Vorrichtung zum Säubern von Sprossen

The present invention relates to a device for cleaning sprouts according to the preamble of claim 1 such a device is shown in US 4985956.

In today's society, there is an increasing demand for products which can be offered to the consumer in ready prepared form. In line with this trend, a need to be able to also offer ready cleaned sprouts to the consumer has thus developed.

Sprouts grow on stalks to which they are attached by stems. When the sprouts are being harvested using conventional apparatus, they are cut from the stalks, in which case a small portion of the stem always remains on the sprouts. Before the sprouts are consumed, they are cleaned by cutting the stem off the sprout, thereby also removing the outer leaves of the sprout.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device with which the sprouts can be cleaned for consumption in an efficient manner.

This object is achieved by a device which has the characteristics of the characterizing clause of Claim 1.

The sprouts to be cleaned are positioned in the desired position in the positioning station A, each sprout being able to assume one of two possible positions. Station B is used to detect which of the two possible positions each sprout assumes and the cutting station C and the ejector station D are operated on the basis of the data obtained in station B.

According to the invention, the positioning station A is formed by a section of the roller conveyor, the individual rollers being profiled in such a manner that, between in each case adjoining rollers, a row of accommodating spaces is formed which can each accommodate one sprout, the individual rollers being caused to rotate, as a result of which the sprouts accommodated in the accommodating spaces will start to rotate about their longest axis, thus aligning the latter parallel to the rollers, means being arranged above the roller conveyor for removing those sprouts which did not end up in the accommodating spaces. In this manner, the longest axis of the sprouts, i.e. the axis extending through the stem, is aligned parallel to the rollers, thus enabling the sprout to be in two possible positions in the accommodating space.

According to the invention, the scanning station B comprises a housing through which in each case a number of rollers move which carry along a corresponding number of rows of sprouts, in which housing a camera is fitted which records a number of images of the rows of sprouts present in the housing; the camera is connected to a computer unit which determines the position of each sprout using the images obtained.

The computer unit records the colour deviation of each sprout at both ends thereof and determines the position of the respective sprout by comparing the colour deviation at both ends.

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

• Fig. 1 shows a diagrammatic side view of the device;
• Fig. 2 shows a partial section along line II-II of Fig. 1;
• Fig. 3 shows a partial top view of two adjoining rollers with sprouts accommodated between them;
• Fig. 4 shows a section along line IV-IV of Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 diagrammatically shows a side view of the total device for cleaning sprouts according to the invention. This figure shows a continuous roller conveyor 1, the individual identical rollers 2 of which are mounted so as to be able to rotate freely in chains (not shown) which are arranged on both sides of these rollers and which can be advanced in the direction of the arrows V by means of a suitable drive mechanism.

In the figure, the upper part of the roller conveyor 1 moves from the left to the right and a number of processing units are arranged along this section of the roller conveyor in order to make the sprouts ready for consumption. Thus, this section of the roller conveyor has a first station A, where the sprouts are placed on the roller conveyor and positioned in one of two possible positions, a second station B, where the sprouts positioned on the roller conveyor are scanned in order to determine which of the two possible positions each sprout has assumed, a third station C, where the sprouts are cut on the basis of the data determined in station B, and a station D, where the sprouts whose position could not be determined sufficiently accurately by the computer unit are ejected.

On the left-hand side of the roller conveyor, there is a collecting funnel 3, to which the sprouts which are to be processed and have previously been sorted according to specific sizes are fed. The roller conveyor joins onto this collecting funnel so that the sprouts coming from the collecting funnel land on the roller conveyor. As Figs. 2 and 3 clearly show, the individual rollers 2 of the roller conveyor are profiled in such a manner that a number of accommodating spaces 4 are formed between in each case two adjoining rollers, each of which accommodating spaces 4 can accommodate a sprout to be processed. In the practical embodiment of the device described here, in each case six accommodating spaces are formed between two adjoining rollers, so that in each case a row of six adjacent sprouts can be accommodated between two rollers.

As Figs. 2 and 3 show, the accommodating spaces 4 for the sprouts between two adjoining rollers are formed by opposite regions of these rollers having a relatively small diameter. Regions 5 with maximum diameter are in each case situated between the former regions.

From these regions with maximum diameter, the diameter initially decreases sharply, resulting in relatively steep slopes 6. These steep slopes run into a substantially cup-shaped surface 7, which is much flatter than the slopes 6 and forms the actual bearing surface for the sprout to be accommodated. At the two opposite ends of this bearing surface 7, i.e. near the transitions of the surface 7 to the steep slopes 6, narrow, deep slots 8 have been made over the circumference of the roller, the purpose of which will be discussed below.

The section of the roller conveyor 1 joining onto the collecting funnel 3 forms the pick-up and positioning station A for the sprouts, one sprout being placed in each accommodating space 4 if possible. In this part of the roller conveyor, the individual rollers run over a fixed running surface 5 arranged above the rollers, so that the individual rollers in this station A rotate in the direction of the arrows R1. Any sprouts landing outside the accommodating spaces 4 will come into contact with the row of discs 6 which are at some distance above the roller conveyor and rotate in the direction of arrow R2. As can be seen in Fig. 2, the outer circumference of the discs 6 is situated a small distance above the outer circumference of the rollers 2, and in each case above the region 5 thereof with the maximum diameter. Thus, there are five discs 6 of this type in the present embodiment and the sprouts coming into contact with these discs are returned to the collecting funnel 3 by these discs.

By the end of the positioning station A, if possible all the accommodating spaces 4 formed between the adjoining rollers contain a sprout. Since the rollers 2, in addition to their advancing movement, also execute a rotation R1 about their longitudinal axis, the sprouts placed in the accommodating spaces 4 will undergo a rotation. As a result of this rotation and the design of the accommodating spaces, the accommodated sprouts will automatically assume a position in which their longest axis, which forms the axis of rotation of the sprouts, runs parallel to the longitudinal direction of the rollers 2. The longest axis of the sprouts is the axis which runs through the stem and thus there are two possible positions for the sprout in the accommodating space, that is to say with the stem on the right (S2) or with the stem on the left (S1). In Figs. 2 and 3, both possibilities are illustrated, but it will be clear that it remains pure coincidence which of the two possible positions a sprout will assume in each accommodating space.

The scanning station B joins onto the positioning station A, which station B is formed by a housing 10, in which a camera 11 is placed. The housing 10 can accommodate six rows of six sprouts at any one time. The camera in each case records an image of all the sprouts present in the housing when a new row of sprouts has entered the housing (and thus another row has left the housing). Each row of sprouts is thus photographed six times by the camera while it is passing through the housing. The camera is connected to a computer 12 which processes the recorded images of the sprouts. The computer detects the colour deviation at both ends of each sprout. If the computer establishes that a sprout has a greater degree of colour deviation at one end than at the other, the computer determines that the stem is at the end having the greater degree of colour deviation. If the computer is unable to determine a significant difference in colour deviation, the sprout is classified as 'neutral'. Effectively, station B tries to determine which of the two possible positions each sprout has assumed.

Inside station B, the freely rotating rollers 2 run over a running surface 13 which is situated under the rollers 2, so that, in station B, the rollers rotate in the direction of the arrows R3, which is opposite to that in the preceding station A. The sprouts situated between the rollers thus also rotate in the opposite direction. When a row of sprouts leaves the station B, the positioning of each sprout in this row is known, or the sprout has been classified as neutral.

Station C joins onto station B, in which station C the sprouts are cut, that is to say the stem of each sprout is cut away, together with the outermost leaves. To this end, the station C comprises a row of pressure fingers 14 and a row of vertically displaceable knives 15, 15', as illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 4.

A fixed horizontal shaft 16 is arranged at some distance above the roller conveyor, on which shaft a number of pressure fingers 14 extending in the direction of movement of the roller conveyor are arranged, in each case one finger at the location of an accommodating space 4 between the rollers. Each pressure finger is rotatably attached to the shaft 16 at one end and is under pressure from a spring which presses the pressure finger down, so that the finger is pressed against a stop (not shown) in such a manner that the free end of the finger is situated a small distance above the local external surface of the rollers 2. The surface on the end of the fingers and facing the rollers 2 is smooth and slightly bent so that each sprout situated in the accommodating space between two adjoining rollers 2 touches the free end of the respective finger and moves this finger upwards counter to the spring pressure. The sprout effectively moves along under the finger while rotating or, in other words, the sprout is pressed firmly into position in the respective accommodating space by the pressure finger.

As Fig. 4 illustrates, each accommodating space 4 has two vertically displaceable knives 15, 15' associated with it, which are arranged on either side of the pressure finger 14. Each of the knives is situated in the plane of a slot 8, so that each knife moves partway into the respective slot when it is moved down. The position of the sprouts located under the row of knives has been determined in the preceding station B, i.e. it is known whether the stem of the sprout is pointing to the right or to the left. In Fig. 4, the sprout S1 is shown with the stem pointing to the left and the adjoining sprout S2 is shown with the stem pointing to the right. In the case of sprout S 1, therefore, the left-hand knife 15 will be actuated, as a result of which the latter will move down and cut off the stem. In contrast, in the case of sprout S2, the right-hand knife 15' will move down and cut off the stem. The knives 15, 15' of each accommodating space are actuated by a pneumatic cylinder 17, 17'. These cylinders are in turn controlled by a computer unit 12, in which the position of the sprouts accommodated in the respective accommodating spaces 4 is determined and stored. If a sprout has been classified as 'neutral', neither of the two knives is actuated and this sprout leaves the station C without undergoing any treatment.

As can be seen in Fig. 1, the running surface 13 also extends past the cutting station C, so that the rollers 2 and therefore the sprouts in this station rotate in the same direction as in station B. Moreover, this figure shows that the pneumatic cylinders 17, 17' are suspended at 18 such that they can pivot slightly, so that these cylinders 17, 17' and thus the knives 15 can move along to some degree with the direction of movement V of the sprouts while the stems are being cut off.

An ejector station (D) is arranged downstream of the cutting station (C) in the direction of movement of the roller conveyor, which ejector station comprises a row of nozzles 20 for compressed air. The nozzles are arranged near the turning point where the roller conveyor is diverted downwards to the bottom return section. At this turning point, the individual rollers are not driven and the sprouts in the accommodating spaces fall into a collecting tray 21 by the force of gravity. If a sprout has been classified in the scanning station B as 'neutral' and thus has not undergone any cutting treatment, the nozzle associated with this accommodating space will emit a blast of air as soon as the sprout falls out of the accommodating space. As a result, this sprout is forced to the left in Fig. 1 and, rather than in collecting tray 21, lands in collecting tray 22 which is situated to the left thereof.

It will be clear that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described and illustrated here, but that numerous variants and modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the appended claims.