JPH11225729A - Root cutter for welsh onion - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To permit high accuracy cutting between the stem part and the root part of a Welsh onion harvested from the crop fields by identifying the boundary position between the leaf sheath part and the stem part from the difference in the transmitted light volume in the boundary area. SOLUTION: In this root cutter for Welsh onions, the stem part 5b and the root part 5c are cut off from the leaf sheath part 5a. The leaf sheath part 5a of an onion is irradiated with light to measure the transmitted light volume to identify the boundary position between the steam part 5b and the root part 5c thereby deciding the proper cutting positions for removing off the stem part 5b and the root part 5c. In this case, the quantity of light to be irradiated to the leaf sheath part is adjusted according to the thickness and the surface situation of the leaf sheath part 5a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an onion in which the boundary between the leaf sheath and the stem of an onion harvested from a field is identified based on the difference in the amount of transmitted light, and the stem and root are cut and removed with high accuracy. Related to a root cutting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a root cutting operation for cutting and removing a stem portion and a root portion from a green onion harvested from a field, if the leaf sheath portion is cut, a central portion of the green onion protrudes from a cut surface, thereby lowering commercial value. Also, if the roots remain when cut, the peeling becomes poor when performing the peeling work, and the work efficiency is reduced. From the above, at present, most of the root cutting work relies on the manual work of skilled workers.

[0003]

If the onion rooting operation was manually performed by an operator, it would be a bottleneck in the mechanized harvesting operation of the onion. In addition, work efficiency will be reduced. Therefore, according to the present invention, when light is applied to the leaf sheath, the leaf sheath transmits light better than the root and stem (commonly referred to as the knot). Utilizing such characteristics, the boundary between the leaf sheath and the stem is identified by light, and the stem and root are cut at this boundary to enable highly accurate cutting and removing work. To provide an onion root cutting device that is also applicable

[0004]

In order to achieve this object, an onion root cutting device according to the present invention is characterized by the following configuration.

A. In an onion root cutting device configured to cut and remove a stem portion and a root portion from a leaf sheath portion of a harvested green onion, the leaf sheath portion is irradiated with light, and the amount of transmitted light is measured. And the boundary position between the root and the root is identified by the difference in the amount of transmitted light, and an appropriate cutting position for cutting and removing the stem and the root is determined.

B. The amount of light applied to the leaf sheath is controlled in accordance with the thickness and surface condition of the leaf sheath.

[0007]

With the above arrangement, the onion root cutting device of the present invention performs the following operations.

[0008] The appropriate root cutting position for onions is that the root can be cut and removed, and the stem (kob) without cutting to the leaf sheath
Is a part that remains, and when the amount of transmitted light when irradiating the leaf sheath is measured, the amount of transmitted light from the stem and root is smaller than the amount of light transmitted through the leaf sheath. The stem and root can be cut and removed at an appropriate position by determining the position by identifying the difference in the amount of transmitted light by matching with the appropriate root cutting position. The device can also be incorporated into a green onion harvester to enable a mechanized line of work from digging green onions to cutting and removing stems and roots.

[0009] By controlling the amount of light applied to the leaf sheath according to the thickness and surface condition of the leaf sheath, when the boundary between the leaf sheath and the stem is identified by transmitted light, soil adheres to the thick green onion or the surface and the light If the amount of transmission is small, there will be a difference in the cutting position compared to the case where much light is transmitted. By controlling the amount of light emitted so that the predetermined amount of light is transmitted, the boundary between the leaf sheath and the stem is determined at the same level of transmitted light, and errors due to thickness and surface conditions are corrected.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 3 to 5, reference numeral 1 denotes an onion root cutting device, which is driven by a pair of left and right sprockets 3, 3 and a tension sprocket 3a on a machine base 2 having a plurality of casters 2a for movement at the lower end. Endless chains 4, 4 are stretched. The endless chains 4, 4 are provided with a large number of leaf sheath holders 6 for inserting and holding (fixing) the leaf sheath portions 5a of the onion 5 at predetermined intervals in the length direction. Behind the endless chains 4, 4, a pair of left and right rotating wheels 7, 7 is driven to rotate,
The leaf blade portion 5d is placed thereon, and a leaf blade portion transport band 8 for transporting the leaf blade portion 5d in synchronization with the leaf sheath portion holder 6 is provided.

At the front of the central portion in the longitudinal direction of the root cutting device 1 for the onion, the leaf sheath 5a of the onion 5 inserted and held in the leaf sheath holder 6 and conveyed is shown in FIGS. As shown in the figure, the leaf is moved backward by pushing it from the leaf sheath 5a to the stem 5
A positioning portion 9 for cutting and removing the b and the root portion 5c at appropriate positions is provided. The positioning section 9 includes a light source section 10, a transmitted light sensor 11, a positioning cylinder 12
And is controlled by a microcomputer (not shown).

The light source unit 1 is provided at the bottom of the leaf sheath holder 6.
A light-transmitting hole 6a capable of irradiating only the leaf sheath 5a of the onion 5 set in the leaf sheath holder 6 is formed at a position corresponding to 0, and light from the light source unit 10 is irradiated to the leaf sheath 5a. . At this time, the transmitted light amount from the leaf sheath 5a is measured by the transmitted light sensor 11, and the irradiated light amount from the light source unit 10 is adjusted so as to be a predetermined transmitted light amount determined in advance. Then, the plunger 12a of the positioning cylinder 12 is extended, and the plunger 12a is moved backward to a position where the transmitted light sensor 11 detects a difference in transmitted light amount between the leaf sheath 5a, the stem 5b, and the root 5c. The plunger 12a includes a leaf sheath 5a and a stem 5b.
It is contracted except when the transmitted light sensor 11 detects a difference between the transmitted light amount and the transmitted light amount from the root 5c.

On the other hand, when the cutting blade passage groove 6b formed in the leaf sheath holder 6 moves to the front position of the positioning portion 9 in the moving direction of the leaf sheath holder 6, the inside of the cutting blade passage groove 6b moves. The disc-shaped cutting blade 13 that cuts and removes the stem 5b and the root 5c at an appropriate position from the leaf sheath 5a held by the leaf sheath holder 6 and positioned by the positioning unit 9 is rotated in the direction of the arrow. It is provided as follows.

The amount of light emitted from the light source unit 10 to the leaf sheath 5a is controlled in accordance with the thickness and surface condition of the leaf sheath 5a. In other words, when soil is attached to a thick green onion or the surface and the amount of transmitted light is small, a difference occurs in the cutting position as compared with the case where a large amount of light is transmitted. When the transmitted light is small, the leaf sheath portion 5a and the stem portion 5b are increased or decreased by increasing or decreasing the amount of irradiation so that a predetermined light amount determined in advance is transmitted.
Are determined based on the same level of transmitted light quantity, and errors due to thickness and surface conditions are corrected. The transmitted light sensor 11 is not limited to a light receiving type sensor, but may be a camera type that captures transmitted light.

Next, the operation of the onion root cutting device 1 of the embodiment configured as described above will be described. The green onions 5 harvested from the field are separated into one (one strain)
2 and 4, the leaf sheath portion 5a is fitted and held at a position where the root portion 5c projects from the distal end of the leaf sheath portion holder 6 as shown in FIGS. Then, the leaf blade 5d is placed on the leaf transport belt 8, and the leaf sheath 5a and the leaf blade 5d are transported in the arrow direction in synchronization with the leaf sheath holder 6 and the leaf transport belt 8. .

When the leaf sheath portion 5a held by the leaf sheath holder 6 reaches the position of the positioning portion 9, light from the light source portion 10 is irradiated to the leaf sheath portion 5a through the light transmitting hole 6a. Leaf sheath part 5
The amount of transmitted light from a is measured by the transmitted light sensor 11 and is adjusted by increasing or decreasing the amount of irradiation of the light source unit 10 so as to be a predetermined transmitted light amount determined in advance. Next, the plunger 12a of the positioning cylinder 12 is extended, and the plunger 12a is moved backward until the transmitted light sensor 11 detects a difference in the amount of transmitted light between the leaf sheath 5a and the stem 5b and the root 5c. The detection position of the difference in transmitted light amount is determined in advance by the cutting blade passage groove 6.
Since the position is set to the position b, the position where the difference in the transmitted light is detected is the appropriate position for cutting. At this point, the plunger 12a contracts and returns to its original position.

The leaf sheath portion 5a and the leaf blade portion 5d are
When the cutting blade 13 is further moved by the leaf blade conveying belt 8 and reaches the position of the cutting blade 13, the cutting blade 13 cuts the stem 5 b of the green onion 5 in a state of entering the cutting blade passage groove 6 b, and the leaf sheath 5 a
The stem 5b and the root 5c are removed from the stalk. The green onion 5 from which the stem portion 5b and the root portion 5c have been cut off is attached to the leaf sheath portion holder 6 and the leaf sheath portion holder 6 at the transport end portion of the leaf blade transport band 8.
And peeled off and stored in a container or the like. This peeling operation is performed smoothly because the stem 5b is cut at an appropriate position.

The onion root cutting device 1 of the present invention comprises a machine base 2
Is provided with a moving caster 2a at the lower end thereof, so that the entire apparatus can be easily moved and can be easily moved to a site where root cutting work is performed. Also, not only the root cutting device alone,
It is also possible to incorporate it into a green onion harvesting machine and perform continuous operations from excavation to root cutting.

[0019]

As described above, according to the onion root cutting device of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

[0020] By irradiating the leaf sheath with light and measuring the amount of transmitted light, the boundary position between the leaf sheath, stem and root is identified by the difference in the amount of transmitted light, and an appropriate cutting position for cutting and removing the stem and root. The boundary position between the leaf sheath, the stem and the root can be accurately identified by light. By cutting the stem and the root at this boundary position, the root can be cut and removed with high accuracy. be able to. The device can also be incorporated into a green onion harvester to enable mechanized integrated operations from leek digging to root cutting. In addition, since highly accurate root cutting work by mechanization becomes possible, a skilled worker is not required, and labor can be saved.

[0021] The amount of light applied to the leaf sheath is controlled according to the thickness and surface condition of the leaf sheath, so when the boundary between the leaf sheath and the stem is identified by transmitted light, the soil adheres to the thick green onion or the surface and the light transmission If the amount is small, there will be a difference in the cutting position compared to the case where there is a large amount of transmitted light. By controlling the amount of light emitted so that a predetermined amount of light is transmitted, the boundary between the leaf sheath and the stem can be determined at the same level of transmitted light, and a malfunction due to the thickness or surface condition can be corrected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a positioning portion of an onion root cutting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the same operation state.

FIG. 3 is a partial side view of the onion root cutting device according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an overall plan view of the same.

FIG. 5 is an overall front view of the same.

[Description of Signs] 1 Onion root cutting device 2 Machine stand 2a Caster 3 Sprocket 3a Tension sprocket 4 Endless chain 5 Long onion 5a Leaf sheath 5b Stem 5c Root
5d Leaf blade 6 Leaf sheath holder 6a Light transmitting hole 6b Cutting blade passage groove 7 Rotating wheel 8 Leaf blade transport band 9 Positioning unit 10 Light source unit 11 Transmitted light sensor 12 Positioning cylinder 12a Plunger 13 Cutting blade

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A leek cutting device for cutting and removing a stem portion and a root portion from a leaf sheath portion of a harvested onion, wherein the leaf sheath portion is irradiated with light, and the transmitted light amount is measured. An onion root cutting device characterized in that a boundary position between a leaf sheath portion, a stem portion and a root portion is identified based on a difference in transmitted light amount, and an appropriate cutting position for cutting and removing the stem portion and the root portion is determined. 2. The onion root cutting device according to claim 1, wherein the amount of light applied to the leaf sheath is controlled in accordance with the thickness of the leaf sheath and surface conditions.