof and connected to the storage recess, the groove having an extension direction along the transport direction of the storage plate, passing through the center position of the storage recess in a planar view, and being positioned on a virtual line along the transport direction of the storage plate.

[0011] It is also preferable that the storage recesses formed on the upper surface of the storage plate are arranged in a grid pattern, and that each storage recess arranged along the transport direction of the storage plate is connected by the groove.

[0012] It is also preferable that the width of the groove in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the storage plate is formed to be the same as the width of the opening edge of the storage recess in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the storage plate.

[0013] Furthermore, it is preferable that the storage recess has a bottom on which the granular material is placed and a wall portion provided around the bottom, and that the bottom and the wall portion are connected by a smoothly curved surface.

[0014] It is also preferable that no chamfer is formed on the edge of the opening of the accommodation recess that opens on the upper surface of the accommodation plate.

[0015] Preferably, the accommodating recess is formed in an elliptical shape in a plan view. [Effects of the Invention]

[0016] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a granular material conveying device that can efficiently align granular materials, and also to provide a granular material conveying device that can effectively align the postures of granular materials. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0017] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a granular material conveying device according to the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic view of a main part of the granular material conveying device shown in FIG. [Figure 3] 3 is a plan view of a storage plate provided in the granular material transport device according to the present invention. FIG. [Figure 4] 4(a) is an enlarged plan view of a main part of the receiving plate shown in FIG. 3, and FIG. 4(b) is a cross-sectional view showing the AA cross section thereof. [Figure 5] 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the effect of the receiving plate shown in FIG. 4. FIG. [Figure 6] 3 is an enlarged schematic view showing a main part of a modified example of the rotary brush shown in FIG. 2. FIG. [Figure 7] 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a conventionally known method for producing a confectionery product in which granular confectionery such as nuts is coated with chocolate. [Figure 8] FIG. 1 is a plan view of a lower mould used in producing chocolate coated confectionery products. [Figure 9] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a conventional granular material conveying device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] A granular material conveying device according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the general configuration of a granular material conveying device 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic diagram of a main portion of the granular material conveying device 1. Note that each drawing is partially enlarged or reduced in size to facilitate understanding of the configuration. The granular material conveying device 1 according to the present invention is a device for aligning and conveying granular material Z, and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, is configured to include a storage plate 2, conveying means 3, granular material supplying means 4, and a rotating brush 5. Examples of the granular material Z include nuts such as almonds, walnuts, cashew nuts, macadamia nuts, Brazil nuts, and hazelnuts, as well as various granular food materials Z such as granular dried fruits.

[0019] The storage plate 2 is a plate-like member having a plurality of storage recesses 21 on its upper surface that can individually store the granular materials Z. The transport means 3 is a device for continuously transporting the plurality of storage plates 2, and is composed of, for example, a conveyor. The transport means 3 (conveyor) is an endless rotating device that rotates continuously while rotating. In this embodiment, the transport means 3 is configured to horizontally transport the storage plate 2 in the lower area 3a and the upper area 3b. During horizontal transport in the lower area 3a, the granular materials Z are aligned and stored in each storage recess 21 of the storage plate 2, and during horizontal transport in the upper area 3b, as described in the background art, the granular materials Z set in the storage recesses 21 are adsorbed by an adsorption means and supplied into the recesses of the lower mold.

[0020] The plurality of storage recesses 21 formed on the upper surface of the storage plate 2 transported by the transport means 3 are arranged in a lattice pattern, as shown in FIG. 3 . The planar shape of each storage recess 21 is not particularly limited. However, for example, when nuts with a large aspect ratio (longitudinal length / transverse length), such as almonds, are used as the granular material Z, the storage recess 21 is preferably formed in an elliptical or rectangular shape. When the planar shape of the storage recess 21 is formed in an elliptical or rectangular shape, the storage recess 21 is preferably formed so that the direction along the transport direction of the storage plate 2 is the longitudinal direction. Furthermore, when nuts with a large aspect ratio, such as almonds, are used as the granular material Z, the transverse dimension of the storage recess 21 (the dimension perpendicular to the transport direction of the storage plate 2) is preferably set to be shorter than the longitudinal length of the granular material Z. The size of each storage recess 21 in a planar view is appropriately set depending on the size of the granular material Z to be stored and is not particularly limited, but is configured to be large enough to store the entire granular material Z therein. With regard to the size of the storage recess 21 in a plan view, the size that can accommodate the entire granular material Z refers to the size when the granular material Z is placed in its natural state on a flat surface, and does not refer to the size when the granular material Z stands upright in the case of a granular material Z with a large aspect ratio, such as an almond. The depth dimension of each storage recess 21 is also not particularly limited, but it is preferable to set the depth dimension so that when the granular material Z is accommodated in the storage recess 21, the opening edge of the storage recess 21 and the granular material Z are approximately flush with each other.

[0021] As shown in FIG. 4(a), which is an enlarged plan view of a main portion, and FIG. 4(b), which is a cross section taken along line AA in FIG. 4(a), the storage plate 2 is preferably configured to have grooves 22 on the upper surface thereof that connect to each storage recess 21. The grooves 22 preferably extend in the direction along the transport direction of the storage plate 2, pass through the center positions of each storage recess 21 in a plan view, and are disposed on an imaginary line L that runs along the transport direction of the storage plate 2. When the storage recesses 21 are arranged in a lattice pattern as shown in FIG. 4(a), the storage recesses 21 arranged along the transport direction of the storage plate 2 are preferably connected to each other by grooves 22 formed on the upper surface of the storage plate 2. As shown in FIG. 4(a), the width W1 of the grooves 22 in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the storage plate 2 is preferably the same as the width W2 of the opening edge of each storage recess 21 in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the storage plate 2. The depth of the groove 22 connected to the storage recess 21 is not particularly limited, but is preferably set to a range of 5% to 30% of the average thickness dimension of the granular material Z, and more preferably set to a range of 10% to 20%.

[0022] 4(b), the storage recess 21 has a configuration including a bottom 23 on which the granular material Z is placed and a wall 24 provided around the bottom 23, and it is preferable that the bottom 23 and the wall 24 are connected by a smoothly curved curved surface 25. The radius of curvature of the curved surface 25 is set appropriately depending on the shape and size of the granular material Z and is not particularly limited, but for example, when the granular material Z is almonds, it is preferable to set it in the range of 10% to 20% of the depth dimension of the storage recess.

[0023] It is also preferable that the edge of the receiving recess 21 that opens on the upper surface of the receiving plate 2 is not chamfered.

[0024] The granular material supply means 4 is a means capable of supplying a plurality of granular materials Z onto the storage plate 2, and can be composed of, for example, a storage hopper 41 and a vibrating feeder 42. The storage hopper 41 is usually provided with an inlet at the top and is a component having the function of storing the granular materials Z fed through the inlet inside, and the vibrating feeder 42 is a device having the function of guiding the granular materials Z discharged from a discharge outlet provided at the bottom of the storage hopper 41 onto the storage plate 2. In this embodiment, the granular material supply means 4 is configured by being disposed between the lower area 3a and the upper area 3b of the conveying means 3.

[0025] The rotating brush 5 includes a rotating shaft 51 rotated by a driving device such as a motor (not shown), and a brush body 52. ​​The rotating brush 5 is disposed between the lower area 3a and the upper area 3b of the conveying means 3, downstream of the granular material supplying means 4 in the conveying direction of the storage plate 2. The brush body 52 of the rotating brush 5 is provided around the rotating shaft 51 and configured to rotate in contact with the upper surface of the storage plate 2. The axial direction of the rotating shaft 51 is set to be perpendicular to the conveying direction of the storage plate 2. The brush body 52 is configured to intercept a plurality of granular materials Z supplied onto the storage plate 2 and conveyed downstream in the conveying direction by the conveying means 3, retaining the granular materials Z on the upstream side of the brush body in the conveying direction of the storage plate 2, and to rotate in a direction to sweep back the retained granular materials Z toward the upstream side of the storage plate 2 in the conveying direction.

[0026] The operation of the granular material conveying device 1 according to the present invention, configured as described above, is described below. First, granular material Z is introduced into the top inlet of the storage hopper 41 of the granular material supplying means 4 and stored therein, and the vibrating feeder 42, conveying means 3, and rotating brush 5 are operated. The granular material Z stored in the storage hopper 41 is continuously supplied onto the storage plate 2, which is being conveyed by the conveying means 3, by the action of the vibrating feeder 42. Some of the granular material Z supplied onto the storage plate 2 is accommodated in the storage recesses 21 immediately after supply, while the remaining portion is conveyed toward the rotary brush 5 by the action of the conveying means 3 in the spaces between the storage recesses 21, overlapping on top of granular material Z already accommodated in the storage recesses 21, or in the form of clumps of multiple granular material Z. As shown in FIG. 2, granular material Z not yet accommodated in the storage recesses 21 comes into contact with the brush body 52 of the rotating brush 5, where it is blocked and remains on the upstream side of the brush body 52 in the conveying direction of the storage plate 2. At this time, the storage plate 2 moves in the conveying direction below the retained granular materials Z due to the action of the conveying means 3, and the rotating brush body 52 has the effect of changing the retained positions of the retained granular materials Z, so that some of the retained granular materials Z are effectively guided and stored into storage recesses 21 that have not yet received granular materials Z. At the same time, the rotation of the brush body 52 sweeps the retained granular materials Z back toward the upstream side of the storage plate 2 in the conveying direction. In other words, the granular materials Z that have been supplied onto the storage plate 2 but have not yet been stored in the storage recesses 21 are repeatedly retained on the upstream side of the storage plate 2 in the conveying direction by the rotating brush 5 and swept back toward the upstream side of the storage plate 2 in the conveying direction, and are stored into the storage recesses 21 during this repetition. Furthermore, by repeating this retention and sweeping back, the retention area of ​​the granular material Z spreads approximately uniformly in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the storage plate 2, so that the granular material Z can be efficiently stored in each storage recess 21 that passes below the rotating brush 5.

[0027] Furthermore, as described above, when the storage recesses 21 are configured to be connected by grooves 22 formed on the upper surface of the storage plate 2, the grooves 22 force the granular material Z to assume a fixed orientation, making it easier to store in the storage recesses 21. More specifically, below the granular material Z remaining on the upstream side of the storage plate 2 of the rotating brush 5 in the conveying direction, the storage plate 2 moves along the conveying direction. However, the position and orientation of the granular material Z stored in the grooves 22 change due to contact with the side walls of the grooves 22, due to the influence of other granular material Z rolling on the storage plate 2, etc. This action naturally causes the granular material Z to assume a posture that makes it easy to store in the grooves 22, resulting in the posture of each granular material Z being in a fixed orientation. For example, if the granular material Z is almonds, the almonds will be stored in the grooves 22 with their longitudinal direction aligned with the conveying direction of the storage plate 2. In this state, as the rotating brush 5 sweeps back the almonds, the almonds in the grooves 22 slide, pushed by the brush body 52 and other almonds, and are stored in the storage recesses 21 in that position, that is, with the almonds' longitudinal direction aligned with the transport direction of the storage plate 2. In particular, by setting the width of the grooves 22 (the width in the direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the storage plate 2) smaller than the width of the almonds' longitudinal direction, the almonds are forced to be stored with their longitudinal direction aligned with the transport direction of the storage plate 2, and therefore are stored in the storage recesses 21 with their longitudinal direction aligned with the transport direction of the storage plate 2.

[0028] Furthermore, when each storage recess 21 is arranged in a grid pattern, it is preferable to configure each storage recess 21 arranged along the conveying direction of the storage plate 2 so that they are connected by grooves 22 formed on the upper surface of the storage plate 2.By adopting such a configuration, it becomes easier to guide the granular material Z in the grooves 22 to storage recesses 21 that do not yet contain the granular material Z, making it possible to efficiently store the granular material Z in the storage recesses 21.

[0029] Furthermore, as described above, by configuring the bottom 23 and wall 24 of the storage recess 21 to be connected by the smoothly curved surface 25, it is possible to effectively prevent two granular objects Z from being stored in one storage recess 21. When the bottom 23 and wall 24 are connected by the curved surface 25, even if two granular objects Z are stored in the storage recess 21, it is possible to create a situation in which one of the granular objects Z is stored in a manner that protrudes upward more than the other granular object Z, as shown in Fig. 5. This makes it possible to scrape out the granular object Z that is stored in a manner that protrudes upward more from the storage recess 21 by the brush body 52, and it is possible to prevent two granular objects Z from being stored in one storage recess 21.

[0030] Furthermore, as described above, by configuring the opening edge of the storage recess 21 that opens on the upper surface of the storage plate 2 so as not to form a chamfer, it is possible to more effectively prevent two granular objects Z from being stored in one storage recess 21. If a chamfer is formed on the opening edge of the storage recess 21, there is a risk that the granular object Z will be more likely to slide along the chamfer and fall into the storage recess 21 even if a granular material is already stored in the storage recess 21. However, by configuring the opening edge so as not to form a chamfer, it is possible to effectively prevent such granular object Z from sliding and falling.

[0031] The above describes a granular material conveying device 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. However, the specific configuration of the granular material conveying device 1 is not limited to the above embodiment. In the above embodiment, the rotating brush 5 is configured as a cylindrical shape. However, the configuration is not particularly limited. For example, as shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 6( a), the rotating brush 5 may be configured to have a rotating caterpillar structure having at least two rotating shafts 51 spaced apart along the longitudinal direction and caterpillars 53 rotated by the rotating shafts 51. Furthermore, instead of the rotating caterpillar structure, the rotating brush 5 may be configured to have a rotating belt structure having at least two rotating shafts 51 spaced apart along the longitudinal direction and a rotating belt 54 stretched by the rotating shafts 51. The brush body 52 is provided on the outer surface of the caterpillars 53 or the outer surface of the rotating belt 54. Even when a rotating brush 5 configured in this manner is employed, the same effects as those described above can be obtained.

[0032] When the rotating brush 5 is configured to include a rotating caterpillar structure or a rotating belt structure as shown in Fig. 6(a), the rotating brush 5 (rotating caterpillar structure or rotating belt structure) can be tilted to form a gap between the brush body 52 and the upper surface of the storage plate 2 on the upstream side in the conveying direction of the storage plate 2, as shown in Fig. 6(b). This makes it possible to more efficiently store the granular material Z in each storage recess 21. Specifically, when a rotating brush 5 having the shape shown in Fig. 2 or a rotating brush 5 installed as shown in Fig. 6(a) is used, most of the granular material Z blocked by the rotating brush 5 is located in an area far away from the surface of the storage plate 2. However, when the rotating caterpillar structure or rotating belt structure is tilted so that the brush body 52 contacts the surface of the storage plate 2 on the downstream side in the conveying direction and forms a gap between the brush body 52 and the upper surface of the storage plate 2 on the upstream side in the conveying direction, as shown in Fig. 6(b), it becomes possible for a large amount of the granular material Z to enter the area between the brush body 52 and the upper surface of the storage plate 2. In other words, the contact area between the granular material Z that is blocked by the rotating brush 5 and remains upstream of the rotating brush 5 in the conveying direction of the storage plate 2 and the upper surface of the storage plate 2 can be greatly increased, and the rotation of the brush body 52 can be used to sweep back the many granular materials Z that have come into contact with the upper surface of the storage plate 2, making it possible to guide the granular materials Z into each storage recess 21 extremely efficiently.

[0033] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the conveying means 3 is configured so that the storage plate 2 can rotate in the lower area 3a and the upper area 3b, but this configuration is not particularly limited, and for example, the storage plate 2 may be configured so that it can rotate on the same horizontal plane.

[0034] In the above embodiment, the granular material supply means 4 is exemplified as being composed of a storage hopper 41 and a vibrating feeder 42, but is not particularly limited to this configuration, and the vibrating feeder 42 may be omitted and the means may be composed of only the storage hopper 41. In such a configuration, the granular material Z is configured to be supplied directly onto the storage plate 2 from the discharge port of the storage hopper 41.

[0035] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, as shown in the schematic diagram of Figure 1, a configuration is shown that includes a single granular material supply means 4 and a rotating brush 5, but this is not particularly limited to this form, and it goes without saying that the configuration can include multiple granular material supply means 4 and rotating brushes 5. [Explanation of symbols]

[0036] 1 Granular material conveying device 2 Storage Plate 21 Recessed storage area 22 Groove 3. Means of transportation 4 Granular material supply means 41 Storage hopper 42 Vibrating feeder 5 Rotating Brush 51 Rotation axis 52 Brush body 53 Caterpillar 54 Rotating Belt Z Particulate matter

Claims

1. A granular material conveying device that conveys granular food materials in an aligned manner, a storage plate having a plurality of storage recesses on an upper surface thereof for individually storing food particles; a conveying means for conveying the receiving plate in a horizontal direction; a granule supplying means for supplying a plurality of food granules onto the storage plate; a rotating brush disposed downstream of the granular material supplying means in the conveying direction of the storage plate, The rotating brush has a brush body that rotates in contact with the upper surface of the storage plate, the brush body intercepts a plurality of food particles supplied onto the storage plate and conveyed horizontally by the conveying means toward the downstream side in the conveying direction, causing the food particles to accumulate on the upstream side of the storage plate in the conveying direction of the brush body, and rotates in a direction to sweep the accumulated food particles back toward the upstream side of the storage plate in the conveying direction, The rotating brush comprises at least two rotating shafts arranged at a distance from each other, a rotating belt stretched by each rotating shaft, and a brush body provided on the outer surface of the rotating belt, and is characterized in that it is arranged at an angle so as to form a gap between the brush body and the upper surface of the storage plate on the upstream side of the transport direction of the storage plate.

2. a groove formed on an upper surface of the receiving plate and connected to the receiving recess; A granular material conveying device as described in claim 1, characterized in that the groove is configured with its extension direction along the conveying direction of the storage plate, passes through the center position of the storage recess in a planar view, and is arranged on a virtual line along the conveying direction of the storage plate.

3. The accommodating recesses formed on the upper surface side of the accommodating plate are arranged in a lattice pattern, 3. The granular material transport device according to claim 2, wherein the respective storage recesses arranged along the transport direction of the storage plate are connected to each other by the grooves.

4. A granular material conveying device as described in claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the width dimension of the groove in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the storage plate is formed to be the same dimension as the width of the opening edge of the storage recess in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the storage plate.

5. A granular material conveying device as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the storage recess has a bottom on which the granular material is placed and a wall portion provided around the bottom, and the bottom and the wall portion are connected by a smoothly curved surface.

6. 6. The granular material transport device according to claim 1, wherein the edge of the receiving recess that opens in the upper surface of the receiving plate is not chamfered.

7. 7. The granular material conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the storage recess is formed in an elliptical shape in a plan view.

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