Flow rate adjustment mechanism for optical sorting machine

Abstract

To provide a flow rate adjustment mechanism of an optical sorter which can set a more suitable flow rate of granular matters in association with a defective mixing ratio of the granular matters to be sorted and the number of ejection of an ejector.SOLUTION: An optical sorter 100 has at least optical detecting means 108 which may detect flowing granular matters and determine defective granules, an ejector 109 which is disposed below the optical detecting means and may remove the defective granules by jet air, a chute 107 which may transport the granular matters to the optical detecting means; a flow rate restriction member 125 which may adjust a flow rate of the granular matters in the chute; and flow rate adjusting means which causes the flow rate restriction member to operate and set a flow rate of the granular matters in the chute according to a defective mixing ratio of the granular matters supplied to the chute.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a flow rate adjustment mechanism of an optical sorter that can adjust the flow rate of granular materials in the optical sorter for granular materials.

Background Art

[0002] Among conventional optical sorters, there is one that can smoothly increase and decrease the flow rate of granular materials in relation to the operating frequency of an ejector, which is a sorting actuator (see Patent Document 1). Specifically, the amplitude of a vibrating feeder is changed according to the number of operations of the ejector, and the supply amount of granular materials to a downcomer is adjusted.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, in the case of the conventional technology described in Patent Document 1, since the flow rate of granular materials is increased and decreased depending only on the operating frequency of the ejector, when the operating frequency of the ejector becomes high, so-called hunting phenomena such as shaking and vibration occur, which causes the equipment to malfunction.

[0005] Therefore, in view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a flow rate adjustment mechanism for an optical sorter that can set a more suitable flow rate of granular materials in correspondence with the mixing ratio of defective grains of the granular materials to be sorted and the number of ejection times of the ejector.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The invention relating to (1) is a flow rate adjustment mechanism for an optical sorting machine having at least an optical detection means capable of detecting flowing granular material and identifying defective grains, an ejector disposed below the optical detection means and capable of removing the defective grains by a jet of air, and a chute capable of transporting the granular material to the optical detection means, wherein the optical sorting machine is characterized by comprising a flow rate regulating member capable of adjusting the flow rate of the granular material in the chute, and a flow rate adjustment means capable of operating the flow rate regulating member to set the flow rate of the granular material in the chute according to the proportion of defective grains mixed in with the granular material supplied to the chute.

[0007] The invention relating to (2) is a flow rate adjustment mechanism for the optical sorting machine described in (1) above, comprising a control unit capable of controlling the optical sorting machine, the control unit comprising a defective grain content calculation means capable of calculating the defective grain content of the granular material supplied to the chute, and a display means capable of displaying the defective grain content calculation means.

[0008] The invention relating to (3) is a flow rate adjustment mechanism for an optical sorting machine as described in (2) above, comprising a motor capable of operating the flow rate regulating member, wherein the control unit is capable of controlling the flow rate adjustment means based on the calculation result by the defective particle inclusion ratio calculation means.

[0009] The invention relating to (4) is a flow rate adjustment mechanism for an optical sorting machine as described in (1) or (2) above, wherein the flow rate adjustment means is provided on the front side of the optical sorting machine and comprises at least an operating lever capable of adjusting the opening degree of the flow rate restricting member, a clamp knob capable of fixing the operating lever at any rotational position, and an opening degree indicator unit capable of determining the opening degree of the flow rate restricting member according to the rotational position of the operating lever.

[0010] The invention relating to (5) is a flow rate adjustment mechanism for an optical sorting machine as described in (2) or (3) above, wherein the chute comprises a primary sorting chute used for primary sorting of granular material and a secondary chute used for secondary sorting of granular material sorted as defective grains by the primary sorting, and the means for calculating the defective grain content is a flow rate adjustment mechanism for an optical sorting machine as described in (2) or (3) above, which is capable of calculating the defective grain content by dividing the flow rate of granular material in the secondary sorting chute by the flow rate of granular material in the primary sorting chute. [Effects of the Invention]

[0011] According to the present invention, by providing a flow rate regulating member capable of adjusting the flow rate of granular material in a chute, and a flow rate adjustment means capable of operating the flow rate regulating member to set the flow rate of granular material in the chute according to the proportion of defective particles mixed in the granular material supplied to the chute, it becomes possible to anticipate the ejection frequency of the ejector at a predetermined proportion of defective particles and set an appropriate flow rate of granular material supplied to the chute. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0012] [Figure 1] (a) is a schematic side perspective view of an optical sorting machine in an embodiment of the present invention, and (b) is a perspective view of the raw material supply section in the optical sorting machine. [Figure 2] This is an overall perspective view of an optical sorting machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective view of section A. [Figure 4] This table shows the relationship between the flow rate of granular material and the theoretical number of injections in the embodiments of the present invention. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0013] An embodiment of the flow rate adjustment mechanism for the optical sorting machine of the present invention will be described below. Figure 1(a) shows a schematic side perspective view of the optical sorting machine 100 of this embodiment, and Figure 1(b) shows a perspective view of the raw material supply section in the optical sorting machine 100. Furthermore, Figure 2 shows an overall perspective view of the optical sorting machine 100 of this embodiment. The optical sorting machine 100 of this embodiment optically sorts brown rice discharged as granular material from a rice hulling machine (not shown).

[0014] As shown in the figure, in the optical sorting machine 100 of this embodiment, brown rice discharged from a rice huller (not shown) is fed into the granular material input hopper 102 of the optical sorting machine 100, and is lifted to the temporary storage tank 104 by the lifting unit 103 via the flow rate regulating member 125. The temporary storage tank 104 is equipped with a storage sensor 105 that senses the amount of storage.

[0015] The optical sorting machine 100 in this embodiment is a so-called chute-type optical sorting machine 100, and a vibrating feeder 106 and a chute 107 for supplying granular material are arranged beyond the temporary storage tank 104. In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 2, the optical sorting machine 100 is provided with a primary sorting chute 107A and a secondary sorting chute 107B as the chute 107.

[0016] Specifically, granular material supplied from the vibrating feeder 106 is first fed to the primary sorting chute 107A, where primary sorting of the granular material is performed by an optical detection means 108 located below the primary sorting chute 107A and an ejector 109 that removes defective granules by blowing air. Furthermore, the granular material that has been sorted as defective in the primary sorting is supplied to the secondary sorting chute 107B, where secondary sorting is performed again by the optical detection means 108 and the ejector 109.

[0017] In this embodiment, the optical detection means 108 is a known optical detection means that incorporates an illumination means, a light-receiving element, a background, etc. (not shown), and the ejector 109 is a known ejector means that has a plurality of air injection nozzles and is installed in close proximity to the flow trajectory of the granular material.

[0018] And the granular materials determined to be good products by the above-mentioned primary sorting are discharged from the primary good product discharge port 111A shown in FIG. 2, and the granular materials determined to be good products by the above-mentioned secondary sorting are discharged from the secondary good product discharge port 111B shown in FIG. 2.

[0019] In addition, the optical sorter 100 of this embodiment includes a flow rate adjusting means capable of setting the flow rate of the granular materials to be sorted. As shown in FIG. 1(b), between the granular material input hopper 102 and the lifting part 103, a flow rate regulating member 125 (the broken line part in the figure) capable of adjusting the flow rate of the granular materials in the chute 107 is arranged, and it is connected to a wire 126. By moving the flow rate regulating member 125 up and down, the flow rate of the granular materials into the chute 107 is configured to be adjusted.

[0020] And as shown in the perspective view of FIG. 2, the wire 126 connected to the above-mentioned flow rate regulating member 125 is connected to a flow rate adjusting means 120 provided at the central position on the front side of the optical sorter 100. According to the operation of the operator on the flow rate adjusting means 120, the flow rate of the granular materials into the chute 107 can be adjusted.

[0021] More specifically, FIG. 3 shows an enlarged perspective view of part A in FIG. 2. The flow rate adjusting means 120 of this embodiment includes an operation lever 121 pivotally supported by a rotating shaft 122 and capable of rotating in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure, and a clamp knob 123 capable of fixing the operation lever 121 at an arbitrary rotation angle position.

[0022] In addition, on the back side of the operation lever 121, an opening degree display part 124 with a sticker printed with the opening degree is provided. According to the rotation position of the operation lever 121, the opening degree of the flow rate regulating member 125 can be grasped. In this embodiment, the flow rate per unit time (for example, kg / h) is printed on the sticker as the display of the opening degree, which serves as a reference when rotating the operation lever 121.

[0023] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 2, the front of the optical sorter 100 is provided with a display means 110 capable of displaying various information such as setting operations and operating status for the optical sorter 100. This configuration allows the user to set the appropriate flow rate of granular material by operating the operation lever 121 while checking the flow rate display of granular material into the chute 107.

[0024] Furthermore, by positioning the operating lever 121 and the like on the front side of the optical sorting machine 100, if a problem occurs with the machinery in a later stage of the sorting process, the aforementioned flow rate regulating member 125 can be closed immediately. In addition, since the flow rate of granular material can now be set on the front side of the optical sorting machine 100, it is possible to prevent secondary damage such as workers damaging equipment or getting injured by entering the narrow space behind the optical sorting machine, as was the case in the past.

[0025] The optical sorting machine 100 in this embodiment is equipped with a control unit (not shown), which is responsible for controlling the operation of the optical sorting machine 100. The control unit can measure the flow rate of granular material in the primary sorting chute 107A and the secondary sorting chute 107B and display it on the display means 110 as described above.

[0026] Furthermore, the control unit is equipped with a defective grain content calculation means that can calculate the percentage of defective grains mixed in during primary and secondary sorting, and can calculate the percentage of defective grains mixed in the granular material supplied to the primary sorting chute 107A and the secondary sorting chute 107B and display it on the display means 110.

[0027] Figure 4 shows the relationship between the flow rate of granular material in the primary sorting chute 107A and the theoretical number of ejectors 109 (theoretical number of ejectors per channel per second) in the optical sorting machine 100 of this embodiment, for each percentage of defective granules. More specifically, the theoretical number of ejectors 109 expected for each flow rate is shown according to the percentage of defective granules in the granular material supplied to the primary sorting chute 107A.

[0028] As shown in the diagram, the "safe zone" where the ejector 109's spray rate is less than 50 times / s and granular material is stably sorted, the "caution zone" where the spray rate is 50 times / s or more and the sorting state becomes unstable, and the "danger zone" where the spray rate is 75 times / s or more and the sorting state deteriorates are clearly indicated.

[0029] For example, as shown by the arrow in Figure 4, when supplying granular material with a defective particle content of 15% to the primary sorting chute 107A, it is immediately clear that in order to stably sort the granular material with a theoretical number of ejector jets of less than 50 times / s, the flow rate should be set to 1000 kg / h. The defective particle content can be monitored by the control unit of the optical sorter 100 while the sorting process is being carried out and displayed on the display means 110, and furthermore, the flow rate of the granular material in the primary sorting chute 107A can also be displayed on the display means 110.

[0030] Therefore, by checking the percentage of defective granules mixed in the granular material and the flow rate of the granular material in the primary sorting chute 107A, the operating lever 121 can be operated to achieve an appropriate flow rate according to the table in Figure 4, thereby enabling stable sorting of the granular material.

[0031] (Another example) The flow rate adjustment mechanism of the optical sorting machine 100 in this embodiment has been described above, but the flow rate adjustment mechanism of the optical sorting machine of the present invention is not necessarily limited to the embodiment described above.

[0032] In the above-described embodiment, the system was configured to allow setting an appropriate flow rate for granular material by operating the operating lever 121 while checking the flow rate of granular material displayed on the display means 110. However, it is also possible to install a motor capable of operating the flow rate regulating member 125 and provide a flow rate adjustment means that automatically controls the flow rate regulating member 125 based on the calculation results from the defective granule content calculation means.

[0033] Furthermore, as described above, when automatically controlling the flow rate of granular material in the primary sorting chute 107A, the percentage of defective grains can be calculated using the following formula: "Flow rate on the secondary sorting chute 107B ÷ Flow rate on the primary sorting chute 107A × Correction coefficient × 100%". Based on this percentage of defective grains, the flow rate of granular material can then be automatically controlled. Of course, the correction coefficient is not mandatory, and the calculation does not necessarily have to be done as a percentage.

[0034] Alternatively, the percentage of defective particles can be calculated from the weight of good particles discharged from the primary good particle outlet 111A and the secondary good particle outlet 111B, and the weight of defective particles that are ultimately discharged. This allows for a more reliable calculation of the percentage of defective particles and enables more appropriate adjustment of the flow rate of the granular material.

[0035] The above-described embodiment explained the flow rate adjustment mechanism using an optical sorting machine 100 equipped with a primary sorting chute 107A and a secondary sorting chute 107B as an example. However, it is not necessarily limited to such an optical sorting machine 100, and the flow rate of granular material can be appropriately adjusted by a similar configuration and control even in an optical sorting machine 100 equipped with a single chute 107.

[0036] Furthermore, while the above-described embodiment described the flow rate adjustment mechanism of an optical sorter 100 that optically sorts brown rice discharged from a rice huller (not shown), it is not necessarily limited to brown rice. The flow rate adjustment mechanism of the optical sorter of the present invention can be applied to optical sorters of raw materials consisting of grains such as wheat, beans, and nuts, as well as resin pieces such as pellets and beads, pharmaceuticals, ores, fine articles such as volcanic ash, and other granular materials.

[0037] In the embodiment described above, as shown in Figure 4, the "safe zone," "caution zone," and "danger zone" were set using a predetermined number of injections in the ejector 109 as a threshold. However, this is merely an example, and it is possible to set each zone using any number of injections as a threshold.

[0038] In addition, during operation of the optical sorting machine 100, the control unit can be configured to immediately stop the operation of the optical sorting machine 100 if the number of ejections from the ejector 109 enters the "danger zone," or to stop the operation of the optical sorting machine 100 if the condition of being in the "danger zone" continues for several minutes. With such a configuration, stable sorting can be performed by the optical sorting machine 100.

[0039] The embodiments and alternative embodiments of the present invention have been described above. These descriptions are for the purpose of facilitating understanding of the present invention and do not limit it. The present invention can be modified and improved without departing from its spirit, and its equivalents are included. Furthermore, the combinations or omissions of the components described in the claims and specification are possible to the extent that at least some of the above-mentioned problems can be solved or at least some of the effects can be achieved. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0040] 100 Optical sorting machines 102 Granular material input hopper 103 Lifting section 104 Temporary storage tank 105 Storage Sensor 106 Vibration Feeder 107 Shots 107A First Selection Shoot 107B Second Selection Shoot 108 Optical detection means 109 Ejector 110 Display means 111A 1st quality product outlet 111B 2nd quality product outlet 120 Flow rate adjustment means 121 Operating lever 122 Rotation axis 123 Clamp Knob 124 Opening degree display section 125 Flow rate regulating member 126 wires

Claims

1. An optical detection means capable of detecting flowing granular material and identifying defective granules, An ejector is positioned below the optical detection means and capable of removing the defective particles by a jet of air, An optical sorting machine having at least a chute capable of transporting the granular material to the optical detection means, A flow rate regulating member capable of adjusting the flow rate of the granular material in the chute, A flow rate adjustment means capable of setting the flow rate of the granular material in the chute by operating the flow rate regulating member according to the proportion of defective particles mixed in the granular material supplied to the chute, The system includes a control unit capable of controlling the optical sorting machine, The control unit, A means for calculating the percentage of defective particles in the granular material supplied to the chute, The optical sorter comprises a display means provided on the front side of the optical sorter capable of displaying the percentage of defective particles calculated by the defective particle percentage calculation means and the flow rate of the granular material in the chute, The aforementioned flow rate adjustment means is The optical sorting machine is provided with an operating lever on the front side, which can adjust the opening degree of the flow rate regulating member. A flow rate adjustment mechanism for an optical sorting machine, characterized by the following features.

2. The motor is capable of operating the aforementioned flow rate regulating member, The control unit, Based on the calculation results from the defective particle content calculation means, the flow rate adjustment means can be controlled. Flow rate adjustment mechanism for an optical sorting machine according to claim 1.

3. The aforementioned flow rate adjustment means is A clamp knob that can fix the aforementioned operating lever in any rotational position, The system includes at least an opening degree indicator unit that can determine the opening degree of the flow rate regulating member according to the rotational position of the operating lever. Flow rate adjustment mechanism for an optical sorting machine according to claim 1.

4. The aforementioned chute consists of a primary sorting chute used for primary sorting of granular material and a secondary sorting chute used for secondary sorting of granular material that has been sorted as defective by the primary sorting. The means for calculating the percentage of defective grains can calculate the percentage of defective grains by dividing the flow rate of granular material in the secondary sorting chute by the flow rate of granular material in the primary sorting chute. A flow rate adjustment mechanism for an optical sorting machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

Images